Tuesday, January 22, 2008

How to get spanked when it´s FLOODING!


It´s been a while since our last update, and I apologize for our slacking. New Years day we hopped on our newly aquainted Canandian Buddy´s styley kayak rig with personal driver. We hitched a ride to La Virgne, Costa Rica to try our luck at the Toro, Poza Azul, and then hopefully get on the Rio Patria. We enjoyed some class IV on the Toro, and then it started to RAIN! Oh man, we wanted to get our flood stage boating ON, and we did!! We headed towards the Poza Azul, a waterfall run that has one park and huck, and then a not commonly run upper section with two more 25´ footers, and a few gorges that connect the run. We got the down low that it´s a bad idea to get into those gorges when there flooding, so we check the flow from the bottom. Trees were fly´n, so we´re definately only going to the lower park and huck. Or at least we thought sooo. Our lack of spanish got our driver very confused, so he asked around and soon we were headed to the river. We found a drop, about 25, and it was juicing, but it all flushed. The lead in was certainly class V. Bradford went first, and with some skill, and a stroke of luck launched off the drop about 30 feet from his intended take off, but he styled it! Oh man, my turn, I was a little concerned about how Bradford got to his launch pad, and didn´t think I could duplicate his line. I went for my original line, because I boat best when I rely on intution. Well, here goes, crankin´around the corner, on line, driving hard, I see the crux, almost there, Wham!!! Before I know it my face is dragging on the rock, and the sky gave me one last glimps before I plummit over the lip of the fall backwards and upside down. Oh boy, I´m in for a ride! I went deep, waited, nothing, still nothing, then all of a sudden, oh´ there´s the curtain, definatley getting pounded, but oddly enough my head is bobbing up towards it. I´m getting pummled but I´m not moving, at this point I would expected at least a few cartwheels, maybe a powershade, space godzilla, underchunder, at least something. I pondered my stange predicament for moment, then Oh, I´m goin deep again, hold the breath, then darkness, it´s oddly quiet. Oh, I´m siffting, that´s a good thing, at least the river wants to put me somewhere away from that scary ass curtain. The next thing I notice is Casey standing in front of me with a WHOLEY SHIT kind of look on his face, yep I´m ridin´low with my skirt fully imploded, yet still in my boat, I paddle towards the eddy in proper stern stall fashion, and dismount my craft once I feel the rocks on the bottom tapping my boat. I gave the okay symbol to my paddling amigos, and hop onto shore. After the excitement disipated I pondered my strange descent, and realize that my skirt imploded imediately and caused these strange forces of nature.
After my wonderful display of carnage we decide to boogie on back to town and perhaps try the drop some other day when it´s not flooding. So, a quick little jont to the confluence on class II, and were back to town, right. We soon discovered that our class II was a strong IV, IV+, and then we came to a canyon with some seriously meaty drops that ended in perfect boat assisted swims! Glad we pulled out and looked! After discussion we decided to hike out, becaue it was clear that we were still in the upper part of then run, and we wanted nothing to do with flooding class V canyons. Three hours later after slogging through knee deep mud, and descending a rather hypothesised marsh area we arrived at a farm were the angry looking bulls quickly escorted us towards the sarapiqui river. We hoped on, and zoomed into town where we told tales, drank cervezas, and relazed in a wood fired sauna in true rainforest fashion!

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