May/June 2010 - Bluegrass Wildwater Association
Transcription
May/June 2010 - Bluegrass Wildwater Association
Newsletter of The Bluegrass Wildwater Association May/June 2010 In this issue: Why Canoe? Looking Ahead Lamenting a Paradigm Shift Be Prepared! Y C-1 Maybe Canoes Have Feelings Too! Why We Canoe Well, Why Not? Off the Cuff: Comments from the Forum Worth Remembering Clinic 2010 Photo Essay Officer Elections at May 8th General Meeting at Panda Cuisine Dues Due in July Why C a n o e ? In the last decade or two we have often seen paddle sports depicted on TV and print ads, videos, and elsewhere. Scenes often show a car with a kayak or kayaks on top driving thru a parade in town, or going to a V+ whitewater river ora foggy shoreline, and in some case a daring lone kayaker going over some humongous waterfall. The effect of this is to communicate to the public that the boat to have and paddle, especially if you want to be cool and daring is a kayak. All this mass media exposure for kayaks has meant that, for the public, the kayak’s desirability as the boat to have has overshadowed that of the canoe. So much for the power of modern Continued on pg. 3 Looking Ahead Coming BWA Meetings Bowlines is the Newsletter of the Bluegrass Wildwater Association, POB 4231, Lexington Ky, 40504 Meetings: Panda Cuisine http:/www.pandaky.com 2358 Nicholasville Rd Lexington-Fayette, KY 40503 (859) 299-9798 Club Officers 2009-2010 President Vice-President Treasurer Secretary Safety Program Newsletter Cyber Communications Conservation Film Festival Coordinator Russell Fork River Festival Coordinator Equipment Coordinator At-Large Member: Membership Coordinator Wildwater Cats Rep. Past President http://www.surfky-bwa.org URL will be redrirected to new permanent URL: www.bluegrasswildwater.org Officer Elections June 8 Meeting Nominated so far: Nominations may still be made at June Meeting RESIDENT: Allen Kirkwood VICE PRESIDENT: Tim Miller, Clay Warren TREASURER: Fred Coates SECRETARY : Keith Hubbard, Aleighia Barker EQUIPMENT COORDINATOR: KC Frankenstein SAFETY OFFICER: Hanley Loller CONSERVATION OFFICER: Bethany Overfield MEMBERSHIP COORDINATOR: Heather Warman BOWLINES EDITOR: Don Spangler PROGRAM DIRECTOR: Phil Sisk FILM FESTIVAL COORDINATOR: Brandon Jet CYBER COMMUNICATIONS: Don Perkins AT-LARGE MEMBER: Jason Powell, Wes Prince Hanley Loller Allen Kirkwood Fred Coates Keith Hubbardl Wes Prince Phil Bubba Sisk Don Spangler Kyle Hoelscher Bethany Overfield Brandon Jet 859-806-9843 859-351-3823 859-223-7200 859-576-6229 859-533-8842 859-396-7445 859-277-7314 859-619-6018 859-519-5691 502-320-4077 Steve Ruth KC Franenstein Clay Warren Heather Warman 606-754-4348 859-420-1514 859-326-0602 502-695-7666 Brent Austin 859-278-2011 Join in on the Fun! Join the BWA! BWAMembership $20/individual; $25/Family year entitles you to receive the newsletter,10% discounts at many local and out of state outfitter shops, use of club equipment, discount at pool rolling sessions, a listing in the BWAHandbook, a stream gauge guide, and web site with a listserve for member’s messages. Meetings are held at 7:30, the second Tuesday of each month at location announced on our website: http://www.bluegrasswildwater.org Submission of newsletter articles can be on CD (Mac or PC) or typed. Pictures can be digital or ready to be scanned. Please include stamped envelope for return. Preferred method: Files can also be e-mailed to: [email protected] Your Annual Dues are Due in July ! Enjoy this issue of Bowlines? BWA Summer Roll Sessions Check out Bowlines Online Archive with many great issues going back to 1998! Learn to roll your canoe or kayak! Shillito Park behind Fayette Mall off Reynolds Rd. Wednesday Nights 8-10 Issue Archive: June 9, 19, 23, 30 July 7,14,21,28 May be cancelled in event of rain http://www.surfky-bwa.org/html/bowlines_arcN.html A must read for all members, our 30th Anniversary issue: Clean your boats off before coming please! http://www.surfky-bwa.org/bowlines/BL30thAnnv_Aug06.pdf The BWA wishes to thank to thank Canoe Kentucky & Phillip Gall for their support. We urge you to patronize them for your outdoor needs. http://www.phillipgalls.com/ http://www.canoeky.com/ 2 Why Canoe, Continued from pg. 1 marketing! This, after generations of Americans (and Canadians) canoers have found the canoe to be the self-propelled watercraft that is almost limitless in ways it can be used in recreation. . No other watercraft that I know of has been so enduring and flexible in its function. But the spotlight of marketing, along with low priced mass-produced colorful plastic kayaks, has created a shift in sales from canoes to kayaks. I will concede that paddling a kayak has a shorter initial learning curve. It is easier to learn to paddle a straight line because you have a blade on both sides. Yes, with two blades, it is also easier to go faster and a new kayaker may succeed early on at being able to paddle down a stream with out bouncing off each bank. And one thing we value is quick success at anything we do. But while at first you may find it easier to paddling a kayak, you miss out on many of the opportunities that a canoe, decked or undecked, can offer you. So here are some reasons why I would tell you to learn to paddle a canoe. Those early years were memorable. Sharing an adventure and canoeing with someone who to this day is still a good friend was something I value. We found out a lot about each other while we paddled together. The hours of talking while we were paddling, learning to tolerate the mistakes of each other or arguing about where to steer the canoe created an enduring bond. That kind of give and take and companionship is a lot harder to have between two kayaks. An overnight or multi-day trip is not easily done with the kayaks of today, but a canoe can still do it, even on whitewater. In the early seventies I moved to Kentucky. Not finding a place to rent a canoe I bought my first canoe, a used aluminum canoe from a guy that was going into the army the next week. A couple of weeks later I heard about a race on the Elkhorn that next Saturday. I went and was amazed to see real rapids on a stream that was less than 1/2 an hour from Lexington. The next day, with a friend in the bow, I was running the Elkhorn I became enamored of canoes over 40 years ago. Back for the first time. Soon we did an overnight trip on the then canoeing was just a way to get into the outdoors lower Big South Fork. Devil’s Jump astounded me! It away from things. Work worries, stress, home chores, was the biggest rapid I had seen up to that time. dull tv, enjoying rivers and the outdoors were among Fortunately I had the sense to portage it. But I sensed the reasons I liked to get in my canoe and paddle. But I at that time if I was to continue canoeing I needed to soon discovered that the canoe could be more than just know more about paddling than I did. a short escape from the more mundane world, it could Fortunately a n outfitting store, SAGE (School of the open another vista full of challenges and adventure in Outdoors), had recently opened up in town. Not only my life. did they have all kinds of gear, much of which I had My first experience with a watercraft was using a rownever imagined, they carried canoes, including the new boat on a stream and lake in Indiana.. I found it unnat- fangled ones made with ABS. Better yet, you could ural to be going in the opposite direction you were factake classes and learn how to paddle them! ing when you were rowing. I traded the boat for a Not only could you learn to paddle as part of a tandem canoe and while my steering abilities were not much better at first, at least I could see where I was going. team, but you could learn how to paddle a canoe solo, Soon a friend and I were renting canoes for trips on the something I had not thought about up to that time. Still lower peninsula of Michigan. At first we just did short better, you could learn how to paddle a canoe in whitedays trips but soon he and I would paddle tandem and water! I was hooked. I bought my first canoe, a state of the art ABS Blue Hole OCA. It was the go anywhere camp overnight along the river bank. This not only got do anything solo or tandem canoe of that time. Soon I us away from people, we were able to enjoy the forest was going with others to the Rockcastle, the Red, the and surprise wildlife as we quietly paddled down the stream. We often saw fish in the stream, but neither of Nantahala and other SE streams as I developed my us were skilled in fishing so we generally carried steaks whitewater paddling skills. Along with early BWA memand other food in a small cooler in the middle of the ber Stan Slater I took a solo paddling class under canoe. We probably paddled around a dozen streams Dave Moccia on the Elkhorn. Dave Moccia, also a club on the lower peninsula before I heard about the Big member, taught for Sage and was in the National Two Hearted on the upper peninsula.. It was a stream Whitewater Championship races that year. That was why he was voted a lifetime member of the BWA. We that Ernest Hemingway had paddled as a young man were proud that our young club had such a good padand then in later years written about in one of his books. This led to checking out other streams to paddle dler as a member. on the UP of Michigan. We found pit we could have It was during this period that I began to realize the new adventures wherever we could launch a canoe. 3 incredible possibilities of canoeing. A friend, Beuren Garten, told me about his experiences exploring a cave using a canoe. On a trip to the Nantahala we witnessed the Canoe Poling Nationals that was taking place that year. Poling a canoe you use a pole about 12’ long instead of a paddle. You stand up in the canoe and use the pole like a paddle or you plant one end of the pole onto the riverbed and push the canoe in the direction you want to go. The great thing about it is that you can go both up and down rapids. In fact that weekend we watched a guy go up Nantahala Falls! Try that one in your kayak! The following year we went on a trip to the St. John river in Maine with a young couple by the last name of Moore. While we did not do any poling on that trip, we did find it quite enjoyable to stand up and paddle our canoe in flatwater and mild whitewater. Later trips to Canada we used this technique to stretch while we crossed lakes or had a long section of flatwater to paddle. We had some really envious kayakers with us who always had to pull over to the side of the river and get out while we keep on going. Afterwards, they had no choice but to paddle faster to catch up with us. (We had most of the food in our canoes.) Crossing a lake there was no choice for them. If the lake was several miles wide or long, they were in the kayak for a long time with no break. risk a year or two worth of work in trapping. In many cases it was a reasoable run to do class III or IV- or less if you studied your route carefully. It often beat carrying your boat and all the gear around the rapid. They were some cases where it made more good sense to use the portage. The portage is part of the historic legacy going back to the Indians and fur trappers. You often felt that you were participating in the history of North America when you carried on the portage trails worn deep by centuries of portaging. The old portage trails, camps and remnants of trading posts you visited seem to embrace you as a part of that tradition. Another technique with a canoe that is especially nice when you are crossing a large lake or on a large and wide river is to set up a sail on your canoe or on a couple of canoes lashed together. A couple of poles and some lashing ropes along with a small nylon tarp can make a great sail. One person uses a paddle as a rudder and the other handles the sail. If you have some good wind you can make some easy miles witj your sail. If you know you have places like some large lakes to cross you might consider buying a sailing kit for your canoe. Here is another advantage you have with a canoe that does not exist with a kayak, it is easy to bring a girlWe went on to rips in Canada, the birthplace of modern friend, wife, son or canoeing. Almost all Canadian rivers have a marker at daughter along. They a rapid that should be considered for carrying. It is part often may have no of the historic legacy going back to the Indians and fur interest in paddling by trappers. At “Le Portage” I learned to check out the themselves or in the rapid before I started to portage. It is part of the historic case of a child may legacy going back to the Indians and fur trappers. The not have the strength canoes they paddled were not in the same class as my or skill to paddle by Blue Hole canoe. Not only that, they did not want to themselves. When 4 they get tired or bored, you can just tell them to take a break and you will take over. They love it! a lake. I have a custom 108” double bladed paddle for such a situation. With it I can double the number of strokes when I paddle and made better headway. It also makes paddling while standing easy. With my 108” paddle I do not have to bend over for my paddle blade to catch the water properly. I have used this upscale paddle on many river trips out west and in the great northlands of Canada. Now, at this point some of you are saying “I want a boat just to paddle whitewater by myself that is light and easy to roll. I give you the decked C-1. With an easier and stronger roll than a kayak it fits that demand. Highly maneuverable, the C-1 also allows you to read rapids with a better view than a kayak. Since you are in a sitting/kneeling position, you have far less to worry about going over a drop and becoming entrapped. If you have to eject from you boat, it is much easier to get out of the C-1 than a kayak. Another plus, since you have all that space in the front of the boat unoccupied you now have space to put your spare paddle..... which may not need to be a break-down model. There is also room in both the front and the back for camping gear if you decide to do an overnight river trip. How about that for a But I always go back to the single blade. It’s possibilimore flexible boat! ties are endless and learning the incredible variety of strokes and techniques along with blade articulation One other thing I have noticed over the years, you are offers a challenge I always found absorbing. Pick up less likely to dislocate your shoulder while paddling a C- some books by Bill Mason starting with “Path of the 1 or canoe than if you paddle a kayak. A canoer uses a Paddle” and you will start to understand. Learning to low brace in most situations versus a high brace. Also canoe is not something that is a short term thing. It is rescue transportation is an option. I have rescued and challenge that can a part of your life for decades. Try paddled out a kayaker with a dislocated shoulder in my doing a j-stroke, you will not beat able to do it efficientcanoe. He would have had a long and difficult hike out ly and smoothly. That will come only with many hours if it was not for my canoe. Also important, I was able to and many trips on the water. Oh, one last thing I have get him to medical care in a timely manner. learned by paddling a canoe, that is to have patience. Just as in life, learning canoeing skills takes time and I did find one useful thing in the kayak paddling world. patience. It is a journey that is never over and neither is In some situations a double bladed paddle is useful in a enjoying your canoe. These reasons and more is why canoe. While wilderness tripping you have a lot of you should canoe. weight from gear in your boat. Add a headwind to this and it is difficult to made good headway on flatwater or Don Spangler This article is dedicated to three BWA members who loved to canoe. Dave Weiland Beuren Garten 5 Butch Quire Lamenting a Paradigm Shift Bob Sehlinger For the newer members of the BWA, Bob Sehlenger is one of the reasons the BWA & the NPFF exists. Bob was in charge of instructing for SAGE outfitter & School of the Outdoors that was located nears the UK campus in the seventies. It was like a NOC but without the Nantahala River at it’s door. He taught and inspired many in those days to paddle, bike, climb, hike, sail etc. It was because of this inspiration and association with Bob & Sage that we decided to form the BWA. Bob’s support in the early days along with his suggestion to me to start a film festival for paddlers was important to the BWA becoming what it is today. His association with William Nealy & the start-up of Menasha Ridge Press gave paddlers and others books, maps and other kinds of information need to help enjoy outdoor pursuits. His generosity, especially in the early years of the NPFF, when he donated thousands of dollars to cover our start-up costs while we learned how to run the Festival and make money at it, put our club on the map with an event that has lasted almost 30 years. I learned a lot form Bob, not including how to lose my canoe to the river, but that is another story. Don Spangler social dimension of tandem paddling that stokes my love of the sport. To share a day on the river with someone in the same boat is a delight, but melding your paddling skills to become an efficient and finely tuned team is almost transcendent. I’ve had tandem partners over the years where verbal communication was rarely necessary. Also, when you get old and creaky there’s someone in the boat to watch out for you, unless, it goes without saying, they’re older and creakier than you. It’s never flattering to date yourself, but when I started paddling kayak, I knew everyone if the state of Kentucky who owned one. Ditto for C-1s. Though I got into paddling as an open boater, I’ve always enjoyed the ease and almost effortless mobility that you have in a kayak. How can you not enjoy a light craft you can paddle with very, very few negative strokes (steering or corrective strokes that slow you down)? The speed and freedom are exhilarating, as is being low in the water with a river surging all around you. So, why is it then that an open canoe is my first and lasting love? Of course, there are lots of other nice things about an open canoe. Because you kneel you’re taller in the boat and can see a lot of things that K-1 pad- I have a couple of open solo canoes, but it’s the 6 dlers cannot. This makes eddy scouting easier and reduces the times you have to eyeball rapids from the bank. Also, I get restless when I’m cramped in the cockpit of a kayak. In an open boat I’ve got plenty of room to stretch, move around, and change positions, and it’s infinitely easier in a canoe than in a kayak to hop out and take a leak. There’s additionally more room for gear in an open canoe. Camping out of a canoe is much more civilized and indulgent than stuffing what you need into a kayak. after cutting their teeth in open canoes. It takes patience to jell as an open boat tandem team, more patience evidently than lot of paddlers have. For them, paddling tandem is like hanging wallpaper with your wife – a sure fire way to blow up a good relationship. In my teaching days, for this reason, I never let husbands and wives or boyfriends and girlfriends paddle together. I probably saved more marriages and relationships than Dr. Ruth and Dr. Phil combined. Then there are bugs. Can’t say how may times I’ve squeezed into a K-1 with my spray skirt tight around me when I feel a spider, a platoon of ants, or some other tiny critter marching around on my legs. In a kayak fending off those little feet is quite an ordeal. In a canoe, pesky hitchhikers can be dispatched instantly with a good swat. In an open boat you can also invite critters in. I once rescued a king snake from a small hydraulic and tossed him into the canoe. It worked well for the snake, not so much for me. If you ever encounter this situation, my advice is to consult your tandem partner before tossing the snake in the boat (Liz, are we speaking yet?). My tandem paddling today is not without its challenges. My partner, Ted Sparks, also from Birmingham, is one of the best open boaters I’ve ever known. His river reading skills are so exceptional that I’ve nagged him for years (unsuccessfully) to do a book for me on the subject. Problem is, he paddles only on his left side and he’s very stubborn about it. At the end of long day with Ted my right side is in a state of total collapse. Of course he’s used to the one-side thing, but it has had consequences for him as well. He started working with a personal trainer last year, who, after a cursory inspection said,” My God, you’re lopsided.” I guess if Ted and I paddle more frequently I’ll be lopsided too. An open tandem canoe forces you to improve your water reading and control skills. Open boats can’t always take the same lines as decked boats, and are subject to swamping if one too many waves wash over the side. Boat placement, therefore, must be especially precise in an open boat – you just can’t go crashing through stuff like you can in a Tupperware kayak (though heaven knows we’ve all tried). I’m not expecting open canoes to make a comeback in the whitewater arena any time soon. And though I hate to see the popularity of open canoes decline, I think it correlates with the loss of interest in exploration on the part the average paddler. I love nothing better than exploring a new river. The hours I’ve spent pouring over topo maps and Google Earth looking for something new to float must run in the hundreds. The old paradigm was buy a canoe, explore the streams close to home, and then branch out to distant rivers. The new paradigm is buy a kayak, learn to roll, and paddle the same four or so rivers all year long. I could stand on I-59 on any given Friday afternoon and hitch a ride to the Ocoee or Nantahala in about 5 minutes, but I never see anyone on the beautiful streams within 30 minutes of Birmingham. The paddlers for whom a whitewater river is nothing more than a wet roller coaster are changing the sport in way that discounts the aesthetics and appreciation of the natural environment. Something is irretrievably lost when it’s more about the ride than the river. Here’s a little true confession: I really enjoy a good gunwale (pronounced gunnel). A skilled open boater can really make an open boat jump by using the gunwale as a fulcrum for powerful paddle strokes – it’s a real mechanical advantage that’s absent with decked boats. Certainly I acknowledge the less appealing aspects of open boating. I’ve probably spent more time sitting in eddies bailing a canoe than most people have paddling one. So too, canoes are heavy buggers, but that’s why you have a tandem partner (in addition to mooching his lunch when you forgot yours at the put-in). Bob Sehlinger May, 2010 Today, the majority of paddling newcomers start out with a kayak. In the last decades of the previous century, however, many folks gravitated to kayaks 7 Be Prepared! Fred Tuttle Fred Tuttle showing us a alternate canoe only way to run Granite rapid on the Colorado in the Grand Canyon! 2010 is BSA ‘s (Boy Scouts of America) 100th anniversary and I have been a member of that awesome group 50 of those 100 years. But I have been canoeing even longer ...... 55 years! Yes, I and a few BWAers are as old as dirt. We call ourselves the Silverbacks or Old Farts and get together a couple of times a year to sit around the campfire, drink a little bourbon, and tell tales. Sometimes during the weekend, we may even paddle! But in 1995 many of us were still in our prime .... or so we thought. So when Don Spangler’s number came up on the Grand Canyon lottery, 16 of us began preparations for the trip of a lifetime. Some had been before, some several times, and some were virgins to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River and its meandering through the 5000 foot deep canyon. I would later come to appreciate the canyon more as a cathedral, a naturally carved tabernacle full of splendor and magnificence. What would I paddle? Open canoe, of course. How would I prepare? I had no idea..... .I mean, I knew people like Kent Ford and Nolan Whitesell had paddled it in canoe but they were whitewater gurus and I was just a lowly flatwater racer. I was not a novice to paddling, I had logged over 25 thousand miles in a canoe, often paddling daily while in college, medical school, residency, and private practice, but always training for that national 8 USCA championships. People like Don Spangler, Beuren Garten, Mike Weeks, Tubbo, Sam Moore, Lloyd Funkhouser, Rich and Lynn Lewis, Win Hill, Marrea Mathews and even Harold Burkes, had been so kind as to allow me to accompany them on whitewater trips. I was learning that sit and switch could be replaced by kneel and brace .... and be just as much fun, maybe more, and less work and a lot less work! can’t recall, but I do remember being upside down very quickly when a large wave broadsided me on my paddle side. So there I was, amphibious now, with only my red hull showing .... but I had options. Like any good Boy Scout, I was prepared. Plan A - try to roll in very turbulent water, probably miss, and end up swimming or Plan B - relax, hangout, tuck and breathe air off the bottom of the canoe (try that in your kayak!) in the trough and hold my breath in the crest of the waves. Now I had Anyway, I still needed to get prepared, so I practiced this on calm water where I lived at cleared my calendar for as many big water Mallard Point north of Georgetown, but I had trips as possible. I even signed up for a class not told anyone about Plan B. Therefore, my at the NOC. It was during the advanced open kayaking and rafting buddies expected plan A. canoe course that I met an insurance salesman form West Virginia, who all of things, had Anyway, after watching the red blob bob down been a guide on the Gauley River. He claimed the rapid for over two minutes with no sign of he had paddled the Colorado in an open Fred, some were puzzled, some were frightcanoe. After seeing him paddle and swim the ened. The one closest to me, a fellow MD, by Ocoee and Nolichucky in that huge Whitesell, the name of Loudermilk, had the presence of I knew I would need a bigger canoe along mind to snap a picture of this event that he with a dry suit and maybe a hifloat-PFD!! My later presented me with. He had also raced mentor seemed to paddle all the biggest over to my rescue when I finally managed to waves and holes and didn’t care if his canoe roll up in calmer water with his eyes as big as filled up or he flipped and swam. I never saw saucers exclaiming: “Fred, we thought you him roll his canoe; I doubt he could; but it did- were a goner! Do you know how long you n’t matter. He had fun, lots of it, was always were upside down?” smiling, and positive, very positive! With nothing to prove my mentor was prepared to “Relax, Frank” I calmly responded. “I know enjoy the river.... I had a way to go. exactly how long I was upside down! For as long as two verses of ‘In the Garden’, and for Ok, flash forward to October 1995 Colorado those of you who don't remember here's the River, Mile 93.4, Granite Rapid, Class VIIchorus ‘And He walks with me, And He talks VIII. I was learning to dance with the waves! with me, And He tells me I am His own, And Go with the flow, never fight the river, for it the joy we share as we tarry there, None other would not be subdued or beaten in its rush to has ever known.’ Lake Mead. Many more are the exploits of the Daunting I distinctly remember scouting Granite from 16, “Spangler s Grand Canyon Crew” But sufriver left as river right was a shear cliff of fice it to say, we came to have fun and we granite reaching several feet high. I also were prepared or quickly improvised. remember that this was a much longer rapid . than usual with more wave acton: To me it Life after two weeks paddling the Grand looked like a class IX. Several were walking Canyon is less exciting, but somehow more back to their kayaks and I knew if I didn’t go peaceful, more full of faith, purpose, and of with them I wouldn’t go at all. So I strapped course, preparation. myself in firmly, thinking that being on my Fred Tuttle knees was a good position for this majestic rapid. Who I followed into the maelstrom, I 9 Y C-1 Dave Merrifield A canoe, especially if it is a C-1, demands not only high skills, but you are often more dynamic physically. comfortable with canoeing and boat control with a single-bladed paddle. I had tried kayaking, but sitting on my butt slouching Everybody knows what a kayak looks like. through rapids felt awkward. I liked the So what is this thing that looks like a kayak, leverage, reach and feel of a single paddle but the paddler looks really tall, and he only blade. I liked being taller by sitting upright on a pedestal. I could see farther and plan has one blade on his paddle? And, more better. But I hated bailing, and the idea of importantly, why does he/she look so cool, rolling as self-rescue appealed to me. I lack so fluid, so effortless, so graceful and effithe stability gene, so this was vital to me. cient on the river? Sure you can roll an open canoe, but then you need to find the bank and get the water It’s a C-1: C for canoe, 1 for one person, and the hyphen in the middle to represent all out or grow arms of full-on uranium to pull a those amazing descriptive adjectives above. water-filled canoe around. You roll a C-1 back up and it’s just like moments before Male or female, C-1 paddlers stand out. At you flipped over – you’re upright, stable, least they stand out after the circulation returns to their ankles and they can stand at light, maneuverable – only your hair is wet. You’re more maneuverable than a canoe all. due to the light weight and shorter waterline. And, big attraction for me starting out, a C-1 I got into C-1 because I was familiar and Everybody knows what a canoe looks like. 10 is hundreds of bucks, smackers, or simoleans (depending on exchange rate) cheaper than a canoe. Less plastic and less rigging. Find any old kayak and with some foam, seat belts, and bolts, you are on the river. But it’s not all sunshine, lollipops and crispy bacon. A C-1 is a challenging beast to steer and propel. You have half the paddle opportunities of a kayak, and somewhat less steering. So, you have to learn to be a cunning paddler and get the most out of every stroke. C-1 is not for the lazy boater. The craft is shorter than a canoe, and so it has less glide and more squirreliness. And the kneeling position, while long on reach, leverage, and visibility, is short on long-term comfort. Runners start the run in agony and await the endorphin rush. C-1 boaters start in cushy padded comfort, quickly degrade into ankle anguish, and await that blessed moment when everything below the knee falls asleep. Open canoers can move around and fidget into temporary relief. C-1 is an Iron Maiden; every twist or turn encounters another honed spear of glistening agony. True C-1 paddlers wear the pain as a badge of courage, a shared sacrifice for their art, a martyrdom to the river. pokes you from both sides. You are a peacemaker in the rivalry on the river. You are welcome in all eddies. You can share the wave and get in line for the hole without a glare or a sneer. All paddlers welcome you, and all rivers are available to you. You don’t take up too much room on the racks, but you help the canoeist lift the beast. You have room for more gear (like food to share) than a kayak, but you don’t end up carrying everybody’s spare whatever like a canoe often does. Canoeists envy the fun you can have without bailing, and kayakers are secretly amazed you can go straight at all. Then the intangibles. Hardly anybody is going to steal a C-1, because all C-1 paddlers are chock full of good karma. Only the unknowing would steal one and try it on the river, and I’m confident that karma imbalance would be righted quickly. C-1 paddlers often develop one bicep and one pectoral muscle way more than the matching ones. It can make identifying them easy at the pool or the gym… good conversation starter. C-1: where else can you have this much fun fully erect and wearing a skirt? Dave Merrifield. April 2010. C-1 as a hybrid craft crosses the boundaries. You are at home with the canoes and at home with the kayaks. Gentle derision 11 Maybe Canoes Have Feelings Too! Charlie Buccola Charlie, with his old trusty canoe on the Gauley. It occurred to me a bit too late that my focus had been on the wrong thing. Up until the decisive moment, I had been in hot pursuit of a fellow boater who had flipped his kayak and was swimming. He and his boat flushed past the boulder looming ahead just as my mind calculated that I was on course to meet the namesake Undercut Rock rapid (a.k.a. Miller’s Folly) on the New River. A frantic maneuver almost got my canoe clear of the rock but it really wanted to meet me up close and personal. After a brief interlude plastered on the face of the rock, I took advantage of one of the good things about open boats – they make wonderful spring boards to leap off into the current. I swam clear as the boat began its descent below the waters. From an eddy downstream my fellow paddlers and I pondered how to extricate the boat. A solo raft trip joined the efforts but no one was coming up with a solution to getting safely to the face of the bus-sized boulder. From time to time my boat would rise above the surface only to disappear again. After several failed attempts by the strongest member of our group, out of the depths arose not one but two red canoe bows. Oh no, I thought, my boat had broken in two. I contemplated why a clean run had taken such an ugly turn. Maybe my boat was getting back at me for losing my attach- ment to it. On the way over to West Virginia, and even worse while paddling it down the river, I talked with my travelling companions about my plan to sell this boat at the Gauley Fest that weekend. Perhaps my trusty XL-13 was heartbroken that I would crassly talk about dumping it for another boat. After all, it was my first real whitewater canoe. Together we had learned a number of useful things. Such as finding a dry line through a rapid. (Ten gallons of water makes any boat less maneuverable.) Or that the fat nose of a canoe would usually rise up from a steep drop rather than diving into the waters. Despite the frequent ribbing from kayak buddies, they were only too happy to let me haul gear for them in this spacious boat. But in the end, it all worked out. After about half an hour my boat popped out from the undercut and floated down to me intact. It turned out that the other bow was somebody else’s canoe that had been pinned in the undercut from earlier in the week. My swim, like any with potential consequences, was part of the continuous learning process on the water. Despite the episode, it had been a fine day on the river. Saturday night at the Gauley Fest a guy saw the boat, was interested and bought it. That money was invested in a new boat – a canoe of course – that took me on many more whitewater adventures. I hoped the new owner would enjoy the boat as much as I had and not hurt it’s feelings. 12 Why W e Canoe Bob & Elsie Miller It all started Labor Day weekend 1981 in rented aluminum canoes. A local friend asked Bobby and I to join a small group of his friends for a trip down Green River. It sounded like a fun weekend so we were game to join him. I had never been in a canoe and Bobby may have sat in one once upon a time, but what the heck! How hard could it be! So a group of eight of us, all tandem paddlers, sat off that weekend for a twelve mile canoe/camping trip. Bobby and I had no experience and some of the others had gained only limited experience in girl scout leader training. It turned out to be very limited and I guess they missed the class about storing expensive cameras and binoculars in waterproof bags. The water was high and our spirits higher. In spite of many near flips, a few upsets, drinking(!), high water and the lack of paddling skills and river knowledge we all made it safely through that weekend. Perhaps the innocence of the paddlers was our redeeming factor. Perhaps one good thing was by having no experienced paddlers in the group we did not know the rule that all mishaps are your partners fault. So If we goofed we just laughed harder and laugh a lot we did. We though that the river gods were truly smiling upon us..... well, maybe it was just a grin. The river gods claimed the camera equipment and binoculars. I bet to this very day, somewhere in Green River there is a male catfish hiding behind a 13 rock ogling a female with my binoculars. But in spite of the losses we had an absolute ball! This first trip is still a favorite topic of conversation when the old group gets together. We all loved our jobs but with work comes stress and the lazy river eased our stressful minds. There just can’t be anything more fun and relaxing than a group of canoe paddlers heading down a river for a weekend campout. It wasn’t long before we were canoeing every chance we got. After a visit to the World’s Fair in Knoxville in the summer of 1982 we headed over to the Hiawassee River. The outfitter there wasn’t sure we could paddle the Hiawassee with three people in a boat, our nine year old son was along, but we finally convinced him we were worthy of his rental. It was a beautiful day and we were all alone. Yes, that’s right, all alone. We stroked away the stress of the crowded fair without mishap!!!!!!!! Later that year we joined the Viking Canoe Club to gain paddling companions and improve our skills. That Christmas we purchased our first canoe--a Mad River Explorer from Steve Morgan at SAGE. Paddling clinics came next and we have been paddling ever since. you and your partner together. But on that long paddling trip there is nothing better to paddle in that that old faithful canoe. It carries you and all the comforts needed for a long trip and permits one of my favorite things: it allows you to stretch your legs or stand up if necessary. While we have enjoyed our many kayak and raft experiences the canoe has always been our mainstay. Now that we have reached full maturity and our hearts and bodies no longer seek the excitement of a raging river, our kayaks have gone by the wayside. But we still have that Mad River Canoe. Oh, it’s been ripped in half and repaired and we have left a lot of red vinyl on rocks in the riverbed and takeouts but she is still river-worthy. (And so has our marriage also withstood the challenges of life.) Having come full circle we are back to paddling the upper Rockcastle River and fishing from the put-in down to our campsite. We have passed along the love of canoeing to our son. He paddles from time to time and takes his family with him or at least his four year old daughter. I hope she will learn to love the river as we have. But even if those days of being able to We have many trips under the old gunwales climb into a canoe ever pass us by, the memonow as well as raft and kayak trips. So why a canoe you ask? Nothing beats the adventure of ries of those trips, places and friends never will. a canoe camping/fishing trip on a week long paddle, carrying a “ton” of gear in Quetico or a wilderness trip in Quebec with friends. It’s also We would like to thank the BWA and VCC for the challenge of having a paddling partner who setting us straight on the “Rules of the River” that “all mishaps are your partners fault”. This is unpredictable. It is remaining upright when knowledge has definitely added excitement to that partner may say go left they have not our trips (and our marriage) whether it be our determined which left they are referring to. mistake or or our partners. In spite of it Bobby Unfortunately this may still be true after years of paddling together. Call it a test to see the the and I still paddle a canoe together. marriage is still on solid ground. If you decide it is a shaky at the moment then you may need to This article is dedicated to Mike Todd, the friend that invited us on that first trip, and to switch to a kayak for a while. I think I read somewhere that the sole purpose for the devel- Beuren Garten with whom we enjoyed many priceless canoeing experiences. Both have opment of kayaks was to save marriages. But since paddled off into the sunset but the memknow this, the challenge of working out your ories of those trips will never leave us. paddling differences can be what you both need. The canoe is a caldron for learning to Bobby and Elsie Miller work out differences and that resolution in the long run in the long run may be what will keep 14 Why A Canoe? W ell, Why Not? Jerry O’Conner Well, why not? Let’s first acknowledge that everything is a trade-off and start on level ground. The same way a creek or river begins, when some slight surface irregularity inevitably etches a direction and the flow of falling water follows and carves a channel. learning firsthand). Even before moving to Lexington I had made several attempts to make a run on the Rockcastle. It was only years later that I recognized the wisdom of the outfitter who refused to let us take his canoes out on what surely would have been a fateful trip that snowy November day. But I digress; that’s what hapMy personal history put me in a canoe long pens to old farts after their brain cells have been before I had ever seen a kayak. My early experi- more than adequately fortified with Wild Turkey ence canoe camping with high school buddies for a few years… and a college outing club was seductive enough to lead me toward whitewater, although this came Having no experience with solo canoeing I close to turning out very badly, on more than one recruited an accomplice, and one drizzly gray day occasion. in March two graduate students from UK showed up at the Elkhorn put-in with my “whitewater virBy the time I bought my first boat, a 15 foot Sea gin” canoe and no flotation other than the stock Nymph aluminum “whitewater” canoe, I knew just Styrofoam blocks in the ends. At the put-in, there enough to be dangerous. Amply armed with put- were no witnesses on hand to warn us, or even in and take-out information from the first edition laugh at us… of Bob Sehlinger’s “Canoeing and Kayaking Guide to the Streams of Kentucky”, (freshly pub- As we successfully negotiated the first rapid, the lished in my home state), I prepared for my first canoe came to life, and we became aware of the descent on the mighty Elkhorn. I skipped the river as a force of nature. I think the level was section on Hazards and Safety, (and ended up around 1.5 feet, and the Haystacks were in fine 15 form. As we plowed through the waves, they jumped right in and came along with us. They kept coming in until there was no room for more, but we managed to remain up-side-up and paddle to shore. We were survivors, and my whitewater bondage had begun! Even the hypothermia that ensued before we finally got to the takeout (well past the conventional one that I learned of later) was not sufficient to quench my quest for more. I began to wonder, if I had been paddling solo, would the boat have taken on less water? My sense of survival was also stimulated; I might need to get some mentoring if I wanted to keep doing this for very long… At the next BWA meeting I was captivated by the video of kayaks somewhere in Tennessee performing a peculiar maneuver called an “ender”, and the deepening channel of my canoeing experience began to braid. During a subsequent rope throwing practice at Sam Moore’s place, he offered me my first time in a kayak. It was easy to paddle compared to a canoe, and I’ve been paddling both canoes and kayaks ever since. Although I was advised to stick with one or the other, I couldn’t decide which one I liked better. A kayak offered a quicker ticket to bigger and more powerful whitewater, while mitigating the consequences of an upset if one had mastered a roll. However, an open boat offered greater comfort, carrying capacity, an escape route in pinning situations, and the higher dryer center of gravity provided an extra margin of warmth in the wintertime. I soon learned that a C-1 also offered the margin of warmth, but at the cost of comfort. At some point a personal preference has to cut through all the darn trade-offs! Since I haven’t been constrained by personal physical conditions or other circumstances to declare monogamous allegiance to either canoes or kayaks, one answer to the question “why a canoe?” seems to stem from the polarity of form and function. From play boats to working boats, all are designed with this mix in mind. It’s up to us to select the craft that best meets the needs of the occasion. Is there anything better than an open canoe for floating the Lower Canyons of the Rio Grande? Is there anything better than a kayak (not counting motors!) for getting through all the flatwater in the Grand Canyon? If the fundamental idea is enjoying time on the water, the type of boat should match the type of water. But what about the situations where there is no obvious choice? The versatility of a canoe and its archetypal shape places it closest to the apex of the form vs. function divide. Everything else being equal, there seems to be something more inherently satisfying about paddling a canoe. Perhaps the greater challenge of using a single blade paddle confers a greater sense of accomplishment, and this also manifests in getting greater pleasure from watching a canoe or C-1 navigate a slalom course than a K-1. I will never forget the lone C-1’er who threaded the needle right of the big rock at Humongous for the cleanest run of that rapid during the 2001 US Team Trials! In south central Texas, where the predominant moving water is class I-II, either boat will do. Most paddle kayaks, but my preference by far is a Mad River Outrage, with a custom saddle originally constructed in 1980 for my Mad River M.E. This is comfort and maneuverability at its best! When I see the quote that there is nothing better than simply messing around in boats, the boat that first comes to mind is a canoe … jerry o’ 16 Off the Cuff Comments From the Forum Worth Remembering April 24 - May 2, A Propitious Week of Precision Paddling proposed that he follow me the next day to the Russell Fork, which was coming up to a good level. He had heard terrible things about the Russell Fork, but he listened to reason and relented. The Week of Rivers this year featured a series of classics with good friends. This is an annual event that I have done many years with many a boating bud and this year was absolutely awesome. The camping and camp food was the bomb and I just can’t say enough about the camaraderie experienced over the past 8 days of consecutive boating with paddling friends. We left the Smokies Monday morning on a beeline for the Russell Fork gorge which had come up to a joyful 540 cfs when we put on with Gerald Delong, Damon Patterson, Dave Alnutt, and Steve Ruth. Curly Steve, now a believer that the Russell Fork was not the “Den of the Devilâ€? as he had heard, opted for a second run when part of my ”WORE” (Week of Rivers Expedition) crew arrived. Justin Bolender and Scott Bradford arrived and were anxious to paddle. Gerald Delong, ever the gracious Russell Fork host, offered to paddle with them and so Curly Steve jumped in with them for his second run, this time having dropped just slightly to a little over 500 cfs. Great levels for sure as Boles would soon admit after having first suggested some trepidation at the level. I think he agreed that it was a better level and more fun than the 350 run he had done just recently before, for his first time on it. I did not do a second run, having decided I better pace myself since the trip was just getting started. Saturday morning, April 24, 2010, I drove to the Cheoah put in to meet up with YT and Wes Prince. Wes was ill and not in transit, but YT and I hooked up with Connard and Jason Dillow and put on at O’Henry’s with what turned out to be a level of about 1700 cfs. Neither YT or I know this run that well, although we have had a few jaunts down, so we asked Connard to give us the good lines. He did of course, but not until after he yelled at me and YT to give him space. YT and I, being kinda bombers as it is, grinned at each other, and gave him space. Love that guy. He showed us the creek line at Bear Creek and all and all it was a kickin run at a kickin level. And, to make things even better, it started to rain. Setting up camp at the Cheoah takeout on this first night of the trip, we all huddled in Connard’s make shift tarp city and began our first of many meals that would occur at the campfire that week. It rained all night. The next morning, up early, we decided to do a quick run on the Cheoah, releasing 1170 cfs, and put on at the bridge upstream from Bear Creek and bombed down, having picked up a new boating buddy, Curly Steve, new to the area from Pennsylvania. Given the logistics and other factors for Connard and Dillow to get back to Western Kentucky, we ran over to the Tellico which was running somewhere between 2.2 and 3 feet on the gauge when I checked that evening. My guess is closer to the 2.2 range. The ledges were brown and chunky, Baby Falls was fun, of course, and I thought Jared’s Knee warranted a class IV rating at that level. Just pure fun. YT, Connard and Dillow left for home on Sunday and being without a paddling partner at the moment, I proposed to Curly Steve that he go with me to run the Little River on the north side of the Smokies, which was running about 2.5 on the way back to our mountain house. After my first flip of the week long trip at the Meanies, (I try to practice not rolling on the river, but my boof turned into a rock 180 and me dropping in backwards with a roll up in the eddy - whew!) we bebopped down, and loaded up below a nice run at the Elbow for a wrap up of a busy day paddling three rivers around the Park. From there, I All day Monday, it rained a little here and a little there. That night it rained even more. We were high and dry in the Pavilion at Ratliff Hole and life could not be better. Our favorite drainage was getting more water and we were hoping for a steep creek run, perhaps on Grassy Creek. We were not disappointed. Starting off on Tuesday morning around 10 a.m., our team was joined by Bubba who came and jumped on the train for a day of premium (and precision) boating. The Russell Fork came up to a perfect 600 cfs and the water quality was clear and pristine until we got to Grassy Creek. Running nicely and quite brown, we decided to hike upstream to the confluence with Center Creek and put on. Big fast slides down large drops with names like Hatfield’s Revenge and Hyperslide made for icing on our cake after a beautiful rainy morning in the Russell Fork Gorge. On the otherhand, in hind sight, that is also where I likely broke my Nomad, unbeknownst to me at the time. That afternoon, another member of our WORE crew showed up, ready to boat: Wes Prince joined us, and immediately jumped in on the next laps to take place on Grassy Creek, at a much higher level than we had just had an hour or so earlier. Hanging out in the shelter with cell service, electric and all the fire wood we could burn, gratis Gerald’s chainsaw attack on some down timber, we sat back relishing the day, eating well on our 17 Coleman stove and charcoal grill, and enjoying the sounds of persistent rain and an obvious rising Russell Fork. We would have options the next day. Wednesday morning we woke up to the Russell Fork running at 2400 cfs, the sun shining, and our thoughts of paddling the Guest River dashed by rumors of lots of wood and no real enthusiasm to go. So, we started aiming north and decided that we would drive up to Audra State Park and camp along the Middle Fork of the Tygart River. We got to the river rather late in the day, but since it was only about 5 p.m. or so, we ran the short shuttle and slid into the river from our campsite with the river running a nice 4 feet level. Class IV boating in a pristine area defines the Tygart’s Middle Fork River. I rate it as consistent in difficulty with the Caney Fork, without Devil’s Kitchen and not nearly as long. Plus, after running the Middle Fork, we got two nice rapids on the Tygart itself, called S-turn and Shoulder Snapper. I think we may have some video or still shots of Shoulder Snapper from Boles. Great day, with great friends on an awesome West Virginia river. I did flip a second time on the whole trip somewhere on this run, but it was the last flip of the trip, so I can’t complain. Just a wonderful day in a beautiful place. I won’t kid you, but the hike up the railroad tracks taking off the Tygart and going up the Buckannon River was a pain. We got to my truck by dark, but we were all feeling great. We loaded up, drove back to our camp and just as we were pulling back into Audra State Park, we saw a suspicious White Van, pulling up to the turn in at the same time. Of course, it turned out to be YT in his “Stalker van” and he joined back up with the WORE team in one of the best camping places in West Virginia. Even if you don’t paddle, this is a great campground that would be perfect for a family outing or bringing that certain special significant other to. You gotta go check it out if you haven’t. Thursday morning, we loaded up our vehicles and drove to the Festival site where we dropped vehicles and camping gear, loaded all of our boats on my truck and drove to Rockville, the put-in for the Lower Big Sandy, where we were meeting BWA’er Matt Walker and BWA alumnis, Jay Ditty and Willy Witt, along with Eric Hendrickson, Eric Nies, Bill (I forget his last night but a really kind bro I have known for years) to do a run at about a 5.6 level on the gauge. Not high, but a relaxing level, we all had a blast on the Big Sandy. Wonder Falls, is just a hoot, and our group watched Matt, Jay, Eric, Eric and Bill run Big Splat, all of us being just fine with our decision to hoof it. Great lines on First Island where my buddy Don Kinser broke his jaw a few years back on the run with me, Scott Bradford and Charlie Walbridge, and we were all at the take-out that is shared with the Cheat having beer and etc. Yet another fine day of precision boating by all. I am hoping that Willy or Jay or someone has some pictures as they were shooting some. Friday morning, we made a kickin breakfast feast at the phat site we had selected for the Cheat Festival (at Cheat River Campground), took in the environs a bit, and then headed for Friendsville, MD for the Upper Yough. I really love going there, not only for the water of course, but also because I usually see so many people that I have known in this sport over the past 20 years or so. I love my boating peeps, both old ones and the news ones. Just my favorite bunch of folks. So, we socialized, caught up with friends, and along with many others, slid into the water around 1 p.m. There were fourteen of us. By this time, we had been joined by Clay Warren, Brian Sandman, Jon Dale, DJ and Chris, along with Sarah Mello and Brian Mattingly. All solid boaters on a solid class IV+ run. The last time I was on the Upper Yough, it was running 1.9 on the gauge which was two years prior. A summer release of 600 cfs, is 1.8 on the Sang Run bridge gauge. On this day, we noticed it was bobbing between 2.3 and 2.4 and it was rumored to be about 950 cfs at Friendsville. Apparantly, that is 2.1 by the “old school” gauge, but, it was still juicy and a lot more action than the last time I was on the run. Wow, what a difference. And, for the better. I think that was the most action packed runs of the week and I was having a blast. Except for one thing. Since the Tygart, I had noticed that by boat seemed to be leaking water - lots of it. I thought I checked my boat for cracks, but I didn’t see any and thought it must be screws loose or my spray skirt tunnel was not working or something. I got tired of bailing the boat, so I just kept muscling it around on a busy Upper Yough run. When I got to the takeout in Friendsville, Sarah Mello observed an 18 inch gash in my boat that promised to spread to three feet. Dang, the end of that boat. Back at the Cheat Fest, Heather Warman, Jason Powell and Rebecca Lewis showed up and were rarin to paddle the Cheat. Clay and YT, both stepped up to the plate and the five of them put on at close to 6 p.m. This is a long run, nearly 10 miles, so it was a bit of a gamble with darkness, but the desire to boat generally decides these things for us and so it did for them. They had a great run, got off before dark and were back in camp before any of us had to fret, full of smiles and all giddy with the fabulous run they had just had. Apparently YT is a bit of a slave driver and kept the crew on task moving down the river. Saturday morning, with broken Nomad, but with my Godzilla boat, a bit of tendonitis in my left elbow (from duffek strokes on that side I surmised) and just simply ready to have a relaxed run, the group split up, with most of the crew going to the Upper Yough. On the otherhand, me, Clay Warren, Jason Powell and Rebecca 18 Lewis, did a run on the Cheat after running shuttle and setting up the paddle trip that Clay and Heather did with Aleigha on her very successful run down the Cheat Narrows. She reportedly had a very nice tight line through Calamity and did very well on the entire run. The Cheat was running about 1.6 reportedly and was a very fun level, although a bit lower than the last few years. Jason Powell, man, that guy wants it and goes for it. It had been awhile since I paddled with him and he is really getting better and has a great attitude for boating. I really enjoy camping and boating with Sandman and Rebecca, both of them Vikings. Solid peeps and good boaters. Love camping with Sandman as he pays attention to details like, tarps, and plenty of food, ice and, well, he is just a joy to camp with. Rebecca, what a cool sister she is. My first time meeting her. Anyway, I sure do hope to do more boating with our Vikings bros and sisters in the future. (By the way, if you can afford $20, I think all Kentucky boaters, in addition to giving money to the BWA and AW, should join the Vikings. We have a long history with the Vikings and I am proud to say I am a member of that organization as well.) Sunday morning I woke to reports of flash flooding in quite “fullâ€? as far as boating went, I packed up and headed home by 9:30 a.m. On the way home I called Don Kinser who for many years past had come on this trip. He broke his foot last Friday. I firmly pointed out to him that if he had blown off his responsibilities and come boating with his buddy on the Week of Rivers, he would not have broken his foot. He really could not argue with that. This was a good trip. I am scheduling it for the same time next year and invite any and all to set that week aside, especially if the runs I was describing above are your cup of tea. Solid class IV boating in the Southeast. What a joyful week of rivers with my friends. It don’t get no better than that. Brent View the full thread: http://www.americanwhitewater.org//content/Forum/read/send/28,19936,20540/#msg-20540 How do I get a better fit in a boat? that you're trim in the water i.e. the bow and stern are about the same distance from the waterline. Some designs are different however and to be sure have an experienced boater look at you from the side in flat water. Next you should have solid contact with little foot pressing effort at all thecontact points - hips, knees / thighs, feet. You shouldn't have to push hard on your tippy toes to drive the knees into the deck. These folks are the ones that fall out of the boat before the boat is fully inverted in a flip. Additional contact points can be added by installing knee blocks on the side of the boat under the knees or using a Jackson Happy seat (bag that sits under the knee and helps keep the knee under the deck). Refinements in fit ... You can shape the hip pads ... I put the Dagger wedge pads in with the thick part to the back to follow the butt curve more naturally. In addition you generally want to tilt the hip pads up in front to match the angle of the thigh as it rises to the knee pad under the deck. If you think your knees are too high you can build up the padding under the deck with successive layers of foam. Some also add more hook for the knee under the deck with shaped foam. Cover it all with skinned neoprene for a soft touch and great friction. For the feet I suggest adding a shaped foam bulkhead block that has a bit of a wedge shape (experiment here). If you shape it so that the foot tilts down a bit like you are standing on your toes a little but the foot is fully supported you are less likely to injure your foot ankles during an unplanned big impact in the bow. You can also add some padding under your heel in the bottom of the boat. All of this effort requires foam and maybe neoprene. Canoe KY caries some foam as well as Philip Galls in varying stocks. There are mail order sources as well. Don't know of a local source for neoprene. I suggest taping before glueing while experimenting. Glue with Weldwood Contact Cement available at Wal Mart, Lowes, etc. Sit in the boat for a bit watching the boob tube to see how comfortable the change is after sitting in the boat for a while. Watch boating videos for the full effect ;) All I can think of for now ... happy fitting! Wes Prince I'll take a stab at this as I think proper boat fit is more important than boat design for boat control and overall enjoyment of the sport. It's difficult to roll, brace, surf or even catch eddies in a poorly fitting boat. The more difficult the water, the difficult the moves with a poor fit. View the full thread: http://www.americanwhitewater.org//content/Forum/read/send/9, 21034,21067/#msg-21067 In general your fore / aft seat adjustment should be such 19 Too Much Fun! Muddy Creek Flood Run about those logs? He met up with some of them and he became their bitch. It took a long time to get him to shore, a very long time. Barbed wire tends to slow rescues down. Tim, you done good! Mike's boat was gone and he had to walk out. The creek was so high that crossing it to the road was not an option so he had to do his best on river right. His boat was recovered and is resting nicely on my patio at this moment. Some of us boneheads decided that Muddy Creek was the place to go. The gauge was stuck at 3.1 but when we got in the vicinity, it was obvious that we had a lot more water than that. We were initially going to take out at the Caine (? spelling) bridge but the water was rising It was raining so hard that seeing where to go was and there was concern that the vehicles would be caught almost impossible. I actually got behind a roll of straw, by the water. one of several, and followed it, reading its behavior in the water to help me determine where to go. May I take Instead, we went to the lower takeout and left the cars this moment to thank the farmer who donated those there. Going back up to the put-in we saw water like probes. I named the one I followed Daniel as it blazed never before. Jeff was so anxious to get into the water one bitchin trail for me. that he drove his van through the stuff to get to the putin. Barry and Mel said no way and took our vehicles Getting very close to the takeout, we took out. We were back to the takeout. Good intentions never go unpunin sight of the place and walked about a hundred yards. ished but we do appreciate the good karma. More on There is where we discovered that our vehicles would that later. not be leaving that area anytime soon. The water was Muddy was beyond cranking, it was kicking royal ass. Huge is an understatement. I had done the creek at the 5-6 ft. level and it was pure fun. I have to admit that the paddle was exhilerating, not all that difficult, but the danger level was significant as there were plenty to trees to broach on and not an eddy to be found. The water was beyond being in the trees, it was in the fields, making lakes everywhere. And we shared the creeks with a bazillion logs, not sticks, I'm talking friggin' logs. BMF's. Trust me, they don't get out of the way and they don't apologize for messing up your run. Those bastards. rising at an unbelievable rate. The drivers did walk across and we moved our vehicles to the front of the church where we have left them, pretty much to fate. Oh, by the way, we also left Mike there too. By the time we got the vehicles moved and got back to the safe side, the water had risen so much that by the time Mike made it to the bridge, the water was too high to attempt to walk it. There was also a huge amount of logs and debris in the water that it could easily knock you off your feet. So, Mike is sitting comfortably in his van at this very moment. He has plenty of beer, peanuts, etc. There are also locals around if he needs them. I just talked with At 10 feet, there are no eddies, none. Okay, maybe him and he assures me that he is fine. Biggest problem three but that's about it and they weren't worth a damn. is that the water keeps rising and has reached the botJeremy wound up in the water and had to walk out. We tom of the circle around the church. And the water is still got his boat and Allen did a fine job of noosing his padrising between six inches to a foot an hour. Last I dle but it got away. Jeremy, I'm glad a paddle is the only checked, my van does not have the swim option on it. you wound up losing. Hopefully it will show up. DAMN! We missed the window to the vehicles out by no more than 10-15 We were correct in not parking at the middle takeout. minutes. The cars would have been submerged or worse if we had left them there. We were paddling on a road that Oh, remember me telling you about walking on the road we had been driving on less than an hour before. Harry the rest of the way to the takeout? It was G - O - N - E suggested that we not linger long there so back to the within 30 minutes of our arrival. boats we went to complete the trip. At times it was raining so hard that one could not see so we were all quite careful and thanks again to Harry for taking over the lead. On down the creek we went. There is a place where the creek splits and I've never seen water bulge up like it did at the split. In one respect it was one of the most beautiful formations I've ever seen water do. On the other hand, it was some scary shit! Allen flipped but rolled up like a champ. Mike Larimore also flipped but came out of his boat. He took a long swim and had the fool beat out of him but all the crap floating with us. Remember me telling you If you've never heard a kayaker pray for the rain to stop, you have now. Now get this one.....it took us about 2 hours to get out of the area. The roads were all blocked by high water. We finally got out by taking all these little backroads and wound up on 52 around the Waco area. We did wind up at Otter creek there at Stoney Road. That house is 'going down'. I've never seen Otter like this before. The amout of water was unbelievable. The East Prong was up to the bridge. If you were on the creek, you would not make it under the bridge. What a day! We all agreed that this was not one of our smarter days. For the most part, what a hardcore bal20 rapid just below lunch stop. Thanks Jason! Afterwards Mackenzie went out to Larimore’s and laid out camp for our family setting up the tent and getting the camp kitchen set up, I trained her well (Honey, you know I’m joking)! All was looking good and then on my way out the door I looked at the radar one more time. And there it was, a system building up some momentum. zout run! On the other hand............what the hell were we thinking?!? Lots of lessons learned here folks. I'm just glad we are all still around to learn from them. Everybody keep a kind thought out for Larimore. Dallas Dang! View the full thread: http://www.americanwhitewater.org//content/Forum/read/ send/28,20536,20536/#msg-20536 This post is for Hanley, Wes and whoever else likes looonnnnggg posts. I arrived at Mike’s around 6:30 pm Friday evening and the first thing I did was set up a tarp. As soon as we got finished putting it up, it started raining. Then the tornado sirens started going off, that’s always a good feeling, right!? Apparently one touched down near Todd Garlands house Friday evening! Then after the rains let up and off to bed the little ones went, the bottom dropped out. It rained hard and that tarp kept us from getting drenched. I thought to myself, so there’s that 2 inches of rain NOAA was predicting. Off to sleep in the tent. Now, now wait a cotton picking minute here (cause I know you two boys have the time : -). I had 3 1/4? pages typed out in word but I elected to shorten my post and not to put all of my trip report on here because I didn’t want to put those behind their PC’s asleep. I was thinking I should save it more for bowlines article? Now I did chastise you boys slightly and I can understand the rebuttal but I chose to be more short winded because folks lose interest if you don’t get the point across quickly. Now if you want to read my full post here it is: I woke up to dirty brown water at Mikes. That can’t be . . . it generallytakes 24 hours for the water to get here. Localized heavy rain brought the creek up with local tributaries. And it kept going up. At 10 am we went to the put in to look at the bridge gauge which showed 2.75 feet and rising. While looking at the bridge guage I’m staring down a group of Boy Scouts and there aluminum canoes, more on this later. I got word from b6 that there was a bubble on both the North Fork and the South Fork. Before I get started with this long post let me say: As a trip leader you must make decisions and fast. My decision was to cancel putting on at the forks. Whoa whoa whoa, says the group “we want to paddle the forks, how bad can it be? I had to explain to (scare) the group it was not safe to put at the forks for this group. The dam dam is to dangerous to portage with 15 or so canoes. I did leave the window open for the few canoers who know the creek and who have been on the creek several times for many years at flood stage. There were 4 canoes including mine wanting to run the forks. The group leaves camp at record time of 12:30 pm. We get to Knights bridge and start dropping canoe’s. As the canoes come off the trailer the 4 earlier committed canoes start dropping out like flies and rightfully so. Annual Ledgeman Elkhorn Float Thank you all for those of you who provided me with water level information, safety boating and the camaraderie the BWA brings to annual Larimore / Ledgeman Canoe trip every year. There was a big BWA turn out and I love that. I was really glad to see all the boaters come down to Larimore’s to hang out after you all got off the local steeps. Thank you B6 for taking some pictures. (If anybody else took pictures let me know.) I was really glad to see the Grimes and many others once again on this epic float. Thanks for coming out! Now on to my super long (Hanley and Prince style) post: We are making history all-right. Epic? . . . Definitely an epic weekend. I thought to myself Friday while working during the day when the rains weren’t coming in that the canoe float was going to go off without a hitch. Boy was I wrong. The Elkhorn was running a great canoe level of about 600 cfs and dropping slowly Friday during the day. I was stoked. Mackenzie went down to Franklin County early kayaking the Elkhorn Friday with Jason Powell and Company. Jason Powell brought a saw and they went down to cut out a strainer at the Mill rapid aka Dead Cow Now we have two canoes’ going to the top. We put on around 1pm with a group of kayakers at 4.25 feet and rising. I wanted to put on as fast as we could get are gear together because the dam gets really sketchy above 5 feet and the creek’s a rising. Church wave was looking good for some on the fly kayak surfing but not for me and Mackenzie’s sister Morgan’s husband, my brother in law Chris (Mackenzie’s sister Morgan’s husband.) 21 We get down to the dam and I’m as nervous as I can be. Getting out of thecanoe is less nerve racking than getting out of tight fitting kayak but getting the canoe over the dam and back on the water is a little tougher. After getting past the recirculation of the dam we jumped in the canoe and off we went through dam rapid. I begin to worry about my canoe at “S” Turn aka railroad more than I am worrying about myself. As we enter the rapid, I am looking at one thing, the rail road pier in the center of flow, that thing needs some dynamite for breakfast instead of my beloved canoe. We stay river right through “S” Turn and skirt the main flow wave train. We then angled left of the flow to skirt the rail road pier. Shu-ew! This sets the tone for most of the rest of the rapids as we canoed down. Skirting the main flow keeps water out of the canoe. gear was found. The trip from Knights bridge from to Larimore’s was fun but quick. The good folks who come to the canoe trip every year didn’t seem to mind. A couple of canoes went on down to the bridge just north of peaks mill and I went to shuttle them back to camp. Saturday night we had a big feast, hung around, told lies and celebrated with some libations. Fun times were had and we even lit one of the large scrap wood piles a blaze. We brought our camp chairs around hung out to bright glow of the big fire. All in all I was pleased with this years canoe trip. It was a little short for most from Knights bridge to Larimore’s. I do think this year will help me make better decisions on what I might do in the future at flood stage for this annual canoe trip. I could have done things differently and sometimes you just have to experience it to realize what we could have changed. A special note here: As we came down and eddied out at Colston Lane, a special treat ensued. We got to witness Ben (I don’t know his last name) from TRR put on Again: Thank you BWA! the mighty Elkhorn. It was really cool to see him on the water. Cheers to the folks of TRR that made this happen on such an epic day! I heard you all did it twice that day! Thank you Mike Larimore for letting us come down and stomp around your cool farm. The second canoe followed most of our lines and we Ledgeman were cleaning it up. We went river left of the island at surf city and the main wave was at least 6 feet tall. Epic surfing for kayakers but today in the canoe we skirting the green line just to the right of the foam pile. The bow BTW: Do you remember the group of boy scouts I mentioned when we were up at the Forks looking at the smacking down and we took on water so we stopped to dump. I think all in all we stopped to dump 4 times slow- bridge? Well, while I was looking at the bridge I started talking to the one adult who was in charge of the six aluing us down a bit to catch up with the main group at minum canoe at the put in with no floatation. I asked Knights bridge. I had a blast tandem canoeing. It is him if he had done this before. He said yes a year something I still love to do. The gorge section of the before and it was high then he said. I said it’s running Elkhorn was awesome Saturday. I’m so glad to really high and still rising. I told I would not take these have experienced it with brother n law in my bow. If kids, who ranged from 8 to 13 ish, down this creek right kayaking gets to easy and boring then take on a real now. It’s to dangerous. I said it very casually and mater challenge and try canoeing! of fact but I learned a lesson here. I should have been more direct and maybe I should have been more Now the canoe trip begins for the rest of the group here assertive and maybe I should have put a little more fear at Knights bridge. The big group puts on with happy in him. Well they at least knew the portage over the faces and the good times resumed. I’m guessing the dam and I was worried about my crew so I thought. flow at that point was around 5’ plus or minus. I was happy and anxious to see my wife and son getting ready to put on the might Elkhorn. This is Charlie’s second trip They ended up on river left above lunch stop having lost on the Khorn. He did it once before in his momma’s belly three canoes and they were not going to attempt to go any further. Thanks goodness no one was hurt. We met : -) . All the kids had a blast! Thanks Mister Mellow for lending out your raft. Thank you Tim Miller for being you up with them as we were making our way down. I told and guiding the kiddos down lower Elkhorn. I heard you reaffirmed with the trip leader that I had warned him not to take the kids down. Should I have been more consaid all the right things out there. This was a special moment in my eyes to see our little one getting in the raft vincing or did I do all I could do? They made a poor uneducated decision they could have paid the ultimate for the first time. A memorable time for sure! price. Would that have been on me some? It is definitely something to think about. I didn’t witness this but a couple of my buddies flipped and swam one of the two or three rapids from Knights View the full thread: bridge to Larimore’s farm. They were fine all except for http://www.americanwhitewater.org//content/Forum/read/send/2 some lightly blemished egos. I believe all the canoes 8,6373,21232/#msg-21232 had a blast. Also a bunch of kayakers swam down at Larimore’s tree. Sorry about that and I’m glad all the RF rescue story from Steve Ruth......... 22 at all. So I asked the guy who'd gotten the rope sort of close how deep it was there. He said it was chest deep where the rope was tied off. My phone rang at 10pm tonite, it was the E.C. fire chief. "Steve, there's a couple of boys hanging on a tree in the middle of the river downstream of Rat Hole. We need a kayaker to get to them." Now if you've run that nice little Rat Hole to EC section, you're probably thinking 'hanging on a tree in the middle of the river? that don't sound right?'. Well you're right...unless you've that section at 6,000cfs, which is about what it was running this evening. Well, what can a guy do? The boat was still loaded from today's Grassy run, I pulled on my drysuit and grabbed my pfd & sprayskirt and ventured up the road to find about 7 fire trucks rescue vehicles blocking the road at Pool Point. The fire chief flagged me and said they're just downstream of the train bridge I could head over the hill there. Well, that kind of includes a 50 foot cliff to get to the river, so I said I'd float down from Rat Hole. I ventured on and there were 6 or 7 more rescue vehicles down there with at least two aluminum type overgrown motorized john boats ready to launch into the river. Did I mention it was running 6,000cfs? I got the guys attention and suggested maybe taking those boats downstream beyond the bridge was a bad idea. But, if they stayed on extreme river right, maybe they wouldn't die...IF they got to the right spot on river right where they could tie up. They were gung-ho for that and even more gung-ho to tie a rope to my boat. No thanks I told them, I'd just follow them downstream to a place we could get a visual and assess the situation. So that's what we did and all went beautifully. Except one small detail. The boys weren't in a tree just downstream of the bridge, which we were lead to believe. They were ACTUALLY in a tree downstream of Meatgrinder, which is about 1/8 mile downstream of the train bridge. Hell, I wasn't going to paddle down there in the dark at 6k and when the johnboat rescue team heard that, they figured they wouldn't either. So we hiked downstream to find 5 or 6 rescue folk on the side of the river shining spotlights on the poor kids in the tree. One guy had managed, hanging onto trees in the moving water, to get a rope (tied up mind you) to within 30 feet of the boys. Did I mention I was the only person wearing ANY type of dry (or wet) gear? So here's me and 6 guys who were supposed to know what to do standing there looking at the boys in the tree. By this time, they'd been there over 2 hours and were just about nekkid (the river had stripped them to their underwear), miserable and near shock. Well, the idea of a kayak getting to them wasn't necessarily a bad idea...but the water was really moving by them and there were trees all around. There really wasn't any way to safely paddle to them and do anything So I had them attach a rope to my pfd and ventured into the flow just to get a feel of what we were dealing with. My mind is boggled that the guy got the rope to the spot he did. The river was pushing me hard and it was all I could do to keep my footing. I got to the end of the rope, but it was too deep...and swift, to be able to throw anything on to where the boys were. I retreated to the bank and we talked about it. The john boat guys wanted to try to get their boat to that place and probably would have tried it if I hadn't been there. It took 5 or 10 minutes of talking to get them to give up on that idea. Thankfully, the county emergency management director had contacted the corp as soon as the call came in to turn off the dam release. After standing looking at the boys in the tree for a half an hour or more, the river started dropping. Not a lot, but about 8" inches. After 3 attempts, enough time for the river to drop another 6-8", I was able to haul a harness (attached to a rope) to the base of the tree the boys were in. I managed this by basically walking as far as I could, then lunging from tree to tree, hanging on to anything I could grab. I'd guess it took 10 minutes to cross about 50 feet of up to chest deep flowing water on the last attempt. The boys were in pretty pitiful shape at this point, I handed the harness to the boy nearest the flow and explained how to slip it over his head and under his arms, then talked him out of the tree. The bank crew knew to pull the harness rope when I gave a blast on my whistle. All good. So then it's me and the second boy. There wasn't any way for the guys to get the harness back, so I had to talk the kid out of the tree, convince him that I was going to hang on to him while they pulled us both in. I had him lay back on me and locked my arms under his armpits and across his chest. When the crew saw us in position, they pulled us in. Now that I'm sitting here, I'm pretty astonished that nobody died. There was just no way to get to them, they were in a terrible spot, too many trees around to throw ropes to them. If the river hadn't dropped...probably down to 4000k...they'd still be in that damned tree, unless they'd given out. I'm not sure how much longer they could have hung on. When I say tree, I should say very large bush. Maybe 4" across at the base. Your typical scrubby kinda baby sycamore. The scary part is how clueless everyone involved, including me, was. The rescuers just didn't fathom the force of the flow, the coldness of the water (until they tried wading in), or the danger of ropes tied to boats, trees, etc. While I haven't had a swiftwater rescue course, I am very glad for the knowledge I'd absorbed over the years from people way smarter 23 stamps in forum entries are displayed correctly - Log into the AW web site. Select My Account / Forum Settings menu item. Then on the right menu, select the Options / Forum Settings menu item. Set your current timezone and DST setting. You have to update the DST setting manually each seasonal time change. It does not change automatically than me. And I'd love to grab some experts and show them the situation to see if there wasn't something we just didn't think of that would have made things easier. First obvious thing is everyone having the proper dry gear to be able to spend time in 50ish degree water. At least they all had pfd's. One last thing. Rescue missions beat the hell out of recovery missions. Be safe out there. Great Clinic! Allen/DaddyO/Dude: Steve Ruth View the full thread: http://www.americanwhitewater.org//content/Forum/read/send/9, 20657,20657/#msg-20657 Subject: Re: RF rescue story from Steve Ruth......... Message: According to Steve, the 5 boys put a bass boat in at Ratliff Hole at 8 p.m. last night with 6000 cfs, figuring that they would take it down to EC. Apparently they have been motoring it around in the river at Elkhorn City and came up with the brilliant idea to take it up to Rat Hole. They flipped at Meatgrinder and three of them made it to shore and the other two where in the tree where they were retrieved, just upstream from getting to Pinball. When Steve got to them one of the boys recognized him and the first thing out of his mouth was: "Aren't you my next door neighbor?" Steve replied that his momma sent him to go get him. The next thing out of his mouth was "This was the stupidest thing I have ever done". That is why you are the MAN! I, totally, am at your "beck and call" this coming year. And I look forward to continuing to build this organization with you as our President, heaped upon the strong pillars that nearly 35 years of committed river camaraderie, that makes up the BWA, has provided us. I have no doubt and believe we will continue to be the most dynamic paddling club/organization of our size and type, in the country heck, the world. That is pretty cool and something to be proud of and build upon. The paddlers that have come out of the BWA through the course of it's history, continues to amaze me. We have always had and still do have, some of the best "non-pro" paddlers in the country, and have generated our share of "pros". We are integrated from those type of paddling heights all the way to the beginners and newbies that the BWA works so hard and diligently with. Our efforts on a national level are incredible, with the NPFF, the RFRR, even the Gauley Fest, and of course, letter writing campaigns such as the Chattooga Headwaters where we made a difference, and our contacts and former memBrent bers are spread out all over the country and the world. Of course on a local level, the BWA makes things hapView the full thread: pen at amazing speeds when needed, not only with http://www.americanwhitewater.org//content/Forum/read/send/9, cleanups, but with the push to acquire the Elkhorn Acres 20657,20683/#msg-20683 in 1999, as an example. To make posts to the AW/BWA forum one must: 1) have BWA dues paid up do date (if not a member, join the BWA at http://www.bluegrasswildwater.org. If already a member, make sure your membership is up to date at http://bwa.shuttlepod.org/Content/Members/MemberProfile. aspx). 2) sign up as a user on AW's website [www.americanwhitewater.org] 3) send an email to bwaforum (at)g mail(dot) com and give your username that you now log into AW with. You should recieve a reply message once your AW assigned user name has been added for posting privelidges. Make sure your timezone is set correctly so the time- Bottom line, we rock. I am and have always been fiercely proud of the BWA and all the things we accomplish and have the capacity to accomplish yet further. The Presidency is a stewardship of the BWA and while each President may have their own idea or legacy of that stewardship, it is now your turn to imprint your own unique style and perspective to this role. For nearly 35 years the Presidents baton has been passed from President to President, and all made their contribution and mark on the BWA. The baton was passed to me from Bubba. I passed it to Hanley. Now he passes it to you. Run, run, Mr. President! Brent Austin Past President (for a few more weeks) View the full thread: http://www.americanwhitewater.org//content/Forum/read/send/2 8,20883,20971/#msg-20971 24 Photo Essay of 2010 Clinic 25 Photo Essay of 2010 Clinic 26 Your Annual Dues are Due in July ! You will be receiving a renewal notice by e-mail. You can renew on line, pay at the monthly meetng or mail a check to: BWA, POB 4231, Lexington Ky. 40504 If you renew your membership and your payment has been received by 7/14, you will be entered into a drawing for a fabulous prize! Officer Elections June 8 Meeting Nominations can still be made that day BWA meetings Meetings held Second Tuesday of every month at 7:30pm To eat during the meeting come a little early so you can place your order before the meeting starts. For up-to-date info on meetings always check http://www.bluegrasswildwater.org Bluegrass Wildwater Association PO Box 4231 Lexington, Ky. 40504