WOR: French Broad section 8 – 7/4/05

We had talked about a number of options for Monday, including the Ocoee in kayaks, the Cartecay in kayaks or the tandem canoe, the Nantahala, etc. Secretly, we hoped that the sprinkles of rain here and there would lead to a tandem run on the Little. We both decided that we wanted to paddle tandem again, so we hooked up with a group from Texas running Section 8 of the French Broad. It put Lucas where he needed to be for work and gave me a nearly straight shot on I-40 to get home. The Texans drove like Texans and I hoped the morning was too early for the usual holiday patrols. Fortunately, it was and no tickets were issued.

The usual put-in is below a low-head dam because the real Section 8 put-in requires a grunt of a portage around said dam. The shuttle was short and we were on the water by noonish. After two days of tandem time, we were pretty in-tune with each other from the put-in, catching eddies and peeling out with ease. The Texans paddled a little bit less aggressively than they drove, so we started the day with an easy semi-floating pace. Trip leader Susan had named everybody with plastic clip tags, which helped eliminate the awkwardness of remembering names along the way. The trip was mostly canoes, with a handful of kayaks and novice but fearless sit-on-top paddlers.

We worked our way through easy class II ledges and wave trains, stopping occasionally at some of the more interesting play spots. FB8 is a lot like the Hiwassee in that it is wide open and the rapids tend to have many choices for successful routes and friendly recovery pools for less than successful runs. The width of both rivers makes an assisted rescue much preferred over a potential grunt of a self-rescue. FB8 differs from the Hiwassee in a few ways, too. FB8 water tends to be a bit more turbid than the usually-clear Hiwassee. FB8 tends to be a bit warmer, too, so swims are a bit less brisk.

The first pit-stop was at a cascading series of small ledges that included a number of surfing waves, some stickier than others. At the bottom of the rapid, we hung out with some of the group for a little while until Lucas’ patience got the best of him. We ferried across a number of waves to get to river left and then he asked me if the Texans were planning to stay there for a while. Unenthusiastic about the ferry back to ask, we waited patiently from across the river. They left about five or ten minutes later.

We continued downriver loosely as a group. Often, we ended up as the sweep boat. Equally often, we watched others run their lines and chose to forge our own path through the same rapids. Usually that worked well. Only once did we encounter a better scouting opportunity from atop a rock. Toward the end of the run, the sit-on-toppers started following our lines because we chose more creative routes.

We stopped again toward the end of the run and I enjoyed the opportunity for a stretch break. My brain likes canoeing better than kayaking because of the improved visibility, the slower speed required, the more challenging techniques and the more planning that is both possible and useful. My poor runner’s knees haven’t caught up with my brain yet. They miss the comfort of the butt boat. One of the non-Texans on the trip tried to buy my Probe from me for his girlfriend sight unseen. She weighed at most 120lbs and he had her paddling a big boy’s canoe. She needed something more her size, but that wasn’t going to be my boat.

One more big rapid remained before our takeout at Barnard. We eddy hopped through a series of ledges and waves with the sit-on-toppers not far behind. We found some fun surfing waves at the bottom and I got to experiment with bow correction strokes to stay on the waves. They worked! We surfed and surfed as the rest of the crowd slowly trickled out of sight. Eventually, we decided we ought to catch up to at least say thank you before everyone was packed and gone. Soon, the takeout bridge was in sight and the reality of impending work confronted us. For Lucas, “work” meant two days of rafting on the French Broad for his company followed by two more days with the Week of Rivers crew. Poor thing. For me, work was more of a reality. We said our thank yous and goodbyes at the takeout and then Lucas and I got an early dinner or a late lunch in Hot Springs. We said our own goodbyes and I began the four hour journey back to Nashville solo.