[Walt Sieger]

John Schreiner was an innovator and an icon in the paddling industry as a boat builder, designer and rotomolder . One of his first accomplishments was to be one of the founders of the Fiddlers Elbow Slalom 43 years ago. Sadly, John passed away last June. This years race will be dedicated to his memory. We have special T-shirts using a logo from one of the kayaks made many years ago by John’s New Wave Kayak Company. John’s brother Paul will be there and we have another person from that long ago era who will be attending. Both were members of Harrisburg Area Whitewater Kayaks (HAWK), the founding club which dispersed circa 1977. We hope to see you there. Please come out and help us make this a special race.

[Walt Sieger]

Many thanks to the members who helped with the Fiddlers Elbow flood clean-up. In two evenings we cleaned up quite a pile of debris. The PR impact this gives us with our landowner friends is huge. There were smiles all around including our members who got to play with their “POWER TOOLS”, YEEHAA! Thanks go out to Kris, Guni, Karen T., Scott D., Jen B., Mark, Bill W., and Brian P. This will make our work easier during actual race construction b/c we have already done most of the brush busting and trail clearing. See you at the races.
Walt

[Walt Sieger]

I checked tonight. The log has been removed.

[Walt Sieger]

Fiddlers Elbow Flood Clean-up

At the monthly meeting last Wednesday we decided to form a work party and clean up some of the debris at the Fiddlers Elbow race site. We have built a great rapport with the landowners there and this will help in that effort. They have very graciously allowed us to use their field for the last 42 years. There are two large piles of debris to be attended to and some other minor work to do such as path clearing. We will probably need a chainsaw, bow saw, loppers, brush cutter, rake, shovel and gloves. It may be muddy. Rather than use a weekend we will meet for two evenings just like when we set up the race course. Please contact me and let me know if you can help. My phone and email are in the booklet or you can reply here. Thank you in advance for all you do.

Tuesday, August 21 – 5:00 PM until dusk
Thursday, August 23 – 5:00PM until dusk

Walt Sieger
Slalom Racing Chairman

[Walt Sieger]

At the top of the CCGH homepage just under our logo and the ACA logo is a bar with various topics listed. Place your cursor over “Races” and drag it down to “Fiddlers Elbow” and click. This will bring up the F.E. page. If you once again hover over “Races” then “Fiddlers Elbow” you will see a second box appear to the right which says “Fiddlers Elbow Registration”. This seems to confuse a lot of folks b/c they do not realize there are two different pages there . Our Kipona Races page works the same way.

As you probably know we just had a severe flood on the Swatty. Fortunately it did not affect the homes there but it did re-arrange the stream banks some and placed a lot of debris in our way. We will have some cleaning up to do. The field had ten or twelve feet of water in it and the white garage across the bridge had eight feet of water in it. The bridge was scheduled to be repaired next year from damage done in the 2011 flood. That has been postponed as there is now more visible damage from this flood. If nothing more happens between now and Sept. 23 we will be OK.

[Walt Sieger]

The wires are up but a couple may need to be re-positioned Saturday AM. The rock moving is done unless changes are needed. I will be there at 7:30 AM. We can start working as soon as you show up. Need to lay out the gates and then hang them. We start as early as possible and still won’t be done until noon. Racers should get there early rather than late. We will only be registering from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM at the latest. No registrations on Sunday b/c we have to set the classes on Saturday night. We will have glorious weather AND water this year.

See you there,
Walt

[Walt Sieger]

OK, we have someone to do the timing and also the safety boats. Looks like we might have some good water this year. Cross your fingers and hope it doesn’t rain. Parking for the wire hanging is across the street until that is full and then in the field by the trees. At the landowner’s request please do not drive past the trees into the field and do not tear up the grass. The ground is soft this year. Kris was down and did a fine job prepping the site. My email and message boards is on my laptop so I do not see it until I am home at night. You can contact me on my cell at 717 5 nine-nine 2400.

Walt

[Walt Sieger]

Next Tuesday, Sep 19, is the first wire hanging detail at Fiddlers Elbow. We are aiming for 5:00 PM and will start as soon as we have enough people for a crew. Bring work gloves and electricians pliers if you have them. Brush cutting tools and a weed whacker are also needed. If we have extra help they can wade out and pile up rocks for the flow control dam and eddies. Also might need an extension ladder consisting of two 10-12 foot sections. We will finish wires on Thursday, Sep 21 and hang gates early Saturday morning. I will be there by 7:30 AM on Saturday and Sunday. Thanks in advance for all you do.

Walt

[Walt Sieger]

Thanks Jonathan. We never know who or how many will show up so by all means please come out anytime you can. It’s not good if not enough people show up on any of the four days. It takes a minimum of six people to form up a wire hanging crew and more is better. We have a volunteer to run timing on Sunday so that is covered. We may need some extra people this year to roll rocks and create eddies if the water is on the high side. That requires water babies who enjoy getting wet. If the water is high the wire pullers will have to wade into the water to pass and retrieve wires so be prepared to get your feet wet.

[Walt Sieger]

We need some safety boaters at the bottom of the course on Sunday.This could be a kayaker or two paddlers in lawn chairs with an open boat nearby. We need enough people so they can rotate and not be stuck there all day. If you can do this please call me at 717-nine 3 eight-6302. Thanks in advance.
Walt

[Walt Sieger]

We are in need of an individual to be in charge of race timing at Fiddlers Elbow this year. This is not a difficult job. This person will oversee the timers as they start and stop the watches and report the times to the scoring table. If you can do this please call me at 717-nine 3 eight-6302. Thanks in advance.
Walt

[Walt Sieger]

For our own Fiddlers Elbow Slalom, please be advised we do not accept registrations on Sunday (race day). Registration closes out on Saturday, Sept. 23, by 3:00 PM at the latest. There is a late registration fee after Tuesday, Sept. 19. For full details click on “Races” above and also watch the Fiddlers Elbow message board.

Walt Sieger
Race Director

[Walt Sieger]

I expect to go on this trip. See you there.
Walt S.

[Walt Sieger]

Actually I was able to stay dry inside my tent all of Thursday night but after the second storm at 6:00 AM Friday morning the tent floor although dry inside was kind of squishy like in a water bed. There was a small stream flowing under my tent. I looked out the front door around 8:00 AM and found my crocs floating in the vestibule. What a hoot! If they would fit under the edge of the vestibule the chipmunks could have paddled them away. Thanks for organizing the trip. The videos I took of Cucumber Falls and Meadow Run are worth it.
Walt

• This reply was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by Walt Sieger.

[Walt Sieger]

I’ll help with this trip.
Walt

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