Bethany asked about the Tuck ... and I don't want Todd's cousin Guido to come after me for jacking his thread!

The Tuck is a wonderful class II, II+ run. IMO, it's one of the best beginner teaching runs I've ever seen. Brit loves it. The water is pleasant, there's $5 / person shuttle option that brings you right to the outfitters at the put in. It's drop / pool, which makes it perfect for learning to roll and recovering swimmers. Good for eddy practice, ferrying, eddy hopping. And if that's not enough ... if it's still there ... there's a great little rope swing at the first rapid! There are multiple sections, but IMO, the best, and only one with the fee shuttle is the section just below Dillsboro Dam starting in Dillsboro. You can drag along non-boaters and let them rent a ducky. There's even a couple of photo services at a couple of rapids along the way... but they're expensive like all of those services seem to be.

It's not far from the Nanty, almost all 4 lane to get there!

Wes

Almost forgot, release schedule:


[www.boatingbeta.com]

Sounds perfect for Memorial Day Weekend! I would love to start out there to really work on some stuff (my river roll, catching eddies, peeling out, etc).

I ran this three or four years ago while participating in a novice NOC weekend class. I flipped at some point (I think it was on one of the only borderline class II+/III rapids on the Tuck, but I don't really remember where it was). Those NOC classes are great, but the weekend ones really don't prepare you to do much of anything. I had only attempted a wet exit once and that was on a lake. So, when I flipped, I completely freaked out. I struggled, tried to stand up in my boat, and generally lost all reasonable thought. Until I remembered to tuck and pull!. It scared me so badly, that I didn't get back in a whitewater boat until this year.

And as several people witnessed on the BSF, my wet exit is now flawless......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/2008 11:32AM by bethany.

Sounds good Bethany. Incidentally, there's a small portion on the Kayakers Toolbox DVD devoted to learning to swim! I thought it was interesting that they decided to include that, but I agree with it. People are all different. Some folks would be perfectly comfortable flipping in a river their first time and swimming out while banging off the rocks ... others are like you... it's not a fun experience at all. When Brittany was first learning she had a scary experience where she couldn't pop her skirt. After that, we had swim practice and it paid off .... otherwise I would have had a difficult time getting her back in the boat! The Tuck is drop / pool meaning there's easy recovery below the rapids for rolling or swimming.

Wes