Of course there were signs everywhere going on about the "dangers" of the site. I still can't get over how everything is signed, posted, and put out there so that when something goes wrong no one can get sued. Here is one of the first signs I saw.
Unfortunately, or at least I thought at first, I slept in this morning so I was later than I wanted to be. In the end it worked out well since they weren't really ready to go yet when I arrived. When I got there only one of the six pumps were running. Because of that I got to see what the course looks like empty.
Here is one of the first drops in the competition channel without any water at all. The pads on the bottom are concrete like the rest of the course and are filled with holes for plastic pilings that can be used to change the flow of the water.
Next is the same place with the water starting to flow. See how the holes for the pilings make little geysers. There are some (including a guy I paddled with on the Nantahala a few weeks ago) who think the holes are jets. They're not. Just because the course is artificial doesn't mean it's that high tech.
Below you can see the water really starting to come up. For those of you who don't know the candy stripped poles are hung over the course and used as gates for the whitewater slalom events. Today they were just pulled over to the side to make room.
The water eventually came up another foot or so but I was busy paddling by then. In the foreground are two of the pilings I talked about earlier. They are essentially large plastic cylinders that fit into the holes.
The competition channel can also be closed while the other channel is running. Here is the mouth of the channel with the upper lagoon in the background. The two barriers at either side are actuated by blowing up large bladders. They can be adjusted up or down. There is another one in the middle that also closes too. Here it is partway up and blocking most of the flow.
The course also has a few other adjustable components. These doors can be pulled in and out to change the flow as required.
Here's another view of more gates and doors further upstream.
This shot is what will eventually be the worst rapid or drop on the whole run. Once you get a few thousand gallons of water flowing through here every couple of seconds it goes from a quiet creek bed to a nasty little class IV that I didn't bother trying to run. The rafts seemed be to having a grand old time but the kayakers were fighting for their lives in some cases. Of the six or so kayaks that went through only one or two didn't have to roll.
Now for the engineering. Below is picture of the pump house form the upper lagoon. Each port is a pump outlet. Here they are slowly bringing them online and only two are running. By the time I was in the water there were five. At the end of the day they had six going. It wasn't hard to tell when the sixth one come up as the rapids got just a little more hairy.
The real beauty of the whole operation is the conveyor which moves the rafts and the kayaks up from the lower lagoon to the upper lagoon. The ride is about 60 seconds. At the top you are unceremoniously dropped into the water and off to your next run.
As I mentioned above the center offers more than just water sports. The two climbing walls are very well done with one of them being covered so it can be used in the rain. Here is what they look like from the parking lot.
From below you can also see the kid's bouldering area. They have a few large boulders covered in climbing holds for the little one to play on. The main complex is in the background, including registration, the restaurant, and the outfitter's store.
Finally here is how my day went. I managed to get 12 runs in on the class II and class III channels and the whole thing only cost me $20 plus gas to get there). That's about $1.67 a run, and when you consider I'd have paid more than that just for the conveyor rides... Each run went very well and I did have to roll a few times when I got caught in, on, and under a few big waves. The runs are made up of several drops so you can rest between them and avoid the rafts and other boaters. They also have a run that is for kayaks only. It is used mainly for teaching and instruction.
WARNING: Technical kayak jargon ahead!
The only bad run came on number 10. I was running the last set of big water, mostly class III with some serious wave trains) and came down on another kayaker who was surfing a hole in her little play boat. She couldn't get out of the way so I pretty much got her boat broadside in the ribs. It's a good thing PFDs also work as flack jackets! My three roll attempts didn't work since the water was aerated and I couldn't get any purchase, plus I wacked my elbow pretty hard on the concrete bottom. I ended up going for a swim but didn't lose my boat or my paddle (a typically rookie mistake.) Once I was in the eddy she came over to apologize since I had priority on the run and helped me pull out and drain my boat.
Other than that I had a great time. I didn't get to eat before hitting the water at 11:00 so by the time I got done at about 4:00 I was pretty hungry. The restaurant there is pretty good and the prices don't seem too blown up even though they are the only game in town. The view form the outside deck is great. Here are some shots of the competition channel from where I was.
This is the lower lagoon in the back ground. The rapid in the back ground is where I had to bail out. If you look closely you can see a kayaker in the near channel.
Here is a slightly better view of the rapid on the final leg of the class II/III channel.
Finally here is a picture of me wearing my USNWC official bib, complete with number (235 but you can't see it in the picture). They use it to identify who has paid to paddle and who is part of a group for instruction. Sorry, I forgot to smile this time.
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