Kicking off the 2011 Season

Last season was an absolute blast.  I got to spend my summer traveling all over the country and getting to paddle just about every day.  The season got started at the river festivals here in Colorado, followed by the US team trial in Missoula, MT and then the Junior Olympics at NOC in North Carolina.  As awesome as 2010 was I think 2011 will be even more awesome.   

 My 2011 kayak season is about to get kicked off as I am lucky enough to get to go to Alabama where I will train with Jeremy Adkins and compete at the Alabama Race Cup and the Alabama Mountain Games.  So instead of going to pool sessions, like I did last year at this time, I will be running 20 foot waterfalls.  I hope to see you on the river.

"Welcome To Gods Country, We are Open for Business"

So this past weekend down here in the SE pretty much everyone and their brother was at Cheoah. Cheoah is our home run and needless to say it was awesome to see so many people out enjoying the river even though it was a bit congested at times. Still it was tons of fun as you can tell from the video above which is aptly titled after a conversation had in town with some other friends from the area. It is nice though when you have a release like this and get to meet up with people you have paddled with previously and do it all over again. Also we shook some of the old dogs out of the closet who have not paddled as part of the crew in years such as young JP. However crazy as the day got thought it was all good times and we look forward to some rain, pray for rain, or another release and the impending rafting season which lurks over all our heads down here which means work is soon in the future. Have a good one, Paul.

Seattle movie premiere: Wildwater, A Love Story and... MELTDOWN

Last Thursday saw a big turn out at the Seattle premiere of Wildwater, A Love Story presented by Canoe & Kayak Magazine.. Everyone was stoked to see Wildwater. Everyone was also really fired up to see Meltdown, a whitewater film by Matt Kurle and Dan Patrinellis. Meltdown is a compilation of some of the treats locals around here get to run. The Carbon, Chelan Gorge, Deer Creek, solo run down Ernie's Canyon, playboating the Skook. There's a pretty good mix including some big rowdy drops, hole beatings and sick lines. Plenty of good helmet cam footy. I'm in there, too. Enjoy!

FBGM! with the Ouch! Crew

We had a good bit of rain around WNC recently so we have had the opportunity to get out on some goods such as Big Creek, Section 4 of the Chattooga and Green River Narrows. Had some karmic events out on the Green and wound up drinking a bootie after pinning and being unable to roll it back up. Hit the boof at the bottom of toliet bowl pretty well and bounced onto the second rock but lost it on the second rock flipping me and then i got pushed while upside down into a rock. Got a bit broach pinned and tried rolling a few times to no avail and carping a bit. Then I finally knew what had to happen and pulled it out. Thus the bootie at the end of the video. Then went out to Big Creek which is a beautiful run up in the Smokey Mountain National Park. The run is rather continuous and has awesome rounded boulders that are great for some boofs. Also got the chance to roll with a rather large crew out to Section 4 which was good even though the level was a bit low around 1.5 on the gauge. Nothing to eventful happened out there however i did get some funny shots at the dog of some less then exceptional lines. Above is some video from all of those events and here are a couple of shots from the places hope everyone else is getting after it as well. Peace Paul