My new stash for whitewater beta

 I have decided to keep these little bits of beta in one location for quick access.

Here:  https://sewhitewaterbetastash.blogspot.com/

Coming up Roses

Lower Big Creek Beta

 Locals are saying the new minimum for Lower Big Creek is 3 ft. 

LRC West Fork beta

Saving for future reference. Post by Adam G.

LRC at 1000 is a good minimum for West Fork, but its alot more fun as it goes up. The play is best with LRC at 1500-3,500. We've run it with LRC as high as 7k, but the pay kinda washes out at high water. BTW we usually don't run the double drop above the put in (aka Alpine Rapid) until LRC is over 2500... its more dangerous at lower flows.

Crab Orchard levels

 Posting for myself, to find in future.

Crab Orchard levels from Stu: 

2’ is great. 1’ is meh. 

Some Perception kayak history

 

The Origin of the Stern Squirt

From Davey Hearn: 

Larry Norman, Willy B Roberts, John Mason, iirc, it was in the Model Basin in January or February of 1977, when we had the Max II C1s on the water after Jon Lugbill and Bob Robison and I had finished the prototype plug and mold and built our boats, that I remember Bob might have had a leaky skirt or cockpit rim and had ended up with some water in his boat and noticed that he could pivot turn his C1 in a way that we had not known before. 

So we might have added a bit of water to our boats to see what we could do. Kent Ford was there too. Later designs pivoted better without added water and on eddy lines. The UltraMax was the first boat that could do bow pivots, as Jon and Bob discovered while warming up at Jonquiere WC 1979. 

The high ends rule went away for the 1973 season, as shown by the difference between the ‘72 Hahn used at the Munich Games on the Augsburg Eiskanal course, and the ‘73 Hahn used at the 1973 Muotathal WC, with the flattened deck, but still a fairly high volume boat.

From Phil Coleman:

Bobby Alexander did an unintentional stern pivot just upstream of swimmer's hydraulic in 76 and told me about it and tried to do it again and couldn't. I did a couple in the spring of 78 and started thinking about what the deal was. In May of 78 I had my epiphany in Tier Drop rapid on the Cheat where I leaned the wrong way coming into an eddy and stood the boat up at about a 45 degree angle and was shot forward. Like a seed or a bar of soap leaving your hand when you squoze it. That was when I called it Squirting. The boat was a Sahna. In 79 at Jonquiere, Lugbill, Hear and Robison were standing their Max C's up vertical in the warm-up pool above the course. In the winter of 79-80 I was now doing squirt turns WITH DUFEK STROKES , not stern pries.

How to Stern Squirt:

Kayak Dreams

Last night I dreamed I ran the Cheoah. The other night I dreamed I was doing stern stalls and bow stalls in flatwater. They are like flying dreams, wonderful dreams.

I don't think I could ever explain how hard it has been to keep going paddling during my sister's illness and after her death. Sometimes I had to force myself to go and then I would be looking for the joy, it would just be slipping ahead of me and I was paddling trying to catch up.

I had put off a major house renovation after Kathy got sick, because I didn't want to have it going on and then her need me. It's being done now, my house is getting new siding finally. Every time more of it is finished I can feel my stress level getting better. I've carried that stress for years now. Anyway I can tell that I am paddling better and it has nothing to do with practice or technique; it has everything to do with my mental state. Maybe it's not true for everyone but for me kayaking is very mental.

I have very good paddle friends that have kept me going through everything. The past 3 years have been so bad and my friends have been so good.

We made a group who met after the pandemic started, to roll in the Cahaba. We would arrive in separate cars and social distance, and get in the river and paddle around at Old Overton and at Cahaba River Walk Park.  I also have friends who paddle the Mulberry pretty much every chance we can, that's the class two beginner river here and has many surf waves. My friends who live in Tennessee and North Carolina and Georgia are always inviting me to go even when they know I can't make it. Thank you all.

I suppose I should be a conclusion to this post but there really isn't one. I just felt like I should tell you, I have kayak dreams that are like flying dreams and they're wonderful.

Here is a video of the Cheoah by my friend Wade: 

Eskimo Roll Kayak (English subtitles)