2008 Kayaking Season Recap--Spring

There is no doubt that 2008 has been a banner year in the number of days I have paddled, the progress I've made, the comfort level I've achieved and the responsibilities I have been given on AMC trips.

In late March, I received word that I had been recommended to be a co-leader for AMC trips. After a meeting with other recommendees led by Amy Wong, I was certified to co-lead trips. I have yet to serve as one, however.

The season kicked off on April 12. I was set to meet ChuckS from the message board at the Searsburg Dryway on the Deerfield in Vermont. This dryway has no scheduled releases and only runs during periods of high runoff from snowpack (and New England had tons of snow last winter) or floods. This is a continuous class III run normally, but extremely high flows make it a IV. The water is incredibly clear, and the rocks in the riverbed were easy to spot from the road through the shallow, quick water. On this day, the flow was very high. I later found out it was 2500 cfs, which is 500 cfs more than the level Bruce Lessels says is too high in the guidebook. Not knowing the exact flow and not being sure I wouldn't be upside down in the shallow, continuous, rocky rapids, I opted to pass. ChuckS and his friend(s) ran it and later reported that it was great.

I instead embarked on a photo safari working my way down the Deerfield basin, snapping photos of the West Branch, regular (Monroe Bridge) Dryway, and Fife Brook sections. Some of these photos can be found on the corresponding AW page; and the rest can be found on my photo page.

After the Deerfield tour, I went to the Wave-o-Saurus and got some more photos and videos. I also got some surfs in.

Two weeks later, Paul and Nick Satwicz (see photo above) and I went to the West. Nick is Paul's youngest child, a senior in high school at the moment, I believe. Paul and I ran the upper while Nick did homework in the car and then we all ran the lower. It was Nick's first time in a whitewater kayak on a river and he acquitted himself quite well, even pulling off a roll with limited practice.

The next weekend, I ran the Quaboag for the first time with Randy, Glenn, Dustin, Lauren and others from NPMB. It was a good day and I got a lot of confidence from running the trickier drops. I also got some good videos at Quaboag Drop, the abrupt 4' ledge in the middle of the gorge section.

Here are the videos:


Running the Gorilla Line at Quaboag Drop from Andy Stuart on Vimeo.


Randy sneaking left at Quaboag Drop from Andy Stuart on Vimeo.

Sacandaga

I couldn't hook up with a local trip on my only day off of the holiday weekend, so I went to the Northeast Paddlers' Message Board to look for someone to go boating with on Memorial Day. I guy named Mike responded, saying he was doing the Sacandaga River in New York starting at noon. Since he was starting so late, I agreed to go despite the fact that it was a long way. Mapquest said 3 hours and 35 minutes, but I thought I could do it in 3:15.

I left the house at 8:45. It took a bit longer than expected, 3:40! I also had a little trouble finding the put-in, so I was further delayed and didn't actually make it to the put-in until 12:50. When I got there--a big eddy,--I saw two kayakers just heading out of the eddy. I hollered at them and they paddled back towards me. I asked them if one of them was Mike. They said no, but I could paddle with them anyway. I changed quickly and hopped in with them. They then said that there had been a group there that left a few minutes ago that had said they were waiting for someone. They had also said they'd be stopping to play a lot on the way down, so the two thought I'd be able to catch up with them.

Sure enough, at the first playspot, the group of three was there. I asked for Mike again and this time he was there. I said goodbye to the other two--they were doing a straight run because one of them was a first timer--and checked out the playwaves. There were two of them. I didn't really look at the first one, but the second one was a little big for me, but not as big as some of the ones on the Dryway.

I never made it all the way onto it. On my last attempt, I flipped over just as I was getting into it. I tried a few rolls, going over some waves and one small, not sticky hole that almost rolled me by itself. I made a couple more unsuccessful attempts, trying to breathe on each one to buy another attempt (which is probably why they were unsuccessful). On the second to last one, I could hear Mike's voice before I went back down, so I knew he was right there. This was a very good thing to know because, unlike T-ville, I really was out of attempts. I made the signal for a bow rescue, felt Mike's bow and pulled myself up. No swim. They were impressed by how long I stuck it out, which allowed them to catch up and me to avoid a swim.

After one small drop, we were into a long section of mostly moving flatwater. Mike remarked that this was his favorite section of the run as he took his feet out of the pegs and stretched them out on the bow. A disadvantage of having a short boat like mine is that the feet can't be taken out of the bow on a section like this. They asked me if I knew any flatwater moves in my short boat, so I tried a few stern squirts, rolling once on the second attempt and doing one really nice one. I also practiced some pivot turns in this section and attempted one bow stall, which needs a lot of work.

We finally got to the next whitewater portion, which slowly picked up. It was very similar to the lower West, except wider and with more playspots to catch on the fly. Mike caught one really nice-looking wave, but I couldn't get to it because he was on it.

This rapid culminates in a class III- drop and we eddied out right above it. There is a wide pourover in the center, so you have to go left or right. They recommended left since that's the side the takeout is on and it's right after the drop, so that's the way I went.

In the large takeout eddy, I located a wave right off shore, easily accessible from another microeddy just a few feet into the current. I surfed on this a bunch of times while I waited for the others to come down from surfing above. I was able to do some carving on this wave as I learned last weekend and stay on it a long time. Carving is the best. Next time I will try to do some full spins.

It was a great day, despite the long drive and the late start.