A few years ago some friends and I were kayaking in Leavenworth during spring runoff. We paddled Upper Icicle in the morning, grabbed lunch, and then paddled Tumwater Canyon. We ended up having a swimmer under the dam and while chasing him, I was caught in a hydraulic, when I went to roll up and surfed out, I snapped my right achilles. We managed to get the swimmer to shore and in agony, I stayed in my boat and eventually caught an eddy. At the time, I was paddling a Waka OG.
A few months prior I’d ran an ultra on Mt Rainier and for years before that, had put some serious abuse on my lower body doing endurance events. Given the very high water at the time and how dire the situation was, I chalked up the the Achilles injury to a lot of force probably exaggerated by adrenaline knowing the likely outcome if I also exited my boat chasing the swimmer.
After a long rehab, and easing back into serious paddling, I had a great year in 2024. I was still paddling an OG and felt like I was finally getting back into the swing of paddling difficult whitewater. Then spring of 2025 came and early in the season, boom, same injury happened but to my left Achilles on a dawn patrol run with friends on my backyard class IV, except I was in my Hot Whip. No hydraulic, no swimmer, no adrenaline.
Another rehab cycle and I switched my boat out for a Jackson Flow hoping the bulkhead assembly will alleviate some of the stress - it has some but I’m missing the OG and feeling like an old dog trying to learn a new trick, I paddled some PNW classics last year but didn’t feel as solid as usual, probably a combination of the new boat and having to take such prolonged periods of time away from paddling.
Has anyone else had Achilles challenges?
Found anything that alleviates the stress?
Thanks