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Raffies Gear |
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Do ya ever wonder why some boaters do the things they do? Among all communities of boating friends, we all use and prefer different types of gear, have different rigging techniques and have different rowing styles. What it really comes down to is the love and appreciation of nature and what the rivers have to offer that brings us together.
Speaking of different types of gear, our good friend Rafael (before he started rowing a cataraft) was a firm believer in "Heavy Duty" boating gear. In theory, heavy duty is 'good', however 'heavy' can sometimes be a problem. Especially when you need to recruit your buddies to help haul the boat and gear out of the water at the end of a river trip. Raffies Expedition grade NRS 14' raft and counter-weighed Sawyer oars would always make us groan at the thought of a 'take out' like at the Tuolomne. We often threatened to just push his boat off after it was unloaded, with some miraculous hope that we could just pick it up at some boat ramp somewhere down stream. |
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| On day 5 of our 7 day Klammath River trip, we all exchanged boats for a little variety. This was fun to do once in a while because it would provide us with a little different perspective on boating style and rigging. I transitioned from a very agile but loaded 16' cataraft to Raffies 14' Expedition grade NRS. |
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I was amazed at the difference! Even though the counter weighed Sawyers were easy to move, I couldn't get any 'bite' because of the small blades, I felt like I was trying to row a ship through a pool of mashed potatoes with a pair of tablespoons. I wondered how and why anyone would opt for gear like this, especially considering the availability of high tech lightweight and strong equipment at a comparable price. I began to understand why Raffie often ran into rocks and had a tougher time following our lines. I shouldn't have done it, but I did. . . under my breath, I cursed the gear of a fellow boater. |
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| While adrift in a very large pool on the river, I wondered just how deep this pool really was. The water was fairly clear. But this pool really intrigued me. Looking straight down into a what looked like a deep green emerald abyss, I removed one of Raffies 10' Sawyers from it's pin and decided to see if I could touch the bottom. Even with my arm fully extended straight down into the water and holding the handle of a 10' oar, there was no river bottom to be felt. Now I was really curious. Instead of lowering a weight at the end of a bowline and measuring the line, I pulled Raffies oar about three feet straight up out of the water and let go. And it went . . . straight down. |
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| Fortunately, before doing this I made sure the oar had buoyancy, it did, but not much. With the oar aimed straight down into the pool, it only had about one inch of handle floating above the surface. I thought about how stupid I was as I watched in horror as the bright yellow oar torpedo'd into the abyss. For several minutes I stared straight down into the water, calling "come back, oh please come back." I feared the worse, Raffies counter weighed oar was probably stuck in the river bed a couple hundred feet below. How was I going to explain this? To lose an oar in a wild white water rapid is one thing, but to explain the loss of one in the serenity and calm of a tranquil river pool would require some really imaginative thinking. |
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It felt like an eternity went by, but about ten minutes later, there it was. A dinky little yellow stripe appeared deep down in the pool. "That sucker must still be at least sixty feet down there!" I thought to myself. It took a verrry lonnnng time, eventually the oar came back to the surface. I pulled the oar out of the water and secured it on its pin. |
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I was grateful that no one witnessed to my little stunt. Now this story may not be really all that funny, but what's funny to me is, Raffie doesn't know about this, that is not until he reads this.
Riverchucky |
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