After we had surfed our brains out on the New Dries in West Virgina, we decided to take a break. This was our idea or resting and rebuilding our muscles after being totally worn out and exhausted from surfing 5-6 hours a day for the previous 5 days.
Now our rest day might be a bit different than most. Instead of actually resting and taking a break, we just went to a smaller wave (which was wicked), and surfed our brains out there instead.
It was the perfect level for the Five Boat hole on the lower Gauley, so after what seemed like a crazy drive through the country we arrived. I had made an oath to myself that I wouldn’t try any airscrews (a move I might do too much of), so we tried all sorts of new stuff. I was mainly working on flip turn to blunt combos, and all sorts of different clean blunt grabs. At the end of the day I broke my oath by doing two airscrew, I just couldn’t help myself.
Here is a video of our two hours session.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws2vTwVG3_A[/youtube]
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I have never been to the Dries of the New, though they have been high on my list pretty much since I started kayaking. Though being that they only run when the river is at flood, and the fact that the river seldom gets to the good surfing levels, and the fact that I am usually several hours away, all adds up to the fact that I haven’t been able to surf these amazing waves.
Well I guess it all started on wednesday, when Stephen and Clay left for the ‘Dries’ waves in West Virginia. I wasn’t able to leave with them, being that I had to finish up some work. After all my work was done, I had to make the decision to keep working or drop everything and drive 7.5 hours to West Virginia. To most the decision would be easy, for some would say work, and others would say go kayak. What it really came down to for me was if I stayed I would be happy to get some work done, and if I went I would be happy because I got to kayak, but if I stayed I would regret it and if I left I wouldn’t regret anything.
Putting it in that perspective made it easy for me. I then packed up my car, dropped my dogs off at the Jackson Ranch (thanks Kristine for taking care of Rio and Rupert), loaded up my boat and drove through the night. I arrived at 2:45 AM, and went straight to sleep. The next morning Clay Stephen and I went out had breakfast and made some boating plans. They had decided to go run a creek, but for me I had made my mind up before I left, I was going to surf the Dries Waves.
So I drove to the bridge, got geared up, and walked down to the rivers edge. I put on and peeled-out to the Wave. I surfed for 5 hours. I continued this for the last 5 days. Wake up, eat breakfast and surf all day. I am now exhausted, sore, tired, and soon running out of money, yet with the river on the rise it is hard for me to want to leave.
Here is a video from the first couple days on the New River Dries
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpGWgZfQgYk[/youtube]
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Tagged with:All-star • Clay Wright • West Virginia • jackson-kayak • new river dries • stephen-wright
I am a Canadian boy, born a raised. I play hockey, ski, snowboard, make snow forts and have snow ball fights. I love the snow and the fun winter brings. Though, then I fell in love with something else, kayaking. This sport is not good for winter, and after much debate, I moved farther south for the winter months to escape Jack Frost and paddle in warmer weather.
Well, 5 days ago when I checked the weather, it was one degree colder in Rock Island TN, than in Beachburg ON Canada. What! That was crazy. For over a week the weather has brought back my memories of Beachburg while being down here in TN, we have snow, ice and below freezing temperatures. Being that this had lasted longer then usual, myself and the others were starting to get the winter itch of not paddling.
So EJ Clay and I decided to gear up for paddling with the warm 23 F degree weather and head to the river. It was like I expected, cold, but not too bad with all our warm dry gear. I think we even paddled for 2 hours. After this first excursion we realized that it wasn’t that bad, so everyday we geared up again, ready to take on the cold.
Check out this short video from a couple days of surfing at Rock Island.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZI0kZpbupo[/youtube]
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Tagged with:Clay Wright • Eric Jackson • Winter Wonderland • rock island • stephen-wright
Well 2009 will be a tough one to top. I guess I will just start from the beginning. Make sure to watch the video re-cap of 2009, I will try to post a video for each point.
JANUARY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMeF8v9OTXk
FEBRUARY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axVUeLQ9GUw
MARCH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x07JejGFgbU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vke7pdgNQoo
APRIL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYSzObET2kc
MAY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP8QPrzI5z0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tHJN6VsJRo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFIN-9FYiy8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFPeSUuBxxw
JUNE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVdHbb2Z5zY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iqqKD5xwWs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzmCWfbwmKk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTRc62KSOtY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqOApWd5swk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj1ELSGBONc
JULY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x03V70EApY4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR_j0bdEoyQ
AUGUST
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7HfqsEKSnE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6IFfJlmD48
SEPTEMBER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6t25Txb-gQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVKKTKPsz_I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap6ceBkpXC8
OCTOBER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlmcKWBzvz4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ftxH2q0rqw
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3lzj4D48uU
It was an amazing year, one that will be remembered for the great times with friends and family. Stay tuned for what is in store for 2010’s adventures!
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The rain has been pounding, down here in the south. In the last week we have gotten over 4 inches in some areas. With the rain comes the rivers, and we jumped on the opportunity for the Bear.
I had only ever run the Bear once before this past spring, but in normal style we had put on way too late and had to hike out in the dark. This time we were up and running at 7:30 in the morning making sure we would have plenty on time on the water. Clay, EJ, Dane and I met up with Jason Rodwell to run the river. We had great lines on this amazing creek.
Dane and I decided to run Stairway to Heaven, which is the largest series of drops on the river. It drops around 50 feet in three series of drops and slides with a couple crucial moves. With some luck both Dane and I had clean lines, and grins from ear to ear.
We continued down the rest of the river, running down all the drops which we hiked last time in the dark. This time we even had enough day light to rally back up for a second run. Dane, Clay and I put on for our second run with our lines fresh in memory, making for a speedy 45 minute rally down our second run.
It was a great day, with good friends and an amazing section of whitewater. 
Check out the video from our trip:
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Tagged with:Bear Creek • Clay Wright • Eric Jackson • Jason Rodwell • dane jackson
This past week we had the opportunity to run the North Chickamauga River. I have only ever run this river twice before, and being a couple years apart, we jumped on this opportunity. Clay Wright, EJ, Dane and myself, were joined with our German friends Arnd and Anne for an awesome run down the North Chick. We took our New Fun’s along to be opportunists and be able to play the whole way down the river.
Check out the video and see it yourself.
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Tagged with:Clay Wright • Eric Jackson • North Chick • anne hubner • arnd shaeftlein • dane jackson • jackson-kayak • kayaking • new fun • north chickamauga • river-running
Clay, Emily, Dane and myself went to run the famous Russell Fork River. We though what better river, than to take some of our New Funs to play along the way. We surfed all sorts of waves, holes, we found rock splats, rock spins, mystery moves, freewheels, wave wheels, pretty much anything you could think of.
Here is a little video of us taking the Funs down river on the Russell Fork.
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Here is a quick little clip on my beautiful run down Gorilla during the Green Race. Thanks to Shred Ready for saving my head, and thanks to LVM for catching this memorable moment on video.
Check it out.
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/7538965[/vimeo]
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Well this year I finally took the plunge and raced in my first even Green River Race. It was a ton of fun, after I wore all the safety equipment I could think of to make it less scary. No for real it was a lot of fun, I got to have out and paddle with a whole bunch of good friends, and a couple new friends too. 
Clay, Dane and I went up a week early to paddle the river and get a custom to the lines before the race. We were able to stay at Shane Benedict’s house and paddle with him and Adriene. Though out the week we were getting more and more comfortable. We were running Go Left and the Notch direct every time. As the weekend came closer more and more people started to show up, and Shane’s house get even more cozzy.
On Thursday night I had my first real encounter with Jason Hale. I had heard a lot about him, and he was pretty much exactly what I was expecting. I guess the simple way to describe him is as an Alfa Male. He and I got into an hour long discussion about who much of a girl I was because I wasn’t racing a long boat. For those who don’t understand what I mean by a ‘long boat,’ for the Green Race there is no length limit on your kayak, so the people who win are usually in a 13 foot long kayak, many of which we designed and built over a decade ago. So being that I am not big into peer pressure I took the insults and nagging, but when there was a challenge attached than it changed the whole ball game. Jason and I kind of made a bet, not for money or anything, more less for our words sake or man sake, that I would paddle a Long Boat down the Green and then Race it, and he would catch the Birthday eddy Backwards in his long boat. As for what the birthday eddy is, I will get to his part of the bet later. So I went home that night wondering if I would regret what I had done. I had only ever paddled a long boat for 1 day before, and I had never paddled it on the Green.
Now I am waking up on Friday morning by my phone ringing. It is my best friend Joel who is on his way down from Canada for the race. He has just finished driving 18 hours straight, and has one day to paddle, and figure out the race lines for a class 5 river. So it is the last day of practice before the race, I am going to take Joel down nice a slow, make sure he knows all the lines, I am going to try paddling this crazy Long boat.
Joel, Dane and I made our first run down, in around 3-4 hours or so. Joel was remembering that the river is steeper than he thought, I was thinking, well this whole long boat thing just might be doable, and Dane was thinking ‘Come on lets Go.’ Clay drove us back up to the top and we did it again, but this time in 45 minutes. Joel was obviously remembering the lines, which was a good thing because it was his last practice run before the race.

Saturday arrives and it is Race Day. To my surprise Emily had driven four hours by her self (which is pretty much impossible) to come hang out for the race. I asked to race in both classes Long and Sort boat, though I would race my Super Hero (Short Boat 8′6) first. I figured that I had been training to go fast in my short boat so I should do that first, and then if I needed to I could drift in my long boat run.
I paddled both of the boats down to the start, well I really paddled one and pulled the other one. I hung out and watched some people start. Then I was called up. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO! I started with a couple sprint stokes, then easing off coming in to the first rapid Frankenstein. It went better then any of my practice runs, I continued at a medium pace knowing that the race was at least 5 minutes long. I went though Pin Cushion, Whale Tale, Boof or Consequence all going great. I came into Go Left or Die, and I went Left. The rapid doesn’t look pretty but it is way faster, and that is pretty much how i did it, not really pretty but fast. I then came into Zwicks, not my fastest but still pretty good, and coming into the Notch above Gorilla I started to ease off a bit and take a couple deep breaths. This was a tip Clay talk me about. I then new what I had to do, and I charged the Notch, pretty much greased the line. I was know coming over the Launch Pad off Gorilla, which is the biggest vertical drop of the River. Everything was kind of moving in slow motion as I was deciding which boof stroke to take, a right stroke, no a left stroke, no just keep it straight so i will just keep cruising though the speed trap (there is a hole which can stop you 50% of the time, which then you have to either swim or surf your way out of). I don’t know if it was the fact that I just didn’t take a boof stroke, or if I leaned back or what, but I saw the landing coming and BAM!!!!! I pitoned my brains out, went end over end onto my head. Now I was thinking, Wow i didn’t really think that was possible, then I was thinking sweet I didn’t get stuck in the speed trap, and finally I thought to myself, I just crashed in front of 1000 people, just roll up and paddle hard to finish the race. Fortunately for me, somehow I stayed in the fast water the whole time, and I rolled up and paddled away as fast as I could. There are only a couple slides now before the race is finished. I went through each slide pretty quickly without spinning out at all. I got to the finshed as had a quick little laugh about what just happened. I was really in awe that I had crashed that hard and didn’t get hurt at all, I was so glad I had a Uni-Shock bulk head system.
After laughing a little I slowly walked back to the top to race my long boat. Not really sure I wanted to do another race run at all, I had Jason Hale stuck in my head egging me on. I met Pat Keller on the trail and he gave me a couple words of advice. I then continued up the path and found myself back at the star. Though I was still on the wring side of the river. I then accidentally swam throw the mankiest part of the first rapid, got out and on the second try made it across to my stashed boat. Clay asked how my run went as he had 30 seconds to go, without wanted to make him nervous I told him it went great.
I got into my Long Boat and decided I would do it, and if anything went wrong I would just eddy out and call it quits. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO. This time I took it a bit easier. Though all the lines were going great. Knowing that a lot of time can be made up in the flats, but also being tired I decided to coast, still keep my speed but not paddling hard. I got through every thing pretty well, came to the Notch and didn’t think twice, as I can to the Launch Pad I was a bit too far right and fought to get back left all the way off the lip, and………….. splash, I was at the bottom as smooth as silk. From here I knew that I could start paddling a little harder, and when I came into the finish I was thinking that both runs felt pretty much the same length.
From here I went back up watched the rest of the race, hung out and talked with friends, and saw Emily, who hiked in for 2 hours with our dogs. Back to the Bet with Jason Hale, I actually forgot to put this in, but someone just reminded me. Well, Jason went through with his end of the deal as well. He had to catch the birthday eddy in his long boat, scary at best. The birthday eddy is an eddy that is pretty much parallel with the Notch, and is only possibly 4 feet long. Not Jason’s boat is along 12 feet long, so you could see how this could be a bit of an issue. He actually had to paddle into it backwards which was a feat on its own. Long story short, everyone who know about the bet came to watch it, and everyone could see the fear in Jason’s eyes. To be honest I was really afraid for him, I didn’t want to be the blame for him getting hurt, but in true fashion he pulled it off just about a best as anyone ever could, and like Jason then starting calling everyone on. Though he did tell me that he was really scared.
Dane, Joel and I paddled out together after the race, loosing Clay in the crowd, though me met up with Marty who wanted to paddle out with us.

After Making it to the Take Out parking lot, we all headed across the road to Woddy’s place for the awards and after party. This was Joel’s 21 birthday and it was all pretty special. At the awards there were plenty of new record times, though the main ones were the Faster Man and Fastest Women. Andrew Holcomb won his second ever Green Race, and beat his record by a whopping 9 seconds with a 4:18, and Adriene Levknecht who beat the previous record by 24 seconds, with a 4:49, HUGE!
The Party then went on all night with the DJ busting out all sorts of tunes, keeping the dance floor moving.

Happy 21 to Joel. Congrats to Andrew and Adriene. Thanks to Woody for letting us all hang out at his place and eat his food. Thanks to Shane for letting us crash at his house for the week prior to the race, and for cooking us all sorts of meals. Finally Thanks to all the volunteers who made the whole race happen.
If you have never been to the Green race it is a pretty amazing thing, come and race it or just come to watch, though you should come and check it out!






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Tagged with:Andrew Holcomb • Clay Wright • adriene levknecht • dane jackson • emily jackson • green-race • green-river • jason hale • joel kowalski • shane benedict
For the last couple years I have been fortunate even to celebrate my birthday with friends and amazing rivers. My 18th was the on the Xico in Mexico, 19th was in Newfoundland, 20 was on the Alsesseca in Mexico, and my 21 was in Rock Island TN.
Though Clay and Dane gave me a little pre-birthday present of two days on the Ravens Fork, followed by a run down the Green.
On our drive up through the Smokey Mountains we met up with some snow, a lot of snow. Luckily enough the pass wasn’t closed yet, though the traffic was as slow as it gets. We showed up a little later than planned only to find that the river was low, really low, as low as Clay has ever seen it. We decided that we had just driven 4 hours to go kayaking, so we put on anyways with 6 inches on the bridge.
I had only ever run the Ravens Fork once before 2 years previous, also at 6 inches, so the river was just as I had remembered it. With a late put on we made our way down, scouting what we needed to, and trying to stay on pace. We ran down in 2 hours and 15 minutes for a speedy run down an amazing run.
We met up with a local who was more than generous and gave us three beds to sleep in. We woke up with the coffee brewing, and the river even lower. Dane and I had already made our minds up before we checked the gauge. We were here, why not run it? We convinced Clay to put on with us for a second run in two days at one of the lowest levels ever with 4 inches on the bridge.
The river was low, but everything was still runnable. We ran everything except Anaconda, and Big Boy. It was a great day and even Clay commented on how much fun the low levels were. It was a beautiful weekend with friends, an amazing river, and the fall colors lining the river banks.
Check out the Video from the Ravens Fork
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On monday we ran down the Green with Adrienne and Shane, which was a great fun run, and Dane and my first time running ever rapid.
It was an great three day creeking weekend, and the best way to finish off my last three days of being 20 years old.
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