Lower Yough,4-30-06 Trip report

[squeakyknee]

The day started in the back of my truck, slightly hung over from the beer and pork from the night before.The smell of more pork awoke me,and the cold breeze made me pray that my gear was dry from the day before.
On Saturday I decided to paddle the Wheelboy on the Lower Yough to see how it does as a playful river runner.I have not until now found a C-1 that I could throw around well.All the conversions I've ever paddled were erased from memory after Saturday.
I absolutely love the Wheelboy! Now that I have finally gotten the outfitting straight,It's actually comfortable(for about an hour,and the a 5 min. break)
I had no problems ferrying and negotiating anything.Unfortunatley I was worn out from nearly constant cartwheel and squirts for the first half of the run and only caught Swimmers on the fly for a brief second.Plus the eddy service sucked cause it was @ 3.3ft
Sunday,after the pork and java,I ran into PAC at the put-in.
I was in my Zephyr,and we talked about it for awhile.He was in his Wheelboy which almost made me wish I wasn't to sore to paddle it again.
The Zephyr was wonderful on the Yough. At the second large hole from the putin I was trying to skirt the two holes and the eddy out to see how they looked today.Being a little too close to my buddy Peaches,He went to catch the tongue and try to surf it.As soon as he pivoted,he saw me coming full speed,but couldn't do much about it.So I dumped right into the meet of the hole and hoped for the best.I got aruond to my onside,the off,then on.I could spin,but not escape.Thinking about how bad it would be to burn out before even getting to Entrance,I considerd swimming for a second,and the finally got close enough to the togue to pivot out.
Wew,that was exhausting,and I'm only 1/20th into this trip.
Luckily,after that I decided on no hole play until Swimmers
After a couple more rapids I ran across a beach full of fellow openboaters.I looked over at them looking at me and knew I had to go say hi.Plus I figured they wanted to check out the Zephyr.
After a little demo session my group headed on down thruogh Dimple to Swimmers.The rocks were covered with those trying to soak up some heat,or just cool off from playing.I stuck the Zeph in Swimmers and it slid in like,well,never mind,I felt GOOD.That boat surfs like nobody's business.I caught a wicked backsurf for a few seconds and realized I was pooped.Shading out of the hole I rolled up and over to the rocks to enjoy my lunch and watch the fun.
Pac and a friend asked to paddle the Zeph,and went to surf the tail waves.I won't spill the beans,but they looked like they had a good time
I'm awfull with names but I do remember Motorcityoc-1,and of course PAC.Please forgive me for not remebering the rest of ya'lls names,hopefully I'll get another chance at the Armada.
I noticed PAC and Motorcity have boats up for sale,Hmmm
Hey PAC,I never did find the Idiot that blew that whistle.
Shawn

[PAC]

Shawn good to paddle with you and your pod on Sunday. Funny how out of all that noise at the put in I heard "Wheel Boy", which got my attention and then I saw the Zephyr. Which is outfitted nicely (although a bit on the weighty side and TIGHT to get in).
No problem on the whitle blower... we all got a good laugh at folks worrying about me swimming at "Swimmers".... heck I'm on a first name basis with most of the fish in the pool below the hole and the wave trains. But Rock and Big Al did "worry" about me the rest of the run making sure I understood at each rapid that they didn't have their whistles.
I enjoyed the Zephyr finding it fast edge to edge and having good secondary stability and better primary stability than Big Als Zoom. It surfs nicely and although I didn't nail the roll (my bad since I wasn't locked in - man you had it set up tight - and had only the thigh block for leverage) I sort of had it....sort of!!!. If you count a couple "carps" for air as "sort of"!
And yes both MC and I have boats for sale (check out the for sale section)!
Stay in touch and see you at the Armada! Also let me know next time your in the area and we'll hook up to see what else is running.
Paul C.

PS: Love the shuttle mobile!

[ohioboater]

I was out there on Sunday, too. Early start - around 9:40. We had the river to OURSELVES almost the entire way. Such a rarity for the LY when the weather is warm and the water is at a nice level.

One of my K1 friends remarked that, while I was setting shuttle, he had never seen so many open boats on vehicles. But we didn't see any on the water. Heck, we hardly saw anyone - had swimmers to ourselves for a good hour.

If it's any consolation, I swam at swimmers, too. Looks like my OC roll remains in the party trick stage - 100% in the pool, 20% or so when it counts.

[squeakyknee]

(although a bit on the weighty side and TIGHT to get in).

Yeh,I'm working on a lighter and smaller battery set-up after checking out others boats on Sunday.And I would like to replace that heavy vinyl perception float bag with a light weight nylon one.
Heck,I was just happy that outfitted with all my gear it weighed the same as my Nitro empty with no pump.But I guess I could lighten her up a 'little' more.

[aargh]

I note that the original post refers several times to pork. Whilst visiting Ohiopyle, my pals and I have been known to consume upwards of 5 different forms of pork in a single day, particularly if it's Buckwheat Fest weekend.

I thought the overconsumption of pork in Ohiopyle was peculiar to us!

Aargh!