westwater + IK

[pa33]

Hi all,

I'm looking for advice on boating westwater in an inflatable kayak. I am an advanced beginner in an IK and have mostly done class 3 in the past with a class 4 or two. Is westwater safe to run in an IK at my skill level or should I stick to a raft? Are there some water levels in westwater which are better for IK than others?

Thanks!

[deepsouthpaddler]

An IK on westwater would be fine at lower water. We had an IK on one trip I did. Some yahoo beer guzzling inexperienced guys paddled it. They swam alot, but we had time to bail them out in the pools below the rapids. At higher water this would get tough. It would be a blast! If you are ok with a few swims and have a good crew to help fish you out or are good at self rescue and getting back in the boat, you will be fine.

[pa33]

Thanks for the info...when you say high water what exactly do you mean. Right now its about 10000cfs which seems high to me! But I know it can also go up to 40000cfs.

Thanks again

[WhiteLightning]

yes

[sj]

From personel experience. 6Kand under take your mom above that find the best oarsperson on your trip. sj

[WhiteLightning]

I should probably elaborate... If you go to the "flows" section here on the Buzz, they are color coded in a somewhat arbitrary key that cooresponds to the flow. 10k is "bring your dancing shoes" flows according to the Buzz, which probably sounds about right. The lower flows DSP mentioned will probably occur later in the summer.

[richp]

It's not unusual to see IK's on WW, and folks seem to be having a lot of fun. I've seen them go completely vertical in Funnel Falls and Last Chance, but on a warm Fall day, who cares?

Deepsouthpaddler has it about right on the problems of doing it at higher levels. Depends on what you call fun....

Richp

[Di]

I agree with sj - good fun at 6k and below - levels around 3-4k are great in an IK. At 10k+, WW starts to get big and pushy and a lot of eddies disappear. Potential is there for a long, cold swim - not fun in Skull at this level.

[Mike Hartley]

Many years ago I had my eyes opened to what an IK could do when I watched a guy paddling one casually drift into the Skull hole at 12K. We just knew he was going to get creamed. He surfed it like a rodeo pro, escaped at will, and went looking for more downstream. You can bet he wasn't just a class III/IV boater though.

At 10,000+ I'd recommend being pretty comfortable in big water or be a very durable beginner.