Appreciating the Power

The dramatic photo that came up on my computer screen rang a bell. It showed a thunderous river wave the size of a tour bus. A kayaker was inverted and airborne above it. He is a world-class paddler and had skillfully harnessed the power of the brute to propel himself toward the ionosphere. It obliged, tossing the 230-pound package high into the air with no more effort than you would expend flicking a fuzz ball from your sleeve. It was vaguely familiar because earlier this year I had journeyed to this location, reputedly the biggest whitewater this side of the Rockies. Like him, I had taken on this beast. Unlike him, I’m not a world-class paddler. Probably not even township-class. His intent was to employ the wave to perform an acrobatic maneuver and he succeeded. All I asked of it was safe passage and that was not to be granted. While it did raise me up to knee-knocking height, it also then slam dunked me and retained me in its turbulent maw to administer a repeated drubbing. Fortunately, I overcame the initial shock and awe, gathered my wits, reached for a downstream vector with my paddle blade to extract myself and rolled up. I thought I had appreciated the power of this beast and enjoyed the thrill, but this photo gave me new perspective. When I had paddled it, this was the last challenge of the day. Its upstream kin had already exhausted my resources and I approached it in a less than optimum state. And, I engaged it at water surface level. The photo revealed all of its magnificence. Awesome. Appreciate the power.