My first two days at Keeners so
far have been a blast! After having my flight from New York cancelled, I really
could not wait to get out on the river. After not paddling challenging and new
whitewater in over a year, my first time running the famous Mccoy’s rapids was
many things: Fun, Terrifying, and mostly humbling. It definitely made me
realize just how rusty I was with my skills and how much work I needed to do.
Throughout
the day I made it a point to take in as much as I could. I realized just how
cool it was to be surrounded by a bunch of awesome kids who love kayaking just
like I do, something that isn’t easy to find at home. However, I think that the
coolest part was being able to realize that the coaches are some of the best
paddlers in the world. I’ve had some great counselors and instructors in the
past who have taught me everything I know to this point, but there’s just
something awesome about getting coached by guys like Stephen Wright, Clay
Wright, and Juanito de Ugarte. These are the guys who I’ve spent hours watching
videos of them paddling, and they’re now coaching me. I think that’s pretty
cool.
Today,
being Wednesday, was race day. Going into it I assumed the day would be spent
racing from point A to point B, over and over again. I was very wrong.
Throughout the day we had many different kinds of races, none of them
traditional A to B, and all awesome. They all made us put our skills into use
in different ways, ways that could be used in circumstances other than just
racing.
To
cap the day off, me and four other keeners made our way over to babyface wave
for a little evening surfing. I don’t know what it is, but there’s just
something nice about having such a beautiful wave so close by. With no line for
the wave other than us, we were all able to get some great surfs in. I was able
to work on some spins and blunts, and there is debate as to whether or not I
accidentally threw a back loop. Regardless, Keeners so far has been fantastic,
and I cannot wait for the rest of it!
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| starting the day with roll practice |
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