I was initially supposed to go paddling with my McMaster University White Water club on the weekend but I also was asked by some of the junior freestyle team to come down to Watertown, NY to take pictures at the Black River Whitewater Challenge.
It was a tough decision which might have ended up in me disappointing friends either way.
So after some deep meditation (yeah right) I came up with a plan that would meet the needs of everyone. It involved going to both events.
I left work friday afternoon and headed off to Kingston. I stayed with Bob and Liz that night. I also managed to go visit Alex at his new place which coincidentally happen to be less than 5 minutes from where I was staying. I scared the crap out of Alex on his front lawn when I yelled at him. It basically came down to a holy crap WTF are you doing here moment.
I told Alex I was going down to Watertown for the event and we decided we were going to travel together. I picked up him early saturday morning at 10am and we headed off to the border with two shiny brand new kayaks on my car ... no none of them were mine. After an easy crossing thru US customs we we in Watertown before noon.
The even was initially supposed to be held at the Route 3 Wave but it was flooded out and the organizers were going to use Holes Borthers as the backup. The Keeners arrived at the same time we did. Alex grabbed his gear and headed right down to the river to get some practice rides in.
I spent some time catching up with some of the Keeners and the OKS staff. I also ran into Josh and Devyn. Devyn was just recently sponsored by Riot Kayaks with some help from me and he want some pictures taken with his new shiny boat. Here is Devyn's boat in a reflection shot from Josh's glasses.
The only problem with taking pictures was how to get down to the shore line as the banks were steep and the easy access was blocked off by the city due to construction. I ended up getting dressed in my paddling gear and walked down an open area that was not blocked off or posted with no trespassing signs. I ended up having to walk up the eddy line in the river to get to the spot I wanted to take pictures from.
I spent the rest of the day taking pictures of the competition while taking some time out to talk to some of the parents I knew from previous events. As usual the competition started late and ran over for time so some of the competitors (including Alex) would have to come back on the sunday. I went back up to my car to change and pack up my gear while Alex got a few more rides in while his mom was watching.
Link to pictures from saturday are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157606962259080/
I left around 7pm with the boats on my car and no Alex. He was going back with his mom. I told him I would drop the boats off in Kingston before continuing my journey. I had the customs guy from hell. It must have been the bring every extra customs guy to that particular border crossing nigh and rip cars apart for something to do. After being grilled for about five minutes I was on my way.
I managed to drop the boats of in Kingston and be at the campfire for beers in Minden just after midnight. Not bad considering I had to have a 20 minute catnap along the way. Things started to die down around 2am and there was no way I felt like setting up my tent. I was just about to crash on a picnic table in my sleeping bag when I found another place to sleep. It was the roof covered playground equipment. It turns out there is enough room for two complete with roll bars so you don't fall out.
I finally got out of my sleep bag around 9am sunday morning and it apparently rained during the night so the picnic table might have been a bad first choice. After a quick breakfast we all headed down to the river where I spent some time taking pictures and going for swmims in the river. I decided I needed a weekend of no paddling and was quite content with floating around being quite relaxing.
Link to pictures for sunday are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157606956444047/
After that it was some good byes before heading home.
