About jP

I hate waiting in line for shit. That's why I don't get coffee at Starbucks (especially NOT in Leavenworth), and why I'm not a playboater. Especially since those toyboats can't even track in a straight line well enough to form a line. So what you end up with is a chaotic cluster of plastic driftwood banging itnot eah other with paddles, ect. Not really my scene.

 

 I like to paddle faster (yes longer, often POINTIER,) boats. Believe it or not, kids, there is a correlation. I'm the last of the river runners, or at least sometimes feel that way out here in the Northwest where people seem to think the sport of whitewater kayaking was invented yesterday. And Creeking is merely a subset of riverrunning. I like paddling anything from class I to class V+, and have a long history of everything in between. Creeking is fun because it's focused on making the run, top to bottom. I like throughput. Travelling downriver. Going somewhere. Exploring. Oh. And Hitt'n lines along the way.

 

About my boat(s):

Well as you all know the Diablo was stolen in the spring of 2008. Since then, i managed to replace it with one just like it, except it has a bashed in nose. It's my third red Diablo (circa 1996). The first one I lost when I swam Boulder drop at 60,000 cfs, but that's another story altogether. I like moving fast through rapids. My paddling style is crudely influenced by slalom racing, although when it comes to slalom, I'm pretty much a hack. I left that discipline to my brother, who raced for years on the U.S. team. 

My other staple boat is, of course, my "creekboot", as in: "Das Creekboot". Yes, as you can tell by my exquisite german, it's also an Eskimo boat: The Salto. Some people (like BEN!) talk shit about it but it fits me great and has suited me well. And he's broken countless boats since I got mine. I now have well over 140 trips on it, many of those trips class V runs. I wouldn't be surprised if it lasted 10+ years like my first Diablo did before the Skykomish swallowed it whole (Well, mostly the reason I didn't get it back was because the Police wouldn't let me go after it, but again, that's another story.). The Salto boofs pretty well. Too well, sometimes. Anyway it gets me down the river really well. They just came out with a new one in 2009. I wish I could fuse the new hull with the deck I have on mine. The new hull has some sharper chines and a wider nose. I admit that the bow of the Salto I have (2005-2008 mold) is a little pencil-like and while that can be good in some situations, it can also get twitchy in extremely turbulent whitewater.

Then in April of 2009 I got a really good deal on an EZG42. I like it because while it has some modern playboat attributes, it also reflects some old fashioned squirtboat-like qualities (vaguely: it's a short playboat, so it really can't squirt in the classical sense, but it can stern sguirt well enough for splat moves, which I enjoy). It's more of a waveboat than a hole boat, and this suits my jurrasic boating style.

The Great Pumkin bestowed upon me a vintage New Wave (Model unknown to me). It needs a little TLC, but basicaly it's in pretty good shape. It fits me well, and I've outfitted it well. I'm very excited about delving deep into the greenwater arts of traditional squirt boating!

Then I have a few ancient boats that need some tlc: A wierd pseudo-slalom I used to paddle in the early 90's (fiberglass/kevlar w/ metalflake deck), and a much older, beautiful (fiberglass)orange boat that has a flimsy layup. More of a collector's item.

Last but not least is my Tempest 170 (sea kayak). It may be plastic, and it may flex a lot, but it was cheap, and it's a good sea worthy craft for serious sea kayaking. I've taken that thing all over the San Juans.

 

 I'd  like to have at least 10 completely different whitewater boat designs: Including a modern slalom boat, a wildwater boat, a Dagger Greenboat (for creek racing),  Maybe a bigger creekboat like a Burn or a Karnali for highwater creekin (That's where the Salto starts to feel inadequate), a more aggressive playboat such as a Kingpin 6.1 or a Specialist, and about 5 other kayaks for flatwater and saltwater (such as an ocean surf shoe), ect. --Oh-- And let's not forget the Shredder. One day I will own a Shredder, and a conventional 14' self bailer would be nice to have too. And a canoe. A traditional, tandem canoe. That would about cover it. I'd be set.

 

Until Santa shows up with such a big pile of boats, I'm content with the ones I got, truth be told. There is no shortage of boating around here, and I have all the boats I need to do it. In the rare circumstance when there's no water in the rivers here in the PAC NW, I got the sea kayak. Lately I hardly manage to plan trips with that boat because there's always whitewater running! I swear the PAC NW is the BEST PLACE IN THE U.S. to be a boater, because there's so much quality and quantity of whitewater, and the season is solid year round if you're willing to drive 4-6 hours or more the one month out of the year when you might have to. And there's Variety. I love it here!