C-Forum

Hi,
my name is Rob (Kalifornia Kid) and I am hosting the 2004 Open Canoe Slalom National Championships. A lot of people I know are asking questions about it on this site, so I decided to write this post, which is a basic guideline to what I know so far.

The Nats will be held at Upper Savage Rapids on the Klamath River in Northern California. If anyone has an Atlas that lists 'don't blink you'll miss it towns' the closest town is called Happy Camp (10 miles). The event will be held on July 9-11th with warm-up days the 6th through the 8th. Or maybe the 5th through the 8th.
The water will be (probably) between sixty-five and seventy-five degrees. Wetsuits will not be required. The air will (again, probably) be between 90 and 100 degrees. You'll be spending lots of time in the water, trust me on this. Bring sunscreen, sunglasses, and shade. That aside, the nights are beautiful, the river stays on all night so if anyone wants to do the late-night swim thing feel free. And the mornings are quite cool, so bring polypro or sweats.
We plan to kick off the event with a joint concert/river lightshow on Friday Night while the boaters work through the course under neon. Open to anyone, with any kind of boat. The spectator area is really good for this event, the crowd will be about five feet from the edge of the river, and there will probably be a good turnout. This part of the event is NOT set in stone, and may or may not happen depending on whether or not we can get the equipment to do it. It would be a lot of fun though. Also, there will be a professional photographer on hand to catch you in all your glory each day. As for me, I'd just as soon he pointed the camera somewhere else.
Saturday Night before/after the mandatory meeting we will be having a salmon dinner hosted by the Karuk Tribe, who will barbeque salmon in thier traditional Indian fashion. Lots of fun, and even people who don't like fish will like this. I think the pow-wow style storytelling while the meal is prepared is optional, but again, it is a lot of fun, and you don't have to into history to enjoy it.
There is lots of parking, lots of camping, and several good lodges within a very reasonable drive from the race site. I will fill in anyone who wishes to know with more exact details, just leave me a message attached to this post, I will be checking it often.
The walk back up from the take out to the put-in is level, wheels will work (for those sissies who need wheels, hehehe just kidding) and all in all will be even easier than the trail at Minden...which was pretty slick.
The downriver part of the combined race will be 2-5 miles of very busy class II-III water. The length there will depend on how long we want to make it, lots of access points. It is a very fun section of water.
There are going to be a lot of western boaters out here attending, so it will be a good chance to meet new people and make new friends.
As soon as I have the Forest Service permit in my hands, which should be within the next 48 hours, I plan to send out flyers with more details and pictures of the race site. (I couldn't apply for the permit until Jan 1, and then the FS insisted that the ACA obtain it, so that took some time) Also, a web-site will be going up.
There are a number of other ideas being knocked around, having to do with sponsor booths, sponsor's, having the Lions club or someone similar around to serve REAL food at the site at lunchtime, water/gatorade for racers, BEER at the takeouts, etc, etc, and henceforth. None of that is final yet so I can't say one way or another. I'll let anyone who wants to know about it as soon as I can.
Also, a final note, we are still looking for a course designer. Are you interested Mr. Kaz?
Thanks for reading, please email me any questions, and I hope that lots and lots and lots of people come.

Rob
Kalifornia Kid

Hi Rob,
Thanks for the update. Yes I'll design the course for you one one condition, or should I say 6 conditions.
JKaz

Rob,
Thanks for the info. I booked a flight last week. Now I have to convince John to carry a "Non Millbrook" boat out. Yeah, its a Stinkray. Yet to be made as a matter of fact. Does Redding have a Rent-A-Wreck or other such cheap car rental place? I'm taking the cheap flight to Sacrem and a bus to Redding. I need to save money for those six item things Kaz was talking about. What will he find (what will find him) to top his other course set up adventures. Will it be a Moose(ME), a Rock(MA) or maybe a Lady?
Looking forward to gold in them thar hills.
Pat Cleary

Pat! Glad to hear that you are coming out. Yeah, Redding is actually the biggest town on the West Coast north of Sacramento and south of Portland. That's about 600 miles I think. It has about 100,000 people, little by Cali standards, but lots of places to rent cars. Are you flying into Redding? We do have an airport, although it is sometimes hard to get into here as it is kinda small. About a third the size of Sacramento's airport. While I'm on the subject, if people are flying, you could look into Redding, which is about 2 and a half hours from the site, or Medford, OR, which is about an hour and a half. If not, I'd fly into Sacramento or Portland.
Looking forward to seeing John packing a non-Millbrook boat.

Kalifornia Kid

Oops, I forgot to mention something. If people are shipping thier boats, and wish to ship them to Redding, I have two 10-boat trailers here at home, and I would be willing to transport or arrange transport for them from Redding to the race site.
Thanks again
Kalifornia Kid

Rob,

Sounds like your busy (been there) and things are going well. I sent out an email to all the OC'ers on my list to check the forum (here) about Nationals updates as the "Keech-machine" seems inactive. Pat, John have you heard anything else from the locals in your neck-o-the-woods? Rob.. Check with Bob & Jill as well for their email list for contact information as subtle suggestions (SPAM) might help. Buh-Bye!

Thanks Craig, I appreciate it, and I already have a list of addresses from Bob and Jill, but apparantly they weren't collecting emails since they didn't give me any. I'll have to snail-mail the flyers. Incidentally, of all the things that Pat listed that might be likely for Kaz to find, a lady would probably be a lot higher on the list than a moose in Cali. Girls come along every 2 minutes, depending on traffic. Just kidding ladies. And, of course, we do have lots of rocks.

Kalifornia Kid

Kalifornia Kid,

Sounds like your planning is going well. I look forward to coming out to CA. So what are the 6 things Kaz requested?

For folks driving west, I'd like to offer to host a warm-up event in Golden, CO. I can set up lots of offsets to get ready for a Kaz desinged course.

If anyone is interested in stopping in Colorado on the way west, let me know and I'll set something up.

Jeff

Hey Jeff, good to know that you're coming out. And Thanx for offering people help on the long drive out to Cali. As for the six things that Kaz requested, that's a good question, and I don't know the answer. HEY KAZ! What are the six things you requested? I didn't want to ask before for fear of feeling left out of the loop, but now that someone else did, I'll ask. What are the six things? Six boats, six rocks, six shooters, double six dice, six girls? Let me know dude.
Kalifornia Kid

Its just got to be six upstream gates, All in a row no less.

it's BEER man, BEER !!! Do I have to spell it out for you?
B-E-E-R
Joking with ya Rob.
JKaz

Right, that's easy. One six pack of beer, and six upstream gates in a row. No problem. The beer sounds great, the six gates almost sounds like work though! Oh well, a small price to pay.
Kalifornia Kid

And we can rename that course section of Upper Savage Rapid "Kaz's Six Pack"!

Rob,
I'm talkin' California beer, not any of that bud-lighter-than -piss-water stuff.
JK

Hello out there in forum land. I just registered, but want to find out if I am doing this correctly before I start posting.
Can anybody out there read this? If so, please answer back. This way I will know I am not wasting my time. Thanks.
SYOTR, Fraz