[ Editor's Note: B is, in my opinion, one of the best riverboarders - of any age - I've had the pleasure of being on the river with, and for his age bracket, well, let's just say he can hold his own. He has been working hard to establish a riverboarding school on the S. Fork American, which is a popular run in California, and being the protege of Bob Carlson on top of his natural skill in the water, his future looks very bright. ~Ice~]

BEST YOUNG RIDER (2006 Recap)

RIVERS RIVERBOARDED

2006 was a good year for me. There was a ton of melt here in California last spring. Bob and I had our ice breaker in February on the S. Fork American at 7000 cfs. We did all 20 miles to the lake in about 2 hours. Water stayed high for a long time surfing was great as we got to learn the river at new flows. At that level the class III-IV is really more in the IV zone so everything looked different. I had some monster surfs. Maya forms a huge hole river left at the bottom. I’d never seen it like that before and I wasn’t ready for it. The height of the foam pile made me lift up my head and it smashed me. It picked me up like Godzilla and threw me on my back down into the green water. Luckily I was able to flip over like a cat and land surfing instead of getting tumbled.

I had another great surf at Fowlers Rock at about 4200 cfs. The hole next to split rock piles up like a pyramid with a big glassy base and thundering foam pile at the peak. Scouting it from 15 feet up on the cliff it looked smaller. You have to set up from the top of the rapid and drop in on the fly. I came over the pour over backwards swimming hard. I came so fast down river I thought it would take a lot to slow me down. The hole, grown up to be a wave still had a damn sticky foam pile. It hit he like an avalanche. I came back fast into the green water and sunk my nose. Water blasted me in the eyes but I pulled up and stayed surfing. What A sweet spot. A pyramid wave with a wide base and a breaking top on clear south fork snow melt.

My best surf on The South Fork had to be when I surfed all three waves in Maya. I had caught the top wave a few times and I found a nice post to jump from river right that would take me right in. Our group moved down river so I dropped out of the back. I don’t remember the flow but in the center of the rapid the water formed 3 perfect waves right down the center. Normally the peaks aren’t well enough formed to catch but not that day. It sort of surprised me but I tried for the second one anyway and sure enough I slipped in. I had to try for the third and nailed it. That was a good day.

I had three big surfs in The Grand Canyon. I dropped into the bottom whole at Crystal which is known for flipping rafts. I saw it from the top and thought it didn’t look too big. I don’t know what I was thinking. Swung into it a bit to close to the shoulder and had to fight to get in it. I don’t know what I was thinking. I felt myself lock in and I looked to my right. I was like staring over the wing of a 747. There I am, hanging on the wing and I’m about to get sucked into the turbine. I did not want to get sucked into the turbine. I tucked my tail between my legs and casually rode out to the side. I dared not look the beast in the eye.

I also took a shot at mile 209. From camp above you could see the mist. I walked closer. The water of the Canyon was chocolate at this point. The hole was wide and deep with a thundering muddy back bone. It was cycling. The muddy backwash would crumble down 5…6…7 time and then the whole thing would lift up slap down like a cupped hand. The river was big and fast. I nailed my approach just as I planned. I came in backwards and locked in, just as the hand slapped down. It sent me under crumbled up like paper and stretched back out. It tweaked my knee badly. It all went from good to bad so fast, and then under water I stopped getting thrashed and I was suspended, stretched out, board over my head, spinning slowly like a diorama at the planetarium. The river held me and I wondered how long I could hold my breath. At that moment I felt myself spin like a top and I came bursting up from the bottom. Later, when I climbed opposite shore I could see the wave closer and I saw what I couldn’t before. When the wave slapped that side of the wave collapsed and because of fast water between the wave and the bank it spun into a whirl pool. That is where I got stood up and spun around. Ha, squirt boarding.

My Best surf of the year had to be mile 26 in The Grand Canyon. I remember a blue Colorado River Horizon and mist. As I came near the edge I saw Dave Hammond in the eddy below on the left. All he did was point. The pour-over in front of me was huge. The river was choked down perfectly, there was no way through except down. The charging foamy pile came up so high that the wave train behind it started 9 feet high. The eddy left was like 50 yards to come back to surf. It was definitely the biggest, fastest, most beautiful wave I ever rode. There was no foam. The water rebounded up sharply from the river bed and made a deep V pocket. I’m going back.

SPECIAL EVENTS

I was at the American River Festival last year and Chili Bar hole was under water. I think it was going about 6 grand and there weren’t enough people to race. I had to rescue one woman on a rip board before we even left Chili Bar. It went by fast. At that level Blue House is a great place to surf. The wave has a curling lip that makes it a great spot for barrel rolls. Bob Carlson and I took beginners to Blue House and people had a great time. Sutter’s Mill to Greenwood creek at 6000+ is a great run to learn on.

Bob Carlson and I took two road trips in 2006 besides the Grand Canyon. We spent a day on the North Fork Yuba and did the Maytag Run. It was awesome. I’d never been there and the river was beautiful. Maytag rapid is a V+ falls. After the drop you have to keep your line under water to miss another super sucker hole down river. I’ll be honest. I came over the top saying “Holy Shit!” and froze after I punched the water at the base of the falls. I had a good long ride underwater and popped up just in time to fall right into the hole down stream. I had no problems though and surfed out of it.

Bob and I also ran the main Tuolumne. I was caught under a rock and almost drowned at Clavey Falls in 1999, I was thirteen. I try to go back every year. No drowning in 2006 just a good long day on The T.

HISTORY

I started river boarding when I was 12. I met Bob and saw some old pictures of him and his brother surfing at Steamboat on The T. I wanted to go riverboarding right away but Bob said I was too small. So, I took a baggy wet suit I bought for 10 bucks and sneakers and my friend and I ran Miller Creek in Mill Valley, CA on a rainy day when the water was good and high. It has to be a riverboarding first descent. We were freaking people out as we swam through their back yards in the flood.

When Bob heard about what I did he changed his tune and insisted that I go riverboarding with him. He said I needed to learn something so I wouldn’t get hurt. He was right. I did need to learn something and I was too small. My first trip on the American my helmet kept slipping down over my eyes and I couldn’t see. Not that I knew how to read white water. I think I held my breath the whole way through Meat Grinder because I subbed-out through every pour over on the way down. I’ve been hooked ever since.

Bob took me under his wing. I started making boards for him that summer and so have had the opportunity to learn how to riverboard from the creator. Through the years Bob has become a friend more than anything else and so it is hard to say when I became a Sponsored Carlson Rider. I have been fortunate to have had to opportunity to run many rivers with Bob Carlson including the Grand Canyon in Sept-Oct 06.

In the spring and summer of 2006 we were taking customers on the South Fork American River at high water. A hand full of trips Bob and I were lucky to have some real talented groups. We had one group of college kids surfing everything. At one point they were jumping off the cliff at Race Horse Bend to drop into a wave. With another group of guys we spent the end of their day running Trouble Maker again and again, surfing the top wave and even below gun sight.

 

 

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