Day 2

 May 9, 2023

7:37pm


Today, for raft guide training, we practiced eddy moves. Eddies are the upstream-flowing parts of the river where an obstruction in the river causes water to fill the void behind it. Eddies have many uses, and navigating them is very important. Rafts are very slow, so you need to start paddling to where you want to go fairly far from the eddy. Once entering the eddy, the water turns you upstream on its own, so there is no need to paddle until turned around to stop downstream momentum. When leaving the eddy, you want to leave from the top. The top of the eddy is going to have the fastest moving water and will therefore turn you downstream the fastest. It is also where the eddy line is the most forgiving. Overall, I did a good job with all of the maneuvers. At first, it took me a little to realize how slow the rafts are and was catching the eddies low. Once I learned, I was mostly catching them all high. The idea is the same with kayaking which I am very familiar with, so it wasn't much of a struggle for me. Tomorrow, we will be taking all of the skills we've been taught, and applying them on a Nantahala run. 

Hours:

8:30am to 5:30pm

Day Total: 9 hours

Total: 21 hours

Comments

  1. William O'BrienMay 10, 2023 at 2:15 AM

    I imagine you having amazing days on the water, Dean. Enjoy!!!

    ReplyDelete

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