I love sailing and I easily spend over half my weekends sailing or working on my boat. But I my other passion is whitewater boating - usually with the Burned Out Canoe Club.
I've been running whitewater almost as long as I have been sailing. And just like sailing, I'm not too choosy about what kind of boat it is. Just hand me a paddle and off I go. My fleet in current use includes a Slasher C-1 (decked canoe - looks like a kayak), an old Corsica S, and a Redline.
This weekend I ventured down to West Virgina. The Lower Gauley was running about 1200 cubic feet per second (cfs), which is a nice level. We ran it on Saturday and had a great time.
We needed to do a relatively quick trip on Sunday, so we got up early and ran the New River Gorge. The gauge at the put-in showed about 2600 cfs, which again was a pretty good level, although some of the waves seemed a bit larger than I remembered them from last year. If you think a 6-7 ft wave looks big from the cockpit of your sailboat, you should see them from a kayak.
Here is a shot of me running through Lower Keeney. It's probably the toughest combination of big water and technical maneuvering on the river.
Running Lower Keeney - up close and personal.
Running Lower Keeney - the big picture.
Just as in the previous rapid, Middle Keeney, we had two boats flip with one paddler rolling back up and the other swimming. Somehow or another I managed to stay upright all weekend.
Fair winds - and waves,
Eric White, Memorial Day, 2002