The downriver combined a lakewater section, a dry land sprint and a run of the Gull River.
while not intimidating less experienced competitors.” Rumour has it that a small number of boaters from the States left after the first practice day, a little put off by the difficulty of the course. Paired with the sharp rocks, and high water that weekend, the course was definitely enough to put the best through their
paces.As one paddler, a veter- an of a few other Nationals put it,“I think by the end of this week- end,we’ll all be ready to paddle this course.” Most paddlers started to allow themselves “sacrificial”gate touches and simply worked on contorting themselves to get their heads through the gates. Although it saw only two clean runs the entire weekend, the
course was a good test of pure technique. Watching people wobble in the squirelly water and miss 50 percent of the gates on their first day of practice was juxtaposed by seeing their progress by Sunday.
The Lifestyle: Get the deck outta here! Ultimately,the technical aspects of this race were not what made the OC Nationals unique. My morning portages through the camp- ground were marked by the sights of feet protruding from the backs of vans and the ever-present smells of barbecue,bacon and eggs,and
My morning portages through the campground were marked by the sights of feet protruding from the backs of vans and the ever-present smells of barbecue, bacon and eggs, and other, less licit odors.
other, less licit
odors.This is car camping at it’s best— when you and all your bud-
dies congregate, light up the old Coleman and fry up some steaks, in between practice runs on the river. This was my second time at the OC
Nationals.After my first meeting with many of these folks last year in Minnesota,I was greeted like an old friend and cheered down the river on each one of my
runs.This friendly,open and easy- going atmosphere is a hallmark of the race
culture.And there are some other things that make it unique in the world of competitive boating. First there is the role reversal. Most open boaters are accus- tomed to the odd looks or utter disregard passed out by decked boaters on many rivers. We’ve all received looks from kayakers that seem to say,“What the hell are you doing paddling that bathtub down this river?”Or the C-1er’s expression that says,“Yeah,I used to paddle one of those.”Well at the Nationals, all this changed. Four days before the first race, the campground and river were
already dominated by open boaters.Kayakers began to get squeezed out to the shorelines as the gates went up and the eddies filled with high-volume, space-hogging bathtubs. It was like an open boat fan-
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www.rapidmag.com
photo© Rick Matthews
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