Jan 1

Written by: Joe Virostek
1/1/2008 1:00 PM

Today is the First of the New Year. It’s a little hard to believe, but we are now is 2008! his lights on. A few moments later another passed us. Dad promptly decided it was not a bad idea to be ready to help with a whiteRob and I stayed up late last night celebrating, so it was difficult to roll off our couch this morning. Fortunately we wanted to get up and make it to the river, so we left our house at about 11 AM on our way to Sunset falls on the east fork of the Louis River, by Battleground, WA. Our friends Brad and Gates joined us on this trip. On our way up, we stopped by Tony Zanetti’s house to pick up a DragoRossi Fish for Rob. The Fish was the first boat Rob freewheeled sunset falls in. Farther up the road from Tony’s we were passed by a police car with water rescue. It was not a challenge at all to get ready in the car as our Nookie dry tops can just be slipped on in seconds without having to mess around with all sorts of straps. Five minutes went by and we approached a collection of squad cars on the side of the road, Dad rolled his window down and asked if there was any need for help, it turns out it wasn’t an issue with the water, so we continued on up the road. We arrived there at around noon, none of us, including our dad, were completely awake, but as soon as we stepped out of the car we met a chilling breeze. Half dressed Rob and I climbed out of the car and put on the rest of our gear. I grabbed my Idra and Rob grabbed his Fish from the top of the car. With matching gear and both of us carrying DragoRossi boats I have to say it felt pretty cool. We walked over to the top of sunset and got into our boats. Meanwhile, Dad was figuring out good points to take pictures from, while Brad was on the side of the river taking video. Rob Got into his boat , put his skirt on, and paddled on out to the eddy. It took me a little longer to get into my boat because I had to stretch my skirt before It would fit. The Nookie V-shock is an excellent skirt, with an extra ring of neoprene around the outside of the bungee, it squeezes tightly into my kayak and keeps the water out tremendously well. Rob and I made a couple of trips over Sunset one after the other but the last four or five times, we went side by side. Our first attempt failed when Rob got hung up by a hidden rock at the lip of the fall. After we switched sides, the rest were excellent. One of them Rob tried a freewheel while I was next to him which was cool because we were practically facing each other as we went over. I chatted with a man while we were up there and was planning on going on some runs with him, but we forgot to exchange any information, so if you read this Marty, feel free to send us an email. All in all I am please with the practice I got from today, and I’m glad to be finally kayaking with my brother.

©2008 Joe Virostek

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