Knoxville PWT

Hey guys we are finally gonna pull the boat 3 1/2 hours to Ktown next weekend for the PWT!! i need some info from some of you veterans who have done this or live in knoxville.... We wanna get up early saturday and take a couple sets then tie up to the flotilla we are staying at the downtown Marriot right next to the river... where is a good place to put in? ...besides calhouns where is a good place to eat on the river afterwards?... and any special tips/ advice to tie up to the party? my fiance' is freaking out about the rollers and damaging the boat... thanks guys and hope to see some of y'all out there!

really no help?

Tie up is a standard tie up. Make sure you have acceptable bumpers(not the 2 inch ones), several long ropes ( boats pull out frequently) and a good anchor. Water is about 20 foot deep there and with 50+ boats tied up, there is some drag. Last year the line looked more like a horseshoe. We had to cut several boats free because the refused to throw an anchor. They were really scrambling trying to get free of each other, but they listened the next time they tried to tie up. Volunteer marina also has food, and is just up river from calhouns.

sweet well i have a few really good bumpers and two anchors... going to buy a hoppity hop too my bud says they are the best bumpers around... any ideas where we could put in at real early and take a couple sets? before the comp?

If you don't mind a decent run up the river, you could put in at Duncan. It's a 5 dollar charge. Then you just head east about 20 minute ride towards downtown to get to the tie-up area. The main river is pretty good riding all the way from Duncan to downtown. Also if you put in there when you come out of the Marina you can head into the Little River and wind back in there to Sweet P's and eat. It is probably the best BBQ in Knoxville area. If you want closer to the event, there are several free ramps, but not many with Docks so it's a swim out to boat thing. You can head west in the main channel and have good water fairly quick. I have never used the ramps East of Calhouns so can't speak for the water or services there.

We ate at sweet p's last year after the comp it was awesome and we talked about puttin in there but is a little out of the way and the looking on google maps the channel back in to there looked sketch since we have never been in the tennesee river is it a save place to drive through?
I have an older supra launch with no depth finder so I like to make sure the water is deep enough before trying to manuver my way through those types of places.. Went to old hickory in Nashville and that place is hell if you don't know ur way...

If you stay in the channel on the correct side of the bouys you will not have any trouble in the Little River. I've run it multiple times and never had any issues and see big boats there all of the time. It is marked really well with red/green markers. Just remember red on right going to Sweet P's. The chanel at Duncan is fine. They have boats in and out there all of the time. The TN river is what the PWT is on. It is on the Fort Loudon section, but in front of UT it is really just TN River. Also, just across from the entrance to Duncan is known as the sand bar and is a decent place to anchor where you can stand up on the sand bottom. Most everywhere else on Fort Loudon is a mud bottom. I usually put in another 40 minutes downstream at Concord but will probably use Duncan for Saturday to go to the show to save a little time and not have to run in the dark for several hours.

Anyone going to the Knoxville PWT and watching it from Volunteer Landing? I went last year and had a total blast - great venue for viewing the action (feel bad for the riders though - crap water conditions on the second pass from the rollers bouncing off of the concrete wall and coming back into the course) and if you're looking to pick up some discounted gear, great opportunity for that too (most of it goes on sale since its the last tour stop - got a smoking deal on some 2011 Watson LTD Bindings last year). I'll be cutting out of Charlotte around 4:00 am Saturday morning to make the 8:00 am first rider set - hope to see a good crowd there again this year! Highly recommend it if you're in the area.