Dropping river levels mean the canoe leg of Ski to Sea will be a go in Sunday’s race — barring a sudden shift in weather that brings high temperatures.

Organizers worried earlier this week that a Nooksack River swollen by snowmelt from last weekend’s warm weather would be too fast and dangerous for racers, given that canoeists tip into the water each year.

At that time, Pete Coy, race director, said he was 80 percent certain that portion of the 85- mile relay would occur.

By Friday afternoon, the river level had dropped from 13 feet in Ferndale down to 9½ feet. Canoeists have raced with the river at 10½ feet, according to Thom Prichard, chairman for the leg.

“Things are looking pretty good,” Prichard said. “Three days ago, I was pulling my hair out.”

Prichard stopped just shy of guaranteeing that canoeists should expect to race, but he did say it was all but certain.

“The chances are real slim at this stage that there are going to be any problems,” he said Friday afternoon after paddling a canoe from the leg’s start at Riverside Park in Everson down to the Guide Meridian Bridge.

Prichard said that eight-mile distance is the most challenging part of the roughly 18-mile leg.

Coy also said it would take a sudden shift for canoeists to be told to go home.

“Unless we have some kind of freak of nature that gives us warm weather or extremely heavy rainfall, we’re fine,” he said.

Neither is expected today. National Weather Service was forecasting periods of clouds and sun, with a high of 66 degrees.

Temperatures would have to reach 80 degrees, causing the higher snow to melt, before Prichard said he would worry. Even then, he said, it takes snowmelt 12 hours to reach the Nooksack at Everson. By that point, racers will be off the river, he said.

The high water did wash away snags, trunks and other debris that can clog parts of the river, according to Prichard.

The water also is fast, he said, and that means racers can expect faster times.

But novice paddlers should be wary of two areas of the river:

Look for standing waves about a quarter mile from the start line. Canoes that are turned sideways there could tip, said Prichard, who saw another boat do just that during his practice run Friday afternoon. But he said the conditions weren’t dangerous.

Watch out for the so-called “Mixmaster” on the Nooksack near Noon Road. Canoeists who paddle into the shallow water there will hit back eddies that will spin their boat in a circle. Those who go into the fast water need to be careful to keep their boats upright.

“The Mixmaster is in full bloom,” Prichard said. “It’s probably the part that is going to be the most challenging.”

Prichard will paddle the lower portion of the Nooksack today to check conditions. On race day, search and rescue crews will travel the river to check the course.

“We are doing everything in the world we can think of to make it a nice, safe course,” Prichard said.

Because the river is expected to be fast this year, he said that novice canoeists need not steer their boats in search of a quicker time.

“My advice to anybody going down the course is to stay in the middle,” he said. “It looks just beautiful.”

A record high of 445 teams registered this year to race from Mount Baker to Bellingham Bay. That makes for 3,560 racers.

As a result, the chairman of the cross-country ski leg of the race advises competitors to line up in rows of 30 to 40 people with the slower and less experienced racers at the back.

Steve Hindman also asks racers to listen to requests to stop. That’s because the middle of the pack of the cross-country leg can be on the course when the downhill skiers/snowboarders run their part of the race.

“As the field has expanded, those conflicts have been more common,” he said. “We’re out to have fun is the main thing.”