We only ELF in the SE - Green Narrows at 280%

I broke my Mystic on Friday at the Green and after walking rapids, paddling, emptying, duct taping, emptying, walking, duct taping I got to the takeout tired and pissed off. The whole weekend ahead with rain in the forecast and a broke ass boat.

At 205lbs I had decided to look for a new boat before breaking that one because i felt like I was a bit too big for it. I finally decided I'd demo a nice yellow Nomad 8.5 on Saturday. There was a little extra rain in the area but not enough to get any natural flow runs going. The level on the Green should be nice and padded but not much over the normal release. Demoing a boat on a run I've done almost 20 times seems like a good idea.

Showed up at the put-in and due to the demo boat screwing with my mind I forgot my skirt and floatbags. So I borrowed a bungee seal IR that would probably implode in a class II wave train and who needs floatbags right?

Then, while passing someone on the trail hiking out of the Upper Section they inform me that the dam is running 200%. Uh oh. I have a demo, my friend has a demo, and we've both never done the Green over 8.5" on the stick gauge. I wanted to hike back out but we decided we could walk if anything was too bad. We got to the gauge and it read 18" - that's 280% of normal release. Oh no....

I got into the first rapid or two and realized that the Nomad had a mind of its own compared to the Mystic. It was 10-20 yards further downstream than I was. I had to adjust my paddling style and my confidence level really, really fast or I was going to get hurt. Ended up having a blast and fell in love with the Nomad 8.5. I never even got to find out how well it rolls, hopefully it rolls easy.

It was pushy, no pools, just plain scary in places. Here's a video.

http://vimeo.com/871494

I love this still shot from Zwick's:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...hzwicks250.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...ranksquirt.jpg

Sunshine actually gets easier..but you can't really stop before it if something happens in the rapid upstream:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...unshine250.jpg

B.A. Baracas.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ridinshockgun

1. So I borrowed a bungee seal IR that would probably implode in a class II wave train and who needs floatbags right?

2. I got into the first rapid or two and realized that the Nomad had a mind of its own compared to the Mystic.

3. Ended up having a blast and fell in love with the Nomad 8.5.

4. I never even got to find out how well it rolls, hopefully it rolls easy.

1 - Right.

2 - How amazingly true that is. I once paddled the Nomad 8.5 and it did things to me that I never thought were possible. Total mind of its own. I felt violated after borrowing that boat.

3 - How amazingly true that is. I figured out that I would just steer it like a raft, and it got much, much better. Took MarsB's down the upper B one day and it was great.

4 - My sister could roll that boat.

Great shots - I just love it when a plan comes together. :yourock: