Feed back on Siloam Spring Kayak park

[paddledog]

So, it has been almost a year since the kayak park has opened.
It has been a learning experience not only for myself but others involved.
It is time to let me know what your feeling are and what you might do to improve the park.
The builders (both design and construction) will be in town for an update soon and I want
to give them the current info on what is happening at the park.

What is your over all opinion of the park, and what could be done to improve it?
What is your opinion of the "first wave","second wave"?
What would you change if you could?

Any and all feedback is welcome, but remember there is only so much that can be done
at this time.
Let's polish this diamond at make it as good as possible.
Steve............

[panicman]

Only been there one time. flows were a bit higher than summer time lows. top wave was great front surfer in small boat but not very good on spins. longer boats did better. bottom drop's feature was unsurfable. wish there was a more dynamic play feature there at all levels where you could get vertical with the skills.

[Dan Daniel]

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From a great session yesterday.



In my manymanymany experiences out there...
Over 400cfs, you can do long-boat enders behind the top wave. I've done full-on airborne enders in my 10ft2inch original Eskimo Diablo.
Under 400cfs, spins in both long, and short boats are possible on the top wave, and cartwheels are possible in the hole that backs the top wave up.
The bottom feature seems to be optimal around 300cfs. Yesterday, I witnessed what I believe to be the first loops landed out there. Cole and Matt were making it look easy.

So far, I've found the place to be fun and dynamic at every level I've been there. I believe the top feature is good to go. I believe the bottom feature should be narrowed up 6-8ft on river-right, to push more flow into what has become the "sweet-spot". More flow into the "sweet-spot" would allow it to be sweet at more flows, and make it deeper for throwing those loops everyone obsesses about. Also, just below a side-surfer's downstream hand, is either a piece of the natural ledge that needs to be removed, or a rock that has found it's way there. Whatever it is, it's what broke Cole's boat, and what we bump our heads on sometime. Remove this, pushing more flow into the "sweet-spot", and we could have something really special down there.
I'm just so thankful for this! My lifestyle has been changed so much for the better! I can go paddle EVERY DAY! YES!
Dan

[nrichard]

porta potties are pretty rank when it's warm outside. think they'll do anything different there?

[Benji]

I will be the first to admit I'm not much of a play boater but I do still very much enjoy the park, especially having been out to the Ford numerous times over the years before the work. Wow! So much better than it used to be. The first wave seems fine to me at most levels for what it is, a very easy wave for folks to learn on. Only at super low flows was it not much fun. The bottom wave-I agree with what Dan mentioned, it seems like if it was a bit narrower that it would greatly improve it. At lower flows it's impossible to get in there and not bash my boat,paddle,head off of concrete which is no bueno. It's def been very hard on my gear this summer. I was out there last Sunday and I believe it was 2.9?
There was plenty of water however it took me numerous attempts to find the sweet spot and get any real surf time without it pushing my boat out. Couldn't even surf the playboat in it, had to get the creeker in there to spend any time which seems arse backwards to me. So anything that could be done to improve the bottom feature would be excellent as I generally don't spend nearly as much time on the top. Just .02 cents from a lousy playboater.

[Benji]

I also forgot to mention that I'm not entirely sure why they didn't incorporate a swim out-steps to get out of the bottom eddy. It's not hard to get my boat out of there but it surely would have been easier for everyone that uses the park. Still scratching my head on that one.

[mgood]

The top is great. the issue is with the bottom feature. there is a foot entrapment issue about three feet from river right on the lower ledge that NEEDS to be addressed.

the second slab was purposefully cemented on a slant, with river right about 8 inches lower than river left. adding inches to the river right side would create an actual hole across the entire slab, not limiting play to the sweet spot but pushing the width of that spot across the entire ledge. if we want to use the park as it was meant to be used, vertical moves must be possible on the second feature. as it stands right now, vertical moves are iffy and can break a boat.

now if we're getting crazy, why not drop a splat rock on the runout of the bottom feature? there is already a bolder there now that is not flat on the upstream side. if we could tweak that, then we really could teach all aspects of river freestyle- including downriver (splats, splatwheels, etc).

MANY THANKS to the designer and construction crew, as well as the walton's and siloam springs for their work. I'm out there all the time and I love being able to paddle any day I want.

[adamm]

I agree, the bottom feature needs narrowed down, leveled and the rock underneath removed. A few weeks ago when the water was around 140 ish cfs the riverbed below the bottom wave was way too shallow. I scraped myself and boat up and watched numerous swimmers and tubers coming away scraped, bruised and holding their heads after hitting the rock under the bottom feature.

If the top feature could be tweaked so that there was a foam pile at more levels that would be great too. When the wave is totally green I find it very hard or impossible to spin without getting flushed off.

I think of these few issues were resolved, I would probably find my way out there more often than the 1-2 times a week that I currently am there

*edit* A splat rock would be sweet too

[magicmike]

A cool campground right next door! That way ,on the weeks I spend 5 out of 7 days there, I don't have to drive.-M-

[kru1]

Same as what most have said.

For a long open boat, I have enjoyed the top feature no matter what the level.

I've tried the lower feature a handful of times. Each time my bow slams into the slab while I am dropping in and I get flushed off. I'm sure that I could side surf it, but the chance of my head slamming into the slab is too great for me to risk trying.

It would be nice if they could figure out some way to get shade on those port-o-lets during the summer just so the s**** not baking.

Can they figure out how to move it closer to the metropolis of Winslow so I can go more often?

Awesome park,
kru

[RobM]

Yes A campground next door would be great, same as everyone else says on the second feature . We also had a swimmer (wearing no lifejacket) ask if we were life guards. I believe it would be good if the public knew that there is absolutely no life guards out there. Then I seen another kid pull a big limb out from where ever & rode it down the first wave then down the second wave while a few of us boaters was telling at him to get it out of the water & how dangerous it was. He acted like he didn't hear us & went on. Some sort of rules, instructions or something telling these people what's right & wrong. Over all I would have to say the park is GREAT! It has keep all of us in some whitewater year around & it has made this area a awesome place to live for any boater.

[RobM]

Hey I caught a open boater out at our kayak park yesterday morning, Think he was making fun of us kayakers . This is a great park !

[gannon311]

To me the top wave would be more dynamic if it had a little foam. When I was up there I could do the body water channeling trick Dan and the guys were doing, and it put some foam on the top wave. If they could come up with some kind of adjustable channeling device it could be adjusted for the level. Long shot but never hurts to dream!!
I was disappointed in the second wave... It was unsurfable when we were there. I'm like others I think it needs to be narrowed. This could also be done with the adjustable idea.
I know the adjustable mechanism is a long shot but IMO with out something like that it will always be changing and this battle will always be ongoing. Just my 1cent!

[gannon311]

And on site or close camping!

[Charles1967]

...and parking on the other side...and a cool giant DOME over the features!!...with solar panels and lights at night! ...and a kayak escalator to get back to the top! :myday" ...and 4G solar web cameras, so we can check the levels/features and crowd before we load up...and drive...the entire "4 miles" out there...

...ok. To much DP this morning.