Sit silently; enjoy the morning sun. Breathe deeply as the warmth spreads throughout your body. Inhale the freshness that comes just after sunrise. Take a mental picture- sparkling Lago Choshuenco dancing in the slight breeze. Marvel at the green, rolling mountains enveloping the lake; admire the perfection in the clouds sitting timidly atop the hills. Tune your ears to the chirp-chirps and the peep-peeps; find the birds scuttling beneath the leafy, shade trees. Now look just beside you at the student who is also writing on this beautiful morning at this enchanting lake. Watch your student enjoying the serenity of this place as she puts her own feelings on paper. Welcome to New River Academy!
Listen to the people yelling dinner is ready. Scurry over to the glowing, leafy haven of the quincho. Pick out a good seat next to a friend and some colorful grub. Chat away about the going-on’s of the day. Look out, as Lorena places more scrumptious food on the table. Inhale all the aromas wafting around you. Smell the roasting pork and beef on the crackling fire. Hear the ooh’s and aah’s of the marvelous feast. Hold up the ginormous sphere of bread that is bigger than your face. Munch on the tomato-y mixture of the pico de gallo. Glance around at your big, crazy, smiling family. Comment on something you find absolutely absurd. Let yourself laugh joyfully with everyone else who got the most recent joke. Join the chorus of “thank-you’s” to Dave and Lorena. Watch the embers of the once-large fire sparkle in the coming darkness. Grab your dirty dish to clean off in the sink. Wait in line behind the other five people who decided to do the same. Help out with the rest of the dirty dishes. Walk back to the cabins; chill out and watch the newest downloaded movie. Sigh happily; another amazing day at the best school around.
Here is the latest info on the Upper Maipo River run down here in Chile. The Upper Maipo section is definately big water.
From the start at the end of the Rio Yeso the Maipo is a full on river run. There are many large pour-overs as well as tons of huge waves. There is little to no flat water between the rapids with many little waves to play on as well as holes. The biggest main rapid is called French Curve. French Curve consists of a very large pour-over as well as two undercut rocks on river right. The whole rapid curves left hence the name french curve. At the pour over most of the water pushes right into the undercut rocks making the rapid very dangerous. Portage is strongly recommended. The run should not be taken lightly after french curve. The water is still huge and there are also many huge pour-overs and waves that are able to flip a boat at any moment.
Definite class 4-5
Don’t let the description scare you though, it is 100% fun.
Tino Specht Checking in here with a very late but needed coaches report. Now that my blog is up and running you can expect to see these weekly or more.
We have had a very exciting quarter so far with a ton of huge waves starting on the Ottawa River and then some amazing river running on the Gauley and Upper Yaugh rivers.
Our first destination was the Ottawa River stationed in Beachburg, Ontario. The Ottawa is known for its warm water and perfect play features but before we could get out surfing we had to run our safety clinic which teaches basic to advanced techniques of rescue and group dynamics. Here is the short video, video class put together to give you guys a peek into our first safety training.
Our weekly paddling schedule looks something like this.
Monday: Safety Training and Freestyle Technique ( we like to start our weeks off with safety training and a new technique every day, this way the athletes have safety fresh in their minds the rest of the week as well as being able to build upon their already solid river rescue foundation)
Wednesday: Race Day and Down River Training ( On this day we scout extensively rapids together as a group and then hold some sort of a river race. This helps the athletes to pick apart a rapid and identify where they want to go with the easiest fastest lines that take the least effort or the safest lines)
Thursday: Freestyle Training ( We pick two moves a day and work intensively on them. This gives the athletes the confidence to try the moves on their own. Its all about getting over that first hump)
Friday: Competition Day ( All the skills and technique that the athletes have been working on all week comes to a point and they get to test themselves against their personal goals and their piers)
West Virginia
Since coming down to West Virginia we have had some epic days on the Gauley River since it is in our back yard. ( I know tough life eh?) The Gauley is loaded with great playspots for our freestyle training but the really cool thing about this river is that you can make it as hard or easy as you want to. Its perfect for the whole group. The river doesn’t run during the week so we have been doing tons of other outdoor activities after school. Frisbee Golf is a favorite of everyone and Dave Hughes learned that when you take a bunch of incredible young athletes and introduce them to a new game, they are going to get better than you very quickly. Anyway. Just a quick update of whats going on here.
Hope you enjoy the pictures.
Tino
Frisbee Golf
After an Amazing Turkey Dinner
Tino And Dave Flying the Helicopter
The Family After A Swimming Session
Taylor and Tracy making and amazing Dinner
Alex Scouting a hole on the Ottawa River during a Safety Class
Clay Throwing a rope to real someone in during a safety class on the Ottawa River
Yesterday, for our photo class Melina suprised us by taking us on a nice fall stroll. We stopped at this little glorious place on the side of the road that had so many places to capture action. We had a picture taking spree because of all the perfect picture oppurtunites. I had fun being the model for some but I also enjoyed being the director too. It was so cool setting them up where I wanted them to be in my shots. For my photos, I had people hiding in the field of cattails playing hide and seek almost. I also had them playing around a do not trespass sign because we all like living on edge. We are kayakers after all. Well I hope you enjoy perusing my photos as much as I enjoyed taking them the other day.
Creative writing is one my most enjoyable classes. I’m the only student in that class and it’s so cool. For my first assignment, I needed to choose a photograph and let all my ideas flow freely. Usually in writing you have no idea where to begin. The photo helped narrow my ideas because I only had to write about the things going on in it. So you write without punctuation and just let your mind go and write down everything that comes to mind. That is why the punctuation in this is non-existent. I wrote this as if I was the person in the photograph.
bubbly excitement to get the shot to impress them all my chance to shine show what i can do what i can capture and portray so simply it gives me my own way to express my emotion how i feel from comedic to a complete and utter seriousness it can be whatever i choose how in control i feel like i am the mastermind behind it all this ingenious plan in which i am the king controlling all these silly pawns to their place in it all however sometimes the candid remarks or movements i catch them doing can become the most perfect unplanned addition isn’t it all about those little things anyways watching this unfold before my eyes is quite the joy the satisfaction of the accomplishment that almost everyone has felt before does that mean my work is in vain it is not showing my individuality my specialness my gift to the world no it does it does only for the fact that my heart my soul every little piece of me goes into the final product i put out what a comtemplation what silly ideas have you thought up now you crazy mind oh the things i see that no one else ever will even in their wildest dreams where it has taken me where it will now where it will then it seems so long ago i was the one tiptoeing around in the sand avoiding the lapping tide then as my knowledge grew there i was swimming with the brightly colored fish and anemones and now finally i have boarded my own sailboat i am in control of it all except where the winds will take me i can fly across the sea with the sails taught and tidy i know my course i already know what the wind has planned for me now
Yesterday, we had SRT training at the rapid where Garbarator is located. The video class students were filming us for their production of the training. When I wasn’t in their shots I was able to get some nice photos of everything going on. All of the action was a lot of fun to shoot. In general I think everyone had a fun time doing the training.
Picture I Took of Stephen Forster Surfing Corner Wave
Today was the first day of school here at NRA and I have to say this was the most I’ve ever enjoyed a school day. In the morning, we woke up and had a workout which was quite refreshing. When we finished with that we walked back over to the cabins we’re staying in to be greeted by a tasty breakfast of huevos rancheros. Then we got ready and started all our classes. It was so cool being the only person in my first class that was something totally new for me. At the school I used to attend, a class would usually consist of about 20 people. Having the small classes like we do now is absolutely amazing. I love having more attention from the teachers and how you can ask your questions right away. It’s definitely going to help me excel that much more. After our 4th period we had lunch which was a goulash of rice, beans, and some other yummy things. I’m pretty sure we were all starting to get pumped about being able to get out on the river right after school. When we did finish school we had a quick clean up of all our living spaces and then geared up to go surf on “Corner Wave”. I brought my camera with me and I was so excited to start working on figuring out how to take a good photo. I spent quite a bit of time just taking photos of all my peers and I was having so much fun. It was definitely an enjoyable experience and I’m so stoked about photography now. I can’t wait to keep working on it and become a good photographer.
