Kayak Yakking and More: August 2013

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Kayaking - Cumberland River Rally on the River

Cumberland River Rally 8/24/13 Miles Traveled 5, Total 169.6
Put in at Clarksville Conservation Club, Take out at Clarksville Marina
Me, Scotty, Richie, Beatrix
http://rallyonthecumberland.com

This was Clarksville's first Cumberland River Rally. We met early - at 6:00. It was way too early! We met at the fairgrounds and then a bus took us over to the conservation club. There was still a slight fog on the river. We were the first heat and all kayaks were finished by 9:00 and the events at the marina didn't start until 11:00. We were put into groups by how we registered. Scotty, Beatrix and I were in the first group - of advanced! :) We all paddled hard. There were a variety of kayaks in our heat. There was one long, racing kayak that took off from the rest of us very quickly. There were 2 people in an old canoe. There was one guy in a kayak that also had foot pedals and had a fishing pole in the water. Towards the end, the sneaky guy started peddling like crazy and came in as one of the first. It was really fun - to be in a race, and to be in Clarksville's first rally. Scotty and Beatrix did really well, I did okay. Richie paddled in a youth heat and came in first. Afterwards we went over to the booths around the marina. We tried the stand up paddling boards and viewed the exhibits. Nothing spectacular caught our eye, but it was a fun first event.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Kayaking - Cumberland River - PreRace Trial

Cumberland River 8/17/13 Miles 5, Total 164.6
Put in 10:00, Take out 11:15, Total 1:15 Average Speed 4.1, Maximum Speed 7.5
Julie, Richie, Beatrix, Kevin
Put in at Conservation Club, Take out at Liberty Park Marina

We drove to Conservation Club only to find out that only members could put in there. A membership fee is $60 per year. Kevin happened to know one of the two men there at the entrance. Then when I drove up I was wearing a 160th t-shirt, and he commented on that. They were nice enough to admit us as their guests. :) Next week we'll be kayaking this route, but apparently, the Friends of the Blueway has coordinated this "Rally on the Cumberland".
We paddled steady and thought we made good speed. We'll see how next weekend goes!

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Kayaking - Caney Fork River - Cave Exploring

Caney Fork River 8/10/13 Miles Traveled 9, Total 159.6
11:00-2:15 average speed 3.3 w/ Bowling Green Kayak Group
(Maria, Dawn, Jerry, Patsy, Tom, Barbara, Dwayne....to name a few, just another great group-26 total)
80 degrees, Half a mile into the paddle skies were dark and thunder, but it never rained!

We put in at the Center Hill Dam and took out at Betty's Island. The water was released at 10:00. I thought I'd see the water around the dam dramatically rise, but it did not. What we did see was that the current did significantly pick up. About a half hour into the trip, the skies darkened and we heard thunder. It looked like it might be another rainy day. Fortunately, it never did rain and it never got really hot. The water in this river is cold as it's pumped out of the dam from the bottom of Centerville Lake. It is a wide, beautiful river; not at all hard to navigate. We stopped about 5 miles down and ate lunch. A few miles after that was a cave. We had to hike up a steep, very muddy, slippery slope to get there. Only a few of us climbed up. It was a tall entrance into the cave. Dwayne walked in first to the back. Riley and I followed when I heard Riley say, "There's a chicken". "A chicken?" We tried shining a light on it and never could figure it out, but we did hear it growling. Yes, growling! Others came and looked at it. It was a mangled, disfigured bird that we finally decided was a buzzard. It did not like us being in it's cave. We managed to walk past it on the narrow path leading in. Nothing else of great interest in the cave. At the back it became very small and it didn't appear as if we could go any further. The view down into the river was cool. It was great looking down upon the brightly colored kayaks waiting for us. I have to say that my cortisone shot from 2 weeks before has definitely helped me. I was able to climb up and down without strain or great fear of hurting my knee! Hurrah! When I followed my path back down, my kayak was gone! Apparently it had floated away, but a member of the group had grabbed hold of it and another stray while we had been exploring. Another funny thing on this river happened. Here we had drove 2 hours to do this 9 mile paddle, and as we're putting in at the dam, who do we see? The Davis family from Clarksville! One of these days we will have to kayak with them instead of just bumping into them!