Speeder Fun

Wayner and I put our Speeders in at Ferebee for a run to the Falls (or at least in the general vicinity ) With all the rain from Thursday night, we opted for the creek run, just below the put in. The mouth of the side channel put us just below Delabar’s Rock. After warming up on the shoals below, I was ready for my first Nantahala rapid in the Speeder! I had a good run at Quarry; I was able to turn the big boat (all 14′7″) and skirted the big waves, paddling on the left. At Root Canal our plan was to start left and go right, but a river wide strainer ended those plans. There was clearance underneath the tree to the left. I had to resort to a couple of hard pry strokes on the left, but I made the tunnel clean! From there we shot down through Whirlpool, through Blue hole and then left of the island through Bunny’s Eddy.

On a unnamed rapid above the Ledges, I reached out to the left for a draw. I was ever so slightly out over the boat; poof!, I was over like that. Wayner helped with the yard sale as I swam into an eddy on river right. Quickly, I was back in the big boat again. Wayner suggested that I try to make my strokes a tad more horizontal, more like 70 degrees than 90. Given my size and the type of boat that the Speeder is, it is like riding on a rail. Forward strokes at 70 degrees made the ride so much more stable! In fact I was starting to go for lines where I was thread through waves. Thanks, Wayner!

Heading down through The Ledges I felt so much more solid, and was able to thread all the rocks that I wanted to miss. We bombed on down past Surfers, Fast Ferry, and Gorgorama (no surfing on the PBR wave). Quickly we were down to the Five Eddies, which reminded me of paddling the Speeder in Charlotte. You have a chance to experience three different currents at the same time in a 14′7″ long boat! Sort of a paddling equivalent of Rock City. I had good lines through Donnie Dutton and the Bump. Down at the concrete beach I decided to walk the Falls; I just wasn’t entirely confident that I would make it to the Falls upright! As I walked down, Wayner was surfing his Speeder in the bottom hole, entertaining the crowds. I joined Wayner below the Falls and we paddled down to the public take-out. My first run of the Nantahala in the Speeder. It was big boomin’ fun!

Round two

This was also the first time that I would paddle the Nantahala twice in one day. After retrieving my car, and an extended lunch, I met up with Darcy, Janet, and Tim at the NOC for a run of the entire river. We put on above Patton’s and paddled down to Pyramid with some dispatch. There Janet and Tim were tearing it up on the spin wave; I had a couple of good spins too! Darcy had some good from surfs. Through the rest of Pyramid rapid, Janet was working eddies; I did catch the mid stream eddy, but opted out on the ferry to river left.

At Delabar’s Rock I bounced down the creek to the right (much lower than in the morning). We all caught eddies in Quarry and in Root Canal below. At Whirlpool I ventured out for a surf; Tim and Janet were tearing it up. We all joined in on the surfing fun Three Hump Rock, check out photos of Darcy shredding: http://chucks.smugmug.com/gallery/490428… She had to take out just above The Ledges, where she was met by Kevin. It was good to paddle with you!

Darcy shredding at Three Hump

Tim, Janet, and I continued downstream. I caught eddies in the first two ledges at The Ledges, and had some epic surfs at the wave at the second ledge. We all surfed at Surfers and then took a short break. Given the late hour, just after 6PM and that the release was off at 5PM, we decided to bomb down to the Falls. We made it down there in less than an hour; although we did take time to walk the dog and Chuck went for skinning the cat!

I caught eddies in the Falls, I almost got Block Rock eddy, just a tad too low! I worked down the right side of the Falls as Tim and Janet worked down left. All had clean runs; a good, but long day on the river.

Big Water Fun

For the first part of the day I paddled with the Lassiters, Britt, Caralyn and Daniel. Our play was limited, but we did catch eddies as we lapped the Big Water Channel several times. On my first circuit, my highlights were catching (on purpose ) one of the M-wave eddies and riding the bottom hole at Biscuits and Gravy sideways (not on purpose ). At the top we gathered together at the boat ramp below the conveyor, and headed out again. On this circuit I caught eddies above Trashcan, starting with a ferry from river left to right at the top of the channel. We all had clean runs of Trashcan, the M-wave, and Shutdown. Soon we were at the bottom pond heading up for another circuit.

I took a short break as the Lassiters completed another round. On our third combined circuit, I spent a prolonged period of time in one of the river left eddies above Trashcan, waiting for a stream of rafts to go downstream. The only dilemma with this eddy is that on occasion a raft will come hurdling into it! I had many opportunities for braces and leans into rafts. As the traffic cleared I ran Trashcan and the M-wave below. I was looking for the Lassiters but they were all in the lower pond. They were helping out with a rescue. By the time I met up with them, boater and gear were reunited. It was good fun paddling with the Lassiter family!

Last runs of the day

For my last two runs of the day, I was joined by Janet and Tim. I paddled the first circuit in my Everest. I gave a good try a surfing at Entrance, but only succeeded in gaining a chance at a roll attempt or two. Tim had a long and sweet surf at the 830 wave. We didn’t stay long as we paddled down to the confluence. From there we worked the channel above Trashcan catching eddies, as Janet surfed the upper and lower wave. We all had clean runs of Trashcan and then worked our way to the left for the M-wave staging eddy. From there we ran the M-wave and Shutdown. I went for my “Shutdown slowdown” move in the Everest, but again I slid through the hole. We caught eddies in Biscuits and Gravy; Janet and Tim were ferrying back and forth before the first drop. I went for the river left to right ferry, but started out too low. I made to the river just above the drop, as I slammed into the rock backwards. I said to myself, this is going to get interesting I ran the drop backwards, then the tongue, and then the bottom hole backwards!

Locked and loaded with the Ammo

On my last run I opted for the Ammo, and had a blast on my last circuit. I caught a couple of good surfs at Entrance and then moved down to the 830 wave where I had a couple of good surfs. Down below Janet was going vertical at the last drop of the Instructional Channel. Janet surfed on the way down to Trashcan, and Tim and I caught eddies on the way down. Below Trashcan one of the Charlotte regulars flipped and pulled a groin muscle attempting to roll. He was out of the boat and swam to the river right eddy where he was able to get out with his paddle. Janet bulldozed his boat from the eddy to the staging eddy above the M-wave. She had to stop at the wave, as both she and the both crossed the surfing wave. She then resume pushing the boat to river left. Way to go, Janet!

Chuck’s “Slowdown at Shutdown” Move

We all set up at the staging eddy for our runs of M-wave. We all had clean runs. At Shutdown I lined up for the middle of the hole and then went rode up on the wave and stopped paddling. I then drifted into the hole and then stopped! First I was in a dynamic back surf, then the side surf of my life, and then another back surf. It was rinse and repeat. I was laughing, but I also thought when do I eat it. This was clearly my thought when I heard cheers from the eddy After a long side surf, the hole let me go. It was nothing less than big boomin’ fun.

I had to head back to Atlanta, as Tim and Janet shut the place down. It was fun indeed.