Coaching at the 6th UK Storm Gathering

Being invited to coach at the UK Storm Gathering was quite an honor.  Never before have I been surrounded by so many amazing coaches at once.  Having never been there I wasn't sure how I would fit in.  There were many unknowns for me leading up to the event.  For instance...Would I even have anything to show these folks?  What are the venues like?  Will I be able to manage a group of students on my own in unfamiliar waters?  What class am I even scheduled to run...? and with whom will I be coaching??  Where will we go???

It all became clear as the event got underway early Saturday morning.  Nick Cunnliffe and Matt Giblin did an amazing job of organizing coaches and students into groups based on the conditions of the day.  It was actually really good for me as a coach to not need a plan the day before.  Having the ability to set up and run a successful session with only about 20 minutes notice was key.

For more information about the event check out my post on the Kokatat Blog at http://www.kokatat.com/blog/2011/10/the-uk-storm-gathering-2011/

Check out some more photos from the event below:

A proper Welch breakfast at the center...when in Rome I guess... ;)  

Matt Gibling sorting the classes in the morning

It's even more rainy in Wales than it is back home in Portland!

 Axel Schoevers copying down his class list for his session the morning of.  

                           

Once the classes were announced it was GO time!

Watching a student get after at at Treaddur Bay.  Go Jackie go!

The heavy South winds were churning up the water into a thick foam

Getting our nav on.

I love it when students go big!  Nice one Brian!!

A little fun with the coaches after a long day on the water.  

I had a great time coaching at the Storm Gathering and can only hope that one; there will be another one next year and two; that I will be invited back.  What an amazing event!  Thanks to everyone involved, especially Mark Tozer for organizing this year's event and for including me!   

I made it to Anglesey!

It was quite a journey, but I've made it all the way to Holyhead Wales in preparation for The Storm Gathering.  My flight left around noon on Wednesday from Portland.  Things went surprisingly smooth even with my "wind surfer" with me.  (No kayaks allowed on planes you know?)  I wasn't sure they would take it, so I put on an extra big smile and cheery disposition.  I wrapped my Pyranha Burn up tight in black felt and hoped for the best.  They charged me the expected $150 and I was on my way.  No questions asked.    The first leg of my trip took me to Atlanta, Georgia then onto Dublin.  

When I hit the ground in Dublin I cruised through immigration, picked up my two oversized bags and ventured out into the world to find a bus.  No easy task when you have a backpack, a huge golf bag, and a kayak.  As I began to board, the bus driver shot me a look of disbelief.  I asked if he had any suggestions.  He replied in his thick Irish accent, "I suggest you get that thing on the bus if you wish to take it with you."  I wrestled it aboard and we were off to the City Center in no time.  From there I listened for the driver to call out my stop, but managed to miss pushing the stop button in time.  That's ok, it gave me a chance to stroll the streets of Dublin.  

It's WINDY here.  

The looks the locals in Dublin gave me were precious memories in the making.  Everyone was SO nice.  Several total strangers stopped and offered to help me find my way.  When I found the central bus station, I waddled inside to figured out where to pick up my next bus.  That bus took me to the Ferry Port and the ferry would take me to Holyhead.  


Upon arrival I wasn't sure who would pick me up.  With no phone number to call and no mobile (that's of course a cell phone for you fellow Yanks;) I was left with little options.  I sat myself down and logged on to the free wifi in the terminal and e-mailed Mark Tozer, The Storm Gathering organizer.  He shot back a quick e-mail and re-assured me that his friend Jim would be by to "fetch me".  In no time he was there and we made our way to the Anglesey Sports Center where the gathering would happen. (By way of the pub of course).

The wind whistled around the Anglesey Sea Center all night as we slept.  It’s only fitting that an intense storm is on the way for this event.  For those that know how to read the surface pressure forecast above…you can see that we are set to have some wicked South and SW winds as that low comes across Ireland and the rest of the UK.  By Sunday things should be properly HUGE.   

Before everyone arrived to the gathering and before the winds build we went out for a short paddle.  I showed up early to pick up my loaner Tide Race Extreme  and some other pieces of gear from the local premier shop called Summit to Sea.  I packed most of my own kit, but I was forced to borrow a PFD and skirt to complete my ensemble.   Hopefully my sponsors will take pity on me and show me forgiveness for temporarily straying out of necessity.    

 Local expert and guide book author Jim Krawiecki showed me around.  We went to the North to hide from the wind.  We put in at Bull Bay and paddled over to an old deserted brick works facility called Porth Wen Brickworks. Here between 1850 and1914, silica ore was mined by hand from open cast pits.  What’s left behind is beautiful dome shaped kilns and a towering smoke stack along with massive brick buildings that are slowing eroding into the sea.  In it’s prime, this place would have been a buzz with activity with ships coming and going from the working port.  It was really fun exploring the ruins.  It’s a great place to duck out of the south wind as well.   

We had a good time poking around the rocks and seeing the sights.   I think I’m going to like this place!  I can hardly wait for The Storm Gathering to begin!!

Photo By Jim Krawiecki:   For more images and great stories from Jim, visit:
www.jimskiblog.blogspot.com

I'll be blogging in up along the way.  Stay tuned for much more!  Also visit www.kokatat.com for my Storm Gathering post coming soon! 

The Storm Begins with Lumpy Waters

It's go time!  I have two big time sea kayaking symposiums coming up that I have been anticipating for MONTHS! 

AND...

The 3rd Annual Lumpy Waters Symposium is fast approaching.  The classes are locked in and coaches are on their way from all over.  As one of the event coordinators, I am feeling the crunch big time.  Orchestrating coastal and rough water classes for almost 90 beginner and intermediate paddlers at once is an organizational "challenge" to say the least.  We are watching the forecast close and crossing our fingers for GOOD weather.  

The 6th Annual Storm Gathering on the other hand is all about paddling in challenging conditions.  It's specifically scheduled for a bit more...turbulent weather window.  This year's event is to be held at the Isle of Anglesey, in Wales.  The goals of this symposium are to bring together intermediate and advanced boaters with similar passions while providing solid programs with an emphasis on challenging conditions, commitment, and open crossings.  It's my first year being invited to coach at the event.  It's also my first international sea kayak symposium!  I look forward to exploring this sea kayaking mecca and working with more British Canoe Union Coaches while I'm there.  

Once the Storm Gathering is over I will be participating in the necessary training and completing the required courses to begin the 5 star assessment process.  Then it's onto Scotland where I hope to explore more whitewater rivers and visit some friends I made on my previous trip there in 2008.  After Scotland it's over to Ireland to meet up with Kate.  

It's going to be an exciting month coming up.  Wish me luck.

           

     

Getting Trashed on the River...AGAIN

This year's event was the biggest ever!  Over 420 volunteers showed up to the Clackamas River near Portland, Oregon last Sunday Sept 11th for the 9th annual Down the River Clean Up.  They rolled up their sleeves and dug in with enthusiasm!  This is "restoration recreation" at it's best and people really stepped up to the task this year.

The Barton to Carver section had the most trash by far as it sees the highest level of use.  People are venturing further and further upstream to avoid the alcohol regulations put in place on the lower sections in recent years due to crowds and violence.  I took a short hike upstream from Barton and found the scene in the first photo.  I have a feeling there is much more where that came from just up river.  We Love Clean Rivers is now considering expanding the effort to include stretches above Barton including  Milo McIver State Park.  While it's important move, it would add to the already complex labyrinth of logistics an event of this scale requires.    

Staj Pace preparing the crowd of volunteers for their day

No stranger to logistics, Staj Pace (pictured above) did an amazing job as event coordinator.  Never having been to the event prior to running the show didn't seem to hold her back.  Her detailed oriented and relentless work ethic served to turn out an unprecedented amount of sponsor support.  Everything from the shuttle, the silent auction items,  to the top notch food was all donated by generous businesses and clubs.  Despite having the largest volunteer turn out ever the registration went as smooth as it ever has.  We can only hope that she will return for next year.

       

As the river safety coordinator for the event I have to give a shout out to American Medical Response, Clackamas County Marine Sheriff Dept, Clack County Fire and Rescue, and the Oregon State Marine Board for their support during the event.  Without their expert assistance we could not pull this off year after year.     

The AMR team ready to deploy their rescue kayaks to sweep each section.

After the big safety chat all 15 pods hit the river in hot pursuit of all manor of debris.  The biggest, nastiest, heaviest, and weirdest pieces of refuse were all compiled for a contest back at HQ.  Other pieces of trash were sorted and pulled aside for The Ripple Effect, a recycled art auction to benefit We Love Clean Rivers.  This year's auction is October 6th.  Visit the website and be sure to check it out.  

Kristin Dahl President of We Love Clean Rivers & event co-founder (on the left) hits the river for her 8th year!

 

A pod takes off from Baron Park

Noting wrong with having a little fun in between bobbing for beer cans.  

Having fun while inspiring change is what it's all about.  If we can create lasting memories for the kids and establish those close connections to the natural world perhaps we can protect this water way for years to come.  While all the kids were "working" out on the river we were back at HQ getting everything ready for the party.   

Sierra Nevada donated the beer

When it was all said and done this was the second largest trash total of any year:  3.4 TONS of garbage and debris was removed from the river, 51% of which was actually recycled (In 2006 4.2 tons were removed).  While the numbers are impressive, they are not going down as quickly as we would like.  Public awareness campaigns like the Stash the Trash program are helping, but it's my hope that we can continue to spread the word of Leave No Trace to all river users.  May we continue to take only photographs and leave only footprints.

photos and story by Paul Kuthe   

       

A Dance to Remember

I am always amazed at the people I've met through boating.  Coaching paddle-sports gives you this amazing opportunity to meet people on a level that most never get the chance.  Working for Alder Creek Kayak & Canoe has led to ad campaigns, media and film jobs, and other high profile projects that I would have never even known about otherwise.  

Yesterday I experienced canoe dancing in person for the first time.  So beautiful...so passionate, so hilarious!  Well, hilarious especially when Saturday Night Live's Fred Armisen  is doing the dancing.

He and co-creator Jonathan Krisel are in town shooting season two of  Portlandia.  A 6-part IFC Original short-based comedy series based on and filmed in Portland, Oregon.  Alder Creek got the call from the production company and I was brought in to teach Fred how to canoe well enough to pull off some seriously sweet canoe dance moves in the 5 minutes we had before the first take.  

I was amazed at how quickly he took to it, and what a great sport he was about it all.  I enjoyed having some time to chat with him on set.  He seemed genuine and was kind and courteous to everyone around him.  He was one of the easiest students to work with by far.  Once our quick lesson was over, I was asked to fill in as an extra in the scene.  Not a bad days work...    

I handed my phone off for a quick student / coach photo with Fred in character between takes.  

Move over  Marc Ornstein there's a new game in town.  The interesting take away from this for me was that you could be on You Tube one day and end up being spoofed by some of the best sketch comics in the biz four years later?!  Sometimes real life presents the most humorous of all situations I suppose.  

Behind the scenes on the Portlandia Set

Fred styling Blue Lake, Oregon as the crowd looks on.  

 Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for Season 2 of Portlandia.  It was a great opportunity, and I look forward to seeing it all come together.  If your curious about Portland or your just looking for a good laugh, it's worth a look.