Potomac Fest- the mid-summer classic, hot weather, humidity, water so warm it's not refreshing at all, slimy, slippery rocks, and long days of all sorts or competitions. Despite all that, Po fest remains popular, with people turning out for the Great Falls Race, squirtboat, freestyle, old school wave surfing, boatercross..... This year was a tad cooler and less than years past, and the getting splashed with water was actually a bit refreshing.
The Great Falls race is short than most of the races I've done this season- only about a minute long and 3 rapids- U-hole, S-turn, and the Spout. It's a full-on sprint, and not too many moves to remember. Bright and early Saturday morning after the race meeting, I headed out and scouted and got one practice run on the right line on the Spout, a weird move that involves boofing next to and/or onto a rock shelf half way down. I'd gotten in practice runs the evening before, but ran the standard left line, which was slower.
Sliding past U-hole
Sean Chapelle entering S-turn
Launching off the right line of the Spout.
In the end, I managed to get in good strokes and good lines, and ended up 5th in the short boat class of the race.
Sometimes at these events I feel like I'm always running to get another boat for the next competition, and this weekend was no different. I left the falls race and had to rally to get to the squirtboat events- two of my favorite events at Potomac fest. The downriver is a mix of downtime and surface freestyle skills, playing the whole river from Fishermen's eddy to Bermuda Triangle. I've been trying for the past few years to win this one again. Last year I had a skirt that was so worn out that by the time I got to Bermuda, I had so much water in my boat I couldn't do much besides bowstall. This year I had my new Peak UK shorty squirtboat drydeck, stayed much drier, and came close to winning, taking second place only one point. Immediately following the downriver was the eddyline event, straight up mystery move time held at a very beefy "Bermuda Triangle." I'd hit bottom a few times the day before, and gotten completely out of control a few times. The eddyline comp was going to be a test of bravado and skill- going for the meat and keeping it together. In the end, I came away in first with the most downtime of the day- especially important, since the first place prize was a 12 pack of Dale's Pale Ale.
Sunday was Freestyle day in the morning- still hot enough even early in the morning for the shorty to stay in the truck. The water was well on the "low side of good" for Maryland Chute, but we made the most of it. It was tricky to even cartwheel, but could be done, and loop moves were nearly impossible to stick. Despite that, the turnout was pretty good.
Freestyle in MD Chute.
I managed to pull off some entry moves and splitwheels (and a really sweet air McNasty to stern piton combo) and finished in 3rd place in kayak. In C-1 I got some roundhoused, shuvits, and splits going, good enough for second place finish.
Trying for the airwheel.
C-1ing
After freestyle, I actually got a bit of a break before boatercross. This year's boatercross was a rolling format- 3 rounds with 3 different courses, increasing in difficulty and finishing with tricky lines through Little Falls. The boat length cut off was 7.0 feet, the idea being to race in playboats. I brought along my trusty small Ammo (6'9"). The boat played to my advantage, especially on the Little Falls course, where the extra volume helped a lot over the playboats. After finishing second in the first two rounds, and getting off the start slowly in the finals, I managed to pass all the other paddlers and finish 1st. Between the wins in boatercross and eddyline squirt, 2nd place finishes in Downriver squirt and C-1 freestyle, 3rd place finish in K-1 Freestyle, and the 5th place finish in the falls race, it was a pretty good weekend for me, and I headed home pretty worn out.
