From Green Truss to the Nantahala

The Challenge of Slalom

You Are Never Too Good for a River

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Nantahala Racing Club Wins American Canoe Association’s 2016 Stroke of Achievement Award

 Bryson City, N.C. (October, 2017)— Nantahala Racing Club, Western North Carolina’s incubator for aspiring paddlesports athletes, earned recognition by the American Canoe Association for “superior performance and program development” among ACA-affiliated clubs nationwide. The award will be presented to NRC’s special director Chris Hipgrave at the ACA Annual Banquet & Awards Ceremony on November 12 in Sausalito, CA.

Nantahala Racing Club specializes in the development of slalom, freestyle, and downriver paddlesports athletes. Founded in 1989 to support top-level canoe and kayak athletes training for the Olympics, NRC recently shifted its focus and now develops and supports athletes of all ages and ability levels through a variety of training resources and events. NRC’s commitment to competitive paddlesports is also balanced with a mission to engage youth and families in whitewater sport.

The club’s new direction has been recognized by The North Face, which awarded NRC a major $25,000 Explore Fund grant in 2014 for “outdoor education and outing programs for youth from underserved communities that provide exposure to outdoor activities and build skills for life success.” And in 2016 alone, NRC won five different grants: a Patagonia Environmental Grant, a Columbia Sportswear/Grassroots Outdoor Alliance Belay Grant, the Great Smokies Health Foundation Grant, a Cherokee Preservation Foundation grant and a Craig H. Nielson Foundation grant. These grants recognize NRC’s important work serving kids, minority populations, paddlers with spinal cord injuries and the river environments where club members paddle.

NRC Executive Director Sam Gaughan commented, “2016 has been the best year yet for the club. Our swelling membership and outreach efforts have been matched with strong recognition and support from partners and donors. We’re introducing more paddlers to the outdoors and serving more communities than we thought possible even a couple of years ago. The momentum behind the organization is palpable whenever we get together on the water.”

Learn more about NRC’s programs, including the Nantahala Kids Club, NRC Family Whitewater Weekends, After School Kayaking, Youth Training, Friday Night Adult Slalom and special events and open-to-the-public races at nantahalaracingclub.com

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It’s race season in the southeast!  Spring always welcomes in a host of well known races held across the southeast. Many of the races are citizen races (open to the public) and offer opportunities for paddlers to test their slalom skills., as well as down river and some good-humored boatercross events.

In February, the Alabama Race series kicked off with the first Locust Fork event.  March welcomes in the Mulberry Fork Race,  followed by one of spring’s favorites: NRC Glacier Breaker, the second Locust Fork race, the Alabama Mountain Games (this year dedicated to BomberGear Founder Richard Franken), and the NRC/Bank of America US Open.

Don’t be shy about participating in the events. They are fun, competitive but not intimidating,, many include good music and regional entertainment, and they all provide a great opportunity to learn how much slalom and river running actually compliment each other.

Endless River Adventures is a proud supporter of these events.

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The Nantahala Race Club (NRC) is committed to increasing youth participation in slalom, freestyle – and just kayaking in general.  This year will bring in a whole new set of programs for slalom, freestyle and recreational boaters to enjoy.

This spring will bring in the third season of the Nantahala Kids Club (NKC) sessions. NKC is a six-week program designed to promote paddle sports among young people in local Nantahala community. The aim is to provide an opportunity for participants to have fun and build friendships while challenging themselves and developing as athletes. Sponsored by the NRC, Endless River Adventures and NOC this program has really generated enthusiasm in the local community.

This year, the NRC will schedule a calendar of Youth Slalom Mini-Camps.  Open to the public, the mini-camps are intended to introduce young paddlers to the competitive aspects of paddling in a fun, supportive atmosphere. Designed for kids who already have a grasp on basic paddling mechanics, Mini-Camps focus on key river-running skills: balance, precision, and introductory slalom technique. While NRC’s Mini-Camps have been predominately slalom-focused in the past, the goal is to branch out to other disciplines in the coming months.

Not wanting to leave out the grown-ups, the NRC will also schedule a number of Friday evening sessions for folks interested in training in slalom. Stay tuned for more!!

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Local southern favorites like Warren Wilson College, Georgia Tech and Georgia State are always enthusiastic participants at the event.  Last year a surprise showing of force arrived from Virginia: the combo team of Sweet Briar and Hollins College.  Returning again this year, the womens’ college team is fired up for another great event!

Tasha Gillum, outdoor director for Sweet Briar College (SBC) and Jon Guy Owens, Hollins’ outdoor director (HOP), are the support team behind this great group of ladies.  Coming up on the weekend, we pulled the two aside to reflect on what brought the schools to the competition and what their strategy is for this year.

A Sweet Briar/Hollins team showing up for the race series. When did this come about?

Tasha (along with Kate, SBC’s team leader): We have gone to regionals/state three times now.  This will be our 2^nd time at Nationals. We started going because Jon Guy got Laura Staman (former SBC director) jazzed about it.  Then we, the students, got excited because we got to meet other boaters (we were a little reclusive at that point) and get out on new rivers!

Jon Guy: This is the 4^th year that Hollins has traveled to the National Championships, and the 3^rd time on the Tuck.  The first National Championships was in Fredericksburg over Fall break.  We decided to go up and try it out for fun.  Getting to hang out with other schools, with other boaters sold the deal.  The big motivator was realizing that with some with work we could actually do well.  Maybe not win, but we knew we could get people’s attention.

Hollins and Sweet Briar have always had some good rivalries in sports. How did you two bond for racing together?

Laura/Kate:  There is nothing like a little innocent rivalry to get students psyched! SBC and Hollins have had a great time paddling together, competing and supporting each other. SBC boaters look forward to meeting up with the ladies they’ve formed friendships at races and other events like swift water rescue classes. It has been fun to have two women’s paddling groups coming together to do what they love – and encourage each other through competition and support of each other.

Jon Guy: I would say the bond has come together in the sense of sisterhood.  Hollins wanted to Sweet Briar to do well because they were so similar.  It was less about school pride and more about women getting the chance to compete on par with men.  They love making men squirm at the thought of losing to a women.  I am not sure if they would say that, but I know its true.

What is the students’  favorite part of the event?

Laura/Kate: The opportunity to get out and paddle with a community – meet other boaters and have a fun day on the river.

JonGuy:  I think that the women at Hollins really enjoy that they have done so well.  It is not lost on them that they really know that the time could come when they get crushed again, so they are enjoying it.  In many ways it reinforces their choice to come to Hollins, be successful in a male dominated arena.

Okay, without spoiling your strategy, what is the goal for this years competition?

Laura: Our ladies aim to do their personal best in the kayaking races. We don’t have a well rounded program so we focus on the kayak portion – we know it won’t bring us an overall win but the ladies have fun getting out on a different river, trying to their best and meeting other boaters.

Kate:  We don’t go to win, we go to have fun. ACA is cool because you can be as competitive as you want to be. At nationals last year we wanted to get on new rivers, work on our paddling skills, meet new people and have a good time. We go to become better paddlers.

JonGuy:  Our goal is to really have strong representation in all of the events.  OC1, OC2,  & K1.  This is the best way for us to come out on towards the top of the pile in the end.  It is hard to win a single event, there are some great teams out there.  Consistency is our best bet at getting in the top 3 again.

We’d love to hear any final thoughts leading into next weekend?

Kate:  ACA’s offer a time for new boaters and old boaters alike to get out and meet more boaters. States is better for new boaters and we have had more beginners come with us on those trips than to nationals. It has been cool to meet other boating schools, particularly Hollins, and I hope that more schools start coming to these events!

JonGuy: My biggest thoughts towards the women that have been racing is the fact that it has really pulled whitewater paddling into the forefront at HOP and Hollins. The spirit of completion has motivated them to strive to be better paddlers.  They check out boats more often, they work out more often, and they are starting a club with the full intent of helping to support the competitors.  It has created a sense of identity for many of them, which is incredibly important to many of them.  They are accused of being too much of a clique.  Imagine that, a HOP clique!!!

Tasha: The ACA’s races have given the SBC boaters an opportunity to rally as a team and work toward goals – individual and team goals. The veteran paddlers encourage new ladies to join the team and compete each fall. It’s something to rally around and a way to build community. I’d second Jon Guy- even within the SBC Outdoor Program there is a paddling crew. They’re hooked and they encourage each other in pool sessions and on the river. Having a culminating race is a great way to celebrate all their work and be a part of a larger boating community.

Well, obviously the Endless River crew will be cheering for both Sweet Briar and Hollins. We love sharing time on the river with you. And sure enjoy your enthusiasm. The best best of luck!

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In river running there are times when we mess up: we flip, miss an eddy, blow a line. It is not that it happened that determines whether we are good boaters or not, but how we handle the situation.  The well-known slang phrase “shit happens” is so true in kayaking.  Deal with it.  Having trouble with dealing? Try your hand at a bit of slalom training to work through the mental aspect of kayaking and pressure – particularly after messing up on the river.

Slalom is one of the best training grounds for handling the “mess up” factor in kayaking.  When you have an entire course to deal with, there is a chance that you might touch a gate (2 second penalty), miss a gate (50 second penalty), flip (ego penalty), have to work hard to make a move happen (losing time).  When it happens it is important to not let that one incident (or two or five – depending on what kind of run you are going to have) throw you off or be the reason you quit without completing the course.  Deal with it. Keep going.  Even the best athletes touch/miss/flip/hiccup in the middle of a course.

Slalom also helps you learn to deal with outside pressure. At any slalom event, you are being timed, scrutinized by the gate judges, analyzed by your fellow racers, and watched by an audience. It is easy to let that kind of attention make you nervous or feel like quitting if you are not having your best day.  But if you have fourteen gates (for example) and you miss one, was that really a “bad day?”

In river running you might have a bad line through a rapid, or a swim in a rapid.  Do you dwell on it, or do you sit up in your boat and not let that one bad line ruin the rest of your day?  In kayaking you often must deal with the unexpected.  It is part of our sport.  The ability to deal with it just increases your confidence and willingness to get out there and try things.  Having trouble with that aspect of whitewater kayaking? Maybe it is time to try a little bit of slalom to broaden your horizons and improve your mental state on top of improving your technical skills.

Take a lesson away from slalom: it might be time on the river to stop beating yourself up over one rapid and focus on how well you did on the all the rest.

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At this Glacier Breaker, it was not the named slalom boaters who stood out with their smooth pivot turns, ease running a tough course, and lack of swimming–but the participation of a whole new group of boaters, many part of the Nantahala community. Local favorites Matt Anger and Brad Caldwell–both strong freestyle competitors, came out to try their hand at slalom boating for the first time.  Hot shot Adrienne Levknecht—multiple time champion of the Green Race, was cheered on as she debuted in her first slalom race.  Even more enthusiastic was the energy behind youth racers Devon Chasse and Evy Leibfarth, both members of the community’s own Nantahala Kids Club.  Devon and Evy were not the only juniors, with the debut of some junior Asheville paddlers including young Bob Wiggins,  as well as a strong showing of young slalom boaters from the Charlotte Whitewater Center out to test their skills.  Veteran racers in sleek race boats, regional racers out in their plastic boats and junior boaters were all cheered on, as was the father-daughter team of Sam and Avery Davis in from Nashville for the event.

The Glacier Breaker is more than just the slalom competition.  The event also included the season opener for wildwater boaters.  The wildwater event brought out local favorites like Chris Hipgrave, as well as a host of regional competitors– including Team Popp from Chattanooga.

Like all slalom races, the success of the race was not just the result of the number of participants that came out, but the volunteers who worked behind the scene; volunteers such as organizer Zuzana Vanha, NRC president and race starter Steve Zarnowski; head judge Bunny Johns and her crew of judges (judges that included Olympic boaters John Burton and Pablo McCandless); score keepers Jean Folger and Carlyn Chasse – who adeptly kept up with the 40+ racers’ scores through eighteen gates, while holding their breath when their little ones Evy and Devon were on the course.  And that only begins to list the volunteers who made the event successful—many whom gave up competing in the race to work behind the scenes with such responsibilities as hanging the gates before the race to cleaning up long after the boats were loaded up on vehicles headed home.

The Glacier Breaker is the season opener for a whole series of whitewater events that take place every year in the southeast.  Up next on the Nantahala River is the US Open event on March 23 & 24.  This race will up the ante and bring out even more of the big named slalom racers.   If you missed out on the 2013 Glacier Breaker,  make note of the US Open and come out and support another of the exciting events that is held right here in the Nantahala Community.

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This year is a special year for Endless River Adventures: our 20th Anniversary!  And we will be celebrating the people, events, and team members who have made these 20 years so amazing!

For participants and spectators alike, check out our Events Calendar for upcoming events throughout the season.

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Breaking Things Down: Slalom Pivot Turns and Difficult Rapids

Heading into slalom gates can create the same problems that running a more difficult rapid presents: it is too easy to just try and tackle the whole course (aka: rapid) and never understand how to break it down and do it well.

Broken Nose on the Ocoee River is a very good example. The most difficult rapid on the Ocoee, Broken Nose presents multiple directional currents, slow water, ledges and eddies that can be used for better or worse.  Often initial runs through Broken Nose are just survival runs (nothing wrong with that to a certain extent of course!).  Water goes downstream, all boats will end up downstream; it is a given (although there might be some in-between time with hole surfing).  So when a boater “makes it through” Broken Nose that can be considered success.  But was the rapid understood? Were all the features available to use to make the rapid easier used? Can you break the rapid down and understand the various stages throughout?

Heading into a series of slalom gates can present the same challenge. You go charging downstream through the gates at full speed, trying to tie in preturns, moves through one gate to the other, and of course pivot turns through the gates (since they are one of the coolest things to do in slalom).  But if you don’t understand a preturn, or the strokes used for a good pivot turn, or how to keep your nose up across the eddy line, or what boat angle to use on the approach to a gate, then running the gates is an exercise in spinning your wheels.

The answer to running gates/understanding how to better run a rapid? Break it down!

In slalom, back off the entire group of gates and specifically work on a move through one gate and only one gate. Get the approach right. Get the angle right. Get the timing of strokes right so you can throw out that cool looking pivot turn and actually make it through the gate with confidence rather than with luck.

Instead of taking on the whole of Broken Nose on the Ocoee, first run it without catching eddies; then catch the staging eddy to successfully execute the ferry to Eddy #2; then come in behind Eddy #4 to see what the rapid looks like from half way…and so on and so on….

It is not about “making it to the bottom” of a rapid but using everything the river has to offer you to confidently maneuver – and more important, to win style points!

Want to understand more about slalom technique to improve your river running? Check out Ron Lugbill’s awesome blog site about whitewater slalom racing…..

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When the recreational whitewater kayaker thinks about slalom, the first impression is that it is all about speed.  What wins a slalom competition is indeed the fastest time, but there is so much more to it than that.In running a slalom course, winning is as much about some basic principles: presetting boat angles, anticipating the reaction of your boat to unexpected river features, and committing- both to the gate you are going through and the next gate downstream.

How does slalom translate into creek boating?

Take running the Cascades of the Nantahala.  If you struggle a bit with solid lines, it may be that you are not on target with any of the same principles that make a winning slalom boater:

• If you come off JunkYard with the wrong boat angle, there was no making the move between the rocks and you pinned.
• If you misread the water above Big Kahuna and lost angle or momentum due to unexpected eddies or diagonal waves (or this past weekend, holes), you might have blown your line.
• If you are not committed to driving into your eddies, then it was out the back of the eddy you went – always exciting above a ten foot drop.
• If you do not know where your next eddy was there was no way to anticipate that next move.

Try going out to a slalom course with the plan of running it three times. Here is a scenario:
First time through you go way too fast, blow a gate (or two) and nearly lose your balance/flip.
Second time, you slow down to be more deliberate about your moves.
Third time through, you smooth things out.
What you will find is that your time between the first and second runs will be almost identical. And often, the third run is your best time – even though you were not paddling as hard as you could have.

Whether running a set of gates through the Falls…or creeking down the Cascades, the principles behind a successful run are very similar.  Take the time to switch it between river running and slalom and kayaking will be that much more fun!

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