Kayaking off waterfalls pushes paddlers to the limit

Published 9:00 pm Friday, May 5, 2006

When Eli Pyke first started kayaking, he would have nightmares of being pulled from his boat and then tumbling over a waterfall.

Seven years later, the Bend, Ore., resident is dropping off 70-foot waterfalls and running the notoriously rough Deschutes River stretch of Benham Falls, Dillon Falls and Lava Island Falls practically in his sleep.

But he always manages to stay in his kayak.

“A lot of it is conquering fear and pushing my limits,” Pyke says.

But Pyke cautions that, for beginning kayakers, the motto should be more about knowing your limits rather than pushing them.

Too many times, Pyke says, he has witnessed beginners attempt to run a stretch of river that is beyond their skill levels – and they never want to kayak again.

“A lot of people scare themselves,” Pyke says. “They try a river, take a bad swim, bump their knees up and say, ‘Oh my gosh, I could die doing this. I don’t want to do it anymore.’ The river is a very uncontrollable thing. It’s not like falling on a ski hill. You’ve got to take it slow and be safe.”

Pyke says that the focus required to kayak whitewater and run waterfalls can be too much for some. It takes a long time to learn that focus, and to develop the skills and instincts needed in Class IV or V rapids.

“Most people don’t have a whole lot of patience with intense concentration,” Pyke says. “People can’t get started kayaking and in a year or two be paddling waterfalls.

“I started out and I kept going up and all of a sudden a 20-foot waterfall wasn’t that big. It’s weird because I look up at a 20-foot building and there’s no way I’m jumping off that.”

Recently, Pyke ran the 70-foot Weisendanger Falls – a falls on Multnomah Creek, which becomes Multnomah Falls – and the 50-foot Lower Bridal Veil Falls in the Columbia River Gorge.

But Pyke is taking his kayaking beyond running waterfalls. The video editor and cameraman for Bend-based Rage Films has begun training for a form of competitive kayaking called “extreme racing.” In this discipline, competitors kayak a Class V (extremely difficult) section of whitewater as fast as they can.

They run the course one at a time, and the kayaker with the fastest time wins. The stretches of river used in the races range from a quarter-mile to two miles, and usually take anywhere from three to 10 minutes to complete.

Pyke was to try his first extreme race in Canyon Creek in southwestern Washington on Friday, and he also plans to compete in the Teva Mountain Games in Vail, Colo., on June 1.

Pyke, 24, has been training for extreme racing on the Deschutes River on a series of rapids near the Riverhouse Resort in Bend.

When Pyke started kayaking seven years ago, he progressed quickly, his experience as a linebacker at Sisters High School helping him.

“I can take the falls,” he says.

When attempting a waterfall, Pyke will first scout the location and watch the water run off the lip. He follows that water to see where it lands because that’s where he anticipates he will land.

“You can judge what’s underneath by how the water comes up,” Pyke explains. “I won’t go where the water is splattering, because there’s a rock there.”

On big drops, Pyke says he tries to stay relaxed when falling off the lip of the falls and land in a vertical position. As he is falling, he might put in a stabilizing stroke with his paddle to ensure he does not land sideways.

On drops of less than 20 feet, kayakers employ a move called a “boof,” in which they take a stroke to push away from the falls and pull their knees toward their chests as they fall so the kayak lands flat.

Whatever move he’s doing or waterfall he’s dropping, Pyke finds a special place when he’s in his kayak on a raging river.

“The only thing I’m focused on is the water and the movement in it,” Pyke explains. “And I forget about work, I forget about pain and love, and all that stuff that has to do with everyday life. It takes me to a place that is something like heaven. I feel like I’m in rhythm with the river – and I need to be in that place, otherwise I won’t be successful going off a waterfall.”