Playspot

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A playspot is a term used by kayakers and canoeists to describe favorable stationary features on rivers, in particular standing waves (which may be breaking or partially breaking), 'holes' and 'stoppers', where water flows back on itself creating a retentive feature (these are often formed at the bottom of small drops or weirs), or eddy lines (the boundary between slow moving water at the rivers' edge, and faster water).

Contents 1 Playboating 2 Popular Playspots 2.1 Weirs 2.2 Tidal races 2.3 High volume rivers 2.4 Natural playspots 2.5 Man-enhanced playspots 2.6 Others

[edit] Playboating

Playboating is sometimes performed on dynamic moving features such as haystacks (large boils) and whirlpools, or on flat water (this is often referred to as flatwheeling). Playspots are found on natural whitewater, on artificial weirs, on artificial whitewater courses, and occasionally on tidal races in the sea.

[edit] Popular Playspots

[edit] Weirs

• Hurley Weir on the Thames, near London
• Hawaii-sur-Rhone on the Rhône River, in Lyon, France
• Sluice on River Liffey, Lucan, Ireland

[edit] Tidal races

• Skookumchuck Narrows in Canada
• The Bitches in Wales
• The Swellies on the Menai Strait, Wales
• The Falls of Lora in Scotland
• The Arches, Malahide Estuary in Dublin, Ireland
• Cohasset Tidal Rip in Cohasset, Massachusetts
• Sheepscot Reversing Falls in Newcastle, Maine

[edit] High volume rivers

Often run for their playspots (quite commonly featured on playboating videos):

• The Slave River in Canada
• The Ottawa River in Canada
• The White Nile in Uganda
• The Zambezi in Zambia
• The Lachine Rapids in Quebec

[edit] Natural playspots

• Lunch Counter on the Snake River in Wyoming
• Hell Hole on the Ocoee River in Tennessee
• The Rabioux wave on the Durance in France
• Rock Island State Park in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee
• School House Rock "KRH" playhole in California
• Kaituna "bottom Hole" Rotorua, New Zealand
• Zoar Gap rapid on the Deerfield River near Charlemont, Massachusetts
• Hawaii Sur Rhone on the Rhone River in France

[edit] Man-enhanced playspots

• The Gutter on the Payette River in Horseshoe Bend, Idaho
• The U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, North Carolina
• The Salida playhole in Colorado
• The Golden Kayak Park in Golden, Colorado
• The Lower Saluda River in Columbia, SC. Specifically, Millrace Rapids near the Riverbanks Zoo
• Rio Vista Park on the San Marcos River in San Marcos, Texas
• Slumber Falls on the Guadalupe River near New Braunfels, Texas

[edit] Others

The Tryweryn in Wales, the Dee near Llangollen in Wales, the Washburn in England, and Hambledon Weir on the Thames have been modified (by moving boulders on the river bed, or in the case of Hambledon by installing pneumatic kicker ramps on the river bed) to create better playspots.

Construction has been completed on Brennan's Wave a project in Missoula, MT that is converting a broken diversion dam into a playpark for kayakers.