James and I run Skinners Falls, Ny

Today was a great day!!!!  James and I decided to run up to Ny and paddle Skinner's Falls.  Skinners Falls is a highly popular spot on the Upper Delaware River.  Its main attraction is a set of Class I to II ledges that make up the "falls".   Amonst the falls lays an outcrop of old huge stone rocks that look to have been ripped up by glacial activity many years ago.  For anyone whom has yet to visit this amazing location.... please do so, it will not leave you dissappointed.  Bring, a hibachi, or lunch cooler, swim clothes and a towel.    Six dollars is all it costs to rent a large innertube for the day to run the rapids with... or you fellow yakers... bring your boats.  Loads of fun. 

This place is amazing... i absolutely love it there. the cleanliness of the water puts the lackawanna and the susquehanna to shame.... super clean,  not a sign of garbage anywhere.  nice people, lots from ny and nj.  lots of pa people too.   i have found my new place of zen.  

Soo back to the heading at hand.  James, my youngest sibling, and I decided to run the rapids today. 
Although james nor myself has had any "formal instruction"   we both managed to spin over rocks, and ride the very weak class II waves and ledge today without swimming.  very proud of ya little man.  We had a blast.   then after rudely being insulted by a water rescue worker watching the area, we decided to head back up to the launch site and just playboat a bit. 

As mentioned above.....a very ignorant and rude rescue worker insulted us today by telling us that"he could tell we had no formal training, and that in my own paraphrase, we would be stupid to run on something like the lehigh river.  hmmmm let me see.... we totally made it downriver over the falls, we had proper head gear on, proper life vests, and we didn't fall in or have any trouble...  if thats doing it wrong, whats doing it right?   hmm maybe all the other people who followed us that day, in there rented kayaks and rafts.. no helmets and drinking.... did they get a lesson in proper instruction... NO.    Then to top it all off, he asked me if i can do a proper wet exit out of my kayak.... lol... uhhh yeah i think so... i can roll, flip, stern stall and squirt....
this guy was just a  total a hole.  

so better things...  We walked our kayaks back up the rocks to the launch site , and then we just played and chatted with other kayakers and rafters for the rest of the day..... met some awesome dude, in a dagger rpm max... great boat.  and some other guy that used to run wavesport kayaks and lead a group at a camp... I love this sport... such a kinship between everyone... river people rock. 
And the fact that James was there to do it all too made it worth more.  He is planning on buying some gear of his own and jump right in to the sport... hes eager to get started learing the roll, and other playboat moves, and even run rapids....  So nice to have someone to go with.  Thanks Bro.

i have several videos to post on here but it wont let me due to there size.. im gonna try to get one at least.   thanks for reading. 

more to come shortly.
-bob

Playing At Merli

hey all,
hit up Merli-Sarnoski Park in the jackson tonight for some playboating on flatwater fun.  I am getting pretty good at stalling the boat on the stern and holding it there verticle for a bit. 

So, i am kayaking in the water, practicing my rolls and stalls.  A group of  typical Carbondale's Best arrive and sit by the bathhouse and watch...  i knew they were watching me, but i had no idea that they were mumbling about how "stupid" i was out there.  How "dumb" it is to flip a kayak over on purpose, and roll over for fun.   Basically if i was to paraphrase thier conversation i would have to say that they thought i was  a total moron and doing something soo stupid by playboating. 

First i must say this.  One of the younger guys in the group did stand up for me, he was heard saying something along the lines of "don't judge him until you try it.... do you think that you can do that in a kayak?"  so props to that guy.

On the other hand.... to the ignorant rude folks there tonight.  

If you were to broaden your horizons a little bit more than just a jazzy scooter ride to the turkey hill on Belmont street, you may do some research and find out the following. 

Maybe a small kayak like the one i was in tonight is made for a different kind of kayaking, another side of the sport. 
Maybe you would find that in order to prepare for flipping unexpectedly in a strong river, it is wise to perfect your roll, so you can surface as soon as possible.
Maybe you could view it on youtube, since i am almost positve you didn't know what the hell kind of kayak i was in, and saw with your own eyes what these playboat moves were that i was doing.... not just flipping over...

uggghhh, sorry to vent... just some times ignorant people just tick me off. 

Best case senerio.... just keep your mouth closed next time.

all in all..... I don't care anyways....lol.  i had a blast and i found that the "mud pond" is a great place to go practice.... im really starting to like boating on the flat water.... keeps it interesting. :O)

"of all that who see me and all who believe in me cherish the freedom i fell when i fly....." -j. denver

playing on the pond

 a couple of pics of me doing some stern squirts and stalls.  just having some fun in the pond. 
Still cannot get the bow underwater to do a bow stall and advance my moves to loops.  Basically cause i cant do a good double pump to get the bow intiated... but i am practicing all the time.  but i do love getting my boat verticle.... and i think i got my little brother, James, whose paddle is in the second picture... started into kayaking.... just gotta find him a boat that fits his size... he can't sink either one of my boats under enough to do any moves... since they are my size and he weights like 90lbs less than me..lol.   so im looking for a cheapy on ebay or craigslist for him.    happy paddling all. 

On a side note.... Congrats to my other brother Joe Kelly, who just recently finished his 50mile ultra marathon, in the Niagra Falls region this past weekend.  It was his first ultra race and he totally owned it, finishing in 6th Place overall....   running 50miles in just over 9 hours... quite the accomplishment....   Great Job Man...
this quotes for you brother... "the journey ends when the heart stops beating.." -Ellis Paul

Paddling on the upper Delaware River

My brother and i spent some time paddling the Upper Delaware River today.  We mostly just got in and paddled around a bit, we did manage to hit some small ripples and get ourselves stuck in a couple inches of water.  Just had to get out walk to a deeper spot and get back in. lol.   all good fun.

after playing around at the Narrowsburg launch site for a bit, we decided to head upstream to check out skinners falls.  It was running good.  we played around just jumping on the rocks and stuff for a bit.  we then decided to just put in at the lauch and mess around a while...

there were boat loads of paddlers lauching next door at the rafting outfitters place.  we had a good day and played a bit.  I managed to hit a near perfect verticle stern stall, and hold it for a bit.  the weekend warrior rafters were kinda amazed at that... makes it really fun..

next time we hit skinners we are dropping down the class II ledge and playing in some waves... just gotta get the right boat for my bro next time....   i have just  a few pics to put up .. when i get some time.

all for now
tread lightly my friends

Delaware River in the morning

Heading outta here at 6:30 am.  Picking up the little Bro, and heading to narrowsburg, ny.  Gonna go for a nice recreational paddle on the upper delaware river.  The kayaks are loaded on the car, lunch is packed, and all is in order. 

going to let my brother, James, run in the perception swifty recreational kayak.  this will be his first paddle on moving water, and that is the most stable boat i own.  I don't want to put him my liquid logic because of the sprayskirts, he hasn't really had a lot of time with wet exit practices, so to be on the safe side we'll stick with the rec boat.   I will be using the jackson rock star... a very very slow boat for this river paddle, but i figure i can do some flatwater moves and mess with the other rec boaters minds a little.  lol.   

i will be carrying the waterproof camera for some cool pics, hope to post some pics up later on this weekend.    

have fun my friends,

-bob

"get out and do something this weekend.... whatever you do, make the best of it"

Mellow Park today

I hit a small spot tonight in Mellow Park tonight.  Its a nice little spot just up from the trail bridge at the far end of the park.  Very good eddy ferry practice, and even a small wave to surf. 

mellow has a good set of class 2 rapids further up, near the other end of the park near the tennis court entrance.  but im not ready for them yet.. they run pretty fast and are hard to get on to surf. 

I decided to run the lower section, just played a bit in the eddy, tried some stern stalls, but i kept hitting my stern on the river bottom.  was just a little to shallow for squirts.  i did alot of eddy ferrys, and even got close to the wave, but it looked a little too shallow to attempt a surf on that wave, so i just played a bit. 

The Jackson RockStar handled great in the fast water, much better than the liquid logic cr250.  I was really impressed how easily it just glided over the smaller waves, letting the water just pass underneath the kayak, didn't catch any edges making it feel too tippy.  Definetley the most comfortable kayak i have owned yet.  and so user friendly, from the great backrest system to the no holes, no leaks design.... truly an awesome boat....  i def recomment jackson kayaks to anyone getting started...

its gonna take some time to get used to paddling the rivers again, now that ive spent sooo much time on flat water trying to learn tricks... there is a much different dynamic to the way rapids play havoc with your boat.  looking forward to the challenge though... and with some rain in the forecast for late friday ,and saturday we should be getting some good flows on the lackawanna.  im stll looking to get up to skinners falls onthe delaware again though.... anyone wishing to come, let me know... any type of kayak is fine, the rapids are not to bad there.. class I or very small IIs. 

happy paddling my friends,
-bob
"now he walks in quiet solitude with the forests and the streams, seeking grace in every step he takes"
john denver

more flatwater training today

greetings everyone,

i did scope out the rivers again today.. and with all the rain overnight and yesterday. the rivers did come up a bit. it seems all that water finally found its way into the waterways.  

I was unable, however, to play in the rivers.  I normally only play certain playholes by myself.  And my brother, who normally kayaks with me, was busy with school work, and studying for his boards. 

I decided on a short after dinner practice session, on the pond at Kennedy Park.  It serves as a perfect practice ground, and its a huge plus that its only 2 mins from my home.  i can tell you all this... learning flatwater tricks on dead calm water is very difficult.  I still am unable to get my bow initiated under water to stand verticle.  i just can't seem to get my "double-pump" move down to do so.   I can sometimes use the plowing ender technique to get my boat to dive a little, but with all that stored air in my jackson kayak, it is very hard to get it to dive enough to get verticle....  this is not the case in my liquid logic.... that has much less volume in the bow, and tends to stand right up,,,, and keep going flipping over lol... im still working on the stall.

My stern stalls are getting much better.  i can almost initiate the bow using a reverse of the double pump going backwards.  I can almost get it to stand up...
I can however cheat a little and stand right up using a different technique that mimics the river current.  I start by paddling backwards and build up a little speed.   i then put my arms over the front of the bow, leaning all the way forward.... and then quickly throw my upperbody all the way back over the back of the boat.... keeping the paddle and my arms straight out,   when its done correctly, the boat with all that speed will push the stern underwater, and then all that momentum from your body shifting will pull it up verticle.  you need to lay flat back on the water and keep your paddle in the water above your head to make adjustments .... its fun

i was able to keep my boat verticle for about 10 seconds tonight.... that is pretty good for me.

I am just going to keep practicing away at it..until i can master some more moves.

anyone that would like to come try this stuff, i have an extra boat and paddle.... you don't have to do crazy moves, you can just come and paddle around the lake a bit...    company is always fun.....

thanks to all the followers....    id love to hear any kayak feedback.... about any kind of kayaking,,, not only white water.. i also love to just kick back and paddle recreational too sometimes... 

that is really the point of this blog.... just trying to get in touch with the paddling community.   id like to go on longer river trips with groups as well...   just reaching out to all the paddlers that may be reading or anyone interested in giving it a try for the first time....

drop me  a line sometime... and feel free to invite anyone you know that may like this blog as well. 
thanks people.....

"find something you enjoy doing.... and never stop finding ways to make it enjoyable" REI

water still a bit too low

greetings all,

i scoped out Mellow Park today.  the wave that usually runs there was very very low, also a lot of pertruding rocks that are normally not exposed.  conditions were just a bit too low to put in and chance beating up on my hull.  I did plan to do some flatwater training up at kennedy park tonight, but ended up doing some other things with the "little man" tonight.  i owed him a rematch on a playstation 2 game he loves.  lol.  

i am planning on hitting some flat water up tomorrow after work.  Although we did get some rain today, and some planned for tomorrow, so outlook remains hopefull that at least one of the local holes will open up enough to play in...

I do have one last resort play hole that is always my ....go to... when rivers are low... its located about 1/4 mile  in on the rail trail system. from the Simpson trailhead.  Park by the tank and walk the trails in.  In a 1/4, on your left you will see a beaten path with some larger rocks marking it, it leads down to the river.  it is a popular trail because it also is the site of a hidden cache box.  so my brother and i aptly named it the "cache play hole".   it has a nice size way that is relatively flat, and easy to get onto.  when the water is fast...its fun, and when the water is slow..... its still fun.   

happy boating

some random pics

 Learning to balance the Liquid Logic on edge

 Mastering the sweep roll technique

 a not soo good brace.... trying to learn the basics....

 just starting the roll

 taking a breather

 my first attempt at learning flatwater tricks.. Jackson Rockstar kayak

 first time trying to get the stern underwater.... i have improved.....:O)

 yes, it is a liquid logic..with a Pyrahna sticker..lol  i love pyranha boats too :O)

not exactly sure what i was trying to do here lol

theses pics are all taken while on flatwater, a pond to be precise.  In most, i was just learning to perfect my roll.  I know that in some you can see where the mistakes were being made.  That brings a good point to mind. 

If you are having trouble learning to do a move or learn a rolling technique, have someone film you doing it.  It is much easier to watch what you are doing with your own eyes and then try to correct it, rather than struggle to figure it out in the water. 

Learning to roll, in my opinion, is by far the most important thing you can learn to do in a whitewater kayak.  Second only to wet exit practice.  Learning a good roll with help you learn other moves.  It gets very tiresome to keep swimming after every roll over while practicing if you don't have your roll down.  so learn that first.

there are literally hundreds of free videos on youtube.com that can show you the basic technique of rolling a kayak.  My advice, start in a pool, or a shallow lake, with a friend, and practice the steps shown in the videos.... a controlled environment is much easier to learn in.

also spend some time learning to paddle your boat.  playboats such as these above do not paddle the same as recreational boats do... they have different hulls, Planing Hulls, that enable spinning on waves.  so they take some getting used to.  the more you practice with your boat, the more confident you will be when you hit some moving water.

thats all for tonight.... i may try to hit up some small waves near the baseball fields in Mellow Park tomorrow.  I am sure the river flow is too low for good surfing, in fact if its too low i may abandon the idea all together.  with the cost of my jackson kayak near $1200 new, i am not going to beat it up on rocks if the water is too low.... in that case, just some more flatwater practice :O)..... happy paddling folks

a little about me

I guess it is fair to post some info about myself.  so others can see the background that i am coming from. 
so here goes. 
I mostly run rivers. However i have been devoting a lot of my paddling time to learning flatwater playboating moves. 
I have run a few local rivers thus far. Some are the Lackawanna River, Susquehanna River, Lackawaxen River. I also have some canoe experiance in the  Clarion River in western,PA.   

the current boats i own are as follows:
2011 Jackson RockStar .  This is strictly a rodeo style playboat.  it is 6 ft long and weights just about 30lbs.  This is my newest boat.  I use this boat for playing in certain river features, currently i am learning to do flatwater tricks with it.  moves such as plowing enders, stern squirts, bow stalls, and other types of moves.  Spray skirt required.  deck size xl.   rated for 180 to 260lbs... large model

2006 Liquid Logic CR250.  This is a river runner/playboat crossover.  6ft 7inches long.  just over 32 pounds.  Great boat for surfing waves, and running rapids.  Rolls easy, this boat gets the bow underwater and stands up verticle fast.  but i use it mainly for running down rivers.  This was my first whitewater boat.  spray skirt required.  deck size large  rated for 180 to 250lbs

2001 Liquid Logic Skip.  This boat is very small.  anyone above 5ft 10 need not apply.  It was given to my son for when he gets big enough to fit it.  It is about 6ft 5inches long.  requires a spray skirt, deck size large.  the skip, has huge rockers, it has very very little volume.  super slicey ends, that make it want to blunt, and bounce and cartwheel all the time... very hard boat to get used to paddling.  steep sides, make it more diffacult to roll than newer playboats, but still extremely fun.  rated for a 100 to 140lb person.

2010 Perception Swifty.  This is my leisure runner.  a 9 foot 6inches long recreational boat.  large cockpit.  tons of storage space for long trips.  handles swift rivers up to class 2 well.  just likes to fill with water too fast as the larger waves break over the bow.  great all around boat.  rated for 300lbs.

All my spray skirts are Snap dragon Exp brand, and are available at  colorado kayak.com.
some of my other gear includes.  an ADVENTURE TECHNOLOGY EDDY paddle, with a bent shaft and carbon shaft .  I also never paddle any moving water without my pfd, shred ready helmet and Kokatat dry top.

My interest and love of kayaking actually started on a vacation with my wife.  We took a cruise to Alaska a few years back.  One of the ports of call was in Prince Rupert, Canada.  We actually planned a kayak trip as part of one of the excursions off the boat.  We kayaked across the bay, and into some sacred tribal land.  we came face to face with bald eagles, seals and some whales.  We landed on a beach and had some hotdogs over fire.... and the love of kayaking began.

I decided to start this blog, to find others to enjoy the sport with, although recreational kayaking exsits all around here, there are not too many that know of the sport of whitewater kayaking. 
I actually encounter a lot of people who see my jackson on top of the car, and ask what the hell that thing is....lol  so hopefully this blog with inform some and entice their spirits to get out and enjoy a different, adreneline rushing side of mother nature......

i would love to hear some great stories of others while in their boats..... always interesting to hear about what others see out there......

Introduction

Greetings Fellow Kayakers.  This blog is my brainchild to communicate with other people who are  either currently involved in the sport of kayaking, or who are thinking on giving it a try.  I will try my best to be as accurate as i can in my descriptions or waves or rivers, so as to give you the best idea of what to expect out there.  Please keep in mind that most of my posts will be slighted towards whitewater kayaking and playboating, as that is what i do more than anything.  I do, however, do some touring and recreational paddling as well.  I may even touch on the subject of creeking, which is starting to interest me more and more, as this area holds alot of great creeking spots.  Please feel free to offer plenty of feedback, as well as corrections if you can add more to the post, than i can offer.  My goal is to spark at least some interest in the sport and get some groups together for some paddleing outings.  so sit back and relax.    "the journey is the reward"  -taoist saying