the Nantahala Wave is ON

[liveonearth]

Above: the kind of tricks people will do in this "wave".


Above: Lee Liebfarth working to get out of the river right corner of The Nantahala Wave. They're calling it a wave but seriously now folks, that's a hole. It looks pretty retentive at higher flows. It was constructed just downstream from the store, and just upstream from the bridge where the practice slalom gates are hung. Of course, you don't really "construct" a river feature, what you do is modify the riverbed by narrowing the channel, and making an obstacle of the right size and shape for the water to flow over. The modifications are usually a combination of native river rock and added concrete to keep it all in position. Voila, new wave! It looks from this image of the wave without water that it has been built of stacked river rock, but I know there's concrete under there.

Below: the construction in progress with the store in the background:

Building this new river feature was a good idea for the Nantahala Outdoor Center. It will bring playboaters and freestyle events to their locale, and heighten the play skills of the locals. I notice a large flat rock just above the wave on the right--a perfect spot for photographers to catch impressive images of paddlers throwing ends in the hole. Sometimes I think this is where I will go back to...

Note the photog rock: