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