As promised here are a few shots of the Scud in Tibet.
All pictures by C.Jones except for "oldman.scud" by D. Matterhorn.
Hello guys!
A bit more time today to write some more, and before
we head out paddling tomorrow and then on to Mt
Everest before our next paddling expedition!
So the Scud and I (170cm, 60kg) now have about 30 days
of boating together and still going strong. After a
quick warm up in NZ, we headed to Far North Queensland
for a couple of weeks and now have been in Tibet for a
month.
We've paddled the whole range, from low volume steep
creeks to the biggest whitewater I had ever ever ever paddled!(it made the FNQ rivers in flood seem like a garden stream!) The Scud's been handling it all extremely well.
The tight steep creeks are a given: the Scud's a star
- I did have to adjust my boofing technique from my
previous long creek boat though. I somehow felt really
safe in bony-rocky runs as well as the Scud just
bounces off stuff. Maybe it's also because of the
really comfortable outfitting?
I was a bit nervous to see how it would handle big
(HUGE!) volume runs but was really really impressed.
The Scud stays right on top of things and unlike what
everyone predicted to me, does not actually get pushed
around that much at all. Because it doesn't have the
speed of the usual big creeker, it's a matter of
anticipating and reading the water well. Then, just
hang on, enjoy the ride and make the very best of
these monstrous waves because it's just a whole lot of
fun in this thing! I just had a complete blast!
To top it all, it's just really nice to have a shorter
boat to catch these play waves and holes along the way
that just aren't nearly as much fun in a longer boat.
Hanging out with a Scud is quite funny. It gets some
curious funny looks from everyone - until they see the
toy at work that is! ;)
I will hopefully get to send you a few shots tomorrow
or later today.
Thanks you guys again for hooking me up with the boat!
cheers,
Nadege