Dickerson Whitewater Course (Lower Section, Medium Flow)

Nov 4, 2007, Dickerson Maryland. Engineered whitewater kayak course. Appx 400 cubic feet per second (2/3 normal flow). Last 100 ft of 900 ft course.

Comments by two experts:

Nice Video. This is what I saw watching it on slow from your approach above Kibler's by hitting the pause/play several times

1. Although you hit the V wave above the drop in about the right place, you hit it with a lot of speed and your boat pointing down stream and your boat goes straight to Kibler's. I usually like to hit the V wave with left hand angle and momentum to skirt Kibler's on the left.

2. The moment you hit the V wave you lean back and your paddle is horizontal above your head. When hitting holes it is great to hit them with the weight forward taking a stroke.

3. As a result 1 and 2 you were off balance and heading into Kibler's, you turned sharp to the right because your weight was in the back making it easier to catch your left edge, making you turn sharp. Then you rolled and everything else was good to go. The question I usually ask myself when I roll or have to get out of a hole is what did I do upstream that got me to here.

Hope that is helpful,
Nathan

Gate 20 had been stuck on the left side of Kibler's for sometime because the string broke. Therefore I have a lot of experience going over there, as I've been doing that gate for the past few months. If anything, I tend to get pushed too far left of the hole.

The way to get over there is not to drop into the center part of the top hole (above Kiblers), as you did, but instead to punch the diagonal just to the left of the top hole.

If you try to punch the wave too high, it will obviously grab you and pull you back up into the top hole. If you go in too low . . . that's what you did. But if you punch the middle of the left diagonal -- you'll be in the eddy.

How to punch the diagonal? I like to think about showing the underside of my boat to that diagonal wave, so that I can get up on top of it. Another way to pierce it is to put your boat on (either) edge as you go down the drop, so that your boat is "sharper" and can better slice through the wave.

And remember, it's just like running a waterfall - all the speed and power strokes in the world beforehand matter little if you don't have a solid last stroke, right as you go for the move.

Hope this helps,
Alden

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• whitewater
• kayak

[jamesharriskayak]

shit

[DHQProductions]

uhhhh