Spring is back...

A short clip as an introduction to the 2010 spring.

Funny 2009 from Mathieu COLDEBELLA on Vimeo.

I wish everybody a perfect new kayak season (at least northern hemisphere inhabitants) and maybe see you on the river...

Mathieu

Jay Panther Steamboat Nor Am

Hello,

The North American Tour is officially over and I ended fifth in the overall. Last weekend in Steamboat I got seventh and tenth in singles and duals respectively. The weekend did not go exactly as planned as a win or even a podium is still eluding me but I am very happy with my results. Again I competed my California Roll (D-Spin 1080) both days and landed them all. That in itself is a victory as the learning curve on bringing a new trick to contest is usually a full season, so I am happy having immediate success. This fact really brightens my hopes for Nationals and puts me in a great situation for next year as I will not have to focus on a new trick. I can focus on my skiing (which is 50% of the score) and consistency! I have attached video from my finals run on singles day in Steamboat. The trick I do off the first air is my California Roll. Enjoy!

Nationals is March 24th-28th and is my last chance to move up the U.S. Ski Team rankings. The winner of the singles event at Nationals gets a B Team spot and the winner of the duals event gets a C Team spot. My skiing is feeling better than it has all season and my jumping is getting more consistent. I am heading into this last event full of confidence and ready to win! Thank you for your love and support. I will let you know more details about the live webcast as the event gets closer.

Jay Panther

Futaleufu, Chile

Futaleufu,



The infamous Rio Futaleufu, turned out to be one fun wave train. There are a lot of sections to the river, allowing for some spicy lines if you are looking for them. Overall, I have to say it was just good clean fun, after months of creak boating it did feel good to be able to sink my whole paddle blade in the water. That being said, big volume river running has never really been my thing. It is fun and all but it is hard for me to see the challenge when I can be 10 feet off my line and still be ok.
What I did know was that I was heading to the Baker in a few days and it was time to do some training on this big water.


Gael charging the lateral


Look close, or double click Gael is in the depths of Thrown room


Gael on the huge tongue into TNT


Gael at the confluence


I went for a bike ride one day and was greeted with this amazing moon shot


did I mention the views are amazing


These clouds, were soo colorful and seemed to play along with me.

Well that is all for Futa, this place really is pretty.
Stay tuned in the Baker write up is coming soon and it is BIG.

Chris Baer

Mullberry EXTREME slalom races

yours truly rounding the turn at gate number 1

Okay, so now that I have you attention, the races are on a class II course that isn't that extreme. However, the races are a lot of fun and are a great way to kick off spring here in Alabama.

Hanging out with Bama Boys Charlie Simmons and the infamous T-Bone Pickens

This was the 29th annual Mullberry River Slalom race in a 3 part event known as the Alabama Cup. It's a really chill grass roots event friendly to all levels of kayakers. Thanks to Luke Scott and Zach Nicolas for putting it on this year. We had an excellent race coarse that kept things interesting and challenging, a downriver race, and the first ever King of the Hole Comp; a free for all style freestyle contest where anything goes to stay in the hole with 1o other people trying to knock each other out.

The only results that I can recall off the top of my head are:

championship class
1st place-Luke Scott
2nd place-Zach Nicolas
3rd place-yours truly, Charlie Mix

Down River
1st-Luke Scott
2nd-Jordan Sherman
3rd-???

full results and more info can be found here: http://www.alabamacupraces.com/

First ever King of the Hole Comp

And just like at all kayaking contests, there were hot girlfriends and hippies running amuck

Until next time,
-Charlie Mix

Bariloche, Mansa, Matias is a "bad influence"

Sorry for the ridiculous title but it is deserving, in this update I will show off some cool shots from Bariloche, and talk about how Matias is such a "bad influence" taking "dumb gringos" into the amazing Mansa Gorge.


just another amazing view

First off, Bariloche, I stayed at Refugio Patagonia,


a great hostel with an amazingly friendly owner.


Cheap, easy, and better food then any place in Chile


The brake wall of Bariloche


This place really is beautiful

The Manso Gorge,
First off the logistics are hard, it is a long shuttle and technically it is forbidden to paddle the river. So find yourself a local guide, I was lucky enough to know Matias Nunez from the states and he was more then happy to take me into the gorge. It starts off with a Bang, "the monster" a 40+ foot drop with a very odd hole at the lip, reminded me of a super pissed off Punch Bowl Falls. I came in hot, boofed hard and dove right into the hole, it swallowed me and I remember thinking hang on to that paddle, and then waiting and waiting and waiting for the thaploosh of entering into the landing pool.


Chris Baer at the lip of the "Monster"

The Monster, is an absolutely amazing 40footer, super dynamic and with plenty of hazards. Matias and I finished our high fives and turned are attention to the next seven hours of paddling, scouting, and portaging. It starts off with some stout ledges, intermittent with large pools


Matias Nunez at the lip of one of the first big boofs

Soon the pools turn to more continues rapids and you enter into the "gorge" once in here be careful, there is a stout hole that has dished out some beatings and a rowdy 50ish footer. We ran a chunk of the gorge and then Matias showed me the far left line. With our boats on are shoulders we slowly maneuvered through the dense jungle, trying not to accidental run a big waterfall in the middle of nowhere. After we found the 50 footer we put back in the river and routed through some more great drops.


Matias charging a HUGE hole


Matias cruising threw the triple drop


Matias in the "tricky rapid"

the "tricky rapid" had my number, I came threw a tight slot into a funny backwash, and immediately starting getting spun around. Instead of going with the spin I fought it and found myself momentarily pinned between two huge rocks in the middle of most of the current. I quickly shifted weight and did some kind of miracle paddle stroke and the boat came unpinned, I then got to run the slot in the picture above "switch".


the take out

So the river dumps right into this magnificent lake, If it is sunny out you can usually flag down a motor boat and get towed in. In our case it had been raining all day and there wasn't a sole on the lake. We paddled and paddled and an hour and a half latter we reached the truck, there leaned against the truck was the ranger. Matias looked at me and said don't worry I will confuse him. The ranger and Matias who at this point are on first name bases(Matias actually gave him a fake name and the ranger called him by it, ((supper funny)) started chatting about how it is bullshit that the river is closed, and there is better ways to protect the land. Matias also stands behind a president that the original ranger not only allowed them to paddle the river but often times would drive his motor moat to the far end of the lake and pick up the kayakers. The ranger in turn told Matias he was a bad influence bringing dumb gringos onto the river. Me being the dumb non spanish speaking gringo responded to the ranger's questions with "no Nintendo porfavor" a couple minutes later a fake name and passport number, we were on our way. Matias is truly working hard to try to resolve the access issue on Manso as well as a couple other gems in the area. Until these access issues are sore up, Matias's opinion was to continue to do the runs just be a little sneaky.

Another adventure by Chris Baer

Jay Panther on North American Tour

Hello,

I just got back from my third North American Tour stop in Apex, British Columbia where I got tenth place. I skied okay and jumped really well. I competed my D-Spin 1080 for the first time and had great success. I landed the trick with consistency all week and the judges rewarded it with near perfect scores. It feels really good to bring that trick to contest. My skiing, however, was a little off all week. I have been working some significant changes in my technique and as a result skied slow, especially for me. I am hoping it is a take one step back to take three steps forward, situation.

We are now in Steamboat Springs, Colorado for our fourth and final Nor Am Tour contest. The contest is Thursday and Friday, both days starting at noon, Mountain Standard Time. To watch the contest live go to www.urtur.com, and click on the LIVE link at the top right hand corner. We trained today and the course is great. I am very excited to compete and plan to finally get the winning result that has eluded me all season. Unfortunately, Micheal Kingsbury from Canada has already mathematically won the North American Tour overall, so there will be no U.S. Ski Team spots awarded this season. My next chance to move up the U.S. Ski Team rankings is Nationals at the end of March.

Thank you all for your love and support.

Jay Panther

Summer Paddling wrap up…A little late…

I have finally found enough time to sit down and create a short video of my paddling highlights from last summer. I have been quite busy with school the last few years; having little time for updates and videos. I finished graduate school in December, receiving two master’s degrees: Urban and Regional Planning and Landscape Architecture. I can finally have more weekends and weeknight free to paddle!!!!!

Update from last season:

March=Spring Break

I headed to S.L.P Mexico to paddle in the Huasteca with my buddies. There was still a decent amount of water due to an awesome rainy season. I hit some good classic sections of river and ate as much Mexican food as I could stomach…..mmmm guacamole and naranjada natural!

Colorado Paddling:

I decided I would step it up and compete in the freestyle events around Colorado.

My first competition was the Teva Games at the End of May which was one week after school got out and I had only had one day of playboating since last August. I was also demoing the All Star for the second time ever. Considering the background information, I did very well. There were 16 girls in three different heats. I was tied for 8^th after my prelim rides, making the cut for semi-finals the next day. I finished semi’s in 8^th!

I also competed in the Golden Community Rodeo, winning 3 out of the 4 woman’s expert competitions and taking the overall 1^st place in woman’s expert for the 2^nd year in a row.

Lyons outdoor games treated me a bit better. I was very nervous; there were only 6 of us: Adriane, Emily, Elaine, Devon, Ruth and I. I was in sixth after prelims but did better during finals and placed 5^th, with my highest score ever. I was very content.

I hope this year will be much more successful… Last year I only had time to compete, only playing/paddling for fun one or two days a week max. I hope this year I can get out on the water a bit earlier in the season so I am warmed up for the competitions.

December/Jan:

I headed back to Mexico for some family, friends, and paddling time. The water was a tad bit higher than it was in March but still good to go. There are a lot of river sections I hope to paddle on in the near future down there as well as a few secret play spots. Eeeek!

That’s all for now.

A special thanks to WRSI!

Safe paddling!

Christine