Cape Fear River Novice Trip

Cape Fear River Novice Trip Report: 8 Paddlers, 4 Kayaks, 1 Canoe, 1 C1, 1 Crossover, and 1 Tag a long Recreational Kayak(6 CCC members) Big thanks to Bobby Simpson, David Freeman, Kristen Roberts, Frankie McMahon, Joshua Forbes, Scott Leavitt, and Jill Owle for coming out to join me on this beautiful day. The river level was around 2.45 Ft/1310 CFS and it was a hot but beautiful sunny day on the river. Bobby did as usual and made everything look so easy, David was testing out his new C1 and judging by how it went its very debatable whether or not that kayak will see water again under his knees again, Kristen was able to get back on the water and knock some of the rust off, and then there was myself and Frankie as the Novices, and my buddy and new to the CCC and whitewater Josh. We all 3 got a great training/practice session out of the day. Lastly we had a TPA associate Scott with us that drove from Pilot Mountain to hang out for the day and our now two weekend in a roll Recreational tag a long Jill who came out or another "lazy" float down the river. Since I have been paddling with the CCC everyone has done so much to help teach me and I was excited to be able to pass some of that down to Frankie and Josh and I think actually help them improve all while improving on my skills as well. We were all able to get some great surfing practice along with peeling out, eddying, and ferrying on some of the excellent spots with strong current. Frankie was able to roll back up after a couple unexpected flips which is an improvement for him, Josh (only second time in his whitewater kayak) was able to get great experience in his wet exit skills with his 3 wet exits but credit to him he never gave up and he kept getting in the current and practicing the moves. I felt a huge improvement again this weekend and it was topped off by being able to get up to last surf wave and hang in it even though it kicked the others out even though it did take a couple attempts and multiple approach angles. Another great day on the river and I believe despite the 4 miles of flatwater at the beginning and the "FU" mile at the end everyone had a great time and us Novices and Newbie got great practice out of it. Look forward to many more trips with all these amazing people!