A Very Jimmy Election Day (Intro Whitewater Kayaking!)

OVERVIEW

HEYO river rats!!!

What better way to spend ur election day (i mean other than voting ig) than sampling the beautiful waters and gentle class II rapids of the upper falls of the jimmy james with Sarah and I? It’ll be a lil chilly but that’s how we liiiiike it – and the club will provide wonderful wetsuits, drysuits, and splash/drytops to keep us warm! Read trip descrip to find out moreeeee….

This is a beginner trip, so you don’t need to have any paddling skills at all HOWEVER you should have some basic swimming skills, especially with the cold weather. As long as you know how to swim relatively well, you should be fine, and that is the only prerequisite for this trip yay! We will go over basic outfitting of whitewater gear, basic paddle strokes, reading and running rapids, and perhaps even exciting activities such as surfing and the kayak roll! With that said, this is a more instructional trip and we will try to cater to everyone’s experience/skill level and be as hands off/on as people would like.

For this trip, we’re going to be doing the upper James section in Richmond. This section consists of some class I and II whitewater, which means the rapids are very beginner friendly, and are great to learn skills on. There’s also a nice flatwater section for learning, and wonderful rocks to chill, snack, swim, and explore off of (if its warm enough that we want to chill). It stretches about 4.5 miles from Pony Pasture Park to Reedy Creek Park, right within a stone’s throw of downtown RVA. If we get like no beginner interest and more intermediate interest, we may even do the lower james??

WAITLIST POLICY:
Beginners will get priority of this trip! This refers to those who have never paddled whitewater in a kayak before. Extra priority will be given to those who have been coming to roll clinics but have not gotten on the river!

American Whitewater link (with descriptions of the rapids and the section):
https://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/view/river-detail/1951/main

WHEN
8:00 – meet at corner of echols, confirm boat and gear sizings, hit za road.
9:30 – arrive at reedy creek park, drop cars for shuttle, do any needed changing/dry clothes distribution
10:00 – arrive at pony pasture park, unload and gear up, quick gear and outfitting seminar as needed, choice of JAH FLUME or chill pool (river entry method), start paddlin!
11:30 – chill mid-river on super secret river chill spots, mad snacking and potential roll instruction ensues
2:00 (at latest) – arrive, having paddled our little hearts out, at reedy creek, take out, load up, dry off, reset shuttle
2:30 – on our way back to cville!
4:00 – back at echols
*** these times are in an attempt to be conservative but jah river (and humans) is unpredictable and things may run over ***

WHAT WE BRING
– kayaks and paddles
– PFDs (life jackets), kayak skirts, and helmets
–Wetsuits/drysuits/booties
– extra water and a couple dry bags
WHAT YOU BRING
–Clothes (WOOL OR WATER WICKING, SYNTHETIC COMPRESSION, NO COTTON) that will fit under a splashtop or drysuit (should be formish fitting)
–Wool socks if you have them will save your feetsies from a cold day
– shoes that are cool with being in the river
– sunscreen/maybe a hat if you want
– water + snackssss (for post river mostly)
– change of WARM WARM clothes and a towel for after (maybe a beanie and some wool socks dedicated for end of paddle warmth)
– maybe a plastic bag or your own version of a dry bag for your stuff you want on the river (snack, sunscreen ect.). we have dry bags but this can be your bag within the bag (bagception)

That’s about it! Plz text mitch at 8049558990 with any questions!