Last few days before Skagit Nationals

Rich and I are tapering for the races this weekend. We paddled last Saturday with the river at almost 7000 cfs, and again today at 6300. We are getting a little bounced around, but mostly staying on our lines. Our practice times are a little slower that Tom Wier's, but not much. Paddler's from Georgia, Pennsylvania, California and West Virgina have arrived. It is starting to feel like a National Championship!

High Water Skagit Runs

Today, Tom Wier, Greg Dutton, Rich and I ran the Skagit "S" Bends, the site of the 2010 Wildwater Nationals course at very high water. It was about 8,500 cfs. The probable flow in 3 weeks for Nationals should be about 3000. The run was fast, wild, pushy and fun! The wave trains on the first two drops had high peaks with many diagonal curlers coming off them. We did a few redirects when the boat was on the crest. It was good to get on the course when it was most challenging. This builds confidence for our future runs at normal (2700-4000) water levels. Only three more weeks. We will do some class II work outs on the Nooksack, and some 1000 meter work outs in the next few days.