Where to start. Lets see, Mike and I left the Gauley and arrived at Kenny Sander's campground at around 11:00, we expected it to be packed with everyone partying like animals. There was only one campfire going so we went over to meet the people that were there. The combination of the sleep deprivation and the fact that they were all drinking and I was not made me feel like that inflatable alien we had at the Gauley. I just couldn't relate to them. That was pretty unusual for me with paddler types so I went to bed on a picnic table far away form the other more inebriated types. Not too long after I had fallen asleep did a whole bunch more people roll in. One SUV parked right next to my picnic table and a young woman walked up to me. I said hello and she jumped out of her skin. "I thought you were a motorcycle" she said. Now I've been called lots of things in my life but never a motorcycle. She then tried a quick recovery by explaining how sleek and sexy motorcycles were. I wasn't buying it. Turns out that our new neighbors were a little more of the type of paddlers I was used to dealing with, but I didn't really want to deal with anyone, I wanted to sleep. We awoke at 6:30 to head to the fire station because I wanted to register before the crowds so we could squeeze in a loop run before supper. The firemen were very nice and I talked to one of them at great length about the history of Ohiopyle. Turns out the government kind of asked some of the folks who lived there to split when it became State land in the 1970's. Turns out they also get about 2 rescue calls a week for people (rafters & kayakers) that need to be carted out of the lower Yough. Thats about 4 times the number of rescue calls that we get in my hometown of Danby with 3000 residents. He said there was about 80 people that lived in Ohiopyle proper. It made me glad that AWA was dealing with this delicate political situation. AWA was kindof like the fire department in that it was a mostly volunteer organization who were created to try to serve the community. I was glad to be a part of AWA and figured they deserved my hard earned $25 For the race. Almost 150 people registered for the race and I heard that over 300 people paid to run the falls. If this becomes a regular annual event then the AWA and the fire dept could stand to make a fair sum of money every year. If AWA opens the falls to be run all the time it will be good for their publicity but they will lose alot of the income that they would have gotten from the race. I stopped pondering the position of AWA and zoned out watching a kayaking video while stuffing my face with about a dozen jelly doughnuts and several cups of coffee.
The falls are only about 20 feet or so and at the low, low level of the Yough the hole at the bottom of the falls was a little bit trashy but it was defidently no keeper. There was a tiny little hole on the approach which was far more evil than it appeared. It would have me for lunch when I raced, but I haven't reached that part of the story yet. My first run was a speed boof in the Mr. Clean. I did not even get wet. The eddy line at the top was sheer chaos, there was between 25 and 50 people in the eddy at any given time and they were bumping into each other and creeping closer and closer to the point of no return. It was confusing figuring out where you were in line and even more confusing to figure out who would go when the nice lady on the lip would wave us on. My second run I tried a wave wheel, I got the forward stroke to lift the bow, then I went to do the reverse pry with my boat on edge, but suddenly I had run out of water. What to do? Nothing but look straight down at the hole as it came up to meet my poor face. Wham! Major face plant. After getting worked in the hole a bit I rolled up and waited several minutes for my face to stop stinging. Maybe I should try that on smaller waterfalls, since I have never done a successful Freewheel, I did not know why I thought I would be able to pull it off then. My 3rd and 4th tries I attempted to ferry upstream while riding the tongue down and surf in the hole at the lip of the falls. Both times I failed miserably and ended up running the falls without any speed, getting worked and finally escaping. I was really impressed at how many people seemed to be swimming out of their boats at the bottom even when they were not under the falls. It wasn't a big deal or anything since there was nothing that could hurt the swimmers at the bottom, but I thought back to how those nice AWA people had asked people to not swim. I guess they didn't ask them not to swim, just not to try things they hadn't done before. Hmmm, guess I shouldn't have attempted the freewheel. I bet my face plant looked impressive on video though...
Jeff Snyder hurt his ankle by Striding over the falls. He then made another decent in his squirt boat, then another Striding decent and then raced his glass wildwater boat in the race. For all that I decided that he deserved to be the poster child for my illustration of the falls. I hope I'm never that hard core.
The race was pretty fun, I took the Mongoose out and wanted to do well.
I had avoided the dinky little killer hole near the top in the Mr Clean
but I figured with all this steam and the big long boat I'd get right through
in the Goose. I was wrong. I paddled full steam into it and
while in the pile and I was backendered and surfed and backendered and
surfed, and backendered and surfed. Finally I escaped. I was
exuasted and out of breath, and I was PISSED. I took off paddling
and Mike says he's never seen me paddle that fast in my life. I was
not gonna finish last. turns out I beat 13 people (if you count the
DNF) another testament to the fact that I am not a total loser, I just
act like one. Mike raced then we ran the loop which was pitifully
low and does not even deserve a comment in this trip report. After
the loop run we watched the free style event. It was pretty anti-climatic
until Ted DeVoe went. He ran the tongue AND caught the hole (a tough
move) did a couple of spins then did an intentional reverse freewheel off
the falls. At the bottom of the falls he was cart wheeling (probably
unintentionally) in the big hole. It was impressive. The spaghetti
dinner at the firehouse was incredible and well worth the $5, hell it would
have been worth $10. Then we drove home. It was a good event.
Thanks AWA for making my day.