Missouri Whitewater Championships

The Saint had water! With the gauge reading 6" on Saturday morning, a good crowd turned out despite the grey skies and threats of rain. We even had a full C1W class: Hailey drove down with her family from Wisconsin, and Colleen drove in from North Carolina.

I felt very relaxed at this race. I have been getting nervous before races on larger water, but the Saint feels like my home. I was calm and focused. My first run was wonderful... until I flipped and broke my paddle on a rock!

Although light, carbon fiber paddles are normally able to withstand serious rock abuse. I checked my paddle on a flight to Charlotte earlier this month, however, and I worry it got a little banged up. Either way, I went to do a lightening-quick roll, and suddenly I had two pieces in my hands. I swam out of my boat, laughing.

Fortunately, the MWA takes your best run as your final score, as opposed to combining your times. This meant I was able to borrow a paddle from a friend (thanks, Brian!) and race again with a chance to place. I had a good second run, and ended up with 2nd.



Tomorrow and Sunday, the US Open will be on the Nantahala River. I am excited, but also feeling out of shape as I haven't been in my boat all week! I was in DC for work. This is a very tight course on fast moving water, and will be a huge challenge for me.

Glacier Breaker Video

Video of my most recent race is now posted on my video page.

On this run, I miss several gates and flip over a few times! Fun! Video review is a good tool for me because it shows me what I actually look like on the water. I don't like watching it; I get frustrated because I feel more technically competent than I actually look. But it shows me my obvious weak points. It also shows me where I have improved. Even though I end up upside down on this run, my rolls are fast. There are subtle moments of boat control that I was not able to do last fall -- holding ferry angles with my knees as I rotate, etc.

The US Open is on this same river in just over a week! I have been training hard, and hopefully I will be posting a video with no missed gates and no flipping upside down.

I did this today!

No, this is not a picture of me -- I walked down and snapped it later in the afternoon. But it is a C1 on the same line that I followed successfully through this hole. By the end of the day, I'd run the bottom half of the Charlotte course 6 times. And some of those times I was even in my boat at the end of the channel!

The thing that intimidated me about the bottom drop was not the drop itself, but the random, surging waves and piles above it. I was terrified of flipping here and then scraping over the shallow drop upside down. And so, of course, I did just that. And it wasn't that bad. I bumped, scraped, and banged against concrete, but my helmet and other gear took the blows. I have found that accidentally doing the thing I am most afraid of can be productive. Whether flipping in Tablesaw on the Ocoee, or swimming the Z-route of Cat's Paw on the Saint Francis, I end up thinking "oh, okay, that actually wasn't so bad." Once I get the fear out of my system, I can relax and start learning.

I ended up swimming on 4 out of my 6 runs today. I had trouble hanging on to my paddle in the surging, powerful water. I need to fight for it! I also had trouble waiting. Knowing that I was going to hit the big hole upside down, the self-preservation part of my brain would immediately send my hands to unbuckle my thigh straps. In bigger water, I need to learn to wait.

But on two of my runs, I pulled into the eddy below the drop hooting and hollering. The second time I absolutely nailed the line, and the hole actually gave me free speed as it spat me out. It was an addicting feeling, a taste of what is accessible when you really groove and flow with water.

Even though I swam at the bottom drop, I nailed probably 2 dozen combat rolls this weekend on other parts of the course. Once I even got sucked down and had to fight to get my paddle in the set-up position before I could roll up. A month ago, I would have swam. I know I have many more swims in my future, but my combat roll has become reliable enough that I am willing to start trying risky moves. Until now, I have been in survival mode on the Charlotte course. Now I am ready to start playing.

With Pan Ams and Team Trials only 7 weeks away, I know I will not be totally comfortable on this course by then. I will not be able to make all the eddies they will hang gates in, and running the bottom drop will still feel like rolling the dice. But this weekend it was clear that I can get down the course in one piece.

I paddled with Nic and Colleen today -- two wonderful training partners and peer coaches. They walked alongside the water with me and talked about my plan, and chased my gear when I bailed. I took a gamble randomly showing up in Charlotte with a rental car and a paddle, and it was wonderful to feel welcomed and part of the group. This is a difficult sport to get into, and I really hope that I can give as much to others as they have shared with me.

Video of the approach to the bottom drop is online here.

A kayak just above the bottom drop

The hole below the bottom drop

Looking upstream from the drop

The room of doom! Crazy "eddy"

The comp channel and main building

paddle check

I touched down in foggy Charlotte at 10pm. I ended up checking my paddle. Although the consensus seemed to be paddles were simply carried on before 9/11, I assumed there was no way they would let it through security in the current climate. I wrapped it carefully in three layers of cardboard and handed it over to the ticket agent, fingers crossed that I would see it on the other side.

It made it though just fine. I was so happy to see it slide onto the baggage claim! Both my boat and my paddle are like extensions of my body -- and since I won't be training in my regular boat this weekend, I really wanted to have my own paddle here.

I am excited and nervous about training tomorrow. Whitewater always energizes me, and it will be fun to watch members of the US team practice in the morning before I put on mid-day. But I also need to decide soon if I will be ready to race on the Charlotte course at the end of April (olympic team trials and pan ams). I still have not run the bottom drop, the biggest rapid on the course. I am a little worried I've been building it up to much in my head -- psyching myself out. But I don't really feel afraid of it. Not fear. Just nervous anticipation.

It's very good to be here.