"Skin you eyes for him, men; look sharp for whitewater;
if ye see but a bubble, sing out."
- Captain Ahab
Moby Dick, Herman Melville, 1851 (book)
"... good... good... pull softly now... oh, did ye see him, men
did ye see his hump like a snowhill? Did ye see the way he
slides along; oh there's majesty for you! Did ye see the
lances in his back? My lances, mine! Struck in him years
ago!... oh soft now... pull... don't look... I'll look for ye..."
- Captain Ahab
Moby Dick, John Huston (dir.), 1956 (film)
This past month of August was certainly rain drenched throughout resulting in some consistent, albeit infrequent, amped summertime paddling levels on the lower Yough river. Gauge levels for the most part fluctuated between a respectable 3 to 6 feet with an abrupt, but quickly dissipating day or two of 10 feet thrown in for good measure. Solid Class IV. Paddler habitat.
What a convenience nowadays to be able to set in front of the computer screen and immediately chart the current vital statistics such as water level and flow rate with swig in hand. Temperature too if that's a thought. Hour by hour. Search around and you can find details such as recommended raft length and tube size for the conditions. Even what to wear and bring for lunch. All "expert" advice. Scant information back in the day. Other than the two staples wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Not much print data nor mapping. Definitely no internet. Personal computers were at least a decade off. Call the park office early morning opening to get the current stage level from the live front desk operator. As an informal standard we just always figured water temperature to be around nighttime air temperature. If weather and conditions were expected to be a bit rough the park would just hammer a wooden 'DANGER HIGH WATER' sign into the lawn adjacent the rough trail leading down to the old put-in. No check-in. If one spotted ya' a park ranger may stop over and advise "I don't think that I would paddle today if I were you guys" before watching ya' shove off.
You'd see the occasional wrecked and abandoned boat on the way down river. A wrapped aluminum canoe here. A trapped fiberglass kayak there. For a few years there was a white fiberglass kayak tree-wrapped just upriver from the mouth of Indian Creek. At the time the old outfitter take out before the park constructed an official parking lot and take out further upriver along Bruner Run. Battle scarred to say the least. Close inspection revealed the boat to be patched upon top of patches. Finally one trip it was gone. Washed away. We always wondered the story behind those remains.
Our first trip ever we at least had one crew member, a buddy, who had worked a previous summer as a part-time raft guide for a paddling outfitter. Had a few trips under his belt. And our borrowed Army Surplus inflatable "bucket boat" raft had a somewhat detailed river map inked onto the rubber floor. An addition meticulously scribed by the buddy's uncle who owned and lent us the boat for the day. No knowledge or even thought to gauge level or discharge. The old orange "horse collar" style life jackets. An unmatched set and length of wood paddles. Milk jug bailers. No patches, repair kit nor pump. Never even thought of it. So if we sprung an air leak or blew a seam or tube we were f*k'd on the spot. Didn't matter anyway. The old twin chambered bucket boat had a set of three-piece brass air valves that when wet were impossible to open without a set of pliers. We found that out at the end of the trip when deflating the boat. It made no difference. All we knew was that we were looking forward to a trip into the great unknown. Here be dragons. Beyond, the Golden Fleece - an iced cooler case of cold brews stashed miles down river for the final several mile flat water return to civilization. For our first venture into whitewater paddling, via inflatable rubber raft navigating the lower Yough river, tame stuff by todays measure, we may as well have been hundreds of miles out within the open sea amongst Ahab's crew chasing an aggressive, ferocious white whale.
The classic full-size 1975 Yough River map. Our friends uncle had
hand drawn a river map with an individual inset detail of each rapid,
similar to this map, onto the floor of his raft which we borrowed.
Meticulous work. Second trip we tore a gaping five foot hole into that
floor. We still have a copy of this map rolled up and stashed somewhere at home.
Bottoming out at Cucumber Rapid we ran into two guys who had called it a day (at only the second rapid and a half mile into the run) and were hiking their boat back up along the shoreline. They'd completely torn the floor off their boat while running Cucumber. One commented "F*k this!... this boat wasn't made for this river!". They were paddling the exact same raft as ours.
(Internet Image)
Recently found this image on-line. A Udisco?
Exact same raft as our Army Surplus model(s)
We're figuring the river was running at near 4 feet that first trip. We'll say Class III+. Other than an occasional man overboard, all went uneventful. No dragon sitings. No white whale. And we were ready to get right back at it. Maybe two weeks later. We added a man to now form a five man crew. A bit tight roster for the four-man boat.
Next trip all went well until navigating 'Rivers End' rapid. With a swamped boat full of heavy water we missed the sharp left eddy turn and plowed directly into 'Wall Rock', the large mid river boulder which shoots the river hard left after smashing into and careening off it's immovable bulk. A lucky, out of control complete spin to the left directed us back on course. Unfortunately, right over a series of smaller left facing rocks which includes the sharp pinnacled 'Snaggletooth' rock. Carrying an additional ton of water ballast snaggletooth easily carved a five foot tear in the rubber floor. So much for our borrowed boat and the elegantly mapped floor. Still, we persevered down river. Our buddy was none too happy when we returned the boat, for him to in-turn return to his uncle. A year later we were talkin' to 'em as he was unloading the trunk of his car. We noticed that he was still totin' that raft around. Still hesitant to confront his uncle.
Map of 'Rivers End' rapid
From 1987 'Great American Rivers Flip Map Series'
©Ron Rathnow
Strongman Matt viewing back toward treacherous 'Snaggletooth' rock...
... and later carvin' thru a hole somewhere along the lower Yough
Now without a boat we went and purchased a similar raft from Army Surplus. We made an adapter from an automobile tire valve stem and carried a bicycle pump, a small tube of adhesive and a few patches cut from an inner tube as a river repair kit. That raft held up well for several years before finally blowing a seam while inflating one day. That was at the compressor air pump at a local service station. It really blew. The guys inside the station said that they thought a car had hit the building.
Luckily we had just upgraded to a real river raft that we had mail ordered from Blackadar Boating out in Salmon, Idaho. Hypalon 18" tubes with wrap-up neoprene floor. Length 12'-10". Two hypalon thwarts. Twin chambered with 1" military style nylon valves. None-the-less a bucket boat. Self bailing floors were still a year to two away. That boat held up well for several years before blowing a seam while paddling the lower Yough down near Stewarton Landing. We repaired it (somewhat) but by then had long since been paddling open canoes. Had lost interest in inflatables and rafting in general.* Still have it folded up down in the basement.
We've paddled both bucket boat and self-bailer. The only merit we could apply the bucket boat would be for a high volume, low technical river and the extra ballast that the water inside provides for added stability. We were glad to have had the extra weight when once unintentionally paddling the lower Yough at near 12ft level after an unexpected storm. We were sure glad to have not flipped a boat and then try to recover the boat and five paddlers, and surely a few paddles if not all, in a flood without a pool in sight. For anything technical we'd always take the self-bailer for the maneuverability. On the negative, applied to either style boat, or any inflatable for that matter, we also begin to distrust the glued seams after around eight years of constant use after having blown a few. A near impossible repair when out on the river. Two (modern technology) inflatable SUP's we own, same make, same model, both purchased together same day, each blew a seam after ten years use. Both within the exact same spot along the seams and within five minutes of each other while out on the river.
As for our quoted Moby Dick intro, we always found, time after time, and no matter the crew, that always after running a significant drop most all would cease to paddle and turn around to look back at the rapid just assailed while seconds ahead a larger, usually potential boat flipping drop or pinning boulder obstacle loomed. Echoing Ahab's "Don't look back... I'll do the lookin' for ya!" became a oft repeated and amusing refrain.
* Correcting ourselves for modern times, viewing videos of current folks steep creeking and playboating those compact R-1 rafts sure looks like fun. But at least get a hard boat and develop some paddling skills on the side.
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