May 13, 2004
Reno has built a whitewater park on the
Truckee River that flows out of the mountains by Lake Tahoe.
The river is now flowing about 800 cfs and it hits town where
the river splits into two beautiful whitewater park channels.
The river right or “South Channel” is a great
beginner slalom course that is being used daily by people
like Charlie Albright (a racer for more than 20 years) as
well as beginners just learning to kayak. The river left channel
or the “North Channel” is the freestyle channel.
There are several places to play. The competition feature
is a river wide hole that you can do most hole moves on. It
is very shallow so you loop after hitting your boat hard on
the bottom, but the bow does break free long enough to flip
it over, sometimes aerial. There is also a small shoulder
that you can do blunts and spins on. The kids, and people
like Josh Matsel, have discovered “wave wars”.
It is simply king of the wave and is the activity of choice
for my kids. That is on the last feature of the park after
the two channels join together again.
In between the channels is a beautiful
park with an amphitheater for concerts and shows and it is
right next to the main hole. The city of Reno will experience
positive growth, increasing land values next to the park as
everybody races to get a quality spot next to the park, and
a great outdoor recreational activity right in town. I predict
new kayak schools, and lots of kids learning in this new park
as the kayakers get in gear and create programs to utilize
the park.
We compete this weekend in the “Pro
Invitational” event. It is a freestyle competition and
will have lots of cool, “shallow water, small hole type
moves”
Look for the following moves in my rides:
- McNasty, oh yea- This move is my creation
and is a staple move for anybody who expects to get top
three in the Men’s class. Worth 16 points.
- Phonics Monkey- Named by a Southpark
Fan, no doubt, (just as the McNasty was named by a McDonalds
fan) it is a retentive pirouette into a front loop. Also,
required if you want to place in the top three because it
will be another 16 point move.
- Tricky Woo- Great move for this type
of hole and requires skill to get each end vertical and
miss the rocks at the same time: 12 points
- Air Loop- Plug in slow and careful,
then your bow smashes the rocks and the second it breaks
free- throw it fast and hope to get air-(hope stern doesn’t
hit rocks too) 10 points.
- Orbit- Not the lunar orbit, but still
cool- points still undecided, probably 8-10.
- Felix- like a Helix in motion, but done
on the corner of the hole so it is definitely not aerial.
Worth 8 points.
- Back loop, front loop- worth 8 points
each
- Back Blunt- worth 7 points
All clean, super clean cartwheels and splits-
worth from 3-5 points each.
I would tell you exactly what my ride will
be, but I am still working on it. My goal is simply to have
more big moves than anybody, then nail them in the competition
to win. Jay Kincaid and Billy Harris have been practicing
together and are the stiffest competition from what I can
tell. Jay has every move in the book in this hole since it
is his two time per day training location. He lives here now.
So, naturally, he is the man I want to go head to head with.
We’ll see how the competition goes!
Meanwhile here are some photos of the bottom
wave. Look for some video of my McNasty, Phonics Monkey, Loop,
Trickywoo, etc. on the site soon.
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