new river dries...its huge.

yesterday the crew (me, sam fulbright, chris wing and pablo mccandless and later met up with chris gragtmans)made it to the new river dries. this doesn't run very often–maybe a couple time a year. when we woke up tuesday morning they were running about 70,000cfs.

all i can say is wow. i have never seen or surfed waves this big. the middle wave was a massive hole-wave thingy that could rip your face off (i like my face so i did not surf it). the right wave was good though. its a super hard wave to gain control and time tricks because to the constant surges and boils that would randomly appear. one second you are in a surf, the next you are engulfed by the foam and then bounced 3 feet in the air. needless to say there was a lot of carnage.

the put-in is 20 yards upstream of the wave but the hike back up is about 200-250 yards back. this doesn't seem like a lot but it beats you down for sure. just surfing the waves takes a lot out of you and then you have to book-it back to river right and then hike up. its exhausting but worth every minute.

i think we took more photos of goofing around then of actually kayaking....and here they are.


the wave is so chomp. like this–chomp chomp


wing with his game face.


what wave? i see no wave. ahhhh...that wave. chomp.


hey chris, no other chris, no...chris...no other chris.


aaaiiiirrr.


promo shot. hehe


look at them sick boats...so sick.

i so glad we brought our camera so we could take all these incredible shots of everyone's rides. no, wait...we didn't shoot anyone really. oh well, i guess you will have to go and see it for yourself.

nature is what unites us.
trent thibodeaux