Day 1


May 8, 2023

9:28pm 


      My name is Dean and I have been an avid whitewater kayaker for the past 3 years. For my senior project, I wanted to do something incorporating paddling. I decided to travel down south to North Carolina to experience the rivers it had to offer. For the first week, I am going to be attending the Nantahala Outdoor Center raft school. Today, in the morning, we traveled out to the lake above the Nantahala and practice paddle strokes. These included sweeps, draws, and pry strokes. After getting comfortable with those, we paddled the Nantahala River. It is the smallest of the rivers that NOC runs rafting on, and it includes class 11-111 rapids. Each of the people in my raft got to switch out as a guide. I got to do it twice. Maneuvering a raft is much different than a kayak, but not as hard as you might imagine. I eventually got used to it after about an hour of guiding. Tomorrow, we will be practicing more maneuvers. 

Hours: 

8:00am to 6:00pm

Day Total: 10 hours

Total: 12 hours


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