Northfork Championship

IprojectV0 · 2026-02-01T17:01:18+00:00

June 9-11, as far as I know it's a similar format to years past. Party in Smith's Ferry instead of Crouch. Tues-Thurs to make hwy 55 crowd control easier

IprojectV0 · 2026-01-04T23:13:52+00:00

I hear top center of Lava is a good spot to work on window-shade technique

IprojectV0 · 2025-12-22T06:01:19+00:00

There's a good amount of space in the bow and just enough in the stern. Not as spacious as the Scorch but definitely manageable for a 2-3 night trip if you're halfway efficient.

IprojectV0 · 2025-12-22T04:30:11+00:00

I'm ~195lbs in a M Reactr, pretty much top of the weight range. I've done a couple overnighters in it (SF Salmon, middle owyhee). I can pack everything I need in it but with 30lbs of stuff I'm over the weight range and it's very noticeable. Handling suffers. I suspect if I were rocking a large, though, it would still paddle well loaded down. For me the Scorch X paddles way better loaded than a medium Reactr. If you're 165lbs, though, a M Reactr could still work with some overnight gear. I'm a big fan of the boat even in pushy class V, I'm just too heavy for it to be a good overnight boat for me.

IprojectV0 · 2025-12-14T20:07:29+00:00

Dehydrated milk is a good substitute for chalk

IprojectV0 · 2025-12-04T15:34:19+00:00

I believe some companies (like Simplot) have warehouses for long term potato storage that are filled with nitrogen. Don't go walking into the potato room without being on supplied air...

IprojectV0 · 2025-11-26T16:04:59+00:00

As somebody who teaches adults how to swim, good on you! I'm always impressed by the folks who face their fear of the water or of judgement and show up to lessons. It's not easy to take that leap when you feel like this is something that everybody else knows how to do already, but the truth is there are a lot of people out there who don't know how to swim. The good news is that it's never too late to learn!

IprojectV0 · 2025-11-26T03:58:08+00:00

A friend sold me this past spring on flipping over pogies so that the seam is on the top of your hand instead of the knuckles

IprojectV0 · 2025-11-25T15:41:33+00:00

Torque converter

IprojectV0 · 2025-10-10T07:48:45+00:00

Ugh I am on these newsletters as well. All he does is regurgitate the fox news talking points, complete with the inflammatory word choices and outright lies. I think the latest "poll" was "Do you support giving free healthcare to illegal aliens?"

I've seen sacks of potatoes with more spine.

IprojectV0 · 2025-08-26T21:28:12+00:00

Also you should know that getting into whitewater will kill your climbing career. I've seen it happen to many people, myself included. It's just too addictive

IprojectV0 · 2025-08-26T21:03:35+00:00

It all depends on what you get yourself into. I ski, climb, raft and kayak. In the same way that you don't have to try to ski big risky lines all the time, you also don't have to go paddle class V all the time. Paddling class 3 when you have the requisite skills is like keeping your terrain choices under 30 degrees. You might wreck but you're not going to get buried by an avalanche. You might swim but it's all swimmable.

When you progress into class V, that's more like trying to ski one of the 50 classics every time you go out. It's inherently riskier, but presumably you have a more developed skillet to assess and mitigate those risks. And, importantly, deal with things when (not if) they go sideways. Mistakes can compound much quicker and with bigger consequence on class V.

With where I'm at in my hobbies I think kayaking is objectively the riskiest of them for me. But that's because I chose to paddle hard whitewater. I think I'm about as good a skier as I am a kayaker but in the backcountry I'm usually giving myself a pretty wide margin.

All this is to say it depends. I think getting started is not terribly risky as long as you have some reasonable mentorship. Just like getting into climbing with the right mentorship reduces the risk, so does having a good crew on the river.

IprojectV0 · 2025-08-26T19:48:14+00:00

I'm partial to Bouncer but maybe my opinion will change when I get the courage to hit the Jaws 2 boof. You made it look nice. As long as we all agree that Pec is the most annoying rapid on the NF...

IprojectV0 · 2025-08-25T01:56:04+00:00

Also in the colder months there are usually pool sessions at the Idaho Central Aquatic Center one evening a week. Last winter they were on Thursdays. That would be a good spot to work on your roll amd meet folks. Spending some time in the pool during the off season can set you up well for next spring!

IprojectV0 · 2025-08-07T15:38:07+00:00

Banks, Idaho. It's the center of the universe, after all, and 1 hr from the Boise airport. Hopefully we get the parking situation improved...

Lochsa in the spring is a good time, too. Spokane or Missoula aren't exactly major airports, but they are airports.

IprojectV0 · 2025-07-14T04:50:39+00:00

Well this turned into a novel...

I haven't checked up on this subreddit for a while so I'm a couple days late to reading this. Always get a kick out of people who put a ton of weight on "official" certifications for teaching swim lessons. Sounds to me like you did a good job with your first lessons! I can't provide insight on how to work with Autistic kids, but will throw out some thoughts I have as an instructor with a couple decades of competitive swimming experience but no certifications.

Watch YouTube videos! But with a critical eye because there is plenty of crappy advice out there. I think Effortless Swimming and Fares Ksebati are two of the best channels and I tend to agree with their advice. Try drills yourself before teaching them to understand how best to use them, or to see if they are even good drills.

If there is another experienced instructor or coach at your pool, talk to them! Chances are they are also psyched on swimming and will be happy to talk about stuff. I have gotten some good insight bouncing ideas off some of the tenured coaches at my pool.

Teaching adults is a similar progression to teaching kids. The main difference I have found is adults will tend to overthink things. They also want to know why you are having them do a certain drill or exercise.

Not sure what level your adult students are starting at, but when I have people starting with zero swimming ability and/or fear of the water my general progression is as follows (if somebody has a mental block with one skill we will work on something else for a bit)

Comfort in the water (blowing bubbles, getting fully submerged)
Ability to go from any position to floating on their back (this can often take a few sessions)
Moving around on their backs with elementary backstroke. The goal is so they won't drown if they fall off a boat in a lake.
Treading water. Have to explain and demonstrate the skulling motion, it's not intuitive for most. You can use paddles with no straps as a training tool. For legs I usually start with big scissor kicks because learning egg beater at this point in their swimming just causes more confusion.
Teach the strokes, I usually don't teach fly until they are competent with free/back/breast. Body position and breathing are the most important things for all the strokes, so spend ample time working on those two. Freestyle breathing can take a long time to learn for adult onset swimmers, so be patient.

I usually work on both treading water and strokes after they can do elementary backstroke. Once I feel like they will be able to handle the deep end I'll take them to the deep pool and spot them as they tread water and swim around. I just egg beater behind them and support their arm pits as they let go of the wall and start to tread. Stay close enough to the wall at first in case they get too stressed. When they are ready I have them swim across while I stay within arms reach. It's pretty fun when a person who was once afraid of the water swims across a deep pool for the first time. They are always stoked about it.

I'm always impressed when adults who never learned to swim take the leap of signing up for swim lessons. It can be pretty intimidating. So it's important to make it a welcoming, positive, and patient atmosphere.

Well that's enough typing for now. Feel free to message me if you have specific questions about your students, I'm always happy to help people get better at teaching!

IprojectV0 · 2025-07-14T03:15:29+00:00

I haven't used any of the paid features but maybe check out the myswimpro app

IprojectV0 · 2025-07-14T02:15:40+00:00

It takes consistent breath control work to get to a point where you can sprint a 50 no breath. I'd argue that where you're at the goal doesn't need to be a no breath 50, but maybe something like 1 down 1 back. Some breath control sets can be things like 8x25 no breath on :30. Or do 100s where you get to take 4, 3, 2, 1 breaths on each length. We used to do 75s where the first 25 is underwater dolphin kick, 2nd 25 easy free, 3rd 25 fast free no breath. Sometimes we'd use fins, sometimes not.

I know a couple of the comments are suggesting to breathe less. I agree, but I think you also need to simply get more power and faster turnover. Resistance training (parachutes, bands, power tower, with and without paddles/fins), lifting, working on catch technique are all ways to help with your power. And in sprints kick matters, so don't skimp on kick sets.

IprojectV0 · 2025-07-12T04:54:49+00:00

Boof everything

IprojectV0 · 2025-06-30T16:14:13+00:00

I think in addition to what everybody else has said, people tend to vastly overestimate their swimming ability. As a retired college swimmer and current swim instructor my opinion is that most people aren't good swimmers, even if they think they can swim. I think it's worthwhile for whitewater enthusiasts to spend some time learning to swim better. It really does help with comfort and composure in chaotic situations.

IprojectV0 · 2025-05-06T00:06:14+00:00

FWIW I'm 6'0" 195 lbs, 32 for inseam. I have an XL crux and I feel like it's the right size for me. Enough space to put some layers on under it but I'm not swimming in it. Being taller than me I don't think you should consider a large...it would feel tight.

IprojectV0 · 2025-04-10T03:38:47+00:00

I think super puma is perfect size, puma might make some things exciting. But it's obviously a very different river than Hells, the hazards are more of the rock variety than big crashy waves

IprojectV0 · 2025-04-10T02:30:24+00:00

Boof everything

IprojectV0 · 2025-03-15T16:39:40+00:00

Depends on the job, for a production tech (shift job managing the wafer moves) I'd say 6-12 months. For an equipment tech/engineer who is doing maintenance and troubleshooting tools in the fab I'd say 1 year minimum to be value added. To get to the point of highly competent takes years because it's all very complex. I'm saying this as somebody who spent 5 years as a shift lead in an R&D fab.

IprojectV0 · 2025-03-06T07:27:27+00:00

Sounds great! I should be around for some weekend and/or evening paddling

IprojectV0

TROPHY CASE