New

Well, once again, Almost Heaven 'Wet Virginia' was the place to be this past weekend, as myself and the usual suspects had an awesome time surfing the New River Dries.

I love living 10 mins away from the dries ....and the parking lot at the waves has a feeling about it....sort of what I imagine the parking lot for 'pipeline' is to surfers. Everyone is just so amped to be paddling the best whitewater in the US, and we love sharing it with each other. So much so that, Scott Lindgren and Tanya Shuman flew in from Cali when they heard the waves would be in for a few days. So, myself, Clay Wright, Shane Groves, Bryan Kirk, Jimmy Blakeney, Chris Gratgmans, Little Dave, BJ & Katie Johnson, Tanya Shuman, Anna Levesque, and a few others had a great time surfin it up, and shooting some film....

The usual waves that show up on river right at about 40-55,000 cfs were the bomb as usual, but we were also able to surf a huge, building and crashing 15-20' 'er in the middle of the river. This thing was abso-friggin-lutely HUGE, and so were some of the moves being thrown. Big pan-ams, flipturns and helixes were the main course on the endless freestyle menu, and lots of footy was shot. Look for updates soon on www.prokayaker.tv (Jimmy Blakeney's site) as well for some of the best shots on Scott Lindgren's new flick 'Burning Time'.

If you haven't had the chance to surf some huge waves, the dries is where it's at. Look for levels for the New at Thurmond to be 28,000 cfs-38,000 cfs for the wide middle wave, 40,000-60,000 for the waves on river right.

Also, the Bigwheel was incredible! So smooth, and FAST! Definatly my favorite boat, and Shane has already been making it better from what I hear!

It's late, and I'm goin surfin in the AM, so until the next report.....

Brian J