I mentioned in my last report that in our trip there was Wes, Matt, Josh, and myself. Josh’s name is actually Shane. I don’t know why I was thinking Josh. Sorry Dude!
It all started off earlier in the week when my lovely wife, Erin, asked me to go to a swing dance class with her on Wednesday night. Like a wonderful husband that I am I ageed and went. For me this is a problem becuase I have two left feet BIG TIME.
I got to the class and it turned out pretty good. I found out that I had only 1 1/2 left feet not two. We had a great class and I enjoyed the time with Erin also. About half way through the class though, I told her that my pay back would be a trip down the lower Noli on Sunday afternoon and she agreed, or I took it that way.
Well Saturday came around and I was getting fired up for the run, seeing this is my first time back on the water since my last Noli incedent. Wes called me up and told me that a couple of guys from the pool would be joining us, Matt and Josh. Matt has had a few good runs under his belt from what I have been told. Josh on the other hand, just learned to roll good this past Tuesday. So this was his first run.
Matt and Josh met me at the Bradley’s house, other known as my in-laws, and we headed to Wes’s new temp. residence. We got there and outfitted our boats and loaded up. Now this is the line up for boats. Of coarse Wes had his super star, Matt had the super hero, Josh had the hero, and yours truely grew a massive pair and jumped into the 4fun. Let me tell you, what a big difference! I felt great in that boat compared to the rocker which I was about 15 to 20 pounds to heavy for.
Well we put in at the Chestoa, I think it is called, and we were off. I played a few minutes and went ahead and practiced a roll and a few braces along with catching a nearby eddie. Wes pumped Josh up while Matt was messing around with me. As we headed off things were awsome. I was in a great boat with alot of confidence, considering my last voyage that is until I happen to find the only darn rock in the river at that point and yep you guessed it. I flipped and kept picking my head up like a big dumby so I got wet.
I put back in right there in the middle of the river and went on. We got down to Shane’s hole and watched Wes keep it Pro for a few minutes and headed on. We hit some flat stuff and little rock gardens here and there and yes I did find the rocks.
You know they say look where you want to go and you will end up there. Well I am telepathic when it comes to rocks. If there is one to find I will find it. But I did good. We finally got to radio wave. All I can say is Great times!!! That was really fun. Not hard at all but really fun, and yes I found about a million rocks on the way down, however I ran the crap out of it like a pro! Man it was sexxy. You just had to have been there. We all four practiced ferrying and peeling out. Yea, I hit a couple of combat rolls in the process so what? That’s what pro’s do.
We finally went on to what Wes called devil’s back rock or something like that. We all took the high road of course. At this point Josh was keeping super pro. Man he ran everything like he had been doin it for years. He even ran high road with no problems. After going throught high road we all decided to get our boof on at the little ledge at the bottom. Wes demonstrated very well. Josh was the boof mater of today though. He boofed the heck out of that hero. Next of course I got up to the ledge and put my boof stroke in too early and got alittle taste of somewhat of a power flip, so it felt like. I missed my roll becuase of my fat head and got to get alittle wet again.
Well we all got out and ran the boof again. This time was great I was just a hair too early on my stroke but it got me there. That was great!!!! My first boof. We all celebrated the great boofs and practiced our ferrying some more along with peeling. At this point it was about time someone else got wet besides me. Josh just happen to be the unlucky one today. He leaned just a touch upstream and that current whooped him good. He swam and from there we pulled out and I came on to the house to eat some roast beef. GOOD TIMES.
I really think I enjoy the plaining hull alot better than the other. I feel more stable becuase I can actually feel the edge. It makes a big difference to begginer such as myself. Hopefully we can get another run in this week sometime. Until then Stay Sexxy and keep it Pro.
We had planned to drop the Nolichucky Gorge for about a week and I was getting enraged with the white water bug. The Dalton bros, Wes, and I all met up and headed to the gorge put in. It all started with fun and games laughing and what not. We headed on down and everything was great. This was the first time I had gotten into the boat and felt like I was having great vibes with the boat. Well all was well for the first few little white caps I did fine.
We came up to the rocks and Wes told me what lines to look for and what I needed to try to hit. I started down and bammmm! I nailed the line but started to go right. I tried to correct it and go river left and I got stuck on the big rock just after the first drop. Well I got off of it and leaned up river alittle. I know, I know dumb move. Yea it was cold. I fliped and went with it hitting my head on everything there was to hit it on. It got hit one good hard thump and that is when I lost my paddle. I tried to roll by hand and at that point the water was soo cold that I was mentally in shock so I pulled and swam. Boy was I mad!
We gathered all the gear and I got back in. Things were going pretty good again. I ran Jaws with no problem. I got further down and decided to portage the first two rapids of quarter mile. I got in and ran the rest of quarter and of course I did it again. Ran the lines got through the rapids and at the bottom leaned up river and got flipped. Man that is a dumb thing to do. Did I mention that water was super cold. This time I was in the water for a few minutes until I could get out. Once out I had to gather my composure becuase of the cold.
I was again got back in and ran the last drop of quarter mile. I didn’t exactly hit the line Wes and Matt hit. I hit a line they didn’t notice that was much easier. Far river right along side of that rock wall there is a sneak of a line that if you rudder left just a touch to get your boat pointing down the fall you will punch right throw. I was thinking Good times. Awsome I did it.
Next up was a little rapid called turtle. Yep you guessed it. I got threw it and just at the end of it I leaned up river once again. Man this was really starting to suck! This was it though, the water had taken its toll on me. This time as soon as I pulled I went into a very small state of shock it was so cold. Let me remind you that all I had on was poly propalene tops and bottoms, dry top, fleece pants and a pair of rain pants of course with socks and river shoes. When I hit the water my legs started to burn. I felt my self starting to studder my words and chattering teeth. This was it. I got my gear and decided to hike back to the put it.
Wes and Matt ran the rest of it barely making it. Wes told me they ran twin eddies at dusk which was a good thing I didn’t keep up. That wouldn’t have been that good if you know what I mean.
I made it back to the put in just as the sun started to disappear. What timing too becuase I wasn’t there 10 minutes before a train came. That was close. I straightened out my gear changed into a dry fleece shirt, drank alittle water, and ate a power bar. As the night grew it seemed like a million things was going threw my mind.
Why couldn’t I hit my rolls….
I am coooooollllllllddddddd…………..
That’s pretty neat how they change the crews over in a train………
I even started to say my times tables to keep my mind off of being cold. I knew I had to keep my mind busy to keep from going into Hypothermia and shock. I already had a few signs of hypothermia. My fingers were hurting, I was chatering teeth, and shivering uncontrolably.
Finally what seemed like hours later, Wes got there and I jumped in the warm JAW! Man that felt like heaven.
There was a lot of things to be learned from this trip from beginner to expert. A beginner should never be paddling cold water at all. No matter what gear they have. Any thing could happen. I was lucky I had cold weather training as a Marine and knew the signs of hypothermia and shock. As soon as you hit that cold water your body goes into instant shock and you can’t think. You do what you have to, to get out of it. Face it, that is human nature. There is nothing you can do otherwise unless you are an experienced paddler. It doesn’t matter if you are a novice or expert you shouldn’t be paddling cold water with bare minimum gear. That is plain stupid!!!!!!
The biggest thing I learned was they mean it when they say lean down river not up!!!!
This was a good learning experience and I guess a little tough love from my Brother-in-law. LOL Just kidding ole man.
Well, as you can tell this is my first blog on here so please bear with me on this until it is up to speed.
Last week my brother-in-law Wesley Bradley and I were mailing each other about doing some boating this past weekend and he threw up the idea of going to the Little and making a descent down the lower part. I shot him an email back saying “LET’S FIRE IT UP”. We made some arrangements and I done a little shopping to gear what gear I could, since this was my first voyage in “natural water”, and have never done any-type of boating in cold water.
We started out about 7 Saturday morning and stopped to get some grub. By the time we got to the Sinks, there were some of Wes’s buddies there that I hadn’t met. We all went around shaking hands and meeting a few new faces. After all that was done it was time to check out the Sinks! Everyone picked out some lines and what not and started to fire it up. At this point I was just doing some filming since it being my first time and all. Everyone hit pretty good lines down to the Elbow.
At that point I was ready for it. I put in just past the Elbow and we all headed down. The first little rapid was a little one in which I took a plunge and tried to roll a few times but the paddle kept slipping in my hands and all I was doing was slicing the water. Unfortunately I swam that one. After getting a reality check on the water temp. I gathered my composure and got back in. I shoved off and we headed on down. I went a good while with dry hair then once again SPLASH! I waited, and took an interesting upside down ride to the bottom of the rapid. I could actually feel the point at which the rapid ended. It was like hitting a wall of some sort. That’s when I relaxed and bamm! There it was….. a nicely executed roll. First one ever in the “Real World”. Man it felt great!!!!! After some internal gloating we took off again once more. After Wes and Natalie talking me through some rapids and giving points, especially Wes’s big FOUR, I done some good bracing and whammo I got pinned on a small rock. I couldn’t believe how strong the water was for it’s size. I did a kind of……. sort of……if that’s what you wanna call it…… back deck roll and I was out. So, once again we are on our way. Things were great talking among new friends and learning about white water while looking through the crystal clear water thinking THAT’S COLD! We got to a class III rapid, I guess, and I got all messed up because it was my biggest encounter so far. I managed to guide my way through it nicely and was at the point just after the foam and started celebrating when all of the sudden an eddy of death grabed me and suprised me. I tried to roll a few times but my stupid head wouldn’t stay down. Let me remind you that this is really the first time I had been in a creek, especially with my gear on. I learned my roll in the pool with no gear, so I am still getting used to the whole gear thing. That’s another story.
Any way I swam that one too with laughter. I got back in and things were great from then on. We finaly got to the end and started negotiating the final stretch of “COLD” white water and splash. Flipped again. This time there were alot of spectators and I wasn’t about to go out like a chump with a crazy colored helmet. I set up relaxed and did what came natural. Paddled up to the take out and celebrated a good first time run.
Sorry I didn’t really know the names of the rapids, but that comes in due time. Until then,
C-ya on the water!
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