Last week, SNEWS Editor David Clucas did a profile piece on Adam and Anna. SNEWS is The Leader in Outdoor Industry information and breaking news!
Read the whole article here… A second generation of Masters brings newåÊsport to water with Bellyak
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Last weekend, Adam & Anna attended the NOC Freestyle Shootout and Endless Rivers Nantahala Open. åÊAdam ran the falls in an endless loop showcasing the versatility and prowess of the Bellyak. åÊHere are some photos from the weekend. Stay tuned for more updates from the gorge.
Gavin Chafin’s first ride on the bellyak
Who needs to wear green when the river is dyed green? åÊOur first trip to the Charlotte Whitewater Center was for St. Patricks Day, 2012. A fitting day to debut the bellyak. I had no idea what the day held in store…would the boat do fine in bigger water? Would I wind up swimming all of the rapids? I scouted the wilderness channel (class II/III), picked my lines, and went for it. Everything went great…the prototype Play worked great…boofing up and over holes, resurfacing like a champ, and doing it’s specialty: playing the river. I took my Jackson Fun (regular kayak) to make a few laps to check things out, and it was as Fun as a kayak can be. But I must say, it’s no bellyak. åÊThe intimate, face level experience of bodyboating a bright green river on St. Patricks day was equal to none…my little kayak sat on the bank and didn’t get much action all day, except to film other folks riding the bellyak.
Some folks don’t like man made whitewater…preferring to commune with nature in the way only a whitewater river allows. However, not having to have a shuttle and riding a conveyor belt up to do multiple laps on a bright green river is hard to beat. The quality of the whitewater is outstanding…great waves, holes, and moves to be had.
I lost count of the number of laps I did, but I only stopped paddling to drink beer (it was St. Patricks day). Not that I recommend drinking and boating, I was only drinking the beer as a quick way to replenish lost carbs from having so much fun.
I met several interested folks who also tried the bellyak…each lap they dialed it in a little more. åÊIt was great to see the light go off in them like it does for me.
Mike, who works at Legacy Paddlesports. He dialed it in real quick…here he is on his first of several laps. That’s me in the background paddling the Fun. It ain’t no Play. (but it is one of my favorite kayaks of all time).
Mike surfing Biscuits and Gravy. You can slide back on the Play and surf off of the stern…blasting. And yes, it’s a blast.
This guy was hand paddling his kayak and was interested in the bellyak…he took to it immediately, and on his first run had an awesome surf on the M-Wave (unfortunately no pics, yet.) I didn’t catch his name…if this is you write us!
I scouted out the competition channel at the end of the day (it was filled with rafts most of the day) and decided to run it. The whole channel was good to go as long as I picked the right lines through the bigger wave holes. All went fine, until the crux drop…Big Drop. I think that’s what it’s called. It’s a bit of a tricky move through some heavy current into a big hole. I flipped on the curler leading in and swam (and no, I didn’t get any footage). I retrieved my boat and finished the run. åÊNext time I’ll run it clean.
We plan to be back the weekend of May 12 and 13th with a fleet of boats…come try one out!
Photo by Barry Kennon
Section 9 of the French Broad River in Marshall NC, a great run…mainly class II/III. åÊClassic rapids like S-Turn and Pillow Rock, where many people have their first unpleasant swim in a kayak. åÊSwimming it on a bodyboat is the way to run Section 9.
Barry Kennon, shaping his new stand up paddleboard design in the shaping room.
I went to college at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN. I got a degree in kayaking, beer drinking and getting laid. åÊWhen I wasn’t studying, we would go to Rock Island, TN and surf the hole. åÊI remember it being pretty intimidating…I paddled a Perception 3d then, and remember getting my first flat spins on a green wave there, as well as doing rodeo moves in the hole that looked awesome to my friends but that I had no way of replicating on my own. åÊRock Island was an hour drive from campus, and in a world all it’s own. åÊWe’d go before class, after class, during class…I have fond memories from there.
Fast forward ten years…I focused my time in the meantime on becoming a Class V fiddler, and spent every spare moment learning the nuances of bluegrass fiddle (which I’m still learning, daily). åÊI didn’t paddle much, kept drinking beer, got fat, stayed up too late. åÊBut I was in a band! åÊAnyway, I got back into boating, got back in shape by offroad unicycling (the ultimate cross training for kayaking) and developed the bellyak.
On about my tenth prototype I nailed the perfect combination of rocker and volume, and had a bellyak that was a surfing machine! åÊIt was exhilirating to surf with your face that close to the water. åÊSo naturally, I thought of Rock Island. åÊAnna and I were on our way back to Sewanee for my tenth year reunion, and went there from Asheville via Rock Island.
I had some great rides, and also got to focus on a few exit moves…
EJ tried it as well. åÊI must say, for the only time in my life, I paddled better than him. To his credit, bellyaking with a sprayskirt on is difficult, as it creates too much resistance between you and the boat.
Luckily he was there, as he had to rescue my boat for me. åÊI had one long, epic surf, going back and forth from my knees…until I got a little too frisky and fell off the back of the boat. All I could hear was hooting and hollering as I went under water…you see, my boat stayed in the hole and had the best ride of the day…doing a McRib into a banana split topping it off with a classic ender back into the eddy behind the waterfall. åÊWell, I was steadily moving downstream and my boat, sans me, was back in the lineup waiting to go again. åÊLuckily EJ brought my boat to me. I owe him one.
All in all it was a great day, and huge fun on the bellyak. I can’t wait to go back to Rock Island. åÊThis day proved to me that we needed a play specific bellyak, this boat is the 2nd generation of the Play.
Parting shot:
I”ve never been a fan of sprayskirts. åÊThey’re uncomfortable and make me feel claustrophobic, no matter how many times I roll. åÊWhen I was a chubby eleven year old, one of the first whitewater sit on tops came out, the Torrent. åÊIt weighed 54 pounds (at least) and paddled like a school bus drives. åÊAs underwhelming as it’s performance was, I felt way more comfortable, and thus had a much better time on the river (Fear=tension=flipping over). åÊThere was a seed planted in my head that has sprouted… and that was “why isn’t there a high performance sit on top?”
So, I made one out of the Session:
I first cut out the whole middle section, and then took some two liter soda bottles and crafted the footcups. åÊI dug them out with a spoon. åÊThen I wrapped myself in plastic, and had Anna pour two part foam between my legs. It got really warm, and created the middle pillar. åÊI was going for a strapless sit on top that you could roll, surf, etc. åÊI figured if you took away only where your body went it would work.
It worked, but will need some more tweaking. åÊI filed a provisional patent on it, and plan to develop a Sit on Top as our boats evolve.
After I tried the Phat as a Bellyak, and proved that I could make multiple bellyaks out of one boat by using the two part foam method, I went on to cut up my favorite playboat of all time, the Liquid Logic Session. åÊI”ve probably paddled more river miles in this boat than any other…so it was a sad day when I took the jigsaw out to cut it in half.
So, after figuring out that I could cast a plug from an existing kayak…it was on to learning how to glass. åÊMost people know my dad as the leader of Perception Kayaks from 1975-1998, as the man who drove the ship. åÊHowever, he started out just like me…covered in fiberglass, breathing resin fumes, and generally making a mess in the backyard in order to have fun on the weekends. åÊHe taught me how to drape the cloth, mix the resin, and saturate the cloth. åÊI’m stubborn and opinionated, so I would argue with him about how to do it. åÊYou see, I’d read Surfer Steve’s how to on surfboard making and I was an internet armed expert. åÊAnyway, we prevailed, I learned, and we glassed the first boat.
The first bellyaks were my old playboats, cut up and modified. åÊIt all started with a hot pink Perception 3d that I cut up, filled with blue board insulation and spray foam, and covered with vinyl sheeting. åÊAnd about six rolls of Gorilla Tape. åÊMy dad helped me realize the first bellyak, and bought the materials for us to build it together in his shop. åÊThe boat weighed 72 pounds, and leaked like an open window. åÊI paddled this several times down Section 9 of the French Broad River, a class II-III stretch of water close to our home in beautiful Madison County, NC. åÊPaddling this stretch of river, in this boat, proved to me that bellyaking was a good idea, and tons of fun. I’d paddled this section in a kayak before, and kind of found it boring. åÊHowever, in a bellyak, it was a whole new experience. åÊCatching eddies and zipping around in Class II, face first, was exhilirating. åÊIt was as exciting to me as running the åÊGreen River Narrows, without the “i might die doing this” fear. åÊGranted, any new experience soon loses it’s lustre…but I was in a taped up high performance overweight river machine, and was ready to get serious about building better prototypes.
I used the most magical tool of the 21st century, the internet, to research prototyping techniques. åÊI knew I couldn’t keep cutting up playboats, as I would quickly run out of boats, and each boat was a one shot deal. åÊThe first three boats I made were out of a Perception 3d, a Whip It, and a one off prototype I had laying around, the Black Attack (designed by Corran Addison). åÊThe Whip It leaked too much and took on too much water, and the Black Attack didn’t have near enough volume…it would sub out going through drops, separating me from the boat.
I was starting to get an idea of what was needed…playboat hull, volume around the midsection to float higher, and at least seven feet long.
Anyway…I had worked with two part expanding urethane foam to fill the cavities of the Whip It and Black Attack prototypes, and while driving up I26 in Asheville one day I had a moment of inspiration. åÊWhat if I took all the guts out of a kayak, cut it in half, waxed the inside and taped it back together? åÊCould I fill the cavity with A/B foam and create a plug that would release from the “mold?” åÊIn theory, I could shape this plug’s body cavity, and glass over it with fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin…creating a non-leaky prototype. åÊThis would also allow me to get more than one prototype per boat. Luckily, I have excellent family connections who can tell me about these things. åÊI called my uncle, Allen Stancil, long time model maker for Perception and Liquid Logic. åÊHe seemed to think it would work just fine, and my dad confirmed it, telling me about the properties of polyethylene and how it’s a natural mold release (he’s real, real smart about these kind of things).
Anyway, my new friend on the internet became US Composites, supplier of all sorts of foam, fiberglass, resin, etc. åÊI had a broken Perception Phat that was going to be my first victim (naturally, I had to see how a creek boat performed). åÊWe started at my Dad’s shop, cutting the boat in half, and waxing the inside. åÊWe then poured it in stages with the A/B foam, until the cavity was filled. åÊWe let it cure overnight, and I was more excited than a kid on Christmas day to see how it turned out. åÊIt popped right out of it’s mold and I was ready to start shaping! On to phase 2…
