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American River Parkway's Sailor Bar has always been a local favorite spot for me to paddle. Conveniently located near my home it not much trouble me to get on the water in a timely fashion. With good flow, I can paddle back and forth to the Sunrise River Access about two miles downriver in a little more than an hour including three portages that aren't too long. Making a very enjoyable afternoon or evening on the water and still home at a reasonable time.
Named after gold-seeking sailors who had reportedly jumped ship to stake their claim along the banks of the river. The park's area and the river were later dredged for gold. The bucket line dredges churned up the riverbed. The gold was filtered out and the leftover rock tailing was cast aside, texturing the park with piles and piles of rock.
Over the years, those rock pilings have been put to good use. Since the Nimbus Dam upstream from Sailor Bar prevents the salmon and steelhead from reaching their spawning grounds, construction crews funded by federal and state agencies have to periodically restore habitat for re-establishing a crucial spawning area for hundreds of native fish. The latest project was completed last fall after heavy machinery moved and placed thousand tons of rock and gravel into the river before the salmon run.
Another part of the project was to create a new side-channel that runs a parallel to the river for a little less than 200-yards. Shallow with sections of both fast and slow-moving water, it was created as a protected area for juvenile fish. But, the extra benefit is a creek like an environment with ripples, eddies, and waves perfect for an afternoon of paddling
Full disclaimer, by no means, am I an expert whitewater paddler. I'm not even average. I know paddlers who can make their kayaks dance over waves doing somersaults and spins in a stylish river ballet repertoire. They are amazing athletes who go over huge drops and surf big waves.
As for me, I just like the feel of the movement of water beneath my boat. The opportunity of learning and reading the river's flow and eddy lines. But mostly, I just like spending time on the water.
"There's always something new waiting for you on the river some new kind of challenge," slalom champion Jana Dukatova, told Red Bull, "White water is never the same, and there are so many features you can play with: surfing a wave, playing in a roll, dropping into a waterfall. As you improve, there's always more new fun stuff you can learn. You'll never get bored."
I slid my boat in just above where the narrow channel turns and feeds back into the river. The current there is moving fast with water pouring over rocks providing a nice little standing wave and place to practice my surfing.
Once in place by pointing my bow upstream, I'm was able to skim on top of the water on the front of the wave.
"It's a lovely sensation," wrote kayaking adventure author Peter Heller, "Like flying, with all the river hurtling beneath you as you skip and veer down the front of the wave, held in place by its steepness."
In my little playboat, I was able to surf the wave back and forth with no real threat of rolling back and forth back and forth. Using forwards stokes, I attempted to keep the boat pointing upstream and carve and edging around the wave, that is until my strength wore out and I was flushed out downstream only to ferry back and try it again.
Over the Bow is a feature from Outside Adventure to the Max, telling the story behind the image. If you have a great picture with a great story, we would love to see it. Submit it to us at nickayak@gmail.com
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