I
ts hard to sum up a whole year, My head was shaved, my dog's been skunked, I managed to cut loose bear mace in my car...... my wife got a job as a sugar momma, I lost team trials. Its been horrible, its been great, Its been a great summer, and fall, however I have been hiding a way a bit not gonna lie. Sure I made my rounds as Billy Harris the kayaker visiting shops in, Calgary, Quebec, NY, and all over including boater boards and all that. But I have been hidden away a bit at the same time. Now the Moose fest was a blast, riding coolers down a hill, missing phones, toilet papered rooms and cars. I just watching the hijinx of the festival that doesn't exist anymore flourish without the vendors. The event running on the nostalgia and an attachment to how things were once, and where they will be again one day. The festival was fantastic, but so were many of them this year. That being said, festivals took a hard hit with water levels this year in Canada. Some of the big festivals didn't go due to water. The biggest of the festivals did go though, hundreds of new paddlers being introduced to the sport at Rapid Magazine's great “Palmerfest”. Dry suits, warm gear, and nice weather for a change, made for the most successful Palmerfest ever held. Teaching and growing the sport, despite the economic downturn was the goal and one that made it clear that the community still thrives and flourishes.
A lot of my summer was dedicated to training in the early morning, teaching all day and hitting the gym at night. The fun part was having the river to me and the girl in many cases. I train quite often in the early morning dawn with my wife. The Ottawa river being a wave style river made it a bit harsh at team trials though. Many of the great wave surfers in the valley crashing pretty hard into the stark realization that they are different disciplines holes and waves. They are different types of balance and both take an every day approach to training.
The other bummer thing about early mornings is I am over 200 lbs and despite my seemingly athletic lifestyle the, 2 cream 4 sugars I inhale several times a day have taken their toll on my waistline. Being 36 years old might have something to do with it, but being in full denyal, and the lack of grey hair has supported that denial to date. I am not saying I look like a pile of tires or anything, lets be clear about that but there is defiantly more of me to love these days if you know what I mean. My room mate says “you have man boobs”. Nobody but my wife and I like her so I ignore her for the most part. But if I were to reply to such an evil little woman I would say that I may or may not pass some stupid hold the pencil test under my pec's. I started out at a slim 165 lbs when this show started. The positive and beautiful part is that I am fitting the super star better than I ever have. Creeking in a boat that fits me perfectly has been a pleasure as well. I like the big boats “and I can not lie”, I always have. But the new Villain and its volume and size are perfect for me, and I feel like the boss when I paddle it. (still not the boss around the house)
Canadian Team Trials were awesome up until the last round. I was so confident that I would win I bet Kelsey his sparse and ratty looking mustache to a thick and proud Mohawk that I would whoop is little quasi-eastern ass. He scored a royal donut the first run, and things were looking up for old billy. I was even making faces at him during my rides. It was like the ski-ward lord of all things saw this and then the evil god struck me down. It hurt more not because he wasn't as consistent as I was, I had consistency scored pretty high. In the end he just paddled better on that day, nothing hurts more than the truth. I am a mans man, Marlboro style, no mustache cowboy if there ever was one. I like doing manly things. I shoot guns, I drive an SUV, its covered with mud and I like it like that. I would shoot a handgun too if my wife would let me have one in the house... But being a man's man I really like to win. I have to say I have always been a bit greedy on that front. I take loosing as a personal insult. I feel its a testimate to the effort I put into things. To summarise my year in review, I win, I loose, I win, I loose and I will win again. My 2010 season with Jackson Kayaks.
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN???????
Coverage.
Paddling Films and Filming:Locals only Film.
YouTube Hits
Videos Uploaded: 22
Video Views: 24,984
Channel Views: 1,455
Events/Festivals
ZOAR river Festival, Red deer river Festival, Moose festival, Palmer Festival, King of Clubs
Team Trials: Canadian Team (since 1997) 3rd.
Shop Visits:
Undercurrents, paddle shack, Boatwerks(no/pk), Gull River Shop(no/pk)
Postings:
15 Posts, 6 product reviews hundreds of email reply's.
Schools:
Taught Advanced to beginner Clinics to over 200 people this year, worked at WT teaching,
NRA taught for a week.
Free Clinics:
Palmer Festival, Boatwerks, Zoar, Red Deer, Moose.
Books Sold:
un-knowan Over 50+ Given away or handed out at festivals to beginners.
My Suburban blew a wheel bearing yesterday. Held us up for hours. We suffered in the hot sun while eating a meal at a gas station, behind the gass station against a pile of bricks. We ended up finding a cattle truck of all things, riding in the back of it in the less than glorious style of air-conditioned comfort we were growing accustomed too. My head in my hands shaking back and forth silently saying, “why me” We picked up a bunch of guys on the road hitchhiking and Chuck got the guy to play in the back of the truck as we crept along at 40 kms’ per hours. We were sweating like mad, listening to this guy playing away, while I held him up so he could play without falling over.… Its all turned out great, got everyone off the Trufel Trufel before a class 5 plus drop with no eddy’s, which stressed me out so bad I think that I may never get them to drop. But we made it back just fine, happy and tired.
