~~RapidPirate~~

Devon Barker sends this news from the World Cup of Freestyle Kayaking…

August 10, 2008

Today is the first day of my travels to Europe for the World Cup of Freestyle Kayaking. Traveling from Idaho is a little bit harder than many other places. I flew this morning from Boise (BOI) to Las Angles (LAX) to Vancouver, BC and then I will fly to London, England, to my final destination of Prague, Czech Republic. I am in Vancouver with a 5-hour layover.

I went to Tim Hortonandrsquo;s, the equivalent of Star Bucks but in Canada and got coffee and two donuts and now am working on a little bit of internet work before I go out for lunch to pass the time. When I get on the plane at 5 pm it will already be 1 am in Prague. They will serve us a quick dinner and we will go to sleep to try and acclimate to the new time zone. I will be 8 hours ahead of you the whole time I am in Europe.

The last time I was in Prague was in 2005 when I traveled with Lenka Novonta for three freestyle competitions. Lenka is on the Czech Team and lives just outside of Prague. I met her on the Payette River in 2001 while she was in Idaho working as river guide for the summer with Cascade Kayak and Raft. We will travel to Augsburg, Germany and then Thun, Switzerland together for the rest of the World Cup tour. Then, back to Prague, 8 hours from Thun and I will spend one last night before flying to home. My return trip is a little better; I fly Prague, London, Vancouver, Portland, and then Boise. To my students, I will see you on September 4^th! Study hard and learn lots about Europe. I will be bringing back pictures and video to share with you!

You can follow the world cup tour at http://www.kayaksession.com/intro-WC2008.php and at www.jacksonkayak.com.

Ms. Devon

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August 13, 2008

Kayaking as Gateway to the World

I just finished my first training session at the Prague Whitewater Canoe and Kayak center. This course was built in 1985 during the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia, now two countries the Czech Republic and Slovakia were under communistic rule for a long time. These countries split in 1991 shortly after the end of the communism. The Russians occupied Czechoslovakia from 1948-1989. This course was built as a training center for salmon kayakers so they could dominate the world in paddling. A man named Dufeck trained very hard and won the first round in the 1953 World Championships in Italy but then threw the race so the limelight would not be on him. He could have won but without the attention on him he was able to escape by paddling to another country. He paddled his way away from communism to freedom. It is so striking to me to not be a World Champion Gold medalist because it was more important to choose freedom. It is stories like this that help me to realize how lucky we are to be Americans our whole lives. I know not the struggle for freedom.

When I left Idaho this year I was homesick before I left. I am usually homesick a few weeks after being abroad but then I am okay, as I know I will be coming home soon. I was welcomed here by many of my friends from around the world and that helped me to feel a little more at home.

During my training session I was reunited with Marsha from St. Petersburg, Russia who I met while paddling on the Nile in Uganda, Valrie and Erik from Canada/Norway (she is a citizen of both countries), we paddled in Spain together eight months ago, Jessie Stone from New York, but spends most of her time in Uganda running Soft Power Health, Ruth Gordon from Canada, and many of my Czech friends I have not seen in three years. The international atmosphere is amazing here. Meeting my friends from around the world helps me to be a little less homesick and knowing that I have the freedom to travel to anywhere in the world to see them is an amazing. I think my next stop might be to St. Petersburg to paddle. I will leave you with a few Czech worlds and another website to check for video of Prague and the kayaking at the course.

Cau- Bye for now, Bless you all for your support. Devon

Thank You- dekuji

Toast- nazdravi

Hello- Cau, Ahoj, Dobry den

To Play- hrat si

Check out www.southmainkayakteam.wordpress.com for a map link, (World Cup Map), video, write-ups, and pictures for the World Cup Tour 2008.

Devon Barker P.O. Box 4445 1005 Woody Dr. McCall, Idaho 83638
C-208.413.0319 H-208.634.2581 www.barker-river-trips.com

Call or check these links for DARE TO KAYAK presentations for schools andamp; youth groups
 http://www.jacksonkayak.com/teamjk/teamm…
 http://www.nrsweb.com/team_nrs/team_memb…
 http://www.hughesriver.com/devon-barker….

Check out my great sponsors and their gear and services for an Idaho Vacation!
 <a href=”http://www.smithoptics.com” title=”http://www.smithoptics.
” target=”_blank”>www.smithoptics.com www.wernerpaddles.com www.brundage.com www.salmonrapids.com www.gratefulheads.com www.nrsweb.com www.jacksonkayak.com andamp; www.murkywaterkayak.com www.RiverRanchMcCall.com andamp; Back Country Chiropractic andamp; Wellness Center McCall, Idaho

Excellent news for those of us here in Idaho, and anyone planning on visiting the state!

Roger Phillips - rphillips@ idahostatesman.com Edition Date: 07/17/08

Non-motorized boaters will not face a state registration fee this year, according to a task force appointed by Gov. Butch Otter.

Full article HERE!

Image from KayakIdaho.com

With this winters high snowfall and warm spring temps this week, Rivers are running high!

Hydrologists and water experts are worried as water levels continue to rise on many Idaho rivers. If the weekend weather gets warm enough, those rivers could top flood stage and cause widespread flooding, especially in the northern region of the state.

For the full article from the Idaho Statesman go HERE!

We had our 2nd Hometown Throwdown last night under a hot sun and lots of water. Check HERE for details!

I talked with the manager of the Horseshoe Bend Power plant tonight and he said they are going to deflate the bladder dam Friday morning. This means that the gutter is not surfable and the bladder wave will
NOT be in. He was not sure when they would re inflate the dam on Friday afternoon and said it could be down for several days. Here is a link to their page with info on deflation schedules Go to the bottom of the page! :

http://www.innergex.com/en/energie/02-10-05-horseshoebend-recrea_e.html

As of about midnight this is how it reads :

“Very high flow conditions are predicted for the Payette River for the
next days. In order to prevent the plant structure from being sanded
up the hydroelectric plant operation will be momentarily stopped.

Please note that the Rubber Dam of the HBHC power plant will be
lowered tomorrow May16th, 2008 and could be down for the next couple
days. Most of the river water will flow in the main river channel
over the deflated rubber dam.”

Keep an eye on the Horseshoe Bend Gauge and watch for it to hit about 8.500cfs. At that point they start messing with the dam. Sometime it will be down completely and this floods the gutter and nothing is surfable. Go HERE and check the bottom of the page for scheduled deflations. In the past here is what the power company has done when the level hits around 8,500:

1. They drop the bladder all the way in the early mornings - nothing good for boating
2. At about noon they bring it into ‘Cascade Mode’ which is about 1/2 pressure. If the bubble forms in the middle as it usually does BINGO - Bladder Wave

Right now the forecast for Boise is low to mid 90’s for the weekend and the river will be shooting up. Here is the current river forecast for Horseshoe Bend

Throwdown tomorrow - May 15th is the 2nd Boise Hometown Throwdown sponsored by Mion, RedBull, Jackson Kayak, Kayak Sessions, IR, Smith and AW. Prizes awarded for participation NOT scores It’s all about fun! 5:30pm is when it all kicks off. Hope to see you there!

River Revival Paddling Party: Teams set to square off for annual spectator-friendly river running event.

Natalie Bartley - Idaho Statesman - Edition Date: 05/12/08

Source is HERE!

Wow, the kids from Boise looked right at home in Reno this weekend! Hats off to Scott Wootten who did a fantastic job prepping these guys during the last 6 weeks! Here are the results from the events they competed in - IRK kids in bold:

Freestyle
Juniors
1. Kyle Hull
2. Seth Stoenner
3. Alec Voorhees

Boater-X
Juniors
1. Jonathan Shales
2 . Jason Craig
3. Connor McLeod - and HERE is a pic of Connor gearing up

Michael Hayes had his picture on the front page of the Reno news paper and I know Ethan McLeod got special mention as well as others.

Check out coverage here:
    Category: Boise, News, Western_US | No Comments