C2 Trials Footie...

[knu2xs]

C2 is always a visually spectacular class. This year's team trials was no exception. Issac, your new boat is shown seeing some action in here.

[sbroam]

Wow. I don't think I have seen as many C-2 rolls ever as I did in that 3:40 minute clip. And that boat negotiating a gate *and* an abandoned boat!

[Helly]

n/t

[Paddle Power]

loved it!

[bearboater]

Joel, remember my comment about the first video? this one is just as scary... thanks for psyching me up for C2 at Charlotte.
-isaac

[John Coraor]

Awesome C-2 footage!! Makes me nostalgic for when my wife and I competed (although we never had to contend with a course as tough as Charlotte).

I thought the Beijing Express (Rick Powell & Casey Eichfeld in the orange "creamsicle") looked particularly sharp. Even their most noticeable bobble - the roll in the upstream - was gutsy with Casey doing a cross roll from the stern instead of one of them switching sides (faster, but riskier).

Thanks for sharing.

John

[Alden]

Wow, Cathy had told me there were some "C-2 bloopers" but that was the only class I didn't watch until the final run of the final day. Now I wish I had - that's definitely the fun class to watch! I can't believe that with those guys going for an up with an empty boat floating around, and those other guys blowing their skirt in gate 4! The fun class!

Thanks for videos, Joel.
Alden

[bearboater]

alden, how come you didn't compete this year?
and was it a blown skirt, or a broken bow off the side of the course? I couldn't tell, a blown skirt makes more sense now after looking at it again.
Skaal
-isaac

[knu2xs]

It was a blown skirt. I think they pitoned one of the movable obstacles up top, and came down the flume with the front skirt off.

[Alden]

Isaac,

I did race, although in C1, not C2. Yes, those guys pitoned at the top, which blew the bow guy's skirt. Then they went down the flume and . . . as shown. I didn't see it, but they told me about it after the fact.

Joel, where can I obtain video of all the C-1s for all three days? I'm curious to see if my 50 the first day was bogus or for real (probably real).

It was pretty cool not only to race, but also to witness all the men's kayaks dueling it out at the end. Some definite heartbreak for some, some definite relief for others.

The Dickerson race was so much harder than Charlotte this year.

I find the bottom drop at Charlotte way easier to run when I have gates to guide me, for some reason. I always do better then than when I'm just cruising it (when it tends to make me tippy in the entrance). Strange.

Charlotte's the only place I've paddled where warming up is almost more fun than racing. Same with cooling down. The wilderness channel is better than most race courses and half of the rivers I've ever run.

Looking forward to lots of summer sessions at Charlotte.
Alden