There are many fun rapids and waterfalls out there that are not located in the middle of a river run.  Sometimes, you just want to pull the vehicle over, run one drop, and get back in to move on to the next adventure.  While this is extremely fun to do, and is generally how the largest drops in the world are run, many people have trouble with getting themselves in the right mindset and zone for running a park and huck.  It feels strange committing to something challenging with cold muscles…

It has been a pleasure becoming more deeply involved with the Dagger brand as Pro Team Manager this year.  The Team is comprised of individuals who are as talented as they are diverse.  I knew most of them as friends before this transition, but my respect for them has only deepened since I started working with them on a professional level.  I wanted to share a few things that Team Dagger athletes have accomplished in 2012:

Jason Beakes

Jason is doing…

Gauley Fest 2012 was another one for the ages!  

Great times were had by all, and it was a pleasure experiencing the event from my new role of Dagger Pro Team Manager.  I was amazed with the amount of interest in the raffle Green Boat to benefit AW.  People were stoked about the one-of-a-kind Storm color, and it was cool to pull the winning ticket and award Sir Matt Redmond with his new boat.  His buddies carried him off in the boat on their shoulders!

That Sunday I got to…

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 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!…

What up all!

I have had the pleasure to do some touring this spring on behalf of Dagger, and it's been awesome to catch up with old and new friends during the past few weeks!  I have been fortunate to attend the Watauga Race, Tallulah Fest, catch up with a bunch of awesome retailers across the Southeast, visit the NOC Demo Days and Shootout, Clemson University, and Jerry's Baddle.  

I'm psyched about how the spring has gone so far, and I'm fired up for a full summer of touring…

Greetings All!

Well, as the paddling season wraps up, I've been looking back at some media from what was truly an epic year in the paddling world.  One event that I was honoured to be a part of this year was the Whitewater Grand Prix.  You've probably seen alot of the competition media from this event, but the paddling that we did in between the competitions was every bit as incredible.  One of the highlights for me was certainly…

Tatlow Creek is 100% classic BC class V.  There's a brutal 4x4 road, heinous bushwacking, huge mandatory drops, and giant trees that you need to boof next to.  You will also find crystal clear water that you can drink right out of the river, two 20 footers, two 30 footers, a 40 footer, and an absolutely spectacular gorge that you would be hard-pressed to beat for scenery.  If you are up to the challenge, it will deliver and then some!

The hike-in is up a mountain, and then a…

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…

Greetings All!

I wanted to check in from the Whistler, BC library about some recent adventures that I have been having out here.  

Tommy Hilleke once said that "everything else is just training for kayaking in BC."  I've been thinking about that statement over the past few weeks of exploring this area of the world.  It is absolutely true.  The rivers here are remote, difficult to get into, sometimes impossible to get out of, and any scouting or portaging comes…

Greetings Daggerians!

I'm just checking in from Canada, where levels are sick and the weather is beautiful.  

I went down to the Black River in Watertown, NY this past weekend for a super fun day of racing and hanging out!    The Black was the site for the first of the Whitewater King of New York race series, and I wanted to jump in and fire down some of those rapids with the local…

Well, it brings me great pleasure to say that the Southeast is officially back!  After a few years of much lower than average precipitation, this winter and spring has been pretty darn awesome for natural flow rivers and creeks.  Times like these are why I live in this area. 

I’m getting pretty excited about the Whitewater Grand Prix competition in Quebec in about a month.  I’ve definitely been trying to get out from…

The Iceman has been a mainstay event in the Southeast for the past decade.  It is an evil and grueling day dreamed up by the sick minds of the “Saluda Boyz” (with a z).  The day starts off with an 8’6” and under plastic boat slalom race through the class 3 Millrace rapid.  For this race, I chose to go with the Dagger Axiom 8.5, a very fun river runner design.  It was my first time paddling this boat, and I was having a blast, carving in and out of eddies, and practicing some slalom-style…

I think about kayaking. A LOT. One of my favourite things about our sport is the process of applying knowledge, skill, and fitness to a particular rapid, and coming up with a theory of how it should be run. We then apply this theory to the rapid to the best of our abilities, and hopefully create a line for ourselves to run smoothly.

The limits of our sport are constantly being pushed. First D’s of rivers and rapids continue to occur constantly,…

Greetings Ladies and Gents!

The past two years of extreme kayaking have been absolutely crazy to witness. From Tyler Bradt running 186 foot Palouse Falls, to a ridiculous season this year in Chile, to some serious progression on the Oregon and Cali fronts, the sport of kayaking has been pushed by a lot of people. The simple fact is that more people than ever before are running gigantic waterfalls.…

Well, the snow has been falling. And falling, and falling, and falling. To be honest, I'm over it!



Recently us Asheville-ians have been looking further south to get our paddling fix, and the Chattooga watershed has been a great destination.



The annual Chattooga Race occurred a while back, and it was a super fun event as always. That thing is nothing short of brutal, at around 25 minutes in length, but you can't beat lining up for a 30 person mass start! Absolutely…