USA - South East road-trippin

In March we spent just over two weeks travelling around the South East States hitting up some classic boating along the way. We managed a different run every day and caught up with a lot of friends - old and new. Combine this with some sweet BBQ and micro-brews you don't get much better. The South East is still one of my favourite places to paddle, the variety of boating and the warm welcome you get makes it an essential destination for any travelling boater.

This trip also gave me a chance to really put the Big Dog Force OC1 through it's paces. Apart from having some gluing malfunctions, I found it did everything I wanted it to. The speed was good, it was predictable, forgiving, resurfaced nicely, and boofed well. This was all good news as there were times I needed all the help I could get!!! I look forward to this boat going into production.

There's literally thousands of pictures from our trip so I've just dumped a few of them on here. For those of you interested in lists here's the low-down of what we ran and where they were.........

Blyth Shoals / Hooker falls - Saluda (SC)
North fork French Broad (NC)
Lower Rocky Broad (NC)
Wilson's Creek (NC)
Watuaga (NC)
Play boating at the Ledges in Asheville (NC)
Green Narrows (NC)
Chattooga ( section 4) (GA)
Cheoah (NC)
Tellico ledges (TN)
Little River Canyon (AL)
Cranberry (WV)
Middle Meadow (WV)
Lower Big Sandy (WV)


Team America 2010


First drop of the trip - Hooker Falls


Jo flying off Hooker Falls


Beef starts the show-boating


Three's never a crowd.....


Pedro man-vesting Reedy Falls


Jamie really does enjoy boating......honestly


Look he's proving it.......


Tom drops into Redneck on the Lower Rocky Broad


Eli runs Walker Falls


Beef loves the Rocky Broad


I love it too......




We all do!!!!


Wilson's Creek Ten foot falls


Frankie smearing all over a Wilson's rock


Eli get's some air


Playboating at the Ledges park




Eli and Frankie going tandem






Cartwheeling the Ledges


Can you guess where it is yet?


Beef getting ready to run a Green Narrows rapid


Barney and Snowy explain another line to us


Eli at the bottom of a Green drop


Pedro sliding below Gorilla


Eli leads me through Rapid Transit.........it's so fast!!!


The Groove Tube


Taking the Groove Tube boof


The Green really is awesome


Landing it


You can take the boy out of Salford........


Low water release on the Cheoah


Snowy loves the Tellico


It's the little things that make you a pro-boater.........


Lord Lyle leads the way on Baby Falls


Beef follows


Making Frankie nervous


The gang at the bottom of Jared's Knee


The LRC - fantastic!!!


Lord Lyle shows us the beautiful LRC


Looking to the bottom of Pinball on the LRC






Tom on Wonder Falls - Big Sandy River, West Virginia


An awesome way to finish the trip

Big big thanks to Snowy, Eli and Megan, Lord Lyle, Corey and Jess, Barney, Chris, and everyone else who let us sleep in their houses, showed us where to get good food and beer, and took us to the fantastic rivers. You guys made the trip!!!!

Also big thanks to Big Dog who made the the river fun happen with their cool boats.

Big Dog Force OC1 - Day 2

Well the crazy winter continues with no sign of a break and not much opportunity for boating. It's been frustrating as I've been dying to get out in the new Force OC1. Anyway a tiny bit of water arrived yesterday and I was able to get it out for another quick blast. There was a lot of flat, plenty of cold, and low low flows but it was something................


The boat boofs really nicely, can't wait to get it on a steep boulder garden


Was able to run it through some tight little channels........it felt really nimble


It flew over the little drops


Was able to test it in some sections of pretty fast turbulent water, it felt stable, which meant I could concentrate on the rapids


Another enjoyable day, hope to get it out again before I head to the USA next week!!!