There is nothing like watching it rain across the New River drainage and slowly the water builds up in the river until it finally dumps through the New River Gorge ending in the Dries.  As I am writing this the New is coming through the 30,000 cfs range hopefully peaking at 50,000 tomorrow to create one of the most epic waves I have ever surfed!  

        The New is a unique big water run.  Flowing North from North Carolina through Virginia finally ending in West Virginia when…

In order for me to give you my full experience, I am actually going to insert three different blog posts that I wrote on TadDennis.com.  These posts were written before the event, after the prelims, and after the final.  Also, I have done many Slalom races but this is my first real Freestyle event.  So I may compare many things to Slalom racing.  I hope you enjoy!  

Preparing for US Freestyle Team…

I am thrilled to be a part of Team Wave Sport!  I have had the privilege to meet many of the Team Wave Sport members at Freestyle Team Trials, and I have been very impressed with their kindness and how willing they have been to help me out with my first real freestyle event.  They also supported each other at the event and acted as a real Team.  Anyway, many of you are wondering who I am, so here you go.

If you want to know all about me, Tad Dennis, then I should start from…

We've had a couple of good weeks on the road.  It started off heading to North Conway, NH for the Mount Washington Tuckerman Inferno Pentathlon.  The Inferno is a 8.3 mile run, 5 mile kayak, 18 mile bike, 3 mile hike, and skiing down Tuckermans Ravine. That's what it usually is. This year it rained the night before and the river rose pretty high and the organizers decided to cancel the race on the river and make the kayak a flat water race.  Another change this year was the…

All Photos Courtesy of Sam Fulbright, Pilot Collective Media…

Day 2 of the Northwest Creeking Competition came as racers woke misty eyed from the nearby Macklemore dance-off. Breakfast was cooked for the Hood River Gorge-ians by The Kayak Shed (Special thanks to John Hart and the crew!), and we were off to an early…

The Sea Otter Classic is to mountain biking what the Northwest Creeking Competition is to whitewater paddling. This event draws hundreds of paddlers and spectators alike as folks have the opportunity to compete in three downriver races in two days. It is also the second event of the Western Whitewater Championship Series, the NW's premiere whitewater racing series. This was my fifth year attending the event, and one that will always…

Here is the Heliconia's newest creation.

Expect more of these in the future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkZTJr48qyg&feature=youtu.be

Enjoy.

Tyler 

Here I leave a little video of the training week in Millau.

Good company, training ...

Edited by Iker Carreto.

This past weekend was the first down river race on the Lower Millers in MA.  It's a class II section with a class III rapid called the Funnel which is a fun rapid that's a big wave train.  

It was part of the NECKRA race series so a bunch of racers came to paddle.   Jeff has been racing with me so it's been super fun, we are not competing against each other yet since he's paddling in the short boat class and I'm paddling in the long boat class but soon enough that will change.  My…

Hello from Russia, where the snow just began to melt and the river is still under ice. In order to open the season, we have to go south, to the Ukraine, where spring comes a little earlier, than we have.

Freestyle kayaking - young sport in Russia. We have very few places for playboating, but a lot of for…

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…

Vacation Week for school children. Catalonian concentration by the Autonomous Federation, with 6 paddlers club: Aran, Judith, Kira, Dani, Iker, to spend a week training in one of the most perfect places to learn freestyle moves for all levels of paddlers, with coach Jacko…

This is the reason why the dams are a very stupid way to spend money in the river...

I think in this video shows clearly the normal death of this walls built in the river. The river don't like concrete in its bed. I do believe the only possible action to slow down rivers is to create natural looking rapids with big rocks.

 …

On the road back from Prague, I stopped in Lyon for a little freestyle session. The wave wasn't quite was I expected it to be. It was bubbling with a mind of its own. Got trashed couple of times - Wave: 1/ Nouria: 0 ! looking forward to the return match !

Vidéo

Paddlers gather just below the Finish Line (Photo: Zach Collier)

The day was Saturday, March 13, 2013. The Wind River was at 5.9ft, a perfect medium flow with just enough juice to cover the F’U rocks. The last Pedialyte had been drank, and the…

I have received some flack about this writeup, please understand this is MY interpretation of the situation. Everyone we meet in this area was exceedingly friendly, and I am hopeful to return to this amazing community.…

I've been out of the scene for a few months enjoying my winter in VT.  We've had lots of snow this winter and it's been pretty cold.  I spent most of my time working at Timber Creek Cross Country and doing a lot of classic and skate skiing.  It was finally time to get out of VT and start paddling.  I headed to WV for a week bringing snow and cold temps with me.  I got some great days in on low water New River Dries and the Gorge section.  It was a great week getting myself comfortable in my…