This winter went by pretty quickly. We paddled up until the second week in December which was unusual for VT. We went to a few pool sessions and flopped around for an hour or two. We also bought new snowboards and went a bunch to Magic MT. We had a great time riding but by the middle of February I was ready to paddle again.

I left home March 4^th to get some boating in. I decided to start the season off with Scudders on the Delaware River in NJ. I’ve heard many great things about this spot so I figured I would give it a go. My sister-in -law lives about 45 minutes away so I’ve been commuting back and forth.

Scudders is an awesome hole. It’s great for every hole move especially window shades! The water temp isn’t that cold and it’s been sunny and in the 50’s which has been so nice. I’ve gotten to meet a bunch of the local paddlers who are pretty funny guys and drink good beer. I met up with my buddy Craig and Jeremy who I haven’t seen in awhile and we got to boat together.

The start of my 2010 season has started off real good so far and I’m looking forward to all the great paddling I’m going to do and all the new people I’m going to meet this season. I’m going to stick around here for a few more days and then I may head to WV or back home to VT if the rivers aren’t still frozen over.

Here’s a head cam video that my friend Adam made of us paddling on the WB of the Deerfiled River in VT at 6ft in December.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GML4oX0UAAw

I’ll have a video done in a week or so from Scudders.

Photo by:Chris DiPrimeo

Photo by:Chris DiPrimeo

Take Care,

Elaine Campbell

The weather in Florida has not been good for us to be able to hit the ramp for a few weeks. Strong winds and cold temperatures took us away from skiing for a few weeks. But the Florida sunshine is back and I had time to hit the big red in the last few days.

While I am still working on my techniques and trying new skis, I can feel that all the work that I have done at the gym is paying off. I am feeling a lot stronger in the cut and when I hit the ramp, which should result in longer jumps later in the season.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to tell you that , Kyle Eade, one of my good friend and training partner got injured 3 weeks ago. He took a bad crash in New Zealand, and broke his C4 and C5 vertebrae. At the moment, he can only move one of his arms, but has almost no feelings in his legs…. I hope he will recover fast!!!!

Whatever sport you are addict to, safety is important.

Aurelien

Chile is known for its world renowned whitewater. Being about 2,700 miles long, and on average 109 miles wide with the Andes Mountains forming the eastern border, the concentration of runnable rivers and waterfalls is unrivaled. This year Chile saw a huge influx of kayakers looking to enjoy what the country has to offer. Volcanoes are almost always looming over the rivers and towns as a constant reminder that the rapids are waiting. The Pilot Collective crew was fortunate enough to be in Chile for five weeks this winter. We hit such classic runs as the Rio Claro, in Northern Chile, to the numerous famous runs in the Pucon area, as well as some of the late season creeks further south.

There some old picks of the ShRED Wagon we are restoring from about 12 or 13 years ago…
notice the nice retro Rapid Style paddling jacket and tight fuzzrubber shorts, 10 foot boats, and a skinner driver!

I think this was pre shred ready , era 1995-96

And this is the ShRED wagon today…..getting ready to be restored..

The New Freestyle Kayak Video from keegan grady on Vimeo.

The sun came out, the air temps warmed and we are tired of Winter….TV found in trash, relocated to local pond, shredded and returned to local dumpters….

Alwake crew Luker, Jeff, Alex and their neighbors showed…da man came and told us we was breaking the law

Da man: You know what your doing is illegal

Jeff: there are no signs

Da Man: he’s not wearing a life jacket!

Jeff: We don’t have a boat.

Da Man: walks away

Pucon was definitely a hot spot for kayakers this year. With countless class 5 runs and clean waterfalls within half an hour of downtown Pucon its easy to understand why. I was fortunate enough to be in chile for 5 weeks this year and spent about 3 or so of those weeks based out of Pucon. Here are some photos from the waterfall paradise of Pucon.

The Legend Of… rescuing a stranded kayak on the Green River in North Carolina.

Ken Driscoll of PeakUk made the trip up to paddle the Cabarton section of the North Fork Payette River. We had a great time, the rapids were small, had to portage a couple of times, had to climb over a couple of ice bridges, but had a great “Idahoa” day with a great friend

Professional kayaker, Heehaw Jones, discusses his ingenious new helmet design that is basically better than anything the other helmet companies are putting out.  You probably know Heehaw Jones, famous for his roles in the kayak films, Enter The Donkey and Night of the Living Donkey.

Links of interest

HeehawJones.com

EnterTheDonkey.com

NightoftheLivingDonkey.com