Lewis River

Last weekend ended a hat-trick of baby showers over the last three weekends, which has kept me away from the surf for a while. However, this last baby shower was for Laurie’s sister, Bethann, who lives in Vancouver, Wa. Laurie’s Dad and step-mom live about 15 minutes away from Daybreak Park on the East Fork of the Lewis River, and there’s a rapid there at high water that I’ve been wanting to run for the last couple years. They’d received a lot of rain over the last week, so Sunday morning Larry, Eric and myself got up early and headed to the river.

It’s the first time I’ve had the Squashtail in the river and most of my river boating time has been spent in canoes, so the little hole created by the water flowing over the boat ramp created a perfect spot to play and get used to the action. After putting in and practicing some eddy turns, I ferried my way onto the wave and started to surf. What a blast. I’d catch the wave and maybe make a turn or two before the bow of the boat would pearl into the upstream slope of the hole, making me do an endo of sorts. Sometimes I’d pop out and stay on the wave, but more often I’d fall off the back of the wave and ride the train, catching the eddy and doing it all over again.



It took some getting used to the current and I’d do the classic lean upstream, when I should have leaned downstream kind of thing, which flipped the kayak more than a couple times – all part of the learning curve. After about 45 minutes of continuous wave play, I was wiped out and dragged myself out of the water. In the end, I left the river wishing for bigger waves and more of them, so I think this provided for a great transition from the ocean to the river. Next weekend I plan to do the Elwha River with my friend, Ed. If we’re lucky we may get some ocean surf in at the end of the run.

River surfing is fun (and the water tastes better), but at this point I prefer the ocean wave.