Western Whitewater Championship Series : Race 2

North Fork of the American River

It never rains in California….

The girls always warn ya. It was nice and sunny all weekend. After completing an 11 hour drive from Portland Oregon to Colfax California, Dottie from the Cali Women’s Team greeted us at 2am when we arrived at the Mineral Bar campground. ORT had waited up for the Cali Ladies after they drove all night for the Wind River Race in Washington just two weeks prior. These two rafting teams have taken whitewater racing to the next level this past season by creating and promoting quality river events in addition to supporting each other. Just another example of developing positive and even nurturing river communities which has and continues to be the goal of the Western Whitewater Championship Series. (WWCS).

After a few hours of sleep, Sikbird, Otter Boy, and Timber rolled out of the sack to get a quick practice run in on the Chamberlain Falls section of the North Fork while the Red Team rested up for the race. We downed a yogurt and a few bottles of Viso
http://drinkviso.com/ and were off into the cool morning mist. The 4.3 mile race course was characterized by three Class IV drops, and a number of tricky but entertaining Class IIIs. Our read and run practice trip was not exactly clean, but that’s why they call it practice. Bogus Thunder presented the most significant challenge, especially considering that the line that appeared to be the cleanest had a kayak pinned in it.

15 rafts had entered the race on this day which included several teams of guides that knew this section very well. We had our work cut out for us. The boys geared up and we began our warm up jog knowing that I was the only member of the Red Team that had seen this section before, and no one was going to give us style points for driving all night. Ox, Action, Hoser, Rasta, and WFE were up to the challenge. They nailed every line and pulled with a purpose. There was no backing off from the rocket ship start to the long push through the lake like sections of flatwater at the end.

ORT finished the roughly 4.5 mile course in 41 minutes.
The Cali Women’s Team took second overall approximately 2 minutes behind our time, and a men’s team from WET took third with a time approximately 2 minutes behind that.

The ladies then hosted a barbeque and awards ceremony. The ORT boys kept themselves in check knowing we would have our hands full when we took on the Giant Gap section of the North Fork the following morning. Mostly kept in check anyway, next trip we’ll move WFE’s tent a little further from the team’s camping area.

At 7am we awoke to hammer a quick breakfast and prepare for the 1.5 mile hike in to the put in for Giant Gap. 2 rafts and all the necessary gear had to be humped down the steep trail to the put in. The hike went without incident until WFE lost control of his personal gravitational field and caught a stick in the eye. Funny that, he had full control of gravity the night before…anyway. Around 11am we shoved off for what was basically a read and run descent of one of the most gorgeous and dynamic sections of water in the USA. The Gap contains three Class V drops and a number of technical class IVs. To summarize, our R2 and R5 boats ran everything. We actually scouted two of the Class Vs and simply charged through Locomotive which may have only been IV+ at this level which was likely around 750cfs. At this lower level, we did wrap a few times but got off rather quickly and without rope. Of course the flip was a hoot, especially since we flipped, wrapped, and then I got guide launched all in the tricky little drops leading up to Dominator. Nothing like having your cage rattled a bit before the big one. At Dominator, OX and I intended to R2 the bigger boat down the right side but once we got stuck near mid channel, I announced we’re goin big instead. So we peeled off the rock and charged into the evil looking pillow which funneled into a dark 8 foot ledge. All the other boats on the water that day had avoided this line, yet after we moshed through cleanly we quickly high fived and paddled easily to the bank as if to say “we meant to do that”.

At around 4pm we reached the take out and hastily packed up to begin the 10 hour drive back to Portland. Encoded in our memory banks was a weekend like we had never experienced. Challenge, competition, fatigue, laughter, resiliency, accomplishment, peace, all of these feelings and experiences produced a strong sense of brotherhood. ORT, we are more than just a whitewater rafting team.

For some sweet Bogus Thunder race footy by Daniel, go to:
http://www.awetstate.com/NFARace08.html(We’re the second raft going through).

For WWCS points standings go to:
http://www.moldygear.com/
Canyon Creek this weekend, keep pushin on,

Tim