The Disadvantages? Less stable for river running, less paddle power (stroke rate, offside power), nonstandard outfitting, and a smaller community for instruction.

The Advantages? Pretty much all the disadvantages for entirely different reasons.

From my short experience attempting to venture into the C-1 realm, I’ve done it for all (dis)advantages. It creates a challenge that is above and beyond what I’ve experienced sitting on my rear. It’s less stable, creating a more challenging environment when running my usual rivers while giving hole and wave surfing a much more dynamic feel. Elevated seating with your legs beneath gives a level of torso mobility far superior to any kayak. This creates an environment where engaging an edge, a stern, or a bow, even in flat conditions, is far easier. Further, the single paddle blade requires a level of planning to use efficiently and a level of skill to paddle confidently.

Entering this environment is a drastic change, however. While resources exist for c-boaters (such as the excellent cboats.net), it can be difficult to tease out the bare theory behind it. And when it comes down to it, unless you’re buying the dagger pedestal, you’re going to be outfitting your shell from the ground up out of foam, fence post, treasures found in the dump, and maybe even some old bits and pieces. Hopefully with examples from my method, there’ll be a greater understanding of how to outfit a C-1 from the ground up.

My specifications were pretty loose when starting out:

• Lightweight
• Provide rigidity to the the hull and prevent oil canning
• Be comfortable

If only it was as easy as typing a bulleted list. But it is possible!

Just like a kayak, there needs to be 4 points of contact within your boat. In a K-1, the points of contact are the two hip pads on the seat and the knee wells. The foot block exists to keep your knees in tight. Using these 4 locations, you can apply pressure that allows you to initiate the bow, throw cartwheels, maintain an edge on a wave, or throw a hip-snap and roll. These 4 points need to be as static as possible for consistency.

Consider a new boat that has yet to be outfitted. You try to edge right, pulling on the left knee well while leaning into your right hip. There’s a gap of about an inch between the hip pad and your hip. You slide this inch, throwing your balance and either roll or return to neutral. When the boat is properly outfitted, there is consistency each and every time you edge your boat. It’s as tight as possible without being uncomfortable. This is what enables confidence in whitewater, the knowledge that you CAN reproduce a move as many times as possible.

All this translates to the C-1 as well. You’re knees need to be in the same spot each and every time you’re in the boat. They need points of attachment to enable you to exert the same lateral forces you can in a kayak. Otherwise edging, cartwheeling, and wave-wheels are next to impossible. Additionally, you need the second two attachment points at the hips. Having these attachments lower on the leg doesn’t allow the full use of your upper body weight when attempting to control the boat. The cockpit rim is generally the favored point, as it can interface with the illiac process (the top of your hip bone that you can feel). Contact with your hip bone allows an energy transfer that is immediate and generally more comfortable.

I’ve attempted several ways of attaching hip pads without drilling holes in the boat (duct tape, clamps, etc.) but have found that its impossible to have a reliable and static hip pad when it’s just some junk taped to all hell to the side of your boat. The best recommendation I’ve found is and L shaped piece of plastic (can be cut from hollow mailbox post) bolted to the top deck of your kayak and sealed with epoxy. It seems to be dry, rigid and durable. It has the added benefit of allowing the skirt band to have full contact with the cockpit rim, keeping you that much drier.

An additional method is necessary to keep your knees attached to their contact point in addition to keeping you in the saddle. I like thigh straps connected to the attachment points for the K-1 seat and the saddle itself. These generally allow you to stay in your saddle, keep your knees on the pads, and are safe enough to generally allow you to slip out if your roll fails. Using a foam “dashboard”, a shaped block that you wedge into your boat to keep your knees down, is another option. It has the advantage of being easy to escape from, but can slip and don’t offer the snug feeling of thighstraps.

The saddle itself needs to be attached to at least two points in the boat. It needs to be able to bear the stress of the thigh straps (should you use them) while sitting flush against the hull to provide rigidity. I use a composite pole that came with a deceased Jackson Super Hero and ran it through the entire assembly: the front bulkhead, the entire seat assembly, and the rear bulkhead. This keeps everything it needs to be while providing a good backbone.

My Dragorossi Fish is far lighter than the original K-1 outfitting and is way more comfortable. But thats more likely a function of Dragorossi’s outfitting being absolutely terrible. But those are the fundamentals. All it takes is some trial and error, some spray contact cement, and plenty of foam. If there’s further interest, I’d be happy to post a full how to or go further into detail.

And here’s a favorite from George’s. The Fall colors combined with prime water levels… Hard to beat.

Located in western Maine in a sleepy area known as The Forks, it’s a nice secluded area. Odds are you’ll see a moose either on the road or while you’re hiking. The first thing you’ll notice though is the staggering amount of rafting companies you’ll pass. Camping, cabins, hot tubs, and parties are generally the signs of the summer release schedule. And you might just notice the amazing amount of rafting companies that are entrenched in the area. It’s a pretty great community, and I implore you to stop at Marshall’s for a tall, tasty, and cold PBR pounder.

Enough about the merits of the town though. The dam above is where the good stuff gets pumped out. Additionally, it’s also home to one of the most amazing projects that has ever been devised (and supposedly paid for by Homeland Security) to move rafters and boaters to the river.

Behold the magic of the largest recreational stairway to the bottom of a gorge in the Northeast. It’s a pretty amazing marvel, and if you’ve ever been rafting here, you know that it’s a gift from heaven when there’s 50 other rafts trying to get down the stairs…. so…. incredibly…. slowly. But with a kayak, man, you can skip the whole line and get down there faster than Mark Sanchez and can eat a hotdog on the sidelines. Generally the release will be anywhere from 4500 CFS to 8000 CFS during releases in the summer. Generally the best place to glean that information is the rafting companies, such as New England Outdoor Center.

The first memorable rapid you’ll come to is dubbed “Big Mama and the Three Sisters”. Big Mama is a monsterous wave, the site of many kayaks becoming UFO’s from the amount of air they get (har har). Following that is a slightly smaller wave train, the Three Sisters. It’s really one of the best hits on the river, so make sure you enjoy it. Important to note is that there is a pretty dangerous spot, Goodbye Hole, on river right shortly after, so make sure you slowly make it left. There’s more than enough time to make the move, but it’s still one of the two spots in the gorge you’d like to miss. No photo for this lady, no good spots to get out. You’re just gonna have to imagine it.

After you head through what’s dubbed as “The Alleyway”, a nice constriction of the gorge that offers up some big waves and pulsing waters, you’ll get to Z-turn (right). This is basically the only play on the river, so enjoy it while you’re there. It’s a great place to stretch, catch the wave, do some front surfing, and take in the scenery. There’s a really great view of a little creek right across.

Just a note though: It seems to get a whole lot better as the release gets higher. The lowest I’ve ran it (and that the photo is taken at) is 4500 CFS. While it’s still fun, it’s difficult to stay on the wave and really doesn’t offer much in the way of dynamic fun. Still a great time however.

After your little break at Z-turn, you’ll run into the best hit on the river: Magic Falls and Maytag. Magic falls is the usual line, a straight shot into a river left foam pile that spit you out upside down more often than not. If you’re feeling good, go for the hero eddy immediately after on river left. If you get the opportunity, hop out and get a good view of the whole rapid. It offers up some nice scenery.

Magic falls (Foamy wave pile in the bottom left)

It’s really a great hit. The videos of Craig and I hitting it (not too smoothly I might add) give you a pretty good idea of what it’s like at 4500 CFS. I advise everyone to make sure they hop out and hike it once or twice. It’s really worth it. This rapid is also the site of the other major hole that you would prefer not to go into. Maytag, located slightly downriver in the middle, is just a nasty keeper hole until you get up to 8000 CFS. Not really advisable to try to hero this unless there’s a lot of water and you’ve taken a look at it. You can almost make it out in the middle of the photo below:

Dead center you can make out Maytag. If you’re running Magic, it’s pretty tough to get anywhere near it, so it’s not too big of a worry. Definitely worth getting out of your boat to take a look at. As was said, at the 8000 CFS release it’s runnable and probably super fun to punch through.

And Magic pretty much marks the end of the run. When the water is running fast, the whole thing can be over in the blink of an eye. Which means you’ll definitely want to run it again. And again. And maybe again. Three runs in the four hour release window is very doable. Look how fun it looks on the left. Craig is peeling out in a sweet little wave train. wouldn’t you want to do that again?

But sadly, you do need to get out of your boat, and you’ll come to a nice and steep stairway at Carry Brook on river left that has a parking lot for the shuttle. All in all, make sure that you get to experience the Kennebec once. Better yet, go for a weekend for a Dead River release AND a Kennebec release. You won’t be disappointed.

A big thanks to the (very concerned) shuttle bunny Mackenzie. She’s a DOLL. Craig is looking a little backed up though.

Adding to this mystique of being one the greatest of the east, there’s the significant danger involved. According to American Whitewater (www.americanwhitewater.org), this 2009 season alone involved three rafting deaths, a trend that seems be pervasive through the recreational history of the river. Whether many of these are the result of lack of skill, poor health, several more can be attributed to poor knowledge of the dangerous spots on the river.

Initiation, one of the earliest rapids on the river, contains one of the most evil sieve spots conceived by a river. Entering the rapid, an inviting surf wave beckons you to enjoy it’s frothy goodness. Once you hop off, however, there’s essentially crack in the rock beneath, jammed with a large rock that creates a sucking funnel, creating an almost unavoidable pin situation. The site of numerous near death experiences and actual deaths, it’d be best to brief and check out this amazing rescue effort reported from Think Rain.

But behind the veil of dangerous undercut rocks, some shallow waters, and past tragedies, there’s a pretty awesome river here with an even MORE awesome festival (more on that in another post).

Since this is probably one of the best documented rivers in the history of east coast rivers for river running on the web, I’ll just run through some highlights, starting with the put-in. You either walk down a gloriously paved road to the parking lot below the dam, or hitch a ride in the back of a fine government truck while a trailer lugs your boat down for you. Seemed like a no-brainer, so we took the truck.

After getting out at the parking lot, you’re quickly ushered away from traffic, check out the park sign that has details on the river, and follow the flow of kayakers and rafters to the water. Greeted by the not-so-pretty Summersville Dam (above picture), we took in the sights, waxed the paddles, and put on, where you’re quickly confronted with a nice little warm-up wave train with a reasonable front surfing wave. This being Gauleyfest, the wave had a ridiculous line, had about 8 million rafters thundering toward you, and you just kinda took what you could. There’s little like the feeling of being drilled by an undercut raft.

Somewhere down the line, you’ll end up at another popular surfing spot. Dubbed Geek Wave, it’s really one of the playholes on the entire river. Not entirely sure why it’s called Geek Wave, but does it really matter? You could probably pull of any move you like here. Just keep in mind it’s not exactly that steep of a wave. Going to be a little hard to really hit that GNAR and throw a mondo-super-rotator-mcshizzit, catch what i’m sayin?

Didn’t get much one on one time with this and spent most of the time taking pictures. It’s one of those spots with tremendous eddy service… which can only mean one thing. MONSTER LINES of kayakers all bumping into each other! It’s a theme for Gauleyfest! Regardless, Chris Reid did take the time to wait and line and generally did an excellent job of shredding it. But when Eric “Fulltime Kayaker/EJ” Jackson is there throwing down, generally you gotta watch and wish that was your career.

Additionally, there’s a pretty phenomenal rock to watch from if there’s a massive line. I believe I saw some people perform quite a few safety checks there, so it might be something you’d like to check out.

Additional random note, I found what appeared to be a rabid squirrel stuck on a rock. I’m guessing he was mostly just really upset to be caught in the release. I know that I’d be. So just a heads up, watch for those squirrels, they’re out to get you.

So Geek Wave is done, you’ve surfed yourself out, now what? Well, you come to my favorite rapid of the river, Insignificant (Above). Given it’s name by an old river expedition deeming it insignificant, it’s the first class V on the river and also has one of the most beautiful steep waves you could ask for at the bottom of it. The line is fairly simple, hold center left and dodge the holes, but just the fact that there’s a HUGE hole that can likely flip a rafter and hold multiple boaters at once just makes part of me happy inside. The additional fact that said hole comes on you completely by surprise if you don’t know its location… ahhhh. Not pictured is the beautiful surf wave, which is probably the number 1 surf spot for me on the river.

A ways down from Insignificant is the next class V, the infamous Pillow Rock. Crowds of rafters and kayakers gather here to gaze as people get wrecked at the “pillow” of foam being pushed against one of the large rocks the Gauley is well known for.

Here’s a progression of a general pillow run, demonstrated by Reid, Gilly, and Brian. Generally has an easy approach on churning waters, eventually culminating in a beautiful hit at the foam pile, followed by a drop into a large foampit called Toilet Bowl (easy to imagine).

Finally, it’s a great place to go for a swim. It’s refreshing to resurface about 50 yards down stream after getting water flushed up the nose. Seriously, it is.

Past Pillow Rock you’ll encounter such beautiful sights as Shipwreck rapid, eventually followed by one of my favorite scenes of the river. I got a few laughs, thinking “Hey, this looks like a whale!” Of course everyone already knew that. Later I found out it’s actually named Sperm Whale rock. That’s my college degree at work there folks.

Spots I was unable to get photos of, but are readily available around the web, include Lost Paddle, a pretty meaty class V that get so shallow that the odds of getting knocked out if upside down are probably not in your favor. Iron ring, a spot that was originally blown apart to make way for a log flume, is an excellent class V drop that has very sticky holes that make an ideal spot to get drilled by an enormous floating undercut (raft). And finally, there’s so many other “minor” rapids on this river that by the end you’re completely spoiled. You’ll go back home and that drop on your local run will look like something out of a KB toys magazine.

The advice is to check the Gauley out if you have someone showing the routes or are pretty confident in your scouting abilities. It’s really too good to miss out on, and the release season (Generally 6 weekends starting somewhere in September) is a great time of year to do it. For a more detailed list (with video!) of every major rapid, check out here.

]]> http://www.riverfunk.com/2009/10/upper-gauley-summersville-wv/feed/ 0 http://www.riverfunk.com/2009/09/narraguagus-river-deblois-me/ http://www.riverfunk.com/2009/09/narraguagus-river-deblois-me/#comments Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:27:55 +0000 tofumonsters http://www.riverfunk.com/?p=104 The Narraguagus river in Washington County generally doesn’t stir in the mind’s of whitewater enthusiasts. Better known as an excellent trout fishery, supposed Atlantic Salmon breeding ground, and listed as an excellent flat-water canoe trip, we took a look because, well, it was there! And during a time in August where pretty much everything was dry as a bone, there was still about 180 cfs flowing that assured that there would at least be a trickle to float on.

And a trickle there was. The most accessible put-in, one maintained for the canoe route, turned out to be where Route 193 crosses over the  river in Deblois. A pleasant view of an interesting boulder garden greeted us from the bridge, choked with wood, with a high water mark several feet higher than current flows.

Just being on the water was a great time, but it was difficult to keep your thoughts off how great it could be at high water. Numerous routes would open up with some excellent wavetrains. I’m thinking there might be a few good small drops and maybe some playable holes, but it’s difficult to tell exactly what it might create until we come back! There’s an ATV trail that runs along both sides for scouting, but breaks away from the river after some ways.

The small slot drop in the middle of the river offered up the HUUUGEEST boof of the day (ie not too big). Was really pushin’ the envelope dude, shredding the gnar.

So after an epic scratch drop past a fallen cedar, we continued the quest downward. It was a relatively easy run with such slow flow, and other than some boogie water for the next quarter mile or so, nothing too exciting cropped up until we hit the biggest rock feature that was practically begging for water to be going over it. If you miss the signs (which I imagine would be pretty hard to do), there’s a camp on the right hand shore, possibly uninhabited, that marks the location of the rapid.

It’s the first and only horizon line you’ll see on this stretch. There’s some nice gradient on the right fork that was the ideal run for the lower water, but the left drop is likely the reason to come back to this scenic stretch of water.

At higher water it’d be a drop I’d walk over and over just for the kicks. Was probably the single most bony runs my kayak has ever dropped, seeing as there was more rock that water. But still, it’s a beautiful feature with a small drop off at the end of the slide.

This was the highlight of the entire stretch. After the first mile or so of river, with curiosity driving us on, we paddled downstream for about 10 miles on the flattest water I’ve ever seen. Barely any flow. We had originally anticipated a few mile paddle to Schoodic Brook. But after paddling for some time and many map consultations, we decided the Schoodic Brook was nowhere to be found and enjoyed the sights of bald eagles, deer, king fishers, and the rest of the wildlife.

So we paddled and paddled, seeing power lines only once, until we saw a single house high on the left bank. Climbing through tall grasses, up a muddy bank, we eventually began to hike out on this individual’s incredibly long access road. a Lesson quickly learned was to make sure that your paddle is properly stowed when you plan on dragging your boat behind you for a few miles. So after realizing I was missing a paddle, and a nice mile jog or so back to retrieve the paddle, we made it to civilization: route 193. A great feeling to finally be back to the road, so we celebrated with roadside blueberries.

After reaching the road, we quickly found that our plan to hitch hike 6 miles back to the car was flawed. Apparently nobody picks up kayakers in Downeast, Maine. So the decision was made to stow the boats in the woods and keep thumbing it til’ we get to the put-in. After about 5 miles we hit the Wyman’s blueberry facility, and got a ride from a friendly staffer back to the bridge.

All in all, I think we’ll do the Whitewater stretch and hike back up through the woods next time.

]]> http://www.riverfunk.com/2009/09/narraguagus-river-deblois-me/feed/ 0 http://www.riverfunk.com/2009/08/black-river-watertown-ny/ http://www.riverfunk.com/2009/08/black-river-watertown-ny/#comments Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:05:52 +0000 tofumonsters http://www.riverfunk.com/?p=26 The weekend of July 18th-19th brought a pretty awesome event nestled in the sleepy (industrial) town (city) of Watertown, NY. From Connecticut, it makes a beautiful ride five hour ride around Albany, through peaceful farmlands, and eventually into the remains of once incredibly profitable area. Once a manufacturing behemoth, it now stands, well, sleeping. But that doesn’t stop it from being a great place to be! The Black River Festival (www.blackriverfestival.com) had some knowledgeable people on hand showing lines and generally being friendly followed by a whole lot of beer drinking and good people.

From the put-in at the Hudson River Rafting Company lot, it’s a short stairway down to a nice platform. Drop in your boat, enjoy the scenery, such as the pinned bicycle at the far wall, and catch a wave that gives up plenty of moves at just a slightly lower level than it was that weekend.

This view from the river-right gives a better view of the wave. Has a nice foam pile despite its relatively tame angle and makes an epic spot for king of the wave. The eddy service is pretty excellent on both sides, making plenty of room for the huge line that developed over the weekend. At higher levels a bigger feature on river-right comes in that’s purported to be an gigantic surf wave called “Big Brother”. Check it out on youtube.

Following Hole Brothers is “Knife’s Edge”. Didn’t manage to snap any pictures of this rapid. It’s likely the most technical rapid, considered a class 3-4, essentially due to a sketchy hole towards the bottom of the rapid on the river left line. Water pours to the left of a large rock a 4-5 feet into a depression with what looks to be a rock that will likely a) mess you up or b) mess you up. There’s a “nancy” run on river-right that makes the whole thing pretty trivial.

Following “Knife’s Edge” is Glen Park Falls. Following a portage around a strange dam, you find yourself looking at smaller moves and one big boof drop. You put on on river-left, make one small drop, follow a strange scoop-like drop on far river left, and let the current take you down that nice seam (seen in the picture) for a near autoboof. Following that is some boogiewater and some good times.

A Little further and you arrive at the Cruncher hole, a pretty sweet raft surf wave. Why let the rafts have the fun though?

Following that is “Rocket ride” on river left and “Poop Chute” on river right. Rocket ride is probably the easiest possible feature to run, just line up anywhere looking over the horizon and go down the scoop. Poop Chute is probably one of my favorites on the whole river, a rounded drop that you have to attack as close to shore as possible to prevent the curved shape from sliding you into a nasty pourover beatdown. It’s the last major rapid on the river, other than some boogie water, and it’s definitely a great time, if for nothing but the beautiful views you catch the rest of the way.

I’ll leave off with one more picture from the bottom of the gorge. So scenic.

Great for spins, blunts, loops, combat rolls (lots of them), getting window shaded, and and all around good time. The power plant does change flow pretty rapidly in small amounts as we found, it changes the play pretty considerably. These two pictures are basically the change in about two minutes from what I’d assume is an increase in flow which smoothed out the tiny wave feature in the middle, making the whole feature a wide ol’ hole.

I’ll leave it with a couple more pictures, but this is by far one of the best summer paddling around Orono. For those who know central maine, it’s probably one of the cleaner rodeo spots you’ll find up here and has the added bonus of running during incredibly dry weather. At least 5x better than Lower Gordon on the Mattawamkeag, without the awful eddy service and sketchy spots behind! There’s even a nice parking spot with an access trail if you take Mill St. (past Pat’s Pizza, which turns into Water St.).

Also of note is the recent construction of this spillway from the dam above the railroad trestle at the bottom the Stillwater. Looks plenty deep for a boof, but there’s that monster strainer that wouldn’t budge for us. They actually keep a ladder below one of the supports, so a two man operation could probably put in quickly before the dam caretaker can stop you. Entering from the top of the dam is probably a no-go, there’s two fins that divert water into it and are barely the width of a boat. Not worth getting killed for a spillway drop, eh?

Any questions on anything or for a few more pictures, drop me a line.