We are well into fourth quarter here at New River Academy,and things are going great. The quarter started off with an awesome trip to the Tallulah Gorge which runs only a couple times a year. The Tallulah is a class IV creek with really fun rapids. Oceana is the big thing on the Tallulah. It is a 100 foot slide with a small boof at the top, a huge 15 foot rooster tail 3/4 of the way down, and a shallow sticky hole at the bottom. It looks really intimidating, and at first glance, all I thought was no way. Of course I ran it though, and the adrenaline rush and release after was ridiculous. I was shaking. It was so awesome.
Jackson Conn looks out at Oceana Rapid on the Tallulah Gorge run.
Next New River took on Brave wave in Rock Island Tennessee. The wave was super fun, and students and teachers alike were throwing huge. It was great training for Team Trials, which many of us students are trying out for late May. While at Brave Wave, the famous Billy Harris came in as a guest coach for a week. He was an amazing coach and helped everyone with their moves. It was a cool experience to get to learn from one of the best kayakers in the world in a one on one type setting.
Jason Craig about to run the New River Gorge in West Virginia…He forgot his pants apparently…
After Rock Island, Students had the choice of going back to the Tallulah, or going to the Ocoee. I chose to go to the Ocoee. The Ocoee river in Tennessee is a super fun play run. Isaac Holden and Jason Aytes both knew the run well, and showed the rest of us all the cool secret playspots. There were so many different lines you could take on all the rapids, the river never got boring.
Alex Shallhorn and David Hughes goof around by the Ocoee River in Tennessee
The next week, a few of the students went to the Green River, but most of us went back to West Virginia. There we ran the New River Gorge, which is probably my favorite run ever. It is not hard, but there is so much play, and lots of big fun wave trains. We have been running the gorge every day basically, and I still look forward to it tomorrow.
Alex Shallhorn and I after running the New River Gorge in West Virginia
School is going great, the kayaking has been amazing, and everyone seems happy. We leave for Canada thursday morning, so, I’ll have more to write about soon! (MINI BUS!!!)
-Tracy d’Arbeloff
If you want to read more about my travels, you can go check out my blog at WRSI or Still River Outfitters.com .
