Reminiscing of the fall

Here is a video of some friends (Robert Bone and Sam Ravenna) at Pillow Rock on the Gauley River. It made me laugh watching Sam's ridiculous flying squirrel attempt after Bone's flawless backflip

Always be learning...

As I approach the paddling void that awaits me and visit to Wisconsin for the holiday season I find myself frantic for ways to be continually improving my boating. Just tonight I realized that I don't need to be on the water to expand my whitewater knowledge. Accordingly, I will be beginning a series of entries involving whitewater academia. I will explore the vast resources of book, video, and internet and report back to you on my earnings. Searching "whitewater instruction" on vimeo.com provides some excellent short videos that are sure to provide wisdom or knowledge for any better, regardless of ability. Check em out when you get a chance.

Back in the Southeast

Hey Y'all! I haven't checked in for a while as things have been rather calm since I returned from Colorado. I've been training on the wave at NOC and will be heading to the waves at Rock Island tomorrow. After that I head up north for...that's right...you guessed it, more paddling. Check out the media packet I just finished editing. Hopefully I can get some more video for you folks while I'm at Rock Island.

US Team Trials and Teva Mountain Games

Wow! the last few weeks have been amazing; playing at the Glenwood wave, throwing big loops at the Gore Creek hole at Teva, and recently running Barrel Springs with Pat Keller, Jake Greenbaum, Adriene Levknecht, Bryan Kirk, and Kelsey Thompson. Talk about an adrenaline rush (not a young guns reference). In addition, the new Jackson All-Star was released and made its debut appearance at the Mountain Games.

I placed 2nd at Team Trials earning a spot on the US Team. My buddy and fellow H2O nation member, Chris Wing, of H2O Dreams hosted the live webcast for World Kayak www.worldkayak.com. check out the archived video.






Chris and I also hosted the live feed for the Teva Mountain Games



If you want to check out some of my photos from the events go to www.worldkayakblogs.com/throwdown



Me and Anne (my sister and traveling buddy...and I guess you could say manager too) are back in Glenwood now trying to make the most of the wave before it drops out. We will be headed to Lyons for the Lyons Outdoor Games next this weekend so look out for the live coverage hosted by Chris and I once again at World Kayak.


Later guys,
Jake

Live Coverage of US Freestyle Team Trials

for live coverage of the event this Saturday go to www.worldkayak.com


Hey y'all, been hanging out here in Colorado. I'll be sure to get you some photos and video of the wave soon, but for now I have to get back to training.

The Biggest Little City: Taking Reno by Storm

I kicked off my freestyle tour this past weekend at Reno Riverfest. My journey started in Hot Springs, NC with about the best send-off for which a person could ask. The send-off? French Broad River Festival. The festival was amazing. I was camped with Paul and Peter Pinholster of Eagle's Nest Outfitters (ENO) boy do they know how to rock a festival. Friday night's highlight certainly had to be the jam session that took place late night at our campsite. There must have been over 200 people that made there way through as the drums and guitars lured them our way. The rest of the festival was great.

I headed out Sunday afternoon for St Louis, to pick my sister up at the airport. From there we drove to green river Wyoming to check out there new whitewater park for a day. Unfortunately, it was still under construction, so on to Reno!

The Reno whitewater park is fantastic! It has multiple great surfing holes, especially at the water levels we had this past week. Media coverage of the event can be found at www.worldkayak.com. My buddy, Chris Wing, of h2odreams.com and I provided the video footage and pictures.

I was the only open boater (and C-boater for that matter) registered for the event. It wouldn't have mattered though, anyway because I would have dominated. I was having terrible training rides all week, but when it came time for my scoring run, I tore it up. righty cartwheels, lefty cartwheels, flat spins (potentially a clean spin), and even almost hit a McNasty and Loop (the hole was to shallow so I kept bottoming out in hindsite I should have been throwing more toward the river left side of the hole where it was deeper).


Watch for me at the end of the video. "I think that was actually one of the better OC-1 rides I've seen in my life" -Announcer

Chatooga River Camping

These last few weeks have been amazing; paddling almost everyday, getting to see all sorts of friends as they "roll" back into Western NC for rafting season, and getting back to my buddy, quite possibly the best dog on the planet, Cutter. I'd have to say the highlight, though, was the recent camping trip my roommate, Eli Helbert, and I took with some friends on the Chatooga river. It was great to see a bunch of open boaters getting together. I have all but resigned to paddling mostly with kayakers because it is so hard to find open-boaters of comparable ability nowadays, but Eli (), being the living legend that he is, was able to put together a fine group. I had just received my new paddles, courtesy of H2O paddles, and was stoked to try them out for the first time. Wow, do they ever perform. Look forward to an official gear review about them coming up soon. Anyway, here are some of the weekends highlights.






Wow!

Eternal Play

Howdy folks. I know it's been a while since my last post. I've been trying to master some new software. Here's my first attempt at some video editing. Clips from us playing at Eternity Hole near Cullowhee, NC. My buddy Joe Ravenna and I shot this footage. As I become more adept with the software, hopefully it won't take several hours to create 3 minutes of video.

...And the Band Played On...

This was the second to last day on the river below lava. I had the brilliant idea to lash the rafts together creating the infamous party barge, being that there were no big rapids left (errrrr, well maybe one or two). James and I had just gotten into an amazing groove as the rapid was coming up and decided to go with it. Everyone was freaking out about the instruments, but Paul Pinholster (whose guitar I was using) gave me the nod so it was on as far as I was concerned. What a rush! Definitely one of the most memorable moments of my life. Thanks James, so glad to have you as a wing-man.

A special thanks to Jeff Talman for braving the rapid with camera in hand.

Grand Canyon Day 1: The Way to the Whitewater

Hugh Lipham, David Long, James Clinkscales, and I Hiking down the Cargo

Ain't Life Grand: The Gift of the Guru (The Canoe Guru, that is)

I've been feeling a little bit of pressure to get something posted about my trip through the grand canyon; mostly from myself, but nonetheless I wanted to write something since my whitewater adventures have been many as of late but my posts have been few. So this narrative may appear as multiple installments.

Getting sick of waking up to frost at Rock Island, me and some friends, Sam Fulbright and Chris Wing, decided we would escape the late winter chill and head south to Folly Beach in Charleston, SC for some ocean surf kayaking/canoeing.

That started out great, until the cold decided to follow us down there. Snow!?!! In Charleston, in March??? Give me a break!!! Chris had some video editing to do so he stayed back at his pop's place and Sam and I decided to kick it back up to North Cackalacky.

Needless to say I was a little bit disappointed with the weeks endeavors. But you know what they say: For every door that closes...

My roommate, Eli Helbert (www.thecanoeguru.com), was fortunate enough to fall into a spot on an 18 day permit for a private raft/canoe/kayak trip down the grand canyon section of the Colorado River. Lucky guy right? Not so much. Conflicts with work left him unable to attend at the last minute. So I roll back into Asheville on Wednesday to "Hey Jake, wanna go to the Grand Canyon?"

"Um...no thanks...that sounds like a terrible opportunity, Psych!"

"Everything's already packed and out in Arizona. There will be a Spanish Fly waiting for you."

"Awesome lets get that plane ticket transferred."

"Nope, sorry, the ticket you purchased is non-transferable."

No Worries. Time to hit the road. Sorry Cutter you gotta stay in Asheville and watch the fort, no dogs allowed (even though he's probably run more whitewater than half the people who raft the canyon).

It's Thursday, drab and dreary; storms are coming to the Southeast. Probably one of the few times I didn't even think twice about leaving town with storms moving in.

"When do I have to be there?"

"You're mmeting up with some people at the South Rim Saturday night and hiking down Bright Angel Trail as the sun rises to meet the rafts just below Phantom Ranch."

"Awesome! A sweet sunrise hike to introduce me to the trip." Easier said than done.

Turns out our trip was overweight (who knew beer was so heavy). As a result, they had to leave my boat at the outfitters. NOOOOOOOOO!

This is where I have to give a shout out to my new friends Hugh Lipham (who I would hike down with) and Jerry, the manager of Babbitts Backcountry. Hugh came through with some strong to very strong bids arranging for me to be able to hike my 8', 50lb canoe down that switchbacks. This was not exactly an easy sell considering we had to deal with a half frozen trail, hide from the passing mule train (so as not to spook the beasts with my large unfamiliar cargo), and the unforgiving Arizona climate. Not a problem, as long as I have a boat, it'll be worth it, I thought optimistaically.

No airplane ticket transfer, no problem. I'll just drive the 2000 miles, by myself, in 36 hours.

I leave Asheville Thursday night, drive the 12 hours to Oklahoma City , sleep in my car, on top of a kayak for 4 hours, wake up, drive for 15 more hours to Flagstaff, where Jerry had arranged to stash my boat at a friends house, sleep for 4 more hours in there side yard next to my boat, wake up, drive two more hours to drop my boat off at the lodge on the South rim, and drive back to Flagstaff just in time to meet up with Hugh and catch the shuttle into the park. Wheww! What a journey!

There at the South rim Hugh and I met up with 2 more members of our crew and readied for the morning hike.

GC trip day 1 coming soon.

Fall '08 on the Ottawa River with New River Academy: Ramp Tricks

Between a Rock Island and a Hard Place

Its hard being a boater in such dry times; add to that the rather cold winter we've been having down here in the southeast, and hard becomes painful. I just finished spending the last few weeks at Rock Island State Park in Tennessee; one of the few dependable places for winter training in the Southeast. The experience , if anything, was bittersweet. My first afternoon out there began with much anticipation. I was excited to see that the main playspot, which had recently been running low due to generator issues was at a fairly good level. Billy Harris and his wife Carly, both of team Jackson Kayak were out there braving the near freezing temperatures.

It was my first time on the water in months. I had underwent LASIK surgery in the fall and was hence unable to paddle. Then selling Christmas trees in November and December extended my drought (wouldn't you know the only time all fall/winter that all the SE rivers and creeks came up was while I was spreading holiday cheer in Atlanta). I then felt obligated to put some facetime with the family back in Wisconsin, extending my dry spell to over four months. So needless to say I was excited to get back on the water.

Well, the spirit was willing, but the body was not able. My first few surfs amounted to a few spins and ends, but mostly window shades and flushes. No big deal, right? It's been four months I just need to regain my sea-legs. Then disaster struck. You see haulin Christmas trees for 16 hours a day for the last month had left me with a mild case of carpal tunnel. The result being that my grip strength had been diminished. You can probably guess what happened next. Within an hour of being on the water I went in for my ride, window-shaded, and as I completed my back-deck roll, I lost my grip on my paddle.

So there I am surfing in the wave and I realize "shoot, I better chase that, cause its getting dark." I bail off the hole, swim after my paddle, only to realize it's long gone. Billy races downstream to try to find it. Unfortunatley, Werner Carbons, while great paddles are incredibly difficult to see, even in the best of light conditions. No Luck.
Let's take stock:
4.5 hours from home
+1 hour into my trip
-1 paddle
+0 spares (why would I bring one? who breaks a paddle while playboating?)
=one screwed Jake

Canadians to the rescue!

"Hey don't worry about it, I've got a wall full of paddles at Clay's house. Grab any one you want for as long as you need." says Billy

What a guy! But in all honesty it's what I've come to expect from the Jackson crew (Billy was not the only one who offered me use a paddle that week) who, without fail, continually prove themselves to be amzing ambassadors of the sport.

What a start to my trip! I am grateful, but nonetheless retired from the day feeling rather deflated. Being the spontaneous captain of adventure, and oh yeah, poor (well ok, a bit cheap too) guy that I am, I refused to pay full price for a camping spot and thus had no place sleep.

Not a problem. Wal-mart being the gracious corporation that they are, permit RV's and campers to park in their lots overnight. Well as I came to learn, a young man and his dog, sleeping in the back seat of a Lincoln Mark VIII, does not qualify for this privilege.
Again:
Jackson Kayak to the rescue!!

The next day I paddled the river (with one of Billy's paddles) to look for my paddle (again no luck). Upon returning to the wave I meet my soon to be friend, Tom. Tom is a former Jackson employee who lives in the area and frequents the park. It didn't take long before Tom offered me a roof over my head that didn't involve four wheels underneath. From that point on things went quite well (besides the cold that is). Tom even found me a couple days of work doing some roofing while I was there. The wave never ended up running with two generators after that first night, but poor surf is better than no surf.

All in all my trip turned out ok, even though it was nothing like I had hoped. Fortunately though, thanks to the amazing people at Rock Island, a potentially disasterous trip turned into a great adventure involving new friends, the end of a paddling drought, and a great learning experience.

Thanks again to everyone, I'll see you soon.