Team JK's Dan Rubado writes in from Oregon

July 5, 2005

Hi guys,
Well, I have been hitting the local summer-time spots since it is a low
water year for Oregon. But that’s okay because two of my favorite playspots
happen to be low-water summer spots. The C-wave on the Deschutes and Spencer’s
hole on the N. Santiam. And luckily for me, these two unheralded spots
are for the most part rather unpopular. For some reason most paddlers
in Oregon don’t like the 3 mile hike in combined with the mandatory rope
set-up in order to surf the C-wave. But itis one of the best waves around…
once you get used to it. It is 4-5 feet tall, very fast, and it has a
bouncy face with a big shoulder and foam pile.

Nothing wrong with that, except that it’s a
little on the touchy side if you’re not used to it. Which is more or less
everyone, since no one spends the time to get used to it because of the
before mentioned 3 mile hike. Then there’s Spencer’s hole, which has a
low level of popularity, but only for a narrow water-level range and only
on hot, sunny weekend days in the summer. So 99% of the time this hole
is good, there’s nobody there to surf it. And you can get giant loops
at Spencer’s as well as the usual assortment of hole moves. Of course
the eddy usually requires a rope to make it practical and there is a big
rock right behind the hole. But neither of those things are truly an issue.
It’s not hard to use a rope if you’ve practiced hauling yourself up one
from time to time. I rarely have encounters with the rock, and I surf
there quite frequently. Not that I’m trying to encourage more people to
crowd into a small spot, but there is a lot of good hole being wasted
at Spencer’s. Anyhow, enough chit-chat, here are some photos, and I should
have some video to send to you soon.

Talk to you later,

Dan Rubado