Final West Fest

Yesterday, I headed up to the West River for the final fall release and West Fest. The Army Corps of Engineers has cut the fall release for 2009, rescheduled the spring 2009 release to a time before Jamaica State Park is open. This cancellation and rescheduling follow a decades-long paddling of reduced releases. There were once two full weekends of releases in both the spring and fall. To help out with the release situation, go here, join American Whitewater here or donate to AW here if you're already a member.

I have had the West Fest circled on my calendar since, well, the first time I ran the West, so 2008 was no different. Since this year's fall release was the last one and because the fall release has always been the best one thanks to the shuttle/not-carrying-over-the-dam thing, there were no mitigating circumstances short of a death in the family or a debilitating injury that would keep me away from Jamaica, VT. I also wanted to demo some creek boats as Glenn recommended two weeks ago at the Quaboag. Lastly, I wanted to boof the Boof Rock for the first time and a catch a wave in the Dumplings that I'd never caught.

Glenn and I met at 8:30 at the put in. We headed up for the first run and met up with Tony Karis, who I've been on many AMC trips with; and who Glenn took a Zoar course with when they were both starting out. I took my usual LL CR 125 for the first run. I had an unexpected 4 combat rolls, all on the first attempt. At the Boof Rock, I rolled off the pillow towards river left. Hence, there was no boof to be had. I eddied out behind the rock and just went on down.

Between the first and second runs, Glenn looked for people in hope of running Ball Mountain Brook, but he later determined that no one was running it because he saw the people who would have been going down while we were shuttling up.

I demoed a LL Jefe Chico creek boat. I did not like this boat at all. It is built to roll off waves and did that quite well. Unfortunately, this feature makes it impossible for me to imagine staying on a critical line while creaking, since it wants to bounce/roll where ever it wants. The one plus was that it punched holes very well. This positive feature turned negative when I went into a hole I never would have gone near in my CR on purpose to test the Remix's resurfacing ability. Suffice to say that I now know that a helmet that covers the ears is a necessity.

After a lunch break during which Glenn and I lost track of each other, I got back on the shuttle with the CR. Ed Vassar was on it as well and I decided to run it with him and a friend of his. I nailed the Boof Rock this time, aiming right to avoid rolling off the pillow as on the first run. Pretty soon, I ran into Glenn at the eddy with the squirrelly lines on river right and parted with Ed and friend.

We rushed down to the takeout, having reconvened at 3:30, so that we could make the final shuttle at 4 with enough time for Glenn to unload his creek boat because it "needed to get wet", and for me to get another demo creeker. This time the demo boat was a LL Remix 57.

Glenn and I were the only ones on the final shuttle, save for an open boater who was riding it to hike back up to his car at the top of the dam. The shuttle guys called us hard core, prompting Glenn to quip that we weren't hard core until we made our next run hiking boats down the dam.

The Remix was much better in terms of staying on a line and I felt that I could move it around well, allaying my concern about having a creek boat that will only go straight. Glenn said that if I liked the Remix, I might like the Bliss Stick Mini Mystic even better. Their offerings are also considerably cheaper than LL's.

What I will miss most about the West is the fact that I always run into people there who I've run rivers with before. Perhaps the Deerfield River Fest will fill this role, but it is not the same. Plus, it's better to see or have a chance to run into old companions twice a year than once a year.

Fife Brook

It was time for another Fife Brook run this past weekend, the main objective being to run the Gap clean in my boat.

I got there late because of a slow start and because I stopped en route because I was sleepy. I got there 20 minutes late, but Bryan, the trip leader, was 20 minutes late. As a result, we had a really late start and had to hurry so as not to run out of water.

At Hangover Helper, I ran the boof into the midriver eddy at the bottom of the drop near the big river left eddy. I practiced my new ferrying technique and didn't flip on any.

I got my best rides of the year at the first playspot, using techniques I learned at the course to catch the microeddy and then the wave.

I missed the big catch-on-the-fly wave at the start of Freight Train. We didn't spend much time under the bridge, opting for lunch at a less rocky place near the Bridge to Nowhere. I did do a couple good squirts here and got some more good surfing on the small waves below the bridge.

After lunch, we went through the rock garden fast, which made me happy, and we didn't even stop at Miami Beach. Before I knew it, we were at the Gap. Bryan, Tony and I ran the Gap. Bryan took a very complicated, difficult and technical route, and I convinced Tony to run the left side with me, boofing into the first eddy.

I got through with no trouble, but blew a ferry in the wave train below the Gap, resulting in a swim. I was unhappy about this, so I decided to continue down to the picnic area to practice some rolls in the flatwater. I hit the first two but then I swam again. I don't know what happened to my roll at the end of the day. I hope I was just tired from rushing down Fife Brook. I might do some extra flatwater practice if I get a chance.

First Fife Brook Run of 2006

I signed up for a Fife Brook club trip this weekend with the AMC. With all of the rain on Wednesday, there was some doubt about whether or not the water would be too high for it.

The leader was Harland, the same leader as on the W. Branch Farmington trip last fall, so I was expecting an open-boat-heavy crowd. There were a lot of open boaters-six-but almost as many kayakers, five. We decided to go in two groups, determined by type of boat.

The kayakers consisted of myself, Conrad, Tony, a middle-age woman whose name I forget and her daughter who couldn't have been more than 11. (A future pro boater).

It was a cold morning, autumn-like, so the temperature did not make me want to do any practice rolls. Sure enough though, I blew a ferry at Hangover Helper and rolled right away (first attempt).

We got to the first playspot (Carbis Bend) and I got some good surfs on my initial rides. I did not stay on as well after the first three though. I stayed upright the whole time here.

We headed on down and Tony and I just missed what looked like a great surf wave at the top of Freight Train. I forgot about the big hole right before the railroad bridge and punched it. Then I tried to surf it a couple of times, but it spit me right out each time without flipping me. While the others were eating lunch, I did some stern squirts under the bridge, all but one of which resulted in a roll.

After lunch, we headed down and I did one more squirt and roll. We hit the few small surfable waves before the long, flat, shallow, boring stretch before the rock garden.

The rock garden had never been one of my favorite rapids on Fife Brook because I think people catch too many eddies there and go too slow as a result. This is still true of course--I opened up a big lead on the field during this portion--but I found that the rock garden has many good sidesurfing spots. I got two good sidesurfs, but I didn't keep my upstream edge up enough on the second one and got turned over, hitting the rock that was forming the hole. I couldn't locate any new scratches on my helmet though.

We came to Miami Beach, but I didn't manage to stay on the wave at all. I did stay upright though. The trip around the island and through the squirrelly spot where the channels come back together was uneventful.

After another long, flat, shallow, boring stretch (these are the reason some people hate Fife Brook), we reached the takeout above The Gap. I was unable to find anyone willing to run it, either from my group or another group of kayakers, some of whom I had met on the West. So I had to wait for the open boaters to come down, which took forever.

In the meantime, Tony decided he wanted to run it and found a stray kayaker named Alan who wanted to run it too. When the open boaters got there, we scouted it and they decided not to run it either. I was disappointed because I wanted to go down it following someone experienced, but we decided to run it anyway. One of the open boaters lowered his boat into The Gap with a rope to catch us/our boats if we swam.

After much deliberation, we decided to run a line just right of center, the idea being to just miss the holes to the right. The order was Tony, me, Alan. We got through the lead-in unscathed, unlike my attempt last fall, and proceeded down the initial tongue. I saw Tony go over in the first or second hole because he was too far left. I was too far left too and I believe I went over in the same spot. I was able to roll before the third hole, which impressed Alan a lot, but I was facing upstream when I came up and got flipped right back over by the bottom hole. I rolled again in the pool at the bottom, as did Tony. Alan stayed up the whole time, so the open boater did not get any rescue business.

I convinced Alan to go past the takeout with me down to the place where the railroad tracks cross the road, a portion I had not run since the first day of the beginner course last summer. We got a couple of extra surfs, including at least one sidesurf by me.

It was a fabulous day overall, no swims, each roll was on the first attempt and plenty of surfing.