I was loaned a VHS tape back in 1998 which was of a small group (3 or 4,) boaters running Robe Canyon in long plastic boats, the label says it was 1992.My old paddling mentor who loaned me the tape says he thinks it was created by a boater named Ned, and that another paddler on the trip broke their leg that day.Can anyone around here flush out the details? I just had it transcribed to digital and posted it on Youtube for posterity - it seems reasonably profesh for the time period with good cheesy porno soundtrack and deadpan narration ;) Although it lacks captions or credits. I would hate to get sued by someone known only to me as Ned ;)Here is the link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFRuQsuSQKo



Edited by rhoyerboat - 16 Dec 2014 at 11:06pm

nice find.  i like the music too.  not like the dubstep you hear on all these modern videos.  perhaps this "ned" has a needle named after him?

Pretty awesome to see such history! This, believe it or not, is the kind of sh*t I've been waiting for for the past 9 or so years since PP has been online...



Rad indeed.
I'm going to put your comments in perspective, since I was paddling in '92 and the entire decade before that, so I was paddling equally long and low volume boats.

Yeah, they totally didn't stay on the surface like today's "beachballs with chines" do. They didn't have the rocker either so they didnt climb to the surface. As you can see they tend to find the seems and go deep like you said.

As far as boofing goes, for the record, many expert paddlers all over the U.S. knew what boofing was in 1992. But, executing a boof in those boats on water like Robe... Largely wasn't gonna happen. Boofing those longer oldschool boats was more relegated to features and drops that had a nice clean approach and a well defined lip. Robe lacks that for the most part. The currents are surgy, irregular, and "Shaggy".

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the skills were there, the boats just hadn't been designed yet that coukd support that skill. I mean, it looks like those guys are flailing in there, but they had to be really good just to survive to the take out.

Now, what the majority of today's paddlers don't realize is that their boats do most of boofing for them. Even without the skill to boof today's boats, you can "get lucky" and your 2010+ boat will boof you through all sorts o sh*t.

(and I admit that in 1992 I probably coulda white knuckled my way to the take out, but likely would not have put on-1995 was a different story for me) but the other thing about the boats of that era is that they just weren't as rigid. All the chines and facets that articulate the modern creeker also lend a lot of structural integrity that the turd-like Corsica just didn't have. Those boats seemed inherently softer than todays boats. So they were more prone to pinning. And this pin hazard was not just due to the softer plastic, but the longer, less rockered, pointy shape as well.

Add the silty opacity of Robe Water, and I'm sure those guys were getting pinned and pitoning on a regular basis!

Now Ned did say in his narrative something about "1000 cfs" being a ball park flow... So, similar to the average "recommended" flows of today. I think maybe we target 1100-1200 (or higher depending on who you are and how rough you like to rough house w/ gnomes).

Still, in that video it roughly looks like the same basic flow bracket.

I recognized Faceplant/Catcher's Mitt, I recognized Conversation (the wall on r. Left) and a few other spots, but it wasn't exactly the same at all. Recognizably different.

Anyway, thanks for sharing. Thats cool sh*t and I wish we had more stuff archived from the days when paddling whitewater truly was a fringe sport.

Sickels! It would be interesting to hop into one of those boats for a lap.

Boogie boarding the Drop at 15k down the middle. Better dead than Ned… I've heard more than once. I would guess Rick is Rick Williams? Nice to see Miss Robe during a different era.

The gauge for Robe was different then also. I recall running at higher than 7 ft - which was not a lot higher than I see in the video, and hearing of runs at 8 ft. Not sure how and when the shift occurred.

NO doubt. In the case of Robe, and probably lots of other washington/idaho/western water in general, the hyrology didn't make it easy to boof, and the boat designs still largely dwelt within a formless void compared to the sophistication of today's designs.

Your comparison to skiing is a notable detail too. Look at how skis and kayaks have evolved along a somewhat parralell track and you will quickly observe similar design trends in both (long & skinny w/ a simple shape evolving gradually to shorter, wider more articulate shapes.) This is a universal answer to some universal patterns found when humans use appendages underneath them to covort and interact with Physics and gravity.

But lets go back to the hydro topography as it pertains to boofing Then vs. Now:

Today's creekboats BOOF EVERYTHING. Boofing is such a universally applied little chunk of technique that it can occur all the way down a run like Robe almost without being conscious of its occurance. Everything from the Iconclastic (How you say? "Sick Boof"?) to the micro and nano boofs over little curlers ect... That is to say, the term "boof" seems to have transcended its original, more specific definition. I am referring to its otomatopoeia namesake. Pretty much it used to be that if it the boat didn't get airborn, it didn't make the "boof" sound, and therefore wasn't a boof. Of course, if you aced the "Rock Drop" boof at Jacob's Ladder and stayed upright and moving downstream, that was really all that mattered. You were still in your boat and still alive.

Nowadays these wide, bulbous bows with their progressive rocker profiles attached will boof holes and waves really well. Not to mention the secondary and even tertiary stability that allows all these stylish boofs on edge that are currently in vogue beyond their pure utilitarian need (that's a fancy academic way of saying don't get too carried away with boofing on your boat's sidewall- there are plenty of valid circumstances where one should keep that hull flat).

Anyway, we've come a long way, baby!


Edited by jP - 31 Oct 2014 at 12:23pm

The other two in the film are Steve Kolb, who I think still works for the Everett Fire Department, and I think John Kraski. Both of those dudes belonged to a group of local chargers.

Man, I can't help but think of how cool it would be to collect these guys together for some beer drinkin' n story tellin. Just sayin.

John Kraske has moved on to paragliding and you can still catch Steve Kolb and his latest VW camper on the Wenatchee in the spring. I am glad somebody could identify them in the film. I am pretty sure they both still drink beer...

not the stilly....but old as dirt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEy0HoEZ9M4