What is too dangerous?

shawn · Joined: 11 Mar 2008 Posts: 2 Location: Bellingham

I received notice that if conditions are too dangerous, the canoe leg may be cancelled. Could you tell us what is the maximum discharge and gage reading the directors will allow in order for the leg to go as planned?

After all the time and preparation teams have put into this part of the race, it would be a major bummer to cancel the leg, however I agree that safety should be the priority. For what its worth, I did the top part of the course on saturday in a P3 (gage= 11ft) and didn't think it was that bad. Yes it was fast, but all the snags were covered.

canoethom · Joined: 17 Jan 2008 Posts: 2

all signs are that the river will be in good shape by raceday I dont want to give an exact point on the ferndel gage as to height that cancels race because there are many other aspects of safty on the river that we look at but my guess would be if the gauge read 11 ft. we would be fine to go.
Canoethom

matt · Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 10

looks like 10.5 cancels the race.

petecoy · Joined: 05 Dec 2007 Posts: 4

Matt:
It sounds like you are an experienced canoeist. I know you are disappointed in not being able to compete. What you need to remember is that over 60% of the conoeists are novice or certainly less experienced than you and when Thom made the call the trend was for the river to continue rising. That means the river would be at its most dangerous level when the least experienced canoeists would be starting their course. I believe Thom made the right call considering all of the circumstances and he should be commended for making a decision that probably cost his team a win. Pete