Potomac High Water

Bill Kirby wrote 6 days ago:

A moderate rain falling on the remnants of our record-setting snowfall in the Mid-atlantic region produced a big spike in flows in the lower Potomac this week.  It didn’t quite measure up to the catastrophic predictions but it was still a significant flow event.  It calculated out to about a five-year frequency, i.e. you can expect to see flows at this level about once every five years.

Here are some pix of the rising limb of the hydrograph; the Little Falls gage was around 8.3 on Saturday March 13 for these pictures.  The next day it went up to 13+ and I stayed on the bank.

A party ready to take off at the put-in. Jenn, is this you?

Waves at Skull Island. These only form at high water. For scale, the vertical dimension from trough to crest is about 8 feet

Maryland Chute is almost gone at this level

The big island separating Maryland and Center chutes is getting covered. Lots of rare creek lines through the island.

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Forty Years on the River

Bill Kirby wrote 19 days ago:

When people ask how long you’ve been paddling it’s not entirely simple to nail it down.  I don’t count the childhood summer camp canoeing on lakes and ponds, as everybody does that sort of stuff and most of them don’t become whitewater paddlers as a result.  I date the beginning of my whitewater career to a single river trip that happened forty years ago this month.

In the spring of 1970 my senior year of high school was winding down rapidly.  Classes were becoming optional, as most of us had been accepted to some college or other and we were in that dreamy twilight zone wherein our grades and conduct just didn’t matter anymore, and we had cars, money, and time on our hands.

My friend John came up with the idea.  His Dad was an Army officer and he rented a 15-foot Grumman canoe cheap from the Army’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command.  He wanted to run the Seneca Breaks, a Class 2 mile-long set of rapids on the Potomac several miles above Great Falls. The boat was a 15-foot Grumman, generally considered a good solo boat for gentle whitewater.  So, four of us loaded into it to run the Potomac at near-flood level.  We had some idea of somehow sharing the three Army-issued lifejackets between us.  Not only were we ill-equipped, the Potomac was near flood stage and still cold in the early spring.

We paddled the boat out from shore in flat water above the rapids, got halfway across the ½ mile-wide river and turned downstream toward the first rapids.

Me, in the bow: “John you see that rock, right?”

John, in the stern: “Got it!”

Me, a few seconds later: “We’re gonna turn, right?”

John: “Got it!”

Me, later: “LEFT, LEFT!”

John: “Got it!”

Rock: “What a bunch of dips, CHOMP!”

Yep, we hit the only exposed rock in the whole rapids at high speed, spun sideways, and flipped upstream.  Four newbs were thrashin’ in the brown.

We all survived but it involved rescue squads, fire departments, helicopters, the whole shebang.  Rather than putting me off river adventure permanently it somehow kicked off a lifelong obsession.

After nine months away at school, I took a tandem canoe whitewater course from the Canoe Cruisers Association the following year.  While paddling on local trips I noticed how cool kayaks looked and got interested in them.  I went on club trips and led a few myself.  I hitchhiked up to the 1972 Olympic Trials on the Savage River in May and was captivated by the glamour of that event.  I took the CCA basic kayak course in the fall of 72 and paddled at every opportunity.  Later that year I quit my job and lived in my van for a year, paddling full-time throughout the Appalachians.  Later jobs revolved around the paddling business.  I worked in outdoor shops and later became a paddling Park Ranger.

Thus started a river-oriented life. This obsession has dictated jobs, education, and lifestyle from then on.  I’m still learning about the river and about paddling.  I can imagine few better ways to use up forty years.

John H and me (right), Ohiopyle 1972

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More Po in the Snow (Enough Already!)

Bill Kirby wrote 34 days ago:

We’ve had a record-setting year for snow in the DC area, and Ithink most of us are sick of it.  It does make some nice paddling vistas, though.  Here are a few pics of my workout today in the Mather Gorge.

It took a while to dig the Jeep and Augsburg out of the snow.

The Back Channel above Anglers is iced over

The bluff across from the Anglers put-in

It's not the temperature, it's the wind

Middle Chute, and it's starting to really snow now

Echo Cliffs on the Virginia side of the gorge

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Po in the Snow

Bill Kirby wrote 90 days ago:

We just got a record snowfall in the Mid-Atlantic and the area is still digging out.  I took a chance that the river might be accessible despite lots of roads still unplowed, and it paid off.  The parking lot was a bit of a challenge but it was good to go.  I was alone until I was almost ready to drive away after paddling when another group of desperate boaters. showed up.

Here are a few pics of the Potomac surrounded by two feet of snow.

The lower parking lot at Anglers Inn

The C&O Canal towpath was snow-covered but usable, thanks to the xc skiers.

The obligatory self-portrait, to prove I was there.

Cupids Bower, just above Anglers

Maryland Chute in the snow

Another party heads for the put-in

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Flopentahg = Belly Flops

Bill Kirby wrote 154 days ago:

The 2009 Shred Ready Valley Mill Flopentahg

Too cold for me, I wussed out.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw97mcsZAuU[/youtube]

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Ohiopyle, Seven Times Over

Liam Malakoff wrote 209 days ago:

Well, this past weekend was the most paddling I’ve done in a while. We (my mom, sister, and I) left the house at 6:15 Saturday morning, and after stopping for gas, we drove north to Ohiopyle State Park in Southern PA for the annual Ohiopyle “Over-the-Falls” Festival. This is a fantastic gathering of boaters from all around who meet up for one day each year to huck Ohiopyle Falls, a beautiful, riverwide 18 footer on the middle Yough(igheny) River. While my sister and mom headed to nearby Confluence, PA to register for the Riversport Slalom (I’ll get to that in a moment), I got my bib and got ready to go over. Last year was my first year doing the falls, and Ohiopyle remains the largest drop I’ve run.
The really fantastic thing about Ohipyle is that it is a perfect place for rising boaters to step-up their game. Two of those boaters this year were my friends and fellow slalom paddlers Cole Moore and Junior National Team member Simon Ranagan, both from MD. I guided Simon down first, and despite nerves and a long wait, he dropped the falls in style, paddling my red Perception Dancer. Simon was psyched to take a major step towards conquering his fear of heights. His 16th birthday is today, so congrats to Simon!
After our runs, we hiked up the steep, muddy, and PI covered trail to the pathway that meanders along the river. Then, I guided Cole down. He’s 14 and stands about 5′4″, a small guy. He’s recently started paddling my old C1 and is a natural. Our pre-falls conversations went something like this:
Cole: “Liam, I’m sooooo nervous!!”
Me: “Dude, you’re going to be fine. Just paddle hard!”
Cole: “I knoooww…”
Over the PA system: “Oooohhhhh, and this boater’s upside down…and they are out of their boat….”
Cole: “LIAM, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW NERVOUS I AM?!?!”
Me: “Deep breaths, man.”
He paddled like a champ and nailed the line in a Dynamo.
Also at the Festival was Team Thunderdome, the notorious paddling team from the Great Falls area. The weather called for thunderdoming with a sprinkling of brown-claws, and nobody was dissapointed.
I also got to meet Will Lyons of LVM, and Michelle Gasper, a local boater who Will had just taped taking a decent beatdown at the base of the falls. Hopefully some of the Ohioplye Falls footage will make the next LVM! Michelle had some entertaining stories and hopefully we’ll paddle some more in the future.
After 6 runs (last year I made 5) I was getting bored of just boofing the falls. So on my 7th and last run, I decided to style it up. As I dropped into the entrance slide, I held my paddle high and got a full twirl in, punched a small curler at the lip, reached hard across my bow with my right blade and nailed my first cross-bow boof, with a fluffy landing to follow.
Note: I was also flagged down by a photographer from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette who asked if I’d mind running the falls with a headcam on. Sure, why not? If the footage makes it to their website I’ll post a link.
The sequence below was photographed by Andrew Petukov.

But my day was not over! I caught a ride with the Moores to the Riversport campground and met up with the rest of the Bethesda Center for Excellence slalom team. At 5:30 I hit class II Ramcat Rapid for an evening slalom practice with my coach, 2 time silver medalist Dana Chladek, in preparation for the race Sunday. After eating too much good food, and staying up too late around the campfire, we all headed to bed. I climbed into my tent and slept the sleep of the dead.
Until 7:45am, that is. My mom woke me up to a breakfast of crepes prepared by Dana, as well as omelettes prepared with the sausage left over from the prior night and some pancakes prepared by Cole’s father Derrick. The usual race-day banter was thrown around, especially amongst the older paddlers at the race.
I was scheduled to race in the morning session, the fifth boat down the course to be exact. My first run was great: fast and clean. I clocked in at 133.16 seconds on a 21 gate course. My second run fell apart after my bow bounced off the hole move in an unexpected way. Still, I felt good and discovered that my run was the fastest of the morning session. I gate-judged for the second session and discovered that the only C1 to beat my time was Jack Ditty, an accomplished racer and an overall nice guy, despite creaming me by 4 seconds. Simon Ranagan had the fastest time overall in a blazing 117(9?) second run. The course takedown was fast and mostly painless, and was quickly followed up by an awards ceremony (rubber duckies to all medalists with clean runs!) and a raffle (thank you IR, Lucky Dog Cafe, and World Kayak among others). Finally, it was time to leave. The drive home wasn’t too long, and today I helped Dana with a slalom clinic she’s running for new paddlers, following which my sister Eliza and I hit Little Falls at 3.0 feet (apparently the river got up to 3.5 while we were gone, but oh well…).
Well, that just about brings the blog up to date!
Stay safe, SYOTR,
Liam

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Tagged with:Cole Moore  •  Dana Chladek  •  Liam Malakoff  •  Ohiopyle  •  Ohiopyle Falls  •  Riversport  •  Simon Ranagan  •  Team Thunderdome  •  Thunderdome  •  brown claw  •  slalom  •  waterfall

The Second Resurrection

Liam Malakoff wrote 220 days ago:

Alright folks, let’s try this again. Let’s see if I can average more than one post per year, shall we? In this most recent reincarnation, Fluid Flow will follow my travels, travails, and triumphs in the world of canoe slalom and creeking. So, let’s update: No more are my playboating dreams (I am in the process of selling the boat that followed my s6f: a Dagger G-Force 6.1). I missed making Junior National Team by about 3% at NOC in early April. I now own a 2007 Vajda Lizard XL 355, replacing the red 199..7? 9? Vajda Martikan I previously owned. Earlier this summer I completed 3 weeks of paddling in Canada and New York at Age Group Nationals and Junior Olympic competitions. I made my first run of the Ottawa, during which I cracked the stern of my boat in the first rapid and broke a strap anchor in the second. I also have added to my boat collection an intensely ugly, ridiculously well handling orange Dragorossi Mafia creekboat. I logged 2 runs down the Upper Yough in the weeks directly following my Canada tour while spending 4 great days at C1W racer Hailey Thompson’s farmhouse in WV.

Don’t you see? This is the great thing about paddling: there are so many places to go, people to meet, and rivers and boats to paddle that once you are a boater, you will be entertained for the rest of your life! Now, hopefully, I can share some of that fantastic entertainment with all of you as I strive for higher rankings, taller drops, and most importantly, as much time spent on the river as possible.

SYOTR,
-Liam Malakoff

PS: Here is a link to Hailey Thompson’s far superior, better kept up blog: Hailey Thompson Whitewater: Be more than just a boater

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The July Maryland Chute Out

Bill Kirby wrote 233 days ago:

A little footy from the Chute Out.  This is Men’s Class A and Women only.  The light was getting too low to get everybody else.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/guktzkv1els" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

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2009 Potomac Whitewater Festival Attainment Race

Bill Kirby wrote 249 days ago:

The Potomac Whitewater Festival was a blast as always.  Check out the start and finish of the Attainment Race.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/MJfERJ8FmJw" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

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The Potomac Festival Is Coming!

Bill Kirby wrote 279 days ago:

Come on down to Dodge City.  The 2009 Potomac Whitewater Festival is coming the week of July 10-12.  Events range from the Class V Great Falls Race, to the beginners’ Community Gorge Paddle.  Check it out at http://www.potomacfest.org/

Photo of Ryan Bahn styling at the Wave Surfing event by Potomac Paddlers.

Check out the vid from lastyear’s party.  More info to come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXL9fXep4RU

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