The Zambezi has been on my list of top three rivers in the world for the past decade, even though I had only been there in 2006. It was finally time to go back and experience this amazing river again. As we arrived a flood of memories started to come back to me, I remember the airport, the hotel, the hike into the river. Once on the water it was like being a child in Christmas again, I was so excited! The water was warm, and big and fun. The river was everything I remember it to be, one of the best big water river runs, great for down-river play, and a great place to have fun and push your skill levels. The river run was filled with lots of ‘Macho Moves’ big boofs and Freewheels at Rapid #5, kickflips everywhere, being swallowed by whirlpools, running rapid #9 for my first time, and tons of surfing along the way.
This year we were able to have an overnighter on the river at rapid 25, this was really cool because Emily and I were able to run the river and then meet up with Tucker and the rest of the family and camp out on the sandy beach. To sleep under the stars with a full moon and catch some monster fish will be something I won’t soon forget and again adds to the fact that this river is in my top three for life.
2014 has been a year of epic proportions. I was able to travel the world, visiting 12 countries in 12 months, I competed all over in both freestyle and creek races with 23 podium finishes including National Champion and Pan American Champion, and my son Tucker turned 1. It has been a year filled with big waves, big water, steep creeks, new rivers, competitions and plenty of whitewater.
I was really excited about the idea of being invited to the Hurley Classic. I have always wanted to surf and compete at the Hurley wave since I was 14 and first saw photos of the wave. I also have never been to England and was excited to check out a new location.
Aaron and Rhona Dempsy, the owners of Square Rock distribution, were beyond amazing and fully took me in under their wing and showed me around, fed me and gave me a place to stay, along with some more hoodlums like Stephen Wright, Jason Craig, and Mattiue Dumoulin.
I was fortunate enough to have a couple days in England. I was able to experience some of the English culture such as the famous ‘Fish & Chips’, which I tried to eat as much as I possibly could. While leading up to the event I was able to visit an elementary school and give a little talk about kayaking and show a couple videos to all the kids. It was amazing to see how excited to kids would get about watching some footage.
The event itself was incredible, with 220 competitors, boater-X, an old skool rodeo, and finals under the lights, there was lots to do and tons of excitement. For me the most fun was competing at night under the lights. It feels as if you are a Rock Star and competing during a concert, there are lights and music, people cheering and cameras flashing, it was truly amazing.
The Finals format was the top 10 people all compete in one large heat and everyone has two rides with the best ride winning. it was an awesome format and people were going big for the crowds. I had two pretty good rides filled with airscrews, back panams, clean blunts, and a blunt Mcnasty. After watching everyone finish both rides I felt it was pretty close, though in the end it was more then enough to end up on top of the Podium.
Green race is one of the most well known and oldest Kayaks Races in the United States, with this year stating the 19 annual race down the Class 5 section on the Green River narrows.
With some of the fastest racers in the world, mixed with some epic carnage and one of the biggest crowds, it is no wonder why this is said to be one of the biggest spectacles in our sport.
Though in the end the race was amazing, it almost never even started. Racers and organizers alike woke up on Saturday morning to see 3-4 inches of thick snow covering everything in sight. In the end the decision was made to continue on with the race, though to postpone the start 1 hour later and to have racers limit to one boat category. This was a tough decision for most, being that the prestigious Ironman (which is racing both long-boat and short-boat categories) had almost 50 people signed up, and now racers were forced to pick only one class.
After a tough decision I chose to to race my new Zen. I ended up deciding on the fact that I knew the Zen would just be more fun to paddle, and being it is a brand new boat (I had only one run down the race course the day before) I just wanted to paddle it some more.
By the time I hiked in and got to the start line, most of the snow was gone, though being the air was still cold the water seemed warmer. The start line up was filled with some of the best kayakers I know: Dane Jackson, Isaac Levinston, Pat Keller, Andrew Holcomb, John Grace, more people then I could possibly name here. I was bib #56, so my start time was an hour after most of the fastest guys and gals out there. When they called my name I was ready, this was the first year of about 5 Green Races, where I felt truly ready to ‘race’ the Green. I have participated in the race several times before, though this fall I have spent a lot of time in my creek boat over the past 8 weeks, and therefore I felt truly able and ready to ‘race’. After getting a handful of practice laps in, and studying race lines from years past I finally had the race course memorized and new all the lines off the back of my hand.
After thanking the volunteers at the start line, I wait for the count down, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO! I started off with some strong paddle strokes and then got into my rhythm. First rapid is Frankenstein, which is a manky low volume rapid with lots of opportunity for mistake and slow times, I focused on smooth lines instead of paddling fast and making mistakes. After good lines at Frankenstein I felt good. I had a couple little bobbles here and there, though in the end the whole run was really coming together for me. The next big sequence was ‘Boof or Consequence’, into ‘Go Left, which was as smooth as I could ask for, keeping my speed up and on line, then was ‘Zwicks’, ‘Chiefs’ and ‘Flying Squirl’ you start to hear and see the massive crowds of people cheering for you, which can be a bit taunting as you come to one of the crux move ‘The Notch’ and ‘Gorilla’. This is where the biggest crowds are being that this is where all the most carnage happens. After nailing a great line through ‘Gorilla’ I tried to finish strong through the slides sections. I was able to keep my speed up through the slides, despite going deep in a couple spots.
I finished the race injury free, with a smile on my face, and feeling like I had one of my best runs I have personally ever had, that to me was more than I could ask for. Big props to Isaac Levinson and Dane Jackson for the first ever tie for 1st at 4:19, though the tie was broken and the 2014 Green Race winner is Isaac Levinson. I was able to take home some glass as well for 1st place in the Short boat category, though I am sure if Dane, Isaac, Pat and Eric had raced short boat it could have been a different story.
The Fall season brings cooler weather, shorter days and a changing of the leaves. Though in the South East it can also bring some Fall rains, which is what all Kayakers in the South East are hoping for. This October we had some heavy rains which lasted several days. With all this water the rivers swelled, and Rock Island was brought up to a whopping peak of 30,000 CFS.
Dane and I took advantage of some of this backyard high water, and we were able to get a couple laps in on the Falls and Sieve City.
The Ottawa Valley is where I was born and raised. It is where I learned to kayak, and still one of my favorite places on Earth to kayak. Summertime on the Ottawa is hard to beat; warm water, perfect levels, good fishing, fun waves. To me this is the definition of summertime fun. Like all good things it must come to an end. As the summer ends, the leaves change color, kids go back to school, and the river gets a bit colder. I stop for a second and reminisce on such a perfect summer now past.
Check out a little video I put together from this past summer.
This summer while I was coaching with the Keener Program I had the opportunity to paddle some of the best waves in Eastern Canada, though one of my most favorites of the summer was Habitat 67 in Montreal. It was a long drive, 4 hours there and 4 hours back, for only a couple hours of paddling, though it was well worth it. The glassy green face made it easy to launch any trick you could think of, and the foamy catchers mitt made it almost impossible to flush. What more can you ask for.
Here is a quick little video from the afternoon session
Check out the full results below.
