OCT Appomattox Sat 3/7
Moderators: admins, GinnyN, mod1, mod3, Raymond, slo2rol, mod2
Can't wait to see pics / video or a trip report.
A good friend of mine was hiking near by and called me this evening to say the river was raging.... he is hoping he got good some footage of you guys below Target and at the Whirl Pool.
As I understand the new chute under the bridge had developed a pleasant or unpleasant high water surprise (head high entry drop in).
A good friend of mine was hiking near by and called me this evening to say the river was raging.... he is hoping he got good some footage of you guys below Target and at the Whirl Pool.
As I understand the new chute under the bridge had developed a pleasant or unpleasant high water surprise (head high entry drop in).
The entry into the chute is directly into a fairly large 3-5' rolling wave ~ it is not shown well in any of the videos as it is being filmed from the back side. The largest lick in the center can be skirted to the outside as shown.
I went down to Campbells bridge before work today and shot wider angle footage where I move the camera slower to give a little better perspective. I am trying to move them to photobucket and share them here but photobucket is not playing nice.
I've got 3 video's loaded up on FB my phone died loading the 4th.
4th video is wide angle eye level up stream of the bridge. My two wide angle videos are shot from the same place and perspective as the two with the guys paddling. I'd like to present them first to give a clear view of what they are getting into before you see the faster moving narrow angle footage.
I have the (2) video's of Chromo and ??? in the rapids (Chromo with the combat roll for the WIN!). Looks like the 2nd guy longer blue boat takes a swim and looses his paddle to the whirl pool. It is narrow angle footage video and things move fast.
It all Looks very runable but left or right = whirl pool Center = Head high + waves.
Hoping to have them all up by 10pm but may be tomorrow before I can find how to get them posted here. Posting from wrk is complicated.
I went down to Campbells bridge before work today and shot wider angle footage where I move the camera slower to give a little better perspective. I am trying to move them to photobucket and share them here but photobucket is not playing nice.
I've got 3 video's loaded up on FB my phone died loading the 4th.
4th video is wide angle eye level up stream of the bridge. My two wide angle videos are shot from the same place and perspective as the two with the guys paddling. I'd like to present them first to give a clear view of what they are getting into before you see the faster moving narrow angle footage.
I have the (2) video's of Chromo and ??? in the rapids (Chromo with the combat roll for the WIN!). Looks like the 2nd guy longer blue boat takes a swim and looses his paddle to the whirl pool. It is narrow angle footage video and things move fast.
It all Looks very runable but left or right = whirl pool Center = Head high + waves.
Hoping to have them all up by 10pm but may be tomorrow before I can find how to get them posted here. Posting from wrk is complicated.
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chromo
- Coastals Member
- Posts: 150
- Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2012 1:53 pm
- Location: Ruther Glen, VA
- Contact:
I actually chose not to run the new rapid yesterday. At this level (4200) there is a large hole in the middle that draws your attention. Our friend in the blue boat skirted this on the right, and appeared to have a great line at first, but what you can't see scouting is how sticky the recirculating eddies under the bridge are. He got stuck in the one on the right, unintentionally stern squirted, and made several attempts to paddle out the top of the eddy before he got flipped on the eddy line and swam out.
Shaggy ran it second, and after skirting the big hole he hit the second wave a lot more towards the center. He flipped, but he washed past the recirculating eddies and nailed the combat roll as you said. No one made it through without flipping this time!
When I was there on 12/27 I did run this rapid at the milder level of 1700. At that level the rapid is longer and there is a green tongue on the left (which is not present at 4200). But even then, the tongue went over some very large waves that kicked me towards the hole and I ended up making 3 rapid combat rolls as I ricocheted from the hole to the rock to the swirly water under the bridge. But at 1700 I did not notice any stickiness. At both levels, I would say that the new rapid (Narrow Falls?) was definitely the most challenging rapid.
Here are scouting pics of the rapid and of under the bridge at 4200. I posted a picture of the rapid at 1700 in that thread, if you want to compare:
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/92jmmtcr8i2x ... UOCX2fFhHa
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/cqhazdx2q5b3 ... kiUq4j-cGa
It was a beautiful day to be on the river. High of 53 and not a cloud in the sky!
Shaggy ran it second, and after skirting the big hole he hit the second wave a lot more towards the center. He flipped, but he washed past the recirculating eddies and nailed the combat roll as you said. No one made it through without flipping this time!
When I was there on 12/27 I did run this rapid at the milder level of 1700. At that level the rapid is longer and there is a green tongue on the left (which is not present at 4200). But even then, the tongue went over some very large waves that kicked me towards the hole and I ended up making 3 rapid combat rolls as I ricocheted from the hole to the rock to the swirly water under the bridge. But at 1700 I did not notice any stickiness. At both levels, I would say that the new rapid (Narrow Falls?) was definitely the most challenging rapid.
Here are scouting pics of the rapid and of under the bridge at 4200. I posted a picture of the rapid at 1700 in that thread, if you want to compare:
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/92jmmtcr8i2x ... UOCX2fFhHa
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/cqhazdx2q5b3 ... kiUq4j-cGa
It was a beautiful day to be on the river. High of 53 and not a cloud in the sky!
Chris
610five0four3861
610five0four3861
I hope to share my 2 scouting videos much cleaner and in HD later on the coastal canoeist facebook page. I submitted a request to join.
I shot these (2) scouting videos today (water at 4300) having not yet seen the actual videos that Ricky had taken yesterday. Amazing at how well they match up. I attempted to slow down and periodically stop panning to help show and size up what the river is actually doing. Unfortunately my uploads to photobucket lost some of the quality and have developed shake that were not displayed previously.
My Scouting video from up river at eye level:
My friend Ricky's video of Shaggy through Narrow Falls:
Scouting video shot from Cabpbell's bridge of the whirl pool and eddie lines (pay close attention to :50 - 1:10 ~ the extra sticky part). I'd compare this eddie off of the whirl pool to paddling a mine field as car tire sections of water just sink and disappear.
My friend Ricky's video of 1st guy through:
I shot these (2) scouting videos today (water at 4300) having not yet seen the actual videos that Ricky had taken yesterday. Amazing at how well they match up. I attempted to slow down and periodically stop panning to help show and size up what the river is actually doing. Unfortunately my uploads to photobucket lost some of the quality and have developed shake that were not displayed previously.
My Scouting video from up river at eye level:
My friend Ricky's video of Shaggy through Narrow Falls:
Scouting video shot from Cabpbell's bridge of the whirl pool and eddie lines (pay close attention to :50 - 1:10 ~ the extra sticky part). I'd compare this eddie off of the whirl pool to paddling a mine field as car tire sections of water just sink and disappear.
My friend Ricky's video of 1st guy through:
High quality copies of the scouting videos above are posted on the FOLAR (Friends of the Lower Appomattox River) facebook page.
These guys are very active in improving the Appomatox River from Lake Chesdin to Hopewell. They are looking for input from Coastals members as they are planning a new canoe / kayak friendly launch / take out on river right at Ferndale / Matoaca bridge.
These guys are very active in improving the Appomatox River from Lake Chesdin to Hopewell. They are looking for input from Coastals members as they are planning a new canoe / kayak friendly launch / take out on river right at Ferndale / Matoaca bridge.
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PrimaryColors
- Coastals Member
- Posts: 416
- Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2008 2:11 pm
- Location: Midlothian, VA
Yes, thanks for the videos. Ricky was good enough to stop taking video and give me a hand pulling out my paddle and boat, so he didn't capture the rest of my uneventful swim which consisted of me pulling myself, boat and paddle along the wall to the upstream end of the eddy. There is a nice water level ledge there next to where all the flotsam is held at that level. Anything floating in the 'whirlpool' seems to end up there.
The level on the Matoaca online gauge was 6.5'. The eddy under the bridge is stickier at this level than it used to be before the dam was removed, so be careful out there! Next time I'll paddle harder toward river left before the bridge.
The level on the Matoaca online gauge was 6.5'. The eddy under the bridge is stickier at this level than it used to be before the dam was removed, so be careful out there! Next time I'll paddle harder toward river left before the bridge.