Looping In Push Button

One of my favorite tricks to watch someone do is a loop. They are very cool tricks since they are front flips on a kayak, and they are even better when they have air. Push Button is a small hole/wave below the WT lunch site. Its a cool feature because you can do wave and hole tricks in it. Its possible to airscrew and to loop. Push Button is kind off a hard place to loop because of two reasons. First, it is not very steep, so you have to plug your bow very hard to get a good pop, or any air out of the water. Second, at the level we had yesterday it was a little bit flushy making it hard to stick loops. I tried a couple of loops but I was not getting much air and I was not sticking them. Our coach Stephen Wright told me to plug super hard and start sideways. I remembered what Stephen told me and I got a big air loop and stuck it. I was very surprised and tried to go for a second loop in a row but I could not stick the second loop.

Stephen Wright Does a Huge Loop in Idaho

I used to not like push button that much because I thought it was small and bad, but once you learn how to cycle onto the top of the hole its a very fun spot to do all kinds of tricks. I am excited to go looping in push button today and hopefully become consistent sticking my loops.

And another Huge Air Loop at Push Button

Mauricio Martinez Laresgoiti    

David's last blog post!!

Hey guys!

Today (Thursday) was the last Big water beat down day. We started off the day at McCoy's, and then went down to push button and garb to surf for the remainder of the day. At push button I was trying to surf and catch the wave the whole time. At first I was having trouble staying on the wave, and then I started to have trouble with getting on to the wave. I flipped every time I caught the wave. I ended up swimming after a run. It was very discouraging and I didn't do anything after that for like 10 or 15 minutes. There was a group of kayakers there that re-encouraged and helped me with surfing after that. I did not know the kayakers and they were not with our group. They helped me out with how to catch the wave, and by the end of the day I got a few surfs in. It is an awesome feeling when experienced paddlers that you never saw before help you out and support you, as if they are one of your instructors.

After kayaking we went to dinner as usual, and then we had ropes and knots. For the past ropes and knots I just zoned out and did nothing, but today was different. I decided to listen and I learned what a mechanical advantage is, how to tie a 3 to 1 or 2 to 1, and how to tie a munterhitch with a quick release. Greg, the instructor for ropes and knots, is a very knowledgeable and friendly guy.

Anyways, I have to go now, but the second to last day of keeners was a lot of fun, and I got a lot out of it. Thanks for reading my last post! Check back next year ;)



--David Koyrakh.