Ice breaking slalom workout

at the Riverhouse gates in Falls Village



Jaime, Devin, and Chris pushed the icebergs around to create a clear path for workouts.



Anticipating the spring races that will happen when the winter starts to lose it's grip on the northeast.



Also, keeping in shape and improving technique for the early spring creeking season by working technical moves in the gates.



Stop by Falls Village and join in.
The gates are in good condition and the water is reliable this time of year.

northeast paddlers on new Dragorossi website

Dragorossi needed photos for the new website so some of us northeastern folks were lucky enough to have some good photos of ourselves to share.

LOTS of photos in the Pintail section.
Click on the photos button on that page to see them.
You'll see Bulls Bridge in Connecticut, Scudders in New Jersey, Sheepscot in Maine.

The Mad Boy photo section starts off with Center Brook in Connecticut, and also has some shots from the Tville Dam.

About a third the way into the Mafia photo slide show I make an appearance doing some boof practice at the local low water spot.

The Squashtail set has a couple of medium/low tide Sheepscot surfing pics towards the end.

Ted DeVoe starts the Fish photo set off with some Strike Three moves and Tville looping. And, he is featured top left, mid loop on the Stinger page.

Stinger, Squashtail, Fish video from PNY

These two videos remind me of play sessions here in the northeast so I thought I'd share them

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLmpzXSj69w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwXlUa4qvjM

water is the unconscious

Joseph Cambell says...

wiki says...

DragoRossi web site redesign is finished

http://www.dragorossi.com/
back to the dot com world
there are a couple of minor content items that need to be filled in, but the site is updated and live, with information about the whitewater kayak line

New England Whitewater Championship

is scheduled for April 25 & 26 in the Tarrifville Gorge section of the Farminton River.
More infomation will be available soon at
WhitewaterCompetition.com

Third year of the Lozer Cup is scheduled

for the summer of 2009 on the Deerfield River, just up the road from the outdoor center of Charlemont, Massachusetts; home of Zoar Outdoor (whitewater rafting, kayaking, canoeing, rock climbing, biking, fly fishing) and Berkshire East (skiing, snowboarding)

www.LozerCup.com is the main page of the website, but most people will end up using the calendar pages as a way to check both the dryway and fife section release schedules.



Teddy Bears indicate Fife releases
Skull and bones are for the Monroe Bridge releases
Trophy Cup shows that a Lozer Cup race is happening on that Sunday (at noon)

Hopefully I can move up in ranking instead of down. (I know, what else is a Lozer to do?)
In the 2007 overall results I was in second place.
In the 2008 overall results I dropped to being tied for third.
In my defence (a.k.a. all my excuses) the competition drew more skilled paddlers last year, more people were trained up, and I participated in fewer events.

Review; Astral Green Jacket

Right before the holidays i found myself on a two week warm water winter waterfall hucking trip. i also found myself with an early Christmas present, the Astral Green Jacket. It was about time i retired my very faded and very used four year old Astral 300R. I have to admit i was a bit skeptical about switching life jackets. I mean i had created a great bond with my 300R and was not sure if i wanted to switch to the much anticipated and very trendily named "Green Jacket" that had just come out. For years I had bonded with the simplicity of the three adjustment straps, a quick release safety belt, and the amazing rib and spinal protection that the 300R provided me. Well i took the plunge and went for the Green Jacket. i have also been very surprised at how pleased i am with my selection.



With the 300R we were given two sizes, extra small/medium and large/xl. I wore the sm/med. and it fit me well but i always felt like i was in between sizes. The Green Jacket takes care of that. There are now three sizes; small/medium, medium/large, and large/XL. I fit well in the medium/large which Astral suggests a 38"-44" chest size. I find that when fitted the Green Jacket sits a little higher on my torso then the 300R with more flotation riding in my chest area rather then around the stomach and kidney area. This however does not take away from the protection of the vest. i find that there is even more protection on the back panel as well as the padding that surrounds your ribs and kidneys feels much more protective. I found that having more of the flotation higher in the chest area there was less bulk in the stomach area allowing for an easier tuck when hucking your meat off that sick waterfall you've been dreaming about. I also found out more then once on our Mexico excursion that the Green Jacket is a swimmers jacket. I felt very confident in not only how the jacket floated me but also how much easier it was to swim in.



The 300R is definitely a much more simple vest with only three points of adjustments and the quick release belt compared to the eight adjustment points on the Green Jacket (three on each side and then two in the front) and the quick release belt. On the other hand it does feel like a much more snug and firmly on you jacket. i guess i can deal with it taking me an extra 30 seconds to get it on and off.



The Green Jacket comes with some nice features as well. There is the standard knife patch, daisy chains sewn onto the shoulder straps, spots for a whistle, padded shoulder straps, a back support built in, a generous front pocket, as well as a front pocket for an Astral throw bag, an anchored belay loop, and two side pockets. The padding on the shoulder straps could be a little more and come up on top of the shoulders more to really be effective for alleviating some of that portaging pain and i'm not sure how much the built in back support does but i certainly am not going to complain about it. Every bit of support helps when it comes to our backs and kayaking. i use one of the side pockets for my Astral tether and haven't found a use for the other one. It is nice to have an option which side you stow your tether or leash on. the large front pocket is plenty big for me to carry my small pin kit consisting of; a pulley, two biners, two slings, and two prussik loops as well as my skull cap. i don't carry an Astral throw rope and i feel that with my pin kit in the front pocket to add a throw rope would make it too bulky for me. On the other hand with my 300R i didn't carry a throw rope either but instead i carried a three foot piece of plastic tubing with a rapid air valve on one end to act as a snorkel in case of a pin, this would fit nicely in the rope pocket of the 300R. The Green Jacket has more of an open pocket for the throw rope which doesn't work for me. I think that if another snap was added to allow access to both sides of the throw rope pocket i would be able to carry my snorkel without a problem. This rescue vest has a lot of usable features rather then just a bunch of overdone gimmicks.



Overall i am very pleased i decided to take a chance on the Green Jacket. It is a very practical easy to use rescue vest whether you're using the the built in belay loop to rappel around a portage , towing a boat back across the river after a rescue, or you're swimming your ass to shore because you screwed your line up.

Babies can be taught to swim

found this a couple of years ago
http://www.infantswim.com/home.html
and now that I'm an uncle, and it seems like half my friends have little ones, I thought it would be a good time to post this here.

Merry Christmas

Creeking Saw

wait. WHAT?!? A creeking saw?

Throwrope, knife, rescue vest, elbow pads, break-apart paddle, and now a SAW?

How much stuff do I have to carry with me?



That depends what you want to do.

A 10" folding saw won't take out a huge strainer across the river, particularly while the creek is raging. But, it will allow you to do quick debris cleanups, and perhaps even let you get out on that big tree and clear up enough branches that you can run the drop. The decision is ultimately yours to make.

Many strainers are not monster trees, but branches that floated down stream and block the line. And, there may be smaller pieces of wood that can be avoided, but would be nice to remove for the sake of less skilled paddlers (and in case you make a mistake some day).




Think of it this way. If you can avoid having to hike back into the river when the level has dropped and take care of the offending lumber immediately, why not?
We took care of this little strainer in about 10 minutes and opened up the regular line again.

A folding pruning saw (found this one in the yard cleanup section at Lowes) is small enough to be stored in a boat or backpack. Eco-friendly because it does not burn gas and oil. And, it's quiet, so you don't disturb the neighbors with that noisy chainsaw.

Farmill River in Shelton, CT

When the northern creeks are frozen, the coast of Connecticut often gets freezing rain instead of snow, and the Farmill runs. It's only 1 hour from New York City, less than 45 minutes from Hartford and just off the highway so is easy to get to. The Dunkin Donuts at the portage make winter paddling easier, with hot drinks and cheesy melty sandwiches.



After some warmup boogie water, the river bends left then you spot a house on river left as the river bends right. This drop is next to the house and can be run just right of center or left of center at these low levels in the photos. When the river is high you have to go left of center. Far right is a no-go no matter what level.







A very short bit of flatwater after the first waterfall, and just past the house (which can be seen in the background) is the first low head dam. Boof it straight and true down the middle at low levels. It can be done at medium levels too, but the hole has some real kick by then. At high water you absolutely want to do the sneak on the far left like Jimmy is doing in the photo below.



There was a tree in Left Turn (Z Turn) that maybe, possibly could have been avoided, but we had a saw, a rope, and 7 boaters so took the 10 minutes to remove it. There seems to be wood in this rapid often so it's a good thing we stopped to look.



James hugs the left shore for a tight approach to Left Turn



Jeff runs the more classic center approach which sets him up for two boofs



Jim swings wide with the current to go with the flow and bit off as much of the top hole as possible.



Here is Henry punching through the hole at the bottom, which is boxed in on both sides, with the runout blocked by a maze of rocks.



And a shot of all seven of us having fun doing multiple laps on the last drop. Hit the rooster tail and you are all set. Miss it and you might end up pitoning on the rocks at the base. Either way, be sure to smile and wave to the spectators way up on the hill above who are watching from their back porches.



























I wonder what the suburban condo dwellers think of a bunch of odd guys dressed up like this climbing out of the river in their back yards...



(can you spot the Lozer?)

to run a low head dam or not?

Here is Jeff, running one of two low head dams on the Farmill. The level is very low. Note how shallow the curtain of water is.



A good boof is what you'll need. Keep in mind that super low flow over the lip does not mean the hole will be weak.



Hopefully you are lined up to land straight and with the ability to take some super quick turbo powered strokes to make sure that you maintain enough momentum to get past the boil line.



Jeff had a good boof, and was squared up to the drop enough to glide past the boil line with a smile on his face.



Everyone had good lines on this day, but even perfect boofs, in high volume boats were not enough to render this hole ineffective. Notice how everyone sinks into the super aerated backwash the moment they hit.



Everyone kept paddling, clawing, digging their way out. On this particular drop, there is an escape route to river left. There are also ways to boof or scrape over the extreme edges and (mostly) avoid the hole.



Here is Jimmy taking the safer (smarter?) route around the dam. Find a rock slide, some other route that will take you out and away from the hole when you land and you can reduce the risk. But, if you mess up and get kicked back into the hole you might be in for a huge beat down. Decide for yourself.



Like everything else in whitewater, deciding to run a low head dam is up to you, and only you. Hopefully, you chose a good line, and will stack the odds in your favor by paddling hard, having someone on the side with a rope (and a good crew who knows how to use such things)

Thruster demo for sale

more info at
http://www.100waves.com/specials.html

Stinger demo for sale

more info at
http://www.100waves.com/specials.html

Pintail XL demo for sale

more info at
http://www.100waves.com/specials.html

Mafia demo for sale

more info at
http://www.100waves.com/specials.html

AQII vs. Reaction

Reaction vs Transition
Reaction vs Critical Mass
Reaction vs Vortex
Reaction vs Dancers
Reaction vs Lazer
Reaction vs AQII
Reaction vs Animas

Fish demo for sale

more info at
http://www.100waves.com/specials.html

Ice Blue and Pink boats

This week, someone asked me about an ice blue Stinger that he wanted to buy. Another customer was deciding between ice blue and pink for her slalom boat (she chose pink).

I did not have any good photos with those particular colors, so asked around on the DragoRossi message board and was reminded of this Madagascar trip posted by members of DragoRossi UK in which they had both pink and ice blue boats.