September is upon us and like most, I look back on our lovely summer which flew by much too fast. It seems like our personal motto is “What can we possibly fit in this space of time to maximize our play time on the water?” Just last week we looked at the house and thought that it would probably be a good thing to do some house maintenance. What can we do in 3 days? True to the motto, we packed re leveling a garden wall, grinding down 2 butternut tree stumps, regrading the back yard, conditioning the soil (read clay) with sand and seeding soil for grass. Dawn to dusk.
Our summer was the same, packed with fun and adventure!
We started with ACA North American OC Slalom Championships in Wausau, Wisconsin. Although I was concerned with our level of fitness due to our busy winter and spring with family duties, we did extremely well and a personal best for me – 4 golds, 2 silver, only woman to have a clean run and fastest woman paddler. Andrew brought in 3 golds, 3 silver and one bronze. It is also a meeting of friends and we were happy to see familiar faces, share stories and race together. Afterwards we joined a group to paddle the Wolf River inWisconsin, a mix of creek, gorge and sometimes big features. Definitely to do again!
Next we went down to our annual visit to the Deerfield River and paddled for 3 days, visited Boston for a quick overnight (thank you Ken and Ellen Glusman!), and then went up to the coast of Maine for a quick hello to the ocean. Lobster!!! Yum!!
We then spent 5 days at MKC for our Dream Trip Course, combining honing up whitewater skills in both tandem and solo with strategies to making a trip experience smooth – whether a day trip or one of several weeks. Great fun!!
Interspersed in this was the MKC Slalom Series happening once a month in June, July and August. Thank you to all the volunteers who really make it happen!! Always a good time and fun to share strategies and ideas with folks new to the sport. We also had some exciting runs down the Ottawa and Gatineau Rivers.
Coming up is the Gull River Race in Minden Sept 7-8th. Added excitement will be trips later this fall to the Upper Yough, Upper Gauley, and the Moose River Weekend. Perhaps most exciting of all will be our trip to Costa Rica as guest instructors with Esprit Dec 28 – Jan 4 for some amazing canoeing. Come and join us!! Contact Esprit at www.whitewater.ca or email them for info at costarica@whitewater.ca