20,000 leagues under Tumwater..
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Category: General
Forum Name: Whitewater Forum
Forum Discription: Open Discussion Forum. Whitewater related subjects only
URL: http://www.professorpaddle.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9365
Printed Date: 05 Oct 2025 at 11:24pm
Topic: 20,000 leagues under Tumwater..
Posted By: TastyWaves
Subject: 20,000 leagues under Tumwater..
Date Posted: 29 Mar 2010 at 12:23pm
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For anyone who wasn't up on the Saturday Tumwater run this weekend, just wanted to put a general notice up about a missing boat. A guy lost a Wavesport playboat that was last seen towards the end of the Wall. Unfortunately the boat's color has a striking resemblance to a wet granite rock, its that dark red/black fusion deal.
We tried to go on a rescue mission but the boat apparently is either submerged somewhere or drifted down to the lake and someone picked it up.
Anybody else that was there have a better description than mine of the boat model and color?
Adrian
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Replies:
Posted By: Kiwi
Date Posted: 29 Mar 2010 at 5:33pm
| no float bags? |
Posted By: huckin harms
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2010 at 6:40am
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It had a single float bag with keys and wallet stowed inside bag.
I think the boat was a wavesport super ego... and blackish red.
One moment it was there, and then the next gone.
Condolences to the party whose it belongs too....
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Posted By: tiziak
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2010 at 9:27am
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That sucks guys.
------------- If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there. Daniel Patrinellis 360.434.4616 |
Posted By: ch3kayakchem
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2010 at 9:53pm
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A shout out to the crew that looked for the boat..... thanks. I owe some beer (PBR of course) . My friend, friend (names changed to protect the innocent) looked over the Wall and decided that he could do it. No harder than boulder drop if you pick it apart at that level ~1500 cfs. But you have to be in control and pick it apart. However the river Goddess smiled and decided to pick my friend apart. Nobody hurt, and he was one of two swimmers (other one was friend #2) Inclosing, we have all decided to one day step up, or we would all be pool jockeys knowing 30 different rolls. Sometimes the Goddess smiles at us and pats on our backs and says “good job”. Other times, she bends us over her knee and spanks the living shi... you get the point since we have all been over that knee. Cheers to all who swim while stepping up. Try to be safe, sometimes the Goddess does not forgive. -Thad
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Posted By: franzhorner
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2010 at 10:15pm
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I went through the bottom of the wall pretty slowly and looking for that boat on Sunday. I'm sure it didn't go past me during the swim. I didn't see it anywhere. I must say though its tough to pick things out in that kind of water. I hope it gets found! ------------- MORE RAIN PLEASE |
Posted By: PowWrangler
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2010 at 10:40pm
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Originally posted by huckin harms keys and wallet stowed inside bag. Doh! Bet he won't be making that mistake again. |
Posted By: huckin harms
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2010 at 6:47am
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Hey Chem,
I don't know about all this Goddess crap....
The way I understand it to be is that your friend apparently swam BD the day before :(
Had I known this (which I didn't), I would have enthusiastically encouraged your friend to start at the Dam rapid. But when he started flipping and missing rolls in the entrance, that's when it was clear there was going to be trouble.
Me personally, I don't care to watch someone's head bob up and down through all of the Wall. He was fortunate in to have walked away so unscathed.
For my part, I was pretty bummed that nobody stepped up to shut down his escapade before making that rather ill attempted descent. The handwriting was on the Wall, so to speak, and it seemed pretty damn obvious what was about to happen next.
Just wish I'd known what had happened the day before, maybe then some counsel might have changed that outcome.
It was just that at some point I was thinking of Stano as this "friend" was rag dolling his way through S-turn, and of his two kids. None of it made sense to me.
But then I guess everyone gets to exercise there one judgement, and it's not my business to tell someone that they shouldn't be there.... but seems like a pretty poor exercise in judgement.
I am glad he is OK, of course, just dissappointed that somebody with so much 'accumulated' experience lacked the appropriate awareness for their own self-preservation. ------------- |
Posted By: James
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2010 at 8:07am
| I don't know about Tumwater being a goddess, I know Robe is an Old Man, The sky well shes a gem, but Tumwater I would say is that kid a few doors down that you play with because he has a few nice toys and his parents spoil him, but you have to endure his long stretches of babbling to enjoy those fancy presents! Of course when he gets bigger he figures all that out and usually ends up kicking your ass... |
Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2010 at 9:10am
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James-
 ... aptly described and funny!Mike- well said. All of it.
Originally posted by ch3kayakchem
My friend, friend (names changed to protect the innocent) looked over the Wall and decided that he could do it. you sure you didn't mean "names changed to protect the ignorant?" Keys and wallet in the boat?!
two swimmers, huh?
However you choose to personify Tumwater, it obviously saw fit to penalize you appropriately. Fortunately sounds like no one's hurt.
Originally posted by ch3kayakchem
Cheers to all who swim while stepping up.
No, swimming after you get yourself in over your head isn't "Cheers" worthy. It endangers you and the people you are with, and it's a liability to the whole trip.
But Mike's right: it's a free country and you guys are adults capable of making your own decisions.
I just don't understand why more people aren't interested in boating under control? That's what I find most rewarding about boating. If I look at a rapid or a run and don't feel reasonably sure I can boat it under control and with some kind of grace, I generally don't run it. Where's the satisfaction in hacking your way down something?
We should all take the time to inprint good technique so it's available to us before we "Step It Up". Stepping it up prematurely only imprints sloppy technique. ------------- 🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋 |
Posted By: James
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2010 at 9:28am
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I would chime in with JP and Mike but I was not there so I figured I better keep my ole mouth shut. BUT Mike you will be happy to know my creeker got out on both Sat, and Sun this last weekend. (JP shsss) So while I agree that you don't want to be reckless, lets not just whizz bang the guys for getting bushwacked... Sometimes it takes a little episode to learn that lesson. Hopefully you will run with that advice and progress in a safer and funner manner... One valuable piece of information I have learned over the years is this. If someone is telling you to run something you need to use your own judgement, only you can determine that. I might also mean that the person telling you that your ready is trying to get you to step out of that comfort zone in a safe way which is sometimes scary.... However (in bold) rarely have I ever heard people tell others NOT to run something when they should. IE if your hearing people say don't do it, usually if your in the learning stages it is sound advice. The exception is the experts that are firing up something on the edge where friends are going no way and then it goes fine, but that is not for folks in the learning stages!!! Does that make sense? Did anyone suggest that you guys should not be running it? |
Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2010 at 10:00am
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well said, James. Thanks for providing a counter point to my little preach. I know I wasn't there either, but It's still a common scenerio.
I just say the things I do because someone has to. My advice often isn't glamorous or what people want to hear, but I've seen a lot of close calls, injuries, and lost gear over the years, and ussually where class III - V- water is concerned, it's avoidable.
It goes without saying when i spout off that we are engaging in this sport for action and adventure, just exercise caution and sound judgement-- whitewater is strong medicine.
Be safe and strive to paddle smoothly and with grace... then all of the treasures of the whitewater planet will potentially open for your enjoyment ------------- 🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋 |
Posted By: TastyWaves
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2010 at 10:54am
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Sometimes things don't look quite so big till you're in there.. I think he scouted and figured he could make the lines, and seeing as in no one else was walking I guess he gave in to the pressure. To his credit, I was eddied out about 20 yards to the right of him when he went into that hole, he nailed a pretty sweet combat roll his first time over, but then got sucked back in and flipped around a bit. I think he just got pretty tired.
Also to his credit, there was another member on this trip that is a skilled paddler who also had a little "incident" in the wall that day..
Adrian
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Posted By: TastyWaves
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2010 at 10:55am
| any sightings for this boat from Tumwater locals? |
Posted By: jP
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2010 at 4:03pm
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Originally posted by slickhorn
-it's a lot easier to make a IV run harder than it is to make a V run easier. I don't know that I can claim to be a graceful paddler, but I'd say I'm more graceful in my boat than I am anywhere else in life. I've also learned to listen to my gut. Sometimes I walk away at the putin for no concrete reason other than my spidey sense is saying no -- well said, and I whole heartedly agree.
The thing about Tumwater and many similar roadside runs is, you have to take the extra time to walk around the drops at river level. Only from that perspective can you really appreciate the size of the features (the scale) and the topography of the features (the gradient). Scouting from the road is almost always completely deceptive.
I spend way more time scouting than everyone else, but it usually pays off. I take the superstition that it's bad to scout "too long" with a grain of salt. Its not enough to look at a rapid. You have to See the rapid. There is a difference. Of course, some boaters prefer to boat by "brail", but usually they are experts already. ------------- 🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋 |