Mexico Part 3: The Tomatas

Coming to the end of our trip we decided to focus our efforts on running the Tomatas on the Rio Alseseca. On the first day, Iker, my brother and I all fired up 65ft. First Tomata. Iker went first and had a super clean line. Despite Iker cleaning it, I was a still intimidated by the stairstep style of First Tomata. When I paddled off the lip I thought everything was going well, but as soon as I tucked I felt myself go sideways, and when I hit with a powerful angle my skirt imploded making for a 'not-so-clean' line. My brother was next and styled the drop with steez. A few hundred feet downstream we arrived at the take out directly above Second Tomata. The take-out wasn't easy but after a while we had our boats back up to the road. As we were hauling our boats up we all spent some time scouting Second Tomata, a seldom run a 60-70ft. waterfall with a very narrow and technical lead in rapid. After analyzing the drop Iker and I decided that if we were feeling good the next day, we'd both fire it up.

Scouting First Tomata

My 'not-so-clean' line the first day

We woke up the next morning, spirits high, and drove back to the Tomatas. I wanted to redeam myself from the previous day so I joined Nate and Heather on First Tomata. I had a better line than the previous day and this time paddled out from the bottom. Nate and Heather went next and unfortunately both had imploded skirts. Before I knew it I was standing at the lip of Second Tomata with Iker ready to paddle one of the most technical and consequential drops I'd ever seen. Iker went first. He dropped into the entrance rapid, maintained good speed and angle until he hit one of the final waves which pushed him sideways and flipped him over. Iker rolled up just feet before the lip and slid backwards off the waterfall. Luckily he resurfaced at the bottom un-scathed. I was much more nervous after watching Iker's line, but I was still confident that I could safely paddle the drop. As I paddled through the entrance rapid, I was able to maintain forward momentum and keep my nose strait. At the lip I took a few adjustment strokes then fell into the boily pools below. Running Second Tomata clean, for possibly the first time, was the perfect ending to an amazing kayaking trip in one of the most beautiful parts of Mexico.

Firing Off Second Tomata