Last weekend I had the fortune to attend our whitewater SUP clinic on the south fork of the American river, led by Jackson Kayak team members Fletcher Burton and the Sean Morley.
On a side note, Sean is not only our Jackson sales rep, but also one of CCK's best and most experienced sea kayak instructors.
My hope was to gain a better understanding of paddling in moving water. I also wanted to have fun, which was easy considering all my friends were in the clinic with me!
It exceeded my expectations in every way...
Some takeaways -
River SUP is wildly fun! However, your flat - and rough - water skills need to be dialed before jumping into the whitewater... It's potentially very dangerous, and even the relatively mellow class 2 rapids we ran were shallow at times with bone-shattering rocks scattered all about. Not the place to be lacking confidence in your paddling technique. But if you're ready, so FUN!
Falling is cool. Here in Norcal where the waters stay cold, I encounter a heavy resistance to falling in from customers and fellow paddlers. To both Sean and Fletcher's credit, they not only led our group but took risks, attacked the rapids mercilessly, and fell lots in the process. Their willingness to spill really affected the group positively - they made falling cool. And it is - it means you're pushing your limits and improving as a paddler.
Drysuits are awesome. I already knew this, but shout out to Kokatat for sending us a bunch of demo drysuits to use for the clinic. And of course they sent us their flahiest color schemes - we were looking like Devo on the river!
Surf skills translate well to the river.
Lastly, I gotta commend Sean - a sea kayaker at the highest level - for stepping out of his kayak and co-teaching this clinic! First of all, the dude rips on a SUP.
Secondly, his insistence on practicing every maneuver no matter how many falls it took (and having a blast doing it), really exemplifies the humble character I respect so much in the paddling world. All the best paddlers I know are surprisingly humble about their skills... I don't see that very often in this ego-charged world, and it's something I try to emulate.
And thirdly, Sean gave me some big compliments on my own SUP skills... which totally stoked me coming from him!
Fletch was great as well - the boy's got crazy river skills! And the scars to prove it, too, according to the stories he told. Hopefully our paths will cross again.
Be safe out there people!
Fletcher leading us in a pre-paddle Kumbaya
Sean politely stuffs Adrianna's head into a neck gasket for the first time
Ready to blast off
Nailing my first rapid!
Entering a mini-wave from the back door
Myself, Janet, Ward, Adrianna, Melville, and Jeff
Four to a board!
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