Colder weather is back, chasing away those fair weather paddlers and leaving the clear water and beautiful skies to us real boaters. :-)

Went out twice this on the home Potomac Thanksgiving weekend, once at 3.1+ and once at 3.0. It's always interesting to see how even .1 changes the river, but the attains were all pretty much the same. At 3.1, I was out in my glass boat with Ned P. in his C1. I was once again reminded of how I couldn't possibly do what C-boaters do. We cruised up, doing multiple routes up the Middle Chute, Wet Bottom and Rocky, before taking a brief stab at S-turn. The left-to-right ferry temporarily defeated righty Ned... though if we'd had more time, he definitely would have made it. We slalomed our way home through a gentle shower.

At 3.0, I was out with Alexina and Paul, all in plastic. We took a couple of shots at the attainer's left move up through the rocks above the hole, but were unsuccessful. I think we could have made it, but we were looking forward to getting upstream. We followed Paul's lead up through the Middle Chute, setting the tone for a day of humiliation...no, that's not the word...torture...still not right...inspiration (!) from Paul's effortless success at everything we tried.

Powering up the far right move at Middle, we continued to Wet Bottom, where you could really see the loss of that .1 of water. Then came Rocky, where the inside and outside moves on attainer's left where in, though they quickly punished poor boat control. I went over to try the attainer's right move on the other side, which normally comes in at 2.9. I think I could make with a little more hull speed --- and a better forward stroke. But failure just left me in a perfect spot for a little surf wave, providing consolation.

Many attempts to emulate Paul's elegant attain on the outside move left Alexina and I with noodle arms, so we headed back down. Multiple attains there (and some slalom-type moves which I can never resist), after which we sprinted down to Virginia for a bit more punishment. Alexina and I beat ourselves to death on the Virginia attain, but finally made it. I personally believe that Paul started TRYING to screw it up --- and was STILL making it.

After a couple of weeks of attaining and long downriver runs, I didn't expect to be so tired from a simple up-and-back. But it was a great weekend, proving again that every level holds challenges and fun --- even if you're not a falls runner. :-)