Hey folks,

I had two awesome trips last year ( Big Eddy and the Club Stretch ) last year, and this summer my "big goal" - Wenatchee.

But first I need to practice more, and looking for people to go to Snoqualmie ( may be Green if its still runnable ) for a few easy outings.

I  am free most of the time, so if you're up for it, let me know

Thanks !
Paul

There's all sorts of class II up the snoqualmie drainage. I reccomend exploring them as thouroghly as you can before moving up a class, if for no other reason than this:

once you taste enough class III and your skills are ready for more, chances are you may never want to run class II. happens to a lot of paddlers once they get "The Whitewater Bug" in their system. Try to savor the class II and early class III phase. It will pay dividends later. Don't get too enthralled with playboating stuff or boof strokes and that nonsense before you have a Forward Stroke that you can maintain in a refined manor for at least 100 strokes. The Forward Stroke is more important than even the eskimo roll- ask yourself which was developed first by our inuit forefathers.

Paul, you should keep me in mind. There's some class II up there I've yet to explore. Keep me posted if you want to hit this stuff up over the weekend- but I admit I'm not sure yet how my weekend is shaping up.
whatever you do don''t let anything stop you from gettin out as much as you can right now.

South Fk. Sky from Beckler Bridge to Money Ck. is a favorite class II of the UKC for intro work, goes right through the town. Scenic too, tho a bit longer drive, with a fast splashy rapid at the finish that flips a lot of noobs but ends in a big recovery pool at the take out. Short shuttle and easy access; could do laps. Upper Middle Sno. (say Concrete Bridge to  Middle Middle put-in) also has a great class II-II+ "classroom" with a chance to practice ferrying/eddying into strong jets with some strong eddy lines, practice rolling in waves, practice going right into boulders and eddy hopping, etc., river reading where the river is not uber-pushy but there are a lot of features to do laps on.

Good point on the videos- I think I've seen all of them- as something of a noob myself I have found "The Kayak Roll" by Mary and Phil DeRiemer to be outstanding. Can't say enough good things about it (stuff for teachers too). My second favorite has nothing about rolling, all about dynamic technique, is hard to find here in the USA, "Gene17's Genotype 2 DVD, the Fundamental Core," by Simon Westgarth. Some clips on YouTube, but I had to order it from England. Outstanding video IMHO.

The best intro book I found to be, "Whitewater Kayaking, The Ultimate Guide," by Ken Whiting, 2'd edition.

After that I've gotten lots of good advice from the good folks here at PP.

I got my roll down last year in swimming pool, and this year I practiced a couple times out in Puget Sound wearing my drysuit, pfd,helmet...and it was ok...but I'm still kind of worried about using it in a rapid