Training Camp, loops and the Cache le Poudre

Last weekend was the offical kick off for the kayaking season. We have been getting on the water since April, but now the snow is melting, the rivers are flowing and we set out every chance we get to take advantage of it :)

Training Camp was up in Cotopaxi this last weekend. The group I'm a member of Colorado whitewater puts it on. There a bunch of different classes you can take from skills and drills to learning to read water. Last year I was in the mental toughness class this year I volunteered to sweep for where ever they needed someone. The organization and classes are put on by volunteers. Each class would have a lead and a sweep to make sure there's safety and if anything happens like a swim we're there to help.

So the weekend started on Friday, i drove up to Buena Vista with Patty and Alex. Paddlefest happens at the same time as out training camp. Paddle fest is a big event where all the pro kayakers and their teams come out to teach and compete. We took a intro to playboating class with Emily Jackson. Emily is qualifing with her Dad Eric Jackson for the Olympics... she's obviously an excellent kayaker so it was a privleage to take a class from her. Class was great, had a good time, when it was done we headed to the Training camp camp site to get settled in. We rented a cabin for numerous reasons (one being we have the rest of the summer to sleep on the group mine as well make the kick off weekend comfortable). The whole weekend was excellent, great boating, great friends, good times!

This weekend we're heading up to the Cache La Poudre......which is called the Poudre. It's a river up by Ft. Collins and is a lot of fun. We're camping up the in the canyon, leaving today around 5PM. Should be a good time!

Here are a few pictures of the weekend and a little video of my friend Daniel surfing at the Salida play park. Thought you all might find it interesting to see what a really good play boater looks like!






Here are the pictures from Buena Vista on Friday before our playboating session. It's a beautiful view!







Our transportation.....with all our kayaks plus a few 'big boats' for training camp! The car was jam packed with 3 people, 1 beagle, kayak gear, camping gear....I means PACKED!





This is Daniel....doing a loop in his kayak.... some day hopefully very soon I will my very own loop :)

Gettin my SURF ON!

Well....thought it was time to put up a post. Nothing much has been happening really, just working, kayaking, and lounging :) Last weekend a group of us went up to run Deckers. It was at really high water and it was a kick in the pants! 900CFS is REALLY high for this run and it made for some great rapids higher up from the normal put in. We had Daniel with us which he always is willing to teach so he had me surf everything possible all the way down the run. My arms were jello by the end and I loved it!

I'm just learning how to surf in the last few weeks. Golden, Co has a WW play park which is a great place to practice. It's easy to get to (in town) and it runs along side a walking path through the park so you can get out where ever you want. I've been hitting the park every tuesday and thrusday with a group of normally women (sometimes the boys come too) and we surf, get flipped and roll up about a million times. It's great for gaining confidence with a roll and stability in your boat. So here's a video of one of our surf sessions with the ladies. I'm going tonight with the head cam (if the weather holds) so hopefully I'll have some video from a different perspective soon. Enjoy! P.S. I'm in the orange boat and red helmet (with black strip around brim for the head cam).