Ocoee Whitewater in Georgia, 2008

My son really wanted to kayak the Ocoee after rafting it last year with his Aunt and Uncle--and watching the kayakers squirting around having fun. I was reticent but didn't want to pass up the once in a life time opportunity to do this with him. So, Jane and I went online to see what might be offered, she forwarded Jeff's link to me and we decided that he had the best balance of safety, instruction and fun. We ordered the CD from the photographers and we'll replace the copyright stuff when we receive it.

The pic below is our instructor "Jeff", the guy is all sinew, knowledge and safety :)

He brought along a really capable assistant named 'Dave' as we had 5 people in our party and Jeff explained that he likes to keep the ratio of instructor to student at a minimum for safety--I found out later how sage his thought process is. He seems to do everything the same way every time when kayaking--correctly--and he always errs on the side of safety. As a Dad, that was really important to me.

The Ocoee is so beautiful--wandering between the steep gorges--the water is cool and clear, it was often hard to keep my focus. We started out the morning in a wide area at the bottom of the river getting to know each other and spent a couple hours receiving and practicing instruction before starting our run at the top. The instruction seemed redundant at the time but Jeff and Dave made sure we could execute all the basic controls. Everything they taught us just plain 'worked' and it was the most enjoyable experience I've ever had, period.

The first set of photos is John going through 'Double Trouble'. Up to this point I had a sore neck from looking around and making sure my son was OK. I should have focused on my own technique and worried about myself. John turned out to have a great sense of balance and managed to get sideways sometimes but still used what Jeff and Dave taught him to 'sweep' into position and complete a rapid. It's been a week and he still gets super-animated talking about it--he absolutely loved every minute and can remember exactly what he was doing at any point on the river, I wish he'd pay that kind of attention in school!

The second set of photos is me going through 'Double Trouble'. I did everything as Jeff and Dave had instructed and it was the most amazing experience to sink into a frothy hole--reach over the next wave and squirt out on top with my kayak filled with water but exactly where I was supposed to be. All that great instruction really paid off--I knew what I was doing before I entered the rapid and the stuff that Jeff and Dave 'made' us practice just came natural as I went through, so the whole thing ended up wildly satisfying.

My son never dumped the whole time--I dumped twice. Both times I relaxed after going through a rapid instead of 'eddying' off river and then relaxing--Jeff warned us about this. Both times Jeff or Dave were right there if I needed help.

If any of you want to try a once in a lifetime experience where you feel totally alive, you should book a trip with Jeff, he's the only dude licensed to instruct with these kayaks on the Ocoee and it's mostly because he and whoever his assistant is, work their butts off while you have fun!

I'm glad we lucked-out and picked the best kayaker on the Ocoee, those guys really made it easy and enjoyable. I wish I had the ability to describe how beautiful it is looking at that river hunkered down in a kayak, it's such a different perspective. We'll be back there for private instruction with 'Jeff West' before fall--having great instruction really 'hooked' us...


Dave

Look him up at http://www.acefunyaks.com , He's the best!

Call me if you have questions....