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| Greg's Micro-cat Boat Flip at Bogus Thunder - North Fork American |
| Greg (nickname - Caveman) is one helluva boater. The following sequence of photos tell a story about Greg's flip at Bogus Thunder rapid on the North Fork American River. This happened in the days before he got himself a new Hyside cataraft. The ol' NRS Metzler rubber micro-cat in these photos served him well for many years. The rubber was getting porous and the rear half section of the right tube always lost a lot of air. Always had to pull over and top off his boat. Which probably motivated him to invent the "Top Off Pump". Of course losing air in an inflatable boat also means loosing bouyancy. If ya loose bouyancy, it don't float to well, right!? Well, not only is this a very tricky rapid with a strong lateral wave at the bottom of the drop, it has a tendency to flip most boats - especially paddle boats. You combine a very flippy rapid and a kinda soft boat - you might just have a flip. That's why I was ready with my camera - kinda saw it comin', hee hee. One thing for sure though, Greg does it with style. |
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| Greg sets up nicely for a river-center run. Getting around the big boulder behind him is usually the tricky part for a river-center run, especially since the drop is only about 15 feet away. |
| Looking good on the set up, he straightens the boat for the drop. |
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| The drop and rolling lateral pretty much consume his boat. This is gonna be good! |
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| He makes it out of the hole, but that soft right-rear section of the boat just isn't providing the floatation that he really needs. What you see here is some very fine class V boater form. Greg is "high-siding" the boat (moving weight to the high side) trying to hold it down. What you don't see is his attempts to push the left tube down - three times. Guess he really didn't want to go for a swim just yet. |
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| Yee Ha!! Greg knows it's a lost cause, he's goin' over. |
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| Nothin' like an inverted ghost boat on the beautiful water of the North Fork. Actually you can see Greg hanging onto the frame - he's really good at this flip thing. Hey Greg? Was it twelve flips this season? |
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| I can almost read his mind - "Yeah yeah, just take the damn picture!" |
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| Again, fine class V boater form - using the flip line to 'flip' the boat right side up. We thought about printing "This side down" on the bottom of his boat in case he started getting confused. |
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| All in a days fun! Ready to go - next rapid, Stair Case! |
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| The Ultimate Top-Off-Pump |
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