The past few weeks have been filled with family fun activities and getting ready for the holidays. We trekked up to Canada to spend the beginning of December with Nicks family in celebration of Christmas. We ended up bringing our kayaking gear knowing that both of us had very little hopes in it being warm enough to really want to go. Sure enough the weather shot up one day, warm enough to melt all the snow and convince us it was time to go boating.

We got geared up in the house so we would stay warm and headed out to the incredible Ottawa River. Nick and I set shuttle and arrived at the put in which was completely empty. Unlike the summers in Canada when you cant even get a parking spot! After getting our last pieces of gear on, we headed out to the water.

Ice everywhere! Nick put in at the rivers edge and started chopping away with his paddle, thank goodness for our lighting paddles because we were hitting pretty hard. After about 30 minutes of ice chopping we decided it was time to make another plan, we back tracked to the shore and started hiking.  I found a spot with current that I could actually get in and not worry about ice at all, and nick got in another spot where he slid in and continued to slide across the ice. Then he was stuck for awhile and had to continue to chop through. I waited for him on the other side, paddling in circles to stay warm. Once we were together in the open water, off to the first rapid we went!

I have run this river a million times and I must say it is one of my favorite. Not having a clue what the water level was I was excited to bomb right into the first rapid, McCoys. I boat scouted and headed straight down into the first waves. The water was high and crazy cold! Usually when the water is high I find the boils,  whirl pools and other currents pushing me around. Not this time, my new Star rocked in the big water. I couldn’t believe how balanced and easy it was for me to get where I wanted in the middle of these big rapids. Not only that but with no bracing!  The edges were easy to control, not catching and incredible smooth through all sorts of whitewater that the Ottawa had to offer.

Nick and I took one ride at 7/8 hole but it was too high and playboating was way colder then simply paddling. So we headed on to the rest of the river. We got to Garberator slow as the wind was working against us and we decided not to take any short cuts in case they were iced over. Garberator was swirly! I stayed right side up easily and with every big breaking wave I simply leaned into and popped out the other side, colder, but nowhere near as cold as I would be if I flipped.

We kept paddling, down through butchers knife, and the surprise waves below BFR (big friendly rock). I was staying high and dry the whole time, my gear was warm, my head was practically dry and I was happy!

We got to the top of Normons and figured it would be a good level for triple nipple.  Holy crap it was! Triple Nipple was insanely smooth and offered a ton of air. I kept doing flash backs as then I wouldn’t put my hands in the water and I would stay warm. This boat was by far the easies to flash back that I have ever used. I even tried them on my off side and found them easy that way as well. The hull was fast so I could carve out to the greenest part of the wave and the volume kept me in when I would try moves. As I went first nick was waiting up top so I figured after a hundred flashbacks I should try something I might flush on, so I tried flip turns, and helixes, they didn’t flush. Then I tried big blunts, they didn’t flush, so then I decided I might not be able to hold my paddle as my hands were now purple from the cold so I simply carved off the wave and paddled down through Normons. (again, totally right side up)

Nick surfed for awhile and I sat there enjoying where I was, and the fact that my hands were coming back to life (in a very painful way). I peeked over the horizon line at Coliseum but really couldn’t see much so I just kept waiting for Nick.

Once nick flushed off the wave (after a ten minute ride), we bombed down into Coliseum. I started way left which puts me right in front of a big wave that tends to act like an ocean wave, building and crashing, building and crashing. When I realized how far left I was I started sprinting right so that way I can hold onto my dry hair day claim. I really didn’t think I would make it but sure enough I did, only to end up crashing into the big wave behind it. I kept my weight balanced, and forward and once again popped out on the other side of chaos right side up.

I must say it was one of my best days on the Ottawa. To have shared it with my husband and only my husband (there was no one else in sight) and to have braved the cold, made it so much more special.

I am truly impressed with my new kayaks ability to carry my through tough boils, eddylines and swirlagrams, and cant wait to run another river in it. If you are looking to improve your playboating, and want to be able to take it  down your local play run, effortlessly, this boat is for you!

Happy Holidays

Emily Jackson

After The Teva Mountain Games it was off to Lyons, CO for the Lyons Outdoor Games!  Luckily, the water came up a lot so we had a awesome hole!  Unfortunately, I came down with a sinus infection the day before the competition, but luckily after lots of rest, I was able to get better.

Podium at Lyons Outdoor Games

On competition day I had a quick session in the morning and then watched the cadets who were separated into 2 holes, some in A hole and some in Black bear hole. All of the cadets did great!  Right after cadets were jr. women. The order was Rowan Stuart (who surprised us with a entry move!), Lauren Burress, Anna Schehrer, and then me!  On my first ride, I had a Felix (thanks Claire), spacegodzillas both ways (thanks Teddy Bear), a loop, and spins.  My second ride was my best ride I had everything I had I had on my first ride + my other felix. For my third ride I was able to get a loop, spacsegodzilas, and a felix.  After the judges calculated the scores, Anna was 4th, Rowan was 3rd, Lauren was 2nd, and I was 1st.

C1

  A few hours after the freestyle it was off to slalom. Scott Shipley had set up a great course! On my k1 run, I flipped, but was able to quickly recover and I had a better 2nd run. In my C1, I was able to get all of the gates, for my first time!  Thanks to everybody who helped make this a great competition, and thank you, the town of Lyons, for supporting the event!

Raft Rodeo, Scout, Kelsey, Sage, Sage and Anna

Following Lyons, we drove to Salida, CO for The Fibark Boat Races. It was pretty low water but everybody helped and we made a BIG wall to divert the water which made the hole a lot better. I was asked by some of my friends to be in the raft rodeo with them before the competitions and I had a BLAST! It was super fun jumping from raft to raft and we all were laughing so hard we were crying!
Saturday was competition day and first up was slalom. As usual, Mark Poindekster set up a fun but challenging course. I had two great K1 and C1 runs and managed to have the top Cadet time in K1! A little while later was the freestyle! I had some okay rides but the hole was tricky and in the end my friend Anna Schrerer was 4th, I was 3rd, Rowan Stuart was 2nd, and Lauren Buress was 1st. Good job everyone and thanks to everyone who helped put on the event!

Teaching kids to roll

The next day we started out with teaching three kids how to roll in a pool in Buena Vista, Co, (they all did great)! then we started driving to Missoula, MT! My mom and dad were awesome driving all night and getting us there the next day. After we had parked, I geared up and went boating. Brennan’s Wave was awesome, and it was so fun to be spoiled with high water! I also was able to paddle with the Zootown surfers, the local Missoula, Mt kids kayaking club-there are a lot of kids in it and I had a lot of fun on the Blackfoot River surfing the Ledge Hole. I also tried my Zen 55 and my new Lightning bent shaft paddle for the first time-both are awesome!

Zootown Surfers

After several hard but fun days of practice it was time! On the first day we had prelims and I managed to get a great wave ride with shuvits, spins, and front and back roundhouses, and I ended up in 1st, Anna Scherer was 2nd, Lauren Burress was 3rd, and Haley Staurt was 4th. The next day we reseeded so I was the final competitor and was able to watch everyone elses ride before I went. It was a very flushy wave that day so I was very connservative and managed to get my same ride and ended up in 1st, followed by Lauren, Anna and Haley. This event was also the National Point Series final and I was 2nd behind Lauren coming into Montana, but this event was worth 2 so I also ended up the Point Series Jr. Women’s champion! After it was over, we walked our dogs to the Big Dipper ice cream shop for some of the most awesome ice cream I have ever tasted. If you are in Missoula, be sure to stop by Strongwater Kayak and Surf Shop, the Big Dipper, and my new favorite gluten free pizza at BigA’s Pizza, all within walking distance of where we were camped in downtown Missoula. Good job every one and thanks to Strongwater and Luke and KB for the awesome event!

Brennan's Wave, MT

I am currently in Cascade, ID. getting ready for the Kelly’s Whitewater Park National Championship July 7 and 8th – wish me luck!

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Point Series Wrap Up, Lyons, Fibark and Montana!

After my first session of slalom paddling with comedian and paddler Craig Aytes, he dropped me off at 10pm at a B&B. Little did I know that this place would feel so much during my stay. Kathy, the owner, runs it all on her own and is always looking to help you out in any way.

I awoke well rested and headed out to the course to see what times I would be paddling. I met up with the other US team members at the course. Got the schedule of water releases at competition level and was excited to get one a routine of slalom paddling.

The course was tricky at first as the course is narrow so you find yourself up near the cement walls often and the eddies are rather boiley so no two runs ever feel the same.

If you are from Wales and you have never paddled the Cardiff Whitewater Course I highly recommend it!

http://www.ciww.com/

I was having fun and everyone said I looked better than I did at Charlotte already so that was super nice of them and gave me a confidence boost that I needed to work hard at getting faster.

The water was not running more than an hour a day for the first few days  so I did flatwater work outs as well, working on edge control, and speed. My sprints were ten seconds on, ten off, ten times. Then I would repeat that 3-5 times depending on how I felt.

This lead to tendonitis in my forearms so that didn’t last very long as I was un able to paddle well on the water without pulling hard out of the swirly eddies.

Luckily the timing worked out perfectly as the water wasn’t going to be running form Friday morning till Sunday night. Ashley Nee (one of the top US slalom Ladies) was planning on heading to Dublin as her family heritage is from Ireland and she had always wanted to go. So that morning I brought all my stuff with me down the river and asked to jump in! I messaged Neil Gibson (fellow irish friend) and asked if he lived near Dublin, little did I know, all the Irish guys I know live in Dublin and all of them said they would take care of me when I got over. Talk about score!

We had a good session and headed out for a three hour drive to Holy Head where we would hop onto a ferry to cross over to Dublin. The ferry ride is worth a story all on its own but to give you an idea, we were one a huge and fast ferry, with the biggest ocean waves ever crashing into our sides! I mean terrifyingly huge! The boat rocked so much people were flying out of chairs, bleeding, vomiting everywhere and I couldn’t stop laughing. It was amazing! I watched this poor ten year old girl sit up and vomit all over a random lady passing form head to toe, it was gross but so funny at the same time! I had to see how windy the roof was and literally just flew against the railing the second I got onto the deck. Next time remind me not to wear a skirt!

Liam enjoyed the ride almost as much as I did but Ashley was stoked when we arrived.

Neil was amazing and picked us right up! He then drove us to the center of Dublin where I saw the famous Hairy Lemon (the bar the Hairy Lemon Island in Uganda was named after) and visited a couple pubs with Neil, Kellehers and Ashley and Liam.

The next day Neil took us to see a water fall called Powerscourt. It was beautiful, certainly not runnable, but a fantastic hike non the less. We also saw a hand written sign at the put in for a local river that was hilarious, it was a kellogs box ripped up and duck taped to a tree… it let everyone know there was a landslide making the gorge currently un runnable due to debris etc! Funny communication tactic for sure!

Afterwards I dropped Liam and Ashely in town so they could sight see and Neil and I headed to I-Canoe- our local dealer to say hey and pick up a demo boat! Yepp I had say I went kayaking in Ireland! Sure enough they had a pretty pink rockstar waiting for me! Big thanks to Colm and I-Canoe for making that happen! I paddled Sluice with a  great group of Irish, Moe was there as well as Colm, Adrian, Neil and two other guys!  Incredibly tricky feature, probably one of the hardest I have ever surfed, but that did not stop them from throwing some amazing moves!

Here is a video of Me there:

Click here to view the embedded video.

And a video of the Amazing Billy Brett (thanks for making it look so easy- bully….)

Click here to view the embedded video.

We were late to get back to Liam and Ashley as I really didn’t want to get out of the water! I was having so much fun! When we arrived we heading to a make your own burger joint that had every topping you could imagine! Mine was absolutely incredible and tasted great with my gluten free beer!

When done we visited a pub, one of the oldest ones ever, and had some rounds while listening to great live music and talking about kayaking!

Going to miss these two…..

The next morning we got up super early, took a much calmer ferry, got back to Holy Head and sped back up to Cardiff, big thanks to Ashley for doing all the driving!

It was great to be back in the Slalom boat and I was so happy to be fully relaxed and ready to rock!

Over the next two weeks I ended up heading to events in London, but that’s going to have to wait to part 3 of my European adventure!

Happy Paddling

Emily Jackson

I have been going to the Lyons outdoor games pretty much since the beginning around 6 years ago. It is another one of my favorites, with some great creek racing and freestyle. This year they tied is Slalom too to make a well-rounded triple crown.

It was semi ironic with the water levels; the freestyle hole was epic and some of the most water we have seen in Colorado this year, while the SSV creek was some of the lowest water I have ever seen in it. Though the organizers were able to pull it all together for a great weekend.

We started off with the creek race on Friday with the Freestyle. 4 heats of Men’s Prelims, 2 rides both count. It was a close cut from 18 down to 10 for Semi Finals. Top three were Mathieu Dumoulin in third, Dane Jackson in second and myself in 1^st. I had the highest scoring ride of the comp with a 1530, one of my better rides ever in a competition.

Saturday was the creek race down the 4-minute racecourse on the local favorite South Saint Vrain. I was having some great practice runs and felt really solid of the whole course. Though my first race run was possibly the worst run I have ever had on the South Saint Vrain creek. I sprinted too hard off the start and I started to make some mistakes in the end of the 4-minute course, two big pitons, and an eddy out (not fast). Though luckily for me it was best of two runs, so I was able to do it again and redeem myself. My second run I took it a little easier and really focused on nailing the lines perfectly, which I felt I did, though without sprinting in the flatter sections my time wasn’t going to be a winning time. I ended up third behind EJ in 1^st and Dane in 2^nd. The Zen swept the top four places with Clay being behind me in 4^th while Dave Fusilli was in a close 5^th.

In the afternoon was the Boater-cross relay. It starts off with 20 pushups, then a couple 100-yard sprint with your kayak to the put-in, and boater-cross with a gate and a paddle toss and then tag your partner and do it again. It is a total of four runs each team member doing it once. My team consisted of EJ, Dane, Country and myself. It was a close race, though with our paddle throwing skills we took home 1^st out of the 4 teams.

Sunday was the Freestyle Finals and Slalom race. We started off with the Men’s Semi finals cutting from 10 down to 5. It was another extremely tight cut with some amazing paddling not making it to finals. The judging was tight and you needed over 1000 points to make it. The Finals consisted of Stephen Wright, Eric Jackson, Mathieu Dumoulin, Clay Wright and myself. The final three rides of finals were even more competitive as finals went on. I ended up in 3^rd just pushing Mathieu off the podium, while EJ was 2^nd, and Stephen took home 1^st.

After Freestyle Finals we raced downstream to catch the slalom race. I felt like I had moments of excellence in the slalom boat, though with a couple touches I added seconds to my time quickly.

At the end of the weekend we did the Triple Crown standings. EJ took home the overall top honors with a 1^st in the creek and two 2^nd place finishes in slalom and freestyle, I was 2^nd Overall with two 3rds in Freestyle and creek and a 5^th in slalom, while Dane was 3^rd Overall with a 2^nd in the creek race, 8^th in freestyle, and 4^th in slalom.

In the end it was another amazing weekend, and a great event. I am now in the airport on my way to the Reno River Festival.

Nick Troutman

Yesterday the South St. Vrain Creek Race went off in good form with only a few crashes but no serious injury.    Low water was the name of the game here, making the manky stuff mankier and the lines tighter and harder than normal.    This is a 4 minute race, twice as long as Homestake with more rocks to remember making it a test of your memory and ability to deal with choked up lines, hard entries into key moves with FU rocks in almost every lead in.     The cleanest rapid on the run was Jihad and looking at it without seeing anyone run it, it looks terrible, like a Peton about to happen no matter what you do.    It actually goes right down the middle, you just have to have faith and keep your bow up a little bit.

The race format was a two run race, where your best run counts.     They did not combine runs as some people didn’t want to run it twice unless they had to, which made sense.   The benefit of best run is that the pressure isn’t on consistency, but making sure you had one smoking run.    If you crashed, like Nick Troutman did on his first run, you weren’t out of the race, you can race your second run and still win.

The way the race was organized, nobody “knew” their times after first runs.   You got some sketchy information that might or might not be right at the finish as they timers were in a synchronized watch and offered the number on the watch like “22 43″ which didn’t translate into a time.   I synchronized my watch to the start watch which allowed me to watch people cross the finish line and I could time them to the nearest second from the road.    The course is so long that you would watch somebody cross that was looking good at the bottom but were way back (45 seconds slow for example) and when you asked how it went there was always a story of pinning or crashing up top somewhere.

The course starts off with a class 2 rapid where you have to feed yourself between a bunch of rocks right away and down a narrow runway.   then you hit your first good rapid where the water splits around an island which is the classic “did you go right or left of it?” question as both lines go, but both are manky and hard to do right.    I went left which was the classic “fast line” but also looks like a terrible idea at this level.   Dane went right…  i am pretty sure left is 1 second faster…      You come around a corner and are looking at two holes with rocks that you have to paddle over to get to the split and are staring at a big pile of rocks in the middle.   To the right it looks clean to the left it looks like a mess.    I went left and after running over the first set of rocks I crossed the boil on the top of the big pile and charged over the dry rocks and then slid down into the eddy behind the island and back into the main flow.    Going right you take a longer line and run over more rocks…

The creek stays super shallow as you pick your way through the rocks and through little slots that barely let your boat go if you are off line at all, or you can keep the boat moving fast if you know how to unweight your hull at the right moments to get over the rocks quickly.   This requires both “jumping” over the rocks (I call it “butt hopping”) and also knowing which rock to go over (smoother verses sharper).    In practice I got stopped and pinned numerous times trying to figure it out.

finally you get to where the creek is in one single channel again and you have more water to work with.   The next 60 seconds of racing is non-stop moves, right, left, middle, and it tests your memory and reaction to the hilt as nobody had a ton of practice runs on this section.    There is a very ugly move where you have a nasty pinning rock at the crux, and you have three pinning rocks and FU rocks at the lead in all trying to make you pin on the nasty one.   With enough speed we found that you could go left to right right into the pinning rock just hitting it with the side of your boat and reaching over it with your paddle and you can glance off of it and keep moving.   The harder you tried to avoid that rock the more likely you were to end up stuck on it because the FU rocks would slow and then stop you and the water all goes back to the main pin rock.      I went through smooth on my first run, and smoked it so fast on my second run that I was shocked and cracked a smile as I went over the next drop.     After this move there is a hard to boof crack and then you see the cliff wall that marks the beginning of the “narrows” which is the steepest section.    Before you get to the pool where the narrows starts there is a hard lead in rapid that wants to kick you to river right onto a sharp “stop you” rock and then the water flows straight left and tries to drop you on a dry rock.  My first run I managed to pull myself through a very tight S-Turn move (perfect Zen move) and over the defender rock and cut all of the corners out and made a straight line into the pool.    I started my charge across the pool only to realize that after 2 minutes of hard paddling at 8,000 feet I was already winded and backed off a little to make sure I had the juice to do the hardest section right as my run was going very well so far and it is easier to “lose” the race then to “win” the race with extra power in the strokes.    I had lots of runs on this section already and while it was the harder section, I knew every rock on it and the moves I had dialed in.     The first drop you run over a sharp rock on the lead in that can kick you left so I drove a little extra right and got a good kick into the slot.  I used a rudder on the right to keep my bow against the rock on the big slide and didn’t worry about powering down it as this is Crux Move #1 on this section..  the water wants to kick you left of a very nasty sharp “band saw blade” looking rock and if you end up on the left of it you just lost the race.   (many people did).   The key to this move is when your bow goes under water (it will) you lift your right knee hard to make the bow pop back up with right momentum.  If you lift your left knee you will never make the move.   (learned that on my first practice run)   I ruddered right and lifted my right knee and then did a big right C-Stroke as I flattened out and was perfectly lined up for the “Crack” we call “Paddle Grabber” which has an overhanging right wall that delivers both rib shots and wants to take your paddle away.    I figured this drop out and the key was to drive your bow hard on the left rock in such a way that you feel like you are about to pin but the momentum of the water carries you just to the right of that rock but not into the right wall.  Then you accelerate out of the crack and have good deep water to pull on through the next little drop over a rock in the middle into the “clapper” which has two underwater rocks that if you don’t lift your edge at the right time will really slow you down.   The Clapper has a nasty rock on the left that normally claims some victims each year but I think it didn’t this year.    (didn’t see any)  You slide down a series of rocks into a hole that you can keep your bow up and fly across (especially in the Zen… SWEET!!!) and into another hole that tries to kick you into the left bank.   I had terrible practice lines there and got kicked left each time.  In my first race run I kept driving right as if I was going to run over the big rock at the bottom and it kicked me perfectly into the middle.       At this point the arms are burning and my throat is burning with the hard breathing.     There is another 15 seconds of easier water with a “double drop” that is a double boof to be fast, or if you miss a boof the holes will stop your momentum.  I did a different line on the left and then the right where most did a right to left line.   Hard to say which was faster but I liked my line.     A long lead in rapid into the “Go Left or Lose” move which is another Crux move that if you don’t make it is game over for the race.    The creek goes into a narrow jet of water that goes up on the right wall and falls about 4 or 5 feet with a very angled hole.    Running the creek it is an obvious and easy boof into the right eddy.    Racing, however you want to drive left and get your bow as close to petoning the rock wall on the left as you can and pull yourself through a very fast slot that  you either make or don’t.  Once you drop the 4-5 feet you either made it or didn’t based on your boat angle and speed and position.   Set up is everything.  If you do that move right it is “easy” as your boat flies past the defender rock that splits the river and the line..  If you are left of that rock you fly into the next drop and you are happy.  If you get right of the rock you have to do a quick eddy out and then ferry around it (5-10 seconds of lost time).    I let my bow drop but on the right line and was inches from a peton on the left rock but slide right through into the next drop.    A quick run out for the next 10 seconds leads you into the final crux move, “Jihad” which is a nasty looking drop but goes.      I took the middle line for the lead in and charged through the fast narrow jet of deep water and committed to the middle line that looks like an accident waiting to happen.   When you come of the rolling horizon line you see a big rock in front of you with a small pillow on it.    You can’t boof it as it rolls too much and then is too steep and shallow.   right as your bow is about to “hit” the pillow/rock you pull hard to keep it up and magically (I am surprised each time) you fly right through and then drop over the big rock into a hole at the bottom.  I got subbed out at that hole and slowed down and had to accelerate full speed to get up to speed again, losing a second.     A short sprint to the finish line (10 seconds) and into an eddy where you tag an orange dog toy with your hand for the finish.    Whew… run one done and I am happy.   A few minor time mistakes worth a second or two, but the hardest areas to go fast I did well.

I was the 4th person to go so as I tried to catch my breath (that took a very long time) I climbed up out of the river up to the road and watched other’s come through Jihad and the finish line.    There were people floating across that clearly must have crashed above and those charging across.      I was contemplating not doing a second run, but then I saw Dane cross the finish and I was able to time him.  He had a 3:48 on my watch.      I timed myself at 3:49 but didn’t look at my watch until I finished and then looked down… was I 1 or 2 seconds slow to look at my watch??? I wasn’t sure.  I was either in first or second and wanted to treat it like second which would motivate me to do a better run.    Dane is getting quite fast on creeks in case you haven’t noticed…  Teva Games he was second to Mike Dawson and beat Sam Sutton (current world extreme racing champion).      He beat me as well there.    Nick is also super fast-winning the Fish Creek Race in Steamboat and beating Mike Dawson there (Dane was second).

One common denominator is that we have the Zen now.  This boat is so predictable and easy to paddle that we can really focus on our lines and know that if we put the boat where it belongs it is going to be fast.    It has a very low “draft” so it floats high in the water and stays off of the rocks well.    It has the only full planing hull of any boat in the race which allows you to capture the river’s energy and transfer it across eddys, etc.. better and it doesn’t slow down at the bottom of drops due to the rocker profile and flat hull in the stern.

We all went up for our second run and I was committee to going faster but lost time in the smallest rapid on the course getting stuck on a rock that fed me into another rock and into another and then another.   It was not terrible, but it was slow.    then it got good again until the final drop before the Narrows that I did so well last time but this time I fell off the right of the defender rock and pin balled back to the left and then over the dry rock.  UH!!!!   I sprinted across the pool this time and entered the narrows and this time every move in that section went perfectly all of the way to the finish line.

My time again was 3:49 on my watch but I looked immediately.      We would have to wait. I got to see Nick, Clay, and Dane go and they all had great lines.   The Demshitz where right around my time in the race so I couldn’t watch them (Dave was right before me).

The times came out later that day after they were all compiled and printed out:    I won my first Lyons South St Vrain race!  (second was my best finish here before).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Look for the Freestyle, Boatercross, Slalom, and Triple Crown Results later today!

EJ

It started off with last weekend the CKS PaddleFest. This event has been going on for many years now. It originated with a sale by Colorado Kayak Supply, though in the past several years it has just kept growing and it is a huge kayak festival now with freestyle events, sup events, demos clinics and obviously still the kayak sale.

It is super busy between working the store, demos, and clinics and still finding time to train and compete. Though it is always a great time. The town of Buena Vista is super fun and the new additions to South Main make it even cooler, with biking Frisbee golf and obviously the kayaking park.

The competition started Friday night with the prelims. It was a tricky spot with the low water, though the heat list was stacked with some of kayaking’s best.

Saturday was the Semi Finals and Finals. You needed to have 900 points or more even to make the top 5 for finals. In the final rounds it was myself, Stephen Wright, Dustin Urban, Matthieu Domoulin and Dane Jackson. It was a tough round with Dane pulling it off top honors with a 1200 point ride to finish off the night.

It was a great weekend with lots of people getting into kayaking, hanging with friends, a couple cold beverages (beers), listening to some guitar, and obviously some amazing kayaking.

Sunday morning came quickly. I spent most of the morning selling kayaks up at the shop. I also got to give away a kayak to Loren Benedict, the winner of the Jackson kayak raffle for the Troutman Foundation. Dane, Courtney and I left BV late Sunday night and started our drive to Steamboat springs to catch the Paddling Life event on Monday morning.

Steamboat started off with the freestyle event at the playhole right in town. It was a close finals between myself, Dane and Jordan Poffenburger. Though in the end Dane edged my out for first while I took a close second, and Jordan in third. We went straight to Fish creek for the creek race part of the event in the afternoon. Fish creek was low bet still good to go. With my new secret weapon, the Jackson Kayak Zen, I was able to cruise down the course with ease.

The race results flipped with myself in first and Dane and second just 2 seconds behind me. Both of us where super excited to edge out the Kiwi, Mike Dawson, who is known for his creek racing skills, and one of the Olympians for the 2012 games.

With both Dane and I having a first and second we shared the overall first place finish and each brought home a check for $425 and a Rhino roof top carrier.

We had to leave after awards and head straight to Vail for the next event, the Teva Mountain Games.

The Teva Mountain Games are one of the biggest of the year, with competitions happening all week in all sorts of different sports including, biking, running, kayaking, slack lining, fly fishing, dog jumping, and rock climbing to name a few.

The low snow pack winter definitely hit Vail hard this year with record low river levels. Though the organizers were able to pull it all together and make all the kayaking events happen.

First off was the Homestake Creek Race. This is one of the more prestigious creek races with competitors coming in from across the globe. Though it is always obvious that the Kiwis, Sam Sutton and Mike Dawson, are the ones to beat.

With a couple days of training, and a fast boat (the Zen), I found the course to be super manageable and for the first time ever I felt really comfortable and ready to race. The race it set up that everyone takes 1 one, the top 20 people continue on and take a second run with both runs being added together to crown the winner.

I had an amazing run, crushing the course and having the best race of my life until the final drop, the “Leap of Faith”. I had nailed the line there every time in practice, though coming in a bit more out of breath I didn’t focus enough and pitoned the wall and went deep in the eddy. This cost my three seconds, though to my surprise I was still in 5^th after first runs, behind Sam, Mike, Dane and EJ. For my second run I took it a bit easier and made sure to nail my lines, which worked out great I had a flawless run, though being that I didn’t sprint the flat pools my time still wasn’t enough. Mike took 1^st with 3:58.06, Dane 2^nd with 4:00.82, Sam 3^rd with a 4:02.53 and me getting pushed to 4^th with a4:03.28.

Next up was the freestyle competition. The water was so low they actually had to put in a whole bunch of boards to restrict the flow enough to make it even deep enough to paddle. It was a tricky comp with the lower levels and hard to not hot the rocks. Props to the guys who were able to figure it out better than me. I ended up in 7^th while Stephen Wright took home the top place with a whopping 1190 point ride.

Sunday was the 8-Ball Boater-cross, one of my favorite events ever. For though of you who don’t know what the 8-ball is, it is a full body contact 4 person head to head race, though the catch is there are 12 more people trying to stop you from finishing. If you don’t get the picture, it is a gladiator battle for kayaking. It was tough to make it though all the rounds, dodging kayaks and rafts a like. I ended up in forth for the Men’s finals and won the “Ball Off” with all the Men’s and Women’s Finalists competing together.

Another great weekend down. I am now if Lyons getting ready for another competition here this coming weekend, the Lyons Outdoor Game.

The tour continues and so does the excitement. Stay Tuned.

Nick Troutman

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Lightning Paddles… unique colorful designs, tough as nails, and my tendonitis is gone!

I used Lightning Paddles years ago… and loved them!  When they stopped being available, I used a variety of carbon and foam core designs from other leading paddle companies. While I enjoyed these paddles and they felt great in the water… at the end of every season, I battled tendonitis and had to take time off. And my husband, who is very strong and puts in many miles on hard creeks, would break one or more paddles every season. So I am happy to report in after a full season of using the Lightning Bent Shaft Carbon Freerides and Custom Rides Flowtech. After an entire year of hard use and competition, I feel the best I’ve ever felt and I’m completely tendonitis free!  We also have no broken paddles that resulted from paddling. We had one crushed by an 18-wheeler when it flew off the rack… but it was actually repairable. That’s a tough paddle! Here are a few points to consider about the Lightning Paddles:

1. Lightning blades are powerful but extremely smooth. The blade design is the best I have seen for a ‘do it all’ paddle. Fluent forward strokes combined with authoritative backstrokes and rudders, perfect for playboating as well as downriver. The bent shaft is aggressively contoured with a slightly narrower grip that surpasses other brands in ergonomics and control. It takes a little time to get used to, but it virtually eliminated my wrist and forearm problems.

2. The Carbon Freeride Lightning paddle is their lightest paddle, and it seems to have unparalleled strength to any carbon paddle we have used. Carbon paddles are stiff and responsive. The ultimate competition paddle.

3. If you love foam core for the feel, the Custom Rides Flowtech blade is also impregnated with a foam, similar to the process used to make skis and snowboards. It is my favorite Lightning paddle (partly because of the cool colors!), and these blades are among the strongest available, with superior strength and abrasion qualities. It is only slightly heavier than the Carbon.

4. Lightning Paddles are made with paddlers in mind. Durable is key when it comes to paddles, and Lightning’s paddles fit the bill!

Buy one here!

http://store.jacksonkayak.com/categories/Paddles/

Nick Troutman