Paddling the Chattooga with my bro and his kids.
October 8th, 2008 | 
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Whitewater Warriors
Just spent the last weekend with my brother and his family. We checked the levels on the Chattooga and…uh .49 not normally a level that we would head over there but we were hoping that it would be a perfect thing for the kids. Otter the oldest is just starting to run rivers so low low water was perfect for him. The rest of us were paddling duckies or the Remix XPs to carry gear. Since it was sooo low we decided to do the 76 Bridge to Woodall section and then camp at Woodall shoals. Its a short hike up to the parking lot from Woodall so the youngest could sleep in the camper and the older kids could do a camp out down by the river. Which makes for a big adventure.
Pete packing up the Remix XP
The Big Toe Paddle
Surfing Rapid
My Bro and the Juice Box Hero
At .49 its not the rapids or dangerous rocks that are an issue. Its all about not getting stuck, and keeping the kids happy and stoked on what they were doing. So it was juice boxes all around after Screaming Left Turn. I have to admit this was a first for me. I also haven’t paddled a river and stopped to play in the sand and hunt for gems either, but it seemed to be the way things were going. Another stop after Rock Jumble for snacks and we were practically home free. The flat stretch from there down to Woodall was full of fish so there was lots of fish finding going on as we drifted our way down.
Ducky Patrol
Ahhhh Soy Chocolate!
Oh yeah thats the spot.
Bustin’ The Whitewater
The whole family on the river
The Woodall take out was a perfect kids playground and easy for the adults. We cooked up some meat on a stick, and corn on the cob, while the kids played all evening and into the next day. In fact it was so perfect we just stayed and Otter said, “Are we having a layover day?” At Woodall there is an area that runs during high water that forms a perfect lagoon at lower water that is constantly fed fresh water from the main channel. Its totally protected and has a sandy beach, tiny waterfall, and large rock features to climb all over. So lots of swimming, paddling, and exploring ensued.
Ok you can have whatever you want.
Fun during the “layover day”.
Big Bro and Lil Sis
Fire Dance!
All in all it was the perfect trip for this crew. Because it was sooo low the water was plenty easy for all the craft and paddlers. Beautiful warm days, cool sleeping weather at night, I love the fall.
Shane
Posted in 
Testing the Biscuit: High Tension on the Gatineau River.
Old Man River Workin’ on the Clean
Back on the blog again. Still trying to fill you all the way in on the trip to Canada where we were testing the Biscuit. Like I said before the water was not ideal for the big stuff on the Ottawa but the smaller playspots were on. So it was a great testing for that. But we were getting a little concerned that we wouldn’t find a nice big wave for us to really check out its big wave potential. And then we got the call from Guillaume. High Tension Wave was coming in on the Gatineau River. Marlow’s eyes were lighting up and non of the rest of us had ever paddled this wave but I had seen tons of photos and videos from the spot so we knew it would be good but we didn’t realize how good it would be.
Yep its that good
But first lets get some good old fashioned Canadian culture under our belts. We were traveling in the middle of no where and this kayak drew us in. We didn’t really know what it said but we did see the sign for Poutine. If you don’t know what it is then you need to go to Canada just for a paddling trip and check it out because just like the paddling it is decadent, rich, basic, carnal, and heavenly all in one fell swoop. First you take french fries which we all know so well, then you throw on top some cheese curds (the white stuff in the photos), and then, why not, toss some gravey over the whole thing. In fact I am embarrassed that someone in the south didn’t come up with this one first. Poutine, yes, is grits, biscuits, sausage, fries, moonpies, rc cola, and humidity all rolled into one. Its the bomb.
Parle Francais?
See if you understand the menu
Mmmmmm so much goodness in one place
Yonton in a state of lovin’ it
It looks like heaven to me
Oh yeah back to the High Tension Wave on the Gatineau River. Lets just say 6 feet high, smooth and glassy, eddie service if you are on it, and it you aren’t there is an eddie with a 60 second portage back to the wave just behind the next rock. Theres a pile to land all your tricks in if you can’t land them clean. The good folks can stay on this wave to seemingly forever, the front surfers can stay on this wave to eternity and yep the Remix XP can surf it as well.
Marlow cleaning it up
Mar trying out another color
backwards, fakie, switch, whatever… clean
ollie off the rib
So obviously this was an amazing place to test the big wave ability of the Biscuit. We are maybe half way through the process of testing this boat out and things are looking really good. The first proto showed that the boat needed a trim in volume to balance the boats out. While I was in Colorado I was able to paddle in several awesome spots during the high water season but most notably was the Glenwood wave all the way from about 12 grand up to nearly 21 thousand. We also paddled it on big water on the Arkansas River. The Salida hole was working, and the Numbers were high but there were tons of different spots to play. These later protos were more balanced volume wise and I tried to increase the loosness. At the High Tension wave the looseness showed and all types of moves were working well. On the next round I am going to work on the edges a little. They are a little too dominant right now, especially near the ends of the boat. So the next transition will be perfecting the edges so that they are positive on a wave and easy to use otherwise as well as increasing the bounce and speed from the point where we are now. Hopefully I will have the next round of protos at the Gauley. In the mean time check out lots of photos from the trip up to the Gatineau River. There are also a bunch of other photos from the trip to Canada.
Enjoy it
Shane