UCWWF

So what does that stand for, University of California World Wrestling Federation? Nah, it's the Upper Clackamas White Water Festival, of course! It was their 25th year, and it was quite a turn out. The event had racers for every craft imaginable, even ones that were probably probably never intended to navigate holes that could eat a cow. There were, however, no inflatable dragons, at least during the time I was watching.

I left my hometown of Bellingham at 7:20am on Friday and made Portland by a little after noon, stopping in at Andy and Bax, one of the main Festival sponsors, to buy some riverboarding travel bags. It's in the east side industrial area of Portland, a part of town I had never explored. I wish I could have spent more time there and visited some of the interesting restaurants and cafes that looked sort of like hole-in-the-walls. I just really liked the texture of the neighborhood. Came out with a mesh duffle, and an extra-large boat bag so I can pack my riverboard in with other items and have it only count as one piece of luggage, all of course, quite reasonably priced.

Met up with Derrick and Joe at the Carter bridge around 2 and we did a practice run from Fish Creek to Bob's Hole. At the shuttle drop off I saw someone knee riding at Bob's with a yellow vest and thought it looked familiar; could it be Peter?

I didn't notice how cold the water was; the sun was out, the flows were around 5K and I was concentrating on whatever information Joe could give me about each rapid. One of the trickier ones was called Big Eddy. And it is just that. Get too far to the right and you are going to be fighting your way out of a huge circle, but the current downstream all but disappears. I think Derrick spent a little more time back there than he'd intended.

Toilet Bowl was another fun one with a giant wave train that came at you ever so diagonally. I made a clean run through it and let out big hoots afterwards. Around the corner was the surfing wave, and I couldn't get into it down-river, but managed to from the side. It was really smooth and nice, but when I tried to get up on my knees the nose dived and I flipped. It was enough for one day.

Back at Carter a few bottle caps were set free and Joe and I watched the various crafts navigate through the Carter rapid, sitting in the sun on the rocks. The gates were mostly up and we were wondering if we'd be running them all. After awhile another familiar face came around, and sure enough, it was Peter Cameron who had been knee-riding the standing wave.

Saturday's race didn't start until 2pm so there was plenty of time to relax. I ended up having breakfast back in Estacada at the recommended Bakery. Just after being seated I saw a familiar face. It was a gal I used to surf with, who was here for the festival! I'd lost touch with her but had just been thinking of her not long ago. She's not surfing much but has gotten into kayaking and was also here for the festival. She said when she saw me she immediately thought, she's doing the riverboarding! Yeup, she guessed right.

Friday we'd decided we would gather around 12:30 at the festival grounds, and Docta P was there with his clipboard, ready to run the event. We drove, hitched, and otherwise shuttled ourselves up to the Fish Creek boat ramp for the start. He read us the rules, and soon enough we were scratching across the eddy to get into the current. I didn't start out in the front but ended up tailing Peter Cameron in second most of the way, and he got me by less than half a minute. And, toilet bowl got me as well on the very last wave, pitching me off my board and shoving a bit of water down my windpipe. Already breathing hard from the race, it's never a pleasant feeling! But the race was done at that point, and I let myself slowly drift down to Bob's hole, since I couldn't see the takeout for the picnic area.

We all eventually ended up at the standing wave, and decided to run that part of the competition then. It's not on the schedule as an official UCWWF event, so we could run it when we wanted to. Others had commitments on Sunday and the hole was working really, really sweetly.

I rode my Kern board a couple times in it and was able to carve, and once to spin the board around backwards, but was afraid to try getting on my knees after getting flipped. So I tried Peter C's Carlson with a scooped out back, and I got to my knees without hardly trying. Must be the shape; more rocker, handles a little lower. It felt solid and steady and I stayed on my knees for a very long time for a couple of tries at it. The best surprise was a young man from n8tvadventures, who had never surfed a standing wave, and got to his knees second try! The smile on his face afterwards was priceless. I'll bet that next time he goes riverboarding, he's going to be keeping an eye out for those sticky holes! He was awarded 3rd place in this part of the event.

Afterwards Docta P said he wanted to run from Powerhouse to log in some vertical for the Eddy Flower. Much to my surprise he told me I was on his team! I was thinking I wasn't going to be able to do it, because I really didn't want to be a team of one, but I was really excited to find this out. (I don't have a blackberry and left my computer at home, so I was without email and cell up at the Clack, and the info went out Friday.) I am officially a "swimmer in paradise" although it sounds much more poetic in Spanish.

Although I was getting a little chilled, and was just a tiny bit tired from the downriver push and the standing wave riding, I wanted to get in the vertical as well, so Peter C shuttled us up to the put in above the powerhouse. I stood there in my damp wetsuit, in the shade, hopping up and down a little to keep the blood circulating, while Peter put on his 16th layer under his dry suit before zipping in (I am exaggerating here. A little.), and figured out how to use the two left Churchill fins he'd packed.

The run was beautiful, past some really interesting rock formations in spots, where they jutted out into the water in long fingers. Nice little wave trains here and there, nothing too intense. As I'd told Joe the day before, not much is scaring me after the Reventazon. I did get a little close to a rock once and had to throw my board up to keep my head away from it, and once again that last blasted wave in Toilet Bowl took me out.

By that point my jaw was starting to tighten up and I wasn't far from shivering. My toes were numb, and I would paddle with my arms just to generate a little heat. Contrarily, Peter was sweating in the 40 degree river. It's always easier to cool off. I'd been thinking about how to beef up my new 5 mil, perhaps with another 3 mil farmer over it. We'd been in the water almost 90 minutes and I was never happier to see the big white Dodge Sprinter Peter had waiting for us roadside. I was a little worried when I saw Peter flanked by five law officers, but his hands were free so I figured they were just hanging out. They mostly dispersed when we got up there.

It took me about 2 hours to get warm all the way to my toes, and that was after a cup of hot water and a bowl of clam chowder at the Fearless Brewing Company in Estacada, taken beneath a blanket on a soft couch. Decided to check out the festival happenings afterwards; it was mostly a bunch of dogs running wild, young people hanging out and a huge, hot bonfire. There was another music gig at the other end of another campsite; not sure which one was "official" but the smoke was a little much and it was time to go and fall sleep to the best white noise the planet can offer: a rushing river.

Sunday's activities were also in the afternoon, so there was ample time to hit the bakery again, and recover my coffee thermos I'd left the previous day... I got a little nervous when it seemed it was just myself and Peter C showing up but eventually our numbers added, lots of late and last minute adds, kayakers wanting to try it. Docta P had been delayed by some unfortunately timed farm equipment, but as we had an hour to run each section of each event, there was no real rush.

When Dave said he'd made all the gates on a practice run, which meant that physically, it was possible, we decided that they would all count. It wasn't easy! Only a few of the gates were in a straight line, and several were right on top of a huge hole. We'd watched these holes eat many a boat and all the inflatable kayaks earlier on. Carnage!

I was in the second of the two seeding heats. A guy named Luke, who was in charge of a lot of the festival, gave it a go. Afterwards, however, he got sidetracked and had a stand-in run in the preliminary for him, a kayaker without any wetsuit material on his legs, who had never riverboarded. I think he came in last in the heat, but he had a big smile on his face, that look of "wow" that comes after a decent white-water arse-kicking.

The final heat was myself, Peter Cameron and David. No one else really wanted to run it again. I had trouble in the first heat at gate 6 after a thrashing at 5; had made it clean in the preliminary (according to those watching from the shore, at least), but got knocked around by it again in the final. Dave passed me right as the wave jacked up, which put me in a bad line. I was unable to make six, but knowing I'd secured 2nd place overall no matter how I finished, once again going up against some really strong men, I was a happy camper.

The only thing different about this event was it was the first time I'd competed without Josh and Alex and Kevin present. It made it a little easier to get that finish, but you guys were missed.