Here I am working on my "J lean" during an offside surf in Five Boat Hole on the lower Gauley River in West Virginia in 1994. Jason Salomon of Memphis hones his surfing skills behind me. That's an old Gyra-Max C1 I'm paddling. I look so young!!!!!!!!
"Gauley season" takes place every September during the annual drawdown of Summersville Reservoir upstream. That means it's Gauley season right now, and once again I'm missing it. Part of the reason is that I don't have a good boat for it since my main whitewater boat got stolen last year. And part of the reason is that I'm all consumed with mindless chores here at home and out of touch with the whole world of whitewater. I want to re-connect, and sooner or later I will.
I'm trying to remember who took this photo. I remember handing my camera to somebody on the river-left bank... it might have been Greg Raymond, or it might have been Dennis Rhodes... I'm not sure.
I think Dennis took the picture. I had my camera with me. I remember wonderi g why I was packing a Cannon AE1 in a metal ammo box inside my RPM. Oh how I too wish I could make myself reconnect with what I so miss.... a few laps on the Ocoee, a trip down section 3 or 4 of the Chattooga, a New River gorge trip, an upper or lower Gualey trip, or a few days on different sections of the Arkansas in Colorado. Am I too old to do that anymore? Say it aint so!
ReplyDeleteSYOTR! The battle cry remains.
Great pic thanks for posting
Greg
You were paddling a Dancer on that trip. One of the photos I took that day is of you and Richard Carson hanging out in FBH, and you're in your Dancer.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, we're not too old. For me, the main thing is that I've got to get another boat.
I drifted away from whitewater partly because I was weary of the driving distances, but I find myself doing a lot of driving to go to these races nowadays.