Joel Kowalski sends ‘Keeners experience Creeking on ‘7 Sisters’ of the Rouge, QC’

Dane sets safety while Keaton airs it out

Joel Kowalski is not only a coach for the ‘Keeners’ kids kayak program of Wilderness Tours on the Ottawa River, he also placed 5th at the World Freestyle Championships in Thun and creates and appears in Extreme whitewater videos such as Stakeout, Here and Now, Facetime, and Dream Result.  Check out his vision of our day coaching talented new paddlers in the art of creekboating and observe the Villain S and 2010 Hero proto’s in action!

From Joel:

Here is a video from our recent trip to the Seven Sisters waterfalls on the Riviere Rouge in Quebec near Hawkesbury. Stephen Wright, Clay Wright with special guest Dane Jackson and I took the Keeners there for most of the kids’ first creeking experience. They loved it! Check out the vid…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLnzv7ycG48&feature=player_embedded#!

-Joel K.

Justin Kleberg’s Silver Run

My summer in wet, wild, and wonderful West Virginia has come to an end. After a few big water days on the lower Gauley, a solid month of low water video boating on the New River Gorge, and no time creeking in my Villain S, I am stoked to be returning to college at Western Carolina University. Friday, on the voyage back to school, I was able to warm up to the creeking game on the Green Narrows with Jay and Mark. Rain all day Saturday made moving into the dorms difficult, but made the creeks spike. Silver Run Falls is a Jackson County park and huck special, with a manky 10 foot slide off a solid 25 footer into a green water pool. I’ve looked at this drop numerous times over the past year of school but had yet to run it. The water level seemed perfect and it was time to give her. Check out the photos, courtesy of Evan Voss. Gotta love Western NC! It’s good to be back.

- Justin Kleberg

Face Time Intro: video

Here is the Intro for the 2010 film ‘Face Time.’ Check out the intro and order your copy here.

http://jacksonkayak.com/face-time/

Late Season Crested Butte

This year was a strange one in Colorado.  Late season snow, plenty of snow pack, and hopes of good water but things went a little crazy as soon as it got warm.  Dust storms throughout the year dirtied up the snow and when things warmed up, they really warmed up.  This led to a fast season of high water, leaving things to drop out fast after the intense, but short season…   All wasn’t lost and we caught the tail end of Crested Butte which is still a favorite of mine even when things are low.  The quality slides and waterfalls of Crested Butte and Cascade Mountain keep us coming back year after year without regret, regardless of water level.  So since a picture is worth a thousand words and video is worth a thousand more, here’s a video of the Villain on low water OBJ:

filmed with the GoPro Hero HD, Josh Oberleas, and Samantha Brunner… pics coming soon!  enjoy…

Villain S meets Crystal Punch Bowls

With things getting low I decided to try for the punchbowls from the Crested Butte side, the easy way, especially since my Tacoma is a bit low and only 2WD. We got shut down on the first attempt by snow over the road early on. We went back a few days later and some more defined ruts in the snow (not in the video) made it a bit safer to cross. After hiking in we were met with the thunderstorm/slush/hail storm from hell…it got cold fast and we were pelted with large slush/ice balls mixed with rain and strong wind. After hiding under a tree for a little while things were getting worse, including the lightening. We narrowly escaped the muddy road in my 2WD truck, left my boat in the gorge for a sunny return, and returned the next day for an easy hike in (without a boat) and a beautiful day in the punchbowls. Seems like every trip in there is epic in its own way, making the rewards that much sweeter. So with the journey in mind as the destination in itself check out the video.

Special thanks to Neal, Dalton, Samantha Brunner, and Bryant for fliming, taking pictures, and helping me get it done. good times…

Photos by Samantha Brunner and Bryant Haley

www.BoydR.com

Villain Review from ‘Irish’ Dave Crerar, 185lbs = 2 thumbs up

Jackson Villain Review

Although I have not paddled too many boats other than Jackson boats in the past few years I have done my best to write this review based on comparisons with other boats out there on the market at present.

The Villain is very different to boats that JK have brought out in the past. The first thing you notice right off the bat is the large volume difference in this boat as compared to others such as the Habitat 80 or Mystic. Although the Villain has 90+ gallons the boats handles very well and it certainly does not feel like you are paddling such a large boat.

I paddled this boat on a number of creeks in Quebec ranging from steep creeks to boulder garden river runs. Its 8 feet 8 inches displace the volume along the boat, this also means this boat is fast, very fast. Unlike the shorter JK creek and river-running boats the Villain’s length allows for a faster and more stylish ride.  When I talk about style I mean the ability to hold speed through rapids. In the boulder gardens where shorter stubbier boats were struggling to deal with a number of boofs, flairs and carving manoeuvres the Villain managed to hold its line and speed making it not easier to navigate some tough rapids, but to do it with style also. The Villain feels skinnier than other creek boats out there, and one would think this would lead to instability, however the tapered edges on the hull of the boat, mixed with the wider stern and length seed given by it length make for a smooth and stable ride.

When running waterfalls I felt the Villain really came into its own. I found with slower, shorter boats their resurfacing ability was not their one of their finer selling points, by this I refer to missed lines, late boofs and misjudged rapids. However the Villain resurfaces straight and with a lot of speed allowing one to charge forward ready for what the river has to offer next. It also managed well with late boof strokes and pulled up nicely when you have to initiate the emergency crunch moves to avoid a complete thrashing.

The Villain is easy to roll, and easy to handle despite being longer than most boats out there at the moment. Do not let the volume fool you folks, I am around 180/190 lbs and I found the Villain S too small, the big one is sweet. Versatile in that it has enough room for long trips, while also having the volume to charge some nice rapids while staying on top of the water, allowing a ride that should be compared to that of a galloping stallion.

I am really excited about this boat and it has fuelled my excitement for even more creeking missions. When one is settled on the Ottawa River for the summer it can be hard to find the motivation to rally the boys and head into Quebec or down to New York when this river offers so much. However with this new toy on the top of the Volvo it is hard to resist the urge to suck it up, deal with the long day mission drives and head into the unexplored Quebec wonderland. Ladies and gents I feel JK have nailed it with this one and I for one can’t wait to see this boat nailing lines all over the place.

For more on Quebec check out www.davecrerar.blogspot.com or www.levelsix.com .

Micah goes to the Hood

One of the best ways to both improve as a paddler and keep things fresh is to paddle a different type of whitewater.  Spending most of my time around Boise, Idaho, I rarely leave the big water stomping grounds I call home.  I’ve had a fun year and I’ve been paddling a lot, but I was craving a boof over 4 feet in height.  For two days, two friends and I left the raft company we work for to hit a few waterfalls near the creeking mecca of Hood River, Oregon.

Jim Buley races Great Falls, loves the Villain

Finally Racing Great Falls – by Jim Buley

I’ve been paddling for 18 years now, and have been running Great Falls of the Potomac since 1995, yet I have never entered the falls race during the Potomac Whitewater Festival. Let me state for the record, that running the falls, and racing the falls, are two completely different animals. One animal has teeth, and the other has really big teeth. Going full-out over Great Falls takes a lot more juice than just a normal lackadaisical run of the falls. A lot can happen when you paddle as fast and as hard as you can over class five rapids. This is in the mind of every racer who competed in this year’s Potomac Whitewater Festival Great Falls Race, I’m sure, and it was in the back of my mind as well, since I was about to race for the first time.

Let me be completely honest here: I am a HUGE fan of my 2009 Super Hero, and thought that it would be very hard for the Villain to win me over, but it did, although- not at first. I’ve been paddling the Super Hero since it first came out and just love the way the boat literally makes rapids feel a class lower than their rating. My stats= 6ft 1in tall, 34 inseam, wt. 180lbs.The Super Hero makes it easy to make the transition from a playboat, to a creeker, be

cause of the flat hull and shortish bow. I spend a majority of my time in my Super Star and Mon Star, so making the switch to the Super Hero for a creek run is always an easy one.
The first time I paddled the Villain was down the Fishladder of Great Falls. My first impressions were that the boat definitely had more forward speed than the Super Hero, which was good for the point-and-shoot type of slide rapids that the Fishladder has, and for punching through the holes at the bottom of those slides too.The Villain also has softer chines than the Super Hero, which makes it more forgiving if you get sideways on a slide. These attributes I liked a lot, however, I found that when you stuck the bow into stiff current, the Villain tended to take off on you much like a long boat. I attribute that to the extra bow length of the Villain over the Super Hero. I also think that you tend to get a little spoiled by paddling short boats that are easy to correct in current.

I decided that I just needed a little more time in the Villain, and gave it a second chance. I took it out for five days in a row for some practice runs of the falls to see how I could adjust to the new length  (8 ft, 8in vs 7ft 11in of the Super Hero). I did some slow laps, about five or six, and got pretty dialed in, so I decided that the rest of my practice runs would be at full speed. I really liked the speed and the ease of which the Villain handled while going full-out, and decided right then and there that I was going to enter my first Great Falls Race.

We had a nice rainy day for the race on Saturday, and the river level was starting to come up a bit from the day before. My goals were these; 1) Race for the first time.2) Go full-on and make finals (top ten) 3) Be fast and clean in finals and make the top five at least 4) Win the short boat class. Well, I wound up finishing tied for 4th place in short boat. My finals run was clean, and pretty fast, and only one second behind 3rd place. I was pretty psyched! The Villain treated me very well, and I was stoked to have competed and performed well. I was also the oldest competitor in the race, at the age of 43, which made me feel good too ;0)

I look forward to next year’s race! Attached are some pics of me from the race that were taken by Hector Picart.

See you on the river!
Jim Buley
Valley Mill
www.valleymillkayak.com

JK sponsored the falls race. We also raffled off a Jackson kayak for AW at the fest party.
Race result times for short boat;

Short Boat Final

Big Timber – well named steeps in MT

On the way back from Team Trials, riding a high from that already,  I got the chance to cross off a creeking gem that’s been on my ”To do” list for a long, long time.  Just like Tatlow, Upper Cherry, and N. Fk Blackwater, I’ve been within miles of Big Timber, MT when it was just about running but the pieces just didn’t come together till now.

I met up with Jeremy Lauks and Shane Groves in the Half-moon campground just after they took a look at the level.  ”Low’ but runnable” was the report, so thinking that Big Timber is described as ”OBJ on steroids” we decided to wait till afternoon and see if the level came up.  Thankfully, it did!  The steep 2 mile hike up went smoothly and we were sitting above ‘No Worries’ and ‘O’s Woes’ by 5PM as scheduled for peak flows.  Bombing down these steep, low volume drops went so fast we were at the ‘2nd footbridge’ in no time, and Jeremy hopped out to scout the first blind corner below.  If you’ve been paddling in MT you know there is wood everywhere and like OBJ, finding a deep eddy where you can boat-scout these long twisting drops isn’t very likely.  Even with the ‘all clear’ from Jeremy’s scout I was surprised to find myself committing to a walled in triple drop that turned a sharp left /right zig zag, slamming into the right wall, then rolling up at the brink of a river-wide log jam.  Jeremy followed with about the same results, and we decided that we would look a little more carefully downstream.

We had one person scout like every 50 yards, and the slides just kept coming with nothing too memorable till we hit ‘Fine Line’ .. which is well named for sure.  First glance I thought it was a portage due to the high chance of a piton in the  8′ vertical part of the long, low angle slide, but Jeremy launched the right finger of the ledge – letting his bow re-connect to an angled right shelf – and bounced right through, and sold it.  Which is a good thing since it’s the only real ‘warm-up’ for what it looks like to look down ‘The Pinch’ from above.  Several more slides, a big pool, a portage, and Big Timber drops into ‘world class’ status with one of the most well-known drops in the country.  What you DON’T know about ‘The Pinch” is that you can’t see anything but horizon from the top since it gets steeper along the way down, and that you’ll be dropping ”Triple Dipple’ – a tight little twisting combo into a 15′ boof  just to get to run it!  I’m sure there’s another way, but with daylight waning and no river right seal-launch in sight Shane dropped into the tight little ‘S’ turn, shot into a huge boof, and planed right past the only eddy between ‘Triple’ and the slick shelf that committed him to the 100 yard, 60-80′ bouncy descent below.   Once we made sure he survived, we did the same – enjoying a bouncy white-out in the middle and then sailing through the ‘pinch’ at mach speed.  All my re-connections went well, but I was amazed how far some of those flakes kick you and how much steeper it feels than it looks.   On any other river, the next 2 slides would be a highlight and be named and photographed etc, but coming right after that behemoth we simply checked for wood and dropped in for a long ride down to the Gambler.

The Gambler is beautiful, but even with the rockered bow and hole punching ability of my Villain S

it’s the perfect ‘not Clay’s kinda rapid’ so I went to set safety before I even looked closely.  The top drop is nice, then the river turns into a sweeping right bend and slides 20-30 feet into a sticky 12′wide hole that’s slightly walled in on both sides.  Shane Groves looked like he had all the cards but took an unlucky bounce and ended up fighting for his chips before pulling through.  Looks like a great place to trust your partners to pull you out of, as the pool is short and there’s another tough drop just below.  And another fun drop below that.  And not a whole lot of places to drag a boat out of the river before the next portage at Upper Falls.

By the time we walked around Upper Falls – which looks absolutely lethal – our light was fading and a rain was starting to falls.  While Lower Big Timber Falls  .. the drop most people drive so far to run … looked just as sick as I had hoped, it was 8:30 by the time Shane Groves headed up to go first and nearly 9PM by the time he found his way back to the overlook.   His line was smooth, ended up left instead of right but selling that line was probably more encouraging than if he had bounced right like all the videos.   Sorry about the photo, but it’s hard to capture someone going that fast after sunset in the rain in a narrow, dark gorge.   Jeremy Lauks hiked back up next, and I decided I was not up to this challenge – even though I knew I would regret not dropping this benchmark I was too tired and it was too dark to do much besides ferry hard right at the top and hope the rest works itself out.  A little while later Jeremy came back down too .. having struggled to find where to put back in in the twilight he missed that last ten minute window and it was simply too dark to paddle any rapids, not to mention one of this size.  We hiked the road back to our camp, skipping this beauty as well as some complex twisty thing below it but vowing to come back again.

Overall Big Timber was all I hoped it would be – living up to it’s reputation of ”Oh Be Joyful on Steroids’ and earning it’s place as one of the top 10 steep creeks in the US.  It’s shorter than Toxaway, less stacked than Raven’s, and you do have to get out of your boat a lot more than on OBJ, Mann’s, or Vallecito.   Yet the uniquely blind character, tight quarters in the biggest drops, and the uniqueness of ”Triple -into The Pinch” and “Big T Falls” will impress even the most die-hard international traveller.   With a local who knows the wood, and maybe a 4th or 5th person along,  the run would go really quickly and it would be a lot easier to set safety where you need it and still take some photos.  As it was we just started too late for that creek with our lack of experience and paid the price.  Lessons learned, but if I’m ever in MT late June again you know where I’ll be heading.

Clay Wright

Upper Yough pov video by Jim Buley

Check out the Upper Yough at 2.2′ in a Super-hero – from a river level perspective.

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