Young Adam Clawson and others in '85 slalom Nationals.

[ezwater]

Here are some old shots of the 1985 Nationals. Hope they don't choke the server.

Davey Hearn had just won the Worlds, and was in top form. But I'm posting mainly to share old photos of Adam Clawson.

The Nanty is really too easy for a Nationals, but the course was as challenging as they could make it. Note the red and green poles. It's fun to watch really good people compete on an easy course, because the best are not fighting gigantic turbulence and are really hammering.

Note the c-1 slalom design evolution. Low rocker, bows and sterns vertically slim with lots of side-slice. By the '96 Olympics, sterns were slimmer and cocked up. Bows were fuller with rails.

Jon Lugbill didn't do the way he wanted at the Worlds, and didn't attend. McCewan and Ford were there, though. McCewan (sp?) was the steadiest, the most efficient. Kent Ford was flashy but still fast. Davey Hearn just hammered his way to a win.

Davey Hearn clearing the Falls on his first run.


slalom4 by ezwater, on Flickr


Was this move really necessary? Kent Ford pleasing the crowd.


slalom3 by ezwater, on Flickr


Composites guru John Sweet was extremely efficient.


slalom9 by ezwater, on Flickr


Adam Clawson clears the Falls on his first run.


slalom10 by ezwater, on Flickr


Shots from Adam's second run. Note how the little guy twists to cross stroke his boat back on course.


slalom18 by ezwater, on Flickr


slalom19 by ezwater, on Flickr


slalom20 by ezwater, on Flickr


"Anybody seen where my roll went?"


slalom1 by ezwater, on Flickr

[pblanc]

Cool pictures. It must have been a great show.

It is Jamie and Tom McEwan, by the way. Don't want to get those Scots in an uproar.

[ezwater]

Yeah, I struggled to remember "McEwan," but was too lazy to look it up. You know how us old people are about names......

[John Coraor]

Now there's a blast from the past! '85 was the last Nationals at which my wife and I competed in C-2M. Although we entered the race as the reigning National Champions, Dana Chladek teamed up with Dave Paton to push us to second in '85. I remember watching Adam in particular as he was a very young up & coming paddler at the time.

BTW: Gates had both red & green poles for the same reason that both bow and stern ends were very slicey - reverse gates were still very much a part of slalom in '85 and it was necessary to be able to sneak both ends in order to execute fast reverse gates. The fifth shot of ezwater's post (in which he remarks on how "the little guy twists" during Adam's second run), actually shows Adam in danger of receiving a 50 second penalty for negotiating gate 17 (a downstream) gate while still reversed. I don't recall what the outcome was for that run, but you can see that Adam is still reversed just above the gate and trying desperately to spin so that he has positive downstream direction before he enters the gate in order to avoid the 50.

I recall that the transition from 16 to 17 had some unexpected surprises, which may account for Adam being out of position. The move wasn't particularly difficult, in fact it was deceptively easy, which was the root of the problem. During their single non-stop practice runs (something else that has since disappeared from slalom), several racers who moved too aggressively from river right to river left going from 16 to 17 got captured by the backwash of the sticky little hole to the river left of 16 and above 17. The lucky ones managed to scramble back on line, but quite a few got sucked with amazing speed up to the top of the hole and were immediately Maytagged. The hole doesn't look like much, but it was quite steep and retentive, qualities that I become very intimately familiar with on my C-1 practice run. I was one of the lucky ones and managed to maintain enough momentum to scoot across the hole on my cross with the boat up on its off-side seam and grab a piece of the downstream jet on the far side before I was completely window shaded. I understand that the crowd found my antics quite entertaining, but all I knew at the time was that the move resulted in the most intense adrenaline rush of my entire racing career. I still dream about that move and powering through the subsequent 5-6 gates on the strength of the rush.

John

[pblanc]

Yeah, the top hole at Nantahala Falls is deceptively sticky. In making the move from "Micro Eddy" (a very small eddy on the river left bank just above the main drop) to "Macro Eddy" (the eddy downstream of the big river right rock behind and just downstream of Davey Hearn in the first photo) you need to cross over the foam pile on the backwash of that hole.

Last year a buddy of mine trying the Micro to Macro move for the first time got a little too aggressive and got sucked right up into the hole and windowshaded.

[overthehill]

Great pictures!

[KNeal]

Thank you for sharing those memories, EZ. I had not realized just how long Adam had been racing.

[sbroam]

The Hearn picture is awesome.

The Ford picture - necessary? maybe not, but it looks fun!

The 2nd Clawson picture is my favorite - look at that reach and commitment!

My avatar pic is from a race through the Falls, a Glacier Breaker maybe? Can't remember the year, I'd guess late 90's. My boat started leaking somewhere in the first 3 gates of my first run after a pivot turn that was unadvisedly deep (though fun!) - I rolled at least twice my first run. My attempt at duct taping the break was ineffective and my second run involved an almost constant bow up angle and 5 or more rolls - it's challenging to paddle fast when you are laughing...

[icyone]

Re: 1985 Worlds..

Not generally known, but Jon Lugbill actually tripped & took a fall while running a day or two before the race, beating up his shoulder pretty badly. Despite frantic PT-type efforts, according to those involved he was still feeling the effects at race time but gave it every possible bit. It says a lot about Jon's character that I have never heard or heard of him ever referring to this incident in any way whatsoever; so far as I am aware it was only known to a very few who were there. And Jon, Davey, and Kent won in the team race. But in fact, Jon (and some of the other "purple people" as well) rarely went to the Nationals -- they were so totally focussed on the WC's that anything after that was just anti-climactic and off the radar. I don't believe Jon was skipping the 85 Nationals in a sulk over Augsburg -- it was just not on his horizon. It could be argued that it detracted from the Nationals when team members and in particular WC medalists skipped the race, but there weren't things like press releases, sponsors, etc in those days, either.

1985 was a bad year for others as well -- altho the US C-2's did salvage a medal in the team race (the Halli, the Harri and (Mike) Garvis & Huey), the Halli bombed in the individuals. All in all it was a bit anti-climactic.

[clt_capt]

Adam was surprising a lot of people with his "tigermax C1" - An ultra cut down ultramax. At age 10 he was capable of things most of us only dream of...

John Sweet looks good on that run - he spent a bunch of time getting recirculated in the top hole a few days earlier - not a happy camper...

[ezwater]

I have more pictures of that race, if anyone is interested. Lemme know.