Which brings up a problem, and perhaps the reason the 10-step scale
has fallen into disuse: if the rating of the rapid must be changed to
suit the craft, then you are not actually rating the rapid, *per se*,
you are rating the rapid/craft combination. By contemporary thinking,
the difficulty of a rapid should be intrinsic to the rapid, measured
by objective criteria, and irrelevant to the nature of any craft that
might attempt the rapid.

I think we should rate rapids based on a combination of both the rapid, the
boat, and the paddler. For instance, there is a rapid, that shall remain
nameless due to embarrassment, that flips me every time. It's "easier" than
many other rapids I paddle, and I've done it a few dozen times, and yet, it
flips me. I think it should be at least a V.

Geoff

Geoff Jennings wrote:

I think we should rate rapids based on a combination of both the rapid, the
boat, and the paddler. For instance, there is a rapid, that shall remain
nameless due to embarrassment, that flips me every time. It's "easier" than
many other rapids I paddle, and I've done it a few dozen times, and yet, it
flips me. I think it should be at least a V.

big grin

Come to think of it, I know a rapid which my GF refuses to run, because
she's "not sure that she's good enough". She accidentally ran it several
years ago, acing it. Now that she's progressed several classes and finds
it well within her ability, she seems to find new excuses not to run it.

Funny thing is that she runs much harder stuff everywhere else, just not
that one rapid.

--
Wilko van den Bergh
Eindhoven The Netherlands Europe
Look at the possibilities, don't worry about the limitations.
http://wilko.webzone.ru/

"Geoff Jennings" typed:

[snip hypothesis]

I think we should rate rapids based on a combination of both the rapid, the
boat, and the paddler. For instance, there is a rapid, that shall remain
nameless due to embarrassment, that flips me every time. It's "easier" than
many other rapids I paddle, and I've done it a few dozen times, and yet, it
flips me. I think it should be at least a V.

This, Geoff, seems like an elementary problem in physics. Get one of
yer grad students on it.

-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--
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rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net 1-301-775-0471
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rhople[at]wfubmc[dot]edu 1-336-713-5077
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