Kayak competition nears halfway point

Rain-muddied water boils at the foot of a mountainside waterfall as the paddler steadies his kayak and eyes his approach.

Unseen dangers lurking in the churning foam produce fear, but that’s part of the fun.

The paddler vanishes under the thundering rapids, only to reappear and strike out for the next heart-stopping drop.

It’s all downhill in the Total Vertical Feet Kayaking Descent Competition.

Chattanooga resident Ben Friberg founded the three-year-old event to turn the sport of “creekboating” into a competition.

Mr. Friberg said teams of creekboaters are busy across the region in what has become a national competition known as TVF. He said the reigning champs, the Southeast Tennessee-based Stanley Steamers, hold the lead.

“Those guys had a pretty monumental day on Suck Creek two weeks ago,” Mr. Friberg said of the leaders. “They had three guys who (each) dropped a vertical mile.”

“That’s the biggest day anybody’s ever done on Suck Creek,” said Mr. Friberg, 29.

Besides the individual milestones, the team scored 7,275 feet of descent that day, he said.

The TVF competition began in mid-February on creeks in the Eastern United States and continues through May. It moves west over the summer to new venues in the Rockies and the Pacific Northwest.

Fourteen teams are trying to accumulate the greatest total descent during their best eight days in a three-month season. “Descent” is measured by a creekboat’s run on a single body of water from its highest elevation to its lowest, according to the rules.

Dagger, a manufacturer of canoes and kayaks, will give winning team members six new kayaks. Other sponsors, such as Red Bull and Teva, also will give out awards of equipment and gear, according to organizers.

TVF

Mr. Friberg said some paddlers are logging big numbers for teams with names like the “Sexy Kayaking Beasts” and “Dude I’m Down for Whatever...”

There have been injuries, broken equipment and lots of cold weather, but teams here and across the country are showing interest and tallying scores, he said.

“The North Carolina teams, they’ve been putting up some good numbers,” he said. “And we’ve had several teams from out West starting to send e-mails saying they’re going to participate. We don’t have their names, but they’ll be getting in here shortly.”

Mark Bowman is one of four members of the Stanley Steamers.

Mr. Bowman said he likes TVF’s “marathon-type” competition because creekboaters must be at the top of their game for hours at a time.

“There’s stuff being done in these competitions that hasn’t been done,” he said. “This competition actually pushes you to do a lot more.”

Teams start making runs at daybreak and continue sometimes until dark. The long days require stamina and concentration, he said.

Teammate Jeff West, a kayaking instructor in Polk County, expects more teams to enter as the weather warms up and the competition in the eastern venue nears the halfway point, he said.

“We’re one month down and two months to go,” Mr. West said Wednesday.

The team’s best day so far was on Marion County’s Suck Creek with its dozens of rapids, ranging from Class III to Class V, Mr. West said.

One waterfall, dubbed “Knucklehead,” is dangerous enough that even the most experienced creekboaters portage around it, he said.

“It’s essentially a sieve. It’s a 10-foot waterfall,” he said. “The half that is flowing over the waterfall doesn’t actually flow over it like a normal waterfall; it flows back underneath it into an underwater cave system you could park your car in.”

“It’s terrifying to think of what’s up underneath there,” he said.

Mr. West, a 37-year-old veteran of the sport, said 2008 should be the most exciting year yet with the broader competition window and additional venues.

“We’ve had some of the best rainfall we’ve had in five or six years,” he said of the Eastern venue.

He warns other teams to start hitting the creeks now.

“One inch (of rain) a month from now won’t be enough because the vegetation and trees actually drink up that much water and the streams don’t get nearly as high,” he said.

CREEKBOATING

Creekboating has grown as part of kayaking in general, particularly since the early 1990s, Mr. West said. He said the appeal for some people is the remote, scenic beauty.

Creeks, unlike popular whitewater rivers, usually flow through pristine wilderness, inaccessible in some areas even for seasoned hikers, he said.

Tom Montgomery, who was with a group on Cain Creek on Thursday, said creeks are more challenging than rivers.

“To put it in comparison with the Ocoee: The Ocoee has five or six rapids in it and between the top and bottom here we’re looking at 50 rapids that are better than those five,” Mr. Montgomery said. “It’s quite a bit more challenging than the Ocoee.”

Former TVF competitors like Ryan Snodgrass, of Gadsden, Ala., said creekboating is tough but competing in the TVF is grueling.

Mr. Snodgrass, who was on third-place team “Juggernaut” last year, said he didn’t join a team this year because of the grinding pace and the difficulty of forming a team.

“Going dawn to dusk on Suck Creek is a long day,” he said.

This year he’ll join competing paddlers as they rack up points and he enjoys the rush, the views and the camaraderie, Mr. Snodgrass said.

TO LEARN MORE

Go to boatertalk.com, click on “TVF 2008 National Championship” or the “Resources” and “Forums” tabs, then click on “TVF.” Also visit steepcreeks.com for local kayaking lore, photos and videos.