Mark Cecchini sends in this Idaho, "Spring is Here", update!

By Mark Cecchini

EJ,

We’ve had an amazing week here in Idaho. Ninety degree temperatures finally ended our perpetual winter. Everything has gone off big all at once. That has made for a lot of tough choices concerning where to go and what to paddle. Unfortunately, even with high flows the legendary Bladder Wave on the Main Payette River did not come in because the air bladder that forms it was deflated. The power plant usually uses the bladder dam to divert water to the hydroelectric turbines. However, the dam operators deflated the bladder during peak flows to avoid taking in too much sediment.

After many days of nervous waiting, I received the call: "the Bladder is in!" I dropped everything and hightailed it up to Horseshoe Bend for some big wave action. We had a great evening session followed by and all day marathon. The Bladder Wave was giving up all the big tricks and a few big wipe outs. The green face and retentive foam pile made for some smooth and dynamic surfing. My All Star performed flawlessly with plenty of speed to stay on the wave when it greened out and plenty of pop to put that green face to use. I also love how loose the All Star is; it reminded me of how fun clean spins are.

The Idaho River kids were also out in force. This group of young rippers from the Boise region did not shy away from the big feature and threw down some impressive tricks of their own. I was really psyched to see all these young paddlers pushing themselves on such an awesome feature. Not coincidentally, the river kids were all paddling Shooting Stars and Stars. It is so cool to see young people paddling freestyle boats that fit them. I shudder to think of the rides these youngsters will be having in a couple of years.

Straight From the Whitewater State,
Mark Cecchini

Photos by: Link Jackson