C-Forum

I'm curious how many if any are planningto be at the Friday Night Fun Series opening competition tomorrow night.

http://ascikingoftheriver.com

Will there be enough for a dedicated OC-1 Freestyle class?

i'll have my skeeter up there, so that's 1. I need 3 more , any takers?

Nathan

I thought about it but the 2.5 hr ride sort of put a block on it - as far as a planned event.
I'm hoping the kid bugs me and we make the trip for at least one of them. Looks like it could be a lot of fun!
Oh and good luck!!! If you have to go one-on-one with the yaks make us proud! Or at least put the fear of the single blade on them!
Paul C.

Wish I could be there- but I left my OC in Canada after worlds, and I'm headed back up there tomorrow for a few weeks.

I get a bad taste in my mouth when people want to charge me to paddle. I can understand state run park fees and shuttle buses. I can even tolerate said state officials colecting fees at our park to use in other state run parks and support the officials salaries that work in Pitt or Philly. The ethics of corporations profiting from a sport that utilises the rights of americans to access it,s countries waterways seems fundamentaly flawed. I saw a recent response from their PR guy to public cryticism, Jesse was fairly illiterate ( i should talk) had his facts wrong and was very combative. On a more conceptual note , being trapped in a concrete culvert with a pack of rafts sounds inherently dangerous to me. Coarse concrete paddleing surfaces is not my kind of fun. $15 to paddle with a pack of rafts so some fat cat can justify a multi million dollar salary. If i want to suport large corporations i can go to 7-11 or Mcdonalds. I,m sorry the lower Yough is still prefferable. to this place. I paddle to be in natural settings, challenge myself and get away from people and congestion. Theme parks ACCCCCK. JIM

I'm not going to defend Jessie's high n mighty postings over on BT at all because he did hurt his own cause....

I went to ASCI yesterday to drop off a bunch of DragoRossi demo boats and I feel that I should tell you guys a little bit about my own experience there.

First thing I noticed was that ASCI seems to be hiring a whole bunch of boaters, people like former US slalom team members Nancy Beakes (K1W) and Matt Taylor (C2) to work in executive positions. I've known both of them for a few years now and can say that they are postitive and energetic people who typically generate good feelings and get people psyched to paddle. I also noticed that Brian Homberg is heavily involved with the place. He was the one tweaking the play feature last minute before the competition.

As for the competition. It was a fun event. Big enough to be worth it. Small enough to be manageable and fun. There was one guy there in an OC1 and he got the loudest cheers from the crowd.

I took a bunch of pictures. Here is the first set that focuses on the four different adjustable play features that they have.
http://totalwhitewaterfun.blogspot.com/ ... tures.html
There is much more to the water course that these four features and I'll post my photos of other parts at the beginning of next week.

The whole course is pushy and fun. It's worth the $15 to paddle all day. I wouldn't go there for just one hour, but the money for paddling all day is ok. Quite honestly, I think it's probably best used for a day when you still want to get on the water but have some family obligations. I saw lots of ww boaters putting their family members on rafts while they did some private boating.

I reserve my final judgement about the place for now, but I am keeping in mind that it already exists as well as the fact that I'd prefer to see some sort of water ride that tailors to private boaters and more closely mimicks an actual river instead of those stupid things at Six Flags.

Ok. I just put up some more photos in a sequence that give you some idea of what this place is like to run.

http://totalwhitewaterfun.blogspot.com/ ... hotos.html