"Call the rocks," I hollered. "We want to go straight down the middle."

[t k]

I sank the paddle into the river.  The main current V'd ahead of us, and looked to be straight, as far as I could tell, though the V that indicated the fastest water disappeared about halfway along down the rapids.

"Call the rocks," I hollered.  "We want to go straight down the middle."  (Deliverance, James Dickey)

Please explain "The main current V'd ahead of us".
Please explain "Call the rocks".  Thanks.  --- tk

[Darryl]

1. The current appeared to split into two channels forming a V shape with calm in the middle.
2. "Call the rocks" - that's just a way of making light of a dangerous situation. He's saying let the rocks know we want to go down the middle - away from the most turbulent water.

[admin]

Doesn't  " call the rocks" mean that the speaker is asking his/her colleague to shout out where the rocks are so that the speaker can paddle to avoid them?

[Darryl]

Could be right, too. Hadn't thought of it that way. It sounded more like a flippant remark to me.