Clean Lines Paddlesports

It happened on Wildcat, I think, on the second day of my recent Rogue trip. The hole on the left at the bottom of the rapid can be easily avoided by staying to the right (complex directions, I know).  But staying right means running under overhanging willow (and sometimes blackberry) branches, so staying low in your boat while also staying right will protect your face, your eyes, etc. Staying low won’t protect the GoPro mounted on the paddle wedged between the tube and the gear pile in the back of your boat.  Oops.

When I got to Blossom and changed out the battery in the GoPro, I got a SIM  card error. I took out the battery, fiddled with the card, put the battery back in, and… “SIM card error.”  In hindsight this turned out well for me, because I took a wide right line after the initial chute and got hung up on a rock near ducky beach. Me getting out and shoving my boat for a few minutes is not exactly ’Must See TV.’ But when I got home, switched cards, reformatted a new one, and trying pretty much any step beyond a new camera, the result was the same error. 

I have a service subscription that includes an extended warranty on the camera, but the timing wasn’t great. I am typing this post in Missoula Montana, on my way to put on at Corn Creek, floating the Main Salmon River for 6 days.  Swapping out device was not going to happen in time. And it got me thinking – why do I record the trips this way, and what does it change when I do (or don’t)?

In quantum mechanics, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states that you can’t understand the direction of a particle is traveling and simultaneously know the direction of its path (or its spin).  The action on the particle by the observer to learn about one thing affects the other. This ‘observer effect’ can be applied when you zoom way, way out, too. Social scientists spend a lot of time minimizing it and correcting for it in psychological and sociological experiments – having someone watch/measure what you’re doing affects how you’re doing it. And since my life is my own personal social experiment, I am now consciously curious how the camera affected my rafting. 

Consciously, I don’t bring the camera along because I “Do it for the ‘Gram” as the kids would say. My main objective isn’t to brag about skills or conquests to the world – I am far from a world class boater and my personal IG is set to private – but I do like friends and family to see the fun I’m having.  I know fear is often rooted in the unknown/unexperienced, and so sharing the video is a way to help make the unknown, known.  But I do edit the videos to make them more interesting (I wouldn’t have included minutes of me shoving my boat off a rock at Blossom Bar even if the camera was rolling), and I wonder if I edit myself – words ( do I cuss less when the GoPro is behind me?) or actions (do I take more or fewer risks for a safer trip or bigger video effect?) – in some way because I pushed the button and the red light started flashing. 

I had the camera on and running for the trip I took down the main salmon last year, on nearly identical dates. I can’t control for all of the variables (weather, water level, boat, other gear) but I am curious if I’ll have more/as much/less fun without it running. I will report back, but you’ll just have to trust me about the fun level. Werner Heisenberg can explain why, if you need him to.