Today's run of the Quaboag was a good one. Plenty of people showed up at the put in, a mostly open boat contingent from New England River Runners and people from NPMB who I came to meet with, including Glenn and Randy.
The run was a fun time and I felt completely comfortable in all the rapids. It was at 4.7 on the gauge as opposed to 4.5 when I ran it in the spring. This translates to an increase from 500 to 630 cfs.
I took some videos during the run, but they weren't very good. Here they are:
Gorilla Line, Quaboag Drop from Andy Stuart on Vimeo.
Randy blasts through from Andy Stuart on Vimeo.
Glenn runs the broken dam
Glenn Runs the broken dam. Some unintended camera setting made the water look purple.
"Gorilla Line" at Quaboag Drop
Running the "Gorilla Line" at Quaboag Drop.
Showing posts with label videos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label videos. Show all posts
9/14/2008
9/13/2008
Double Dipping on the Deerfield
Today I ran the Dryway and Fife Brook back-to-back.
It proved to be a very tiring day, mostly because after I put in on Fife, I sprinted to catch up with the AMC group, led by Kimo Lindon, that I was safety boating for.
But the details on the Dryway run first.
Without Casey holding my hand, I had to pick my own lines. I also promised the ad hoc messageboard group that I did not have to stop to scout Dragon's Tooth. The result: six combat rolls compared with one in July. One of these rolls was in the runout of the Tooth, which was quickly followed by another flip and voluntary, non-combat swim in the pool between the Tooth and Labyrinth.
There is something to be said for these swims where I know the river well enough to know that I can make it to shore without swimming any rapids. There is more to be said however, for the fact that a roll takes less time to get to air than pulling the skirt, pushing out and resurfacing does. Furthermore, rolling spares the others the difficulty of bumping my boat to shore and the lengthy boat emptying process.
Labyrinth ended midway through the rapid this day, so I did not have a chance to redeem myself on the drop where I had a similar swim in July.
Because of the staggered release schedule (10 AM Dryway; noon Fife), I was able to do the double dip and catch up to the AMC group, whom I wasn't scheduled to safety boat for until the next day. But I decided to surprise them and caught up with them just as they were leaving the railroad bridge after lunch. (I quickly ate mine during a stop farther down.)
It was a pretty uneventful trip, with no rescues. Because of the legal issues involved and the fact that I hadn't signed the AMC release form, Kimo and I agreed that I was not a part of his group; I was just "following" them. (Maybe I shouldn't post that on the internet?)
When we got to the Gap, one of the people on Kimo's trip agreed to film me going through the Gap. Here it is:
9-13-08 Gap Run from Andy Stuart on Vimeo.
Pretty lousy place to start the ferry, as the intended destination, the river right eddy, doesn't even enter the picture. I had to contend with the extra flow (1000 or 1200, I'm not sure, but a lot higher than the usual 750) and the trashy eddy line, which was further complicated by the extra flow coming off the river left ledge. (BTW, there is a sieve between the rock that forms this ledge and the one slightly farther upstream and center that marks the river left side of the main tongue at the top. If you are running the easy and popular boof line on river left, be sure to stay very close to the left shore to avoid this potential trouble spot.) Going over the two rocks was not a new experience for me; I had done it earlier in the summer too thanks to the high flows of most of the season. It does make for a more interesting video to see me going over the two rocks.
I ran into Ed Vassar at the Gap, who was there running the Gap continuously. He said he was planning to run the Quaboag the next day. Although I was signed up to safety boat for Kimo, I couldn't resist the chance to run the Quaboag. When I missed meeting up with Kimo's group for dinner, I left word that I was headed home instead of camping and headed for the Quaboag the next morning from home.
It proved to be a very tiring day, mostly because after I put in on Fife, I sprinted to catch up with the AMC group, led by Kimo Lindon, that I was safety boating for.
But the details on the Dryway run first.
Without Casey holding my hand, I had to pick my own lines. I also promised the ad hoc messageboard group that I did not have to stop to scout Dragon's Tooth. The result: six combat rolls compared with one in July. One of these rolls was in the runout of the Tooth, which was quickly followed by another flip and voluntary, non-combat swim in the pool between the Tooth and Labyrinth.
There is something to be said for these swims where I know the river well enough to know that I can make it to shore without swimming any rapids. There is more to be said however, for the fact that a roll takes less time to get to air than pulling the skirt, pushing out and resurfacing does. Furthermore, rolling spares the others the difficulty of bumping my boat to shore and the lengthy boat emptying process.
Labyrinth ended midway through the rapid this day, so I did not have a chance to redeem myself on the drop where I had a similar swim in July.
Because of the staggered release schedule (10 AM Dryway; noon Fife), I was able to do the double dip and catch up to the AMC group, whom I wasn't scheduled to safety boat for until the next day. But I decided to surprise them and caught up with them just as they were leaving the railroad bridge after lunch. (I quickly ate mine during a stop farther down.)
It was a pretty uneventful trip, with no rescues. Because of the legal issues involved and the fact that I hadn't signed the AMC release form, Kimo and I agreed that I was not a part of his group; I was just "following" them. (Maybe I shouldn't post that on the internet?)
When we got to the Gap, one of the people on Kimo's trip agreed to film me going through the Gap. Here it is:
9-13-08 Gap Run from Andy Stuart on Vimeo.
Pretty lousy place to start the ferry, as the intended destination, the river right eddy, doesn't even enter the picture. I had to contend with the extra flow (1000 or 1200, I'm not sure, but a lot higher than the usual 750) and the trashy eddy line, which was further complicated by the extra flow coming off the river left ledge. (BTW, there is a sieve between the rock that forms this ledge and the one slightly farther upstream and center that marks the river left side of the main tongue at the top. If you are running the easy and popular boof line on river left, be sure to stay very close to the left shore to avoid this potential trouble spot.) Going over the two rocks was not a new experience for me; I had done it earlier in the summer too thanks to the high flows of most of the season. It does make for a more interesting video to see me going over the two rocks.
I ran into Ed Vassar at the Gap, who was there running the Gap continuously. He said he was planning to run the Quaboag the next day. Although I was signed up to safety boat for Kimo, I couldn't resist the chance to run the Quaboag. When I missed meeting up with Kimo's group for dinner, I left word that I was headed home instead of camping and headed for the Quaboag the next morning from home.
9/12/2008
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.
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