The results of their efforts can be seen in the video below.  Unless you’re a daytime soap opera fan, disregard the smoldering, slow-motion, stare-into-the-camera head shots and enjoy the beautiful line of one brother and the hold-down beating of the other.  We cannot see much of the beating, but it blew off the shoes of its recipient.  After his two experiences at Abiqua Falls, Todd sums up his feelings, ” I don’t think I’m now any less scared of Abiqua, but she sure as hell was a lot of fun.”

Middy first sat in a kayak when he was 8 years old, and he still paddles regularly, some years later. He likes to see animals when he paddles and enjoys class V multi-days. His passion for adventure has taken him to remote rivers in New Zealand, the Arctic, Central Asia, and all over North America. His passion for fruit has led him to consume kilograms of grapes in a single sitting. Today, Middy paddles whitewater, flatwater, and surfski, tutors teenagers in math and physics, and stands astride the IR website like a Colossus.

In any event, Middy will now be reviewing all stories that go to our site. If you would like to submit a story, you can reach Middy at middy@immersionresearch.com

Later in the season, Tyler Bradt, Erik Johnson, my brother Brendan Wells, and I found Outlet Falls at perfect flows. Outlet Falls is just 20 minutes from my home, and I was stoked to finally see her with enough water.  Erik and I liked it so much we paddled it two days in a row.  My favorite part is catching the eddy at the lip then fading into the clean 70 foot drop.

As the spring progressed,  we continued the the yearly Pacific Northwest huckfest, Sam Freihofer and I decided to step it up a notch. We decided to take a topo-duo over 85ft. Metlako Falls.

It was the biggest waterfall paddled in a two person kayak, but Sam’s ejection out of the boat in the pool below has caused questions about the legitimacy of our record.  Does Steve Fisher and Anton Immler’s previous record on 70ft. at Middle Palguin still stand? You be the judge.

Every year my brother and I run all the waterfalls on the Lewis River, and this year we did it multiple times. You have probably already seen footage of Upper Falls in the Bomb Flow video magazine, but here’s a video my brother and I made with our GoPros. It’s pretty sick.

Mid-way through the summer Louis Geltman, Seth Swallen and myself made an “on-the-spot” decision to rally 14 hours south to paddle Upper Cherry Creek in California. It was the best decision I made all summer, and I had one of the most amazing adventures of my life through a High Sierra granite wonderland.

In the fall, I started school, which put an enormous cramp in my style. Fortunately, I was able to explore new local river drainages.  Being so close to the Canadian border I made a couple trips into Canada. My first trip north was with Eric Parker, Olin Wimberg, Ben Dann, and my brother, Brendan. We are all alumni of the World Class Kayak Academy, and our plan was to meet up with the school for a weekend. We enjoyed getting to see the school back in full function. It was an amazing weekend that brought back plenty of good memories.

On our next trip to British Columbia veterans of Dipper Creek Fred Norquist and Ben Hawthorne lead Olin, Eric, Brendan and myself down the amazing Dipper Creek. Flows were too low to do the whole creek, but we were able to get into Vertigo Canyon. Vertigo Canyon is an incredible crack in the earth; at points the river is just wider than a kayak with walls towering hundreds of feet above. This is another wonderland of the world.

I finished off my year back home in the Columbia River Gorge for winter break. I was blessed with high water: 4.5 ft. on the Little White and 6ft. on the White Salmon River. It was an amazing year, and I’m sure that 2012 will only be better.

Cheers all, and have an incredible new year!!
IR Team Member: Todd Wells

Photo’s: All of the photos from Cherry Creek and Lower Falls on the Lewis River have photo credit by Seth Swallen.  All of the other photos were taken by me.

On what must have been one of my first times down Mill Creek, I was paddling with my Mother in high water and a real rain and lightening shit storm.  I was a very young, timid paddler and was quite scared. Actually, I think I was crying and at one point didn’t want to continue down the creek.  In a moment of maternal paddling instinct, my Mother got out of her boat, took off her sock, and use it to tie our boats together. She then pulled me down the rest of run.  I’m not sure if she would remember this, but I will never forget it.  I guess that’s what family is for!!!  Thanks, Mom!

Start the roll leaning on your back deck looking toward your stern the way you’ll be flipping over. Your paddle should be placed parallel to your boat with your power face’s pointing down towards the water.

From this position you’ll lean your body under you kayak which should start the roll. As you begin to flip sweep your leading blade (which should be planted at your stern) underneath you boat while pushing down on it and begin to snap your hips into the roll to bring the stern of your kayak over your head. At the same time you should be pulling your knees to your chest slightly, this will pull your stern out of the water. You should be leading this move aggressively with your head. Be sure to keep your arms tight to get the most flexibility out of your hips. Reaching way out gives you more leverage but makes it harder to edge your boat.

Once you’re completely upside down you’ll need to switch blades to keep constant upward pressure on your stern and finish the roll. Engage your trailing blade while cocking your wrist back to ensure that it is climbing to the surface of the water and not diving. You’ll now have transferred your power to this blade which will finish the roll. The tricky part of the dry roll is that you won’t only be sweeping your paddle across the surface of the water to perform the roll but you’ll also be pushing down on your blades to keep your head and stern out of the water. For this reason it is very important that your blades have a climbing angle constantly bringing them to the waters surface.

As with any roll as you start to pull (or in this case push) on the stroke that will bring you upright you’ll need to flick your hips to return your boat to an upright position. This will create a stable platform to finish the roll from. Once your boat is upright you can swing you body out to the side of your boat and onto your front deck where you’ll return to a stable, upright position. Commit to finishing on your front deck, coming up to the side often means falling back into the water.

Things to consider:

This move confuses a lot of people but it’s really not that hard. It is not a speed thing, I often see people struggling with their back deck roll because they are trying to rush through it with poor technique. Try to slow it down and get the steps right, you’ll be surprised how slowly you can perform this roll with good technique.  The hip snap for this roll is a little different than a standard roll as you’re going from an upright position to an upright position in one fluid motion. As your boat flips over you’re hip snap will start quickly, then slow down in the middle while you transition from one paddle blade to the other, then finish quickly again as you return your boat to an upright position.  Learn how to Back Deck Roll before you try to Dry Back Deck Roll. I almost always see people skipping step one and trying to go straight to the Dry Roll. You don’t learn to run before you can walk, figure out how to roll from an upside down position to upright on your back deck before you try to do the entire thing without getting your head wet!

Safety Tip: While under water putting your forearm in front of your forehead will protect your face from rocks in this more vulnerable back deck position.

IR Team Member: Kelsey Thompson

I think everyone approaches their kayaking trips differently. Some probably travel with the sole reason of film making, and they no doubt produce amazing results. I bet some groups even record less kayaking than we did while running more whitewater. When I look back at footage of bus rides, rock fall, and kiddie slides; It takes me to a special place that can not be reproduced by kayaking in the states. This is a short video that will give everyone a taste of the best part of international kayaking. To me, it is the feeling of being on the move in a foreign place, having rich experiences with friends, whether we are on the river or not.