Ha ha, now there's a blast from the past for ya! I still remember the sound of splintering okoume as the boat bashed on river boulders like it was yesterday, and still wonder how the world we could've heard such things yet come away without any holes or splits in the seams or plywood. While we were struggling to get off the river our boats were filling up with water, and the scary thing was not knowing whether it was coming in from above or below, yikes. That was one wild ride, man. OLh yeah, and I still wonder how those outfitters could've advised us as they did....

First boats are usually over-built, ours were no exception, and I have never regretted it. Thanks for posting that, Rob!

: I have never seen this story before, Kurt...read on,

: CLC Builders' Forum Archives
: Thank R. Pruden, Not Me

: Posted by Kurt Maurer on Mar 24, 2005

: Our Mister Robert N. Pruden once published a story whereas he took
: his wood kayak into a Class 18 rapids (hey, after class 6
: rapids, who cares what it really was?), unintentionally mind
: you, had the boat turned into mincemeat, and barely escaped with
: his own life, verily. His hair-raising tale was ringing in my
: ears when Leslie and I took on the Rogue River in SW Oregon the
: summer before last... with the blessings of two seperate river
: outfitters who actually looked our boats over.

: The adventure quickly became a high fright to us both, although we
: were already pretty experienced river yakers by that time. Our
: boats received quite a terrific bashing on river boulders, to
: the extent that we both, independantly of each other, became
: convinced that they were being literally bashed apart on us!
: (Kudos to CLC -- our MC13s took it with absolute grace, and
: require NO repairs! Just absolutely amazing!!)

: The first rapids got our undivided attention; the second thoroughly
: alarmed us without reserve; and the third was merely an
: endurdance trial of true terror until we managed to get the hell
: out of the river, together, and abort the mission.

: Astonishing in retrospect, once we were safely ashore we debated as
: to whether or not we ought to press on! Why not? After all, two
: different local outfitters opined we could manage it okay. Maybe
: we had already seen the worst?

: But the R. N. Pruden story rang too loudly in our ears, and caused
: me to make a firm desicion: ABORT. We hitched a ride back to
: town with a rancher... etc, etc... What a hassle...

: The next day we rented a raft, and made the run we had meant to
: enjoy in our wooden yaks. Had we *really* seen the worst of it?
: HAH!! Not by a LONG SHOT!!!

: Suffice it to say that we had such a wonderful exciting pleasurable
: BLAST in the raft that I was no longer inclined to hunt down
: those goddamned river outfitters and beat the shit out of them
: to get their attention. But I regret that I didn't inform them
: of what transpired either. Oh well. Water under the bridge, as
: they say.

: But the point of this story is, good ol' Robbo passed on his
: experience, and Leslie and I ever agree that it saved us some
: real misery of our own. And so I pass on my experience to you,
: and hope you do likewise.

: Cheers, Kurt

: Robert N(ever ever again) Pruden