Thursday, December 6, 2007

Pyranha Everest Review

A week prior to my departure for this year's Mexico trip Alabama Small Boats got Pyranha to rush me an Everest just in time to do a little work on the Outfitting prior to my departure. After spending a couple of weeks enjoying it on the rivers of Mexico and am very happy with it my new primary creeker. I thought I'd put together a little video with footage from our Mexico trip and talk a little bit about the differences between the Everest and the Large Burn.



Note: In the video I say the L-Burn is 8'4" and the Everest is 8'7", but Pyranha's specs actually list the L-Burn at 8'3" and the Everest at 8'6"... oops. The point is that the difference is 3".

Until Next Time...

-adam

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Russell Fork Photo Dump



I have been planning to run the Russell Fork for quite a while, but year after year it just didn't happen. The main reason is that October is the time of year when water has returned to rivers of Alabama and we can finally stop driving hours every weekend to boat. At least that was the case until this year. With the drought continuing to slam the southeast I finally got up to the VA/KY border to enjoy the fall release on the Russell Fork. I spent most of the weekend behind the lens, but above is the one picture of me taken that weekend by Brandon Hughett at Climax.

Below is probally my favortie picture of the weekend. This shot of Tera at the put-in on Sunday turned out way better than I was expecting...


Here's brandon at the same...


Brandon dropping into the second drop at Triple Drop...


Joey showing off with a sweet back loop at Triple Drop...


Tera running the far left boof slot on Triple Drop...


Boaters enjoying the scenery in the gorge below Triple Drop...


Geoff hitting a sweet boof stroke at El Ho...


Joey at the same...


Here's a 3 shot sequence of Todd running El Ho, shot from above...






The myth, the legend; "Headband Man" sheaking El Ho...


Todd at El Ho after hiking up for several runs...


Joey boofing at Climax...


Here's Tera at the same...




I can't beleive that I waited so long to get on this great river. Now that I have I know I'll be back in the future. Hopefully I can time my future runs to allow for better lighting in the gorge and therefore better pics. Great river, scheduled releases, camping at the take-out, welcoming town, friendly rangers... who could ask for more.

Until Next Time...

-adam

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Choeah Race 2007!

Words By Adam Goshorn; Photos By Shannon MacMichael

The Cheoah river remained dewatered for 77 as a victim of a hydroelectric project, but in September of 2005 first every recreational releases were restored. Through the efforts of American Whitewater and countless volunteers, future releases for recreation and eco-restoration were secured during the relicensing process that is required of all privately owned dams. Since the first recreation release the river has been an instant hit within the paddling community with hundreds showing up for most of the weekend releases.



September 2006 saw another first for the Cheoah river... 20 plus boaters racing down the final 1.5 miles of river to Calderwood Reservoir. This final and most difficult section of river sports contineuous Class IV rapids presenting a great opportunity for paddlers with the competitive urge.

Throughout the afternoon of September 1st competitors greeted each other with nods and smiles as they saw each other on their practice runs.

Here are a few shots from a couple of my practice runs on Bear Creek Falls...






At 4:00 PM competitors gathered at the forest service bridge which would serve as the starting point for the 1.5 mile race. This unofficial, loosely organized event was the product of discussions just days earlier on boatertalk.com, a popular online forum. Despite its last minute and unofficial nature, the first ever Cheoah Race had a great field of races in a wide spectrum of boats. Fighting through the overgrown vines, paddlers lined up from shortest to longest boat to prepare for the start of the race...





Once everyone was in position Shannon gave the paddle drop to get us started and it was on...





I found the race to be extremely fun and exactly the style of race I was hoping for. I felt like a got off to a good start, but a few bad choices really slowed me down. I picked a few alternate lines that I thought would get me out of the pack and allow me to pass, but in reality slowed me down. Honestly, I wasn't too fresh either. I was going on about 5 hours sleep the night before and I paddled the Ocoee and two practice laps on Cheoah before the race. After a strong start I kinda ran out of steam as I approached Tapaco Lodge was passed by several competitors between there and the finish line.

I finished a good 3/4 of the way back in the pack, but here are the Top 5 finishers as they were recounted after the race...

1. Chris Gragtmans (Dagger Tank)
2. Chris Hipgrave (Perception Wavehopper)
3. Chan Jones (Prijon Tornado)
4. Adam Herzog (Prijon T-Canyon)
5. Shane Benedict (Liquid Logic Pisgah)

Another notable finish was Joe Barkley (LL Jefe) who finished 8th overall, but was by far the fastest of the short boats, finishing well ahead of may long boats as well.

All in all the first Cheoah race was a success and lots of fun, I hope to see more races like that one (there and elsewhere) in the future. Thanks to everyone who came out to race. Also a big thanks to Shannon MacMichael for starting the show and snapping pics and to Joey Jarrell for being the finish line.

Until Next Time...

-adam

Monday, September 10, 2007

Hollywood Outdoorsman....

Star of the big and small screen, Luke Wilson, learns to kayak....




Until Next Time,

-adam

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Friday, August 24, 2007

The Truth About Carnage

I compiled various video clips from the last 4 years to create a video of everyone's favorite thing to watch... CARNAGE!



Until Next Time...

-adam

Monday, August 13, 2007

Bama Boys roll to North Carolina



It had been a whole 5 days of not boating after my last 4 day roadtrip to the Upper Yough and the Green... so I decided it was time to hit the road again. It took about 3 seconds to convince Charlie Mix to join me for a trip the NC to catch the Green. We departed Friday night and drove about halfway in the dark before crashing for the night. Saturday morning arrived and we met Ryan at Fishtop to set shuttle and hit the river. Although I spent my weekend behind the lens, above is a nice shot Charlie took of me taking the boof route at Groove Tube on Sunday.

The weekend turned out unique for me because I did my lowest run on the green ever (~5.5") on Saturday followed by my highest run to date on Sunday at ~15".

Enough talk, time for some pictures. Enjoy...






The next two shots are of the top secret new creeker prototype that Liquid Logic is trying to keep under wraps.... The Session.














Camping over 30 minutes away near Looking Glass Falls we had hardly any rain, but to our suprize we arrived at Fishtop Sunday to a parking lot of giddy boaters and lots of brown water coming down the Green. After a little talk we loaded up to head up to Big Hungry to put-on and then continue down for some 200% Green action.





























Until Next Time...

-adam