Open Boat, Moving Water - A Paddler's Journal: Tandem at the Scantic Spring Splash

Sunday, March 30, 2025

Tandem at the Scantic Spring Splash - March 29, 2024

Opening Ceremony

I’m not much of a canoe racer, but I’ve always loved watching the carnage at the Scantic Spring Splash Canoe and Kayak Race – especially the tandem canoes. I have run the Scantic many times in my solo canoes. This year I wanted to try a tandem run, so I partnered with Aaron for a run in my Mohawk Whitewater 16.

The Scantic arises in Hampden, MA (southeast of Springfield) and flows general southwest for 40-miles to join the Connecticut River in South Windsor, CT. We would be running the "Expert Course" from Quality Avenue in Somers to the Powder Hollow Barn on South Maple Street in Hazardville – about 5-miles.

Competition takes a swim above Trestle

Much like RICKA’s old Branch River Race (AKA Rhode Island Whitewater Championship), the Scantic Spring Splash is a downriver race with four significant rapids. On the Branch the rapids are below the Harrisville Bridge, Whipple Drop, Glendale and Oakland. On the Scantic they are Trestle, Stokers, Chimney and Staircase.

I dropped off my boat at the put-in and headed down to the barn to register with Aaron and pick up our bib. We got number 29. We then caught the shuttle bus back to the put-in.

Running Stokers

After the mandatory safety meeting we got on the water at around noon with our class – Men's OC2 – Masters (AKA the “old fogey” group). There was only one other boat in our class, so we were guaranteed to place. We launched first and headed downstream.

Even with the dam release the river was very low - .75-feet, 22 cfs on the Broad Brook gage. The race starts off with 2.5-miles of quickwater, and we scraped and bumped our way down the upper section. At one point we grounded on a gravel bar and got passed by our competition. The first of 5-times that the lead would change,

Below Stokers

The removal of the Springborn Dam in 2017 created the first major rapid – Trestle. As we approached the rapid we saw our competitions swimming down the left side. We went right, checked to make sure they were OK, and continued downstream. We were back in the lead.

Shortly after Trestle is Stokers - a 3-foot ledge that needs to be run about 10 feet off the left bank. We ran the drop fine, but filled the boat up with water and needed to pull over to empty it out. As we were emptying the boat our competition passed us again.

Running Staircase

We got back on the water and continued down some more quickwater. It wasn’t long before we saw our competition stuck on a gravel bar on the left. We passed them to the right and were back in the lead.

After some more quickwater we came to the next major rapid – Chimney. It’s an “S-turn” through some rocky ledges that is run down the center. We made it through fine, but got hung up on a gravel bar at the bottom. Unfortunately, our competition grounded on the same gravel bar and blocked us in. They got back on the water first, so they were back in the lead.

Staircase from the Bridge

We continued downstream to the last rapid – Staircase. It is exactly what you would expect - a series of ledges that look like a staircase with a large shoot at the bottom. We could see our competition out in front of us. At this point, our only chance to win would be if our competition swam the big drop at the bottom They didn’t, and neither did we.

It was fun paddling under the bridge at the finish line to the cheers of spectators above. We finished second in out class with a time of 57:19 - that was 32nd out of 55 racers. We hung around to collect our trophy at the awards ceremony before heading home.