All this talk about long boats has really gotten me to thinking about the type of paddling I do. Most the boats I paddle are between 6-9ft long. Maybe I have been dead wrong all along? So seeing how I like to take my canoeing to extremes I think this boat or others like it may be the new hot whitewater ticket http://tom.hise.org/NZ/pages/DSC04163.htm
Man I can't wait to try to surf it up on a 3ft wave or learn how to cartwheel this bad mo-fo. I'll probaly need to look into an oxygen mask if I can find a big enough hole to throw enders in. Yup-- you guys are really onto something here.
How about a 16 foot Original Blue Hole Starburst from Sunbright, Tennesse for a creeker. I have one that I have used mainly for tandem use, but I once took it down a section of the Little River in the Smokies while my main boat, Blue Hole Sunburst 14 footer, was being repaired.
I am not sure about the set up and going without airbags as I have once wraped a short canoe that was being used as a tandem without much space for bags. Paddling a crooked canoe is a challenge.
I think that the optimum length might be around 10 - 12 feet and the width say 25-26 inches for a c-1.
These Longboatin' guys remind of a very famous TN openboater that didn't use airbags, Dick Wooten. I remember seeing him going down the Ocoee in a beat-up Blue Hole OCA with no air bags, standing up in the stern, wearing gardeners knee pads and cut-off jean shorts. He definitely wrapped his canoe a few too many times
All the TSRA folks that tried to emulate him when were a bunch of Wooten groupies. I remember a bunch of his groupies that were on the Tellico one spring. They spent a lot of time unwrapping their boats after a few swims. They definitely needed ropes and z-drag kits to make it down the river.
I've paddled Wooten's Folly on Clear Creek. I believe it is the last major rapid before Obed Junction. It's been a long time since I was on Clear Creek so I'm not to sure. I wonder where Dick wrapped or pinned his boat in that one? Must have been a pretty bad situation...bad enough to get a rapid named after him
About 1/2 mile below Lilly Bridge starts a section where three rapids come in close proximity. The first is Camel Rock then Jack's Rock or Wooten's Folly. This section covers about 8 miles I think. Obed junction is a peice down the river.
I am not sure what happen to Dick. I think that he was with Juanita and Roy Quinn who were owners of the original Blue Hole company. These two named many of the rapids being the first to paddle these rivers. Wooten's Folly changes with the flow, but you either hit it directly which is very narrow or you go around this midstream bolder and then left on down a series of shallow cascades any of which could topple a paddler standing up.
These were some of the true pioneers of the sport. Improvization was the name of the game. Skills were learned on the job.
Juanita and Roy went in with Steve Scarborough to form Dagger. After Perception bought Dagger, Juanita opened a book store in Wartburg. She still paddles and holds an annual week of rivers the Cumberland Plateau water shed.
I published an oft-recirculated trip report in the late 70s about a TSRA Ocoee trip I joined. Wooten was Fearless Leader, and Libby and Juanita were running in C-2. I would have been in my Hahn.
Wooten wrapped his OCA on a big rock after swamping. While we watched and laughed, he peeled it off, taped driftwood to the broken gunwales, and paddled the rest of the river standing up, he said to keep the boat bottom from pooching upward.
I remember seeing him surfing the bottom of Lesser Wesser and not taking a drop. I still can't do that after paddling almost a decade in my MR Synergy. I guess you learn to run drier when you never use floatation.
Maybe ten years ago I met Wooten in Rivers End, and we reviewed some old tales. I told him of a humor story I wrote but never ran when I was GCA editor, about encountering Wooten selling pre-softened OCAs from a trailer near the Ocoee take out. Just the product for guys ashamed to be seen in a new-looking boat.
