Pipers Hole Festival News

I think I have the final touches on the Pipers Hole Festival. Here are all of the pertinent details.

Date: Saturday, April 14, 2007
Time: 10:00 am in the parking lot. The rodeo will likely start around 12:30 pm.
Location: Pipers Hole River is located just south of Swift Current, NL. Follow the TCH west from St. John's. Just past the Iriving station in Goobies there is a left hand turn onto highway #210, there are signs for the Burin Peninnsula and Marystown. Swift Current is located 21 km west of Goobies. THe entrance to the park is a further 4.5 km west of the edge of town. If you miss the park entrance you will pass over a bridge and start heading up a large hill. This is too far, turn around and look for the park on the east side of the bridge.
Cost: No Cost, just come and have fun. At past festivals there have been t-shirts for the participants, but not this year. As a departure from the clothing market there will be NL Rodeo Series Decals available for $4 or $5 each, I'm still sorting that out.
Format: The festival is really just about getting out with a large group of paddlers and enjoying an amazing little play run. It is a good opportunity for beginner boaters to paddle with more experienced whitewater kayakers. This is also a day to invite your friends who may be passingly interested in taking up the sport, but don't know much about kayaking.

The main event of the day is the rodeo. This year the format will be based on elimination heats. Heats of four kayakers will have exclusive access to the wave for 10 minutes. The top two paddlers, as decided by the spectators, will advance to the next round. I estimate that there will be four rounds. Although if it is really cold the third round may be used as the championship round and the four paddlers in the heat will be ranked after their session.

Safety Note: In the event of a swim during the competition all paddlers in the heat are expected to participate in the rescue. The clock will be held until the rescue is completed and the paddlers are ready to continue. Any paddler that fails to leave the eddy and help the swimmer will be disqualified.

Apres Paddle Pizza: A supper will be available at the end of the day, around 5:30 pm. It will be a pizza party held at Kilmory Lodge (cabin TBA). The charge is $7 at the door and will hopefully be all you can eat. This is open to anyone and everyone, including spectators and any sea kayakers in the area, that want to join us for some hot food and warm-up at the end of the day. In order to make sure we have enough pizza to feed everyone it would be nice if you could email me by Thursday and let me know if you plan on attending. The supper is BYOB, but soft drinks will be available.