Whitewater

Here is my first video of last Thursday's MD Chute play session. It's about 7 minutes long and the file is 29MB. It requires the free DivX codec to view. One of these days I'll figure out how to do the streaming video thing, but at this point I'm a video neophyte and it took me quite a long time to get some kind of decent quality output after editing the footage I shot. The problem is that my Pentax Optio 43WR only takes video in QuickTime (.mov) format, which I really don't like, and converting it to anything else really reduces the quality. Fortunately a while ago I got a free license for the DivX Pro codec, so that's what I used to encode this movie. I'm still playing with the output quality settings, so hopefully my clips will improve over time.

Depending on the river level, the Potomac either has good play spots or just so-so play spots. I suppose it is this way with any river, but we don't just live next to any river.

Today the level was 4.2 ft (LF gauge), which isn't such a great level. However I needed to get out and get some exercise, so there it was. I didn't have time (or anyone to run shuttle with) so I couldn't go all the way up to Sandy Beach and run the gorge, so I stuck to the usual and went up to the Center Chute ledge, which is just about the only other thing playable at this level within reasonable distance of the Angler's put-in.

I was never a big fan of the ledge, but at this point I'll take what I can get. I guess sometimes it just takes a little time to get used to a particular play spot. To "figure it out". I think I'm finally starting to figure it out. Get in a left side surf, edge the boat and drop the bow, apply a little paddle, and you're cartwheeling. Getting the second end was a little harder, I fell on my head a lot But after a while this unfavorable spot didn't seem so bad any more, it just took some practice.

Unfortunately the Potomac has been at it's 4-point-"ugh" level (based on the Little Falls gauge) where there just isn't much to play other than the Center Chute ledge and maybe Wet Bottom. So after two weeks of no paddling, I finally decided to get some exercise and check out the ledge with my new-to-me All-Star.

The outfitting isn't quite set up perfectly yet, but so far I like the boat. The hull speed is definitely faster than my T2, and the shape is different so I feel like I'm sitting on top of the water or cutting through instead of pushing water in front of me. I have often referred to the T2 as a brick, which the All-Star definitely is not; not that I had any trouble rolling before, but the All-Star rolls a lot easier. After a little practice I should be able to consistently hand-roll again, which I was able to do in my old EZ but only managed to do once with the T2.

The thing that's going to take a bit of getting used to is the short stern. I think the cockpit is placed an inch or two farther back than the T2, so in the current the stern feels a bit grabby to me, at least at 4.1-4.2 levels at the ledge. As soon as I spin around it often gets pulled down by the current and flips me over backwards. Also because of the different bow shape, it's harder to balance in a bow stall, and it took a little extra effort to get the bow down for flatwater cartwheels.

I was still able to spin and cartwheel in the whole and overall it's a very comfortable boat, so I'm sure I will be just fine after I have it trimmed out a little more and get used to the new shape.

75 degrees F outside and 55 degree F water temperature?  Off come the pogies and head warmer.  It feels like freedom. 

Here are the photos from today's trip to the Center Chute:
http://www.wetexit.com/albums/Center_Chute_April_7_2005/

One of the people I met today was Luke Hopkins, who is a professional paddler and owns the Local Paddler web site.  He was testing out a cool new home-made floating camera rig, which you can see in the last several photos.  I can't wait to see what kind of video he got from that.

Last week I had the opportunity to get out to the Center Chute. The river was up from the rains, and this is the first Center Chute opportunity I've had this year. It was pretty cloudy and it did start to get fairly chilly out on that rock while I was taking pictures, but here they are.  After I while I had to get back in the boat and get back on the wave just to warm up!

Thanks to Jim and Monique of PotomacPaddlers.com, there are now actual photos of me doing cartwheels in the MD Chute earlier this week. Check them out here. I'm the one in the red Wave Sport Transformer. (Jim is the in the red Jackson All-Star and Monique is in the yellow Star.)

I still can't believe I was doing this in the middle of February. Actually Barbara and I should have been skiing in Canaan, West Virginia this week with Dave and Cyndi, but Barbara hurt her back at the pool rolling session on Sunday so I've been taking care of her this week. Of course the other problem is that we have no snow around here, it all melted from almost a week of 50+ degree weather. I hope Canaan got enough snow for skiing, because there is only so much time you can spend sitting in the hot tub.