162 Days on the Water
PFD's Include: French Broad 9, Middle Ocoee, Cheoah, Green River Narrows, Upper Nantahala, Nantahala Cascades.
Most Brutal Swim: Oceana - 11/4/12
Best Combat roll or Save: 1. Horns of God - Cascades
Favorite Rapid: Rapid Transit(Narrows)
Estimated 143 laps of Mill Race
Favorite Trips of the Year
1: Tallulah 11/10/12-11/11/12 - One week before this trip, I had my last swim of the year. I recovered from my still neck to go and spend the weekend there 6 days later. I had a dry hair run on saturday and was there for Tage, Josh, and Cliff's first descents. Finallly got the Oceana monkey off my back. On Sunday, followed it up with another great run to end my class 5 season for the year.
2. Cheoah, 7-7-12. - I ran my first descent of the Cheoah in February and did not have a good time. I came back in July and Ran it with Chris Hill, Ben Peters and crew. I had a dry hair run and felt like I completely redeemed myself after my bad day before. I think I glowed for 3 days after making this run!
3. GAF Weekend, Nantahala - Ran the Cascades and Upper for the first time and also had nearly 30 people camping at the Nantahala. It was great to have kayakers of all skill levels and crews camping together and having a great time. I will never forget the trainwreck of paddlers we had separated from their boats on the upper!
4. Full Moon Paddle July 3rd - Had 58 Paddlers from both COAN and Palmetto paddlers hit the water. With July 4th coming the next day Edye Joyner had a surprise for the whole crew as we made our way down the Congaree. She stopped at the locks and launched fireworks as we approached. Also this trip was when the term "Ian Shoals" was added to our vocabulary.
5. Rocky Branch July 31st - For 3 years, I had looked at Rocky Branch in downtown Columbia and said if I ever caught the rain just right, I would run it from downtown to the river. Right at five on July 31st, the window aligned perfectly. Me and Ian put on and had our first "Urban Creeking" experience. Traveling through class IIIish rapids, tunnels and sometimes rapids inside tunnels on some of the dirtiest water you will ever see a kayak in. Then reconnected with the farmiliar Congaree River that we have seen over the years. Definitely a unique experience that I want to do again and again.
6. Afterwork Mill Race Laps - Big highlight to my summer weeks was getting off work and getting those Z to G's and training laps in. The after work training laps with Ian, Jennifer, Seth, Larry, Mike, and later on Meghann, Nick, Sarah, Meghan and Lindsey made a rapid that I've run over 100 times this year always seem fresh and new. Thank all of you for keeping me motivated for heading to the river.
Honorable mentions: Green River Narrows PFD, Spring Broad River trip which had pizza delivery to the landing. Chattooga sec, 3.5+4 in October. The High water saluda days we got when the fire department was doing SWR training.
Least Favorite moments:
1. Paddling against the 20 mph wind in my Canoe on the way back from Morris Island.
2. Having Multiple Swims on the Cheoah during my PFD
3. Face planting on Oceana
Paddle Goals for 2013
1. Add PFD's of Upper Ocoee, Watauga, Russell Fork, Upper and Lower Gauley
2. Race in the "Green River Narrows" Race.
3. Paddle all remaining sections of the Edisto that have not paddled to date.
4. Take a trip on the Potomac up to and possibly including Great Falls.
5. Help all my other paddling friends reach their goals for the year.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
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