Hammer Factor – Episode 47, ‘Dan Gavere, Whitewater SUP and Why Kayakers Are Cheap’’

Hammer Factor

Top Of Show Sponsor : https://www.ckspaddlefest.com/

In this episode we discuss Whitewater SUP with paddling legend Dan Gavere! But first #everythingisfucked…

Hat tip to Jake Risch, did you get an invite to be on the panel Louis?

Zinke seems to be at it again:
https://medium.com/westwise/zinke-stacks-the-deck-on-outdoor-recreation-committee-8b4adf298175

But last time zinke tried his tricks he got slapped down:

https://medium.com/westwise/congress-rebukes-the-trump-zinke-proposal-to-disembowel-park-and-conservation-budgets-a3e2cb5c0989

Is Zinke being muted after the bears ears shrinking? Has the hammer factor nation constant show of support for public lands had an affect. Even if the zinkster isn’t listening seems congress is.

Listener Mail:

From Michael Gallimore

Thank you all for addressing the fact that sometimes you really do have to “eat your vegetables.” The only people who can afford to not be political are the ones whose rights are not being threatened. If you like kayaking and recreating on public lands, this is an issue that will never go away. West Virginia is a microcosm for the rest of the country, where pristine environments and beautiful rivers are always at the risk of the extractive resource industry. Thank you Louis and Hammer Factor for always keeping us in the know.

From Covey Baack
It was good to hear the Cannabis talk! I will be representing a Cannabis Company this year as well!!

From Rico 420
Dear Hammer Factor,

I really enjoyed listening to episode 46 and getting all of the gang’s take on the issues presented by pot in kayaking. It was interesting to hear how some on the panel viewed the “devil’s lettuce” as a performance enhancer while others saw it as a performance inhibitor. I feel like this disconnect is reflected across the broader community of kayakers, and that we as the Hammer Factor community have the perfect platform to solve this problem once and for all.

I think that everyone who listens to the show should be challenged to kayak their favorite river and SUP 5 miles of flatwater into a headwind back to back two times; once sober and once balls-to-the-wall stoned. After each attempt, they will fill out a detailed questionnaire rating aspects of their experience and how the “jazz cabbage” affected them. (I’m currently speaking with several M.D.’s to gain insight for the questionnaire) This will give us more data regarding the effects of marijuana than any other study to date and help the Hammer Factor gain traction in the medical news community (Which I’m sure will help out Grace’s pocketbook).

Anywho, I’ve got the brilliant idea, you guys have the means to make it happen. Lets make some magic boys. We owe it to ourselves and to the whitewater community at large.

Sincerely,

From Anonymous
To start I’d like to remain anonymous if this is used on the air. I’ll also do my best to keep this brief.

Thanks for the recent episode regarding the most recent river deaths, as a Seattle boater the loss of Sam hit us all very hard. With that said I’d like to address something in regards to how we deal with river accidents.

As a culture/community/sport when these accidents happen we don’t do a good job of analyzing the accident. If you look to the Mountaineering, rock climbing, backcountry ski world when there is death or even a accident that leads to injury they do a much better job of doing a forensic analysis of what happened that lead to the accident (links below). They look at the Environmental factors, decisions made, and Heuristic traps that leads to the incidents.

I’ve noticed that when something like a death happens on the river people don’t want to talk about these kinds of details, it’s almost as if by talking about the details we’ll be speaking poorly of the dead. That if we say out loud (for example) that the water was High, they put on at 1:00pm in December, and that they were only a group of 2 is to admit that they might have made poor decisions that lead to the incident. After Sam’s death the only time someone would mention that the water was very high (900 cfs or so) is in hushed tones and in private company. In whitewater we learn by doing, but there is a place for thoughtful reflection in regards to decision making.

Additionally, in this age of pushing the water level up on familiar runs by admitting that it’s possible that something like high water is a risk factor it would force us to look at our own decisions.

Not to put you all on blast, but this was even apparent in the episode. Lot’s of talk about risk, personal choices, and the like, but not really asking the hard questions about “what are the events that lead to these things”. If the climbing and backcountry world can do this why can’t we?

I could expand on this but for the sake of brevity I’ll stop here.

Thanks for providing quality entertainment to the whitewater world and keep up the good work, may you be blessed with many sponsors. Also I recognize my hypocrisy in wishing to remain anonymous in light of my statements.

https://avalanche.org/avalanche-accidents/

https://www.nwac.us/accidents/accident-reports/

http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/about_accidents

Anonymous

From Simon Wyndham

Okay, so weed aside, you wanted to know if there were any companies that make predominantly just WW boats without having to make cooler boxes etc. Okay, Pyranha, Bliss Stick (though God knows how they are still going!), Waka, Zet, Spade.

The bigger question is WHY boaters are so tight when it comes to buying a boat? The same people who grumble about the price of boats even though they should be higher than they are, are often the same guys who will drop $3K on a mountain or road bike without a second thought!

Tim Kennedy Corsica Review

Yet another Perception whitewater kayak review…

The Corsica! This is the original, the big one. The “head of the household” that included the Corsica, Corsica S, Corsica Matrix, Corsica Overflow, and Overflow X.

The Corsica was Perception’s first true entry into the creek boat category. At the time, it incorporated creeking specific design features such as a short length of 10’ 9”, blunt ends, and a “keyhole” cockpit. For the first couple of years it still used plastic foot pegs on rails. Later, the cockpit and thigh brace area was enlarged, a bulk head footbrace was added, and it was offered in the Proline version with stiffened pillars. Many Ohiopyle area creek boaters either paddled Corsica’s, Corsica S’s, or T-Canyons as their first plastic creek boat purchase. In the early ‘90s, it was a significant shift (and risk of ridicule) for many paddlers who had always paddled fiberglass to be seen on the river in one of these tupperware “geek” boats. But, as we explored the steeper low volume runs of the area, many came to embrace the advantages of these new plastic creek boats.

As a skinny twenty year old, I originally owned a Corsica S from 1992 to 1994. But, this past summer, I had the chance to pick up a big Corsica.

Perception Corsica specs (from the 1993 catalog)

Length: a nimble 10’ 9”
Width: a stable 25.5”
Volume: a roomy 79 gallons
Weight: light as a feather at 41 lbs

I’ve paddled mine a few times now. But for this review, I’ll talk about my run down Gore Canyon at 1300 cfs last September. (I do paddle other places. But, Gore is practically my “backyard run”.)

Visual impression to me:

Looks longer and skinnier than modern creek boats (because it is), but not as long as a Green Boat or Stinger (because it isn’t). Looks fast with an ever so slight keel on the stern (to help track). Hardly any rocker whatsoever (it better be fast, otherwise it may boof like a torpedo). A big flat bow deck that you could land aircraft (or your drone) on.

Visual impression to 20 year olds that I paddled with that day:

“Whoa…Who brought that? Are you gonna paddle that today? Looks huge!” Whispers aside, “What a kook!” “And you have a wood paddle? How long is that?” Thinks, “Yep, a complete kook!”

Comfort and outfitting:

Surprisingly comfortable and secure with such small thigh hooks. Seat needed to have some foam glued in for hip pads, and I added an IR backband. The footbraces in mine are the easily adjustable and replaceable (more on that later) Keepers style plastic foot pegs/pedals. A standard/small (depending on brand) sprayskirt fits fine on the cockpit, but needs to be worked into the shallow rim.

On river performance:

– Super stable. The narrow width is not noticeable, due to the big flat area under the seat.
– Pretty fast for a short boat. Almost as fast as a Green Boat or Stinger. Probably due to the lack of rocker giving it a long “effective edge” (ski/snowboard term).
– Boofs are 50/50. The speed helped with the boof on the left-left line in Gore rapid. I aired it out with a few wide-eyed “Holy shit!”s from the kids in the eddy.
– However, the length and lack of rocker didn’t promote a flat landing at Tunnel Falls. I resurfaced like a nuclear submarine in an 1990’s political thriller. Bow high, but still hull side down. So, it resurfaces well.
– Catches eddies fine. If you’ve got the room, it carves into eddies really well for having such soft edges.
– All day comfort. Even with the narrow knee position and low deck, I was able to sit in the boat all day, without having to get out until…
– Age/durability of plastic outfitting is suspect. One of the original Keepers foot pegs shattered, when I applied a bit of pressure to it while peeling out at the bottom of Kirschbaum (thankfully not earlier in the day). I paddled out with a light pressure on the remnants ziptied in place. But, a new set was easily purchased online for under $20. Good to go for next time!

Summary:

The Corsica is a fun old school boat that fits in between the modern creeker and modern long boats in performance. Very versatile. However, it’s too long for the short boat class and too slow/too flat of a deck for the podium in the long boat class. But, as training run boat, or a boat to help make the step up to paddling a Stinger or Green Boat, it’s a good option. It may be good for shorter multi-day trips as well. I have a friend who is planning on paddling one on a Middle Fork self-support this summer. He’s been paddling the Corsica forever. He likes them so much, he has a barn full of them. If you are on the smaller side, I recommend the Corsica S. The Matrix is a slug (albeit a stable slug). The Overflow is a completely different boat.

*sorry no action shots (again)

Crushing it in the Corsica!

Now for our special guest: Dan Gavere!