by Mark Brenneman
I did run LF, along with Larry Lempert, Anne Kibler and Jill MacNeice. The level was 3.36 and the tide was on the high side. We all ran the Beaver Slide, about 2/3 of the way down. At this level it was well padded and very swift. LF proper was quite pushy, but we all had good lines and ran the MD side. As we scouted, we witnessed two paddlers not working strongly towards MD. They ended up on the large pillow upstream of the island, which pushed them over and to the VA side. Both ended up swimming, but were not hurt. At this level I think the key is to start in the center and clip the corner of the deep hole, which puts you in a good position to catch the eddy or to continue downstream.
from Larry
Mark is too generous in saying we all had good lines. He, Anne, and Jill did, to be sure. In my open boat, I was pushed into the pillow upstream of the island, just like the two paddlers Mark mentioned. But unlike them, I stayed upright--astonishingly so, and went down the Virginia side without even taking on an undue amount of water. (If "upright is all right," then it was a good line.)
I was surprised by the size of the wave we had to mount after clipping the corner of the deep hole--high enough to block all downstream view. In marginal defense of my not-so-great line, I'll suggest it's a somewhat harder move for a single-blader than a double-blader. But surely there are open boaters who would do it with more finesse--and less suspense!--than I did. Anyhow, a good, fun level, but not one to be trifled with.