World Kayak Event Coverage

Ok, Day 1 on the Truckee River in downtown Reno saw my first tour of the river from both a playboating and whitewater development stand point… this is an amazing class II river run with top of the line play spots… two standing out (#3 and #5), both are shallow holes with great retention. Both allowing playboaters all the moves holes can provide. Day 1 was the Open class competitions for JRs, Womens and Mens. The top 3 were allowed to move on to compete with the Pros in Day 2’s packed competitive schedule.

The JRs were up first. Reno and neighbouring states, especially Boise. The end result was an amazing new breed of local boaters from all over the west coast… all these kids officially branded the “look out for these kids” kids. The heats were highlighted by a good many ongoing scenarios… sibling between the McCloud brothers, with both Ethan and Connor joining the exciting heat with Tanner Griffen, Asheen McCloud, Trevor Lemay, Kyle Holms, And Seth S… with the close battle that ensued between Asheen, Kyle and Seth all went through to the pro rounds tomorrow… brining the crowd the full glossary of moves… McNasty, Loops Airwheels, cartwheels and Airloops and much more. These kids rock…. the fun factor was even more enhanced for them as the entire town seemed to be there looking on. The venue sits right in the core of a busy core and in the thousands were watching this weekday event. All stayed in the hole for full rides… with very few flushes and all action. I came quickly to the conclusion that freestyle is NO LONGER about CARTWHEELS. With the combination of the higher pointed hole moves (Phonix Monkey, McNasty etc.) and the variety rules, this is no longer a dull stare at right side ends. Starting with the Juniors, the day began.

The Women had only two competitors in the Open division. Both moved on to the next day of competition. Both EC-squared’s made it automatically through to the pro rounds tomorrow, but put on a show anyways. Nice job ladies!

The men’s Open competition featured 15 boaters from all over, many from Reno proper. KB and Luke chimed in as the Montuckey duo to be reconned with… sporting black and kickin butt! With this park in place in the center of town, the potential for development in whitewater was immediately apparent in the performance of this group of lads. Local favorites Colin Kemp (GO World KAYAK!) and Scott Sadey lead the pack with some awesome flurries of continuous advanced moves to set the tone. But the story of the day was my new paddling pal, KB with his trademarked black getup and pipes of steel. KB threw for all its worth and landed himself in second place with his ambidextrous Phonix Monkeys, loops and airwheels. Team Piranha was on the move as well with a good showing at the hole with Jeremy Louse showing off his entry moves and ends. Dave Fusilli, again in a Piranha playboat, stole the day with his big point moves to put himself into first place on the day.

1 – Dave Fusilli
2 – KB
3 – Scott Sadey
4 – Colin Kemp
5 - Jeremy Louse
6 - Lane Jacobs

Night time closed the day off with the Reno premier of Hotel Charley – The Lost World. Jesse Combs and clan hosted a great evening of sports bar glory with all screens filled with one of the most adventure filled kayak film I’ve seen. The night was filled with great micro brew, lots of industry chatter and meeting folks I’ve always looked forwards to meeting.

The day ended with myself and Colin completing my southern skills with a couple of hours in the desert shooting tin cans. Colin, you da man…

[Show as slideshow]