Big (Very Late) Post

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........

Recovery, Family, & Challenges

(Debbie, Ray, and Julie enjoying a day in the Columbia River Gorge.)

I have to apologize again for not writing more often. Life has just been really busy lately. The big news is that about a month after breaking my back the doctor has released me to resume life as usual. I should have no long term damage and the bones have healed way better than expected actually. Julie's parents came for a week long visit and we showed them all over Northern Oregon. They got to see a lot of Portland, the Oregon Coast, and many of the cool sites in the Columbia River Gorge. We all also got to sample some great food and drinks around Portland, as well as some not so good food. After Debbie and Ray headed back to MD Julie started Grad school. She is enjoying being back in school, but the work is quickly stacking up and keeping her really busy. She also started teaching a few windsurf classes in the Gorge on the weekends. I am now officially the watersports buyer for Next Adventure and business has been booming. Besides the crazy busy shop the big trade shows are coming up real soon. On the 4th Julie and I both took on the challenge of the Sauvie Island 1/2 and full marathon. We also went out paddling with the Next Adventure crew to see the fireworks from the water. Needless to say life is busy and good. July is going to keep us both extremely busy.

(Multnoma Falls, the big one in the gorge and right off the highway.)

(This is the old rest stop along the old gorge highway. This shot is looking East.)

(The Borsetti's love the animals, especially cute furry ones like these Alpaca.)

(Julie looking cute in one of the many vineyards that we visited along the "Fruit Loop" in and around Hood River.)

(Debbie and Ray enjoying some wine fresh from the barrel at the Wyeast Vineyard.)

(The Borsetti's enjoying the Hood River wine tour.)

(Julie took her parents for a day at the coast, while I was at work, and they explored Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock.)

(Ray enjoying the huge variety of good micro brew beers available in PDX. We both had a sampler this night at the Rogue brewery in the Pearl District while enjoying Kobe beef burgers with fresh Tillamook cheddar cheese.)

(We all got to spend a day exploring the Portland Zoo. It was quite a little expedition with a ton of walking.)

(Debbie loved the Lorikeet exhibit where you were able to feed the MANY birds in this large cage.)

(Julie liked the birds as well, and they liked her as well.)

(On July 4th Julie ran her first 1/2 Marathon on Sauvie Island just outside Portland. She did absolutely amazing, doing way better than expected.)

(Julie got this shot of me suffering to finish the Sauvie Island Marathon. I made it 23+ miles at a sub 9 min/mile pace, and then my legs gave up! Between the lack of training and the extremely hot temperatures my muscles just gave up. I did still finish at under 10 min/mile pace though!)

(On the evening of July 4th a big group of Next Adventure employees took out our demo fleet and paddled from Sellwood Riverfront Park into downtown to watch the fireworks. It was a great group of people, great weather, and just good times had by all!)

(Julie enjoying the evening paddle.)

(Our rest/snack break at the top of Ross Island just before dark. The city is a cool site from the river.)

(We all rafted up as close as we could get to the action. The boat traffic was intense and we where shore to have as many lights and glow sticks on us and our kayaks as possible.)

(Julie had fun taking some cool fireworks photos. They were launched from a barge right in front of us! The falling debris didn't feel so good in the eyes though:) )

Hitting The Water HARD!!!

(I surfed for 3 hrs in various boats on this wave, Joe Bob's, one of the few park and play features in the NW.  Luke Spencer took this photo, just before he took a tumble into the river barely saving my camera and busting up his thumb badly.)

Again, I apologize for the late post.  Things have been busy around here and I honestly haven't wanted to sit down a do this:)  There have been some big events over the past few weeks but the factor that has dominated my life lately has been my broken back.  I managed to break my L1 Transverse Process landing flat off a large kayak ramp at the Upper Clackamas Whitewater Festival.  It took me over a week to go to a Doctor, but in the end as broken backs go this is minor.  If all goes well, and I don't do anything stupid, I should be good to go again in a few weeks.  Because of the broken back I had to cancel my BC paddling trip to Skook as well as my ultra runs for the year.  Once my back is good to go again I'm going to try to find some new races/challenges.

Julie has been very busy getting ready for grad school.  Besides all the normal financing, paperwork, books, etc... she has been studying hard for two big tests that she has to take.  She has also been working hard a few days a week training on her Dragon Boat team and training for her half marathon on July 4th.  She is excited for school and also for her parents to come for a visit in a few weeks.

I'll let the photos do most of the talking this post:)  Rock on and keep in touch.

(You can see the scale of the ramp at the UCWWF in this shot.  The rapid is Carter Bridge and was the site of many of the festivals events.)

(This is how not to go off the ramp!  This is just a moment before I fell out of the sky landing dead flat, breaking my back and boat!!!)

(This is my attempt at a move off the ramp, after already breaking my back.  I landed flat 5 of 6 times breaking two boats and my back in the process.  I'm just glad my whitewater kayaking skills are better than my ramp kayaking skills:))

(This is what landing dead flat looks like.  Ouch!  You have tons of time in the air to realize that this is going to hurt.)

(Andy Maser threw this fun move.  He cracked a beer can while sliding down the ramp, took a chug, and threw an airscrew off the ramp, all with no paddle!  He did need me to give him a T rescue at the bottom though:))

(This is the scene in the Next Adventure campsite on Saturday night when we hosted a big BBQ.  There was a huge turn out and good times where had by all.)

(Julie enjoying some sun in Tacoma, WA at her first Dragon Boat Race.)

(Dragon Boating in Tacoma, WA.)

(Wasabi Team Huge posing with their first place medals.  Check out Julie middle row on the left.)

(Julie and I headed off for a trail run up Eagle Creek in the gorge.  After about 3.5 miles my body shut down and I ended up having a really rough day!  This was after I broke my back, but hadn't been to the doctor yet.  My body really didn't behave correctly for about two weeks after I broke it.)

(This is Metlako falls on Eagle Creek.  The freefall on this one is something like 80+ ft, and is currently the women's and junior world record for waterfall decent in a kayak.  It is on my radar.)

(Julie and I all dressed up for a 70's cocktail party at one of my co-workers houses.  You can tell, but I'm wearing pleather pants!)

(The Grilled Cheese Grill!  This is a great little food cart place on Alberta St.  The "dining room" is in an old School bus.)

(This is the crowd at the Last Thursday art event on Alberta St.  This is the second month we've been to the event.  Julie loves all the crazy street performers and artsy things:))

(The Clydesdale's at the Starlight Parade.  Over 250,000 people show up for this one and most of the parade is lit and after dark.  This is one of the events for the Rose Festival.)

(Yesterday we checked out the Rose Festival and Saturday Art Market.  This is the finish line for the Dragon Boat races.  Julie races smaller, faster boats, than these that are considered Hong Kong style boats.)