Dan Gavere at the 65th Annual FIRBARK River Festival
The FIBARK River Festival in Salida Colorado once again lively up to its name as one of the nations biggest events. After all FIBARK does stand for First In Boating on the Arkansas and maintains its status even after 60 Plus years. Featuring paddling events along with a cross breeding of rural carnival rides, food, beer gardens, bluegrass, rock, and reggae you have one damn fine festival and the making for a weekend full things to do.
The paddling event attracts paddlers from all over the Colorado region and with the excellent late season snow pack the water levels were hitting levels they hadn’t seen since 2011. The stand up paddling events were surely going to showcase the sport on the river in several different styles on this optimal river flow. The specialized whitewater park has been the centerpiece of Salida Colorado now for several years and would play host to thousands as the weekend’s main stage. The surf waves were firing, there was a World class Slalom course setup for the kayakers, and the 300 meter long course would have some kind of water craft on it from dusk to dawn everyday just proving that it truly is one of the best places to live and paddle.
The slalom kayakers looked like they were having so much fun that I decided I would join the action on my sup and start practicing for a the official SLALOM National Champs race where navigating 18 gates with out a fall or missed gate would be the ultimate challenge and give me a chance to sharpen my standing river skills. The gates were hung in places that required critical “peel outs”, “eddy turns”, “ferries” up and downstream maneuvers to challenge the kayakers so I knew I had my work cut out for me. Friday I spent the afternoon making a dozen or so runs through the course and isolating the hardest moves and figuring out the best way to navigate that section. I practiced two distinct moves on the course over and over until I felt confident about my lines and paths across and through the 2000+ cubic feet a second of water pulsing through the course (In 2012 the river never topped 700 cfs because of the lack of snow pack). After exhausting myself during slalom practice I ventured downstream to Scout Wave where the local shredders were having a sup surfing expression session. Mike and Zach were hitting incredible pop shuvits and full 360 spins on the wave in what I consider to be a groundbreaking session showing the evolution of our sport. I managed a few ultra fun surfs and even got a few flat spins on my 9.6 Protoype Stream model. Like a typical evening in Colorado a thunderstorm moved in for a short quick blast of wind and rain so I ran to take shelter in my Outside van. The nearby Canon City Forest fire was blazing and smoke filled the air to the south and it was obvious just how much soot was in the air because everything had a fine layer of ash mud on it after the rain had stopped.
Saturday morning came too early and my fun meter had obviously been pegged the day before because I was feeling it in my legs and shoulders. I strolled to the local Café Dawn for my morning elixir and then got my gear sorted for the slalom. It was pretty easy since it was going to be near 90 degrees that day and the water in the river was about 10 degrees warmer than usual so it went something like this. Board-check, paddle-check-pfd-check, helmet-check, shoes, shorts and sunscreen check check and check. I got 2 practice runs on the slalom in and felt good. My first run came up and I got off the a great start. I hit several of the gates, but I made the whole course without falling or missing any so my mission was already accomplished. Now if only I could go even faster on the 2nd run. The second run started out strong but ended in disappointment as I fell on the last difficult ferry move and missed a few gates. That would be my mulligan run as I would have to settle for my first run and the satisfaction of being only one of 3 SUP paddlers to sign up and take the challenge, but also to have made all the gates.
The slalom was just a warm up for the premier SUP event of the week end, the SUP Cross which I knew would be a battle fest. Heat of four lined up for a knee deep standing start from shore and had then to negotiate 4 special gates strategically placed in eddies and on tricky currents in the Salida whitewater course. I had a few tough heats against paddlers on longer boards but my 9.6 was fast enough to get a few good turns and avoid some of the drama about making the gates. With some luck I managed to squeeze into the final heat with 5 of the fastest guys on in the state. In the final heat I managed to get the hole shot and made some dicey turns, and at the last gate had the second place paddler bearing down on me and I barely made the turn before the big pile up to take the win. I would say I got a good start and then I got lucky to get the win, and that’s what makes SUP Cross format so fun to watch and participate in. It’s like motocross where as you can have a perfect race but someone can always just land on you and take you out. Tired, hungry, thirsty, and exhausted we headed over to the Carnival for a few Eddyline Beers and recounted some of our battles while chowing a hearty portion of bento. I wanted some pasta and the extra carbs for the big race on Sunday. Needless to say it was an early evening and I passed out faster than usual.
The morning came way to early and my body was feeling the effects of 3 weeks of constant paddling with virtually zero breaks. The race today would be ten miles so I prepared a waist mounted water pack and started to eat whatever I could manage to shove down my throat. I wasn’t hungry but I was slurping down coffee like water and trying to motivate my mind to get into the groove of the day. I was nervous and kept questioning my decision to paddle the Inflatable when I had a perfectly capable and fast composite board ready to go. However I also knew it had done me right in Vail and the extra width would mean stronger legs because it would be way more stable than the 26 inch wide composite board. Weak and suffering legs in a 10 mile race would not be good and the more you fall the worse it gets. Falling could be dangerous because of the cold water and the potential for cramping outside of all the other reasons falling of f sucks in the river… The start was approaching fast and it would be an interesting one. The count down came to 3.2.1-GO! I took off the best I could in an all out sprint choking down on the handle of my paddle, but 2 or 3 other paddlers shot out in front of me as we were approaching the first drop. I got a good hard crossbow stroke in to correct my angle and kept paddling through the drop propelling past a few guys who lost their balance or missed a stroke. I was in the lead and kept sprinting to make my move early. I never even switched sides for at least 2 more minutes utilizing the occasional crossbow stroke when needed. The whitewater eased and I started to pace it back a notch and get a few miles in. Towards the middle of the race the wind picked up and forced me off my handle into the thumb down choke stroke with lower hand just 10 inches of so from the blade. I tucked into it and tried to keep my cadence very quick. I had Mike right on my heels and he was pacing me and looking for a better line or an opportunity to pass. I tried a few times to accelerate away from him but he was following my line and had kept the pressure on. Then just as I was approaching a boil I leaned just a slight bit to the right and went down. I hit the deck of my board and was able to get back to my feet in just a few seconds but that was just enough to let Mikey T by and into the lead. The last 2 miles we battled and I reached and I dug into the Arkansas river looking for a ribbon of faster water or some kind of magical line to get me back in contention but I just didn’t have it and ran out of gas trying. He would take the win in an epic battle and I was happy for the second place finish, but also bummed that I didn’t conserve a little more at the start and save it for the finish. We hung out in the eddy and had nothing but big smiles and cheers for each other and everyone as they came in across the line and to the finish eddy at the Rincon take out. I was happy to be walking on solid ground and my feet could feel the grounding effects of the earth and not being on a board that’s was constantly moving. The sun was fierce and intense with little shelter so we piled into the shuttle vehicles and made our way back up to Salida.
The awards ceremony was small and quaint like they usually are because only the people getting prizes usually show up, but we all got our medals and awards for the individual races and even a little cash for the overall winners. Everyone looked crispy and worn out from the big weekend of paddling, but also super stoked to have participated in the 65th Annual FIBARK River Festival.
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