The Zoar Rap

Paddling news from Zoar Outdoor

Some potential sites in Western Mass:

 

Turners Falls on the Connecticut River

 

The Green River in Greenfield

 

Several sites on the Deerfield River in Monroe, Charlemont or Shelburne

 

Any other ideas?

A Whitewater Park in Western Mass?

Wouldn’t it be sweet to be able to paddle the Dryway or the Gap, grab a bite to eat, and then playboat to your heart’s content at a whitewater park the rest of the afternoon ?  Making a whitewater park a reality in this area is going to involve lots of legwork, diplomacy and teamwork on the part of paddlers, local town officials, state officials, fishing interests and other river stakeholders, but with the right approach we should be able to make it happen.  Both we as a company and I as an individual paddler are interested in pursuing this, but we won’t be able to pull it off without the help and support of lots of other paddlers and organizations.

The first step is to identify a suitable site.  This needs to be a location on a river that has already been significantly modified.  Disturbing a natural rapid is ethically problematic and is not something we, or most groups, would support.  The site needs to have at least a couple of feet of gradient and a regular flow of at least 100 cfs or so.  Other parameters are pretty much negotiable.  It would be great to find a place with potential or actual park land nearby and a downtown location would make a site easier to sell to town officials for its economic development potential. 

Once we have a site picked out, we need to build support among local residents and officials.  This part is probably the most critical and could be the most challenging.  Our first challenge will be to help people imagine the potential of a site.  Artists’ renditions and photos of other whitewater parks will help greatly in spurring peoples’ imaginations.  As with any new idea, we are sure to hear objections, but with proper planning and some coalition building, I’m confident we can put together a viable project.

The next step will be to go after funding.  There are lots of sources for it and I don’t see this as being a major roadblock if we have the right groups on board.  Hopefully the final and most satisfying stage—actually building it— will be smooth and trouble-free, but as the builders of the park on the Sacandaga have recently seen due to unseasonably high water, this stage can have its own challenges. 

If you’re interested in helping out, send me an email at bruce@zoaroutdoor.com.  See you on the river!

Bruce Lessels

 

7 Main Street

Charlemont MA 01339

To contact us:

800 532-7483

info@zoaroutdoor.com

www.zoaroutdoor.com

www.kayaklesson.com

Whitewater Park

Rec to River

Kayaking Sanity

Hooked!

You Take the Throwbag

Boats on Sale

 

How can you exercise and stay active with a serious knee injury?  And at what level can you perform?  Also, why are there so many songs about rainbows? 

 

These are the questions that have tortured me for the past year.  Finding an activity for an active person who has a helmet for every season and who has a recent knee injury is difficult.  Surprisingly, hopping into a whitewater kayak was the solution.

 

According to “doctors,” ACL tears and blowouts are the most common injuries suffered by athletes, especially skiers and snowboarders.  Since many paddlers hit the slopes when the water gets cold and the snow flies, this is probably a common injury for paddlers as well.  

 

Here’s my situation:  I tore my ACL in the winter of ‘04 - ’05.  The details are a bit fuzzy, but from what I was told by onlookers, the second time my body bounced off the ground looked worse than the first one.  After two months of personal physical therapy without the aid of health insurance I felt better but was getting antsy.  I needed to do something.  I came back to Zoar Outdoor shortly thereafter and was immediately asked to safety kayak a single boat raft trip on the Dryway.  This was music to my ears, though in a somber tone.

 

It would be my first time out for the season and it made me excited and nervous at the same time.  I was uncertain if the boat would protectively brace my leg or painfully torque it.  Despite this trepidation for my knee and abilities, I decided to do it.  As I jammed myself into a Dagger Kingpin I realized that with the thigh braces in the right place, it would be difficult to hurt my knee any more than I had.  This turned out to be true; that day was a proving ground for the rest of the season.  I discovered a way to exercise and have fun while recovering from the winter and my stupidity.

 

Fast forward to May 16, 2006.  This is when I was finally able to get my knee repaired.  Although incredibly grateful to receive the surgery and be able to participate in a forgotten world of activities I used to enjoy, the trepidation returned.  The doctor threatened me with a recovery time of six months!  After paddling up until November the previous season and every day since the beginning of March this season, it was now a part of my daily exercise and routine.  Since my days were numbered and surgery was on a Tuesday, a bunch of us paddled the West Branch of the Deerfield on the Monday before.  It was a great paddling day, even knowing that it was my last for a while. 

 

Five weeks later, able to walk without limping too much, I sat in a boat.  I tried out different designs and noted which boat protected my leg the best.  This time, it was the Wave Sport Project 45, which is also a personal favorite of mine.  We paddled the Gap and the day was a success.  I even managed to throw a couple of ends while cautious not to wrench anything.

I’m still not at 100%, but I’ve been on the water for three weeks now, playing on the Ottawa, the Dryway and at T-ville.  Although the full recovery will take some time, I again have a way to exercise, do something I love, and join my friends on the river.

Kayaking Keeps me Sane by Mike Porter, Asst Rafting Mgr

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to paddle a whitewater kayak?  If you’ve been in a recreational kayak before and it has sparked your curiosity here are just a few things to keep in mind.

 

A whitewater kayak is designed for maneuverability!  They carve, surf and are a hoot to paddle but they don’t go straight very well.  If you’ve only paddled a recreational kayak, this can be very frustrating.  I usually tell my students to relax and work with the water, not against it. I also recommend keeping the following statement close at hand: “I meant to do that!” 

 

Recreational kayaks were designed for ease of use in up to class I moving water (flat with current) and they fit most any size paddler.  On the other hand whitewater kayaks come in many sizes and need to fit like a tight pair of pants so every movement you make transfers directly to the boat.  A three-legged stool works only if all three legs are functional.  The same goes for the fit of a kayak:  you should have contact at your hips, thighs and the balls of your feet.  Most recreational boats do not have the outfitting to give you the fit and feedback that is critical to running harder whitewater.

 

All kayaks can flip, so knowing how to self-rescue is important.  Recreational kayaks have large cockpits which are easy to get in and out of but they fill up with water quickly when inverted.  One of the safety tools we use in whitewater kayaks are float bags.  These air bags are put into the back of the boat to displace water when you are swimming yourself to shore in the case of an accidental flip.  Most recreational kayaks do not have flotation so swimming your boat to shore is very difficult.  If one gallon of water weighs 8 lbs and your kayak holds 75 gallons of water, you could be trying to pull 600 lbs to shore.  I don’t know about you, but that’s a lot more than I like to swim with!

 

We get many calls at Zoar from people who have experience in a recreational kayak and want to learn to paddle a whitewater kayak but don’t know which level course to take.   If you have never paddled a whitewater kayak we recommend you take a Novice course.  Your experience in a recreational kayak will help you in the transition to a whitewater kayak, but the two styles of boats react differently enough that it is worth getting your whitewater skills down solidly from the start.   If you can compare kayaks to automobiles, a recreational kayak is similar to a minivan: comfortable, spacious and practical for long trips.  A whitewater kayak is more like a race car: suited for performance and agility and with a little bit of training you can learn to put it through its paces!

 

If you’re still concerned about which clinic to take, give us a call.  Whenever we have a Novice course scheduled, we also have a Class II course (the next level up) scheduled.  If you progress quickly and catch on to eddy turns, peel outs and ferries easily, we can move you to the Class II course.

 

Whatever river craft you choose, be sure you know how to use it and what type of water it is appropriate for.  Get out and enjoy the world around you and remember, YOU MEANT TO DO THAT!

 

 

From Rec to River by Janet B. Cowie, Director of Instruction

New Boats on Sale in the Outfitters Shop

Check out our new online store 

 

 

Understand how the water releases on the Deerfield work

Check out the Zoar Outdoor Rain Gage for up-to-date information on the latest precipitation in the Deerfield drainage

Kids Kayak Craze is a great way for kids 10 to 15 years old to get into our great sport

For your first run of the Dryway, try our Advanced River Run

Used Boats on Sale in the Outfitters Shop

In April I took a kayaking class at Zoar Outdoor called the Kayak Academy.  I went into it knowing nothing about whitewater kayaking and was unsure that it was something that I really wanted to do.  I had gone out on lakes but had never gone out on the river.  We started off doing wet exits in the freezing cold water.  As you can imagine, that wasn’t much fun….talk about brain freeze.  Then after about a week we started going on short river runs. It was so much fun!  That’s when I knew that I wanted to learn more.

 

Shortly after, we started to go on harder rivers like the North River.  All of the instructors were really nice and knew their stuff.  They really helped me get my roll down and taught me a lot about the safety involved in whitewater kayaking.  On the last day of the clinic we paddled a section from the Fife Brook Dam to the Zoar Gap.  On the way down I learned how to surf waves; that was pretty tricky at first, but with practice I was able to catch on pretty quickly. 

 

About halfway through our run we stopped to have lunch.  The food that you get is so good.  Joel makes a mean chili that hits the spot when you’re cold.  For the rest of our run the only thing I could think about was running the Gap.  I was so pumped to finally do it!  We got there and scouted it.  I chose my line and talked about what to avoid and what to use as markers.  Then I got back in my kayak and just went for it.  When I got back to Zoar I was so excited that I went around and told everyone that I did it.  Everyone there is so happy for you…they want you to do well.

 

As I learn more things and get a little better I am paddling new and harder rivers like the Ashuelot in New Hampshire.  I went up there with Philip, the Lodge Manager, and a couple of his friends.  That was a really fun river to paddle and the water was really warm.  A few weeks ago I went to paddle the Millers with Philip and one of the Zoar guides, Patrick.  That was the most exciting river that I have ever paddled.  The Funnel was awesome!  I wasn’t sure if I was going to run it but, when we went to scout it, I told Patrick that I was just gonna go for it.  So I did and I’m glad that I decided to do it.  It was crazy! Surfing one of the waves at the bottom was really fun.

 

My next challenge is the Dryway.  Patrick set a date of August 13^th for me to do my first paddle depending on how much practice I do before then.  I can’t believe it!  Watch out…here I come.

Hooked! by Cory Dale, Local Young Gun

Family Kayak Week is

July 31 through August 4 

Every time I paddle a river with a group, I check to see who has a throwbag with them.  Generally there’s someone who has either forgotten theirs or who isn’t in the habit of carrying one.  That’s who I give mine to!

 

It’s not that I’m trying to avoid carrying the extra weight and it’s not that I mind rescuing someone else, but if I’m the one needing the rescue, a throwbag in my boat isn’t going  to do me any good.  So if there’s anyone in the group without one, they get mine.  It’s self-preservation.  And it makes the point loud and clear about who you’re carrying the throwbag for. 

 

Carrying a throwbag in your boat is an unselfish act.  It means you’re willing, if you’re able, to rescue your buddies or other people on the river who may be in trouble.  It should be second nature. 

 

Along with the throwbag, however, you need the knowledge and skills to use it and to handle yourself in a rescue situation.  Whose safety do you put at the top of the priority list?  Should you wade in a rapid? Is it okay to tie off your rope in a given situation?  How can you increase your mechanical advantage when pulling a raft off a rock?  If you find yourself wondering about some of these questions, you should take a Swiftwater Rescue class.  In these very hands-on workshops we work on getting comfortable swimming around in whitewater, understanding how to set up a variety of rescues, limitations of certain common rescue techniques, and managing a rescue, among other things. 

 

One of the first things you usually learn in a rescue workshop is how to handle a throwbag.  t’s one of the simplest of tools, yet the number of rescue tasks a rope can help you with is as large as your imagination.  So you need to understand a few basic principles before you start throwing your rope all around the river.  But the first principle is that without some very basic gear and the knowledge to use it, you and your friends are boating alone.

You Take the Throwbag by Bruce Lessels, Rescue Instructor

Charlie Walbridge is teaching Swiftwater Rescue at Zoar Outdoor on August 5-6 

Boat sale prices expire 7/31/06 and apply only to boats in stock.

Boat sale prices expire 7/31/06 and apply only to boats in stock.