So what are your goals for the new year. I have some reachable and some lofty objectives.
Among the top are get back to ALF and not swim my butt off.
Get some more of Alex's taco's.
Man up and run the sinks no matter how cold I am this year.
Learn to take good river video on the Canon 7D.
buy a chainsaw and fix a few stituations
Buy a Plastic welder and Practice before my canoe needs it.
Master the mysterious ways of the Cross J.
one of my tougher goals of rapids to run in a canoe this time:
-Get a reliable roll for flipping to the offside.
-Run my first Class V rapid
-Run my first Class IV-V stretch
-Buy at least one more paddle...just to enhance the paddle collection.
-Run more metro-Atlanta creeks
-Run a true waterfall
-60+ days on the water this year
Matt Todhunter
Ridge Spirit Outfitting - Custom Bulkhead Canoe Saddles
Paddle like Creeker
Paddle with the big boys at ALF
Run some gnar in my own backyard, solo descents if it has to be that way.
Teach 50 people to paddle
Stay safe and have fun
Be comfortable on the UY, and hit the UG during Gauley Fest
Develop a marketing plan for canoes which makes them the number two means of transportation, behind wingsuits
Run "The Fairy Glen" before the 2011/2012 academic year is out.
Improve my playboating - Finally enter the BritChamps in OC1 with a serious hope of winning.
Get back into Slalom at at least a Div2 standard.
Bring my time on my local WWR down to sub 9.30 (over 2.1mi)
I've been fixing to do the glen for about as long as I can remember, I didn't feel confident about it until recently, and I've been too absorbed in my research so far this year to do anything about it; but it's gotta be done.
The rest could be considered training of sorts... but also, I raced competitively for the first time in my life last year, and suprisingly ranked just below the national team athletes, and all with about 2 months training and doubtful fitness; I don't hold any pretentions of becoming a proper athlete, but competive paddling is addictive for sure!
Joshua Kelly - "More George Smiley than James Bond"
CBoats Moderator - Not necessarily representing the CBoats staff though...(I'll use words like "moderator", "We" and "CBoats" to make it clear when I am)
Boat more class 4
Swim less class 4
Develop a bomber roll In the new Prelude
re-outfit the deathtrap c-1 im running
get out to some gatherings this year (ohiopyle, ALF, gauley, deerfield whatever gas money and time alllows)
what a nice thread, I haven't thought about making a list of goals so far
well, it could be:
- learn to feel, making that boat fly and glide smoothly, bringing on the speed
- learn to read (the water)
- travel far
- rock it hard
and an assortment of alpine rivers
- mittlere Ötz (a river in the alps)
- another river section I only will announce in public when I've made it
- Taugl
- Rißbachklamm
- and many more....
it's gettin hot
I MAKE THE WATER BURN
purple orange flames
blaze where I put my paddle
-convince the wife that dropping tons of loot on a new Option will actually make our marriage stronger
-help make Westfest an annual reality
-help make the SoFo Armada a reality
-basically help unite the scattered west coast OC/C1 community
-not get thrashed as much
I'm sure there's more, but right now I'm a bit preoccupied with the extreme lack of snow (and therefore water!) in my area. Hope you all are enjoying a bit of a soggier winter than we are here in Tahoe.
when I started boating I promised myself I would never run class 5.
a year later I promised myself I would run the Narrows by the end of the season.
My plans were always interrupted. Every promise broken, I ran things I said I never would (which made me excessively scared) and ran things when I was not ready to meet goals. I racked up 40,000 dollars of medical bills (thank god for insurance) in three years.
Then my mentor sate me down and said this- "Check the levels, then check your gut, make a decision every day if you are going boating or not."
Since this my goal has always been this: "Go boating, if it is not fulfilling get of the river."
I have much more fun and feel better about it ever since I stopped trying to prove something to myself.
John
P.S. Wayne you might like this, just put it together: http://vimeo.com/34176092" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;