Bryan Kirk's Page

We are now less than 2 weeks away from the US Freestyle Team Trials. This means that there are quite a few freestyle boaters right now who are feeling anxious, excited, focused, and generally fired up to try out for the opportunity to represent the USA in the 2013 Worlds in September. 

Worlds and Team Trials are unique this year. They are both held on the Nantahala River in NC, which means Team USA will get quite the home field advantage at Worlds. Our trials should select the…

These days the loop, or front flip, is the most popular trick in the book for the current crop of playboats. There are a few variations of the loop, such as the Space Godzilla, Phonix Monkey(360-Flip), and the Mcnasty. Dan Gavere called the Mcnasty a 180-Flip while announcing at the Reno Whitewater Fest a few years back - and I thought that described the move perfectly. 

A Mcnasty is a loop initiated from a back surf, or in a steeper hole, a back blast. It is one of the…

As we roll into the coldest time of the year for the northern hemisphere, I am keeping myself fired up by setting my sights on the 2013 Freestyle World Championship. I am especially excited and motivated this time around since the site of the Worlds is in North Carolina - only 5 hours from my home base of Fayetteville, WV. If there is any single advantage to preparing for a kayaking event, it is being able to spend many hours at the actual competition site. This does wonders to prepare…

The beginning of November will bring on Wave Sport's first new creek boat in around 6 years, in 3 sizes. This may be the most-prototyped creeker of all time, with hoards of different prototypes in the different sizes being tested and carefully refined over the past year. We set out with the goal of shaping the most predictable and safe creek boat ever designed. 

After numerous rounds of prototypes of Wave Sport's latest creek boat, the Recon is coming into its own as one of…

The men kicked off the 1st event of the 2012 World Cup of Freestyle promptly at 10am. Competitors only had a handful of short practice rides in the past couple days, which was an interestingly even playing field amongst non-locals. As expected, the locals are all right on up there in the standings, and some talent from various other countries did quite well considering. Team WS's Martin Koll from Germany took the #9 spot with an amazing blunt-mcnasty combo.

Here's Martin's…