Hi welcome to our Blog,  my name is Marco Colella. I’m getting  ready for the 2010 paddling season and I’m  happy to announce that I will be working with World kayak to promote my local area as well as introducing new people to the sport, especially little ones I’m the proud father of a 4 year old and looking forward at getting him  started.

I Started paddling back in the late 80’s around Montreal Canada I tried it once and was instantly hook bought a Dancer and started getting on the water with Phil McKaw on the rouge river, during the next few years paddling dictated my life.

When winter came I move to Costa Rica, when that got old I moved to West Virginia that’s where I met folks like Clay Wright, BJ Johnson, and a bunch more. Those  guy’s can really paddle. I honestly owe them my life if it wasn’t’ for them tolerating me being on their six o clock I never would have made it out of WV alive, years went by and boats started changing eventually i got into a RPM and ended up at the Ottawa rodeo.

I went along with team Pyrahnha who was preparing for the 1998 worlds. You can’t imagine my surprise when I paddle well enough to qualify for the Canadian team, furthermore a guy named Chris Spellius who was standing on shore in his speedo came up to me and ask me if I wanted to paddle for Dagger, back in those days being a pro paddler meant a few t-shirt’s and cheap boats. I was on cloud 9  Imagine how happy I was to go back to the new river  in WV to continue video boating and being a team paddler, you really need to understand that this was when every scum bag boater out there was being told that Kayaking was going to be bigger then Snow boarding. We all jumped on board and stated getting ready for the Olympics with that in mind I went to the animas river rodeo my first rodeo, and I came in first mostly because of doing Screw ups learned from Phil Coleman the one and only, I just Won I just beat all the big guy’s ( Clay and BJ skipped town to go Creeking )I just beat Eric Jackson, after that things started  happening pretty fast I got to drive one of those cool Subaru’s from Dagger I became friends with team Dagger who included guy’s like Mark Lyle, Jay Kincaid, Keith Lyles, Pablo Perez, and a bunch more    I went to Japan and became the Japanese national Champion, I got to paddle in Chile all expenses paid , I got to meet a 19 year old paddler named Tao Berman and paddled quite a few runs with him, and then I got to be in a movie  called Twitch. We were all going to be millionaires all the  boat company’s got bought up by big outdoor company’s that trade their stocks it was really taking off.

Then it slowed down a all bunch maybe because a few people died including three close friends of mine as well as a bunch more, I was really close to those 3.  And their sudden death reminded me of how unforgiving Mother Nature could be, or maybe it’s just that white water kayaking is more fit for oddball individuals. Anyway the industry really slowed down and reality set in. These days if you want to make money at Kayaking you better be an amazing business man as well as being willing to huck yourself off 100 + feet waterfalls even that might not be enough who Knows and tell you the thrught who cares. I Paddle because that’s what I do My closest friends are paddlers and paddlers world wide have always welcomed me. I still get out everyday the water is running Skiing,Mtn biking, Crossfiting, dirt bike riding, and everything else is just something I do till I can go creeking again.

Recently I have given up my aviation carreer so I can have more time with my family, and help around my wife’s and I ‘New Crossfit box : www.crossfitcashmere.com  check it out next time your surfing Granny’s. I also help Chris and Andrea with a new outfit specialized in Boating in Ecuador they really offer something different please take a minute and explore their site.   www.endlessadventureinternational.com  ( btw we can take you anywhere in the world)

I chose the Wenatchee area because the paddling is sick but there is also opportunity here to have a balance life, I want to be in a place where I can spend time introducing my Son to all the wonderful things life as to offer including Paddling.

living on the east side of the cascades gives us plenty of water and it comes with sun we are able to grow big gardens and enjoy amazing surroundings, We get to enjoy 4 distinct season’s and that’s a wonderful thing. finally I get 5 months off every year so I can heal up and travel to Ecuador  my one day retirement place.

Jean-Luc Robichaux living here on the banks of the Wenatchee River.  I have a four-year-old Daughter named Satori, soon to have a little boy and I couldn’t have done it without my wife Jennifer.  We moved to this area to raise a family, paddle the Wenatchee, play in the snow, and enjoy the sunshine.

I started kayaking at the turn of the century.  I’ve been around boats and the water since I was born.  The first ten years were spent on my parents’ sailboat every weekend and vacation.  So, water has been an important part of my life in one form or another.  Right out of High school I discovered snowboarding and that’s all I wanted to do.  I found a job working swing shifts at a kayak manufacturing facility every morning in the winter I would check the snow, pack up my gear, drive to Mt. Baker ski area, ride all morning then go to work.  Then in the summer mountain bike and paddle in the lakes and Bellingham bay.  After four years I met an interesting man named Spike.  He had a conversation about to different sports but during that conversation it sounded like we were talking about the same thing.  I would talk about picking a line down the mountain and he would talk about pick a line down a river or making a section on a wave in the ocean.  My interest had peak.  This kayaking thing sounded pretty cool.  A week later, I found myself buying a kayak and all the gear I needed to paddle down the river.  I hadn’t even tried it yet but, there was a few other guys at work getting into it so, I was going for it.  I learned to roll right away and the next weekend we were off to the river.

A few years went by and I found myself apprenticing to be a kayak designer.  While everyone went on trips every weekend I would go to work to learn more about design.  It didn’t matter what aspect of kayaking it was white-water, surf, sea kayaking or sit-on-tops.  It was the dream job, building boats, experimenting with far out concepts; many of which never went anywhere.  I met Billy Harris and Tiffany Manchester when we started developing the Chronic and the Vibe.  Freestyle kayaking seemed to be taking off however the boat sales didn’t reflect.  In 2006, I resigned because the whitewater program was dying.  It was like having a family member on life support and knowing they weren’t going to make it.

Now I am a family man looking to the future and from where I am standing its my children and how they will get to participate in this incredible sport. I still enjoy designing boats in my garage that I think are interesting and different.  I enjoy instructing for Leavenworth Mtn Sports and getting new people into the sport.  In the winter its time for cross country skiing and my new found passion is training at Crossfit Cashmere.

So, if you are in town and need some beta on where to go or would like to get your family started in kayaking stop by Leavenworth Mtn Sports.

Please feel free to give us a call and we will gladly show you around our rivers and area  and, tell you more BS stories about our lives. And if we can’t cause of time or what ever we can at least point you in the right direction.

Marco 509-699-0413           Jean Luc 360-319-2865