MWA Southeast Beginner Trip

I had seen stuff on the MWA Southeast Beginner Trip last year, but had other commitments with moving jobs, buying a house, and trying to sell a house.  This year I tried to block it out early and actually probably committed mentally before the clinic.

We watched the MWA message board about the trip in our efforts to prepare.  On May 27 we left early for the NOC.  Brock had encouraged us to drive the Tail of the Dragon while there so we took the northern route and came down the dragon.  Several times I thought Zack was going to get sick.  I might drive it again in the fall to look at the leaves, but otherwise I'll stay off that road.

I like the NOC campus with it's atmospheres and activities to enjoy.  Zack jumped in on a few with some other kids.

Several in the group had arrived earlier and ran the Nantahala on Friday.  That translated to the group heading to the Pigeon on Saturday.  We ran from Walter's Pumphouse to the NOC Outpost takeout.  It was a fun day and the biggest water I had experienced in a kayak.  There was 25-30 in our group so safety was abundant.

Zack got hung up on a rock above Lost Guide.  Rafters and kayakers were gathered in the eddy below watching rafts and boaters come through and wondering when Zack would get loose.  Zack had my throw bag so I got one from Coop and headed up the bank.  After getting his attention my first throw was horrible.  The rope fell out of the bag into the water and stopped forward motion.  The second throw was better, but showed me the rope was too short to reach him. 

Finally he shifted his weight enough and down he went to the cheers of the gathered crowd.  He said that he figured someone would throw him a rope or bump him with their boat.  He did very well staying calm and was the talk of the river for a bit.  This may have also been his first experience at getting bumped out while going through Lost Guide.  There's not much of worry about it flipping, but the big waves can toss him out.  He got bumped out, threw his paddle out, and jumped back in a smooth motion without missing much of a beat.

Further downstream we pulled to the side upstream from Accelerator to empty a boat.  While there we took a look and watched several run the line.  This was the last rapid of the day and the biggest we encountered.  I thought I was through, but went over at the end.  Two attempts to roll went absolutely nowhere so I punched out.

I survived the day with one swim and a banged up finger.  Zack had done very well navigating the river and I was thankful that we had practiced duckie re-entry the weekend prior.

Sunday was the Nantahala.  Zack had paddled it in a duckie when he was 8 so I wasn't worried.  I'm not a fan of the cold water, but this is a nice splashy trip until Bump and Nantahala Falls.  The last time we were here our guide told us to avoid Bump.  I ran the hole with no trouble but Zack stayed clear.  I ran the falls without incident and took the river right eddy to watch Zack.  He did great catching the eddy above the falls and came through the falls nicely.  He did get bumped out again, but was quickly back in the boat.

The talk for Monday was to stop at the middle Ocoee on the way home.  I was a bit hesitant, but thought we're here, we've got safety, why not.  The night before there was discussion of starting downstream of Grumpy, but after looking at it from the dam I was confident I could make the move.

I did, but got tossed in the turbulence below.  In retrospect it was kind of like running Accelerator on the Pigeon from the start.  I took some nice finger scrapes, a strawberry on my left elbow, and some rock rash on my right shoulder -- at least this was my assumption.  It was confirmed after taking off my shirt at the take-out.

Two days before we were on the Pigeon and to that point it was the biggest water I had done in a kayak.  The Nantahala was a step down, but now we had definitely stepped it up again.

I swam on another rapid after an unsuccessful roll.  We avoided Double Suck.  At Table Saw (the most turbulent spot on the river) I was center right rather than center left.  The boater in front of me went over and in my attempt to get around them I got tossed.  It was a tough swim, but with the help of a fellow boater I rode Diamond Splitter hanging on to the back of a boat.  I got on a rock on river left in time to see my kayak being pulled on a raft well downstream.

My hands took a beating in Table Saw so I stayed on the rock for a while to stop the bleeding on my left thumb.  Zack had gotten bumped out of his duckie on Table Saw too, but reports say he hung on to his boat with a smile on his face the whole way.  This was the first time he lost grip of his paddle though.

After getting to my boat we had a nice finish to the trip.  Zack was too far right at Hell Hole and went out again, losing his paddle.  He ran Powerhouse hand paddling.

His safety for the day towed him across the lake while he napped in the duckie.

I hope we're able to do this trip again next year and know what I need to work on to improve my paddling skills.  I'm not consistent on III+.

A big thanks to the MWA for sponsoring this trip, Di for being trip leader, and to all those experience boaters who helped us and kept us safe.

Spring Paddling

It's been a fun spring of paddling.

MWA Whitewater clinic -- Two amazing days on the Saint honing our skills.  Zack's still tentative in the kayak from his mishap a year ago, but he did better on day two.  I decided that I needed to get him a duckie so I could get him to keep coming with me and so we could do the MWA southeast beginner trip.

First paddle with the duckie -- Zack did great his first time down the Saint in the duckie.  He missed an eddy in Cat's Paw, but got through everything ok.  I chose a bad line at Double Drop and ended up taking a swim after taking a rock to the face.  After the black eye I now understand the notion of a face shield.  Zack got too far right on dam breach and got spun, but quickly learned the duckie could fill with water, but wasn't going to sink.

Late May on the Saint -- Zack and I went down for the day for a little work before the southeast trip.  I had also bought a used Hero and wanted to give it a go.  We did two laps (one with Zen and one with Hero) with some open boaters.  I don't have the Hero sized for me well enough quite yet.  It paddles differently than my Zen so I missed some lines.  Zack did better handling the duckie.

We missed several weekends for work around the house, but pleased that we've been able to enhance our skills.

April Paddle

For April I convinced Mr. Shaw to join us on the Saint.  He got a loaner boat from the Alpine Shop and off we went.  The boat had never been in the water.

In order to give him time to get familiar with it we put in at Fisherman's and took our time heading to the pavilion, working on stuff along the way.  The plan was to eddy out on river left prior to Big Drop so that we could portage Zack around it.  As I was positioning myself for the portage Zack got hung up on a rock and went for a swim.

Thankfully we had practiced exits during pool time, so he was out quickly.  He was so cold that he stayed on the rocky bank with semi-wet clothes, food, and an emergency blanket.  Mr. Shaw and I took off.

Mr. Shaw went for a swim at the end of Big Drop and he finally got to the bank just above Cat's Paw.  I tried to get his boat to the shore, but missed.  The boat got sucked down the left side and I went right.  I caught up with the boat at the bottom of Cat's Paw on river left, but he was on river right.  I took the boat over to him and off we went.

Things went smoothly until the dam breach.  He was almost through and got a bit sideways at the bottom end and over he went. 

One more swim near fat man's squeeze finished the day. 

When we got back to Zack he was still on the rock wrapped in the emergency blanket.  All the food had been eaten and he had talked to Charles who stopped on his way down the river.

Later this month we'll head back to the Saint for the MWA clinic.

MWA Races and March Paddle

Finish line volunteers

Beautiful Saturday with intermittent clouds

The second day of the races started with snow.  I took 4-mile hike in the snow and barely got back in time to watch the finals of the boater cross.

It was a chilly day, probably not topping 45.  Not the best circumstances to take a swim, and we saw several swimmers.

One of the more fun parts of the races was the addition of the SUP class.

While we had our boats with us at the races, we weren't equipped for the temps.  A few days later it was near 70 degrees so we returned for a brief paddle.

Gears

Lately I've been thinking a lot about gears.  You know, the idea that the gear teeth and rotation must be aligned for the mechanism to work properly.  If a tooth breaks it throws the whole thing off.  Or if a gear is trying to move the opposite direction the mechanism doesn't move at all.  Thus the importance of systems.



Each system within an organization needs to be in place and aligned in order to support the other systems in the organization.  If pieces of the organization act as silos the integration is lost and the system as a whole will come to a stop.

Think of it as systems within a system.

From a school district perspective the district is the overall system.  Within the larger system there are buildings that operate as systems.  We also have the business office, human resources, transportation, technology, etc. as smaller systems.  At the school building level we see grade level and departments as systems, as well as the individual classroom system.

In order to have a high functioning/performing district these systems need to be aligned and working together.  Technology has to support the classroom, elementary curriculum needs to flow into middle school curriculum, and so on.

Sometimes the gears are spinning nicely, but they are close enough together to enhance one another.  That is especially true in a silo-laden organization.

As leaders in an organization we must ensure that the gears are aligned, get the proper lubrication, and are moving in an efficient and effective manner to move the organization forward.

Evolution of a roll

Historically I was a canoe guy.  I liked the freedom of movement in a canoe and I could haul lots of gear.

One day, though, we were paddling on the Missouri River and it was windy.  I was on one side of the river getting blown around and my kayaking friend was hardly impacted by the wind.  At that point I decided I needed a kayak so I bought a Prijon Yukon.

Concerned that I would paddle a kayak the way I paddled a canoe I took a couple of kayak classes and even started working on a roll.  On a good day I could roll maybe 50% of the time. 

In the summer of 2014 Zack and I took a whitewater kayaking class at NOC.  After that I wanted a whitewater kayak, so I sold the Prijon and bought a Jackson Zen in early 2015.

Zack and I attended the Missouri Whitewater Association whitewater clinic in April of 2015, but by the summer of 2015 I had completely lost the ability to roll at all.  In the fall of 2015 I was in Charlotte for AASA meetings.  After we wrapped up I went out to the US National Whitewater Center for a couple of lessons.  By the end of the day I was doing only slightly better on the roll, but at least had a good understanding of where I was messing up.

So in the winter of 2016 it seemed appropriate to join in some pool kayaking to work on the roll.  I started out at 50% success or less.  You can see in the video below that I was bringing my head up too early.

After some practice I was getting the roll about 80% of the time, but if I brought my head up too early it was an epic fail.  Thankfully we caught a successful roll on video.

 

 



I had watched folks roll and some would bring their head up over the back deck of their boats.  That seemed awkward to me.  After a guy watched me a few times he mentioned that given my height and torso length I needed to bring my head up over the back deck.

With the help of Zack doing T-rescues I started to get the hang of this method.  After 8 weeks of being in the pool I finally think I've got it.  The last two weeks I didn't have any wet exits and my high brace is better. 

On the last night of pool time I was even rolling twice in a row.

 

Personalized PD at AASA

Here are the slides from our presentation at #NCE16.