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Talk the Talk
A Primer of River Rat Lingo
No, river runners dont speak a foreign language. Sometimes it just sounds like it. bail to empty the water out of a raft. Many boats today are self-bailing. beaner short for carabiner, a metal clip that attaches to the raft to secure gear, fasten rescue ropes, hold your camera, or do most anything else. breakout to leave the still water of an eddy and enter the main current again. Also called a peelout. broach, pin, wrap a boat that brushes an obstacle sideways (broach) may be held in place by the current (pin), then fold around the obstacle (wrap)a very bad place to be. catch a crab when an oar twists strangely after it hits an eddy, tricky current, or underwater object. Often the oar is jerked out of control, as if a giant crab had gotten hold of it. cfs short for cubic feet per second, the standard measurement for the volume of a river flowing past a single point. A creek may run a few hundred cfs, a small river in the low thousands. A major river often runs greater than 10,000 cfs. Colorado sandwich an embarrassing and dangerous situation in which the bow of a boat is sandwiched back over itself by a powerful wave. deadman a large stump or pole sunk into the sand to tie the boats to at night. drop a steep, sudden descent in the river. Also what you hope the cook doesnt do to the pancakes when theyre cooking on the beach. ducky short for rubber duck, an inflatable kayak that usually holds one paddler. Also called an orange torpedo. eddy turn when a boat leaves the main current and enters the still water of an eddy. ender or endo a boat standing vertically on its end; a maneuver kayakers sometimes do on purpose but rafters try to avoid. ferry to move a boat sideways across a current. hair a difficult, potentially dangerous section of white water. hairball move a risky action attempted only by expert river runners. honey bucket a pleasant name for the portable toilet. lining to empty each boat of everything except cargo, then attach it to ropes held by several crew members, who walk along the shore, guiding it through the rapid while you walk around it. It can be an important safety technique. maytag when the raft tosses and turns, as if caught in the spin cycle of a washing machine. Also called a swirly. PFD Personal Flotation Device; usually called a life jacket. pinball to bounce off the rocks. point the first boat in line; the last boat is called the sweep. pour over a rock or boulder that water washes over, creating a very steep hole behind it that, if powerful enough, can flip rafts. Also what the guides often do with whiskey and a glass of ice at camp. put-in the starting point of a river trip; the end point is called the take-out. riffle a shallow rapid producing tiny waves. river rat someone sporting a good tan and sun-faded life jacket, wearing a smile, and knowing all these words by heart. ship to take water over the side of a boat or pull your oars inside the raft when negotiating a narrow passage. stopper a hole or reversal powerful enough to keep the boat from going forward. sweep the last boat in line; the first boat is called the point. take-out the end point of a river trip; the starting point is called the put-in. top off to pump additional air into the tubes of the raft. Also what the guides do to a margarita at camp. trip leader the person in charge of the rafting party. trough a depression between waves. tube stand when a raft turns perpendicular to the water and stands on its side tube. water fight a good way to cool off on the flat water; squirt guns are allowed. |