When I was in Mexico in 2011 I paddled my first big drop, Cascada Tomata.  That day I swam and I have been dreaming about redeeming myself there for two years.  

This beast is in the 65-70ft range and as I found out to my cost, is a fairly challenging undertaking.  For starters the lip is very flat, with little roll.  This means it is difficult to stay in-control of your boat’s angle throughout, therefore it is easy to land fairly over-vertical or in a boof.  

At the time I first ran it I had little or no experience running big waterfalls, since then I have notched up a lot more experience.  So this year, when the time was right I rolled off the lip in the spot I wanted.  

My plan was to roll of the lip, next to a hump in the middle.  With little or no speed, holding a stroke in the water to keep my boat angle just right so that I could spot my landing.  Unfortunately I ended up having a little more speed than I would have liked, owing to the fact that I was still moving into the exact spot I wanted.  This resulted in me coming out in a boof.  Fortunately I was able to stomp my boat down to an ideal 45 degree angle and have a soft landing.  This gave me plenty of time to celebrate at the landing.    

AWESOME.  Merry Christmas and happy New Year to everybody, See you on the River.

Photos by Brett Barton