When I stopped playing baseball I started whitewater kayaking. I was instantly addicted. I got pretty good pretty quick. But just like with baseball the more reps you take the more prepared you are for different situations. The difference is that a slip up on Class V, whitewater will kill you. Slip up on the field will go in the book as an E6.
I've always had this thought process, be it in baseball, or business, or whitewater, that I wanted the best people around me. I know I'm good and prepared so if the people around me are EVEN better then me, then we should make an awesome team! So I'm constantly searching for better paddlers to get run rivers with. Sometimes that means young hot shot high school or college kids. Sometimes that means "old timers" that own kayaks older then me.
Like any hobby the friends you make are as important as the actual hobby. Now, I'm known as the kayaker to all my "baseball" friends, and known as the baseball guy to all of my "kayaker" friends. I'll take that.
I used to get 150+ days on Class III to V whitewater every year. Fewer days now. Some of the more notable rivers I've run include the Upper Gauley (WV), New River Gorge (WV), Upper & Top Yough (Friendsville, MD), Chattooga Section IV & Tallulah Gorge (last 2 where Deliverance was filmed), Big Sandy (WV), Gore Canyon on Colorado, and my home river the James River in Richmond, Va can be as big and intense as any river during a flood.
Any other paddlers on here?
Rich
www.PlayInSchool.com