FISHERS FORD WAVES ARE OPEN......

[MaxTexan]

Thanks paddle dog for the great report.

[mgood]

I posted this on Facebook but figured someone may also enjoy getting a different perspective on the same park.

New fishers ford initial reactions (at 3.08 feet):

First wave is sweet- easy to get, and stay, on. Lots of spin potential, along with some very shallow blunts. Good, strong eddie lines allow for some great squirts and spins. Had a blast on this feature. It's shallow though- not really a chance of anything vertical at this level.

The jury is still out on the second feature. It was trashy today- I didn't see a ride longer than 15 seconds. Hard to stay on obviously, but if you found the sweet spot lefty cartwheels were decent. I lost a noticeable amount of plastic to the second feature going deep (and because of this, won't be doing cartwheels here until more water). Still had fun on it though- it's very similar to the second hole at dierks. I think that the feature will drastically improve with a higher water level. From what I can tell the hole should get much wider and hopefully develop a deeper pile to help to not scrape the bottom. Vertical moves should be good here once, again, it gets more water.

Bottom line- this enhancement was absolutely free and I'm pumped to have such a cool, year round paddling area 25 minutes from my front door. The crew members we talked to seemed extremely happy to see us having such a great time. Definitely worthy of your time if you get the chance to head out. More feedback today after I get a second session in.

[magicmike]

Good times today! Other than the fair well party, I've never seen so many boaters at the ford. Grok this Water Brothers! -M-

[Mike_P]

Got to go out there today. Agree with all of Steve's comments but don't have his paddling skills so here's my take as a paddler so doesn't get out near as much as I need/want to in order to keep my skills up. I hope more beginner/intermediate paddlers will find this helpful. I was fighting the cobwebs today and the water was quite cold though I had adequate gear and the ambient temperature was great. My goals today were to survey the area/features as I had not been out there since before construction began. It was simply incredible to see and I can't wait for warmer weather (water) and the park on river right to be complete which will make access unbelievable!

I was paddling my 4Fun which I'm not as confident in as my creek boat and I hadn't been boating in some months (other than my SUP board on easy whitewater and a roll session in my kayak). The first wave was awesome & easy to paddle through. Eddy lines were strong as I eddied out to the right but not difficult to eddy out. Good shoot of water to practice ferries and the pool was deep enough to practice combat &/or eddy rolls.

For beginners, or cautious intermediate paddlers (which I consider myself), the 2nd feature was close enough downstream of the pool beneath the 1st wave that it was a bit of mental factor for me to be on my A game if I was going to roll in the pool below the 1st wave though I'm sure I could swim out of the way of getting flushed through the 2nd feature. Honestly I didn't feel up to surfing today so I can't comment on it but it looked GREAT! I scouted the 2nd wave from river left on shore and my eyes got big. At the level today it looked to me to be a river-wide "frowny face" hole so I was concerned it would be very retentive but I saw paddlers paddle right through the "meat" of it (center of the feature) and they didn't seem to get slowed down much. While I didn't feel like surfing today I did feel a strong need to paddle through the 2nd wave despite being in my 4Fun and not feeling as confident. I paddled my butt off and purposefully took a forward stroke on the other side of the foam pile to pull myself through it which I did. But, unfortunately, I flipped just downstream of the foam pile (caught my stern in the turbulent water). Next I went to set up for a roll but hit my helmet on the river bottom twice and felt my arms and hands hitting bottom. The feeling of being in fast-moving shallow water coupled with the cold temperature and the aforementioned "cobwebs" I decided to pop my skirt and swam toward the river left eddy. By then, as you might guess, I was in water that was plenty deep to roll in without scraping bottom. By that point I was tired but not too cold and we decided to call it a day. Very easy to paddle back upstream (portaging up the fish ladder rocks) on river left.

I'll be interested to read others' posts in the future comparing these features at different river levels. I will definitely go back at the current level and plan to surf the crap out of that 1st wave later in the season. I'm just curious what the features will be like as the river rises. I'm sure the 2nd wave will be completely different at higher water and I'm guessing a little easier to "bomb through" but can't speak to the playability of the hole.

What a great resource to have in Northwest Arkansas! Thanks to all involved! Sending my emails now per Steve's suggestions.

Mike P.
Rogers

[magicmike]

Anybody who was there today ,while I had the camera going and wants a rock star wall hanger, PM me. I can do an 8 by 10 for 10 bucks.-M-

[Flapjack]

Where,s the videos? Dennis

[gannon311]

^^^^^^^

[Dan Daniel]

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php? ... 0138833378" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you look around the ACC message board, you can find all the info. These are a few pics from the first day we got to play our new waves.
This is designed to be playable down to 200cfs( 2.0ft-ish?). Historically, the Illinois River near Siloam Springs, AR(USGS) has only fallen below 200cfs about six times in the last 20 years. The designers say it will be funable up to 1500-2000cfs.
Where we once only had a half-a** wave/hole you could ride in and scar up your boat,one eddy-line, and unfriendly locals who liked to shoot over your head, we now have at least 8 squirtable eddy-lines, one very user-friendly wave, a more burley-advanced bottom feature, and new neighbors who are as excited about this as we are. Everything about this park has been designed for safety and fun. The pools below the features are designed for swimmers, and future swift-water-rescue classes have been well thought out and provided for. This will be a place of learning as well as fun. "Kiddie pools" for teaching rolls and just lounging in the water to the stone used in construction picked to match the natural surroundings, every time I've gone out just to look, new "features" become apparent. The actual land-park will feature changing rooms, a boulering area, and bike/running trails, which will some day connect Fayetteville, AR and Siloam Springs, AR.
This project was financed and spearheaded by the Walton Foundation. Yes, this is the same Walton Family who founded Wal-Mart, but, if you want to be honest, the actual Walton Foundation is more involved with the Walton Arts Center, (Northwest Arkansas), and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, both of which add to our amazing lifestyle here in NWA.
So, at this time, water has been flowing through our new park for less than four days. We were there playing both Saturday and Sunday, and during just those two days the gravel in the riverbed has been moving around a little and making some changes to the features. The top feature appears to be stabilized, but the gravel below the second had noticeably moved around overnight and changed the feature. What I'm trying to say here is that this thing is brand new, and still trying to figure out where it's going to be. I'm guessing there will need to be a few flood-events before we see what we've really got out there.
I started going out to the "Ford" back in 1993, with old New Wave Quantums(rat-turd looking boats about 12ft long) that we had "borrowed" from the Outdoor Rec Club at the UofA. I've spent 1000's of hours there, and seen everything from dead cows dumped off of the Fisher's Ford Bridge, illeagle gravel-mining from the pool below the "wave", to a drunken landowner who did not have a problem waving a gun in your face or firing off a few over your head. I've met some of my favorite people on the planet at the Ford, and have a million wonderful memories of times spent with friends there. Will I miss what it was? Maybe, because being an old-timer is kind of cool sometimes, but what we have there now is so much more dynamic and welcoming it's very hard to compare the two. Don't think that we've lost anything, but that we've gained so much.
I'd say that this is worth driving up and checking out for anyone who boats the region. We're working on figuring out the most convenient camping and will share all info as we get it.
So, that's my $.02 worth. I'd be back out there today if the wind-chill wasn't in the single digits. I'm freakin' STOKED!
Dan Daniel
Fayetteville, AR

[okieboater]

As a long time boating bud of yours and equally long time fan of having fun at THE FORD,

Well said..

Lots of appreciation for all those who made this regional park happen.

also thanks to all those posting photos and videos for the enjoyment of those of us living some distance away from the new park and/or don't have the personal strength / ability to handle cold weather boating.

[mgood]

Spot on Dan. We don't know, at all, how the waves will change with higher water and gravel bars moving. Looking forward to seeing both at 3.5 feet and higher, but I'm enjoying the lower flows right now. Also, I'd like to know what they features are like at lower flow as well.