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Trip Report: American (South Fork "Chili Bar" - 1500cfs) - August 14, 2005

Run: Chili Bar to Troublemaker
Difficulty: III+
Flow: 1500 cfs

Map of the River

Great run in my brand new boat (Wavesport EZG) from Chili Bar down to Troublemaker. Brian T & I put in around 12 Noon with the flow still up arouund 1500 cfs. The crowds had already headed down the river and so we avoided playing "bumper cars" with the rafts. Weather was nice, not too hot, not too cold.

We eddy hopped all the way down through Meatgrinder, which was good practice. The play spots at Maya & First Threat were pretty busy with kayakers but not overly so to be annoying. Mike was pulling a few moves at Maya (video). There were about 8-10 people in line at any given time at First Threat with about the same number hanging out on the river bank. A couple of guys were really throwing down, fun to watch. The rest of the river was pretty quiet.

Troublemaker was a kick, fun at 1500 cfs. These two clips show a nice line at Troublemaker. I eddied out river left (video) and then went just right of gunsight (video). Brian took a tighter line further towards river right to catch the eddy in the middle at the bottom (video).

We were out and on the road by 4pm, with plenty of play time on the way down. Boat worked out great, I really enjoyed taking it down. We'll see how it performs in the coming weeks.

A fun day was had by all.

New Boat!! - Wavesport EZG 50

EZG 

I finally broke down and got a new boat - Wavesport EZG 50 (I'm about 5'10", 155#). About US$950 (incl tax) from The River Store up at Lotus, CA. Fair deal, they had 10% off which made them slightly cheaper than other local options. I also got the navy blue which is cool, I thought I was doomed to have a bright yellow banana boat for the rest of my life (last two have been that color - not by my choice!).

I have to take back a lot I said about Wavesport, the EZG is a really nice boat, they've turned me around. My Ace sucked, some people like it but I couldn't stand it. Also those nightmare foot bumps were terrible. I'm able to wear full rubber soled booties in the EZG without killing my feet! The outfitting is cool and I was able to get it setup in about 15 minutes just with their out of the box stuff. It needs some tweaking over time as I get used to it, but they give you plenty of options to get the right fit.

I've been running a Riot Booster 55 for the past couple of years, and it was time to get into something more playful. I was finding river runs to be a bit routine on the easier stuff and felt a bit left out when others would go off and play. I demo'ed the EZG and loved it - bought it the same day. It has nice volume, I'm told it's very playful so it is going to motivate me to get to the pool and start working on some cartwheels, back deck roll etc....

>>>>

After running the EZG a few times since I originally wrote this I'm finding that I am clearly at the bottom of the weight range (5'10", 155#). I've moved the seat all the way forward to try & get the bow down. But I still like the boat!