Yeah, swimming through strainers es no bueno, hombre. The whole art and science of kayaking largely revolves around staying out of trouble in the first place. Keeping your skills and awareness ahead of the power curve.

I wasn't there and I'm not gonna judge. That's the River's job. But it sounds like the Judge in this case saw fit to confiscate your paddle to teach you something real.

Get another paddle, but also get some more sense. Because that sh*ts avoidable. And when you are strapped for cash like my poverty stricken ass, you have to adjust your habits accordingly too. I don't know about you but I can't afford to be replacing gear. Sounds like you can't afford it either.

So you need to either back off some and excercise better judgement, or you need to power up on some better technique. A combination of the two usually is a good recipe.

Split Rock today at 11am.