Paddling Tips, Trip Reviews, and whatever else comes to mind.
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We had a fantastic day on the beautiful Weeki Wachee River. Even paddling that river about 100 times I cannot remember a prettier day. The weather was awesome and some of the trees were putting on a colorful show. And, of course, the river was clear as can be and even held manatees for our viewing. We want to thank Brian Mortakis and John Hussey for sending in photos.
We put in at the Weeki Wachee River State Park canoe rental named Paddling Adventures. As usual, the folks there were wonderful and took great care of us.
Here is a photo looking down Brian and Sandy's kayaks at the put-in. And, no, I have no idea what Brian was doing on his knees just before or after taking this photo.
The photographers were having such a great paddle they must have forgotten to take photos on the river. Most of the photos are from lunch.
Here we see Lady D unpacking lunch from a kayak.
And then setting things out - just so. Or was that so-so?
I mentioned not having photos of the river itself. Heck, I think everyone must have been mighty hungry, because we again see a pile of boats that look like people were in a hurry and following each other much too closely.
It is a truly fine place for lunch as these photos attest.
Did someone say 2 manatees were swimming past?
By the way, Rogers Park now has a year-round $5 parking fee with a pay station installed.
The race is in North Carolina about half way between Columbus and Hendersonville. Viewers park on both sides of Big Hungry Road taking up both shoulders for over a mile and a half. So, of course you have to walk to the trail head before embarking on the hike into the gorge. Some people, Big D included, were already huffing and puffing.
I drew this yellow-orange line on a Google Earth image guessing where the trail was.
Notice the 28773 on photo? Is that the zip code you would use if you lived in a tree there?
Most of the way in was downhill and pretty easy, taking about 40 minutes to get to the “good” part – the mountain goat part. I found it easiest to sit on a rock or root, dangle my feet down until they found something solid to stand on, and proceed rock by rock or root by limb.
Climbing Down
Did I say this section was steep?
Then we finally got to the river.
The crowd was spread along The Gorilla rapid.
Some racers rejoiced at their elapsed time for the race.
Some were just glad they made it.
A new rule for next year may be “No Tailgating”. But that is not what happened here.
As the racers finished the race they parked their kayaks and joined the crowd to cheer on the rest of the racers.
I hope no one that parked that way is a valet when not paddling.
But, the kayaks were not all in just one pile.
Some didn’t even make it to the parking lot.
One by one the racers got back to their boats and still had more Class IV and V rapids to traverse to get to their take-out.
Except for one chap whose hull had a large rip in the bottom. Their field fix was just not good enough . So he carried it all the way out.
There were still challenges ahead for each including the risk of being pinned.
This chap struggled for a while before someone came to help him get unpinned.
Here’s just one fun spot on the way to their take-out. A nice little drop below The Gorilla.
I started the climb back out of the gorge with thoughts, memories, and plans.
I plan to go back next spring to smell the flowers along the climb back out. It seemed like my nose was only 9 to 12 inches from the earth for over 100 yards of the steep part of the climb. So in the spring I’d be able to smell the flowers without needing to bend over.
Maybe I’ll bring some Husky sled dogs to pull my fanny up this hill.
Some racers are in really good shape. Remember that fellow that drug his kayak out of the gorge. He passed me while I was on this section.
The hike back out took some nearly 2 hours.
Still, I’ll definitely be back for the race next year,
when I hope to find . . .
My Favorite View - Of The Race, too.
By the way, this is Suzanne Warren, of Hendersonville, NC, who plays Lisa in the new white water movie, “Raven Fork”. I'm sure you will recognize her when you see the movie.
Saturday, October 30 @ Lover's Key State Park
We should be there all day with events at:
- 10:30 am FUNdamentals of Foundation Strokes
- 1:30 pm Edging, Bracing, Recoveries, and Sculling
Wow! Sorry that this blog has been so dormant for a few months. I'm writing a paddling book, which you will see soon, and lost track of this blog. Sorry.
We'll get this going again this fall.
On Monday we had an opportunity to share skills and more with members of the Osce0la Sheriff's Department. The primary focus was on rescues, skills and having fun.
Quickly Dave became so proud of himself he yelled, "Hey, look at me!"
I thought he was going to say something about how great the foot brakes were in his kayak. But no . . . he seemed to be wondering how everyone else fit in, while he was stuck on top of his kayak.
And, before long he was upside down, while one of his buddies was too busy loading "ammo" to go over and help.
Before long, others arrived to help out. Here you see them getting all the water out of his boat before he got in - the right way.
While all these guys were good at rescues, it sometimes seemed that they were preoccupied with their weapons . . . and dreaming about the good ole days when they could shout, "Stop or I'll shoot!"
But the "perp" had his own weapon and was soon into the mix.
Since it was the first really warm day this year, it was good that everyone got into the "shootout".
Then we stopped and teamed up to do more work now in tandem kayaks instead of the singles.
Does this look anything like leaving your squad car with the engine running, in gear, and no parking break?
And, before long they realized they needed those paddles and quickly retrieved them.
Then they practiced teamwork and helping each other just like they may have to during kid's camp.
Before long we had several boaters in the water simultaneously as everyone got into the action.
Which, of course, resulted in a good ole movie type crash scene. Could we expect any more?
After everyone got back in, we concluded with a summary of the day.
And, just like many of my other blog entries, the facts were extremely obscured by poetic license.
I had a Greenland style rolling student today. She had an iffy sweep lay back roll, and wanted to make it more reliable and add a re-entry and roll to her abilities.
We made her roll very reliable in about 5 minutes. It is so cool to identify and fix a weakness and see results so quickly. And, then to make her roll bombproof in just a few more minutes!
Then we went on to the re-entry and roll. As is sometimes the case, the problem had nothing to do with rolling. It was in committing to climbing in to the upturned kayak, making sure you are fully in the seat and in contact with the thigh braces, and still have control of your paddle.
Here is how to accomplish this. Start in the water with your kayak right side up and facing forward to the left of you. Grab both the paddle shaft and your kayak's left side combing on your left hand. Put the kayak on its side as you put your feet into the cockpit. Now, take a deep breath and grab the combing on the right side. You now need that breath since you will be upside down at this point. Squirm around if needed and get completely into the seat with your feet on the your foot rests and your thighs in the braces. At this point you will have completed the hard part. (Unless of course, you can't hold your breath more than 5 seconds.)
Let go of the combing, grabbing you paddle with both hands and get into your set-up position. Now, roll the boat like you would any other time.
If you are doing a left-handed roll, start right side up, follow these instructions carefully, and you should end up upside down. I'm not left-handed, so I can't be sure, but I hear it works splendidly. :-)
After you have rolled up, you will have a cockpit half full of water. So head for calm water or a friend's help so you can pump out the water and put your spray skirt back on.
While I have never experienced this, I'm told that some boats roll more slowly when they are full of water. So you my need to do your roll more slowly as well.
There is a myth floating around that if you put your spray skirt on while you are still upside down, you will not have a cockpit full of water after you have rolled. Balderdash! Rubbish! Let's sink that myth for good.
What a great class. And, an adventure. We combined training with touring around Snug Harbor, regularly changing the sites in out "classroom".
The adventure was in maximizing results in the time available since rain and lightning was forecasted early in the afternoon.
Four intrepid souls began. And, three of them stayed awake throughout!
About 1:00 thunder in the distance suggested the weather forecast was coming true, so we retreated from the water.
I was thrilled, because in 3 hours of learning I saw an enormous increase in skill among the class. While disappointed to get off the water, it was balanced by seeing the results that were already achieved.
The gang found a perfect spot for some "dryland" training, under the new roof on the deck at the shop. And, we began with questions and answers.
After the questions slowed down, Harry took a stab at Kayak-Mation. He used a kayak ornament to simulate a banana simulating a kayak. We learned a bit and laughted a lot.
The rain and thunder had diminished and we decided to conclude our learning adventure.
Tom was rising to new heights with his kayak.
While Peter was getting down to his next kayaking achievement.
And, Sarah and Harry were relieved that Kayak-Mation survived.
It was a beautiful day for a class. We taught and practiced as we traversed Weedon Island.
On our first venture foreword we saw this yellow-crowned night heron.
Before long we spotted another. At least some of us spotted it.
I think Wes was blinded by the reflection off his white kayak and couldn't see it.
After paddling awhile through the mangrove tunnels, we came to nice pond.
After some more lessons and practice, Marty stopped to do a whole bunch of finger exercises with her hatch cover.
During which time Wes decided to do biceps curls with her camel back. (I think Marty's exercise was doing more good than Wes's.)
Here's Jeff going straight for a change.
More practice . . .
And even more.
And, while surreptitiously sneaking up on a pair of oyster catchers, they taught me spelling was not the only challenge I had with that word.
We got a great break in the weather and had a beautiful day on the Alafia River.
Here is the small group that noticed the weather forecast and joined us.
And, there they go.
Jan
Fred
We had this beautiful scenery all day.
Ilene and Murray at the end. What should the caption for this photo be? How about, "Hey Murray, forget something?
