Wet Virginia New Day

Photos

By Clay Wright

Woke late from the late drive and hard 5-Boat riding on Friday but nothing a little Cathedral coffee breakfast and 3 Alleve coulnd’t fix … had my favorite Croissant while enjoying the Saturday AM social scene and internet access all at once. Kirk thought the New at 10 g would be the best play so we headed that way. After many, many ‘surfs’ through town where we visited Ace Whitewater’s Outdoor Store (conveniently located on your way up from running shuttle) and picked up Huge Experience’s Dave Hughes we finally made it to the river.

The first drop of the New is by far the biggest and scariest – it’s the New River Stairs. Make sure there’s no sand at the bottom and throw a trick when you take that first skip off the water…

Next up is Upper Railroad – a big hole on river right with a sweet, steep surfer’s right shoulder that wraps around into a beat-down pit. Great left blunts, loops, and cartwheel sessions both intentional and non-intentional. . . Other highlights were the huge Ender Waves, Greyhound’s right shoulder, and a little hole on the left just below Miller’s Folley for the phonics’s and tricky’s to finish you off if you’ve saved any energy up to then.

This time we made Pies n Pints before closing, washing down the Black Bean and ‘Cuban’ pies with some nice strong beer and good company before crashing out at Brian Kirk’s again. Heading to Cathedral to start this all over again … Gauley at 5 or New at 11 g … good choices!