Rental Rollover

Yesterday someone was able to roll a rental truck on the highway and not hit anyone else or the guardrail. As usual, traffic was at a standstill on the opposite side with people trying to get a closer look. I was just trying to go kayaking.

Thunder Storm

The weather broke today and we had a massive storm in New Haven. The thunder was extremely loud and the rain came down in buckets. Hopefully this will get rid of some humidity.

Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival

Grey Fox is a three day festival that takes place once a year in Ancramdale, NY. The festival is now 31 years old. We drove up on Saturday specifically to see "Crooked Still". There were lots of great musicians and singers throughout the day. There were thousands of people there and it seems that most of them camp for the entire festival. There are also many workshops for those interested in learning instuments and singing techniques.

The "Waybacks" in the dance tent
The crowd gathers at the main stageThe "Quiet" camping areaThe "Greencards" on the main stageCarol Young from the Greencards in a vocal workshopMandolin playing workshop with Brian Aldridge"Crooked Still" on the main stageHarmony Singing workshop with Jeff Horton and Mary Maguire

Institute of Contemporary Art

Last sunday I visited the The Boston ICA is on Fan Pier, on the south side of the waterfront. It was just opened recently and was designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro Architects. A room drops from the underside of the cantilevered portion of the gallery. A sloped glazed wall provides panoramic views across Boston harbor
A huge 50' wide illustration in the lobby called "The Divine Gas"I met this couple in the upper gallery that overlooks the harbor. He is an amateur photographer and interested in my camera because he is considering buying one. We talked about the photography exhibit. She is a local architect and was there to see the building, just as I was.

A video from the Tariffville trip mentioned below. That's me in the red boat with the white paddle.

Tariffville Gorge

Tariffville Gorge is about 15 minutes north of Hartford, CT. There is one spot on the river that kayakers gather on a regular basis to practice and hone their skills. T'ville's water level was pretty low this weekend which made the wave a little sticky - once I was in it was hard to get out, unless the wave threw me out. It doesn't take long to burn off your energy.
Jen was the skilled photographer on this trip.
(click photos for large version)
Side surfing on the waveNever lean upstream in fast water because this happens.Rolling out of the wave. Another kayaker side surfingBackflipA happy kayakerA kayaker's dog is also happy in the river

Carrie's Birthday

It was Carrie's 29th birthday yesterday and for the 4th of July celebrations we had sparklers and fireworks. Jen is quite skilled in fire writing

Zoar's Gap Video

here's some footage that i shot after i ran Zoar's Gap. The rapids seem much bigger when you are in there.

Running "The Gap"

Today we took a trip the the CT AMC kayak club to the Deerfield river in northern Massachusetts. We ran the Fife Brook section which starts at the Fife Brook dam and finishes at Zoar's Gap.
Here's Jen in her fancy new gear that we bought for the trip. The trip was mostly class II except for the Gap which was class III. We had 18 kayakers in our group. Generally the Deerfield is pretty shallow at this time of year but each day there are scheduled releases of water from the dam which brings the level up significantly for a period of time. Today the water release was 850 CFS for three hours between noon and 3pm. We started at 12.30pm and the five mile run took us about 2 hours. Some of the group ended up swimming a few times but we made it through successfully staying in our boats. Towards the end of the trip some of the less experienced kayakers got out of the river before the large rapids of Zoar's gap. I decided to give it a go and after some advice from the local kayakers I took the left route and followed them over the first rock, diving into the swirling water below. Paddling forward, avoiding the large rock on river left , I was immediately thrown into the surging water and successfully navigated through to the eddy without capsizing. It was well worth it.

Kayakers waiting to paddle back into the rapids of Zoar's Gap Thankfully this is not how I ran the Gap, but many did end up in this situation whether they liked it or not