[Paddlewise] "Long boats" on whitewater

A note for you young-uns who don't know that longer boats indeed are used on
whitewater.  Back in the earlier days of whitewater racing, I took my 15' long
racing, downriver, whitewater kayak, out on Class III-IV waters.  End results
were kind of comical for me - my ability to handle a slalom boat effectively
didn't translate too well.  Guess what, the downriver boat wouldn't turn very
well, it was meant to go fast downstream only.  I flipped in the first rapid,
rolled up, ran the next one backwards (got eddied out), ran right up on a
perfectly visible boulder in the next rapid.  Did a little better after that,
but certainly not my forte.  What stream was that?  The Ocoee.  I've also been
on the Gauley in that boat.  Just takes a different style of boathandling.
They're great in big water, not so great where the course is technical.  I
think they'd be a total gas on the Colorado.





My Eddyline Falcon 16 has a hull that reminds me of that old whitewater boat.
No rudder on either of 'em, but I like to think I paddle the Falcon much more
effectively.





Whitewater play boats sure have shrunk in the intervening years.  Doesn't mean
you can't do it (run whitewater rivers that is) in longer boats.





Natalie Wiest


Galveston TX


(in whitewater days, Knoxville TN - long time ago!)





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