Another roadtrip for taking pictures of paddler at the Level 6 Cup.
I left work on friday after around 1pm and managed to get to the Champlain Rapids just after 5pm. I ran into some of the regular crowd with the likes of Billy, Carly, Paul, Matt, Tyler, Mariann, and Paul. The weather was kind of crappy for taking pictures but I still took a few to stake out my spot for the next day.
I was kind of concerned with where I was staying for the night. I had arranged with my friend Geoff to stay at his parents place. Only problem was he was still in Kingston writing an exam the next day and I did not know if it was a done deal or not. To my delight he finally returned my call just as I was turning onto the road to his parents place. He said it was still a go. I met his mom, dad, and sis and we talked for a bit.
I asked if I could offload the boat into their garage for the night and explained that I was leaving for a bit to get some night time shots of downtown Ottawa.
See pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157604731349142/
It was getting late and I had not eaten since 11am. I gave Jen a called and we met for drinks and late night snack at an Irish pub named Darcy Magee's. The food was great. We spent time catching up and then it was real late. I finally got back to Geoff's place just before midnight.
I was up around 7am and packed up my gear. I showed Geoff's dad some pics
Geoff paddling thru out the 2007 season. He mentioned that Geoff was going to Skook soon and I showed him some pics of it as well.
I left around 8am as I want to stake out my picture taking spot for the day. I even marked it with my blue foam pad by attaching it to the fence. All I can say it was a very very long day in the sun taking over 1600 pictures between 9am and 4pm.
I talked to lots of people thru out the day as I was taking the pics and grabbing snacks, drinks, etc. My friends Jim and Ray showed up just after 1pm or so and spend a couple of hours taking pics as well.
Links to the pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157604780125661/
I was hoping to be able to stay until the last finals were done but I had to head off. I was going to meet my regular paddling crew at Palmer Rapids and paddle with them on sunday. I wanted to get there before dark in order to setup my tent and gear. I stopped along the way to pick up desert and ice. I made it in time for dinner. Neil knew I was coming and he saved me some.
Out came the drinks and desert for around the camp fire. I finally had to crash around 10pm as I was beat.
I managed to sleep in until 7am which is huge for me considering I am normally up at 04:30. I went into town for a 5F (number 5 and a flushy) at the local restaurant. Our plan was to leave the Coop at 9am and head over to the Middle Mad. We finally left just before 10.
I could not believe how high the frickin water was. It was zooming and I was starting to regret my choice of boat for the day as I did not have the battleship with me. I was trying out my friends Nitro and it does not exactly have very good initial stability for me.
I managed to get the boat down to just above Staircase. We all got out to take a look. Some of the others made their runs. I decided to do the left sneek route but ended up swimming for maybe 10 feet and self rescuing. I put back in just below a hole after seeing a tandem boat getting sucked into it and losing its center airbag.
I made it down the left side of Staircase fine but barely. Man this boat is way to tippy. I would love to spend more time in it with warmer water but today was just not my day. I finally caught up to where the tandem boat was pinned. It took about an hour to pull the boat off once we setup the rescue gear. The boat came out better then expected with only a broken seat and gunwale plus a few minor other things.
Noel, Paul, and Brenda were finished. The rest of us all headed down to Chalet. This is where I had my second very long swim of the day and that is when I said I was finished. Derek said he would paddle my boat to the takeout. Greg ended up losing his boat. I walked back up to where Neil's truck was and drove down to the takeout.
The others headed down river in search of Greg's boat. I know the other tandem had 3 people paddling. I am not sure of what all the details were but they didn't find the boat when they arrived at the takeout. Derek had paddled a little further down river to search and walked back. I met him on the road and we picked up my boat.
We finally found the boat about an hour or so later on someone's lawn. We wer basically doing a search along peoples property along the river as it was the only place it could end up with the strong winds. Greg was very relieved to get get his boat back.
I finally left for home and stopped off at my friend Marks for dinner and got home around 10pm and went to bed.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Canadian Team Trials
I decided to head over to Chambly, Quebec to watch / take pcitures of the competitors for the Canadian Freestyle Paddling team for the 2009 worlds.
I figured it was time for another roadtrip to a place I had never been.
I left right from work on friday afternoon. The plan was to head over to Ottawa friday night and stay with my friend Jim. The would be a double duty trip as I had to deliver some boats and gear that I was storing to another friend in Ottawa.
I was going to just head straight across the 401 and up the 416 but that soon changed after I heard the crappy traffic report. I decided to take the Plan B route across the 407 to 7 and go all the way to Ottawa that way instead. I made the trip in five hours which was pretty good considering I stopped a couple of times on the way.
I headed straight to Jim's place. We caught up on life issues and he showed me a little bit about using iPhoto on a MAC. We ended up going out for a late night bite and then I crashed as it had been a long day since I was up at my regular 04:30 time.
I left around 6am saturday morning and made it to Chambly around 08:30. It was great to see old friends and catch up. I met a couple of new people from the BC Boys and others from Quebec that I had only taken pictures of but never talked inperson.
I managed to carve out a pretty sweet vantage point for taking pictures. I had the river bank as a backrest and my blue pad for my butt. I had to move a couple of heavy rocks out of the way but it was worth it in the end run. I took well over 2400 frames that days but ended up with 2254 after the deletions. I was really disappointed that I some how forgot my polarizing filter and had a hell of a time re-adjust for the sunlight bouncing off the wave.
Everyone headed over to the Marius for dinner. I started to offload the pics from my camera onto my laptop and it didn't take long for the people to start looking over my shoulder. I spent the rest of the time during dinner catching up with friends on life.
I left Chambly around 10pm and headed back west. I grabbed a room in Cornwall just after midnight. I finally go home just after 1pm and spent the rest of the day relaxing and gettting the pictures organized for uploading to my Flickr site.
Here are the pictures from that day http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157604646157228/
I figured it was time for another roadtrip to a place I had never been.
I left right from work on friday afternoon. The plan was to head over to Ottawa friday night and stay with my friend Jim. The would be a double duty trip as I had to deliver some boats and gear that I was storing to another friend in Ottawa.
I was going to just head straight across the 401 and up the 416 but that soon changed after I heard the crappy traffic report. I decided to take the Plan B route across the 407 to 7 and go all the way to Ottawa that way instead. I made the trip in five hours which was pretty good considering I stopped a couple of times on the way.
I headed straight to Jim's place. We caught up on life issues and he showed me a little bit about using iPhoto on a MAC. We ended up going out for a late night bite and then I crashed as it had been a long day since I was up at my regular 04:30 time.
I left around 6am saturday morning and made it to Chambly around 08:30. It was great to see old friends and catch up. I met a couple of new people from the BC Boys and others from Quebec that I had only taken pictures of but never talked inperson.
I managed to carve out a pretty sweet vantage point for taking pictures. I had the river bank as a backrest and my blue pad for my butt. I had to move a couple of heavy rocks out of the way but it was worth it in the end run. I took well over 2400 frames that days but ended up with 2254 after the deletions. I was really disappointed that I some how forgot my polarizing filter and had a hell of a time re-adjust for the sunlight bouncing off the wave.
I spent from around 09:30 am until 7:30pm taking pictures. It was a long day in the sun. I managed to get a few breaks in between the heats to chat with the other people around. The competition was fun to watch. It was great to see the upcoming juniors as alot of them have great potential as they continue their training.
Everyone headed over to the Marius for dinner. I started to offload the pics from my camera onto my laptop and it didn't take long for the people to start looking over my shoulder. I spent the rest of the time during dinner catching up with friends on life.
I left Chambly around 10pm and headed back west. I grabbed a room in Cornwall just after midnight. I finally go home just after 1pm and spent the rest of the day relaxing and gettting the pictures organized for uploading to my Flickr site.
Here are the pictures from that day http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157604646157228/
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Lower Black River
Sunday 13-Apr-2008
I got up around 06:30 to re-pack all my paddling gear. I also had to get the rest of the room packed up and put downstairs in storage in order to vacate the room. I started working on Saturdays trip report and had breakfast. I left just after 09:30 as I had to be at the Lower Black putin by 10am. Kevin and Daryl were pulling onto the street as I was pulling out. They did a U-turn and followed me all the way to the lovely town of Queensborough.
Janice and some of the others were already there. The rest of the armada was slowly showing up. Jim Coffey from Esprit had showed up as well. I forgot to mention in Saturdays report that he came up to me part way through the night and asked me what my plans are for Sunday. I told him the Lower Black and asked if he was going to join us. He laughed and said sure as this would be the first time he would ever be in a Colin Moneypenny trip report. I was glad he was there as this brought the open boat numbers up to two.
I was already dressed for paddling. They others started to suit up and then we did the shuttle. I headed off down river to check out one of the two brand new H20 paddles I had borrowed from Steve Horvath. The first section was a really long flat water stretch and it gave me a chance to check out the paddle. I waited just at the bottom of the first set of rapids for the rest of the gang to show up.
We all headed downriver together and came to the first major set which consisted of catch the eddy on right, ferry over to eddy on left and line up to punch through the hole, catch the eddy on the right and line up to run the four foot drop and punch through the hole.
The river would normally be a class 2/3 run but was a 3/4 plus in some parts based on the water levels and the consequences of swimming. I made the run fine. I just had to sit in the eddy’s for a bit to boat scout but I was happy how things went.
Some of the other runs were huge wave trains. I was hoping to take pictures today but I never had a chance to take a single one. We came to the next set. Andrew was walking back to his boat and said you might want to walk this one. We all got out to scout. It was a huge river wide hole with a small line down the right hand side. Most of us walked it. I think Marie was the first to run. I know Jim, Leah, and Scott ran it. Not sure who else did as I was dragging my boat through the trees across the snow to get in the eddy below.
We ran another set of smaller stuff before coming to the set with the falls and that is where my day went to total crap. The start of the run had three huge waves in it. I punched through the first two fine and hit the angle wrong on the third and went over.
This would normally not be a problem as we would swim side by side as I would tow the boat back to shore. But this happend just above the falls on the river which was not a good thing. I had to let go and swim like hell holding onto a brand new demo paddle from H20 that I did not want to end up paying for. I just made it to shore in time. Thanks to Milt for the quick tow and thanks to Janice for the hand back onto shore.
I was feeling fine but my only problem now is where the hell did my boat go. I don’t think any of the others that were ahead of me had either run it or walked around it. I think my boat ended up be the first one to run the falls. I hiked up and over to the eddy below the falls. No boat. I looked further down the river no boat. At this point I figured holy crap I’m screwed and had a long walk out ahead of me. Scott asked me if I wanted to swim behind his boat and he we tow me down the river. Slight problem cold water and no drysuit. I only had dry top and pants. I told him I would be better off walking. At least I was toasty warm and had proper footwear on and had a paddle to probe the snow/water with.
So after hike through waist deep snow, walking up a creek, and through a couple of ponds, onto a snow covered ATV trail which led to a dirt road for a combined total of 3km. I managed to get back to the river and saw Milton. They still had not found my boat. I went back up the hill and Pauline came out of here house and asked me what the scoop was. I explained to her what had happened and she offered me a ride back out to the highway otherwise it would have been another 5KM walk down the dirt road. I graciously accepted.
She dropped me off and I thanked her for the ride. I scurried the banks of the river along the highway hoping to see my boat in the calm part of the bend. No boat. I stopped and talked to Linda who lived on the river. She took my name and number and would call me if it showed up. I also asked her to let other paddlers know I was going back to the car if they came by. I am walking back along the highway when another paddler picks me up. He gave me a ride back to where the car was. A couple of the group was back. Janice was glad to see I made it out of the woods ok.
They actually found my boat just shortly after I got my ride out. It was about 4KM down river from the falls. It had apparently ran the long canyon section and two other sets of rapids all by it self before ending up in an eddy. The pumps were apparently still going and all my gear including the other brand new H20 paddle was still in the boat. Luckily I have an extra bag cage where all the gear gets stored in so it does not dangle below the boat when it is upside down. I would like to know if boat was found right side up or upside down.
Marie had graciously paddled my boat back while someone else towed her kayak. Thanks to all for getting my boat and gear back. Now for the final test. Was the camera ok. I opened the Pelican case and it was bone dry.
I got changed and started saying goodbye to the gang. Jim came over and said it was nice paddling half the river with you. I headed back to Queensborough for some snacks. I bought a whole apple pie and a hamburger. The town folk get together when paddlers show up and make pies and other tasty treats for sale. I ate my hamburger and put the pie in the car to have at home. I talked to some of the other boaters that had run the Upper Black. They said it was full on big fun.
I headed back to the B&B to get the rest of my stuff. I had to totally empty my car onto the driveway. I was going home with more stuff then I came with I was shuttling back some stuff for a friend. The guys at the B&B did not think I would get the big pile of stuff into the car but I am the king of pack.
So all in all paddling was great until the swim.
Lessons learned:
Yes it was a bummer that I had to walk out but at least I had the proper footwear and gear on to do it. It is amazing how many paddlers in the smaller boats are only wearing fleece bottom or minimal footwear not appropriate for walking long distances in.
I was nice and warm. I had food and a lighter in my pfd and a paddle to use as a walking stick. I new which way I had to go and was always aware of where the river was.
I made it back safe and sound to the car. It could have been worse. I could have been stranded or spent the night in the woods.
I told Janice and the others I was going to post the lost boat notice followed up by this report and we could use it as a safety reminder about spring water paddling. I was very surprised when I got a call at home last night from Neil asking me if I was ok … thanks buddy. My thanks also goes out to the others who responded to my post in a positive way.
If anyone else from this trip wants to add their two cents worth about river safety or other concerns then chime in.
Until next time be safe out there.
I got up around 06:30 to re-pack all my paddling gear. I also had to get the rest of the room packed up and put downstairs in storage in order to vacate the room. I started working on Saturdays trip report and had breakfast. I left just after 09:30 as I had to be at the Lower Black putin by 10am. Kevin and Daryl were pulling onto the street as I was pulling out. They did a U-turn and followed me all the way to the lovely town of Queensborough.
Janice and some of the others were already there. The rest of the armada was slowly showing up. Jim Coffey from Esprit had showed up as well. I forgot to mention in Saturdays report that he came up to me part way through the night and asked me what my plans are for Sunday. I told him the Lower Black and asked if he was going to join us. He laughed and said sure as this would be the first time he would ever be in a Colin Moneypenny trip report. I was glad he was there as this brought the open boat numbers up to two.
I was already dressed for paddling. They others started to suit up and then we did the shuttle. I headed off down river to check out one of the two brand new H20 paddles I had borrowed from Steve Horvath. The first section was a really long flat water stretch and it gave me a chance to check out the paddle. I waited just at the bottom of the first set of rapids for the rest of the gang to show up.
We all headed downriver together and came to the first major set which consisted of catch the eddy on right, ferry over to eddy on left and line up to punch through the hole, catch the eddy on the right and line up to run the four foot drop and punch through the hole.
The river would normally be a class 2/3 run but was a 3/4 plus in some parts based on the water levels and the consequences of swimming. I made the run fine. I just had to sit in the eddy’s for a bit to boat scout but I was happy how things went.
Some of the other runs were huge wave trains. I was hoping to take pictures today but I never had a chance to take a single one. We came to the next set. Andrew was walking back to his boat and said you might want to walk this one. We all got out to scout. It was a huge river wide hole with a small line down the right hand side. Most of us walked it. I think Marie was the first to run. I know Jim, Leah, and Scott ran it. Not sure who else did as I was dragging my boat through the trees across the snow to get in the eddy below.
We ran another set of smaller stuff before coming to the set with the falls and that is where my day went to total crap. The start of the run had three huge waves in it. I punched through the first two fine and hit the angle wrong on the third and went over.
This would normally not be a problem as we would swim side by side as I would tow the boat back to shore. But this happend just above the falls on the river which was not a good thing. I had to let go and swim like hell holding onto a brand new demo paddle from H20 that I did not want to end up paying for. I just made it to shore in time. Thanks to Milt for the quick tow and thanks to Janice for the hand back onto shore.
I was feeling fine but my only problem now is where the hell did my boat go. I don’t think any of the others that were ahead of me had either run it or walked around it. I think my boat ended up be the first one to run the falls. I hiked up and over to the eddy below the falls. No boat. I looked further down the river no boat. At this point I figured holy crap I’m screwed and had a long walk out ahead of me. Scott asked me if I wanted to swim behind his boat and he we tow me down the river. Slight problem cold water and no drysuit. I only had dry top and pants. I told him I would be better off walking. At least I was toasty warm and had proper footwear on and had a paddle to probe the snow/water with.
So after hike through waist deep snow, walking up a creek, and through a couple of ponds, onto a snow covered ATV trail which led to a dirt road for a combined total of 3km. I managed to get back to the river and saw Milton. They still had not found my boat. I went back up the hill and Pauline came out of here house and asked me what the scoop was. I explained to her what had happened and she offered me a ride back out to the highway otherwise it would have been another 5KM walk down the dirt road. I graciously accepted.
She dropped me off and I thanked her for the ride. I scurried the banks of the river along the highway hoping to see my boat in the calm part of the bend. No boat. I stopped and talked to Linda who lived on the river. She took my name and number and would call me if it showed up. I also asked her to let other paddlers know I was going back to the car if they came by. I am walking back along the highway when another paddler picks me up. He gave me a ride back to where the car was. A couple of the group was back. Janice was glad to see I made it out of the woods ok.
They actually found my boat just shortly after I got my ride out. It was about 4KM down river from the falls. It had apparently ran the long canyon section and two other sets of rapids all by it self before ending up in an eddy. The pumps were apparently still going and all my gear including the other brand new H20 paddle was still in the boat. Luckily I have an extra bag cage where all the gear gets stored in so it does not dangle below the boat when it is upside down. I would like to know if boat was found right side up or upside down.
Marie had graciously paddled my boat back while someone else towed her kayak. Thanks to all for getting my boat and gear back. Now for the final test. Was the camera ok. I opened the Pelican case and it was bone dry.
I got changed and started saying goodbye to the gang. Jim came over and said it was nice paddling half the river with you. I headed back to Queensborough for some snacks. I bought a whole apple pie and a hamburger. The town folk get together when paddlers show up and make pies and other tasty treats for sale. I ate my hamburger and put the pie in the car to have at home. I talked to some of the other boaters that had run the Upper Black. They said it was full on big fun.
I headed back to the B&B to get the rest of my stuff. I had to totally empty my car onto the driveway. I was going home with more stuff then I came with I was shuttling back some stuff for a friend. The guys at the B&B did not think I would get the big pile of stuff into the car but I am the king of pack.
So all in all paddling was great until the swim.
Lessons learned:
Yes it was a bummer that I had to walk out but at least I had the proper footwear and gear on to do it. It is amazing how many paddlers in the smaller boats are only wearing fleece bottom or minimal footwear not appropriate for walking long distances in.
I was nice and warm. I had food and a lighter in my pfd and a paddle to use as a walking stick. I new which way I had to go and was always aware of where the river was.
I made it back safe and sound to the car. It could have been worse. I could have been stranded or spent the night in the woods.
I told Janice and the others I was going to post the lost boat notice followed up by this report and we could use it as a safety reminder about spring water paddling. I was very surprised when I got a call at home last night from Neil asking me if I was ok … thanks buddy. My thanks also goes out to the others who responded to my post in a positive way.
If anyone else from this trip wants to add their two cents worth about river safety or other concerns then chime in.
Until next time be safe out there.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Salmon River
Friday 11-Apr-2008:
I left work just at 2pm bound for M.A.C.K.fest (MF) in the lovely town of Marmora. I was worried I was going to get stuck in the crappy 401 traffic. I was driving along minding my own business when the Maggs family passed me. I rolled down the window and asked them where they were going paddling at. They said the Crowe Bride (CB) and then he sped was gone.
I could night drive that fast as I had my battleship and Geoff’s destroyer on the top of the car. I could only do about 110 maybe without getting sucked off the road by the transport trucks whizzing by. I did manage to catch up to them again when there was a traffic slowdown and managed to pass them only to have them catch up again. By this time I had my camera ready and managed to get a picture of Cathy while I was driving and that was the last time I seen them until I got to Marmora.
I stopped off at Reeder’s place in Norwood and talked to Stephanie for a bit and handed over my KWWP membership form. I also asked her for instructions on how to get to the Crowe Bridge and was off to take pictures. I was only there for a few minutes when Rich and Matt showed up. Matt looked at the level and suited up. He mentioned that he had not seen the third wave there in at least 9 years or so but Rich disagreed. I guess they can fight that argument later.
Matt was the only one paddling. I managed to take quite a few pictures of him paddling on the three different waves. It was starting to get dark due the cloud cover and cold (maybe +1C) as it was around 6ish. I asked Rich what the dinner plans were and suggested we go meet at the Train Station Restaurant in Havelock and headed off. I was downloading the pictures to my laptop on the way over as I was hoping to upload them to my Flickr account during dinner.
Link to pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157604531304457/
I was only at the restaurant for a few minutes before Grant and Sherry walked in. A few minutes later Matt and Rich showed up. We ordered dinner and checked emails, etc. The internet connection was kind of sketchy and I was not able to upload the pictures as I was hoping to. After dinner Grant, Sherry, and I headed to Marmora to check in at the B&B. Matt and Rich headed to Cale’s for drinks. We told them we would be over as soon as we can.
Found the B&B ok. It is a lovely old turn of the century home. I had the mini-tour of the place once I got settled in the room. I heard some people up on the third floor above and went up to see who else was here. Wouldn’t you know it, it was the Maggs family. We chatted for a bit.
We finally made the trek over to Cale and Steph’s place. It wasn’t hard to find the place in the dark. You just had to look for all the boats. There were quite a few people there, way too many to list. There was even this imaginary guy named Boydo there who we think is still imaginary. The evening was filled with drinks, snacks, stories, and of course paddling videos. I think we finally made it back to the B&B around midnight. My plan was to meet up with people at the Salmon River put in for 09:15 so I had to be gone by 8am.
Saturday 12-Apr-2008:
I was up at 06:30. Luckily my paddling gear was already packed. I installed the battery into the battleship and loaded up the car with the rest of my gear. I was hoping to install my airbags but I didn’t think anyone would have appreciated the loud high pitch squeal of an air pump going off this early in the morning. I checked my cell phone to see if the rest of the people that were in town had sent me a message only to find out I had no service. I headed over to the Country Style and Scott was coming out. Great there is one of the group. On my way out of the store Daryl was coming in and things were now good.
We parked Scott’s car in the municipal lot and shuffled his boat and gear onto my car. We headed over to Daryl’s place to wait for Kate and Kevin to get their stuff loaded in their vehicle and then we were off. We got to the town of Tamworth just after 9am and started heading up to the putin as there were no boaters in town. I catch up to Derek and Neil on the main road and pass them. We found the putin road no problem and started heading down until we hit our first snag. We came to the first left turn only to find a lake covering the road (see pictures). Neil went through with his jeep no problem but there was no way the cars were going through that. I told Neil to drop off his boats and he could shuttle the rest of the gear with his vehicle. The rest of us goat suited up while waiting for Neil to come back. It took him a while as he apparently got stuck in when his front end sank into the snow.
It wasn’t too long before the others started showing up. Gaetan and the Ottawa Region crew (who were late) and another group showed up. Greg, Ryan, Dan, and Erin showed up a short time later. We set up the shuttle a shuttle while the other got geared up. I think we finally managed to put on the river just after 1015ish.
I paddled ahead with the kayakers in our group on the flat water section as the others were getting warmed up. I told the gang that the open boats will catch up pretty quick as one of the benefits for us is you take one stroke and go 20 feet. We finally made it to the first set of rapids. It was a pretty straight forward run down the left in order to avoid the ledge on the right. The rest of the OC1 gang finally caught up. We had a couple of swimmers but nothing to be worried about after all it was around +1C, snowing/freezing rain, overcast, and the ice had just came out. Typical spring weather for a paddling for a festival. I also had the duties of being the photo guy for the trip.
The rest of this report will be kind of blurry as to the order of events but I will try my best. We finally made it to the next set of rapids that was worth scouting. We all got out on the right to take a look. Dan started his first run and caught the eddy behind a tree. Derek started his run and tried to catch the first eddy on the left only to get pinned on the tree that was just above Dan. Derek’s boat basically sunk and disappeared (see pictures). Greg started his run and ended up beside Derek but at least he didn’t get pinned and pushed off and head down river. Derek managed to get his boat out ok, emptied it out, and then headed down river.
Ryan’s run was fine and same with Scott and Kevin. Neil started his run and ended up at the same tree but as soon and his boat hit it he was able to get out of it and pull his boat out before he got any water in it. My run was fine. Dan found this old Sports Pal boat stuck in the middle of the river and managed to get it out. He dragged it back up to the top of the river and made a run in it. Greg wanted the boat due to salvage rights of it being found in the middle of the river. I told Dan it would be great to see him run the canyon set in it. He said 50 bucks and I said 20 and he said deal.
Daryl and Kate decided to head back to the putin as Kate was getting cold. She did not have her booties on as she could not find them earlier that morning. We still had a couple of hours left on the river. Neil handed over his keys and we parted ways.
We finally made it to the next set with the lovely hole at the bottom. Dan, Greg, Derek, and Neil made it fine. Ryan had made it all the way down thru the hole and let out a big whoo hoo as he thought he was done only to not take the extra paddle stroke and end up swimming (lesson learnt). Dan ran Erin’s boat down and my run was fine. To my sad surprise the Sports Pal did not make it as it apparently was stuck again back up river.
Next was the Canyon run. We all got out to scout. Erin, Kevin, and Ryan elected to walk. This gave Dan and Derek an extra run each. No sense in carrying a boat on the portage when others can run it. Mid way thru our groups run we watched a bunch of kayakers go down with no issues. Greg made his run and ended in a really strong re-circulating eddy on river right. Scott made his run with no problems.
I was the last to go. I ended up in the same re-circulating eddy as Greg. Kevin said I had a worried look on my face for about 10 seconds. I had to get my boat spun around facing up river in order to be able to get up far enough in order to get out. I finally made the boat spin and edged further up along the rock wall and made the move. I had to get out far enough into the river to avoid the rock with the hole behind hit. I finally went and made the rest of the set with no problems. Luckily I had the pumps going.
The rest of the sets were fine. I was paddling ahead of the group and finally got to the one with the large drop / hole. There had to be about 8 to 10 people scouting on the left. I remembered from last year that it was a left hand line run. I boat scouted from the top left eddy for about a minute and headed off. Well let’s just say I was not left enough and ended up taking the meaty middle line. My boat penciled in and disappeared and popped back out full of water and the pumps were going full tilt. I paddled over to the trees in the middle of the river and waited until the water was out of my boat. I headed over to shore and got out the camera gear. Some of the people scouting decided to walk after seeing me go into the hole.
Erin elected to walk. Everyone else ran the line on the left except for Ryan. He took my line, ended going over, but managed to role back up further down river. The Magg’s crew showed up and I took some pictures of them as well. After that it was off to the takeout.
It was a great day on the river even though the weather sucked but any day you paddle and don’t have to go to the hospital is a good day. We headed back to Marmora to get cleaned up and ready for the big party. I finally made it to the hall and ran in the rest of the paddling crew having dinner. The vegetarian chilli was great accompanied by the homemade coolers in my nalgene.
Link to pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157604531304459/
The rest of the night was a bit of a blur as it was busy. I setup my laptop and had a running slideshow of the pictures I had taken on the river that day. I had some nice compliments about that. It was great the faces of all the people I had met over the years (it was a lot) and I met some new ones as well. Alex was back from BC and I bought him the beer I promised to buy him. I also ran into my son and his crew. They were apparently on the Salmon as well but the didn’t get on the river until noon.
I did quite well in the Cale huck prizes into the crowd skirmish. I managed to get a couple of Level 6 kayak blow up things (by doing a big belly flop on the floor) to keep skirts from imploding (gave one to my son and one to Daryl), paddle wax ( gave it to my son), hat, and other stuff.
I also managed to score the book Let It Rain (http://neguidebook.com/) in a silent auction for 45 bucks. I almost ordered it last week online but didn’t bother as I am not a fan of PayPal. I had to start figuring out the game plan for Sundays trip. Derek and Neil wanted to do the Beaver which was way above my skill level so I pointed them towards Milton from the OVKC group for info as they ran it earlier in the day.
I had already decided I wanted to do the Lower Black. I just had to find a crew that was going and that is when I ran into Janice from the OVKC (http://www.ovkc.org/) crew (which I am a paid member of) and they said they were doing it. We decided on meeting 10am at the putin. The rest of the evening was spent partaking in further beverages and enjoying the bands. I had no luck in any of the raffle draws. Sherry managed to win three different times. I think Grant felt sorry for me and gave me one out of the two red paddles that came as a set. Thanks Grant I will keep it as a spare.
I was really hoping to win the grand prize which was a kayak after all what would the chances of an open boater winning a kayak … pretty good considering my luck. I decided to see if I could get into it. It fit me like a glove. Some of the kayakers in the crowd started yelling at me to get out of THEIR boat as they were winning it. That’s when Kevin and Art started heading towards me and I started to ratchet myself in nice and tight because I figured they were up to no good and I was right. They each grabbed and end and lift the boat up and turned it upside down to shake me out. I was in really good and there was no way I was coming out of that boat.
Well … I did not manage to win the boat in the final draw and it was getting late so I walked back to the B&B. Luckily it was all down hill to there.
I left work just at 2pm bound for M.A.C.K.fest (MF) in the lovely town of Marmora. I was worried I was going to get stuck in the crappy 401 traffic. I was driving along minding my own business when the Maggs family passed me. I rolled down the window and asked them where they were going paddling at. They said the Crowe Bride (CB) and then he sped was gone.
I could night drive that fast as I had my battleship and Geoff’s destroyer on the top of the car. I could only do about 110 maybe without getting sucked off the road by the transport trucks whizzing by. I did manage to catch up to them again when there was a traffic slowdown and managed to pass them only to have them catch up again. By this time I had my camera ready and managed to get a picture of Cathy while I was driving and that was the last time I seen them until I got to Marmora.
I stopped off at Reeder’s place in Norwood and talked to Stephanie for a bit and handed over my KWWP membership form. I also asked her for instructions on how to get to the Crowe Bridge and was off to take pictures. I was only there for a few minutes when Rich and Matt showed up. Matt looked at the level and suited up. He mentioned that he had not seen the third wave there in at least 9 years or so but Rich disagreed. I guess they can fight that argument later.
Matt was the only one paddling. I managed to take quite a few pictures of him paddling on the three different waves. It was starting to get dark due the cloud cover and cold (maybe +1C) as it was around 6ish. I asked Rich what the dinner plans were and suggested we go meet at the Train Station Restaurant in Havelock and headed off. I was downloading the pictures to my laptop on the way over as I was hoping to upload them to my Flickr account during dinner.
Link to pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157604531304457/
I was only at the restaurant for a few minutes before Grant and Sherry walked in. A few minutes later Matt and Rich showed up. We ordered dinner and checked emails, etc. The internet connection was kind of sketchy and I was not able to upload the pictures as I was hoping to. After dinner Grant, Sherry, and I headed to Marmora to check in at the B&B. Matt and Rich headed to Cale’s for drinks. We told them we would be over as soon as we can.
Found the B&B ok. It is a lovely old turn of the century home. I had the mini-tour of the place once I got settled in the room. I heard some people up on the third floor above and went up to see who else was here. Wouldn’t you know it, it was the Maggs family. We chatted for a bit.
We finally made the trek over to Cale and Steph’s place. It wasn’t hard to find the place in the dark. You just had to look for all the boats. There were quite a few people there, way too many to list. There was even this imaginary guy named Boydo there who we think is still imaginary. The evening was filled with drinks, snacks, stories, and of course paddling videos. I think we finally made it back to the B&B around midnight. My plan was to meet up with people at the Salmon River put in for 09:15 so I had to be gone by 8am.
Saturday 12-Apr-2008:
I was up at 06:30. Luckily my paddling gear was already packed. I installed the battery into the battleship and loaded up the car with the rest of my gear. I was hoping to install my airbags but I didn’t think anyone would have appreciated the loud high pitch squeal of an air pump going off this early in the morning. I checked my cell phone to see if the rest of the people that were in town had sent me a message only to find out I had no service. I headed over to the Country Style and Scott was coming out. Great there is one of the group. On my way out of the store Daryl was coming in and things were now good.
We parked Scott’s car in the municipal lot and shuffled his boat and gear onto my car. We headed over to Daryl’s place to wait for Kate and Kevin to get their stuff loaded in their vehicle and then we were off. We got to the town of Tamworth just after 9am and started heading up to the putin as there were no boaters in town. I catch up to Derek and Neil on the main road and pass them. We found the putin road no problem and started heading down until we hit our first snag. We came to the first left turn only to find a lake covering the road (see pictures). Neil went through with his jeep no problem but there was no way the cars were going through that. I told Neil to drop off his boats and he could shuttle the rest of the gear with his vehicle. The rest of us goat suited up while waiting for Neil to come back. It took him a while as he apparently got stuck in when his front end sank into the snow.
It wasn’t too long before the others started showing up. Gaetan and the Ottawa Region crew (who were late) and another group showed up. Greg, Ryan, Dan, and Erin showed up a short time later. We set up the shuttle a shuttle while the other got geared up. I think we finally managed to put on the river just after 1015ish.
I paddled ahead with the kayakers in our group on the flat water section as the others were getting warmed up. I told the gang that the open boats will catch up pretty quick as one of the benefits for us is you take one stroke and go 20 feet. We finally made it to the first set of rapids. It was a pretty straight forward run down the left in order to avoid the ledge on the right. The rest of the OC1 gang finally caught up. We had a couple of swimmers but nothing to be worried about after all it was around +1C, snowing/freezing rain, overcast, and the ice had just came out. Typical spring weather for a paddling for a festival. I also had the duties of being the photo guy for the trip.
The rest of this report will be kind of blurry as to the order of events but I will try my best. We finally made it to the next set of rapids that was worth scouting. We all got out on the right to take a look. Dan started his first run and caught the eddy behind a tree. Derek started his run and tried to catch the first eddy on the left only to get pinned on the tree that was just above Dan. Derek’s boat basically sunk and disappeared (see pictures). Greg started his run and ended up beside Derek but at least he didn’t get pinned and pushed off and head down river. Derek managed to get his boat out ok, emptied it out, and then headed down river.
Ryan’s run was fine and same with Scott and Kevin. Neil started his run and ended up at the same tree but as soon and his boat hit it he was able to get out of it and pull his boat out before he got any water in it. My run was fine. Dan found this old Sports Pal boat stuck in the middle of the river and managed to get it out. He dragged it back up to the top of the river and made a run in it. Greg wanted the boat due to salvage rights of it being found in the middle of the river. I told Dan it would be great to see him run the canyon set in it. He said 50 bucks and I said 20 and he said deal.
Daryl and Kate decided to head back to the putin as Kate was getting cold. She did not have her booties on as she could not find them earlier that morning. We still had a couple of hours left on the river. Neil handed over his keys and we parted ways.
We finally made it to the next set with the lovely hole at the bottom. Dan, Greg, Derek, and Neil made it fine. Ryan had made it all the way down thru the hole and let out a big whoo hoo as he thought he was done only to not take the extra paddle stroke and end up swimming (lesson learnt). Dan ran Erin’s boat down and my run was fine. To my sad surprise the Sports Pal did not make it as it apparently was stuck again back up river.
Next was the Canyon run. We all got out to scout. Erin, Kevin, and Ryan elected to walk. This gave Dan and Derek an extra run each. No sense in carrying a boat on the portage when others can run it. Mid way thru our groups run we watched a bunch of kayakers go down with no issues. Greg made his run and ended in a really strong re-circulating eddy on river right. Scott made his run with no problems.
I was the last to go. I ended up in the same re-circulating eddy as Greg. Kevin said I had a worried look on my face for about 10 seconds. I had to get my boat spun around facing up river in order to be able to get up far enough in order to get out. I finally made the boat spin and edged further up along the rock wall and made the move. I had to get out far enough into the river to avoid the rock with the hole behind hit. I finally went and made the rest of the set with no problems. Luckily I had the pumps going.
The rest of the sets were fine. I was paddling ahead of the group and finally got to the one with the large drop / hole. There had to be about 8 to 10 people scouting on the left. I remembered from last year that it was a left hand line run. I boat scouted from the top left eddy for about a minute and headed off. Well let’s just say I was not left enough and ended up taking the meaty middle line. My boat penciled in and disappeared and popped back out full of water and the pumps were going full tilt. I paddled over to the trees in the middle of the river and waited until the water was out of my boat. I headed over to shore and got out the camera gear. Some of the people scouting decided to walk after seeing me go into the hole.
Erin elected to walk. Everyone else ran the line on the left except for Ryan. He took my line, ended going over, but managed to role back up further down river. The Magg’s crew showed up and I took some pictures of them as well. After that it was off to the takeout.
It was a great day on the river even though the weather sucked but any day you paddle and don’t have to go to the hospital is a good day. We headed back to Marmora to get cleaned up and ready for the big party. I finally made it to the hall and ran in the rest of the paddling crew having dinner. The vegetarian chilli was great accompanied by the homemade coolers in my nalgene.
Link to pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157604531304459/
The rest of the night was a bit of a blur as it was busy. I setup my laptop and had a running slideshow of the pictures I had taken on the river that day. I had some nice compliments about that. It was great the faces of all the people I had met over the years (it was a lot) and I met some new ones as well. Alex was back from BC and I bought him the beer I promised to buy him. I also ran into my son and his crew. They were apparently on the Salmon as well but the didn’t get on the river until noon.
I did quite well in the Cale huck prizes into the crowd skirmish. I managed to get a couple of Level 6 kayak blow up things (by doing a big belly flop on the floor) to keep skirts from imploding (gave one to my son and one to Daryl), paddle wax ( gave it to my son), hat, and other stuff.
I also managed to score the book Let It Rain (http://neguidebook.com/) in a silent auction for 45 bucks. I almost ordered it last week online but didn’t bother as I am not a fan of PayPal. I had to start figuring out the game plan for Sundays trip. Derek and Neil wanted to do the Beaver which was way above my skill level so I pointed them towards Milton from the OVKC group for info as they ran it earlier in the day.
I had already decided I wanted to do the Lower Black. I just had to find a crew that was going and that is when I ran into Janice from the OVKC (http://www.ovkc.org/) crew (which I am a paid member of) and they said they were doing it. We decided on meeting 10am at the putin. The rest of the evening was spent partaking in further beverages and enjoying the bands. I had no luck in any of the raffle draws. Sherry managed to win three different times. I think Grant felt sorry for me and gave me one out of the two red paddles that came as a set. Thanks Grant I will keep it as a spare.
I was really hoping to win the grand prize which was a kayak after all what would the chances of an open boater winning a kayak … pretty good considering my luck. I decided to see if I could get into it. It fit me like a glove. Some of the kayakers in the crowd started yelling at me to get out of THEIR boat as they were winning it. That’s when Kevin and Art started heading towards me and I started to ratchet myself in nice and tight because I figured they were up to no good and I was right. They each grabbed and end and lift the boat up and turned it upside down to shake me out. I was in really good and there was no way I was coming out of that boat.
Well … I did not manage to win the boat in the final draw and it was getting late so I walked back to the B&B. Luckily it was all down hill to there.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Busy weekend with a Jays game and gallery show
I spent friday night at the home opener for the Toronto Blue Jays after doing some shopping at MEC.
I am not sure why I actually went as I am in no shape or form any type of professional sports fan. I think they are all an over paid bunch of babies.
But my folks were in town for a wedding. It turned out that there were about 50 people from the wedding party going to the game. Yes they were all related. Thats what happens when your mom is from a family of 16 kids.
So here I am stuck between my mom and her sister. Talk about embarrasing with all the towel twirls and whoo hoos (probably had something to do with all the beers flying around). The game was just as exciting as watching golf which is just as exciting as watching grass growing.
I left at the beginning of the 9th inning to avoid the stadium rush out of the building. I ended up heading over to a night club a former co-worker of mine owned. I spent a coupe of hours there before finally getting home at 2am.
I must have been pretty tired. I slept in until noon.
I would have been out white water canoeing this weekend but I had a prior commitmentf or a gallery show for my highschool friend Steve. Steve and four of his friends have a photography display on at the Gibson Centre Gallery in Alliston until the 28th of April.
Steve's personal photos can be found on his flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/steven_noseworthy/sets/ .
The show was very interesting. It was first photo show I had ever been to. It was great to get new ideas and techniques.
After the show I went to dinner with Mark at Jack Astors. We had the pleasure of breaking in a new waitress.
After that I went home to spend the rest of the weekend relaxing and uploading more pictures to my Flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/
I am not sure why I actually went as I am in no shape or form any type of professional sports fan. I think they are all an over paid bunch of babies.
But my folks were in town for a wedding. It turned out that there were about 50 people from the wedding party going to the game. Yes they were all related. Thats what happens when your mom is from a family of 16 kids.
So here I am stuck between my mom and her sister. Talk about embarrasing with all the towel twirls and whoo hoos (probably had something to do with all the beers flying around). The game was just as exciting as watching golf which is just as exciting as watching grass growing.
I left at the beginning of the 9th inning to avoid the stadium rush out of the building. I ended up heading over to a night club a former co-worker of mine owned. I spent a coupe of hours there before finally getting home at 2am.
I must have been pretty tired. I slept in until noon.
I would have been out white water canoeing this weekend but I had a prior commitmentf or a gallery show for my highschool friend Steve. Steve and four of his friends have a photography display on at the Gibson Centre Gallery in Alliston until the 28th of April.
Steve's personal photos can be found on his flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/steven_noseworthy/sets/ .
The show was very interesting. It was first photo show I had ever been to. It was great to get new ideas and techniques.
After the show I went to dinner with Mark at Jack Astors. We had the pleasure of breaking in a new waitress.
After that I went home to spend the rest of the weekend relaxing and uploading more pictures to my Flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/
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