Youghiogheny River Update brought to you by WCKA Video Class

Video Update from the Youghiogheny and ASCI Whitewater Course

Physics Lab Demonstration: Newton's Laws

Physics Assignment: Demonstrate Newton's 3 Laws for future WCKA classes

Washington DC Field Trip

Walking through the Mall

During the long drive from Montreal to Maryland WCKA decided to stop, take a short detour, and a few days off of paddling to have class and go explore our country’s capitol. The lively city was enormous and left endless opportunities for wandering and new discoveries. Many of the students and teachers had never been to DC and those who have, had never been there during a time like this. The two days there were spent during the thirteenth and fourteenth of September, the following days of 9/11. This brought huge numbers of people that were on marches and parades for those lost.

We found ourselves surrounded by some of the most political extreme people you could imagine. When crossing busy intersections the students would look up at the corners to see people holding up signs with comments like, “Obama is a Nazi”. While packed onto the metro students listened keenly to these people’s views, despite often sounding ridiculous.

Washington Memorial

View of Lincoln Memorial and Reflection pool

When the students and teachers were off the metro and on their own exploring they were able to forget about the current politics and enjoy some of the long standing national monuments. Some of the monuments visited were The Washington Monument, The Abraham Memorial, The Whitehouse, and many more. Students stood and looked out at the city while standing in the exact same place as Dr. King when he made his ‘ I Have A Dream’ speech.

Photos of the Whitehouse with teachers Capo and Ben

Natural History Museum

They also went to some of the city’s best museums. They visited the International Spy Museum, The Smithsonian Natural History Museum, and The Air and Space Museum. Surprisingly, both students and teachers found the Natural History museum to be the most interesting of the three. Hours were spent in the museum looking at things from soil in the states to gigantic hippos seen on the rivers throughout Africa. The Spy museum was also very interesting. The artifacts were some of the craziest things you would imagine. Weapons ranged from the traditional umbrella gun to bombs that would go off if a girl tried to open her lipstick.

Hudson Moe, Kleve Peaslee and Capo Rettig anticipating a tarantuala feeding demonstration

Evolution of Man exhibit

While the students and teachers all had an amazing time exploring the city, they are also all ready to go explore the rivers on the east coast. The next few river destinations will be the Youghiogheny, the Gauley, the Tygert, and The Green. Theses rivers will make up the creeking and river running portion of the quarter. The playboating that was done so far was epic and some of the biggest waves students had surfed. Both students and teachers showed rapid improvement and the majority of them are now able to throw blunts and backstabs (vertical front/back 180). The group is getting along well and are all looking forward to the rapidly approaching trip to Peru (less than a month).

Emily Allen, Susan Hollingsworth and Ohiopyle friends getting ready for a trip down the Youghiogheny

Words: Griff Griffith

Photos: Susan Hollingsworth

Ottawa River Update, Fall 2009

Eric Parker, Isaac Holden and Olin Wimberg in a group surf on Left Side Wave and Babyface

Bon Jour! Welcome to Ontario, home of large cows, poutine, and Maple forests. We arrived here in Canada on the afternoon of August 28, just in time to catch our first surfs on the at McCoy Chute where Corner Wave, Phil’s Hole and Baby face are all located. For many kids and teachers the Ottawa has been a new river on the list. It holds some of the world’s best high volume playboating and river running in the spring, but has top notch kayaking year round. One of the greatest things about the Ottawa is its fantastic temperature. It feels more like a bathtub than a river most days and provides for some good non-dry top boating.

Cody Wasuta and Hudson Moe, Chemistry Lab

To get to McCoy’s was about a 15-minute drive from our resort at Wilderness Tours. We parked below the rapid and paddled across a football sized area of flatwater to get to the waves. Half way down the main rapid, McCoy’s, is a large surging, crashing, hydraulic named Phil’s Hole. Many daring souls paddled hard to punch through. A few tried to surf it only to get a ride comparing to one that a bull rider gets in a rodeo. Lower down is Corner wave which is a medium sized wave with a large eddy that can be tricky to catch the longer and more tired you get. Corner Wave provides a great area for many kids to start learning tricks or sharpen up existing skills.

Olin Wimberg setting up on Cornerwave

Erik Johnson on Cornerwave, Ottawa River

At the run out of the McCoy’s Babyface, the last wave, forms. It is the mellowest of the waves and is great for learning how to surf and fundamentals of playboating. The team has been paddling especially well together so far with excessive screaming and yelling to cheer on each other (the locals may think we are crazy). Everyone took full advantage of our weeklong stay here and what the Ottawa has to offer. Off the water at WT we partook in many extracurricular activities such as pool, evening hot tubs, boxing and the first ever World Class Olympics. We had several events including basketball, soccer, and the boating leg is still to be held. Everyone won at least one event so far and has brought a new competitive edge to the group.

Emily and Head Coach Ben Kinsella

Staying at Wilderness tours is more of a resort than anything. We had the luxury of beds for everyone and five star meals three times a day. Breakfast includes pancakes, French toast and assorted cereals while lunch was usually burgers and brats. Finally dinner was between the favorites of juicy steaks and potato’s or spinach stuffed chicken. Reality soon will be upon us, getting into routine of cooking all our own meals for once. We are off to the huge city of Montréal where we will be surfing Lachine on the Saint Lawrence River. Stay tuned for another article.

Words: Erik Johnson
Photos: Susan Hollingsworth

US Freestyle Team Trials at Glenwood Springs, CO

Hannah and Althea excited to hit the wave

We left Missoula, MT on the afternoon of May 25^th eager to get to Glenwood for the highly anticipated wave and Team Trials event. After spending a night in Salt Lake City at Hannah Kertesz’s house, we finally arrived at the wave with the full team of: Scott Doherty (MT), Ben Kinsella (MT), Quinton Barnett (MT), Brian Jamieson (WA), Hannah (UT), Althea Sullivan (OR), and Quinn Connell (OR). Following our first practice session on the terrific breaking wave we then headed to the Palmer’s house. The Palmer family graciously put us up with excellent accommodations at their warm home, along with numerous other members of the paddling community. On behalf of everyone you housed and fed, Thanks!

First class accommodations at the Palmer's home

The next three days were spent visiting the wave twice a day, resting in between sessions to review video, work on homework, or to socialize with the other paddlers in town for the event. As the days progressed we all became more confident with the wave and each of our individual approaches to having our best performances over the weekend. One afternoon was also spent at the Glenwood Community Center assisting with the local boat swap, which turned out to be a fun activity and a great opportunity for our group to get to know many of the other junior paddlers.

Hannah Kertesz looking smooth and solid in the wave's chaos

Big tricks on big waves

When the weekend arrived we were all excited to compete and to watch the other competitors performances. During the event, we also had a tent set up for a nice place to hang out in the shade while we weren’t competing or assisting the event organizers with time keeping. All in all, World Class had a proud showing with four of our present and past students making the U.S. Freestyle Team selected to represent the U.S. at the world championships in Thun, Switzerland later this summer. Of notable mention were also Hannah Kertesz and Quinn Connell, the first ones out for the junior women’s and junior men’s teams, respectively.

Quinn, mid-McNasty

World Class Kayak Academy representation on the 2009 U.S. Freestyle Team

Michael Palmer (10’) – Jr. Men’s – 3^rd

Johnny Meyers (04’) – Men’s – 3^rd

Rush Sturges (03’) – Men’s – 5^th

Adriene Levknecht (05’) – Women’s – 2^nd

Quinn getting his moves perfected

A great, fun and well-organized event!

Nice work, everyone, on your efforts at the event. You worked hard to get there and competed with grace and determination – we are proud of you. Thanks, as well to the entire community of Glenwood Springs, you have an amazing playspot and a supportive atmosphere for kayakers. We look forward to coming back soon!

Scott Doherty

WCKA Athletes at Teva Mountain Games

School might be out of session, but World Class continues to bring young kayakers to the best rivers and competitions the summer offers. For the month of June, Colorado happens to be one of these hotspots with a different competition every weekend all throughout the state. Our students originally from this part of the country will rave to you about the variety in paddling this state offers. From the big waves in Glenwood Springs to the creeks in Crested Butte, no matter where a kayaker travels here, there is whitewater to paddle.

A classic event for the Colorado tour is the Teva Mountain Games held in Vail June 4^th-7^th. This event has it all and draws in some of the world’s most talented athletes in multiple extreme sports. The kayaking events always end up being the most attended and most exciting of the games.

Kicking off the weekend, the Homestake Extreme Creek Race sets the bar high for anyone who thinks they can maneuver through class IV/V whitewater the fastest. World Class' Sebastian Scholl competed in the race alongside the fastest and smooth athletes in the world, powering down the creek with a powerful finesse.  Head Coach Jesse Shimrock made it to the finals in this event, also representing WCKA with style.  

Sebastian daftly maneuvering Homestake's technical and steep rapids 

WCKA alum, Adrienne Levknecht, flying off one of Homestake's many drops

Back in the town of Vail Freestyle competitions continued throughout the weekend with current and former students throwing down hard. This wave is one of the best venues for a large competition. Two bridges, up and downstream of the wave, allow for 360 degrees of viewing pleasure for the massive crowds draw to this event.

Current student Michael Palmer competed in his new Guiguiprodd carbon fiber boat. This lightweight boat, along with some serious freestyle moves, allowed him to hold his own among the world’s most talented kayakers with a 12^th place in the qualifiers.

Michael hitting a massive loop for the crowd's pleasure

Michael in his lightweight boat, smiling at his high scoring run on the wave

Griff Griffith, another student signed on for this fall’s Peru semester, also threw down with the best in the competition giving the pro’s a run for their money. In addition to competing in the freestyle competition, Griff placed an incredible 11th place in the downriver sprint, just seconds behind pro athletes Tommy Hilleke and Geoff Calhoun.

Griff getting reading to head out on Vail's wave

Griff hitting all the right moves

Many other junior athletes competed over the weekend showing the world that the next generation will be pushing the limits! I'm really looking forward to traveling around the world this these guys and all the other incredible young athletes already signed up for the fall semester.

Check back in for updates on Team Trials, the upcoming FiBark festival in Salida and WCKA's summer sessions!

by Susan Hollingsworth

Oregon to Washington - by Ben Stanistreet

After leaving our yurts in Florence, we spent a few days in Eugene. We would like to thank the River House, Eugene’s recreation center, for accommodating us. While in Eugene we surfed a small wave right in town called “Cotton Candy,” and also paddled the Miracle Mile on the NF MF of the Willamette River. The Miracle Mile is a fun class III-IV run with continuous boulder-garden style rapids. We held class daily in the Eugene public library. Libraries have been a very useful resource during our west coast tour.

The "Unbroken Chain" on Miracle Mile - photo by Ben Stanistreet

We left Eugene on the 18th and drove to our next destination, the Columbia River Gorge and the rivers of southern Washington. We would like to give a big thanks to All Adventures Rafting for letting us camp in their back yard, which is conveniently located at the take out for the Green Truss section of the White Salmon. Our first day here, we woke up early and drove to Tao Berman’s house for morning workout. Tao is a local of these parts and a famous kayaker. He has a nice home gym and was “nice” enough to let us use it. The next day our arms felt like they were going to fall off from the hundreds of pull-ups we did at Tao’s, but it was a cool opportunity to work out “like the pros.” Tao also paddled with us on the Green Truss section later that day. Scott Doherty met us here for a few days of paddling and hanging out with the school as well.

Ben Hurd fires off Big Brother on the Green Truss - photo by Jason Cohen

We spend most paddling workouts either on the Farmlands or the Green Truss on the White Salmon, but the Little White Salmon and Upper Wind have also been fun, after-school river runs. We took advantage of a weekend day to hike-in and run Punchbowl Falls on Eagle Creek. At about 30 feet, it is the biggest drop most students have ever hucked.

Jesse Shimrock boofin' Punch Bowl Falls - photo by Jason Cohen

It’s amazing how fast the time goes by when we stay in one place for more than a week. On class days we drive across the Columbia River into the town of Hood River, Oregon, and take advantage of the public library. Dog River Coffee Co., right down the hill from the library, has been a favorite spot to have class and relax. I am sitting here in the coffee shop as I write this, enjoying the laid back atmosphere and the smell of fresh ground coffee. The coffee here is very good, and so is the food. “The chicken pesto pizza is da bomb,” says Eric Parker.

Sun set in the Columbia Gorge - photo by Ben Stanistreet

We just began our last week of classes. In Ivan’s literature classes we are reading different books and presenting in class. Ivan allotted each of us a half hour of class to teach what we have read and whatever else we want to include. This allowed for several interesting and fun learning experiences like watching movies and having class discussions. During one class, we all left the library to walk around town by ourselves and see if we could have conversations with strangers on the street. We then regrouped in the library to discuss our experiences.

I think most of us would agree that the Gorge has been one of the coolest places we’ve stayed, and the area offers some of the best paddling we’ve seen during our west coast tour. With the end of school approaching fast, everyone is ready to be done with classes but also sad that the year at WCKA is almost over.