Eli doing wavewheel in Spark off Short Creek Falls

[Wendy]

http://tonydiliberto.smugmug.com/galler ... #139348477
These were taken at NAWFest in Alabama. SHort Creek Falls.

[Scott R]

That is impressive!

I have a question about Short Creek Falls. I talked to someone a few weeks ago that said the falls are runnable pretty much year round, is this true?

[Wendy]

I don't run them, but maybe Phil canoe will respond. The guys tell me you can run it yearround (the falls), not the entire creek.

[Dooleyoc-1]

Thanks for posting this. I hope people realize how sick this is. That is probably one of the coolest freestyle moves ever pulled off in an open canoe.

I would say Eli was the first person to freewheel an open boat. Hearing about him doing it in an 11'+ boat inspired me to start trying them in my spanish fly, but doing them in the big boat is truly awesome.

[Wendy]

Eli is such a great guy! Gary Holder and I demoed the Vertige X in the Locust Fork Race recently thanks to Eli having his trailer full of demos. We won second- our first time to ever paddle together. Eli suggested Gary in the bow- what fun!
http://kayakusa.smugmug.com/gallery/2626963#138671093

[Heidi]

Hey Dooley or anyone, care to share any technique commentary, like what's going on in that series of shots...thanks

[Dooleyoc-1]

Normally on a waterfall you take a boof stroke. On a freewheel you do the opposite. In the first pic you see Eli leaning back and planting a reverse sweep stoke right before he goes off the waterfall. You will see that instead of being flat he has the boat tilted to the side that he wants to freewheel to (his paddle side).

Next he does a cartwheel motion to his onside while pushing down on his paddle (and the boat is alread tilted that way). The result is an aerial cartwheel (or freewheel) off the waterfall. In a perfect freewheel you would do a 180 off the waterfall landing upright facing upstream into the waterfall.

[bald1]

If you are going to try it this is probably the friendliest 20 footer you will find.

That is probably one of the coolest open boat moves I have ever seen. Just awsome. Really puts into perspective how weak my skills are.

[the great gonzo]

Man, that just shows me (again) how mediocre my boating skills are...

martin a.k.a. the great gonzo!

[philcanoe]

That is impressive!

I have a question about Short Creek Falls. I talked to someone a
few weeks ago that said the falls are runnable pretty much year
round, is this true?

unfortunately it only runs like the rest of the southeast (nov-april);
however it will go when everything else is gone, including the rest
of the run...in fact that's true of these pictures...it was way too low
for the rest of the creek

good description Dooley...only thing I'd add is that usually you
initiate the move by leaning back, and lifting the bow...this will help
add a little more when throwing down the bow...weight the stern,
then unload (AT LEAST THAT's WHAT I'M TOLD)..added to all of what
Dooley said

this was not Eli's best, he threw some really BOOMING Loud ones
on a run last year, when we had better water... you could come off
more center, making the drop a few feet taller...perhaps the most
impressive part was the height he was getting above the falls...all
the decked boats looked good, but at nearly 12 ft the stern of the
Spark was towering above the drop..not to mention Eli being on top
of the water and not in it (as a on edge decked boat is)

[Heidi]

thanks for the detailing...now I'm thinking of features where it would be favorable to attempt to learn that...

[philcanoe]

(I've been TOLD) it's best to learn rock spins first, this will help
with getting part of the necessary mechanics

[Detonator Function]

Those are sweet pictures! Love seeing a canoeist rocking the house! I believe he was 4th in that comp, right? Amazing.

Interesting, Eli told me to start rock spinning in my super fly whenever I could. I wonder what he was thinking....

[Randy Dodson]

A friend and I were coming home through Alabama a couple of days ago and he wanted to go run Short Creek Falls which he's done before in his Zephyr. I was planning on running it also but when we got there he said he didn't want to run it because of the low level. I thought it was doable on the left side but decided not to run it since he was somewhat familiar with the falls and I wasn't.
So is the left side still pretty safe when the middle and right side are definitely too low?

[philcanoe]

yes, as long as you can slide off

there is a little undercut on the left bank, a little care should be taken; however there's not much push at the lower levels