Whitey had just had a mini beat down in the horseshoe hole far left drop above BCF. BTW if you run that line, either boof left or nail the smallish rooster tail like wave about a boat length or so from the left rock, don't split the difference, ask YT what happens then! So Bubba chased Whitey's boat as far as he dared and ended up in a lower left eddy. Whitey made it safely to the big right offshore eddy above BCF in one of the strongest swims I've ever seen and got assisted to the shore from that big eddy above the right line by Jon Dale and maybe Clay. Then Clay does first run at the Big Drop and shows us how it's done! Perfect line on the sweet right line with a perfect boof. Jon Dale is next and pretty much does the same line with a sweet boof as well. Bubba starts from the low left eddy and I think because of that he had more left to right momentum above the drop than the rest of us (my theory anyway) and got pushed way right at the ledge, almost goes off sideways but throws in a huge correction right on the lip and an even bigger epic deep brace below the drop to save face / hair. My run is last, and I also got pushed surprisingly far to the right with a sudden kick of my bow to the right. My hard correction stroke screws up my boof at the lip and I go deep. Thankfully it's deep there and I hit nothing but fluffy water in a very sweet landing. I now think this is The Line for BCF big drop run but would rather run it like Clay and Jon Dale ... will have to watch that left to right push there right above the lip next time...

[www.youtube.com]

Wes

Wes,

I can't recall but I may have shot that footage. Yes, that is the line I think I would like.

Btw, Mark Singleton (AW) is going to meet us at the put in at Henry's at 11 a.m. and will be joining us.

Brent

The two times I ran the Cheoah we ran the center line at BCF it was not that bad as long as you do not get pushed to the left.

Mark Dossett

Well nice shootn' Tex! Wish my camera had performed better. Cool that Mark S. will be joining us!

Mark: My boof has been pretty sucky for a while ... and almost every time I run middle I hit rock... probably clean as long as you boof it right, but if you screw up... I obviously went deep on the right line and didn't touch anything. If you look at pictures of the run with the water off, you can see the rock is highest in the middle, lower on either side. I've seen photos of runs left of center too .... no experience with that line though. With a great boof you can probably run it anywhere near the middle and be fine.
Wes

Oh..perfect! My great line that day is on film.

I think you call that the "oof".

Nice point, Wes. Maybe it was my starting point. I think its also b/c I've watched footage and I think I had in my mind that I could float into it and nail the last stroke. All the sudden I was getting pushed right and couldn't recover.

Running the West Prong line far left after BCF was interesting b/c the sun was shining in our eyes and we weren't for sure if the runaway boat was going to be blocking a channel.

Bubba: Actually I thought your correction on the lip of the drop and the brace below were pretty awesome. S*%# happens, and how you respond to it IMO determines what kind of boater you are. As the video shows, you were pushed off line in an instant and the correction was just as fast and about all you could do from that point.

Talked to my old boating buddy (Wayne Irby) from Augusta (Disgusta) and funny he had the same idea I had but didn't know about the Cascades running. Right now he's undecided about the Cascades on Sun vs Tallulah, his reasoning the Tallulah runs regularly (used to anyway , the Cascades don't ... not yet. Seemed interested in my idea of doing some Cascades laps after the Cheoah run (his Cheoah timeline is nearly identical to ours) and / or doing them Sun a.m. then going to Tallulah as the Tallulah is a quick run. Either way, Mark, if you still want to do Tallulah as I do, we would have a rock solid guide. He's kind of picky about who he leads as he's a nice guy and used to be generous about leading anyone anywhere then got into some bad situations I think because of that ... so more leary now and I don't blame him. Mark's boated plenty of gnar, he may be hesitant to lead others with less experience in class IV-V.

Wes

Actually, I think Bubba's analysis is spot-on. It's all about momentum. Look at the speed that Clay and Jon Dale have and the way they carry that speed through the entire approach and boof. It keeps them from being bobbled by the current. Bubba is floating basically at the speed of the water as he approaches the lip, so his boat moves the same way the water does. When the water spreads at the edge of the lip, his boat just follows it. Good correction/save though.

Wes, your run has more speed than Bubba, but not as much as Clay and Jon and I think that's why your bow tends to follow the spread of the current near the lip.

I remember being reminded of this fact while following Jimi Snyder down the Big Sandy and thinking, "This guy is a master of momentum". He would constantly allow his speed to drop to allow his boat to turn with the water, and then pick it up again to coast across a curler or some other move where his momentum wasn't strictly in line with what the water was doing, it was poetic to watch. He managed his direction and placement more by managing his speed with amazing precision than by directing his boat, both by the strokes he was throwing and the ones he wasn't throwing (and the timing of both)... but I digress.

In that situation, I contend that more speed would be your friend.

Hanley

You know, actually, looking at it again, Clay and Jon Dale both have their bows nudged slightly right by the water as they hit the lip. However, they both maintain momentum through the drop with a final power stroke on the right side as they launch, preventing the bow from following the spread of the water there.

Hanley

Wes that could work out good for me if he would let me tag along with you guys to the Tallulah. I will talk to you Saturday more about that. See you at the take out around 11 your time. I hope you guys don’t mind Jason Dillow called and asked if I was going the Cheoah and I told him yes so he will be paddling with us Saturday. Mark D.

Mark Dossett

My issue was definitely lack of momentum. It started by the fact that the water doesn't poor evenly off the lip. There is a hump. As Hanley pointed out that lip sheds water to the left and to the right. Since I was floating, I ended up on the slab of water being shed to the right and at the last second realized I could no longer paddle hard enough to get back straight. So I decided to go with the "oof".

Looks like the Cascades might have some juice in 'em this weekend. They're adding 50cfs instead of cutting back to 50cfs.

giddy up....as some of you say.