While I was indulging in the thought that the Tohickon trip on the release weekend was my last river trip of this year, I received a phone call from Allen which was an invitation to paddle the Tohickon Creek again on Friday, November 10th. I was surprised but most pleased to receive the kind offer. I thanked the weather God for the rain and the warming up temperature.

Before the trip, I thought, after the lengthy trip report I wrote for the release weekend, I would be out of talent to compose another one. However, it turned out that this trip won the title of the most exciting trip of LittlePo’s paddling year 2006.

Let’s hit the punch line now and make the long story short. The exciting scenario took place about the rapid called Second Ledge. Please allow me to remind you that you can either pass the spot from river right through a narrow pathway or from river left and drop into a pool. No matter which option you take, the margin of error is slim. The first time I did it, I took the river right and was sucked in a hole and capsized. The second time I chose the river left and drop into a calm pool and felt that I was dropping like a free falling object.

This time, we paddled along the river left. Herman demonstrated the line and disappeared beyond the horizon. Allen followed the line at the very beginning and while he was getting closer to the dropping spot, I noticed that his boat actually was deviated from the course and was a bit right to Herman’s line. A small part of his stern was engaged by the pulling current, and Allen’s boat drove to the right which was the opposite direction Herman headed to.

I wondered what exactly happened to Allen’s boat, but before I came to a conclusion, I started to paddle forward. My boat was another bit right to Allen’s line but I naively thought that I would be alright. My boat therefore started to drift down, and I noticed that it didn’t drop into the pool but a more dangerous place. Before my mind finished thinking I was going to tip over, my boat had already finished the action and turned up side down. I capsized in a hole again, not the same one which got me at the first trip but a similar hard-dealing one.

I wanted to roll since for the whole trip I had been telling myself “do not panic; you know you can roll.” I started to count, “one, two, three, four, five,” surprisingly not in Chinese, my native tongue (well, counting in English gave me more time to prepare my mind). And I set up the roll, and guess what? I rolled up! Oh, my goodness! My pride started to occupy my mind and extended to my body, “this is my best combat roll ever.” “Wait a minute. Something is not right.” I was not out of the danger zone yet, my stern was still in the hole. The force of the current turned my boat vertical, I didn’t have a choice but to appreciate how blue the sky was, “what a nice day, there is not a cloud up there.” And then all I could see was water again. The scene down there wasn’t pretty – fast moving water, white foam, some ugly rocks.

Without motivation to roll again, I leaned forward to pull my grab loop. I pushed the boat but I didn’t fall off the boat clean. Maybe the circulating water cancelled part of my push and my right leg was still caught in the boat. I struggled for a while and finally I was able to swim, but the swim wasn’t easy. In addition to swimming away from the hole, another ledge soon came to me. Luckily I managed to catch a short breath before the river water covered my face. I knew that I didn’t have much time before the next rapid Race Course so I swam as hard as I could. When I reached the shore, my energy was almost drained.

Allen asked me whether I heard Herman yell, “Get out!” so that I swam. I heard nothing; I swam because I didn’t think I could roll. Herman explained to me that if the first time I rolled up I immediately lean super forward and paddle like crazy I had a good chance to get out. The second time my boat rolled over, the current had turned my boat sideways and Herman said, “even if you roll up, the current will turn you over right away. In that situation, it’s much easier for you to swim than roll.”

Herman also taught me other possible ways to get out of a hole when capsized, for example, extend both of my arms and use my paddle to engage with down-flowing water deeper in the river, and once I feel my boat is out of the hole, set up the roll and get back up. “Does this mean next time I should count from one to ten instead of to five?” I wondered.

We finished running the creek without any other drama. Although I had a tiring swim time, I actually loved this experience very much. I gained more confidence on my roll and I almost did a stern stall, although not intentionally. And I know if I keep paddling, the day I’ll be able to initiate cool moves will come.