Good Gauley Call Mommy

Posted in Whitewater with tags , , , , , , , on September 22, 2011 by slchristy1

By Scott Martin

November will make a year of paddling for this chick and Gauleyfest 2011 was quite the little early anniversary party. I’m stoked to have paddled the Upper before my first year of kayaking (it was a personal goal)…for the next year maybe the Green Race, ha?….ha

By Scott Martin

Here’s a list of things that first come to mind when thinking aobut the past weekend:

I’m thankful Confluence put me and a couple of my coworkers up in the Hampton Inn for the weekend (camping is for the birds). I’m thankful to have been a part of Ladies on the Lower G. I’m thankful to have met so many cool people, hope to see them again. I’m thankful the festival fair grounds were within walking distance of my hotel (no drinking and driving y’all). I’m thankful to have paddled the New with Andrew Holcombe and Jessica Wessinger (who got a combat roll!). I’m thankful to have paddled the Upper and enjoy it without hesisation or fear, no swims.

Yep, the Lord has blessed me…tyring to not take advantage of the life He’s given me, but live it to the fullest, giving Him all glory.

Click here to see the beautiful pictures shot by Scott Martin from my day on water with Girls on the Lower G.

The only pic I have of me on the Upper and I'm not even in my boat!

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La Rio Verde

Posted in Whitewater with tags , , , , , , , on August 29, 2011 by slchristy1

So I ran the Green Narrows on Friday. All I can say is I don’t remember a lot of it because, well, I just don’t…haha. Considering I’ve been boating ten months I’m proud to have paddled this section of water.

Jay after spanking the monkey. Thanks for showing me down!

When decided that I wanted to run this particular stretch of river started thinking: you don’t have to run anything you don’t want to run…and I did just that. I ran the sneak at Go Left and portaged around Gorilla and Sunshine.

Bride of Frankenstein was a nice little warm up…the race line of Frankenstein was super fun! Flipped right above Hammer Factor and nailed my roll in enough time to catch the eddy and ferry across to check it out. Lot’s of fun! I was just so excited the whole time I was there.

I don't know what this is called, but they said I had a better line than Jay. Haha.

Sure, there could have been better lines on my part, yet there were also some solid boofs happening. My favorite .

It was an awesome experience and I can’t wait to go back. One day I hope to know the beta, then I can show other boaters the beauty of the Green River.

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Adventure is a verb.

Posted in Whitewater with tags , , , , , on August 29, 2011 by slchristy1

Yep, Bomber Gear is back.

Excited about the new 2011/2012 gear?!?! You should be! The new site will launch this fall!

Bomb-proof baby.

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Hard out here for a boater

Posted in Whitewater with tags , , , , , , , , , , on August 25, 2011 by slchristy1

Eddy Flexi

Starting my job in the Marketing Dept. at Confluence Watersports has been so awesome. From day one I jumped in doing hands on work for big projects, some of which I’m in complete charge.

We’re busy here getting ready for Gauley Fest. Which by the way, we will be raffling AT paddles and a  Wavesport Project X so come by our booth, hangout, play cornhole, and have a beer!

A couple reasons why I love my job so much would be because of the people, my schedule, and the perks. Let me explain…

The people I work around are the bomb ( and I’m not saying that becasue of Bomber Gear). They truely are awesome people that want me to learn and succeed and grow in the business.

GoPro shot under Hooker Falls with the Bomber Gear

My schedule is insane. I work Tues.-Thurs, 8 hour days (sometimes more). That means 4 day weekends…to paddle. If you ever want to paddle hit me up.

And last but most certainly not least, the perks are outrageous. After my first week here I was given the opportunity to use the AT’s new Eddy Flexi paddle because my assignment was to write about it, which you can read here. On top of that, I was given Bomber Gear apparel to use while on the water and get footage while paddling. THEN a boat…Project X to be exact. Which I later returned because I’m used to more volume and didn’t want to be a submarine : ) …need a 56 not 48.

I returned everything the next week only to be given a huge duffle bag of Bomber Gear to use and get more footage. But I have a dilemma, I have more apparel than what I can put on…I need extra bodies to dress. So you should paddle with me and be in videos that will go on the website!

Oh I almost forgot, at a company wide meeting yesterday my ticket was drawn and I received some free shwaggggg.

Just an update on my life. I wanna hear about yours!

Cheers

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Summer Job.

Posted in Whitewater on August 22, 2011 by slchristy1

Jay with the scouts on the Nantahala

This summer I had the privilege of teaching boy scouts the basics of kayaking. Being water wise was the essence of the first day. We would start by rafting on the Nantahala and teaching the boys how to read water by showing them different features and characteristics of the river, communication signals, and terms commonly used by paddlers.

The instructors and the gremlin face....

Second day was lake day. Where we focused on the wet exit, t-rescue, forward propulsion stroke, sweeps, stern draw, bracing, head dink, rolling, etc. etc. On the third day we paddled the Tuck Gorge and played at Devil’s Dip, and the forth day was spent on the Nantahala.

Jay Laughters was the lead instructor of the program and a great mentor for me to learn from throughout the summer. We made a pretty extraordinary team (see so for yourself by watching the video). Not to mention the leaders from the camps were a big help as well!

I put together a little video of the scouts because I was so proud of these boys (it’s also a promo for next yr. hence 2012). Before coming to the gorge they had no previous experience in whitewater…and they were stylin’. Let me warn you, they saw the “brown claw” on a paddling video one morning while eating breakfast and couldn’t stop doing it on the water.

Cheers!

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No such thing as too much fun

Posted in Whitewater with tags , , , , on July 17, 2011 by slchristy1

After a meeting at Confluence Watersports I met some friends at the Chattooga River. Friday made my second time running the stretch of gorgeous Class IV water.
My first time running five falls I only rolled at crack in rock. Friday I opted out running crack in rock partly because of instinct, but most importantly because my mom was out of town and I had to be extra careful. If something had happened she would freak! Other than that I did laps on the five falls with my friends, and had a blast….of course!
Good people. Good water. Great memories.

Check it the video :) Happy paddling!

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No class? I think I’ll kayak.

Posted in Whitewater on April 14, 2011 by slchristy1

Wednesday was a glorious day. The weather perfect. No school. Just good people and whitewater. The morning started out on the Oconaluftee with Will Butler and ended on the Sinks with Jay Mahan and Brad Caldwell.

Baby Falls

The Oconaluftee was simple, a good run for a morning warmup. It was quick and easy. I enjoyed my time on the river with Will. We chatted about nonsense through the boogie water. There were a couple Class III rapids. One rapid Will lost his paddle and I retrieved it. I don’t really remember how that happened, but it did.

The Little River in the Smokey’s was a great time. I definitely plan on heading back next time it rains. It was continuous whitewater, with big holes and lots and lots of boogie water. It starts and ends wtih a Class IV. I landed my roll at least 4-5 times. I’m getting use to this no swimming business, and liking it.

The last rapid: Elbow, trashed Jay, Brad and I. The seam in the water was real funky and immediately flipped me.

Jared's Knee

Jay went back for redemption and ran a great line with a nice maneuver at the end. I was impressed! If you watch the video you’ll see it!

Friday Jay and I ran the Tellico. It was Jay’s first time down. He ran two laps and I was the shuttle bunny for the second run. I opted out because my shoulder was wasn’t feeling good. It’s been acting up lately…bad shoulder bad, bad shoulder.

The video is a culmination of all the rivers I’ve recently run!!! Please watch and enjoy. The video is all Jay!

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