Continue reading »]]> Happy Holidays everyone!

Last week Graham Mackereth flew in to the states with the new boat from the UK. My brother Casey and I drew the lucky card to test the boat out first. Yesterday we just got home from a great week of playboating in the new Molan on rivers all across the southeast and the mid-atlantic. Typically I don’t playboat very much, especially in the winter, but I couldn’t resist a chance to hop in this boat despite temperatures in the 20′s and forecasts for snow. The Molan has proven to be everything we hoped for in a playboat – predictable, easy to throw around, loose, easy to take into the air, very forgiving, and most of all, extremely comfortable.

I haven’t been this excited about a new playboat design in years – maybe this boat will get me back in line at the local playspots. Anyway, the new Molan is on its way to shred a playspot near you and I’m back inside out of the cold for a bit!

Enjoy the photos and the video.

Eternity Hole, NC
Photo by Casey Jones

New River Dries, WV
Photo by Casey Jones

Air blunt on the New River Dries
Photo by Casey Jones

Full Molan album at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=145326&id=500041783&l=a9136a51f8

First Impressions of the Pyranha Molan from Chan Jones on Vimeo.

Continue reading »]]> Fall in the southeast has been predictably awesome once again. Starting in September the rain clouds gathered and brought our parched rivers to life. This storm was the ‘big one’ we seem to get once or twice a year. By the time the rain stopped, most creeks were too high to paddle…but instead of sitting on our hands and waiting for the water to go down…my friends and I searched for places to paddle that either required more water or handled the increased amounts of rainfall better than other places.

At the top of my hit list was Silver Run Falls. This drop is just shy of 40 feet and has a tricky entrance. A crew of four of us headed up to check out the drop but in the end, only Clayton Gaar and I stepped up to the plate.

Me rolling over..photo by Jonathan Absher

Clayton had a love tap on the bottom of the river.

The lip was shallower and the landing was greener than we would have liked to have seen, so Clayton and I chose not to stomp the landing. Good thing, because hitting the pool was like getting a smack in the face.
Next we headed over to the Horsepasture River to check the level. It ended up being about a foot higher than any of us wanted to mess with, so since we were only ten minutes away, we headed over to the Toxaway to check out the put-in slide. Well, the level on the Toxaway was about 8 inches at the bridge. A normal level is between around -4 inches to 2 inches, with 2 inches and above being pretty big and scary downstream in the gorge. Normally the put-in slide is a long, fast, and scrapy deal. Not so today! We put in and ran the drop in pairs, with two in the water and two on safety at the huge hole at the bottom of the rapid. It was decided that the four of us had never been as fast in a kayak as we had just ridden the two-foot-deep current screaming down the bedrock of the Toxaway gorge. Days later after the water dropped, gorge travelers spread the word of massive rockslides in the gorge that have forever altered the Toxaway as we have known it.

Myself running the put-in slide back in the summer at more normal level…photo by Clayton Gaar

And at maching high water! Photo by Clayton Gaar

Rick Beverlin slip-sliding away on the ‘magic carpet’

As the water dropped over the next few days, but sadly, I was without a camera. It wasn’t long before another storm allowed us to get some more class V action – this time on my home river, the Cullasaja. This river doesn’t see many paddlers, and for good reason. It’s a manky gnarfest chocked full of enough wood, undercuts, and sieves to give even the most jaded creeker the opportunity to get scared. Even after all that, I still love paddling this river and frequently find myself putting in there when it rains.

Lower Cullasaja put-in

Jerry Jascomb on the Cullasaja

After the Cullasaja trip, we had a short period where the weather was dry. I continued to get after Green Race training with lots of flatwater and whitewater attainment loops, as well as time running and lifting weights at the gym. I even made it all the way over to the Green for a couple of laps. Some bad luck in Speed Trap broke my paddle and led to me being ejected out of my boat in Scream Machine with my first out-of-boat experience in nearly 8 years! Thanks to Danny Mongo, I have a Werner Shogun waiting on me at the Pyranha warehouse to race with. You da man!

Then this week it rained again. New Pyranha Team paddler, Mac McGee called me up and said he was planning a trip into the Raven Fork the next day with a small crew. I borrowed a paddle from a buddy and headed to the river with Mac. What better place for him to get the feel of a new boat? I sure enjoyed the fall colors in the gorge and bumping into four black bears on our hike in! Mac sure seems to have enjoyed his new boat out there. Here are some words from him about our trip. “I woke up about 6 friday morning to my phone ringing, it was scott calling to say Raven Fork was running. Very anxious to try my new Karnali I got loaded up rolled out for Franklin to meet Chan. We arrived in Cherokee to one of the most beautiful sunny days I had ever seen in the reservation, and as we bounced up the put-in trail the leaves fell like rain off the trees in the wind. To add to this perfect day the Karnali performed amazingly on the river. It took hardly any effort to make any of the moves on the river it held a line incredibly well, the boat is super fast and it boofed with ease despite its length. The Karnali was also super stable and forgiving. The karnali is an awesome boat and a I look forward to paddling it more.”

I’ll leave you with some photos from Mac’s camera of the Raven Fork. Heads up to folks heading into the Raven Fork soon – some things in there have changed. Most notably, there are some horrible logs in Harjes’ Rapid. Keep your eyes open.
Back to prepping for the Green Race. It’s only 2 ½ weeks away! See you at the Gorilla!

Myself at Anaconda – photo by Mac McGee

The spectacular fall scenery on the Raven Fork – photo by Mac McGee

Zach and I chilling above Mike Tyson’s – photo by Mac McGee

Zach and I dropping into the ring at Tyson’s – photo by Mac McGee

Caveman – photo by Mac McGee

Mac at Caveman – photo by Scott Magley

Continue reading »]]> School finally ended and I got a well-deserved break and a chance to enjoy myself for a few days. Alexis and I have been planning to do something fun on our break and we decided that we’d take a short roadtrip out west so she could get a jump on grad school selection. After much deliberation, we decided to visit Boulder, CO so she could look at school there.

Kansas – yeah, that’s the curvature of the earth you’re seeing

We left NC Friday. May 8th, drove to Chattanooga and visited with Alex’s Mom on our way west. We got up the next morning and drove…and drove…and drove, finally arriving in Colorado on May 10th. We spent the first day in Colorado resting and getting acquainted with the city and most of the second day taking care of school stuff. That afternoon Ed Gaker called me and asked if I wanted to run Eldorado Canyon with him later that evening.

More Kansas…I was bored

The Eldo section of Boulder Creek is a fun little creek run about ten minutes from Boulder. It’s tucked away in a steep, scenic gorge that local boaters, climbers, hikers, and trail runners seem to love as one of the area’s many after-work hangouts. There were a lot of friendly folks up there, including the park rangers and we had a lot of conversations with folks on our way to the put-in. There was also a friendly dog, who we found out later belonged to a climber, that tried to go kayaking with us. Since we put on just above the first rapid of consequence, there was a little excitement with the dog for a few minutes.

Eldorado Canyon

You could drive a car to the top if you wanted to, but we decided to shoulder our boats and leave Ed’s truck at the takeout so we could scout on the way up. I really enjoyed the scenery and the warm, pine-scented air as we hiked up. The creek seemed like it was a good medium flow and the riverbed reminded me a lot of the Cullasaja back at home. It’s a steep, low volume creek full of sharp, badly placed rocks with a few sieves and undercuts thrown in for more pucker factor. Mostly continuous boogie whitewater, there is a good eight-foot boof and an awesome rapid toward the middle of the ¾ mile section of whitewater – Harmon Falls. It’s a long, tight rapid with several drops and a few tough moves. I dropped in first while Ed filmed from a high overlooking rock then I held a rope for him and filmed. Between the second and third drops, I grinned when I heard the dog howl at me in the rapid from the bank.

Driving shuttle for the USB

Later that evening, I talked to local creeker, Nick Wigston, and he suggested that we paddle his favorite Front Range run the next day since he thought it would be running: Upper South Boulder Creek. Upper South Boulder is actually near Pinecliffe – about half an hour outside Boulder. When it’s going, it’s a treasure for the local hairboaters. I had the opportunity to get on this creek twice on my trip at two very different levels. My first run was with a big crew at about 300cfs and we opened the creek up with the season’s first run. We did a bit of filming at the most notable rapids since we were already out and looking for new wood.

USB put-in

A couple of days later, Nick and I headed back to USB with a third paddler in our group to find the creek at nearly 500cfs. The difference in the character of the run at the two levels is night and day. On our first run, we had a pretty scrapey level with little push in and between most rapids. I would have rated the overall difficulty of the run at about the same as the Green Narrows, minus the Big Three. Our high water run ranks up there in difficulty of things like high water West Prong or Raven Fork, only not nearly as steep. A word to the wise: don’t go firing off downriver without someone who has run USB before. There are several places that you need to be aware of. Mayhem would be the result. If you know the info on this run, it’s a great place to paddle near Boulder.

S-Turn on USB at high water, photo courtesy of Nick Wigston

Because the season was so early when I was there, things were just starting to come in on the Front Range. That meant that every day wasn’t great for paddling. So I explored. One day I paddled at Matt’s Whitewater Course in downtown Boulder and had a really good time in the new Z.One. I had heard that the playpark wasn’t that good but decided to go anyway, and was glad that I did. The park is about a quarter mile long, with pourover ledges every 50 or 75 feet. The holes range from shallow and flushy to pretty retentive. This seems like an awesome place to teach someone interested in creeking proper boof stroke timing and placement. Most of the holes had some play potential when I was there but there was one about halfway down the course that I had a lot of fun blasting and throwing cartwheels in. The Z.One has turned out to be an awesome kayak for people who like to paddle downriver and play along the way. More on that later.

Boulder Playpark in the Z.One, photo courtesy of Alex Decosimo

Another day Alexis and I got some trail beta from University Cycles in downtown Boulder and decided to head up the road through Boulder Canyon to the town of Nederland for some mountain biking at West Magnolia. Being Western NC locals who race cross –country and downhill, we’re used to the wet, rooty, technical trails of Pisgah National Forest and we asked for the worst (best) they could give us. Magnolia turned out to be a pretty easy trail by our standards, but the high elevation kept our minds off that most of the time and turned our attention toward getting enough oxygen. Actually, while I was collapsed on the ground after climbing singletrack up a hill, the thought that the trail wasn’t that hard never crossed my mind.

On the Magnolia trail above Nederland

During our time in Colorado, the whitewater in the rest of the state started to come in. We considered driving all the way out to Durango to meet up with Tommy Hilleke and others before things got too high but we decided that would be too much extra driving on our short trip. I really wanted to head over to Crested Butte to run Oh Be Joyful Creek and Daisy Creek as soon as they came in, but that was even too far to be feasible. The remaining time we had left was spent exploring the city of Boulder and the surrounding areas and the fun there was to be had in town.

Pinning it on a berm at the Fix dirtjump course in Boulder, photo courtesy of Alex Decosimo

Ten days after we arrived in Boulder we began packing the car to drive back to NC. My break from school was entirely too short but I enjoyed every minute of it. After this summer session is over, I don’t expect to encounter any more mandatory summer nursing classes, meaning that I will be able to travel more next year after I pass boards. I’m very excited about getting more freedom to paddle soon but for the next year, I’ll be busier than I have been to this point. All I have to say is that I hope it keeps raining in the southeast! This trip to Colorado reminded me that we have some of the best whitewater in the world here in Western NC and made me appreciate all my home runs that much more. But to all of you that are traveling to the High Sierras and BC this summer, keep me in mind. I’d be there with you if I wasn’t doing Maternal/Child nursing this summer.
Good lines out there.

Continue reading »]]> This weekend was Rollapolooza 2009, an event put on by the Raleigh Parks and Recreation Department for the paddlers of Raleigh and the triangle area to come out and try new toys from different kayak manufacturers as well as get paddling instruction from the pros. Dylan Bruce, my girlfriend Alexis, and I headed down east from Asheville in the team van as day broke Saturday morning with a load of shiny new Pyranha kayaks.

Dylan and I taught hand rolls and flatwater loops. We spent about an hour teaching and ended up getting several folks rolling without a paddle.

Getting some hangtime in flatwater. Photo by Alexis Decosimo

When the time came to teach flatwater loops, I guess nobody wanted to learn, so Dylan and I practiced our loops for a while before going back to our table to send out the Karnalis, Z.Ones and Revs we brought, chat up the event-goers, and give away Pyranha swag. The Karnali and Z.One were big hits. A couple of guys borrowed both Karnalis as soon as the doors to the event opened and hung onto them all evening while learning to roll with LVM’s John Grace and Will Lyons. The Z.One also proved easy to roll (and handroll)!

This is Patrick..stoked moments after nailing his first handroll in the Z.One!

This year most attention to Pyranha’s new items has gone to the Karnali and Z.One. Recently we have been testing a backpack system for Pyranha creek boats. It will be available for purchase for around $75. I decided to bring my new backpack system with me to Raleigh this weekend and take some photos of it. Backpack systems I have devised in the past from cam straps and pool noodles ended up being frustrating implements of torture to the user (me). I went back to shouldering my boat and suffering through hikes.
The Pyranha backpack system makes carrying a kayak through the woods to the put in of your favorite creek much more comfortable. When fitted correctly, the system allows you to carry the boat’s weight on your waist via a belt. The shoulder and sternum straps keep the boat from shifting and causing you to flail on your back like a turtle in the trail. Carrying a kayak has never been this comfortable for me! Now I won’t dread the Horsepasture or Toxaway hike so much!

Here’s Thomas Williams carrying a Burn with the backpack system.

Video: Dinver shows how to set up the backpack system at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTn3MsRDZOo

Thanks to the organizers for putting together a cool event like this one for folks to escape winter weather in their backyard. I hope to be back next year!

Continue reading »]]> This was passed along to me from fellow Pyranha paddler Casey Jones:

As almost any kayaker knows, the best feeling one can have is when they can give back to the community of paddlers who helped develop their skills. The January 17-18, 2009, weekend during the USACK Chute the Hooch Wildwater Training Camp was such an experience for me. In previous years, I have attended the camp as a racer, but due to shoulder injuries, I attended the training camp with the intent of making Pyranha Speeders available to first time racers. With help from Jim Hager and Dinver McClure I was able to take two demo boats to the training camp.

The first day which took place at the Atlanta Rowing Venue in the City of Roswell GA, focused mainly on technique. Racers spent the morning session refining a proper racing stroke. As many found, the Speeder is much easier to learn in, because of its stability, its ease of turning, and the ease of getting the boat up to speed. The only problem with the Speeder this past weekend was that the demand was a greater than the supply of available Speeders.

Tim Boring showing great technique

Saturday afternoon’s clinic racers combined speed with good technique. All the participants made significant leaps and strides in their paddling ability.

Janet Chisholm practicing her stroke

On Sunday, the winds blew in and brought clear weather and excited racers. A number of hardened veterans and first time racers alike gathered at Powers Ferry on the Chattahoochee River for an impromptu race. The largest class by far was the K-1 Men’s plastic class, three of which where Pyranha Speeders.

All in all, the Pyranha Speeder demo proved to be a success. Many who attended expressed to me that the Speeder is a great option for first time racers to have beginning their Wildwater racing career.

Chuck Spornick modeling the Pyranha Speeder

Photos courtesy of Nathan Chastain and Casey Jones

For more information about Wildwater Racing and the Chute the Hooch Training Camp go to http://www.usawildwater.com/

Continue reading »]]> Since school let out for the holidays, I have thoroughly enjoyed myself paddling the steep whitewater of western NC and east TN. I was fortunate enough to paddle my favorite runs – the Raven Fork, Toxaway, and Cullasaja several times in the last month as well as spend time with the family. Paddling highlights from break included an extremely high water run of the Raven Fork, my first run of Big Boy (a few days later after the water dropped), and an awesome day on the Toxaway.
A few days before Christmas, the mountains of NC got hammered with rain. A band of storms blew in from the west bringing several inches of rain to the parched southeast and causing paddlers to rejoice. After watching the front dump inches of rain on the Smokies through the radar map the whole day and night before, Pat Keller, Toby MacDermott, Drew Duval, and I decided to venture into the Raven Fork for some high water action. With the Oconoluftee River in Cherokee well over 2000cfs, we knew we were in for a big day.
Typically this creek holds water very well and is runnable for days after a rain event, so often a Raven Fork trip involves bluebird skies. Even at lower levels, this creek is nothing to sneeze at. On this day, we drove to the takeout through pouring rain that continued to fall as we hiked and paddled downstream.

Photo: Chan Jones/courtesy of Astral Bouyancy

Pat Keller in the bottom drop of Anaconda. Photo: Chan Jones/courtesy of Astral Bouyancy

Pat Keller at the top of Headless Horseman. Photo: Chan Jones/courtesy of Astral Bouyancy

When we passed the gauge on the way to the top it read 20 inches. Shortly after putting on it was apparent that the level was still rising and was estimated at Mike Tyson’s to be between 24 and 27 inches. We moved downstream cautiously, running most of the enormous rapids but walking a few. This steep creek was a ridiculously steep river on this day but I was safe in my new Astral Green Jacket and Pyranha Burn. The new vest from Astral is an awesome rescue jacket. It has all the familiar features of the 300-R but with an improved fit – less bulk in the bottom front of the jacket, an improved strapping system, and added protection in the upper back. The result is a very low profile rescue vest that, once adjusted, does not move around on your torso.
Because the water was rising, photography wasn’t high on the priority list that day. I managed to record the trip by snapping a few quick shots of Pat and Drew.
The next trip back to the Raven Fork was two days later, with Leland Davis, Mac McGee, and myself showing Andria Davis down for her first time. We took our time and shot a lot of photos and video and I threw together a clip of the trip. Look for this footage in Autoboof Productions’ new film, Slave to the Rain soon. A personal highlight of this trip was my first run of the Big Boy waterfall. It’s a 35 foot drop that lands between a rock and a hard place, with the finest of lines. I’m so stoked to have finally run that beast!

Chan Jones dropping Big Boy. Photo courtesy of Mac McGee
Raven Fork video

After blitzing the Raven Fork several times in a row, I took a few days off from paddling to hang with the family and let my body rest. When I was just starting to get the itch to paddle again, another front showed up on the radar, bringing with it lots of rain. Pat and I made a couple calls back and forth and had narrowed down our options to a southeastern waterfall tour, a trip up to the Elk for some action on the 50’er, or a ride on the magic carpet down the Toxaway River.
The weather was going to be perfect and we anticipated a high water day on the Toxaway, so we decided to go there. This river and I have a bit of history. On my first trip there two years ago, I flipped in the Feeding Trough and ended up exiting the gorge downstream with a broken paddle, ruptured eardrum, and a concussion. Each time I went back to run the Toxaway, something else happened that prevented me from being able to go through with plans – whether it was low water or getting my car stuck and having to be towed out.
This day shaped up great. When I arrived at the put in, I found the river at a good medium flow, then drove down to the takeout to meet Pat and Isaac Levinson. We put on and moved downstream quickly until we got to the big rapids. We shot photos and video and each ran Energizer a couple of times because it’s such an awesome rapid.

Me before the second lap on Energizer. Photo by Isaac Levinson

Near the top of the rapid. Photo by Isaac Levinson

Riding it out. Photo by Isaac Levinson

Then the weather changed. It had been warm and sunny when we put on but suddenly in the pool below Energizer, we noticed the air cooling quickly. A few moments later it was snowing. We were all thankful at that moment that we were warm and dry in our IR Double D drysuits.

From the top of the Landbridge. Photo by Chan Jones

Pat punching through the top wave at Landbridge. Photo by Chan Jones

Isaac sizing up the huge overhead curling wave at the top of the slide. Photo by Chan Jones

The snow continued as we made downstream progress and the cameras stayed in drybags until we got to the Landbridge. I took a couple shots of Pat and Isaac before firing off the beast myself. We blue-angeled into Wintergreen Falls, a giant rapid that drops around 100 feet in a very short distance then continued through the slackwater to Yo Adrienne, the horrible rapid normally portaged but named when Adrienne Levknecht missed the eddy above and had to run it. We pulled out at Augerhole Rd, rested and ate some food to bring up our energy, and began the 4 mile hike with our boats, gaining 1000 feet in elevation on our way out of the gorge. Later, on the way home, a blizzard blew into the Highlands/Cashiers area ! I guess my streak of unusual events associated with the Toxaway continues!

Here are a couple more random boating shots.

Alexis Decosimo sticking her first run of Nantahala Falls on New Year’s Day. Photo by Casey Jones

Me somewhere on Suck Creek. Photo by Alexis Decosimo

Until it rains next time…

Continue reading »]]>
Running Mike Tyson’s on the Raven Fork in the Karnali L. Photo by Clayton Gaar.

After a little over a month in the Karnali, I decided to put together a few thoughts about the boat. First off, I picked mine up from the warehouse in Asheville the day before the Green Race, raced it, and have been hopping in and out of it and my Burn to compare since then.

Speed
Fast…but maybe not quite as fast as the Burn in certain situations. The Karnali L has plenty of speed to make tough moves but in my opinion, this boat is ideal for paddlers who prefer to float most of the time and take a few strokes when they need to. Nothing wrong with that style of paddling, but with my background racing on the USA Canoe/Kayak Team, I have developed my style of paddling to one that drives the boat rather than float into things. I’ve paddled the Burn and Everest for a while and because of their edges, these boats lend themselves to that style. With that said, I’m liking the Karnali a lot for cruising in a chill, post-Green Race fashion. This boat’s forgiving nature really makes kayaking fun.

Rocker
At first, the Karnali seems to have a funny feeling bow sitting in the water. From the cockpit, it looks like the bow is almost pointing into the water but it certainly doesn’t paddle like that. The Karnali’s bow profile allows it to pierce and carry speed better through certain features like holes with a big pile rather than over them. The Karnali still has plenty of rocker to get the bow up and over things easily, though. In my race run, I remember skipping when I hit the pool below one of the low-angle slides after Gorilla.

Dropping into Anaconda on the Raven Fork. Photo by Mac McGee.

Forgiveness
Ah, the Pyranha edge. First on the H:2, tweaked on the H:3, and refined on the Burn. Compared to these boats, the Karnali’s edge has undergone an evolution and has emerged fairly tame. It’s an excellent balance of forgiveness and performance for a creeker, in my opinion. The edge is there enough that you feel it and can use it easily but not so much that you have to take time to learn the boat’s edge and adapt. Edge transitions are also very easy despite the boat’s outstanding stability.

Comfort
At 5’9″, 160lbs, I’m way down on the light end of the weight range for the Karnali L. At my height, this boat is very comfortable though. I had to add significant outfitting to the boat to keep from flopping around on the inside of this beast. It’s big but it didn’t feel huge out of the box. Now that it fits me, it’s like paddling a more forgiving Burn L.

On the water, I was impressed with how the boat was so easy to get in and paddle. The first time I paddled the boat was in this year’s Green Race where I ended up sixth in the short boat class. In the Burn, you learn to be aware of your edges in boils, eddylines, and cross currents. The first thing I noticed about the Karnali was how forgiving it was when it reacted with these same features. It just planed up and cruised through without any sharp feeling edges but with enough crisp feeling for control. Next I noticed the boat is very easy to turn! It seems to sit on the surface of the water and just spin so easily when you need it to but getting the boat up to speed and tracking is no big deal. I have to wonder how these characteristics were brought together so well. It rides high in rapids and is very rock-friendly for a chined, flat-bottomed creeker. Boofing is as easy as in the Burn and resurfacing is similar.

Wayne Dickert in the Karnali M on the Cullasaja. Photo by Casey Jones

The Karnali is great! If you’re looking for a forgiving creeker or river-runner with a flat hull and a touch of performance, give this boat a shot. It should be a good fit for everyone from new paddlers to class V creekers. I look forward to paddling this boat more and continuing to put it through its paces.

Until next time, I’ll leave you with some shots to compare the size of the Karnali M to the Burn M.

Continue reading »]]> Another year, another Green Race. Though this year the race wasn’t quite as big as in years passed, it certainly wasn’t a small race. As you are probably aware of by now, the southeast is nearing the end of a second year of drought. In 2007, the operators of Tuxedo Hydro Station were able to give us a little extra water for the race, but no such luck this year.

The 13th annual Green Narrows Race was held at a low 100% release – a mere 6” on the gauge locals are normally used to seeing read 8” to 9” this time of year. At this low level, the Green is a scrapy, technical creek with tight lines and painful consequences for missed lines. Most lines stay the same but Gorilla, the biggest rapid on the river, also becomes the most technical. Gorilla’s turbulent entrance slot, The Notch, becomes a little steeper and taller but no less terrifying, and a hydraulic that will stop all forward momentum forms on the lip of the monkey itself. Add the fact that this hole has a bad tendency to kick right, toward the river right shelf, and it’s easy to understand why this is combat kayaking. Enter the brave Green Racers.

Chan Jones firing into Gorilla in the new Karnali – Photo courtesy of Clay Lucas

No new course records were set this year but there were a lot of new racers and just as many Green Race-specific long boats constructed by Dagger, Liquidlogic, and WaveSport. In the racer’s photo this year, all short boats and old school boats like the Tornado were thrown on the ‘burn pile’ in the center, and were surrounded by all the new race boats stood on end as a thank-you to the companies who produced them to keep this race alive.

DixieMarree and the racers – Photo courtesy of Rob Hurst

Pat Keller won his second Green Race with a long boat time of 4:31. Adriene Levknecht and Laura Ferrell tied it up in the ladies class with a respectable time of 5:40. French newcomer, Eric Deguil killed it in the short boat class with a 5:01. In the handpaddle division, Keith Sprinkle defended his title with a 5:23. Will Lyons called his win in the days leading to the race and made good on his claim with a 5:44 in the C-1 class. And finally, Chris Gragtmans won the Ironman class with a combined long boat and short boat time of 9:39.

The Pyranha team had a strong presence at the Green Race, with Jason Hale, myself, Jared Seiler, and Billy Jones racing. Jason, Billy, and I finished high in the long boat field with a 5:08, 5:27, and a 5:05, respectively. In the short boat class, I believe I finished sixth, with a 5:24 in the new Karnali, and Jared Seiler walked away with a quick 5:30 in his Burn.

Jared Seiler running the Gorilla – Photo courtesy of Casey Jones

Highlights from the race included Pat Keller’s handpaddle-clap during his knuckledragger run, Geoff Calhoun’s run through Gorilla (railslide down the shelf to stern piton in a Green Boat), a brave paddler who raced a Shredder (inflatable rubber catamaran-type craft), and the fact that nobody got hurt despite the low water level.

Shredder in Gorilla – Photo Courtesy of Casey Jones

Jim, Dave, and Dinver at the Pyranha warehouse put my name on one of the first Karnali’s to get to Asheville from the UK so I could race it. Thanks guys! I was very impressed with the performance of the Karnali. I picked up my shiny green boat and outfitted it Friday afternoon, hours before the race, and paddled it for the first time in the start eddy above Frankenstein. As I ferried back and forth across currents and he first thing I noticed about the boat is how stable and forgiving it was. At my start as I hammered into Frankenstein, I felt the boat ride up and over boils, like my Burn, but without the trippiness. The boat didn’t seem to have quite as much speed as the Burn but in rapids the forgiving nature and shape of the bow and deck seemed to make up for time lost in the flats, as I didn’t have to work as hard to stay on line and could focus more on keeping the boat moving fast. I’m going to continue paddling the Karnali this winter and test the limits of the boat but right now, I feel like the Karnali is going to prove to be a great creeker!

Chan in Go Left – Photo courtesy of Val Blanchette, Off The Road Photos

Pencil Sharpener – Photo courtesy of Adam Miles

Photo courtesy of Adam Miles

The Notch – Photo courtesy of Adam Miles

Thanks goes out to Roger and all the folks at Immersion Research for their ongoing support and for rushing me a new skirt and shorty jacket in time for the race. I’d also like to thank Robert Bone from the Nantahala Outdoor Center for making sure I had a Green Boat to race this year. Also, thanks to Jason Hale, DixieMarree, TDUB, and Duke Power for making this awesome race possible!

Watch LVM for more Green Race coverage including results and video.

Continue reading »]]> Last week, the Clemson University Whitewater Club hosted an LVM 27 premiere at Fike Recreation Building. Following dinner and the movie, Pyranha Kayaks hosted a demo and pool rodeo. Casey and I headed down to Clemson Friday evening from Franklin with a pile of boats to join the festivities. We were met with a good turnout of folks at the premiere who blew off homework and other responsibilities to join us in the pool for a bit of fun.

Most of the time we spent in the pool was for folks to spend trying the different boats we had available but the highlight of the evening was the pool rodeo we held at the end of the night. The judges decided to keep things simple by having two classes: Funniest Trick and Coolest Trick. There were no rules, as long as your ride involved a kayak and was the best thing you could come up with in the pool. Some amazing feats of skill and daring were displayed but winners had to be chosen.
Mac, mid-airscrew off the diving board at the Clemson demo
After much deliberation by the judges, it was decided that Todd Henry had performed the Funniest Trick – a bouncing seal launch to faceplant off the high diving board. Mac McGee did the Coolest Trick, an airscrew off the low diving board. Our winners walked away with Pyranha shirts, stickers, and other swag, but we brought enough that everyone who attended got something.
Mac stoked on his new Pyranha shirt
Handing out prizes to the winners
Thanks to Brian and Dave at Pyranha Kayaks for hooking us up with boats and swag for the event, to Penstock Productions for the video, to the Clemson Whitewater Club for organizing and promoting the event and getting food, and to Clemson University for hosting the event. We hope to be back!

Other news in the drought-ridden southeastern US is a recent rain event. After said rain, the aforementioned wonderboy Mac from Clemson met up with me at the Cullasaja River near Highlands, NC to fire off the seldom-run Bricklayer Falls. I’ve heard about this drop and seen the circulating photos of Pat Keller or Joe Barkley running it years ago but never knew exactly where it was. FOUND IT! And…now I understand why this drop isn’t run very often. It’s a nasty 30 foot drop with a sloping entrance, tricky landing, and a terrible cave at the bottom. Mac and I loaded up our Burns, ran the falls at first light the morning after the rain, at a perfect level, and found perfect lines. Here are the goods, as well as a few other shots from that day.
Mac taking one last look while I head for my boat
Me rolling over the lip
Mac givin’ er
And the man behind the lense – fellow Pyranha paddler and brother, Casey Jones

Now, all that there’s left to do is wait in anticipation of the Green Race this weekend and try to control my nerves heading into this event. I’m picking up my new Karnali in a day or two and can’t wait! The weather is chilly now (we just had our first snow of the year last night!) but weather forecasts for Saturday are looking to be perfect for racing. More to follow after the race!

Good lines out there.

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Sunshine Left – Photo by Dave Deggendorf

The last two weeks I have spent on my brief summer break. Nursing school at SCC goes year-round, with short breaks during the spring/summer, summer/fall, and fall/spring semesters. My class schedules usually keep me extremely busy, so I resolved to spend as much of this break paddling as I physically could. As you’ll see, I certainly got my money’s worth!

The southeastern class V creeking staple, the Green Narrows, was the only water available for the first week of my break. I usually paddle every week while school is in session, whether it’s at the Green or on natural flow somewhere. I decided to go spend a few days in Saluda tangling with a big monkey, and got four days in a row on the Green. The only photos I managed to get during this break are from these few days at the Green, so enjoy.

Six in the Green River Eddy!

Gorilla

Gorilla a few days prior

Groove Tube

The next day, Chris Harjes and I headed down to Folly Beach and the Isle of Palms to do a bit of surfing. We heard there was a swell on its way toward shore and decided to go for a brief change of scenery. I brought along my 420 in case conditions were less than ideal for my beginner surfing skills, which turned out to be a good thing! Harjes and I spent two days at a friend’s house and had 5 or 6 good surf sessions. I managed to get several good rides but the wind changed and I started having a hard time paddling out, so I switched to the 420 for the remainder of the trip. The waves were nice and I got some good aerial rides. After our second morning session, we headed up to Sumter to watch Chris’s cousin graduate from nursing school, then headed on to Asheville.

No sooner had I unpacked my stuff from the beach, had Chris called again about another road trip. I missed his call and he left me a long, detailed message about his idea for pulling this trip off, complete with what he thought would be good and what the water levels already were. The next morning I was on my way back to Harjes’s and soon we were on 26 N toward whitewater. 15 minutes outside Asheville, Eli Smith called and said he wanted to go with us, so we turned around and picked him up. At this point, it was almost mid-day, and we were going to be super late to do any sort of paddling. As we drove we called everyone we could think of and eventually got Bryan Kirk’s number. He was about to board a plane in Reno after finishing the rodeo there, but he gave us Brian Jenning’s number, whom we met when we arrived in Fayetteville later that afternoon.

When Brian finished in a meeting, we met up and headed to Mill Creek for some high-water action. The level was around 2 feet, which is apparently on the high side of good for that run, though YMMV. We made a couple of laps and were joined by David Hughes on our second. Sorry, no photos from our trip, as we were burning daylight and wanted to get as much paddling in as possible. However, here are a few to enjoy, courtesy of the AW page for Mill Creek.

John Warner, Mill Creek Falls, Courtesy of American Whitewater

Powderhouse Falls, Mill Creek -Courtesy of American Whitewater

The next morning, we discovered that the Dries of the New were in, so we went kayaking there. The Put-In Waves weren’t in, but we got some incredible playboating anyway. Too bad my playboating skills have gotten rusty! No photos from that trip either..sorry.

Since the day was still young, Eli, the Bryans, and I decided to go run the Gauley. Before reading more, check out the gauge height for May 13th (the day we paddled it).

We got to the put-in for the Upper and found water squirting out of the tubes..about 15,000 cfs worth. The ground shook. It took us around 20 minutes to work up the nerve to put on, and when we did, it was on. I could not recognize any rapids, only where the big ones are supposed to be at normal levels, from rocks on the bank, etc. The smaller rapids usually lasted around 100 yards and had 8-10′ wavetrains, waveholes, or holes I wouldn’t want to surf.

Pillow, Lost Paddle, and Iron Ring were horrifically big and the noise in the rapids was deafening. I remember paddling hard into Pillow, vaguely making out the top of Pillow Rock, and cresting a breaking 10 foot wave that stopped me…just before a 25′+ wave caused by VW Rock collapsed on me and ripped a hand off my paddle. I got absolutely chundered by that wave but rolled up and got away from a terrible looking 8′ pourover 1/4 mile downstream. The freeze-frame image of that house-sized wave about to crash down on me still sends chills down my spine!

Lost Paddle and Iron Ring were also huge but they went well. The line in Lost Paddle was pretty much the same as it always is, except we had to scramble to get left of the submerged Mail Slot. Sweet’s Falls was a hole about 8 or 10 feet tall, and Postage Due rock had about 2 feet of water going over it, creating a horrible hole. The quote of the day came from Bryan Kirk: “It’s kind of like an IQ-test, and we failed.”

We paddled on down to Wood’s Ferry, surfing huge green glassy waves, pulling aerial tricks, and took out 16 miles downstream of the dam, 2 1/2 hours later.

I don’t think I’ll paddle big water like that too often, as I don’t like being in the middle of a huge rapid with no eddy options or any way to to get help in the event of something going wrong. Lots of stuff relying on luck in those situations.

Here are some photos of a quick session at the NOC wave in my new Rev M-Long.
Photos by Casey Jones

Good lines out there
Chan