well im 23 years old...i pretty much grewq up on the water...my father pretty much just throwing me in a raftat the age of fourand taking me down the penobscot...wellall the way up untilnow everything has pretty much been paddle related....i trained for three years straigh to become a national champion in flatwater and whitewater marathon racing..had the privelage to paddle down in costarica wit the family....travelled the us to hit up as many rivers as possible....i have put on demos at local special olympics so the athletes can maybe boeden thier field a little( any never get much luck though, they seem to put my demos at the same time as lunch...oh well im trying). i have completed the wild program great program loved the travell..the mangment and how things are run are a diffrent story...buts thats a personal opinion.i also had the privalage of competing against ej and his son dane....wow they are hard to keep up with.. i placed seventh in my home town hole...not that good of rides for me. i brought this girl kayaking one time first date.so i brought her the the west river in vermon for thier anual festival.i threw her butt into a dopo.duo. and we went down..that was three years ago now i have a beautifull baby girls,and woman i could never replace....some people may call our sport usless.or dumb to the untrained eye...but kayaking,conoeing and rafting have brought me everything in life..so thankyou