July 5, 2004

The weekend started off a day early as the North Fork of the Chic came up to 6.85 on Friday. Dane, Tanya Talbert, Don Klein, and Chris from Rock Creek all got to the put in at 10am for a 12 mile “Fun” paddle. We put in on Cain Creek and ran it into the North Fork of the Chic. Tons of fun rapids in that 12 miles; truly a Walden Ridge classic. Dane in his Fun 1, Tanya and I in Funs, and Don in a Super Fun- Don will paddle the 4 Fun next time.

Saturday: Rock Island Dam Spilling- 10,000 CFS!!!! Run the Left side of Great Falls with Dane and Tanya dropping a sweet 21 feet into a 100 foot wide hole that is shooting spray everywhere. Meet Emily below the falls. We surfed the wave at the seal launch for a spell, then ROCK ISLAND HOLE!!! A long session in the hole (massive wave/hole) produced huge FUN air. Big air screws landing flat as a pancake and surfing straight upstream again was the most fun of the session. I was hooked on that move. Helixes, huge air blunts and backstabs, and crazy entry moves in the oversized foampile that makes your hair stand up the first few tries.

Sunday: Rock Island Dam Spilling at 6,900 CFS!! Oh yea- this time Dane, Mark from NH, and I did the left side of the falls again- not so much of a hole at the bottom, but a very nice straight over the top vertical drop. Mark and I also ran the big rapid from the bottom of the first part to the end with the two biggest holes, rapid known as Sieve City. We found a line to the right of both of the major holes that was interesting on the first one. The eddy wall falls hard into the hole and the hole is one even I wasn’t interested in surfing today, followed by a second nasty hole. The move was simply to bust the eddywall and stay high enough on it to get past the hole before getting pushed back right. Both Mark and I made it with out any hole action. Dane and Emily boofed the far left of the last drop.

Then we surfed the hole again- for about two hours. By the end I was doing big entry moves and holding tighter to the foampile for some big air. Even Emily started surfing the corner- I was impressed. Dane went all of the way into the hole and was trying to air blunt but was out of control on his bounces. I wish I was in a Fun 1 and was only 60 pounds! I got some sweet big air screws, often landing a little sideways but my head never touched the water once. I did get some nice straight on screws, leaving flat and going all of the way around and landing flat again.

We are on the way to the “Chattanooga Lookouts” Minor League Baseball game at the stadium- fireworks in the stadium afterwards, cool.

Man- I want to go back out and throw a few more big moves before the 4 of July high water disappears!

EJ

View video of Dane at Rock Island (2.7 MB, Windows Media Player 9 Required) Cable or DSL Strongly Recommended

Setting up a Blunt

Setting up a blunt 2

Setting up a blunt 3 Fun trying to go balistic

Setting up a blunt 4 blunt in action