A Day on Inner City Strife in the New FUN

October 28, 2006

By Stephen Wright

On Thursday, Jen and I drove down to Watertown to pick up her new squirt
boat, a New 2 FUN for me, and to surf Inner City Strife. Inner City is one
of my favorite waves in the world. Jen even gimped her way down to hang out
on shore and shoot video and photos for us! I was joined on the river by my
friends Jeremy, Jamie, Mike, Tim, and Bagel throughout the day. After
paddling, we had to drive down to Syracuse to pick up my 2 FUN, then drive
all the way back to Beachburg…We didn’t get home until 2:30 am–what an
adventure!

Here are some fun ICS facts for your ed-u-ma-fi-ca-tion:

Inner City Strife forms below Knife’s Edge rapid on the Black River
The level needs to be between 9,500 and 14,000 CFS for the waves to be
there
ICS is a series of 3 surfable waves, with the top wave as the best one
ICS is the world’s most user friendly big wave (it has a great eddy, and
easy drive-in access)
The Black River water is colder than the Ottawa at this time of year
ICS paddlers generally make fires next to the wave when it’s cold
Last year I booked a last-minute flight to Watertown for 5 days just to
surf ICS…It’s that fun!

I’ll be spending the next week enjoying the New 2 FUN on the Ottawa, and
tearing my engine apart to replace the head gasket. My truck isn’t
currently running. Enjoy the pics and video (QuickTime 6.2 MB)!

Live from Beachburg,
Stephen Wright