So here's a question.

[bearboater]

What schools have a slalom club nearby, or affiliated to the school? I am thinking of where I am going to go back to finish school Physics and Phylosophy with a minor in Religion (possibly), and I really want there to be a year round Slalom club with a good practice venue near to the campus, or at least not too far away from the school. anyone know/have experience with a collegiate experience of this nature?
as always, I thank you for your help.
cheers
-isaac

[Bob P]

Probably best to work backward: Find where there are permanent slalom practice sites and then find any nearby schools. DC, Durango and NOC come to mind first, but I also found the Oregon club. There may be gates in Richmond too. I don't know how public the Charlotte site will be.

[Martyn]

you could try Ottawa if the Pumphouse is back in operation. There are two universities and both the Ottawa and Gatineau are in your back yard.

[sbroam]

I saw gates on Lake Washington in Seattle, too - flatwater, of course, but they must have them for a reason. UW I think must have something to do with them.

[edg]

I think Bob P. hit it on the head. If I were young again, I'd be thinking the same way. If school is a priority, I'd think Washington D.C. (B.C.E/ Georgetown, American, etc.); Atlanta (A.C.E, Georgia Tech, Emory, Etc., Pennsylvania (Penn State, Dave Kurtz's program, but less year round, I'd guess), Seattle (U.W., see League of Northwest Whitewater Racer's website for training sites). I'd also take a pretty hard look at what school's are available near Charlotte, N.C., based on the new whitewater center. Have fun and good luck....Edg

[bearboater]

Thanks for the beta guys, I have checked the League of NWWR's website, and paddled a few of their courses. What are the courses like out east? All I have seen in photos are the new Charlotte park, the site that hosted the Olympics(nanty?), Dickerson, and thats about it. I am planning a month long extravaganza out east in the spring. The only school's that I had thought about before I posted this were Penn. State and Western Washington because of it's proximity to the Chiliwack(40 or so miles), and the northern part of the Washington series.
thanks
cheers
-isaac

[bearboater]

Even though: i bought a boat from him, he and his racers stayed at my house on the way to age group nationals, we talked about making a club here in Missoula, I completely forgot about dave kurtz' program. :lol: I'll have to talk to him, I just remembered he's not too far from Penn, I had thought about Penn for being in the northern middle of the action. this needs further delving into.
thanks guys
-isaac

[TomAnon]

Isaac,

I am partial to the Washington D.C. area. I grew up in Bethesda, MD and now live in Laytonsville. Montgomery County Communtiy college has lots of two year programs that have almost all credits transferrable to U of Maryland. Other schools include, Goerge Washington, George Mason, Johns Hopkins, American U. and Capitol College. I attended Capitol which is an Engineering and CS School(Astronomical, Electrical, Electronics, Computer, IA...) with a 100% employment upon graduation guarantee. The Fed Govt. is a pretty good group to work for as well and very flexible with work hours. Plenty of Govt contractors around as well. If you cannot get a good job around here, you just do not want to work. I see rooms available in Brookmont, MD which is short walk from the Feeder Canal. A lot of Slalom boaters live in Brookmont. Dickerson is a thirty minute drive north. The boating is good for most of the year, 10.5 to 11 months and if you hook up with a coach, the US Navy's David Taylor Model basin is even open for training in the winter evenings. The basin is all indoors and consists of two very long pools, 1/4 mile long indoor pools. Then with Adventure Sports International, home of the White Water Hall of Fame opening in McHenry, MD I think the area will offer a tremendous amount of variety in training. Charlotte is not to far away either for the occasional development camps and races.

It is a given that Charlotte will get a lot of attention as it has the premier course in the USA. Many of the top US Coachs will set up shop there. Southern Schools are traditionally cheaper in tuition. Charlotte is a nice city and people are very friendly. There is just not much other whitewater or training venues available in that area.

Drop a note when you know what your plans are this spring and let me know if I can help you out.

Hope this helps,

Tom

[noobopenboater]

dont forget University of Tennessee, close to nanti and olympic ww course at the ocoee.

[NZMatt]

Hiya

If you head to Cornell and hook up with Cornell Outdoor Education, they have instructor pool nights on Sundays through the winter and they often put the gates up. There are a few slalom paddlers around and it's not too far to the NE series. Not the best location for it though, and you would need to teach with COE, or atleast get involved with them.

There was also a slalom course set up on the outlet to one of the Finger Lakes, about an hour from Ithaca that had releases frequently through the summer, but I can't remember the exact details. Still, it's a good school, and you definitely should include that in your criteria

The Cornell Outing Club doesn't really have anything to do with slalom, but they have a big bunch of active paddlers to hook up with for non-slalom trips.

Cheers
Matt

[Alden]

Isaac,

I guess people have really hit the basic areas so far. I would keep New England in mind for one subtle reason - you can race a lot. You can race almost every weekend from late March through early June. Then you can do it again for many weekends in the Fall.

You can do that to a limited extent in PA, but those races are mostly flatwater.

Racing every weekend with your friends can be a lot more fun than just training all the time on some artificial course and having to drive 7 hours to actually compete more than twice a year (the case for DC and Charlotte).

Of course if you're really serious though, you'd be up for that kind of thing.

Alden

[KNeal]

Your query sparked a memory of an article that Paddler magazine published several years ago about paddling colleges. A quick search on their site netted me this link:

http://www.paddlermagazine.com/issues/1 ... leges.html

Info looks real good. Check them out and compare them to the courses they offer. It offers some additional stats you may not have thought of as important, but once you go through the stuff, you'll see there is more than boating that you need to consider.

KNeal