Nantahala / 2011 Canoe Club Challenge, round 1
| River: | Nantahala |
| Skill: | Novice+ |
| Trip Date: | 06/18/2011 |
Participants: John McDonald, Amy Rae Fox, Kevin Kizer, Spencer Muse, Scott Gallinger, Dave Sink, Corinne Sink, Jo and Don Beyer
The Nantahala River was definitely the place to be this past Saturday as a small contingent of CCC paddlers met to enjoy a day on the river and participate in the first round of the 2011 Canoe Club Challenge slalom event.
The day started off on the cool side but looked to be another beautiful summer day in the NC mountains. We put on at Ferebee, opting for a shorter run so that we wouldn’t be too rushed to get down to NOC in time to participate in the slalom races. We played our way down river and stopped at Surfer’s for a while, where our group split so that the open boaters (Jo and Don, Dave, and Corinne) could cruise on down to NOC to be on time for their part of the slalom races.
While eating a snack at Surfer’s, an angry front of clouds rumbled its way through the gorge and loosed a torrent of rain upon us. For a while, we huddled together at one of the picnic tables before deciding that we’d probably be less wet and cold in our boats than sitting out in the open. And so we headed onward, paddling into the eerie Nantahala mists, as thick as I’ve ever seen them. At one point, we stopped by Pizza by the River just to watch the sky as the front continued to move across the mountains. We were all mesmerized by these roiling dark clouds (which reminded me of The Nothing from The Neverending Story) and the updrafts of white fog which seemed like they were being sucked up into the blackness above.
At the falls, Scott flipped and swam but immediately spoke of trying a redemption run. So he and I hiked back up to the concrete beach and tried it again. This time, he nailed it and was all smiles on the way down, happy to end the trip on a good note.
For a few of us, though, the day was far from over. The Canoe Club Challenge awaited. In this “first-timer friendly” slalom event, each boater can accumulate points for his or her club by successfully completing the slalom course and hitting all the gates in the correct direction. The grand prize is a brand new Jackson kayak, given to the club with the most total runs after three rounds of the challenge.
Jo and Don (in their tandem canoe) and Dave made a handful of runs down the course as we timed them from the old bridge downstream of the NOC wave. But we noticed right off the bat that the CCC was going to have some serious catching up to do in the next two events, as other clubs such as GCA, AWC, and APES had a lot more boaters than us participate. GCA even had numbered race pinnies to go over their PFD’s to help identify them to the timers.
Kevin, Spencer, and I took our turns next after the open boats were done. For Kevin and I, it was our first effort at slalom paddling. Kevin was a machine, notching his maximum of five runs while Spencer and I were just getting off the water after our second run. I took a more leisurely approach (mostly because I took a little breather between runs) but ended up making my five runs as well.
Paddling slalom was a great learning experience. On my first three runs, I paddled like a bat out of hell, going full bore down the entire course. My first run was my best, even though it was the first time I had tried the course. My next two were seven seconds slower, partly because I found myself running out of gas at the end of the course. So on my fourth run I decided to change strategy and apply the “paddle smarter, not harder” approach, concentrating more on where I wanted to be and how to best use the water around the gates to my advantage – and this strategy certainly paid off. While not quite as fast as my first run, I came within a second or so of my fastest time when not putting the pedal to the metal.
Kevin, Amy, and I stuck around to enjoy the evening’s festivities at NOC, which included a retirement party for Wayne Dickert and some live bluegrass at the Pourover Pub.
On Sunday, our plan was to catch the French Broad on the way home. After a ridiculously tasty breakfast at Sunny Point Cafe in Asheville, we drove through another monsoon towards the put in at Barnard. While driving, Kevin heard flash flood warnings for Madison County, and it was evident by the torrent of water cascading down Brush Creek that the French Broad was not going to be at the novice-friendly level we thought it would. The river looked to be about 2000 cfs when we looked at it, but as it was certain to rise and push the limits of Scott and Amy’s comfort level, we decided to bail on paddling for the day and head home early. It was probably a wise decision as the river spiked to 3800 or so in just a few hours.
Even though we got skunked on Sunday, we all had a lot of fun on the trip. Fun paddling and great company. I would love to return to the Nantahala for one of the remaining Canoe Club Challenge rounds (July 16 and August 13), and would certainly encourage the rest of the CCC to come on out and give these other clubs a run for their money.