I know this post is very late and that a lot has happened since the last entry. Life has been busy with trips, guests, and the busy time of year at work. There are big things happening, all good, at Next Adventure and I'm working hard to grow the paddlesports dept. and try to have a good time along the way:) At the end of July I spent a week in Salt Lake City at the Outdoor Retailer show as a buyer for Next. I've now been to the show as a prospective distributor, distributor, job seeker, and now a buyer. A total of 6 shows in 7 years. The other big trip was a long weekend up in BC with Joe and Julie surfing the famous Skookumchuck Tidal Rapids. It was a great trip and Joe and I had the wave to ourselves for two days. I'll let the photos below do the talking about this trip:) Julie and I have also had a lot of guests in town lately. First Bobby "The Dogg" Miller came through town, an old paddling friend of mine and a member of the Fluid kayak team. Then Justin and Sarah came threw for a few nights. We even had a really fun kite/windsurf session in the Gorge with Justin, Julie, and myself. Julie flew into Monterey, CA and drove up the coast with her friend Liz, from HI, for the past week. I got Liz out rock climbing for her first time last night, as Julie was off to the Seattle Dragon Boat races. Today her team qualified for worlds in Macau in 2010! Life is busy and Julie and I are both working on our goals in life right now. Julie is working hard to get her masters in teaching and I'm working hard to find my place in this world and get in shape. My birthday gift to myself was a road bike. I got a crazy deal on Ebay on a bike that is way nicer than I need, but really nice to have:) I've just gotten it all set up and I'm already racking up the mileage and thinking about some endurance cycling events in the near future.
(I still teach a basic intro to kayaking class/tour almost every Sunday. It is really great getting people out on the water and stoked about kayaking. I do miss my whitewater teaching days.)
(Myself, Josh (the Confluence Rep.), and Deek (Next Adventure Owner/my boss), in the Confluence Watersports booth at OR. It was a good show this year with lots of good buys. Attendance was down, but the people that were there were doing business.)
(Ethan and the new Stohlquist rescue PFD. I will have one shortly. Riot also showed up with the new Ninja Surf kayak, another toy that I will have as soon as it is in production.)
(This shot of Mt. Hood was taken with a GoPro Wide Helmet Camera out the window of the plane on the return trip from Salt Lake City. The skies where so clear you could see everything, including the forest fires in Eastern OR.)
(Bobby "The Dogg" Miller came out for a visit and had an action packed week kayaking and mountain biking. I caught up with him for a run on the Truss and had a great time E.L.F. (extremely low flow) boating with the Dogg as usual. Bobby styled the whole run, except Big Brother as seen in this shot. Two runs and two times upside down in the cave at the bottom. This is the first time I ever walked Big Brother, after running it more than 20 times, as my back was sore and the water was LOW.)
(Julie with her tutering student. She is now done with her first semester of grad school and got straight A's!!! She'll be back in school and starting student teaching in a week.)
(The middle of nowhere tiny little town, no gas station or traffic light, where you access the famous Skookumchuck Tidal Rapids.)
(Julie looking cute as usual.)
(Julie and I hangin' out while Joe surfs the wave as it builds.)
(Julie paddling one of my boats into the wave for me and enjoying all the tidal animals along the way.)
(Julie got these great shots while checking out all the tide pools around the rapids.)
(Julie enjoying a morning tea at the Back Eddy Marina where we camped. Joe and I hiking into the wave totally loaded down with camera gear. We left our boats in the woods near the wave each day.)
(Joe surfing the wave in his glass surf boat as the wave begins to form. He stayed on the wave for about 45 minutes!)
(Joe and I had a blast tandem surfing as often as the wave would allow.)
(Joe filming with his Go Pro Helmet camera while I see how much water I can spray at the camera.)
(Joe got some silly air. He even almost stuck a few clean initiated C-1 Helix.)
(Joe throwing the almost clean, just a fist, C-1 left air blunt.)
(Joe was carving so hard in his Mega Maurader!)
(Setting up for a big blunt in the Element. This boat actually releases well for big blunts.)
(I did spend a little time in my Nemesis throwing some nasty air. I prefer the long carvy rides in the Element all day long though.)
(With the tide racing at over 13 knots it was easy to launch huge ollies down the wave face, even in the Element.)
(Carving in a surf kayak on a fast steep wave is SO much fun!!!)
(Joe taking the "Tour" in the huge waves and whirlpools in the runout of the main surf wave. I worked hard all weekend and never made the tour, voluntarily or otherwise.)
All photos taken by Julie and myself. A sweet video from Skook is coming soon. Stay well and please do keep in touch. Peace........
