The 2012 Stonycreek Rendezvous saw the largest crowds ever for this annual event. We had campers arriving as early as Thursday night before the festival to nab the good camping spots and the all too coveted pavilions. This year no shelter from the rain was necessary as warm sunny skies treated boaters to 3 awesome days of boating and with the first full releases of 500cfs from the Quemahoning Reservoir the flows were perfect for playboating this classic run. With over 50 play spots along the main Stonycreek Canyon run and the playpark located right next to the festival kayakers were able to paddle till their arms fell off.

The HomeTown ThrowDown events for this years festival included the Freestyle Rodeo held right at the playpark hole and a PlayboaterX race through the length of the park with a finish right beyond the playhole. The freestyle event featured some touch battles in both the Intermediate and the Expert classes with Jtown local and up & coming freestyler Zach Georgevich narrowly defeating Fluid sponsored paddler Bobby Miller who was competing in the new L Dope playboat. Zach’s high flying loops and consistent rides showed that the home river advantage really does pay off. In the Expert Class Team USA C1 paddler Seth Chapelle competed against the double bladed Erik Johnson. Seth’s sic rides consisted of a flurry of ends and split wheels with some well executed phonix monkeys and back loops to take the 1st place Stonycreek River Rock Trophy. Check out some of Seth’s action here. A big shout out goes to Dale Briggs for taking the time to video and edit a number of excellent clips of the weekend’s action. Thanks Dale.
And let’s not forget the ladies of the Rendezvous, as long time rendezvous goer Shelby Stine spun her way to another first place victory followed closely by new comer Sarah Hammond.

Rodeo Results
Expert :
1. Seth Chapelle : Score 785
2. Erik Johnson : Score 775
Intermediate :
1. Zach Georgevich : Score 269
2. Bobby Miller : Score 267
3. Pete Strack : Score 247
4. Chris Lee : Score 189
5. Chris Malec : Score 145
6. Ben West : Score 130
Novice :
1. Mike Maloney : Score 100
2. Justin Slagle : Score 76
3. Ron Rash : Score 65
4. Mike Carter : Score 61
Women’s Novice
1. Shelby Stine : Score 104
2. Sarah Hammond : Score 68

And finally the Playboater X race rounded out the whitewater boating events. The playboaterX competitors started above the playpark in 3 heats of 4 boaters with the top two finishers moving on to the final heat. The women’s had 3 competitors and the ladies ran one lap. The course was pretty brutal with racers coming through the top of the course and then catching an eddy behind the large pourover at the top of the course and then ferrying up and around the boulder , once past the pourover racers had to navigate to the river right side of the park and through a couple more boulders followed by a big ferry all the way across the current into the far river left eddy and up around another boulder before finishing with a final sprint through the playparks main feature and finishing at the large boulder in the eddy after the play hole. Bobby Miller somehow mustered up the energy to pull out a win over local expert Erik Johnson in 2nd with Chris Lee making it a strong fight for third. The ladies heat saw Alena Tan take the gold ( er first place rock trophy ) with Shelby Stine in 2nd followed by Sarah Hammond in 3rd.

All the boaters were super stoked to have their chance at some really sic prizes courtesy of the generous World Kayak sponsors. Erik Johnson was big pimp’n in his new Serpico Shades courtesy of Smith Optics, and there were smiles on a couple boaters faces as they picked up Shred Ready Pro Deal cards for a new lid. Mountain khakis were another big prize item with a $75 gift card and the remaining sponsors provided enough schwagg that everyone went home with a prize. SWEET !!!

Click here for a long video featuring the rendezvous and some weekend fun.