Chota Canoe Club February Newsletter

EDDY OUT

February 2015

Boat Building

Snow Patrol

Run the Salmon!

Jim Martin is up to it again, and this time we get an inside look at his latest project.

If you haven’t heard, there are a few members who like to play on frozen water.

Sign up to run the magical Middle Fork of the Salmon River on this 12 day bucket list trip!

Member Newsletter • Chota Canoe Club, Knoxville, Tennessee • paddlechota.org

EDDY OUT For your Calendar...

FEB

FEB

FEB

FEB

MAR

Roll Practice from 7 - 9pm at The University of Tennessee Pool in Knoxville, TN. Members only pay $5!

Wilderness First Aid/CPR class to be held February 6-7, 2014 in Knoxville, TN.

REEL Paddling Film Festival will be held Thursday February 19 in Asheville, NC, 6-10pm at Headwaters Outfitters.

Tickets are $20 at the door.

Click here for more information.

National Paddling Film Festival will be held February 20-21 at Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, KY. Tickets are $25.

Click here for more information

Last day to sign up with a discount for Middle Fork of the Salmon River Trip, scheduled for July 13-18, 2015.

Member Newsletter • Chota Canoe Club, Knoxville, Tennessee • paddlechota.org

A wee note from your editor...

Hey Kids!

I know you’ve been itching for you’re latest issue of the Chota Newsletter, and by golly here it is ladies and fellas!

Okay, so here we are...February, and as you’ll soon see a number of us have resorted to freezing our keesters off on frozen water between paddling trips.

Let’s see...Clear Creek has seen quite a bit of action, and the ice sculptures that nature has fashioned for our paddling trips have been really fascinating to see.

Oh, and one of the coolest things we’ll be bringing you over the next few months is a look at how to build a boat...a racing boat!

Well, I’m bored of telling you what this issue is about, so just jump into it already! See you on the slopes! (Yes...because I don’t have a dry suit quite yet.)

Rachel relise@me.com

NEED TO PUBLISH IN OUR NEWSLETTER???

Have a date that needs to be brought to everyone’s attention? Or a book you just wrote that could help us all find new rivers to paddle? Then let me know!

ALL information included in that months newsletter needs to be in to me by the 25th of the month!!!

Email your content to relise@me.com

Let’s make a boat.

by Rachel Elise

So back in September, after the untimely smash of my face upon a rock, this guy named Jim Martin who is apparently one of the ringleaders of the touring boaters, suggested I give flat water paddling a try. With my ego bruised I was jonesing to keep fit and not lose my new found paddling skills, but was honestly not exhilarated by the idea of paddling for hours on end without the rush of adrenaline inducing rapids. It was however, my only option at that point in the season, without a roll, and many other needed skills for whitewater...so, I figured, why not learn to do both. “It’s like hiking on water” they’d say. But that was like telling me to run a 5K. My thought was “are you kidding?!

I’ll probably die just trying to keep up!”, but little did I know that when Jim offered for me to use his extra boat that my likeness for touring paddling would only grow.

If you guessed “Helllllll to the yes!”, then you would be correct.

The plan is to take Jim’s new design for a racing boat and turn a pile of board and an idea into a water worthy vessel for his big race in May. The time line is crunched, and we are already underway on the forms and putting strips down on the bottom of the hull, but keep in mind this is a story that will continue over the next few months. You will be privy to the inner workings of boat making, and Jim will give you his take on this craft. This is after all his fifth boat to build!

Check out a few of the photos from the project so far on the next page.

The kicker here was that his boats were home made. It wasn’t a the craptacular project some weekend warrior would slop together with duct tape and call a boat, but a truly beautiful, well designed and executed seaworthy vessel. After a few paddling trips with Jim, and thankfully some tips to be more efficient with my energy (apparently this girl is an arm paddler) I started wondering...what about the design of the boats would make them go faster? How would you create the shape of vessel in wood to accommodate the physics involved to increase energy efficiency of the paddler? I began to generate a litany of questions to ask. Questions of which I probably bored Jim to death with on the rides to and from paddling trips.

Many of you know I’m a woodworker myself and have spent years in a shop building a house full of furniture, but a boat?

Now that was a new concept of woodworking and a challenge.

Then one day, unexpectedly, Jim simply asked if I wanted to learn how to make a boat. Yeah, I’ll let you figure out what my answer was.

In case you haven’t seen one of his boats before here is a photo I took from the cockpit on Santeetlah Lake.

At left are the two boats Jim made that we paddled on the Santeetlah trip.

Let’s make a boat. continued...

Once the contour lines of the boat are plotted in a 3D modeling program (left) the sections which make up the vessel shape are printed at full scale. Then the printed sheets are adhered to plywood and then cut out. (below) Here they are shown cut out and stacked in order. This view is as though you are looking at the boat from the stern.

The Cut sections are then mounted to a form (left & right) incrementally and adjusted until all of the sections are aligned and leveled.

Once the forms are mounted in place we began to rip the lumber into quarter inch thick strips thin enough to be tacked down to the forms and flex in shape.

You’ll have to wait until next month to see what that looks like.

Crystal Clear Creeking

by Angela Wood January 11, 2015 • Clear Creek • Jett to Nemo

I made the decision to kayak this weekend because La Dawn and I decided we needed to catch up. So, considering myself committed, I packed my gear and went to bed at a reasonable time.

I must admit that when I woke up early Sunday morning to be ready for the original meet up time of 9:00 AM in West Knoxville, I considered going back to bed. After much discussion the meet up time was changed to 11:00 AM at Nemo Bridge and I decided that sounded like a decent plan.

My phone informed me that it was supposed to be 50 degrees in Wartburg by the afternoon so I grabbed my stuff and told Scott I’d be home later. He seemed a little confused that I was actually going kayaking but didn’t ask too many questions.

We made it on the river by noon, but I quickly figured out why Scott was so confused. It is a well known fact that 50 degrees in Wartburg does not equate to 50 degrees in the canyon.

The eddies were frozen, the trees were frozen and by the end, I was frozen.

Luckily, a flask of whiskey made its way around in place of a lunch stop as it was too cold to leave our boats. A big thanks to that genius boater though!

Three hours later with one cracked boat, one combat roll and smiles all around, eight boaters finished the river completely amazed at the things we get to experience from our boats.

Thank you to Sarah Zimmerman for the photos and to Ashley Paquette, La Dawn Wolfe and Karl Whipp for the food, drinks and hospitality!

Puffy & Martin take the Lake

by Sean Coombs a.k.a. “Puffy”

De cember 29, 2014 • Cit ico • 800.0 fee t Two lonely paddlers set out to brave the last of December weather in the waning of 2014……… ok, ok, it was only Jim Martin and myself because of my last minute facebook event creation and to be perfectly honest the weather was very mild, so much so that we were almost hot in our dry suits.

But hey, let’s not allow any of those details get in the way of a good story.

Due to afternoon/evening commitments we decided to paddle somewhere close by and settled on the Harrison Branch launch off of Highway 129.

With the lake at a winter level of around 800 ft, the mouth to Citico Creek split across the sand bar into three channels, none of which were conducive to travel and so we turned around and retreated to the lake, threading our way back through the maze of trees and stumps that emerge at low water marking the old river bed.

While we put in a relatively light day mileage wise the company, sights, and spirits were all quite excellent for the trip.

get your roll on...

Roll Practice We are currently holding roll practice on Friday evenings from 7-9pm at the University of Tennessee Pool. *Don’t forget your gear!

$5 for Club members $10 for Non-members $20 for Memberships

The Chota ‘Ski Patrol’

Yes...this happened. A post ride Krystal run.

Thank God the commute home wasn’t any longer since I happened to be sitting between of the fellas that hoovered 5 Krystal’s each. You catch my drift...

Yes. It’s a real thing.

Despite being a snowboarder, we can thank our good buddy, and lover of some Krystals (yuck!), Trey Coleman for coining the name of our paddling crew that loves to carve it up in the snow...or whatever it is that they make at Ober Gatlinburg.

Our second venture to Ober (L-R) Aaron, Tony, Sean, and yours truly.

(L-R) Puffy on his fancy new skis, Mr. “Lemon pants” David Mc, A-A-Ron the dirt bag boarder, and me,...the spoiled powder loving freshie boarder from the west.

A-A-Ron, seeing how puffy the Puff’s tush was...WHY? You’ll never know.

Aaron gazing into the mesmerizing fog cloud that made riding the mountain at low visibility a bit more of a thrill.

If this looks like you’re jam, get a hold of us and we’ll drag you along to our next misadventure.

About the Salmon With endless play waves, famous rapids, and crystal emerald waters, the Middle Fork of the Salmon River (MFSR) sits in the heart of the nearly 2.5 million acre Frank Church Wilderness, the largest wilderness area in the lower 48!

It’s clear why this river was one of the first to be named a national Wild and Scenic River.

Paddle the Middle Fork of the Salmon!

Sign up now for this July 2016 Class III / IV trip to Idaho!

• Marsh Creek and Bear Valley Creek come together to form the Middle Fork: small, swift, steep and shallow with creek-like characteristics.

• Over 100 tributaries feed the Middle Fork in its nearly 100-mile journey from the high country to its confluence with the mighty Main Salmon.

• There are more accessible natural hot springs along the banks of the Middle Fork than on any other wilderness river in the United States.

• Granite gorges and sheer cliffs alternate with rolling sage-covered hills.

• Its waters support a blue ribbon fishery of native west slope cutthroat trout. You’ll see wild game and evidence of the few people who once dared to call this untamed area home.

• The last couple of days on the MFSR you will travel through the Impassable Canyon, so named because the rugged terrain meant the only way through was down the rapids. Expect cascading waterfalls, small sandy beaches, huge rock caverns, and big drop-pool rapids, flanked by towering granite walls.

Contact Information

Trip Details

Great rapids, warm weather, fantastic hiking, gourmet food and hot springs in most camps.

Fully outfitted and raft supported. All you have to do is set up and take down your tent and paddle!

Non-hardboat participants are welcome and have the option of riding a paddle raft or oar rig.

DATES

RESERVATIONS Make reservations as a member of the Chota Group by March 1, 2015 to receive a discount.

COST

Click here to make online reservations, or call Contact Canyons, Inc. at 888 634 2600 COORDINATORS Contact Tom and Sandy Snyder with any questions at tswhitewater@gmail.com or by clicking here.

Tom has done this trip twice with Canyons in K-1 and Sandy has done it once in K-1 and once in OC-1.

• 13-18 July 2016 • Possible 6 day Main Salmon add-on from 19-24 July 2016 • Last date to sign up for a discount is: 01 March 2015

• MFSR July 13-18 2016, $1995 or $1800 with a group of 10 or more (we already have 6 people signed up) • Combination MFSR and Main Salmon July 13-24 2016, $3300 or $2970 with a group of 10 or more

DISTANCE • MFSR 100 miles, on the Main Salmon 94 miles • MFSR average gradient: 28 ft/mile (49 ft/mile on the upper 25 mile section), Main Salmon 12 ft/mile

DIFFICULTY • MFSR Technical class III – IV • Main Salmon big water class III – IV

AVERAGE DAILY FLOW • MFSR July 1, 200 cfs. Main Salmon July, 9600 cfs (both rivers are natural flow)

Guide Book Release & Signing Party

by LaDawn Wolfe January 6, 2015 • Barley’s Taproom & Pizzeria What is the saying about good beer, cheap?

Or was it? Cheap beer, good?

Well, regardless of which is true, there is sure to be a crowd of paddlers somewhere nearby. So it was no surprise that Kirk’s Eddlemon’s Whitewater of the Southern Appalachians, Guidebook Release and Signing Party would take place at Barley’s on a Tuesday night, when $2 pints are on special.

Whitewater of the Southern Appalachians

by Kirk Eddlemon

With personal video of river runs and interviews streaming as a backdrop, the 150+ crowd packed the room to the max, as new and old friends were requited. Chota Club members who had not seen each other since late fall caught up with one another reminiscing over stories of past adventures, misfortunes (i.e. swims) and congratulatory PFD’s were exchanged.

Conversations drifted from holiday updates, tales of recent river runs, and to the inevitable, “Are you boating anywhere this weekend?”

The festive atmosphere buzzed with excitement as paddlers received their guidebooks and got their first glimpses of the awe-inspiring photographs and details of some of their all time favorite runs. A few were pleased to find themselves among the pages, as many found inspiration for new rivers to explore.

Kirk and his wife, Laura, were kept busy, handing out books, signing personalized messages and greeting fellow paddling enthusiasts.

After utilizing a unique attention getting tactic, (shattering a pub glass on with a fork) the MC for the night, yours truly, had the standing-room-only crowd cautiously silent as I introduced our very own club treasurer and

American Whitewater board member, Trey Coleman. Trey, mentioned some of the upcoming events of Chota before introducing the night’s Honoree, Kirk Eddlemon. Kirk briefly discussed his inspirations and mentors as well as his personal hopes of the guidebooks intent.

In anticipation for the Knoxville Book Release, Kirk had gathered a variety of items to raffle from sponsors such as Astral, KayakSession, Watershed, ACE Kayaking, Pyranha and Liquidlogic, of which proceeds went to Little River Watershed Association and Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning. Some of the items donated fwere whitewater DVDs, dry bags, baseball caps and Foamie Friends.

All of which had a combined value of over $1000 retail! A few of our lucky winners were Sarah Zimmerman who won a watershed Dry bag and Larry Stewart won a DVD. With the total amount rose for our two local river at $676 and two new, beautiful and extensively detailed guidebooks, everyone should feel great about the night!

As the evening’s merriment drew to a close and upcoming weekend boating plan were mulled and finalized, in due course the paddlers dispersed into the crowd; heading home, or to next bar…but all, eventually, to their next river.

A special thank you to Chota Canoe Club, Watershed, Astral, ACE Kayaking and many others for their support and sponsorship, the night could not have been possible without you, or nearly as enjoyable!

SYOTR!