C-Forum

Hey, ADAM (or anyone who knows!!);

If I took my slalom boat and added weight to it, could I make it a Semi-mystery-boat-for-a-day? Should I put the lead in the bow and stern, or in the middle? Do I set it up so that it is just barely underwater or barely floats? Or should I just Fuggeddabout such a Lame-butt attempt at mysterious-ness?
Thanks
RT

I doubt seriously that you would be able to sink a slalom boat unless it was really low cut and you were at a scary big seam. plus, they're 13 feet long...i'd say find a squirt, but i suppose its worth a try. as for balast, i'd vote middle.
-will

Yeh, I was afraid of that… Hey, maybe I'll just start IV-ing Ben and Jerry's and sink my Medieval; that sounds like a lot more fun, anyway!
Thanks Cosmik;
RT

I am not sure how big you are and how much you sink the medieval, however it is possible to sink plastic boats at some big pourover type spots such as Flipper on the Ocoee. I don't know what you have available out west as far as features like that though. Mysteries are incredible and addictive though. I have an acrobat which i have a hard time getting good mysteries in, however i'm starting to figure it out. I got my first descent mystery yesterday in my friends k-1 angst with handpaddles and it is really awesome. Another great way to enjoy downtime is to just jump into the seam and fly around in the whirlpools. I was playing around at a seem this weekend with goggles and handpaddles and was able to stay under for like 15 seconds. You can curl up in a ball and just roll along the riverbed if its clean, quite a bit of fun. Whatever mode you choose, I hope you have a safe and fun time enjoying the underworld.
will

Yep, I concur about the boat choice for mystery moves. You are going to need a boat with a lot less volume and length. Most composite mystery move boats are anywheres from 7-11 feet in length. The boat volume is cut down so much that really good squirt boats barely maintain any semblance of bouyancy. . As I understand the math, the volume that you have inside the boat (in liters) is to equal the weight of you with your paddling gear and the boat (in kilograms). That will put that top of the boat at water level. Example: 100 liters in the boat will provide 0 bouyance for a boater, gear, and boat weighing 100 kilograms. You can work the conversions to English increments. Naturally, if you want to be more on the surface, then you will add more volume to the boat. Hmm, I wonder how accurate that is?

I wonder if anyone has done successful and controlled mystery moves in a plastic boat? Some day, I WILL get another Atom, cut down the foam bulkheads, and squeeze out as much volume out of it as I can and see if I can turn THAT boat into a true squirt boat. Right after I get that glass Viper...

KNeal

Thanks everyone for the help!
I got to thinking about this because the last time that I was out paddling I had a "Mystexperience".
And it was in my Nittany valley "Leisure slalom boat" ; '75 John Sweet design, chopped from 13 to 11 feet and with a bubbled top deck to be more of a river runner. It was on a class 2-3 run. At a ledge, I went over and into the wave below it and just kept sinking as I came out the other side. It was just a really cool feeling to feel the current affect the top deck instead of the bottom, and to "Dive" down to my armpits and then submarine back up to the surface. I've been in this situation a few times in an open boat, when the water completely engulfed the hull, but this time you got the feeling that if you knew what to do, you had numerous possibilities as opposed to just hanging on and trying to brace your way to calm water.
I figured that it was just a freak occurrence, but since my slalom boat has less volume, I thought that I would ask.
It was fun and a half, though.
The goggles sound like a cool idea….
Thanks again;
RT

Sorry about the delay in the response my cyber-boating pal, but I've been working too hard again! Anyway, you can do "squirt" moves in almost any boat, provided you have the right conditions (such as those you describe). That said, you're not really going to truely have a controlled mystery move experience...for that you will need a lower volume boat (chop the slalom ). For a bit of fun that is A LOT of work, put foam or air bags in your bow and stern, and fill the rest with water. You can tweak your volume to make sure its about right by adjusting the air or foam. Mind you, that is A LOT of weight to be moving around, so make sure you're in a really safe spot, and not too tired .

I really like Cosmik Debris ideas on floating around solo, personally...I just need to find a spot I can do that! It sounds REALLY cool .

Ric, since you mentioned about submarining under waves, it recalls times when I have had my Atom submerged underwater for more than just several seconds.

On the Upper Yough at Cheeseburger, I didn't know which side of the drop to run, so I just went down the middle and then, BLUB ! I'm up to my armpits with the water level. My boat was still down there sitting pretty flat and surfaced slowly.

On the New River Gorge around 6.7-6.8 feet at Thread the Needle, I splatted the boulder, slid down the right side, flipped upside down, struggled to roll up, finally muscled/wrenched the boat back upright (allowing me to breathe again), and realized that my boat was still several feet under water ! I apparently was working to roll upright in the middle of a whirlpool--which is kinda difficult I have to admit .

There have been times this past summer on the James River in Richmond at very high water when I was front surfing a wave when the nose of the boat pearled underwater . I found under some of these waves, I was able to keep the boat level and not dive too deep and continue to front surf the wave . Pretty cool to surf underwater.

All of this was in my plastic Atom. Can anybody else recall similar situations?

KNeal

In Jimi Snyder's "Squirt Book", he describes a sort of submarine surf mode - he calls it "clueing" (sp), I think. I think with a low enough volume boat, you can have the whole thing submerged. Usually for me it is just the bow, and then typically with a longer boat and a steeper wave.

Hi Guys

Please be careful messing around with whirlpools and seams outside your boat. One of the female competitors was doing that (without pfd too) at the World Rodeo Champs in NZ and drowned (I don't recall more details). She was a squirt boater I believe too, so should have had a pretty good idea of using the water to resurface..... not to be a wet blanket, but be careful where you choose to do it.

Matt