I spent last weekend camping and boating in the Adirondacks. The 'dacks are beautiful, and well known for great whitewater. Beaverfest is Labor Day weekend. The Raquette releases on Saturday and the Beaver runs Sunday. The Raquette is short but sweet. The mile or so of whitewater is nonstop, Class V action. The Beaver is mostly IV+, but the slide above the put in is super burly. A handful of us fired it up. The first shot is me on the Eagle section, a fun series of slides. The 2nd and 3rd pics are from the big put in slide. The last one is Evans from Quebec on the biggest hole in Moshier Falls. Photo credit for Beaver pictures to Kenny Unser.
Last week was the World Championships of Freestyle Kayaking, held in Thun, Switzerland. I had the opportunity to represent the US and compete in not one, but three classes. I ended up finishing 14th in C-1, 3rd in squirt, and first in OC-1, a pretty successful trip. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking:
Thun is beautiful
Thun Castle
Squirtboating in Switzerland. Not the best seam I've ever paddled, but quite possibly the prettiest. Getting a bit of a mystery. I have to say the Peak UK Combi top served me well on this trip. Traveling a quarter of the way around the world with three boats and a mountain of gear is a challenge, and not having to take a long sleeve top for the cooler days was a relief. I got a lot of use out of the removable neoprene sleeves, since some days were downright hot, and others were pretty chilly- like the day of the squirt competition.
C-1 paddling on the Thun Wave. A lot has been said about how the wave was too small for a World Championship, but I really disagree. All the wave moves were possible here if you had the skills, and it's generally just a really fun spot.
Charging in the OC-1 boat. The OC-1 class was my main focus for the event.
Blunting the OC-1
More OC-1 action
The organizers did a great job with this event, turning the area around the wave into a major event site, compete with grandstands, giant TV screen with all the action, beer tent, and thousands of spectators.
Medalists in the OC-1 class.
Here's a quick video I put together with some of the OC-1 Finals rides:
