The Flume (Housatonic River)

Ok. I think that the photos will tell most of the story of this sunny day on a fun rapid. (there is much more downstream, but I wanted to put the camera away and get into the boat tooo......)



The Flume is a very nice 7' drop that is intimidating because it is not straight.



but it is also not difficult if you can hit the center of the horizon line



the sides are super shallow, and people have hit their heads and face



but if you can hit the center (about 10' wide) and have a reliable roll, then you can just chuck yourself over the drop (you WILL roll about 50% of the time)



Here is local paddler, Bonnie, in her EZ doing the right to left approach



Maurice in his new yellow Pintail XL showing us how it's done



Kenny in a C1 converted Fish hitting the last cross-bow needed to set up the move



and Kenny again showing us just how deep the hole at the bottom is (don't worry folks, he pulled it out like he always does)



Steven's first attempt at the low-water, crossing boof move. If you screw it up, then you get pounded on the rocks. He didn't quite nail it perfectly, but he was able to deal with the minor line adjustments he had to make rather well. Terrific first attmept. This kid is good.



Jeff demoing the Critical Mass with a beautiful boof into the eddy.



Maurice firing it up again in his Pintail XL.



Ted rocking the Pirouette old school style, showing that long boats can boof too.



Jeff in his Crux firing up the creeky line.



Ted firing up the Critical Mass to show that light dudes can paddle the big boats too.



Ted pulling into the eddy (the kick back into the hole is pretty darned strong...)



and one last shot of Jeff, who wanted to give the Critical Mass another try. He was amazed at how "small" the boat paddled. (I guess that means that it turns well)

Kawanhee Kayaking Reunion

Camp Kawanhee in Weld, Maine is a general summer camp program on a beautiful lake, that has turned out a few good whitewater kayakers.



Here is Steve Ruhle who's family has been involved with the camp for a long time. This was his first time down Bulls Bridge. Looks like he dialed the surfing rapid in quickly.





Ted DeVoe is a Housatonic local legend who started boating while at camp as a camper. He went on to spend a few summers as a kayak department instructor and lodge counselor.





This is David Ruhle who has spent several summers at Kawanhee as both camper and counselor. Last year he decided to pursue his kayaking more and spent many weeks up on the Ottawa River.








Above, you'll see Maurice Convard in the new Pintail he got for his birthday, closely followed by Ted in the next picture.










Maurice spent his years at Camp Kawanhee teaching wood shop and kayaking. He returns every summer with his wife, to rent a cabin on the Kawanhee Inn beach.







The community at Kawanhee is very similar to the whitewater community in the way it is friendly and inclusive. On this trip we were joined by two local boaters; Kenny and Steven





Sunny day and smiling faces.



Kawanhee