OKC Whitewater Park Design and Schedule

[hilbili]

All of that which Cadron Boy and others have stated is what makes a reasonably priced construction to the play spots at Tulsa PSO or Rockport so inviting.

At Rockport there is great parking, plenty of cheap food and lodging including a state park nearby and one heck of a good site (both sides of the river) for viewing.

It is a very long drive over to Rockport but I have done it many times for the existing play spot and expect to do it again.

As far as Tulsa is concerned when we did the Rodeo's we had cheap lodging for folks and people came from all over including a major group of pro level stars like Corran Addison and Spelious bringing their buds, boaters from surrounding states and pacific NW.
We had to cut off participants even tho there was a entry charge we kept on getting people wanting in. I doubt if Tulsa will ever have that great play spot ever, but I know that if we can get a real rodeo type hole at Rockport, the sky is the limit. Plus you got clean cool water.

All we need at Rockport is the engineering work to make that river left spot as good as the Tulsa PSO Wave (for get the gadgets just make a great play hole) was and I bet Malvern would be full of hungry boaters looking for food, gas and even motel rooms!!!!@

I would love to see a world class WW Park at Malvern or Tulsa like OKC is building. But even tho the OKC water is muddy and most of us who are used to clean Arkansas water like we have at Malvern, I am betting that the OKC facility will be loaded with people who don't care much about the water quality or the fact that it is totally man made IE not natural. People for hundreds of miles west of OKC are starved for water - don't care if it is muddy or in man made channels. To them water is water. The water they see is coming from a pump and sprayed out of a rotating line of man made sprayer heads!!!!

PSO Wave had water that for years would shine with petro products leaking into it, but many of us used it for decades. And, it has gotten a lot better over the years. That water might have turned our hair white, but made me for one, safe from all sorts of germs encountered in Costa Rica, Mexico, Honduras, Chile and Ecuador. While I can understand why some would not boat in a man made OKC facility I bet a WW park there will be overrun with boaters starved for a play spot.

Keep the Malvern dream alive!!!

I did a search for "best way to pay" and this thread popped up . < 1yr bump

[MaxTexan]

There is a group of us that are excited about the OkC project. Currently the Rio Grande is the closest ww to me in Amarillo. The OkC park would be 280 miles of highway driving. An overnight trip to paddle two sessions would a real possibility. I can't wait.

[panicman]

Make that 2 of us that is really excited about it. little less than 3 hr drive for us. Will be a great place to go play when its 95+ here and zero water. Of course now we have fishers ford but OKC looks like it will be big rapids and features.

[Randy Dodson]

Max Texan, are you closer to Rio Grande than the WW in northern NM?

[MaxTexan]

Randy... Pilar section in NM on the Rio grande is closest, followed by ww park in pueblo co.

[Agua]

The tulsa wave has something everyone kept overlooking, 90% of the material needed to build a wave is already there. SAND, ROCK, WATER. The water is already channeled to form a compression wave, all that is needed is a small hump to tweek the flow. The last chunk of concrete was too tall & narrow,Tulsa's a wide channel. The piece that made the great waves of the past was 7' x 18' x 4" thick. This was caught on another rock raising it at an angle to 20". That was all that was needed to get the waves going. What PSO did was a nice act but actually created nothing useful for the wave. Their first and foremost concern was stoping the erosion on the west bank.
To build a wave you need a shape (hump) in the path of the compressed water. This shape could easily be built on location utilizing the materials already there. This would not take millions of dollars and years of construction, just a few people willing to sweat a couple of weekends and a little cooperation from PSO.
Outside of the chAnnel is a long sand bar. With a little concrete this can be used to create a form to shape a long triangle 2' tall & 18' long. You can even get creative with the shape.
This is where PSO's help comes in, they can get the permits faster, And they have the equipment to pull the concrete ramp into position when it sets up. Dave and the gang in Tulsa already have a good relationship with PSO. It can be done and does not need to be expensive. It just needs someone in tulsa to organize it.