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Tripping canoe in class III rapids

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Oct 9, 2016
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Woonsocket, RI
You don't see this very often - a tripping canoe running the class III section below the Ball Mountain Dam on the West River in VT. This (father/son?) team made it look easy.

tripping.jpg
They took the far right line through some pretty big waves - that's the way the raft guides go. Kid in the bow does a nice cross draw to straighten out the boat in that big wave. Unfortunately I never saw them again as I went down the river.

If you know them let me know. Few more pictures here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eckilson/albums/72177720320520034/
 
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Very cool! That guy on the paddle board looks all armored up. Hats off to the trippers! Thanks for the pics.
 
Very cool! That guy on the paddle board looks all armored up. Hats off to the trippers! Thanks for the pics.
Once I saw the guy on the paddle board go through I knew the line I was going to take. I figured if he could run it standing on a paddle board then I should be able to run it kneeling in a canoe. I got through fine.
 
It's a Dagger Legend canoe. I thought the Dagger Dimension was a better whitewater tandem.
You're right - it's a Dagger Legend. The Dagger logo is pretty easy to to see, but I never would have gotten the Legend. I zoomed in to 400%, and that is the logo. You have good eyes for boats.
Paddled the West many times but never carried to or down the dam.
I wouldn't recommend it anyway. Not sure I will do it again. The carry down is terrible (especially for canoes) and the first rapid (Initiation) is very unforgiving if you swim. I had a friend dump at the top a couple of years ago and he swam the whole rapid down to the bridge at Cobb Brook where the shuttle dropped you off - almost half a mile. That was his last whitewater trip. Hopefully they will fix the road along the river and start up the shuttle again at some point. It's such a fun river and there is always a great crowd there on release days.
 
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