It’s now just 2 more days of training left before the 2013 Freestyle Kayak World Championships kicks off here at NOC.
Everyone is here now and has had a chance to get used to the hole and various paddlers are really looking good. I actually think this will be the most hard fought Worlds ever, there has never been so many paddlers training full or almost full time with such good equipment: carbon boats, cagdecks, lightweight plastic. Most teams even have 1 or 2 coaches working with them.
It’s hard to really pick one favourite not just in men’s but in all categories. The problem is that the standard is so high. On their good days upto 10 paddlers in the men’s could realistically win here. I think the key will be who manages to keep a good attitude, enjoy themselves and not get too caught up on the idea of winning.
Personally, I had a breakthrough in my paddling a week or so ago when GB team coach Dennis Newton arrived and ever since I’ve felt on fire. I’ve had 3 rides I think would stand a very good chance of winning so am feeling confidant. That said it’s going to be hard for sure. Having won last time I feel no pressure to win here I just want to do my personal best rides and enjoy the event.
Katya has been looking really good, she had a rest day yesterday and today she totally ripped, if she keeps paddling like she is doing she will be a very strong contender for the Gold.
Also from the GB team & Palm team Bren Orton has been getting some top rides, I haven’t watched him too closely as we paddle at the same times but he is easily capable of a medal here and can throw some of the nicest moves of anyone. Then there is Alan Ward the 2005 Junior World Champion, who is getting better and better here, I’ve actually always admired how he paddles and he seems focused this year so I reckon we could see him right up there too.
Here is a video Alan threw together of our 2nd team training:
BUT if I was forced to choose some possible favourites beside myself, Bren & Alan here are my top tips on who to look out for.
Senior Men
Peter Csonka: 2012 World Cup winner and twice World Championships silver medallist I think Peter wants this one more than anyone. He won the World Cup event here last year and if he’s at his best will be the most difficult paddler to beat.
Dane Jackson: Dane is in his first year competing as a senior at a World Championships and he is going constantly huge on at least 2 or 3 moves a ride, he will be one of the most impressive to watch regardless of score but we’ll see if he’ll be able to fit in enough moves in the 45 seconds to take the win. In my eyes he’ll be on the podium for sure, just which place is a mystery.
Mathieu Dumoulin: Mathieu the double European champion loves smooth flowing sequences of linked moves, it’s very beautiful to watch. Sometimes he might miss the angles on a few things but I’ve seen him hit some winning rides in practice and if he is careful with making sure he scores everything he can possibly do the highest scoring ride of anyone.
Sebastien Devred: former Junior World Cup winner, he is a very powerful methodical paddler and looks very in control. His rides seem to be coming together and he’ll go for every move possible. It lacks a bit of the flair of some of the others but he is very consistent whereas everyone else is more up and down.
Nick Troutman: the 2009 Men’s World Champion, he’s a great competitor and very strong, fast and snappy. You can really tell he has done a lot of work this last two years as his hole paddling is right up there now. I’d say Nick could really fly if it all comes together in one ride.
Jason Craig: the 2009 Junior Men’s World Champion, he has one of the snappiest styles of anyone and loves going big, in my opinion if he focus’s and really concentrates on a smart ride he will be in the medals.
Tomasz Czaplicki: Tomasz from Poland is one of my favourite paddlers to watch, I’ve admired his style for years and has had some good results in Europe and I think this year might be the time for him to finally show his potential internationally. He’s just started using the carbon Dagger Jitsu and is literally flying in it. If he can show in the comp what I’ve seen of him so far he’s going to cause some big upsets
Senior Women
In women’s it looks like the battle for the medals is wide open. Every girl would sell her soul for some consistency. No one seems to paddle the same level every day, but I will at least pick the ones who’ve showed some potential during this couple of weeks:
Claire O’Hara: the current World Champion from GB is still the toughest one to beat but the other girls are really biting her heels.
Katya Kulkova: she is my wife so I’m biased, but for years I’ve seen how good she is in practice and this year she’s really started to flourish in competition. (She was on the podium in every event this year). Here she can really thrown Mc’Nasties, Fonix’s, Godzilla’s all very nice and big. She has had a few rides I think would win but its still not every ride like this. She’s my top pick for the one who will cause some big surprises.
Marlene Devillez: the double European champion showed the other day a couple of potentially winning rides; mc’nastys both ways, Loops & Godzillas all nice, big and aerial, but it’s hard to tell if she will be able to pull it off in competition here. (the spot is hard).
Japanese Girls: Two Japanese girls especially Hitomi have been showing themselves as the most consistent when they’re fresh. It’s very nice to see them doing so good and I very hope to see at least one of them in the final.
Ruth Gordon: the 2007 World Champion, she’s doing some top scoring moves occasionally and of course you can never discount a competitor as experienced as her but we’ll see if she maintains the focus she used to have with the distractions of having a real job and slower lifestyle now.
Nina Csonkova: she is capable of high scoring rides if things come together for her. Knowing how good a competitor she is we expect her to get to the finals at least.
American Girls: This year US women’s team is not as strong as usually with Emily Jackson absent but their is potential for new stars like Adrienne to get their hands on a medal, but in general they start to look a bit tired after a week straight of team training.
Juniors
In the Junior men’s I haven’t watched everyone but the stand out paddler for me it’s between Frances Thomas Richard who looks very good at his best but a bit inconsistent and Max Karlson of Sweden, he’s my fellow team Dagger paddler using the carbon Jitsu and simply he looks incredible, every move is huge and so snappy, I think win or not win he’s going to leave a fantastic impression on everyone who sees him. He is going to be a top paddler on the freestyle world for years if he keeps paddling how he is.
For the Junior Women’s USA’s Rowan Stewart is throwing some perfect Fonix’s and Mc’Nasties and really looks good, I’m just not sure if her consistency is good enough to topple Nuria Fontane of Spain who will be formidable for the other Junior’s to beat.
Now it’s time to get rested, have a last few easy sessions and prepare for World War 3 to kick off
Pushing your self to paddle harder rivers and rapids is not always easy. Before you make that decision to put on, there are so many different pressures and questions; Will I make all the necessary moves? Am I ready for this? Where will that water push me? Why do I even want to paddle this? Is that stopper flushing enough? Will I get hurt? What if I go over?
Most of the time when I’m confronted with a harder rapid, these kind of questions start to race through my head. To be honest I would be worried if they didn’t. After all, fear is mainly formed by the unknown or negative past experiences. To paddle a rapid well I find my mind needs to be 100% clear, focused and committed. But with all those questions whizzing around, it can be hard to achieve.
Somewhere between scouting that rapid, and dropping in I usually manage to settle the nerves and get myself into that clear state of mind. Over the past few years, I have developed a technique that helps me to do this. So I thought I would share & discuss it, in the hope that it may be useful to others. It’s very possible its something you already do, if this is the case perhaps this article will draw some attention to the skill, and help you develop it.
To get us started the skill I’m going to be talking about is commonly known as visualization; put in simple terms, imagining. Think back to a rapid that you have paddled multiple times. I’m guessing the more times you paddle it, the better you get at it (excluding the odd unlucky mess up) There are many reason we usually paddle stuff better after a few attempts but in essence the main reasons are because we start to get a feeling for what the water is going to do to us and when we need to place our strokes to get us down in good style. Provided you can agree with the above sentence, you will hopefully kind of agree with the next one. If we can get good enough at visualizing our selves paddling a rapid, then we have effectively paddled it, and have therefore already practiced it. So when we ‘actually’ paddle said rapid, we should be better off than if we had not visualized it.
An exercise for you; Imagine you are at the top of one of the more challenging rapids you have ever undertaken. You have scouted the rapid, safety is all set up and your boat is waiting at the top, now it’s all up to you. Can you imagine yourself paddling the line? If so, how vividly? Is your image in colour? Are you imagining your self in first person or third person? Can you make out every single move? Are you styling the line or do you see yourself messing up? Can you hear the water? Is it in real time, slow motion or fast forward? Can you sense what it feels like?
If you can answer some of these questions then you already possess the skill’s to visualize. Which I’m fairly sure everyone can do to some extent or another? However like all skills, they can be improved with good practice.
Unwrapping the skill of visualizing our selves paddle a rapid also expose’s other skills which we need to master. One of which is reading the terrain (white water/rapids). If we cant read the terrain, then we are not going to be able to work out where we need to go and if we cant do that, then we cant visualize our route through the rapid. If your new to white water, try to ask better paddlers about rapids, find out about the different features and how the river works. Reading the river is a skill and I think we can always improve it throughout our kayaking careers.
Once you are able to read the terrain and pick a path, you need to have a good idea of how you are going to get your boat to follow that route. Here is where we need to understand both the tactics (e.g lateral momentum etc) and the hard skills (e.g paddle waggling, edging etc) of white water kayaking.
With these two major components in place we are free to see the best route though a rapid, and know how to command the boat to follow that path. From that point on successful visualization becomes a lot easier. The reason it becomes successful visualization is because we are now creating an image of what should in theory be a positive out come e.g we style the rapid because we have picked a good line and rehearsed the correct moves.
I think it’s important to point out that picking a line, is not the same as actually imagining your self paddle it.
Going back to that first exercise, you can hopefully see that there is a sliding scale of creating an imaginary event. At the simplest end we might just be able to see ourselves from a third person point of view, but the images is hazzy and we cant work out how every move might look. And at the other end, we can create an image so intense it feels real.
My theory is that the more realistic an image (or perhaps brain video?) We can create, the more useful it’s going to be to us.
Second Exercise: Look at the photos bellow of the same rapid. Your challenge is to pick a line, and then to see if you can visualize yourself paddle it. Can you create these pictures into a brain video of yourself paddling the rapid?
Top view
Bottom stopper
Bottom View
Side View
If you can, it’s probably because you have paddled a similar rapid before. If you have never paddled anything like this, then it may be very difficult to picture. The reason behind this is because of Engrams.
When learning a new paddle stroke, our motion is often inaccurate and jerky. This is because all of our muscles are having to be monitored through various kinesthetic sensors that are then analyzed by the brain, which in turn sends signals back to our muscles. If we continue to try to learn that stroke, our brain starts to write an Engram. This is a file stored by our brain, with an instruction manual on how to do that movement. Not only is it an instructional file on how to do that skill, it is also an effective short cut which allows us to reproduce the skill with a lot less effort. With an Engram in place our brain in no longer having to monitor thousands of conscious signals, which allows it to concentrate on other things.
To put this in context, the larger the range of rapids we paddle, the bigger the selection of engrams available to us. When we arrive at a rapid that looks/feels similar to something we have done in the past, our brain is able to access old engrams and use it to help us. Hence the masters of visualization will be the people who are very experienced in their sport. They will have an engram for almost any situation, so like a jig saw puzzle they’re able to put the pieces together to create an image for every part of the rapid. Whereas a less experience paddler may be able to look at a rapid, visualize breaking in, paddling over the waves, but then get stuck when it comes to getting over/around the final stopper, this is because they have never been over a drop and as such do not know how it looks or feels. But the more experienced paddler would have an engram for that drop and as such would be able to picture it and know how to apply the skill.
So the type of Visualization we have talked about so far is all aimed at creating a vision of yourself paddling a chosen rapid. This is very useful for learning where to go, and what moves to put in. In fact it has been shown by research (scanners) that by visualizing a task, your brain is firing all same signals as if it were when doing the actual task.
For the purpose of this article I would like to call this ‘factual visualization’. You are trying to create what will hopefully become an event. You are using the visualization technique to help you perform better.
To a large extent ‘Factual Visualization’ will only help us control our anxieties if we believe that in doing it, it will make our upcoming performance better. There is also one other type of Visualization technique that I would like to talk about. For the sake of the article I will call it ‘Motivational Visualization’ this is where we perhaps need to boost our confidence and get ourselves all fired up and ready to go. How to go about this? Well, I think its simple, picture some of the more positive moments you have had down challenging white water in the past. Remind your self of what you have done in the past, and how capable you are of doing it. It will be most useful if you can picture a similar style of rapid. But if not, don’t worry, just keep the positive flow’s coming, picture your self as strong and capable and ready to style!
Think of a game of tennis, so much of it is mental, when one player gets on a high the other may be on a low. Now think about how there performances differ. All we are trying to create with Motivational Visualization is the mind set of the winning tennis player.
Some top tips for practicing:
The great thing about visualization is that it can be practiced in most day to day tasks. Try simple exercises like putting an object on the floor (such as a ball) then stand back a few meters, visualize picking up the object, then shut your eyes and see if you can do it.
Like all new skills in kayaking, try it out on terrain you already feel quite confident in before trying it out on bigger rapids.
Try closing your eyes, to help you focus.
Use your hand to draw the shape of your chosen line, this could be a helpful prop and allow you to learn the line in a learning style perhaps more suited to you.
Do some air paddling. It may look a little odd, but by practicing the sequence of stroke’s on the river bank you will start to build up an idea as to how it should feel. To do this in the most effective way visualize your route down the rapid whilst doing the strokes.
The next time your out on the river, have a go at visualizing some lines (factual visualization), as well as conjuring up some strong positive images (Motivational visualization). Once you can see yourself getting all the way down, and hitting every move, see if you feel calmer. If you cant see it or you can only see your self not making the line, then perhaps your not ready for that rapid?
I hope its been a helpful read, its mainly my own thoughts on the matter, combined with some previous reading on the subject.
Tomorrow we are one step closer towards kicking off the 2013 World Champs as the 8 days of official nations training begins.
Yesterday was chance for everyone to have some fun in aid of a good cause at the NOC Pro-Am WorldKayak throw down. All to raise money for the First’s Descents programme. (A kayaking based cancer charity that takes cancer survivors out kayaking to help them re-build their lives).
The idea is that two amateurs (usually kids) join up with one ‘Pro’, the pro coaches the kids in the morning and then we all compete in the afternoon. Each team member get’s two rides, then the average is worked out based on all the team members runs. It was all a bit of fun but so close to Worlds it was a good chance to see how we’re all stacking up in competition so far, with Dane Jackson, Bren Orton, EJ & Nick Troutman all leading teams.
I was fortunate to get two great young paddlers, 11-year-old Isaac Hull & 16 year old Kenya Ingram. Both could already throw down some great loops, cartwheels and splits and were working on mc’nasties. In Isaac’s practice run he impressed everyone with a textbook paddle throw loop and then followed it up with a paddle-less backloop…. I think Junior’s are just getting better and better. I certainly couldn’t do the things they were doing at their age.
It was nice to paddle together, see if we could improve and cheer each other & everyone’s teams on. A real good atmosphere. I just went in and had a good time throwing the moves I liked to do and the kids did the same, so we came away as the top placed team in 1st position Hopefully it’s a good omen of things to come in 14 days time….
After the comp was the prize giving and a silent auction to raise even more money for First Descents. It was really good being out on the water, having fun with good people in aid of something worthwhile. Thanks everyone for such a good day especially Isaac & Kenya, you guys rock!
Now we have just 12 days until men’s prelims & 13 days until Women’s prelims, I’m feeling really good, my comp rides keep getting better and better and I feel like I’m just enjoying myself trying to see just what I can do in a ride here. I’ve grown to really love the hole here. Katya is similarly stepping it up with her Phonic’s & Mc’nasties getting more and more consistent so both of us are just really enjoying our paddling. Now almost everyone is here and team training kicks off tomorrow so we’ll be able to really see who’s doing what so will update you soon on the continued progression of all the top kayakers ripping it up out here
It’s now just 14 days away until the 2013 Freestyle Kayak World Championships kicks off in Nantahala, USA.
We’ve been at NOC the rafting base/ comp site for the last week now and it’s good to see all the faces old & new showing up and getting the hang of the hole.
It’s like a rainforest here, it’s rained consistently everyday! The upside is that it’s quite warm and the area is lush with forests so it’s very scenic all around us but it does make it hard to get our new thermals dry
The hole is quite tricky for some moves, but everything goes and because of the challenging nature it’s fun trying to figure out all your moves here.
It feels quite fresh and exciting this year, all the companies have new boats to show off and the number of paddlers ripping is higher than ever. It really feels like freestyle’s booming again.
Speaking of standard it’s quite impressive how much Women’s and even Junior women’s have come on in the last two years. It’s not unusual to see junior girls throwing Mc’nasties or Phonic’s and now it’s many senior women regularly throwing the big moves, I think there scores will be much closer to the men’s than we’ve ever seen. Even open canoeists are throwing mc’nasties and lunars!
In the men’s it’s going to be the battle royale, there are European Champions, WW GP winners, World Cup winners, multiple former World Champs and many new comers all fighting it out to get there best rides ready, it’s a very open competition so far, I predict the winning ride is going to be quite an insane ride & score.
Team Palm members that are here so far are myself, Katya & Bren. Personally I’m very happy with how I’m getting used to the hole, rides are going great but I still need to get some consistency in my Lunars & Tricky Whu’s to give me the extra jump up to stand a chance of winning but there is plenty of time for me to put the finishing touches to my ride. Bren fresh back from creeking all summer has got back into playboating without any struggle by the looks of it, he’s looking powerful as ever and has been getting some rides that could get him a medal already. Katya has had a great year of competition so far, and straight away has been doing rides that will let her go far, she’s just been working on getting her mc’nasty and phonics consistent which would give her a winning ride, she actually got one ride today that I don’t think is beatable
So to wrap my blog up here are my current tips on who else is looking good:
Dane Jackson, it’s no surprise but he’s really throwing some very nice moves and rides and he’s almost certainly going to be on the podium.
Peter Csonka I haven’t seen too many full rides of him yet as I think he’s mostly getting all his moves dialled in but he won here last year and of the full comp rides I’ve seen him go for they’d be tough to beat, he’s also in my eyes the best competitior in freestyle, no one steps it up like he does under pressure.
For women’s – Claire O’Hara is looking strong, but not all of her main competition arrived yet, it’s also nice to see quite a few new girls coming up and paddling well. Japanese girls very impressed us with their progress from last year, some American girls like Adrienne learned new moves, and many strong paddlers from Europe. So I think in the women’s it will be a tough fight as well.
So back to training for us we’ll have an update up again soon as more faces arrive and team training’s get started, this would be the time to pick our favourites and let you know how we’re looking!
A trip out to Rost ,the southern most chain of islands in Lofoten , i had been here once before on an open crossing of 6 hours ,but never had a chance to explore.A magical place full of peace and wildlife and very different from the other islands and rarely visited by kayakers
Well worth a visit
In July we had 2 girls who were MIA. Deb was missing due to a festival where she was seeing some unknown band (Mumford and Sons! J ) – originally the weekend had been booked for the previous one but then Georgie went and organised the wedding of the year for that weekend! - and Suzie, who was on board an Icebreaker somewhere in the Artic, Polar Bear spotting (well actually she was working taking important biological samples of something but I think that’s just her cover story!). So we invited some girls along who had shown an interest in becoming a part of the squad to give us numbers and try to fill the massive holes left by our team mates.
Missing 2 of our girls!
On a more serious note, after the Worlds some of the ladies will be taking retirement both temporarily and permanently, so we are looking to build on the team and start training as a squad. We believe in this way we can be even more successful and hopefully attend even more events. So we invited the girls down to train in a boat alongside us to see what we put ourselves through for this fantastic sport.
Kate doesn’t look too impressed with the pre-session warming up…
Amid the heat wave it seemed Nottingham was the only place where we had cloud and rain! This was probably a good thing as our first session on Saturday morning was Endurance, Dave Brown Style, and the much loved/hated milk bottle session!! 6 sets of 5x100m sprints, each 100m one more milk bottle would be thrown into the water (tied to rope) to create resistance. The spare person would rotate into the middle and do either squats or the plank!! The newbies had a go at this but then set about working on technique…we don’t blame them, baptism of fire or what!
The Newbies setting up for a sprint start. Looking good!
That afternoon we had slalom sessions and were lucky enough to have stand-in coach ETIENNE-OLYMPIC-GOLD-MEDALIST-STOTT!! (and newly wedded husband to George CONGRATULATIONS!). His input was invaluable and it is so good having someone external watching from the bank.
Fran goes for the gate! Let’s hope she doesnt pull herself out!
Our hero! Putting it to us straight :)
The New girls getting some pointers
…then laying it down!
That evening was spent in the pub having a lovely dinner, can you imagine us cooking for 11 people? Nothing would get decided on and we would all get so hangry (hungry anger) that we would end up having a massive fight! As it was, the pub was so busy and some of the girls waited about an hour for their dinner.
There wasn’t a photo of us in the pub… but this is us thinking about food, hopefully this sets the scene…serious stuff!
Day 2 we were joined by both our Coach Dave and Etienne! Double Whammy. Once again working on Slalom in the morning. But the big session was our Head to Head training in the afternoon. Dave set us a one gate course which we had to race down repeatedly, GB boat verses the New Girls, and it shows we invited along some of the right people because we didn’t always win!(clearly I’m not going to show you photographic evidence of that!) We had some awesome battles and the gate certainly made it anyone’s race.
Everybody loves a good battle!!
Not bad, Newbies, not bad!
Showing why we do put in all that training!
The weekend was a great success, and although we now won’t see the Newbies until after the worlds, they have had a taste of what it is to train hard for the title of GB Ladies.
A great weekend, some familiar faces and some new ones!
Double Drop at the Start of the race course on the Ayasse
This year’s edition of the Italian Eporedia Active Days in the beginning of June took place in the Ayasse valley and on the artificial race course in Ivrea. The newly found race course on a steep and demanding section of the Ayasse river offered enough water and so the competition went through with some interesting lines and even some swims. Compared to the former years less competitors took part but they got rewarded with a way better organisation of the event, an awesome dinner up in the small village Pontboset and four days of great summer weather in between the rainy European spring and early summer 2013.
Ayasse race course in Pontboset – “Corner Drop” in the back
During the day before the race on the Ayasse almost all the competitors showed up and went down the race section together to check out the lines. The competitors merged together to an awesome crew on the river, paddling together and working out the lines during the training. So in contrast to the usual individual training before a white water competition where everybody is just doing his own laps down the race course this time the training day turned into a fun paddling day on the river with a big group of some of worlds best kayakers.
happy to get a fast line through the first Double Drop
The individual- and team-race race course started with a technical Double Drop in the beginning, followed by some class III. Next difficulty was the “Corner Drop” with a sticky hole in the end, which claimed most of the swims during the competition followed by a 3 meter drop also with a sticky hole at the bottom. Next few hundred meters offered some easier white water before the last beautiful drop under a romaine bridge leaded into the finish pool. The King of the Falls section involved a difficult entry rapid and ended with a 70m long slide, so spectators were well entertained.
King of the Falls – Final Slide
Summing up the race-course on the Ayasse was definitely the hardest race-course I have ever competed on.
right after the start, entering the first drop of the “Double Drop”
But once the competition side moved from the Ayasse valley to the town of Ivrea it didn´t get much easier. Spectators got to see some hard battles. During the slalom race only 8 competitors managed to pass all the gates in both runs and in the end the fight in the Boater X decided about the overall win.
Slalom Race – town of Ivrea in the back
After four incredible days with the best competitors crew ever, no injuries (except the Russian who ended as a victim in our international rugby game the other night and got a stitched eyebrow) the new King of the Falls (Sam Sutton), Kayak Freeride World championships by Nations (New Zealand) and the overall winners (Jamie Sutton and myself) have been honoured in the “Stadio della Canoa” in the Piedmont town of Ivrea.
girls team checking the line on the entry double drop
Check back for all results here: http://www.eporediaactivedays.com/en/sports/kayak/results
It is exactly 21 days until the 2013 World Championships begins.
I arrived a few days ago and have been rapidly getting my freestyle mojo back.
The hole isn’t by any means the most spectacular feature, but it offers up every trick in the book and almost any combo you can think of.
The competition is going to be fierce with the usual big names on top of their game and serval up and comers looking set to dominate.
We have plenty of time to polish of individual moves/ rides before the event begins but the line up is going to be stacked after the next week.
Currently I am training 3 times a day and fighting the temptation to go run the Green. However, the Demshitz boys roll into town on thursday which will make it even harder to stay off the creeks and stick it out in the line up …
The Sjoa River Festival is a fun kayakers event organised by Simon Westgarth and hosted by Gene17, Strie Strommer, Palm, and Sweet Protection. The week long festival has races and activities ranging from guided beginner trips down more mellow sections of river to races down sections with a bit more gradient.
Kiwi boys Sam, Jamie, and Brendan taking out first place in the teams race.
Due to some spray deck issues Team VRS came in a long way behind first place.
With the American freestyle circuit over it was time to step back from meticulously practicing rides in small features, strap on our manly dangly parts and head to Washington.
This was my first time on a creek boating mission and I was lucky enough to be travelling with a sick crew. The Demshitz boys have been running some of the best runs in the states for years.
We had a sick trip firing of a couple of sweet drops such as Log Choke, Silver falls, Exit and Hamma Hamma.
I learn’t lots quickly with the boys, had a pretty bad crash on my first attempt at Hamma Hamma but nailed it on my second attempt, Huge thanks to Dave Fusilli for saving my ass on the first attempt, Footage coming soon.
After 6 weeks of solid creek boating it was time to wind down and head to Outdoor Retailer, The show has one more day to go before I head out to North Carolina to practice for the upcoming world championships.
Simon demonstrating the throwbag olympics
Kayakers and raft guides unleashed!
