Whitewater Open Canoe Downriver and Sprint Nationals – Dale Swanson
| River: | Other |
| Skill: | All |
| Trip Date: | 07/01/2007 |
This July, while many of y'all were recovering from WORs, a few of us ventured to the Lower Youghiogheny with 16, 17, and even 18.5 foot open canoes in search of fast water and dry lines on the toughest river the ACA's Whitewater Open Canoe Downriver and Sprint Nationals are ever held on. Despite lowish water, few were 100% successful with the dry line objective, but everyone seemed to have a lot of success having fun. My 15 year old daughter, Susie, generously agreed to accompany me and compete in the Under 16/Over 25 Tandem Downriver and Sprint events. It had been almost a year since we last paddled tandem together and we only knew the lower Yough through it’s reputation for successive class III's (13), but what the heck. She agreed to at least do a practice run – which went well enough except for badly mashing her finger from a swim at Cucumber on our second practice run (my fault – short story for another time). A trip to Uniontown that evening for a proper finger splint and to replenish the Ibuprofen supply and we were ready for the downriver race Thursday morning.
The lower Yough is definitely a championship quality river for open canoe downriver competition and it was really great watching the few junior paddlers who showed up for the event with their parents. Competing with us in the Under/Over downriver class were Paul and Jacob Cline (Pennsylvania) and Dick and Brian Kelley (Maine). In the sprint event the following day a local father/daughter team joined us, Ray and Hannah Norman. The Kelley's, like most of the Yankees, had their Penobscot outfitted with bucket seats in what I consider flat water style, but they navigated drops like Cucumber and River's End as though they were riffles (well, big riffles). They did a second run in the 19-39 Men's Tandem Sprint class with a second place finish. The Havens boys, Zaak and Zane (Michigan), of the Havens dynasty, took first in that class with the best tandem sprint time of the day. Zaak also picked up a first in 19-39 Men's Solo Downriver and Sprint and Zane the same in Juniors.
It's a shame there were so few youth. Those who competed had great accomplishments from just facing down big bad rapids to recovering from swims with quick 'race-conditions' efficiency. And at awards on Thursday and Friday there were permanent grins from all.
At the other end of the age spectrum, the 55+ men's class was the best attended – an issue that was addressed at length at the annual WWOCD Committee Meeting held at the 4 day event. I'm convinced that these guys have found that fountain of youth on some hidden creek. They are deceptively fast.
Also with a lot of speed were fellow CCC'ers, Lynne and William McDuffie (North Carolina), who once again took first in Mixed Tandem. William put in a valiant effort in the 40-54 Men's Solo Downriver, finishing only 6 seconds behind Keith Havens (over the 8 mile course). Their daughter, River, was also along and we're all looking forward to her entry in WWOCD in the coming years.
As you'd expect from a bunch of paddlers – the open canoe downriver racing community is a very interesting, diverse, and generous collection of folks. Even though Susie and I were newcomers to Nationals, folks with 20 and 30 year histories in open canoe racing welcomed us like family.
The afternoon prior to the first morning of racing found a few of us in the parking lot outside the race office sharing tools and gear, working on last minute outfitting repairs and trying to get boats to "jig". Of course this was done in a light rain with worse threatening. In order to get your boat to "jig" it's width must be at least 16% of its length at the 4" waterline. When I "squeezed" my Penobscot several months prior I hadn't been very precise in my measurements and my boat didn't "jig" on first measure – too narrow. But I was able to "let out" about one quarter inch on my yoke thwart and then used a mini Z-drag from the gunnels to the thigh strap anchors to suck the hull up enough to meet the spec. The jig itself is an ingenious little device you'll have to see for yourself.
In addition to standard "16 Percent" boats (mostly stock Penobscots and Sundowners) we had exactly 2 of the Pro-Class Formula 14 open canoes … down from about 50 when Nationals was held on the Yough in 1983. The F14 boats are to open canoes what wildwater boats are to decked boats … a little odd looking, but lightweight, fast, and difficult to paddle. After hauling my 75+ pound Penobscot 17 up the Loop Access trail a few times … I decided that I need to look into getting one of those 30 pound Kevlar jobs.
I realize that the explosion over the past 10 years in playboating … in both decked and open boats … is partly to blame for the decline in open canoe downriver racing. But let me tell you; there is nothing in the world like negotiating technical class III water in a long boat. When, better than half-way through our tandem downriver race, with muscles and lungs pumping and tired, we blasted through River's End without taking on more than a quart of water, Susie and I both howled with victory that we didn't have to bail excess water. One of many sweet moments making up for chronic swims at Camel/Walrus.
Just as I've been recently discovering the joys of paddling a decked canoe, along comes a week of paddling old-school on a serious whitewater river to remind me of the glorious diversity in canoeing. Not only that … but I got to spend some quality time with a fantastic tandem partner who just happens to be my daughter. Next year's WWOCD Nationals are likely going to be on the French Broad … so consider dragging out that old family canoe and rediscover Big Pillow. Of course, there is the agony of paddling Windy Flats at race pace, but you'll feel so good when it's done.
And you'll have a blast.
For any questions about Open Canoe racing (flat water and downriver) in the Southeast, contact William McDuffie at wlrmcduffie@nctconnect.com.
