KNeal's West Virginia weekend
Posted: Mon May 05, 2003 3:56 pm
Mike Elsea (open boater) and I left Richmond really early Thursday and arrived in Fayetteville before noon. We lucked out by meeting some locals that own a horse ranch near the Cunard turnoff that willingly picked us up at the takeout at a specific time. So, Mike and I put on at Cunard and started our run down the New Gorge with the river running at a really nice 4.8 feet. The day was sunny and warm and the water temp. felt like the normal cool, summer temperature (which is GREAT!). We had a BLAST! The water was cranking giving us BIG wave trains (though the New can carry even bigger waves), pushy currents, lots of squirrely water, and plenty of practice for big water paddling. I had a wild ride on the third wave at Enders, having skipped the first two because they looked VERY trashy 
! After we got our shuttle back to the putin (and tipping the driver for good karma), we ate in Summersville and drove up to Teeter's campground for the night. And that is where the rest of the adventure took place.
At some point, my Cherokee's ignition switch decided to quit starting the engine (I could turn on the power, but could not turn the switch over far enough to turn the starter). But, having a manual transmission, Mike graciously push-started me every time we needed to start the engine (I made sure I parked on a slope facing DOWNHILL, and therefore parked in some pretty unusual places
). Mike had never paddled the Cheat before and since we wanted to do the downriver race later that day, we decided to check out the race lines. The Cheat is always an adventure, but the flat water was GREULING 
! I managed to land on an underwater rock with my left shoulder and helmet-covered head while flipping and rolling a rapid above High Falls. The other boaters in my group decided not to take that route , and thought my choices of lines were entertaining, but they failed to appreciate my desires to probe EVERY line before the race. 3 1/2 hours later, we arrived at the takeout and drove back up to Teeters exhausted. BTW, Big Nasty was a no contest.
It took an hour, but I talked Mike into doing the downriver race ("It's for a good cause!" "You're helping to fund the Friends of the Cheat to save the river!" "You get a t-shirt, free beer at the takeout and at the party, a free sub sandwich, and a shuttle at takeout, and a post-race party!" "Here, drink a couple of these beers and let me know how you're feeling in a few minutes.") The last method worked and we started the race with about 75 other boaters. I was the only decked c-1 and Mike had to contend with returning champ Steve Frazier, an old guy, and a woman in open boats. After Big Nasty, I was with 5 other kyackers and decided to let them pick the lines. Big mistake ! One of them led me and another kyacker too far left after Cyclotron and landed in a diagonal ledge hole that surfed us into another diagonal ledge hole. I tried to go FAR left when I saw the trashing, but I hit the edge of the first hole and QUICKLY got surfed to the right of everybody. We all came out okay, but I informed the guy who found that line that he owed me a beer at the takeout. He was agreeable since the beer was free. Anyhow, there were no more instances and I passed as many kyackers as I could find to the finish line.
The next day, after pushing the Cherokee, we met up with PAC (Paul), Warren, and kyacker Dave at Little Sandy's restaurant. We set shuttle at the takeout and put on the Cheat (AGAIN!
) for another 11 mile paddle with all that flat water! We had an awesome day! We had to babysit some kyackers through some of the rapids and provide rescues, but we single bladers simply RULED that day! We were squirting, endering, and throwing enders where ever we found a spot (sometimes, we even did it on purpose 
). Warren even jumped into Big Nasy, on purpose, threw several ends, and paddled out not once, but TWICE 
! Other kyackers who tried it ended up getting thrashed and swam out of the hole needing rescue.
It was another long day, but the festival was now ahead of us, so we loaded up the vehicles and drove up the nation's WORST shuttle access road one final time and made it back to Teeter's. Mike and I lost sight of Warren and Paul, but there was food to be eaten, beer to drink, deals to check out, and other boaters to catch up with. It was a great weekend and I had a great time paddling with Paul and Warren again. The drive back to Richmond started at 10:00 that night and was restful, though still long and we were exhausted.
Have fun at the Armada and make sure LOTS of pics are taken, and please leave a somewhat postive impression on the good folks who live and work in Westernport. They were pretty freaked by us last year (something about Kalin wanting to eat a Zamboni).
KNeal
! After we got our shuttle back to the putin (and tipping the driver for good karma), we ate in Summersville and drove up to Teeter's campground for the night. And that is where the rest of the adventure took place.At some point, my Cherokee's ignition switch decided to quit starting the engine (I could turn on the power, but could not turn the switch over far enough to turn the starter). But, having a manual transmission, Mike graciously push-started me every time we needed to start the engine (I made sure I parked on a slope facing DOWNHILL, and therefore parked in some pretty unusual places
). Mike had never paddled the Cheat before and since we wanted to do the downriver race later that day, we decided to check out the race lines. The Cheat is always an adventure, but the flat water was GREULING ! I managed to land on an underwater rock with my left shoulder and helmet-covered head while flipping and rolling a rapid above High Falls. The other boaters in my group decided not to take that route , and thought my choices of lines were entertaining, but they failed to appreciate my desires to probe EVERY line before the race. 3 1/2 hours later, we arrived at the takeout and drove back up to Teeters exhausted. BTW, Big Nasty was a no contest.It took an hour, but I talked Mike into doing the downriver race ("It's for a good cause!" "You're helping to fund the Friends of the Cheat to save the river!" "You get a t-shirt, free beer at the takeout and at the party, a free sub sandwich, and a shuttle at takeout, and a post-race party!" "Here, drink a couple of these beers and let me know how you're feeling in a few minutes.") The last method worked and we started the race with about 75 other boaters. I was the only decked c-1 and Mike had to contend with returning champ Steve Frazier, an old guy, and a woman in open boats. After Big Nasty, I was with 5 other kyackers and decided to let them pick the lines. Big mistake
! One of them led me and another kyacker too far left after Cyclotron and landed in a diagonal ledge hole that surfed us into another diagonal ledge hole. I tried to go FAR left when I saw the trashing, but I hit the edge of the first hole and QUICKLY got surfed to the right of everybody. We all came out okay, but I informed the guy who found that line that he owed me a beer at the takeout. He was agreeable since the beer was free. Anyhow, there were no more instances and I passed as many kyackers as I could find to the finish line.The next day, after pushing the Cherokee, we met up with PAC (Paul), Warren, and kyacker Dave at Little Sandy's restaurant. We set shuttle at the takeout and put on the Cheat (AGAIN!
) for another 11 mile paddle with all that flat water! We had an awesome day! We had to babysit some kyackers through some of the rapids and provide rescues, but we single bladers simply RULED that day! We were squirting, endering, and throwing enders where ever we found a spot (sometimes, we even did it on purpose ). Warren even jumped into Big Nasy, on purpose, threw several ends, and paddled out not once, but TWICE ! Other kyackers who tried it ended up getting thrashed and swam out of the hole needing rescue.It was another long day, but the festival was now ahead of us, so we loaded up the vehicles and drove up the nation's WORST shuttle access road one final time and made it back to Teeter's. Mike and I lost sight of Warren and Paul, but there was food to be eaten, beer to drink, deals to check out, and other boaters to catch up with. It was a great weekend and I had a great time paddling with Paul and Warren again. The drive back to Richmond started at 10:00 that night and was restful, though still long and we were exhausted.
Have fun at the Armada and make sure LOTS of pics are taken, and please leave a somewhat postive impression on the good folks who live and work in Westernport. They were pretty freaked by us last year (something about Kalin wanting to eat a Zamboni).
KNeal
I didn’t think I could go so deep or be sucked out of the Zwo (I’m there pretty tight) but BN has proven that wrong. I just happy it was a user friendly level!! 
. That was awesome! When I saw where you were in the rapid, I knew EXACTLY what was going to happen. Now I know how I must have looked from below the "Nasty", though on a smaller scale. You will really be able to throw that boat around (voluntarily) as you get more comfortable with that design. Yep, Warren does have big lungs and other anatomical features for purposely going into that hole, not once but TWICE! 
