Charlotte WW park & Nat'ls rumors

[eddyhops]

I don't wanna say what I've heard, because rumors are ugly.

Does anyone have any beta on the state of the Committee, opinions of the Committee, or the WW park itself at this time?

[maryfromkansas]

I have been getting updates from one of the committee members and they have a link to Keech's website outlining the information available: http://users.bestweb.net/~keech/oc-2006i.htm

It has information about the waterpark's construction progress as well as information on registering for the event (forms are not available at this time).

It sounds like we will have access to the waterpark facility but we won't be allowed to camp there as originally discussed. That means looking for a campground or camping in a motel (that sounds the easiest). The closest campgrounds are about 20 miles away that will handle tenters. If someone knows a closer-decent campground for tenter's, please post. If someone knows a good place to get a motel or cabin in that area, please post as well.

Wayne Dickert and Scott Shipley are planning the gate sequence for the nationals. I have heard that they may not use the competition channel originally designed for slalom events because it may be too steep for open boats for slalom competition. I want to say that this is not official so this can change as well. At any rate, I plan to run both channels while I am there and see what happens.

I have the time scheduled off from work, but have not made definitive plans for travel since I am waiting to see if the park will be finished and what other details emerge.

It should be an interesting gathering of a lot of open boaters from the southeast and across the country, Canada and Japan. It will be an 18 hour drive for me and I just plan to head to the Ocoee for a couple of days of warmup before heading to Charlotte on Monday or Tuesday.

Besides getting to see a lot of good open boaters the major draw for me is not having to portage my canoe to the top.......

[John Coraor]

There has been some discussion about this on the Slalom section of the Northeast Paddlers Message Board (NPMB). Connie Miner, the race co-chair has a very different perspective on the event than what Keech is posting on his web site. You can see the thread at http://www.npmb.com/cms2/forum_viewtopic.php?26.46476.

John

[maryfromkansas]

It is good to see a link to different information but I thought Keech's site was relaying the official information. It seems pretty innocuous in just linking to news reports and what information there is available. I don't think a delay in opening day for the whitewater site means that an August event won't happen unless there is a major catastrophe.

I want to go to the event because I am curious about the whitewater park and getting a chance to paddle in it. Also getting to meet a lot of good open boaters and watching them compete is an attraction. But until the registration forms become available on a website (any website) I am not getting too excited.

I would think making reservations at a nearby hotel is a safe undertaking since they can be cancelled up to 24 hours in advance without a penalty.

[John Coraor]

It depends upon where you look on Keech's web site. He also has a section that complains about the lack of on site camping at the Nationals. I think that this may be what Connie is, in part, trying to address.

In any event, Connie seems confident that the event will happen as planned.

John