New

Words by Douglas Ackerman.
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This rapid was originally called Harmon's 99.
Many now call it Hook 99.
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The name came from Richard Harmon's C-1, which had a big number 99 painted on it, probably from a race. Richard once ran near this rock and '99' got pinned. He got out, but could not retrieve the boat and finished the run in a raft. Over the next week or so, we (Wildwater Unlimited rafting), picked up the fiberglass boat in three or four large separate pieces at various points downstream. We gave them back to Richard and with a bit of resin and fiberglass, he put the C-1 back together. Soon '99' was running the New again. Try that with a plastic boat. Richard was a quite a character in the early days of WV paddling.
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