rain, racing, and the remix 100

It finally rained! This was a really exciting week in Johnson City. I started with 5 Watauga laps on Wednesday and Thursday, a Linville double on Friday, and topped it off with a great day of racing on the Russell Fork Saturday. But first, a boat review is in order.


This is Liquidlogic's newest creation, the Remix 100. I was given the opportunity to test it out on race day in Elkhorn City. This boat is absolutely massive. At nearly 12 feet long and 100 gallons it is a true speed demon. To put the picture in perspective, I am 6'4" tall. The first thing I noticed about the 100 is it's ability to boof. Most long boats pencil, slowing forward momentum. The first rapid on the Fork, Tower, is a 5 foot tall, wet boof. There is no rock to assist the paddler in landing flat, but the 100 landed flat as a pancake, skipping over the hole. Triple Drop is always the hardest rapid in the Lord of the Fork Race. I am used to being under water from the neck down in Second and Third Drops, but Saturday I did not even get my skirt wet. The boat is a lot to handle in flat water. It is fast and accelerates quickly, but when I let it get away from me on the eddy lines, it went quick. This weekend I will put it to the test on the Green.

T Dub was in the house on Saturday. Congrats to Toby, who cruised into first once again. The top five spots were as follows: 1. Toby MacDermott 2. Geoff Calhoun 3. Matt Walker 4. Adam Herzog 5. Bryan Kirk. Huge thanks to Woody, Shane, John, and the rest of the crew at Liquidlogic for coming through with the 100. Those guys put a lot of effort into getting the boats to Kentucky in time for the race. Thanks to Jay Ditty and the Elkhorn locals for putting on the best extreme race/party in the country. Congrats, Jay, on setting the C1 course record in a 30 year old glass boat.

Race training consisted of a Linville double the day before the event. Drew Austell and I left Johnson City at 4:45 a.m. to get a full day of paddling.

We hiked down with head lamps and waited for the sun to come up. Here's Drew scouting Babel tower by camera flash.

The level was 2.4 on the first run and slightly lower on the second. This slot is a good indicator for The Cave rapid downstream. If you can't hit the boof river left in the slot, don't run the entrance to The Cave. If this one is no problem, The Cave entrance slide is good to go. Both lines come in around 2.6. This picture was taken on our second run (2.3ish).