{"id":27488,"date":"2022-07-27T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2022-07-27T19:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com\/?p=27488"},"modified":"2022-07-21T13:31:17","modified_gmt":"2022-07-21T20:31:17","slug":"naming-your-boat-rafters-rite-of-passage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2022\/07\/27\/naming-your-boat-rafters-rite-of-passage\/","title":{"rendered":"Naming Your Boat: A Rafter’s Rite of Passage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Approaching Marten\u2019s rapid (III) on the Mckenzie River, at about 20 yards out, I felt composed and seemed to have my raft under control, though the water was hastening. Since receiving my minty new, alpine blue, NRS Otter raft six months earlier, I had been punching out some classic PNW class IVs. Compared to those steep and speedy drops, Marten\u2019s seemed like a cakewalk.<\/p>\n

Since the raft was so new, I hadn\u2019t committed to a name (or gender) yet. In the interim, I called my raft Jane Doe, and we made an inseparable pair. Like the Lone Ranger and Silver, Atreyu and Falkor, or Wonder Woman and Serge, Jane Doe was my trustee steed. My rubber mustang.<\/p>\n

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Photo from the Illinois River.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We\u2019d tackled Hood River and the Middle White in the gorge that separates Oregon and Washington. We trampled upper sections of the South and Middle Fork Smith River in Northern Cali and of course, backyard throwdown runs like the Lower Deschutes River. We were two peas in a pod and growing more connected and attached with every blade drop.<\/p>\n

Back at Marten\u2019s, a gaggle of local kayakers led me into the rapid\u2019s entrance. We weaved through the rocky middle line. Since I had leveled up to Jane Doe, some of my slow roll, sloppy-joe habits acquired with my former beater raft (a thirty-year-young soggy Momentum) weren\u2019t cutting it. Jane Doe\u2019s taut and sculpted wrap combined with a symmetrically rockered bow and stern responded beautifully to spicy hydraulics. Every line with Jane Doe felt like a sporty ride on a wild horse.<\/p>\n