C-Forum

guys...i remember one time on the feeder canal...i was paddling, and my fastex buckle came off....and then...well thats about it.... ;)

ill leave that hairboatin to you boys. the last slalom boat creeking i did was in a 92 fanatic on town creek in Alabama, nothing super difficult, but that long ...

correction...looks like next sunday might be olympic triathalon...but who knows...are they not showing C1 and C2? "good grief, charlie brown"

enlight of the previous discussions about combined runs and TV coverage, i found this quite interesting today.

i assume you guys caught the team trials coverage today. i already knew the results, knew the competitors, and how the scoring worked.

but i was honestly confussed as crap as to how ...

thanks isaac, interesting comments. i definately agree with you, theres no doubt its helps build boater skills quickly, but i wonder if its going to grow the base of the sport as quickly.

yeh, i think as far as preperation for european races, and obviously the Olympics, im sure the charlotte course ...

isaac, man that stinks, but glad your recovering is coming along...im surprised more people havent been hurt at charlotte...
have you guys ever looked at that point , half way up, on the conveyor belt(s), where two conveyor belts meet!! next time you are there imagine a kid, not paying attention ...

i assume alden was just being sarcastic about the ends being higher, or is he a reincarnated 70's racer?

here's an idea. you guys ever watch the european or american LeMan car race series. 24 hour of LeMan? they have about 4 or 5 classes of cars all on the track at the same time. P1, P2, GT3, GT2 ...

alden...a hahn at nationals...that would be awesome. you'll have to bust out some 1970's gear to match...a seda lifejacket..or was that 80's?

chris and i have always talked about the idea of having vintage era races...like a 80's race with only 80's boats, etc....old rules, longer courses, boats ...

isaac, how's it goin? did i read somewhere that you had some kind of shoulder injury? if so that stinks, and best of luck with it.

thanks man, glad you enjoyed it! i must say i got a kick out of writing it too!

glad to hear the deadline is still out on the water. we got that boat new in 1994, and i think i still have the receipt from davey.

Slaloms, "It's a wonderful life" (christmas movie with jimmy stewart)

set the scene: george bailey (jimmy stewart) is being shown what the world of slalom would be like, if it didnt get more boaters into racing, and only focussed on medals. (feel free to use your jimmy stewart voice below) :wink ...

alden, i agree with you. i just wrote a whole page, then got logged out and lost it all....dohhhh!! so ill try again.

i think the decline in C-1 is hit harder by the combined rule. and we all know that slalom c-1 and c-2 technique takes much longer to develop, as opposed to kayak. the learning ...

i imagine from looking at the number of racers that show up at say the slovakian team trials...its probably growing much more than in the U.S. usually each european countries team trials have as many participants from other countries, as their own. this may also be due to the plethora of competition ...

its obvious the decline in slalom is not just the combined run rule...

but, off hand, here are a few other reasons i think participation has declined in the U.S.

u.s. team spots were 4 per class and now 3 per class (not to mention now you have to make percentage against the fastest kayak, which ...

Below are some interesting participant numbers: Obviously some decline in slalom participation since the mid 90's had to do with the Ocoee olympic bubble bursting, like the dot com stocks, inflated by the excitement generated by the backyard Olympic games in 1996, and its previous 1992 successes ...