Nick Troutman wants to be the U.S. National Champion. There is only one problem with that; he’s not from the United States. However he is currently holding the second position in the Blue Paddle FIBArk Freestyle that is doubling as the U.S. National Championships.

After Day 1 of freestyle action we narrowed the Men’s field of competitors from 60 competitors down to 30, a huge cut. The Women’s and C-1 did not field enough competitors so they automatically advance on to tomorrow. The Men’s competitors consisted of Expert, Junior and Pro classes. Yours truly will be moving on to semi’s for Men’s Expert on Sunday!

It managed to be a beautiful day in Salida, much to the reprieve of spectators and competitors from the past couple of days. And they are calling for better weather tomorrow, or as Hobie calls it, “the official first day of bikini weather in Salida.” We saw an interesting cat and mouse debacle between the emcees trying to keep training slalom boaters from entering the competition area. The slalom boaters were almost saying, “make me.”

There are many more activities to come over the next few days and the National Championships continue tomorrow with the Men’s and Women’s Pro semi’s and finals. I personally am looking forward to the Hooligan Race, which I still have no clear idea of what it is. All I know is that the emcees when plugging the event said they have an emergency action plan in place if something were to go awry. Event listings and descriptions can be found here.

Men’s Junior Results - Top 10 Advance
1.Jonathan Shales
2.Jason Craig
3.Dane Jackson
4.Michael Palmer
5.Kyle Hull
6.Seth Stoenner
7.Jonas Cochran
8.Eli Spiegel
9.Isaac Holden
10.Kincaid Wurl
11.Rogan Brown
12.Tommy Hehnen
13.Alex Dunn
14.Davis Benfield
15.Ben Dann
16.Simon Holden
17.Ossian MacDonald
18.Tear Frazier
19.Jordan Poffenberger

Expert Men - Top 10 Advance

1.Daniel Stewart
2.Dustin Stoenner
3.Phil Nyland
4.King Carson
5.Sam Fullbright
6.Michael Patterson
7.Steve Bailey
8.Tommy Yon
9.Biron Horan
10.Chris Wing
11.Darin kellum
12.Horace Holden
13.Daniel Abraham
14.Roy Lippman
15.Matthew West
16.P.T. Wood
17.Tyler Newton
18.Steve Holmes
19.Matt Anger
20.Chris Lee

Pro-Men - Top 10 Advance

1.Stephen Wright
2.Nick Troutman
3.Eric Jackson
4.Clay Wright
5.Dustin Urban
6.Jed Selby
7.Andrew Holcombe
8.Alex Mohn
9.Kelsey Thompson
10.Bryan Kirk
11.Greg Parker
12.Jon Meyers
13.Corey Volt
14.David Spiegel
15.Eric Bissel
16.Jud Kesier
17.Jake Greenbaum
18.Dan Rubado
19.Leif Anderson
20.Tino Specht
21.Billy Malesky
22.Dave Fusilli
23.Jared Seiler
24.Grahm Seiler (Demshitz)
25.Kyle Scarbrough
26.Brian Jennings
27.Matt Fithian
28.Joe Potoczak
29.Jeremy Laucks
30.Chad Hixon

[Show as slideshow]

Check out the video