Paddling the Wacissa River
Summary:
The Wacissa River is a beautiful, clear river about a 25 minute drive from my house. There are two places that rent kayaks/canoes, but it costs about $30 for a day rental. I highly advise buying your own kayak if you live in the greater Tallahassee area and enjoy the outdoors. I brought my whitewater Mamba, and my friend brought his kayak with pedal drive. We were probably the two goofiest looking people on the river. This entry will be fairly brief since it wasn't the most in depth trip on this river that I've done. Usually there's more free diving, smaller spring exploration, beer consumption, and rope swinging.
The Gear:
- Dagger Mamba kayak
- Werner Sherpa paddle
- Seattle Sports Paddle Float
The Story:
While it's always nice to go for a paddle on a clear, cool day, the intent was to get some more rolling practice done. I'm going up to North Carolina this weekend, and I'm working really hard on getting that roll down before I'm in a combat roll situation. I already ran 13 miles in the morning, so this was going to be my second workout of the day.
The river was as beautiful as ever. The water super clear, little fish swimming around, a variety of birds everywhere. There were no gator sightings today however. Usually I see at least one, sometimes about 15! We went straight towards Big Blue, no stopping at Cassidy or Little Blue Springs today. I worked on my rolling with the paddle float at first, which was successful. I then removed the paddle float and couldn't get the sweep stroke right and ended up swimming. Here's a picture of me draining my boat.
The river was as beautiful as ever. The water super clear, little fish swimming around, a variety of birds everywhere. There were no gator sightings today however. Usually I see at least one, sometimes about 15! We went straight towards Big Blue, no stopping at Cassidy or Little Blue Springs today. I worked on my rolling with the paddle float at first, which was successful. I then removed the paddle float and couldn't get the sweep stroke right and ended up swimming. Here's a picture of me draining my boat.
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| Big Blue Spring Wacissa River |
I kept working on the roll, but this time my friend stayed near by so I could use his boat for leverage and hip snap upright. No more swimming with this, but I still needed to drain the boat again with all the flipping upside down. I use a snorkel mask when practicing so that way I can watch what I'm doing and not worry about water going up my nose. Between the wetsuit, spray skirt, PFD, and snorkel mask, I was by far the most fashionable person on the river.
After Big Blue, we continued downstream a bit.
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| Wacissa River |
Then we turned around and paddled back to the headspring.
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| Headspring Wacissa River |
Hurdles:
There were no major hurdles. Big Blue was a little crowded, as expected on a Sunday afternoon. A bunch of people got to watch me flailing around in the water. It's all good.
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| Big Blue Spring Wacissa River |
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| Big Blue Spring Wacissa River |
Relevant Quote:
Completing a kayak roll is extremely challenging. It's so easy to flip upside down and be stuck submerged underwater. You can take the easy way out with a wet exit, but then it's a struggle getting everything back together again. You can have a friend help you out. Or, you can put the effort into flipping back upright: extra work initially but less recovery effort. My goal is to be able to successfully and consistently complete the full circle of the roll.
Other:
- Strava map of my paddle
How is the alligator count for the area?
ReplyDeleteIt uses inflatable and disk-shaped tube. There are two categories of it known as towed and free-floating tubing. A speedy water craft is used for towed tubing. relaxing nature sounds
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