A couple of weeks ago, my wife asked me if I would take a white water kayaking class with a friend of mine. Turns out, his wife wanted to surprise him with a 2 day class for Father’s Day hosted by White Water Learning Center of Georgia but he needed somebody to go with him. I’ve spent a dozen + years on the water in small boats but never had a chance to do any white water kayaking so I agreed.

It was a blast. We spent the morning on the first day at Lake Ackworth learning the basics of self-recovery. That is, what to do when you roll over and end up upside down in the water. It sounds simple but with the splash skirt and knee braces locking you into the kayak, it doesn’t take much to panic if anything slows you down during the escape maneuver. It was unnerving for some of the class at first but I didn’t have any trouble with it (I’ve been around water all my life). After a full morning of roll-overs we broke for lunch and a break on shore and then jumped right back into the basics of boat control and stroke techniques with the paddle. It’s harder than it looks. Most white water kayaks are designed with flat hulls – no skegs, daggers, rudders or Vs to help you track straight on a power stroke. So until you figure out the nuances of paddle control, you spend a lot of time taking one or two power strokes and then wrestle with preventing a 180/360 spin. Current helps but it’s still really easy to loose your track if you aren’t careful and consistent. Long-time paddlers make it look effortless. It’s not. Balance, edge control and foot pressure also come into play but most of my concentration was on the stroke.

The following day we loaded up the trailer for a 2.5 hour drive north on Interstate 441 to Dillsboro, N.C. There is a really nice section of the Tuckasegee River that has some great class I-II rapids and is perfect for beginners. We put in at a park downtown and spent the next 4.5 hours making our way downstream for 5.5 miles to the take-out spot. All-in-all I had a great time. I even got a chance to practice a self-recovery drill when I flipped after I botched a peel-out attempt (peel-outs are when you want to exit an eddy and continue on downstream).

Taking photos was tough because I spent most of my time making sure I didn’t loose my paddle (or flip) so the ones I did take are half-hearted attempts at documenting the trip during brief moments of rest. There was a professional photographer at one of the rapids and he got some great shots of our class going through one of the rapids. Our set starts at 007-01 and ends at 007-26. I’m 007-02 through 007-06.

Note: I have no idea why the elevation track shows a 200ft gain at the 3 mile marker – we spent the entire day on the river and didn’t port once.

Tuckasegee River