David, I came up paddling in the 90’s, and was doing mid class 5 when I married and had kids, basically retiring from that high end of it. What I was taught then, (I knew and paddled with Charlie Walbridge) was anything much over 20’ or so you were taking risks outside of skill, that the possibility of back injury was just too high. I paddled some of the classic 20-25 footers in the NE US, but never took it beyond that.
The reason more people die in class 3 is there’s a helluva lot more people paddling it, and tend to be with lesser skills and experience. Class 3 rivers like the Lower Yough in PA and the American in CA get tens of thousands of paddlers a year. But that doesn’t mean the people taking undue risks in class 5 aren’t being irresponsible. By me, class 5 by definition means there are things out of your control. Wood, undercuts, just the turbulence and power can mean serious consequences. Compare it to Alpine climbing vs trad, there’s just so much more that can go wrong, that underplaying it serves no one.
There’s a documentary about paddlers by Kate Geis, Riversense, that among the featured were a paddler couple who were doing extreme class 5 after having a child. The man said he had such skills he was not taking risks. I thought this was delusional. I had the worst pin of my career on the Cal Salmon when my son was 15 months, and that was that. My sport was not worth not seeing my kid grow up. That kid is now an avid trad rock climber, and terrifies me!
We’ve just been getting back into the boat after a long pause for kids; my wife’s roll started to suffer at about the 4m mark of pregnancy. We’ll be taking it easy; it’s always been about the journey for us on the river. Fortunately, the kids love to paddle.
I understand. I’ve boated with Charlie as well. He frequents the same rivers I do these days. He, at least last I saw him, is still smoothly navigating the Lower Big Sandy, albeit getting out at every rapid to stretch! FWIW the Upper Yough race is today! Sadly my wife and I are not racing because she has falling ill and is in the hospital. Getting better though! We’ll hopefully be back boating together before Gauley season ends.
It’s not my intention of underplaying it, but changing the language. When I tell people I white water kayak, and assuming they don’t immediately think I’m in a grumman canoe or raft, they often think of it as an extreme sport. That is a part of it, but a small part. You’re correct, user days on class “fun” are large and result in greater loss of life, but one can handily paddle up to class 4 light class 5 and not necessarily risk life and limb at every rapid. When someone says they rock climb it’s, in my mind, perceived by many, as, well, not crazy. Surely people know there is crazy climbing out there, but kids do it at the gym, at the park, it comes very naturally to people as a tool or entertainment. To most lay-people it’s not immediately perceived as a nutty sport. Not the same with kayaking. That’s all I’m saying.
I’ll make sure to check the film out if I can find it! Thanks!
