Sweet video Craig Kleckner just put together from the Dries of the New and Manns Creek!
02
May
01
May
Southeast Mini-Vaca
Its safe to say that the last week has been my best week of kayaking in the southeast to date. My schedule was lucky enough to combine with one of the biggest rain events of the year, and a primed water table, making for a great week to go kayaking.
The week started out with Tyler Mayo, Matt redmond and myself going to Smokey mtn National park the day after the big rain. Finding West prong way to high, we continued to the other side of the park to a juicy Ramsay prong. This was classic smokies continous boulder gardens the whole way into the Greenbriar river, which we ran down to the bridge.
The next day, we got up and ran the nantahala cascades with my brother Ben (thanks to dad for shuttle!), and then met up with Colin Hunt and Lauren Garber for upper Big creek, more smokies goodness! We then headed back to Boone for school monday.
On the way back to Boone, I got on the phone with Mark Taylor and saw that the Linville was looking like it would be good the next day. This is a run I have been trying to get on ever since I moved to Boone last year, so I was stoked to finally get the opportunity to run it. It lived up to every expectation and more, as the pinnacle of wilderness class V kayaking in the southeast. Thanks to Mike Patterson and Duane Gibson for showing me the lines, and check out Mikes post about the Linville gorge a few posts down!
Wisemans View overlook of Linville Gorge
After the Linville, I was planning on taking the day off from kayaking, as it has been a full on 3 days. Somehow though, I was talked into dawn patroling the watauga before my classes tuesday. So up at 6 am and were off. Planning on takign a nap after class, I again was roped into playboating the watauga that evening as well. I must say it was worth it though, watauga is a classic.
Wednesday involved running some class II for my kayaking PE class, but thursday brought on the goods again. Talking with Colin Hunt and Jay Mahan, we decided that The Raven Fork would be a good option for thursday, So I rallied that way in the morning, and also getting Chan Jones in on the mission. We arrived to find it on the low side of good and had a great day.
Jay and I were itching to do some more kayaking on friday, so we hit up the North Fork of the French Broad and got a few laps. On the way back to Cullowhee, we drove past the turn for Courthouse falls, and I decided to go take a look since we had time to kill. After hiking in and scouting it looked good, so I returned to the car for my boat and fired her up twice.
Jerry’s Baddle on saturday brought an end to my epic week of southeastern boating. I did not race, but paddled in to cheer everyone else on, and had a great day on some warm weather green river for the first time since the Green race in november.
A week of kayaking in the southeast like this is uncommon, it reminded me of being out west and there being options of what to paddle everyday. A cooperative schedule and a rain event in the spring makes the southeast as good as anywhere in the world! Thanks to Colin Hunt, Shannon Christy, Tyler Mayo, Mackenzie Ridnour, Mark Taylor, Jay Mahan, Matt Redmond for the photos.
Cheers
-Â Clay
27
Apr
Kayak cross – Kamenice, Labe
I started new seson with two kayak cross in Czech republic.
After winter we don´t have so much water in the rivers. But we had two competition, where the water flows from dam.
The firts one was Kamenice. I was on the second place in my category. We paddleed upper Kamenice too. It was cool and nice part of the river.
23
Apr
Boquet Goodies
This past weekend myself and three other friends packed in a large “sex-terra” for a multi-day trip up North to find some new runs that we’ve never paddled. We left Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Wednesday night and had our hearts set on John’s Brook in New York but when we arrived the next morning it was too low. Fortunately, the Boquet was only a quick drive away and it had some decent water so we decided to fire it up. Here are some photos Art Barket shot of me running the first rapid.
The Karnali was the perfect boat for this run and although it took me a little bit to get used to its softer edges, I eventually found it to be just as stable as the Burn and even faster. If you have the chance to demo the boat, then give it a try! I think you will be surprised how much fun it can be . . .
Check out some more photos from the run of the Karnali in action –
Stay tuned for more updates at River Left Productions.
21
Apr
Lee Valley
Lee valley White Water course is the official white water course  for the 2012 Olympics, The other day a few of us were lucky enough to paddle it.
Living in Warrington, it is not the closest place to go paddling so I should first say a big thank you to Diane Williams (Jonny william’s mum) for driving us up there.
As you step out of the car and walk closer to the centre the slight smell of chlorine hits you and you’re mind floods back to painful incidents on swimming pool slides – or at least mine does anyway. The centre certainly looks the part, I must confess however that once I saw the white water course, I completely forgot about the centre and all of its facilities.
The Legacy Pool – The legacy pool is the tamer one of the courses, It is ideal for kayakers that do not want to tackle the Olympic course. It is short and fast and caters for all types of white water kayakers, those looking to practice there eddy hopping skills will be pleased with the abundant amount of eddies to choice from as they negotiate there way through a series of wave trains and holes. The play boaters will also not be disappointed with Two main play holes and some slightly smaller features to play on. The holes are fairly deep and all the play boating moves were being hit in at least the main two holes, however be aware that this is not the inlet gate and if you plug really hard for a move in the wrong place you will hit the bottom. After a great days paddling on the legacy pool, a few of use got the chance to paddle on the Olympic course.
The Olympic course – As you are taken up the escalator, you suddenly realise this is a much bigger escalator compared to the legacy pool, what was probably a maximum of 10 seconds seemed to take forever as we eagerly awaited to try the Olympic course out. The elevator gently spits you out into the flat water pool above the main course, and a well furnished balcony sits beside you allowing spectators to watch as you descend down the course. The water picks up speed and gradient as you exit the flat water pool and you are fired down into the first feature, a small but very fast green wave, this wave is fairly shallow but allows you to pick up a bit of air as you throw you’re moves, the eddy for this wave is small and hard to make after flushing of the wave but not to worry as the next feature is immediately behind you, this was a small powerful hole that proved to be fairly deep, the white water course continues on in this way with one great feature after the other until you reach what is a surprisingly large horizon line for a white water course. The water here drops a few foot into a large but friendly hole, with shoulders on both sides allowing moves to be thrown and an easy exit form the hole.
The end of the course gets nearer but it doesn’t stop providing us with these fantastic features  up until the very end where it mellows out into a large flat water lake.
The escalator is a small flat water paddle away which allows you to catch you’re breath as you prepare for you’re next run. We managed two runs, playing in every feature on the way down, in half an hour, This is not only the best white water course i have ever paddled on but also the best 300M of river I have ever paddled.
A huge thank you to Matt, Mike and Becky  from the Youth Freestyle series for organising this day, Aaron from Square rock for providing the dynamic duos and all the carnage that ensued, and to all of the guys at the centre for allowing us to paddle there !
The photos below were taken by Dale Mears, you can check his blog out here : http://worldkayakblogs.com/dalemears/ Thanks for reading,
See you on the water
Bren
20
Apr
Uganda
Here are some photos from our trip to Uganda. We stayed there for over three weeks and hat an amazing time paddling there. We got the chance to paddle Silverback before it got closed completely.
For the flight we took everything out of our boats that they were not to heavy because my friend had to take both Molans with him. It was very easy to do this and put everything back together.
We paddled the day one and the day two section with Bujagali, the backchannelsKhalagala and Itanda. We also stayed on the Hairy Lemon camp for a while where we had nice sessions on the famous Nile Special and the great Club Wave.Great time, nice People, awesome Boat!
The boat after the flight.
Myself making ready for a deep dive at the bottom of Khalagala Falls.
In the middle of Itanda
Enjoying Club Wave
Getting ready for the final hole in Bujagali Falls.
18
Apr
Here’s the come back with the Karnali for 2011!
Here’s the come back with the Karnali for 2011!
It’s been great to paddle with it for the last season. I went in the south mountains, the Pyrenees in France with my friend Flo Duval. The river here is the Gavarnie, were the water is so blue. The Karnali I’m paddling with is the large one, fast and easy to stay on course. You easily get speed up for boofing drops.
The Karnali gets big high even in small drops.
In the rapids, the boat is fast when you want to go fast, but you can easily turn your direction is necessary.
I love paddling this boat, the speed is great and the large volume gets you up on the water.
It was a good first session in Gavarnie last week, and it’s only the beginning for 2011! Welcome spring!
Thanks to Pierre Prevost for the Pictures.
16
Apr
Sölk-river gorge / Styria (Austria)
Very challenging run on the lower gorge. Last year very heavy rainfalls destroyed the whole upper valley. Only the lower gorge was ok, so far. The problem was, that we dont knew if there would be a lot of trees in this big gorge..
the best thing is that you cannot exit the gorge !
Myself at the beginning
Kristin Schernthaner in the “Marmor-slide”
Heres a short video of the run, at the beginning youc an see the upper part of the valley !
enjoi !!
cheers Robert
14
Apr
Top Tips for working in Chile.
After doing 2 seasons living and working in Chile and seeing the popularity of the place increase dramatically for paddlers, I thought I would write a helpful blog for all those hoping to go out there and do the same. So here are my top  tips for working as a safety kayaker/raft guide in Pucon, Chile.
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13
Apr
Spring Training Update
Hello all! Â My name is Hannah Kertesz. Â I’m 17 years old, live in Salt Lake City, UT, and I’m graduating high school this May. Â I love kayaking and I have huge plans for this upcoming kayaking season and I thought I’d share what I’m doing to get ready…
Last summer, I competed in the USA freestyle team trials in Missoula, Montana and I earned a spot on the Junior girls’ team.  This means I get the opportunity to compete in the World Freestyle Championships this coming June in Plattling, Germany. Visit http://www.icf-freestyle.de/ for more information about the competition.
In preparation for worlds, I’ve been working out before and after school, getting in the pool with my Molan, and driving to whitewater parks (mainly Reno, NV and Green River, WY). Â The rivers are starting to run and things are starting to move fast for me. Â Beginning at the end of April, I’ll be on the road going to competitions all over the West. Â For now, I’m stuck at the gym and in the pool.
Pictures of comps coming soon!