Kayaker's Biathlon Part III

Yep, whitewater and sea kayaking both in one day! Though, I don't know if you'd really call what I did in the morning whitewater since I didn't go down river. And I don't know if you'd call what I did in the evening sea kayaking since I was on a lagoon (granted, with water pumped in from the bay).

I was up in the foothills the morning of the 4th of July and was scheduled to meet friends back in the Bay Area that evening for a barbecue (which turned out to be a sushi-fest, mmmm!). I didn't have time to do a run on the river, but had to get out there anyway. So I picked up another playboat to demo.

Of course, playboats are designed to "play" in river features, surfing in waves and holes, doing all sorts of flips and aerial moves. So the plan was to head to Chili Bar hole for a little park-and-play.

I arrive and find that the water has come down since last week, now about 1600 cfs. I also don't see many people on the river. There's a group of 2 or 3 starting to head down, another guy hanging out, and nobody playing. I wonder why.

I get on the water and ferry across the river to check out the hole. Hmm, looks a little trashy at low flows. I study it a minute; the water look deep enough. So, I figure, what's the worst that can happen? It takes me about 2 strokes to pull out through the current and drop into the hole. The bow of my boat then slides forward into the water that's pouring over the rock that's forming the hole. Next thing I know, the boat-- with me in it-- gets thrown vertically and lands upside-down for a brief instant before getting thrown vertically 2 or 3 more times. I flush out of the hole, roll up, and paddle off to the side, ready to go again.

The guy that was hanging out comes by and says, "Wow. That was impressive. You've got skillz." The funny thing is that he wasn't being sarcastic. The moment reminded me of a Simpsons episode (as most things do) in which Tony Hawk gives Homer a skateboard that automatically does all the tricks in the book and features "the ultimate in poser technology."

Then a teenage kid comes along, drops into the hole, throws some loops, does some cartwheels, and gracefully exits. The other guy comments, "You make that look easy," to which the kid replies, "It is easy!" Punk. The kid then proceeds downriver, followed by his mom.

Satisfied with the thrashings I got, I take off the river after an hour-and-a-half and start back toward the Bay Area where sushi awaits! After dinner and as dark approaches, 3 of us take our boats over to the Foster City Lagoon and paddle out to the middle of it to watch the fireworks. Very impressive! It was neat to see the fireworks reflecting off the water as well as the nearby buildings. Afterward, we headed back, dodging the armada of electric boats that were returning from their once-a-year journey into the open waters of the lagoon.