C-Forum

As I venture into the world of larger vertical drops, I am starting to wonder where the line is drawn that determines whether you plug, boof, or some combination of the two.

Of course this varies from drop to drop due to different landings (aerated vs. not) but is there a general guideline? Different heights for different boats? Such as the rounded hull of a Prelude against the flat hulls of the L'edge, Spanish Fly or Quake...


I dug around using the search feature and could only find a few mentions of this subject but no answers, so let us have it! Hopefully some guys who have run some stout drops will chime in with their wisdom.

Thrill of the Paddle has 20' as the safe limit for flat landings.

I certainly wouldn't want to land flat on green water from 20 feet, OUCH! But landing on a pile from that high or higher would be fine.
see joe boof http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ydhwXcraTQ

Here's the bottom line. In an oc you don't need to worry about it because you probably wouldn't want to rock boof anything over 15 ft and it's impossible to water boof an oc to flat.

Believe this can only be answered by you, and is so in-particular to each drop that it can't be some sort of measurement. I do believe you are correct that it'll vary according to hull. And perhaps will also wary according to surface area, where larger length-n-width should be considered.

I'd say in general, when in doubt - Do Not Boof! And if it's green and flat - Do NOT Boof - regardless the height (even 8' can hurt, been there).

I've been pelted in the adams-apple (which swelled to baseball size - real scary) by the bow of my Fly coming up so quickly when plugging in on a shorter drop (16')... so much that i'll not plugg-into anything that short again. On clean at the bottom drops, in the 20's I've had good results with that Oregon-Tuck (head down) plug. My experience runs out in the upper twenty to thirty foot range, so I can't extrapolate further. However that said, my favorite landings are generally those angled in ones... that allow some maneuverability afterwards. My back likes them way better, and my boat seems to be drier.

Larry what's a ....

Larry Horne wrote:water boof .....

????

..that would be a boof without the aid of any rock or rock shelf or log. Just water.
and yes that was a challenge. find some video and prove me wrong

Larry Horne wrote:Here's the bottom line. In an oc you don't need to worry about it because you probably wouldn't want to rock boof anything over 15 ft and it's impossible to water boof an oc to flat.

Not at all true as it's completely possible... I took a huge boof stroke and completely cleared the spout plus the bit of pillow below and landed dead flat at Wonder Falls once... that didn't feel all good. I don't do that anymore... nor do I suggest it.

There's a lot you can do with angle and lean at takeoff, while falling and during impact... but there's no textbook for this... it's all trial and error.

Shawn Malone

Hey Smurf, how did he landed it? It look like a 20 footer, did the lean on his off side something you want? look like fun!!

*If* and it's a big *if* the drop is ammenable to it; drops of fifty feet or more have been boofed and landed flat without injury... Wouldn't want to do that to flat water though. I've landed flat from 23' up onto green water, and it hurt my ankles as the saddle compressed, but was otherwise supprisingly fine.

The Half-boof, Half-plug has been variously called "stomping" "an air egyptian" and other names; the priciple is either take a boof and then push your bow down with your lower body; or get a lot of speed coming in, and then take a weak boofstroke to just lift your nose a little.

The thing about big drops is, they're unique, and there are 50 footers that are too shallow to plug, but aerated enough to boof, and 10 footers where it's safer to plug than risk overshooting onto rock...
It's all about developing experience just like any other aspect of paddle sport; so if you want to huck yourself off of big things, find other like-minded boaters and slowly work up to it; taking notes on what happens.

I certainly wouldn't want to land flat on green water from 20 feet, OUCH! But landing on a pile from that high or higher would be fine.
see joe boof http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ydhwXcraTQ

It's like he has wings.......

Lappie wrote:Hey Smurf, how did he landed it? It look like a 20 footer, did the lean on his off side something you want? look like fun!!

He landed flat...there is video somewhere.

Dooley gave me some solid advice and laid out his game plan for falls.

He plugs anything over 30. Try's to land on a 45 anything 20-30. Boofs anything 20 and under.

Of course, variables are factors. Shallow landing, aerated water...etc.

Advice from Dooley that was advice to him....if all else fails (speed, angle etc.) it's all in the last stroke. A good boof stroke may put you away from the hole.

I bet I've watched the Spirit Falls video 50 times and what always amazes me about Joe Stumpfel's run is how fast he paddles through the entrance rapid (much faster than either of the butt boaters). You have to be very confident of your line to do that I would think and know that you could still time your boof stroke perfectly going that fast. That combination of mental and physical quickness is what keeps me from doing a lot of things well in paddling; like the righting pry for example (from another thread). Seems like if you have to think about it (will I boof or plug?) you have already lost.

yeah I've watched that video 3,000 times my post was really just an excuse to pull it out again.

but I AM still waiting for an oc example of something like that...

Smerd..I believe you (sort of )

Smurf, nice try. Cool pic. but the angle of that shelf practically made that an auto boof. Go off any falls sideways and it's easy to land flat.

C'mon guys, show me a real boof!

Larry; look at Dooley's practice run for the ALF race this year. It has been posted here somewhere. It is Baby Falls, a 13 footer and he lands it flat.