The South East has long been known as a powerhouse in creekboating. I have sculpted my skills on the many amazing creeks within the S.E. watersheds but three stick out to me as being the best our area has to offer. The Bear on Lookout Mountain in Georgia, The Raven Fork in the Cherokee National Forest, and The Toxaway in The…

“Flow” is a state of mind – achieved when athletes feel completely engaged in their performance, lose their perception of time, concentrate on the moment (without distraction or dilution), and, perform at extremely high levels.

Essentially, these are the moments in sport that we as athletes, coaches, and…

This one is a gem from back in 2009 - "Shoot Me In The Face With A 9mm" - photo by Ryan Allen - A lapse in time while searching for the Truth via a 20 footer into a cave!

All of us have found the gift of paddling through different avenues. Some of us were shown the light by our parents while…

Team River Runner is an amazing organization that Dagger and Wave Sport both support, and that I've been proud to be a part of for almost 8…

I have been traveling all summer and have visited some amazing river valleys!  I have had a blast and feel uber strong in my kayak right now.  Half way through my travels, dubbed the Truth Tour, I picked up my good Kiwi buddy Jordy Searle. Our story has been fun to tell wherever we have visited as a Tennessee…

My favorite part of kayaking is it's amazing freedom to seemingly take you to every corner of our beautiful planet.  By packing my Nomad for a multi-day expedition and setting off into the wilderness I feel like I am touching…

From the first Radical Play Machine to the next, introducing the Dagger Jitsu!

I am truly honored to be able to write my impressions of the soon to be available Dagger Jitsu, our newest freestyle project!  It's been a little while I know but that wait will be well worth it.  This boat has…

It has been a pleasure to be involved in the testing of the new Dagger freestyle boat.

This boat represents a true collective team effort, fearlessly led by the Dagger in-house designer, Mark (Snowy) Robertson.  Snowy started this project by interviewing the whole Dagger team to see what it is that that they want in their dream freestyle boat.  Somehow, he aggregated all of this information and began design on the boat around several core…

The North Fork of the Payette hosted one of the sickest extreme races that the sport has ever seen this past weekend!  After a qualifying event on the Lower 5 section of the river, the Giant Slalom Race got underway on Jacob's Ladder and Golfcourse, a 1/2 mile section of Class V that is absolutely unrelenting in its fury.

Paddlers took turns launching off of the Red Bull ramp, and remote control helicopters buzzed overhead with cameras on them.  It was an incredible experience, and I…

I can't think of a weekend this whole year where I didn't go on some sort of adventure, from back country skiing in the Northern Cascades to kayaking trips across the Pacific Northwest. I know it's a bit late, but here's a post from a few weekends ago.

I have had the pleasure of paddling my new redesigned Mamba 8.6 over the past few days, and I have to say that this boat is blowing my mind!  I never thought that I would say this, but it may replace my Nomad 8.5 as the primary creekboat. 

Warming up for the Teva Mountain Games Homestake Creek Race!…

With news of all of the rivers in the Columbia River Gorge flooding, Olin Wimberg, Eric Parker and I drove to the gorge for a weekend of high water paddling and a much needed break from school. When I arrived home, there was a new Dagger Mamba 8.6 waiting for me, as well as a box from Bomber Gear. Eager to test out the new equipment, I headed to one of my favorite runs in the world-- the Little White Salmon River in Washington state.

The Little White was running…

Undoubtedly the most action-packed winter of my life, I'm still trying to slow everything down and get a breath of fresh air. From tall drops and flooding rivers to fresh powder and big lines on the mountain, this has been on of the most memorable winters of my life.…

It's been a solid 10 days of kayaking here in Cosa Rica the land of sunshine and amazing rivers.  While there are numerous opportunities to paddle all over the country my favorite run so far has been the Rio Pacuare.  The Pacuare has  a long history of kayaking and rafting in Costa Rica with some of the first companies setting up operations in the early 80's.  After spending several days running all the sections I can see why.  First off the Pacuare has an amazing amount of whitewater that…

Although it really doesn't feel like it most days here in the southeast we've officially reached Winter.  Winter brings a lot of good things but it can often be a hard time to motivate to go kayaking.  After all snow, sleet, winter mix, or rain when its 35 degrees don't really scream "let's go get wet".  However if I can get past that some of the best days I've had on the river have been in the Winter.  For me it really brings a different feel, it's often super quite and less crowded.  Often…

Green Race!  My most anticipated race is right around the corner, first racer at high noon this Saturday.  The runs are in, the attainments done, the smack is being laid down, bets made, the list of what surrounds this race goes on and on. This year is a special one for me as its my first one back on my road to recovering from a herniated disc.  It's been super fun to be a part of everything again and I can't wait to fire out of that start gate.  But that's Saturday and this is…

I woke up Saturday morning to my phone ringing and a groggy ten second conversation. “We’re going to Skook, I’ll pick you up in a half hour,” said a voice that I couldn’t quite put a face to. I knew it had to be one of the young local Bellingham paddlers and without thinking replied, “I’m in, see you in thirty.” Impulse decisions have always led to the most exciting adventures of my life and I knew this weekend was going to be one to remember. On Friday, my plans to fly to the Homathko River…

The summer of 2011 has treated both coasts to epic storms and unheard of amounts of water. The Pacific Northwest hasn’t experienced any dramatic flooding, but any local paddler knows that it has been a great year for boating. My favorite local runs including the White Salmon, Cispus, and Lewis River have all kept stable flows late into the summer and still have healthy amounts of water. 

The highlight of my summer has undoubtedly been the significant amount of time I’ve been able to…

I put this blog post up few weeks back about an intense run in Southwestern BC, Fear Canyon of the Elaho.  Here is the video of my first run down the river...

I have to say that the Nomad 8.5 is definitely my happy place for large volume…