Whitewater
Finding and playing with the balance point between natural forces is key aspect of kayaking. It takes just the right amount angled resistance against the flow of water under and around the craft and the paddle for controlled movement. The draw of the paddle, roll of the shoulder, twist of torso, snap of the hips the kayak becomes and extension of the paddler. It’s a cold, challenging environment that requires everchanging balancing to perform. Its truly invigorating.
Invigorating - giving life and energy, active and spirited
Kayaking starts when snow melts, streams fill, forest comes alive
I’ve been fascinated by moving water much of my life. It became one of my first photo subjects.
Capturing moving water with black and white photography produces amazing images. Playing with the shutter speed you can create a veiling whitewater effect that contrasts with the dark static background.
Early spring in the forest by Cliffside in Sunderland, MA 1973
Water fall in the form of a reclining person
When I first did these photographs in 1973, in was experimenting with zone systems. By controlling the exposure level, shutter speed, film development and printing paper contrast the goal was to get fine detail in all seven shades or “zones,” from the lightest highlights to the darkest shadows. I was trying to mimic what the early masters of photography, Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, achieved - sharply focused and richly detailed black-and-white photographs.
First spring growth in the underbrush
Stream Flowing into the Mongaup River above Sparrowbush, NY
Streams merge into rivers becoming spring playgrounds for whitewater enthusiasts.
The Drop on the Quaboag River
One of my first class III whitewater rivers
It’s March 1976 and I just bought a brand new Blue Hole canoe for 300$. That was about 3 month’s pay from my grad school research stipend at UMASS. I picked up a very cheap but stylish “May West” life jacket and thick, stiff diving wet suit. I was literally steaming in that suit.
The big drop on the Quaboag. - you can see a big block of Styrofoam floatation lashed under the thwart in front of me. It displaced at least 40 gallons of water and prevented the canoe from swamping and avoiding a potentially dangerous swim.
Jeff Branch from Williamsburg, MA in his kayak approaching the Quaboag drop.
Jeff dropping in - we paddled for a couple of years together in the Berkshires. Our favorite rivers were the Deerfield and the N. Branch of the Westfield which was only a few miles from his home. Jeff got me into kayaking.
I took on enough water in the drop to have to bail and that gave Jeff a chance to rest.
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A nice Old Town canoe heading for the Quaboag river drop. The front paddler is smoking a stogie.
The Old Town canoe handled the drop nicely. Notice their floatation lashed in under the thwarts. They didn’t swamp and the front paddler got to finish his cigar.
A Mad River canoe being single handed going into the drop. Without flotation this canoe quickly swamped.
The swamped Mad River canoe. The paddler had a long cold swim without a wetsuit. That kind of ended his paddling day.
Jeff Branch scouting out a run in early March, 1977.
Unfortunately this trip had a sad ending.
The next day while packing up the cars for another run, my Golden Retriever, Justin, ran out on route 9 in front of Jeff’s house. Williamsburg center doesn’t usually get much traffic, But this time luck wasn’t with us. Justin was struck by a car and passed away within a few minutes.
Justin on his favorite stump watching for tennis balls to chase - Otisville, NY
Slalom Racing 1979
Freight train Rapids
Esopus Creek, the Catskills
In 1979 I was a member of the Kayak and Canoe Club of New York. We paddled lots of rivers in the Catskills, Poconos, Adirondacks and even did surf kayaking trips on the south coast of Long Island. The club hosted an annual slalom whitewater racing event on the Esopus River that attracted the top US competitors, including some Olympic competitors. I brought along a few cameras to capture some of my paddling buddies at that event.
I was trying my hand at medium format photography using a well used Mamiya C twin lens reflex. The bigger negative would produce larger images with less grain. Here are a few shots.
The water level was ideal for the event. By today’s standards this was pretty mild for a whitewater race, a class 3 rapid.
However, the layout of the gates made the run really challenging.
Here is a C2 which are incredibly difficult to paddle, particularly when you flip and have to perform a combat Eskimo roll. The paddlers must be in perfectly synchronized to roll back up.
Another C2 with the freight train bridge crossing the river upstream.
My single lens reflex camera with a telephoto lens was much easier to use for action shots. The following were captured with my Minolta SRT 101 using color slide film.
A young Davey Hearn in his C1. Dave is a former slalom canoeist who competed from the late 1970s to the early 2000s. He won seven medals in the C1 event at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with two golds and five silvers. He also won six consecutive world championship gold medals in the C1 team event. Hearn competed in three summer Olympics, earning his best finish of ninth in the C1 event in Atlanta, 1996.
Dave’s sister Kathy Hearn in her K1. She won ten medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with two golds (K1: 1979, K1 team: 1979), three silvers (K1: 1981, K1 team: 1989, 1993), and five bronzes (K1: 1989, 1997, K1 team: 1977, 1981, 1987). She also competed in two Summer Olympics, earning her best finish of seventh in the K1 event in Atlanta in 1996.
Ed Hanrahan, a member of the Kayak and Canoe Club of New York (KCCNY) since 1974. Ed along with his wife Ann Cali frequently paddled with us. We played on many rivers with the KCCNY like the Esopus, Neversink, Shahola, Mongoup, Hudson and the Deleware.
Ann Cali Hanrahan, tips her paddle for the crowd! Ann’s a professor Professor Emerita at Rutgers. She’s an internationally recognized leader in her field of pathobiology. In 1993, Russian scientists named a new strain of microsporidia in her honor: Anncaliia.
A highly competitive couple in their C2 with a light river fog overhead.
Another member of the KCCNY doing a low brace to negotiate a hole.
The late Chuck Rollins doing what he loved best. He was a happy soul and for a while was our safety chair for KCCNY. That was a little ironic because he always seems to get himself in trouble.
In July 1981 Chuck was killed paddling the Upper South Fork of the Clearwater river in Idaho. That river has an extraordinary gradient of 200+ feet per mile, is one of the toughest runs in in Idaho. It was a place that Chuck should not have been. Art Block, an editor of the American Whitewater Journal and his friend wrote in the journal that Chuck was the victim of the ethos of the "expert boating trip". For the article see “Kayaking's Deadly Ethos” (American Whitewater, Vol XXVII, No. 5, page 4).
To some extent I agree with Art. It seemed to me that the more you paddled, the more your skill increased and the more challenging runs you did. As you and your fellow paddlers got better there was an increasing casualness towards risk. When you show up at the put in and the river is much higher than you expected, and perhaps beyond your skill level, its tough not go in. Especially when everyone else is putting in.
Most of the people I paddled with were very disciplined regarding risk and safety. However, even when paddling in a very careful group, you are ultimately alone. Things happen very quickly. The water is incredibly powerful and it only takes a few minutes to drown.
I lost 3 friends in paddling accidents.
The Farmington River in Connecticut, Fall 1979
Western and northern New England provides lots of whitewater to enjoy spring, summer, and fall. The fall offers warm water and great scenery. This was a short trip to the Tarriffville Gorge at medium water level.
Casually hanging out “in the balance point” surfing a hole with a low brace.
The Farmington has several sections to paddle. Most are mellow class 1 and 2. The Tarriffville section was a fun class 3 at medium water. We never experienced it in high water levels. It would have been a bit more of a challenge.
Scott Mason and I emptying out our kayaks. After every weekend we would add more duct tape to patch up new holes in our Fiberglass kayaks. Every rock you slide over would create a new leak.
Scott was paddling a Prijon and I were paddling Lettmann designed kayak. Klaus Lettmann, a German racer and designer, licensed a few of his shapes to Hyperform, a kayak builder in Weymouth, MA. Scott’s Prijon was built by Hyperform but I don’t recall the model. I was paddling a lower volume, sharp railed, Lettmann Mark 5 made out of Kevlar. With the Mark 5, you could lean over and use the sharp rails to carve on waves. The snappier control and ability to carve increased the fun factor considerably.
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Although Farmington river was only class 3 and pretty mellow for a kayak, it was a challenge for open boats. Here is an Old Town canoe pinned on rock being rescued.
This Old Town was made out of ABS Royalex. That was a great material for whitewater canoes. They were slick as you slide over rocks and rarely hung up like an aluminum canoe. You could pound them with a sledge hammer and never crack the hull. Plus a big advantage was their shape memory. This boat popped back into its original sharp once it was pulled off the rock.
West River Jamaica, Vermont - October 1979
Ball Mountain Lake periodically releases water into the West River for whitewater rafting, canoeing, and kayaking in conjunction with the seasonal drawdown. It becomes a popular fall destination for whitewater enthusiasts.
Looking down from the base of the dam at the beautiful green mountain fall foliage and the put in. It’s a long hike with your kayak down to the river’s edge.
In 1979 you could take a short-cut to the bottom by working your way down over the emergency spillway. Here are a few paddlers getting ready to go. That’s Scott Mason and myself in the middle sitting in our kayaks ready for a big slide.
This seemed to be a better way to get down the spillway. Here is Scott passing me his kayak.
Once down on the river there were lots of places to play. This was a great ender hole in a section of the river called the dumplings.
Holes are hydraulics that form as the river water rushes over a rock and drops down behind it. The water then continues deep down, slows, surfaces, and starts moving upstream. To do an ender, you would edge your nose of the boat up to the beginning of the hole next to the big rock. Once the current grabbed onto the bow, it would drive it down deep into the bottom of the hole. Then the current would pop you back out like a watermelon seed being pinched between your fingers. Sound silly but it was great fun. I’m doing a big ender with Scott waiting his turn behind me. You can see how popular this spot was by the number of paddlers waiting their turn to play.
If you caught it just right you could get your boat to do a cartwheel in the ender hole. Here I am getting a full cartwheel spinning end to end.
Here is a different angle of Scott getting a big ender at the Dumplings.
Scott and myself after a full day of play on the West River and ready for a few beers. For some reason guys in their 20s want to grow beards.