Ohiopyle Falls Fest and a view of what goes on Behind the Curtain.

Photo-Lynn Mason

The Annual Ohiopyle Falls Festival on the Lower Yough in Pennsylvania was as ever, a super fun and spectacular event. It was just a little bit chilly when we left my house at around 5 am for the 3 hour drive to the beautiful little town of Ohiopyle in PA. We made just a quick pit stop about 10 minutes away from my house to pick up my good friend Gabriel Guzman. Gabe doesn't kayak that much, and barely knows how to roll, however that doesn't stop him from firing up the 18 foot tall Ohiopyle Falls during the festival for the second year in a row. When we arrived around 8:30 we ran over to the registration booth to sign our forms, and for me to get my bib. This year I decided to compete in K-1 and C-1 for the falls sprint as well as the freestyle over the falls. After a quick bite to eat I jumped in my boat for a quick run in my brand new Liquid Logic Stomper!(not so brand new after a few days on the green and a week in Quebec) My First run was sweet, I somewhat overboofed, but stomped back down to flat and skipped away from the base of the falls.

Photo-Clara Poffenberger

I trotted back up to the put in and waited for Gabe to get his gear on. Gabe was psyched on hitting the water after watching my first run. He got in our boats, and pushed off into the river. We got over the first two ledges without a hitch and waited for our turn to go in the pool above. When it was my turn, I gave some reassuring advice to Gabe and rolled over the lip with another huge boof. Gabe came rolling off the lip and plugged the seam of the waterfall. He went deep, really deep, but popped up after 3 or 4 seconds and promptly swam.

Photo- Clara Poffenberger

His second run didn't go quite as well, he flipped in the rapids above, hit a rock while upside down and swim. After a quick pep talk from me, he jumped back in his boat for one last run of the falls. Gabe came rolling down the slide and hit the curler, and flipped. While upside down he chucked his paddle and tucked up just like I taught him! We went over up side down fully tucked up and poped out of his boat a few seconds after resurfacing. I was proud and he was done.

Photo-Clara Poffenberger

The Over-the-falls Sprint-

At 12 o-clock the competition began with the over the falls Sprint. I had a very good c-1 run in the Liquid Logic Stomper. The boat seemed to just skip out and away from every drop, its definitely the fastest creek boat I have ever paddled. I managed to secure 1^st place in the C-1 class..... yes I was the only c-1er.... but still ;).

Photo-Lynn Mason

I also did a k-1 run in Gabe's Jefe Chico, which went pretty well. Overall results- 1^st C-1, 5^th in K-1 short boat. My C-1 time would have come out 7^th in the K-1 short boat class.

Photo- Radley Edward Miller

The Over-the-falls Freestyle-

My first run was not fantastic, it was my 6^th run down the falls and all I managed to do was a few cartwheels on the slide and a freewheel over the falls. My second run however was pretty interesting, though didn't really score me any points.

Photo-Clara Poffenberger

The Disappearing Act-

During my second run during the Over-the-falls freestyle competition I decided to take the river left line down the falls, I managed to hit a sweet rock spin and paddle spin down the next slide. I caught the little hole and tried to surf over to the main wave right above the lip of the falls. I missed the wave, turned around, and tried to freewheel the falls. As you can imagine, trying to freewheel a waterfall with no speed doesn't work all that well. It ended up as more of a back boof into the curtain of the falls. To me, I felt my boat plugged and felt like I was getting hammered in the hole at the bottem of the falls. When I felt the curtain of the falls slowly stop hammering on the bottom of my boat, I thought to myself a sigh of relief. I was done, no more falls running for the day....

Photo-Lynn Mason

Then I rolled up and when I opened my eyes, I pretty much shouted out- Ohhh S**T!!! I was in a little 6 by 8 foot pocket behind the curtain. Pretty much one of the worst things that can happen to you on Ohiopyle falls. I sat there in my boat, between a vertical rock wall and a semi-spherical wall of water that blocked me from the rest of the world. I sat there in the somewhat calm, but surgey eddy for about 20 seconds, catching my breath and trying to figure out what I was going to do. I knew that there was absolutely nothing anybody else could do for me. So their was no point in waiting for anything to happen. I paddled as hard as I could towards the river left side curtain, as it seemed thinner than the main curtain in front of me. I immediately got flipped upside down and smashed by the water falling 18 feet onto my boat. I ejected out of my boat and tried to swim as hard as I could down and out. I was looking for the little bit of green water at the bottom that might flush me out. It didn't work, I resurfaced in the same pocket that I had started with both my boat and my paddle, except this time out of my boat and struggling to keep my head out of the water so I could catch my breath. I had no plan, but there was a little bit of current flowing towards the right. I had no choice but to go with the current. When I got to a certain point I pushed my boat up against the rock wall and kicked off it as hard as I could and swam straight down. I went deep, very deep. I was probably down for 10 or so seconds before I came out 20 or 30 feet below the waterfall to a huge cheer from the crowd on the observation decks.

Jordan P about to disapear over the falls- Photo Lynn Mason

From the outside it looked as if I had just disappeared, and was under water for 2 minutes. After a minute a man who had had a much worse behind-the-curtain experience than I had 2 years for got on the microphone and started yelling at the safety man on the rocks next to the falls to throw in a rope. He was later fined and thrown out of the park by the Park Police for Belligerent behavior. And apparently everyone saw my boat come out of the falls before I did.

Anyways- I'm very thankful for all those out there that helped me out, tried to help me or really did anything else. Every day you survive is a great day, just something to remember. Even with that little 2 minute indecent I still had a sweet day, and managed to come out of it with nothing more than a sore back. Thanks A Lot Ohiopyle Falls Fest organizers and safety crew!

Jordan P