End of the year Video - Goodbye 2013

2013 was an incredible boating season!

We had a video contest here in Seattle last week so it gave me an opportunity to pour some energy into organizing all the footage from this past boating season.

Beater Sessions Vol. 2 is a video about the kayaking culture in Seattle WA. It's an end of the year video like any other: lots of clips, marginal boofs, and beer crushing all set to a dubstep background. But to me at least, this is different. This 9 and a half minute montage of 2013 is edited to show all of the moments that are burned into the back of my head. The music in this video is the same music I crank up in the background at home while i sort through countless video files on my hard drive. This is how I see the 2013 season in my mind.






Thanks for watching!

The First Annual Seattle Amateur Video Contest

...as far as we know.

I haven't been boating much and I was in need of some serious visual stimulation but I had long past burned through my Vimeo Feed and my YouTube "suggestions".

So I hatched an idea: Put on a video contest and let all my friends make boating videos for me to watch.

It worked.

The First Seattle Boating Video Contest was set to go off on Friday the 13th. Brian Boeck is a paddler and a small bar proprietor. He agreed to let the Seattle kayak scene take over his bar TAB's for a night full of moves to be remembered and moments to be ashamed of..

 We had 10 entries and 7 micro brews on tap at the bar. Life was looking good at this point.

The First entry was from Jeremy Bisson, who actually didn't enter the contest, but rather made the mistake of sending me a sick video while I was making the night's playlist.

Casa De Cueso shows the first couple of trips that Jeremy has been getting on while he starts his Ecuadorian adventure.





Next up is a super sweet video from Megan Kelly, who takes us around Washington and down to Oregon.  Megan tied for first place with Ellie Wheat and they split two cases of Silver City beer for their hard work.





Then there's Joe Howard's entry. This is a great edit showing some super sick lines in Ernies Gorge. Jacuzzi was a rapid of ill repute until Joe and Mike Nash tamed the beast, now its an everyday thing (if you're those two). Check out some of the best Ernie's footage I've ever seen.





Do you like to see people swim? Me too. Scott Waidelich and Ellie Wheat teamed up to give us this testament to carping rolls and swimming holes.




Matt Kurle is one of the reasons I edit video. His videos get me so pumped up I usually can't watch them during the workweek. It's like giving a little kid caffeine and a water bottle right before a 10 hour plane ride. Bad call. Matt's video is about a typical weekend in Washington. Creeks, Playboating and Beers are to be had. Sit back and watch The Weekend.





Adrian Wigston is a good friend of mine. He recently decided on a rather large career move; quiting the 9-5 grind and going in search of the endless summer. Watch as Adrian travels from Washington to El Salvador in style. Adrian surfs and boofs like a boss in this cool travel montage.





Ellie Wheat is kind of a big deal. She's a total bad-ass boater, she puts up with a kayaker boyfriend and his kayaker friends and is an all around great person. Act Like a Lady comes out strong with a video showcasing side-boob and dangerous women taking tough lines. This video tied for first place with Megan's video.





I only recently met the Lonly crew up in Leavenworth. These guys show us the meaning of life-styling in this homage to the backyard run and spending your time with the people that count.





Scott Waidelich gives us a glimpse into the paradise that is Chile. He and Chris Totten took an extended trip down South to get some warm water and intestinal parasites. Scott shows us the goods right here:





Last but not least is my entry. This is a little under 10 minutes of what I feel are the moments that exemplify this year's boating season. There are huge lines and good times with some music that will make your ears bleed. Theres also swimming and horses. What could be better? I'm always so stoked when I look back at the end of a great year spent on the water. I get to watch some of the coolest people I've met, run stuff that scares the daylights out of me.

Watch my friends absolutely crush their lines in Beater Sessions Vol. 2 - Lloyds, Llamas and Lust.





Heres to all the people that came out to support the night. THANK YOU!!

Cheers

Sick Friends in Sick Places

I was able to meet up with a couple of these guys on different trips this past 2013 season.

Richard Young showed me the lines down Cherry Creek proper and I was able to get a Grand Canyon Elwha lap with Matt Taylor. Both solid dudes and a pleasure to boat with.

Matt put together a great video from their trip to Nepal



Nepal Trip 2012 from Matt Taylor on Vimeo.

Jefferson Creek - takeout visual

Now that we are down to just one gauge for judging flow in Jefferson Creek, visuals are another option for out of towner's.

Jefferson creek takeout bridge (looking downstream).

This was the low side of good. Level in the North Fork of the Skokomish was: 928 cfs at 2:00 PM on 10/2 falling 26 cfs/hr

NF SKOKOMISH R BL STAIRCASE RPDS NR HOODSPORT, WA

This was the Hamma Hamma River, looking upstream from the forest service bridge before you get to Jefferson Creek.

Video - Ernie's Gorge

Help save Ernie's Gorge from a hydro diversion project.

Join AW and let them fight the good fight for us. Check out the North Fork of the Snoqualmie river page on the AW website for more info on how and why you should be concerned about this peoject.

Stay Stoked. Stay Safe.

Video - 4Th of July Gnarfest

Over the 4th of July weekend, Joe Howard and I did a little bit of roadtripping. We drove down to the South side of Mt. Rainier for the Clear Fork of the Cowlitz. It was a bit low, but super fun. Then we grabbed a quick lap on the Ohanapecosh. From there it was a 3.5 hours of driving but North to Icicle Creek for probably the last laps of the season. Then we topped the weekend off with a handful of Tumwater laps. A great weekend was had.

Video - CARNAGE!

Carnage is a way of life when you're  a weekend warrior.

Yeah, you rememeber the basics when Saturday morning rolls around, maybe even some of that extra knowledge that keeps you a  little more on line.

But here's to all those missed lines, pluged holes and botched boofs. Here's to the best way to drink a nice cold beer; straight out of your own shoe.

Enjoy



Remember to always have a throwbag and stay safe.

Video - Robe Race 2013

Here is a quick and DIRTY video of the beaterfest that was Robe Race.

Level is around 5.9 and the stoke was high.




Stay safe!

2013 Little White Race

LDuB Race - 2013

 

So, with a Cali mission looming, Scott and I decided that the best way to prepare for our impending bar-fight of a hike/boating excursion was to head down to the Little White Salmon and watch the race.



I heard about the Little White Race last year and I thought it was a pretty cool idea, even if it was a bit above my head. Racing Gettin' Busy sounded awesome, in theory. Then the idea of having to stick a boof at the bottom of Boulder Slouce (when I'm completely gassed) with a crowd screaming for blood crept into the back of my neck and I tucked my tail between my legs. I said maybe next year and cried into by sprayskirt.



Next year is here, and, the course is even tougher now with a giant slalom course below Spirit Falls. So once again, crying into my sprayskirt, I told myself "next year is your year man!" And raised my hand to help with safety.

The Little White race is long: from the top of Gettin' Busy down to the pool below Wishbone Falls. This is no slouch stretch of whitewater. The race organizers also decided to have the option of solo racers. Most creek races in the class V arena are team races with the obvious exception being the NF championship race on Jacob's Ladder.

 

Another glaring example of change in the modern boating community was the inclusion of a slalom course on the run, after the race. Slalom courses have been around for a long time, and there's entire tribes of Latvian youths that have never seen life outside of a slalom course and lashes from Gunther's whip, but I've never seen one like this:





Naturally, the best and questionably brightest showed up on race day to throw down on a slightly cooler but much brighter Sunday than we expected.









As my lines are pretty suspect on this run, I raised my hand to help with safety and was promptly stationed at Sacraledge. With multiple throwbags arranged for Human Fishing, I felt a little less guilty about bringing out the camera for the racers.













I was fortunate to see some of the worlds best kayakers blaze through the bottom of a rapid sequence, that normally leaves me breathless and wide-eyed, without even mouth breathing. Angles on these photos are limited, as I felt I was morally obligated to stay within throwbag range of the cave that was the real beatdown hazard at this river feature.

 
 

 






 Once we got the go ahead, that the last racer was through the course, it was time to head down to Spirit Falls and the Giant Slolom course that was waiting to take some names. As we (Team Safety) where pretty late to the party I opted to head down to my perch above the pool that creates the birthday eddy on river right of Chaos.

My thoughts on the 2013 Little White Salmon Race? That shit was amazing! My hat is off to all the racers and all the support crew members. Huge shout out to World Class, without which, none of this would have taken place.

LDuB Race Results

Down River Team

1. Niceto Yalan Quintana / Michael "Miguel" Shields              17 min
2. Orion Meredith and Niko Peha                                              17 min 7 sec
3. Chris Leach and Matt King                                                    17 min 52 sec
4. Kim Becker and Dave Hoffman                                             18 min 1 sec
5. Dylan McKinney and Clay Lucas                                          18 min 8 sec

Down River Men

1. Evan Garcia                                    15 min 2 sec
2. Gerd Sarrassolses                           15 min 11 sec
3. Louis Geltman                                15 min 12 sec
4. Todd Wells                                      15 min 25 sec
5. Darren Albright                               15 min 50 sec

Down River Women

1. Katrina Van Wijk                             17 min 3 sec
2. Sandra Hyslop                                 17 min 9 sec
3. Nouria Abou-Newman                    17 min 21 sec
4. Nicole Mansfield                             17 min 43 sec
5. Lu Urwin                                         18 min 9 sec

Men’s Slalom

1. Evan Garcia                                      50.59
2. Galen Volckhausen                           50.86
3. Kyle Hull                                          54.22
4. Erik Johnson                                    56.64
5. Rush Sturges                                    57.21

Women’s Slalom

1. Katrina Van Wijk                             1.31.60
2. Nouria Newman                               2.54.77
3. Sandra Hyslop                                  2.56.04

Stay Stoked. Stay Safe.

Robe Race 2013

2013 Robe Race of Champions

The Range Life crew started a race on our local canyon run a few seasons back and every year the competition has gotten tougher and tougher.

The Robe Race is a two person team race from the rapid T2 to the pool below the rapid Mrs. Robinson. This roughly 3.6 mile race covers around 43 rapids (depending on water levels) and one arduous portage over a landslide. The race course forces you to paddle all out, as hard as you can, through 14 class V rapids, 21 Class IV rapids and 9 laid back class III's. The largest hole is also one of the last ledges you run after about a half hour of charging. Always fun to look forward to...

As Spring flows here in Washington can be hard to predict, you have to keep events like this mobile. You can't lock into a specific weekend without running the risk of dooming the event to either high or low water.

The week prior to the race saw river levels all over the place; from the low side of the spectrum in the 5.3 foot range, all the way up to the 6.5 foot range.

There's more than enough beta on Robe Canyon on this blog so I will dispense with any descriptions of the run other than this: Robe Canyon is rewarding but can punish with impunity.




With sun beating down on us, we rolled into the takeout about 45 minutes late. But, as we had the defending Champion Scott Waidelich with us, we did not fall into the normal social constraints pertaining to timely arrivals.

Moods and ambiant temperatures were soaring by the time we consolidated gear, boats and bodies for the short drive up to the putin. The hike down the trail was definitly unique for me. This is a run that I know so well, but I had never raced up to this point.  A lot can happen when you are exerting yourself. A lot can go wrong when you're pushing. A lot can happen when there is an audience eager for carnage and the river has provided a level that is conducive to to hair boating.










Robe was sitting just over 5.9 feet on the online gage. This is a pretty healthy level and not a volume of water to take lightly. At 5.9' the lines get a little bit cleaner, the holes get bigger and the boofs pad out like a sophmore in a sorrorety.

By bigger holes I mean massive holes (for this guy at least).

Irene Nash grabbed a couple of actions shots at the second rapid of the race "Last Sunshine". This is the start of a quarter mile of intense read and run whitewater. A swim here has a high potential for a totaled creekboat.

I think I learned a lot from this race. I learned that my lines are not as clean as I thought they were. I learned that I let go of my paddle a lot. I also learned that I have a lot to work on. But I'm stoked to have been part of the race.



Robe Race 2013 results:

1st Place at 25:41  - Darren Albright & Andrew McEwan 
2nd Place at 27:01 - Scott Waidelich & Ben Hawthorne
3rd Place at 28:37  - Fred Norquist & Eric Parker

The mortals:
4th Christian Knight & Brock Gavery 31:17 (not really mortals, but they pretended)
5th Dan Patrinellis & Jeremy Bisson 34:10
6th Alex Podolak & William Griffith 34:28
7th Leif Embertson & Chris Totten finished
8th Sean/Mike DNF




While it's still being verified; Darren and Andrew set a new course record for time. In 25 minutes and 41 seconds, these two guys charged through 3.6 miles of class V whitewater and completed a grueling quarter mile portage that takes a normal crew and hour and a half to finish on a "fast" lap. Well done.

Jah Bisson came up to race with me and while I feel bad that I killed his time; I had a great time racing with him. We both took helmet cam footage so keep on the lookout for a quick edit in the upcoming weeks.

One of the fun traditions of the Robe Race is the Robe Gnome.



The last place finisher wins the ultimate prize and gets to take this guy around with them throughout the year on their boating adventures. This year Sean Lee and Mike Nash took home a third teammate.






Huge thanks to Leif Embertson out of Bellingham, WA. Leif organized the Robe Race and even brought us cold beer for the takeout. Stand up guy in my books. Massive props to Shauna Hawthorne and Joni Randall for keeping time for all of the racers; this wouldn't have happened without volunteer help.

Until next year!



Many thanks (again) to the volunteers who came out and made this race possible.

Thanky you Irene Nash for grabbing some photos of the race for me.

Its not often that we get photos as good as some of these of our boating escapades. All of the amazing photos on this trip report are curtesy of  yo_tuco from Flickr. You can check out more of his amazing photography on his Flickr account HERE