Seal launching is like flying, but only to land in water. Its an amazing feeling and it is fun. The seal launch involves sliding or falling off the shoreline and dropping into the river. The seal launch is a fun way to start your day. Or playing on rivers with steep banks, and sometimes it can be the only way of getting on the water.
Step One- Get over the fear of falling
For me I think of all the good and bad things that can happen, but most of them are good. I start to talk to myself and tell myself that I am a great boater. Then after that I pray and hope everything goes well and planned. Then I say just do it, about 3 times.
Step Two– Get ready launch
Put your boat at the edge or where you need to put the boat before you slide in. Then of course, get in the boat, secure yourself in. Then do step 1. again. And get ready push of the ground, but make sure you are ready to fall or slide.
Step Three- Push Off
Where you launch off of will determines whether you tuck or don’t tuck. For a drop seal launch, which means to push off a rock and fall in mid air, you want to tuck. If you don’t tuck you face the consequences, which aren’t bad they are just painful. Example is that when you hit the water, it can hurt,depending how high you are above the water. So for that not to happen, when you push off, put you paddle to the side of you and tuck.
The next type of seal launch is a slide, meaning to slide of the shore and into the water. If the slide is not steep, you want to lean a little bit forward, but not too much. You want to aim between 2-3 inches past your hips. That way you can keep you speed. If the slide is steep to where you need to hold on to something to keep you from sliding in, or if you lean forward you will slide into the water, you want to lean back about 4-5 inches so your bow is lifted off the ground. That way when you hit the water you glide across. If you don’t lean back, you could possibly hurt your back because when your bow hits the water and it is not lifted, it might catch the water and go under, therefore all the speed you had, comes to a stop.
That moment when you are flying
Step Four- Be excited
Once you do the steps above step four smile, because you just did an awesome seal launch. If needed and possible, go hike back up to the seal launch and do it again. Once you do the perfect seal launch you will feel accomplished and happy.
Below: Matthew Beauchamp making the 9R fly! Photo by Steve Krajewski.
In December of 2015 Matthew Beauchamp, Steve Krajewski, Shannon Goshorn, and I headed to the island of Hispaniola to check out the rivers of the Dominican Republic. Although the island was experiencing a pattern of dry weather, we still found options to paddle daily and enjoyed a great time in this lesser known paddling destination. If you missed the previous two parts of our trip report, you can find Part I: Rio Yaque del Norte HERE and Part II: Rio Blanco HERE.
Below: Scouting a drop that turned out to be a no-go due to a boulder in the landing zone. Photo by Adam Goshorn.
The Rio Jimenoa comes out of the rugged mountain southeast of the town of Jarabacoa in the Dominican Republic. It cuts an amazingly steep canyon and is know best locally for its two largest waterfalls, which are tourist attractions. Higher in the watershed, upstream of those more well-known waterfalls, are two high quality sections of whitewater, known simply as the Upper and the Staircase sections. Although they can be run in a single, extremely long day, it is more practical to attempt them separately, which is what we did.
Below: Looking downstream into one of the tighter sections. Photo by Adam Goshorn.
The put-in for the Upper Jimenoa is near the confluence with Arroyo Frio. The run starts of with a few small rapids, but soon starts to build in intensity. Due to dry conditions during our trip we had what we considered to be a minimum water level for this section, which resulted in portaging some rapids that are almost certainly runnable at higher water. Almost all of the rest of the rapids would have been improved with higher flow as well, making this section perhaps a better alternative when the Staircase Section is a bit high. However, we made the most of the water level we had and made steady downstream progress, enjoying the beauty of the river and surrounding countryside all day.
Below: Steve Krajewski launching a big boof of the best drop. Photo by Adam Gshorn.
The climax of the Upper Rio Jimenoa is a big drop where a house-sized boulder pinches the river against a huge exposed bedrock shelf on river right. Running the drop requires negotiating a somewhat tricky entrance rapid (which you can see me royally mess up in the video) and then rounding the boulder and off a huge kicker into the pool below. After seeing Steve and Matt have great lines, it was my turn to give this beast a try. Unfortunately, I entered much too slowly and the result was pitoning off the entrance drop and pogoing back into a nasty little alcove. Fortunately, I was able to claw my way upright, get back in to the flow, and run the bigger part of the drop in relative control; although having lost all my speed, I fell off the side of the kicker instead of getting the big boof the other guys achieved.
Below: Video from our run down the Upper Section of the Rio Jimenoa. It doesn’t include all the rapids, but the ones it does include are shown in order. Edited by Adam Goshorn.
Be sure to check back for Dominican Republic – Part IV, which will include pictures and video from the Staircase Section of the Rio Jimenoa!
While the Northern hemisphere was providing a poor winter, Zan and the guys went far South to reunite with friends and Rivers they met last year. In Chile and Argentina they found them, summer and many more. Whitewater, smiles, good times and living from day to day; those are things worth chasing!
Love towards Rivers never ceases, no matter where they are, as long as they are flowing Freely! Loads of paddling, a bit of swimming it was!
The Nile River Festival’s aim is simple; to celebrate the warm water, big rapids and perfect waves of the mighty White Nile with awesome people.
The NRF is a four day event which begins with an evening Big Air Ramp Competition at the NRE base camp; beer fuelled, aerial antics promptly kick off the start of the festival. The Irish boys were as always up for the “craic”, and led the charge on ridiculousness by somehow managing to fit four people in/on the same kayak down the ramp. Whilst there was an abundance of big tricks and crashes throughout the night, nobody quite wowed/shocked the crowd quite as much as Scott Robinson, who took the win with some big airscrews and panams, along with an “artistic” final lap (see photo above).
Day two marks the beginning of the white water events with a gruelling 40km endurance race through big rapids and long flat pools, ending with an obstacle course and obligatory funnel at the finish line. Competitors have to race with a partner to act as safety for each other during the race, and your time doesn’t stop until you both cross the finish line; this rule makes choosing a partner that wants to go at a similar pace essential. My team mate was the infamous Yusuf Basiwaldra, potentially Uganda’s best kayaker right now, and all-round powerhouse on the water. Our pace and race strategy was pure and simple, balls to the wall; we went as hard as we possibly could and led the race for a long time, but sadly by the time we got to around the 35km mark, we both had nothing left when Koa and Nasa began a late charge for the lead and we couldn’t hold them off. Koa and Nasa took a well deserved win and it was truly impressive to see them somehow still have something left in the tank after sprinting non-stop for two hours. Myself and Yusuf finished in second place and were the only team in the top 5 to run Itunda as part of the race.
Taking place on my favourite wave, and with a scoring system that rewards kayakers that go big and take chances, the Nile Special Freestyle Comp. might well be my favourite freestyle event in the world; competitors pleased the crowd with huge tricks, old school moves and the quintessential wipe out, which on Nile Special can be quite spectacular. I finished in 1st place, with Sam Ward just behind me and young up and comer Jonny Williams in third place.
The NRF concludes the Hendri Cotzee memorial race at Itanda Falls. Itanda is one of the biggest and longest of remaining rapids on the Nile, and with a tight move at the bottom to get to the finish line, it makes for a great race course. I put down a safe and solid run in the prelims, which was sadly not quite enough to make the finals against the local boys who run this rapid almost daily. The stop watch is cast aside for the top five that move on and the finals are all about style and pleasing the crowd. Sam Ward took the win with a great run down but it was Sadat Kawawa in second place who shocked everyone by dropping into the meat of the biggest hole on Itanda and somehow managing to surf out.
My race partner Yusuf had solid performances in all of these events and was crowned NRF Champion, with myself in second, and Sam Ward in third. Palm’s Lowri Davies also took home a well deserved win in the women’s category, with Aminah Nakiirya in second.
With the impending dam already well under way; we are rapidly facing the last few years of Nile River Festivals, be sure to get yourself to Uganda in January 2017 to enjoy this unique event before it’s too late.
Below: The road to the put-in is so infrequently driven it is almost completely taken over by moss. Photo by Steve Krajewski.
In December of 2015 Matthew Beauchamp, Steve Krajewski, Shannon Goshorn, and I headed to the island of Hispaniola to check out the rivers of the Dominican Republic. Although the island was experiencing a pattern of dry weather, we still found options to paddle daily and enjoyed a great time in this lesser known paddling destination. If you missed Part I which included pictures and video from the Rio Yaque del Norte, you can find it HERE.
Below: Adam Goshorn in the second half of the rapid that leads to the tightest part of the canyon. Photo by Steve Krajewski.
The Rio Blanco flows out of the steep mountains east of the city of Banao, almost in the center of the country. We were presently surprised at how great this section of river turned out to be! In fact, we liked it so much we ended up spending four days of our trip paddling the Rio Blanco. There are a number of things that make the Rio Blanco unique. First, it cuts an impressively deep and beautiful canyon with vertical walls that narrow to a width of less than twenty feet across in places. Secondly, the lower section of the Rio Blanco benefits from what is more often a nemesis of whitewater paddlers… a hydroelectric project.
Below: Matthew Beauchamp probing a boof on our first run. Photo by Adam Goshorn.
The unfortunate thing is that the hydroelectric project on the Rio Blanco dewaters the upper section of the river, making it only runnable during larger floods when they open the flood gates. However, the fortunate part for kayakers is that the hydroelectric generating station also provides daily runnable flows for the lower section, a section that surely would not be runnable nearly as often otherwise. The result is a dependable, dam-released, jungle paradise!
Below: Steve Krajewski and Matthew Beauchamp getting back in their boats after a quick scout on our first run. Photo by Adam Goshorn.
Our first attempt at figuring out how to access the Rio Blanco was a little bold and a little silly. We drove down the road towards the power plant until we came to a closed gate and then we walked around the gate with our boats and down the rest of the road to the power plant itself. The power plant is located high atop a cliff overlooking the river and not a good access point (and supposedly off limits anyway). Lucky for us, no one was around so we explored the area and eventually found a trail that led downstream behind the power plant, where we scrambled down a steep, overgrown gully to the river and put on.
Below: Steve Krajewski boofing into the heart of the canyon. Photo by Adam Goshorn.
On the next run we were stopped by the guards at the gate, but talked to them a bit and eventually they showed us a trail near their guard house that led all the way to river level. The only catch to this new put-in was that it was a quarter-mile upstream of the power plant. The result being that we would have to scrape down part of the dewatered section of the river and then ferry across the powerful outflow from the power plant. Once we did it a few times, we got quite efficient at this process and it would only take us about 20 minutes to hike in, scrape the quarter-mile to the power plant and make the ferry at the power plant, but the process made it feel like a mini expedition every time we paddled the Rio Blanco.
Below: This video is a competition of footage from multiple runs, but the rapids are shown in order. Edited by Adam Goshorn.
Stay tuned for part III which will feature the Upper Rio Jimenoa!
Until Next Time…
-adam
Below: Post boating refreshments in the city of Banao. Photo by Shannon Goshorn.
Below: Matthew Beauchamp boofing off the wall. Photo by Steve Krajewski.
In December of 2015 Matthew Beauchamp, Steve Krajewski, Shannon Goshorn, and I (Adam Goshorn) headed to the island of Hispaniola to check out the rivers of the Dominican Republic. Although the island was experiencing a pattern of dry weather, we still found options to paddle daily and enjoyed a great time in this lesser known paddling destination.
Below: Shannon Goshorn lining dropping into a tight move that involved ducking the overhanging wall in the landing. Photo by Steve Krajewski.
The Rio Yaque del Norte is the longest river in the Dominican Republic and it offers several sections of whitewater ranging from class II-IV. Its large watershed means it is rarely too low to paddle, although some sections require more water than others. We ended up spending four days paddling on the Yaque and spent most of our time on the Las Guazarus section, which seemed to be the most channelized and offer the best option for the low water conditions we were experiencing.
Below: Steve Krajewski boofing a fun double drop. Photo by Adam Goshorn.
Below: A completion video from several different laps on the Rio Yaque del Norte at a few different levels. Edited by Adam Goshorn.
Stay tuned for more updates from our time in the Dominican Republic!
Until Next Time…
Adam Goshorn
Below: Adam Goshorn lining up for the kicker on a low volume slide. Photo by Steve Krajewski.
Like the unwanted youngest sibling, canoe polo does not get enough love here. But as Pyranha and their sister brand Revenge (http://www.revengepolo.com/) have recently supported a protest against rule changes to the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) canoe polo championships, I’m going to spread the love.
As you may know, BUCS have dictated that BUCS canoe polo, the highlight of the student season, will not have an open league this year. It will instead have a men’s league, and a ladies league, and ne’er the twain shall meet. This was announced in October without consultation or explanation. A short explanation was eventually published, and a couple of days ago BUCS announced a weird hybrid open league open to mixed teams from universities who do not enter a ladies’ team.
I think it will be obvious to anyone with any awareness of polo that this decision was made by people who lack exactly that. University of London Canoe Polo have written two excellent open letters to BUCS explaining all the damage these changes will do. You can see them here and here. More clubs have signed these open letters than are regularly able to attend BUCS polo, and British Canoe Polo has recently confirmed its opposition to the rule change. Boycott of BUCS polo is now firmly on the cards. I won’t repeat any of what’s been said about why the rule change is bad, but I want to try to explain why we feel forced to boycott because of it.
Thanks to UoL Canoe Polo for this image
I love BUCS polo. Not because I stand even the most furiously optimistic hope of impressing on the field, or because I fancy dress to impress. (My duo polo game is pretty strong though.) It’s unreasonably cold, – but let God bring shame upon your house should you dare put on a cag – my tent sucks, and everybody there seems to be much better at polo than me. But it’s BUCS. Somehow, the cold, the losing endlessly, losing everybody at the party, is worth it.
And so we work hard for it – I write this with extremities still frosty from a “nice for the time of year” training session in the Bristol docks. Logistical problems have to be solved, the SU begged for money, teams put together, hype publicised… But it’s BUCS. It’s worth it.
So when the rules are suddenly changed without any appreciation of the controversy this would cause, I’m upset. When these rules exclude my friends from playing the best polo, and me from playing the best opponents, I’m upset. When BUCS respond to sustained protest with the slenderest of replies, I’m upset. When BUCS use Student Unions to tell canoe clubs to shut up and remove their protest material, I’m upset. When they claim to improve participation by making it much harder for women to play polo, I’m upset. When they claim to be motivated by student feedback, but push through changes which everyone hates, I’m upset.
I love BUCS polo, but BUCS does not love me. Student polo players across the country put in so much to be able to do their best at the tournament. But when they complain about rules preventing them from doing that, they’ve been told to shut up and take what they get. I don’t want to compete in any competition run like this. And this is why University of Bristol, along with many other canoe clubs, might not be going to BUCS this year. For once, it’s not worth it.
If you also oppose changes to BUCS polo’s open league, please use social media to show your support, using the hashtags #takeastand and #thisgirlcant.
Below: Adam Goshorn approaching Cascada de Tamul, which is the take-out for the classic day-run section of the Rio Santa Maria. Photo by Vitaly Prikhodko.
For more than a decade I have been traveling to Mexico most winters to enjoy the warm water and great paddling in the states of San Luis Potosi and Veracruz. This year, Mexico was not in my travel plans and I had committed to a trip to the Dominican Republic for much of December. However, it turned out that my work schedule created the possibility of being off-work for the whole week of the Thanksgiving holiday, which created an opportunity for a quick trip to San Luis Potosi that I couldn’t resist.
Below: Vitaly Prikhodko running a picturesque drop on the Salto section of the Rio Valles in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Photo by Adam Goshorn
Back in the summer of 2015 I got my first creek boat and it was a Pyranha Shiva Small. My first run in it was on the Upper Nantahala, after that I used it on the Upper Gauley, Tellico, and the South Sauty.
The boat was perfect, every boof I hit, the boat just flew of it. Since the Shiva has high bow rocker it punches through any hole. With the rounder hull the landing off waterfalls is soft and if you mess up the boat resurfaces really fast; I learned that when I took my boof stroke too early on the Tellico at Baby Falls, which is about a 15 foot drop.
The Shiva is made to push harder lines, which is one of the things I love the most about it. I love to find the hardest lines of creeks and try to make them even harder, sometimes the lines I take are not even lines you should take. The deck profile of the Shiva makes rolling a piece of cake; I wouldn’t usually be able to hand roll a creek boat or most boats bigger than a play boat, but since the deck also has a good distribution of volume, it snaps right up, so if you were to be paddling off a really big waterfall where you have to throw your paddle away, the boat will roll right up as long as you know your hand roll or if you flip on a big rapid and you lose your paddle, you can roll up, and it is like you were using your paddle. That’s how easy it is.
The outfitting is like sitting on a pillow, at least for me. With the new C4S seat it gives you three different chunks of foam to put under the seat, you can get so comfortable sitting on the seat; once you get the seat to where you want it, it is practically bomb-proof. Once you have your bomb-proof outfitting, you’re ready to take the boat on the water. I can’t say how much I love this boat, it is perfect for me and it just might be perfect for you too!
This year was amazing, I paddled in 3 countries and 6 states. That might not be a lot, but it is a lot for me.
I started off in January with paddling in Alabama, then was off the water for a while because of knee surgery. Then for my first run after surgery, I was off to the Chattooga in South Carolina for a memorial run. Soon after, it was Coosa Fest in Montgomery, Al. I had a blast there, competing in freestyle, and coming in second place. Next, I was off to Columbus, Georgia with the Columbus Hometown Throwdown. I had the time of my life there, competing in boatercross, king of the wave, watermelon race, SUP, and my personal favorite, freestyle. Coming 5th in boatercross, 5th in SUP, and 2nd in freestyle, I loved it. King of the wave and the watermelon race don’t have a placing, the point of those disciplines is just to have fun.
Next I found myself at the Southeastern Kayaking Championship in Bryson City, North Carolina. With coming second in slalom, 12th in downriver racing, and 1st in freestyle. After that I went to the Charlotte National Whitewater Center, where I learned how to have consistent cartwheels and split wheels. That got me pumped, then I was back at the NOC in Bryson City, competing in the annual hometown throwdown, in the freestyle division, I came in 1st.
I stayed training at NOC for about 3 weeks, then my parents sent me to the Ottawa for the OKS Keener camp. It was life changing. Keeners has made me a better person and boater. I had the time of my life, I couldn’t believe what I got to experience, with big hole beat downs, swift water rescue, first aid training, and big wave surfing. Plus I got to get to know about 15 new friends from all around the world. What made my trip to Canada even better, was that the 2015 ICF Freestyle World Championships were on the Ottawa. Unfortunately I was not there for the competition, but my friends I made at the 2013 ICF World Championships were there, so I got to reunite with them.
The Ottawa has so many fun rapids like Garburater, where you have so many lines to run. First you can take the main line, which is straight down the middle. If you are like me, you want a fun line, like if you go to river right you have the pipeline. You paddle into a curler wave and then you disappear under water for like 3 seconds. You have the other option of river left of the boof line, there is about a 5 foot drop. You can pogo-stick off it. A pogo- stick is where you pencil into the pour over and throw a sick loop out of it, it’s very hard though. Then once you run the rapid you can paddle up to that ledge, which is a pour-over, you can swim into it and you can get sucked under water for about 15 seconds and pop up down river about 5 feet. My personal favorite is the rapid brain dush. It is a huge whirlpool spot to stick boats in, jump in, and squirt boat.
When I went to go back home to Alabama, I stopped at Hole Brothers in Upstate New York. I had a blast there, one of the great things paddling there was that there was a restaurant on the bank of the river, so after you paddled you just get out of your boat and eat. What could possibly be better, kayaking and food, that’s amazing. Once I got back home, it wasn’t even two weeks, I was off the Gauley Fest in West Virginia. I got to paddle with all of my friends, reunite with my friends from Keeners and other friends from the Ottawa. The Gauley is so much fun. Especially Pillow Rapid, if you get the line right. I did not, I went down it upside down, which was still fun, though it caused a broken camera, busted hands from the rocks, and funny pictures.
After Gauley, I went to GAF (Guest Appreciation Festival) and I had a great time paddling. Since GAF is a special occasion, there is a big release of water, so the Upper Nantahala and Cascades are running. I ran the Upper, but not the Cascades. I will leave the Cascades for 2016 or 2017. I had an amazing time of the Upper Nantahala paddling with one of my really good friends. With big boofs, big holes, and technical rapids, it’s a fun run.
Next up, was the Fall Columbus Hometown Throwdown. That was fun, I made new friends, learned new tricks, and competed. I came in 4th in boatercross, 5th in SUP, and 3rd in freestyle.
So after that, I thought I was done paddling for the year. I guess I was wrong.
I went to the Tellico River in Tellico Plains, Tennessee. Since it was my first creek run, I was a little scared, plus there was a 15 foot waterfall. Then I got on the water ran it and had a blast. My favorite rapid would probably be either the ledges or Baby Falls.
After that I went to run the South Saughty which is in Guntersville, AL. It was awesome, the river’s starting rapid was a little 5 foot ledge, which I thought would be a good starter for people who are learning to boof. The South Saughty had some really technical rapids though, there was one where you had to boof this big hole, paddle your butt off to river left to go halfway under a rock just to paddle back to the right and boof another rock, and paddle to the middle to avoid the undercuts on both sides of the river.
After that run it was Christmas, where it should be cold in Alabama. Nope, not this year. It was 73 degrees in Alabama, I think that’s crazy, but that’s Alabama. So since it had rained a lot the Mulberry River was up. I went and met up with friends there, the two biggest rapids on there are Lunch Stop and 5-0. Mostly because of the huge ten foot waves. At Lunch Stop there is a nice wave there, it was so fun. I got a couple blunts, pan-ams, and I got my first airscrew. I was super excited about that. Then I paddled down to 5-0, the rapid looked like a rapid on the Ottawa at high water. It was crazy, but the gauge was at 12 foot, so I expected that. There was a good wave-hole, it was fun I got a loop and couple blunts. So that is my end of the year wrap up, I had an amazing year paddling. I am so excited to see what 2016 holds.
