Taylor Cote's Blog (18)

I’d never thought in a million years kayaking would take me where it has and now I’ve ended up in the wilderness of Africa on this amazingly magical island named interestingly enough, the Hairy Lemon. The White Nile has some sick playboating features for right on our doorstep. All we have to do is make a short paddle up the river and assume your place in line for surfs on either the Nile Special or Club Wave depending on the…

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While New River Academy was at the Rio Claro, we had a special opportunity to teach a group of Chilean high school students how to roll. This was definitely something totally different. All of us gathered up enough of our gear to outfit every kid for our clinic and we got together a bunch of our boats together too. Trying to explain all the steps in Spanish to the girl I was teaching was a challenging feat. But, our Spanish teacher was sitting on shore happily answering any questions we had…

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Our last location in Chile was the ski-like town of Pucon. It is definitely one of my favorite places to be in this beautiful country and is very tourist friendly. It is also very kayaker friendly too. It has two

kayak shops in town-Kayak Pucon and Kayak Chile. They both have a plethora of

boats for you to rent. Pucon at this time has so many rivers running like the

Trancura, Palguin, and Maichin for example. Pucon also has other fun things for

you to do…

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One of my favorite rivers we paddle while in Chile is the Upper Palguin. It is about a class 3-4 run. This run is full of waterfalls and boofs galore. You hike in about a quarter mile and cross over a landbridge.

Then you’ll seal launch into the gorge. It is definitely a lot colder when

you’re in it so dress accordingly. Before the first drop is a big eddy for your

whole group to fit into. There is also a place to get out on the right if you

would like…

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This past 10 days at New River Academy we have been staying at the beautiful Rio Claro. There are many sections in this amazing canyon-Veintidos Saltos (22 waterfalls), Entre Saltos (Entry Waterfalls), Siete Tazas (7 Teacups), and the impressive Garganta del Diablo (The Throat of the Devil). We've had the chance to run the picture perfect Siete Tazas with their picture perfect basalt bowls. Each has a waterfall pouring its contents into the next… Continue

Awhile ago, I worked with the fabulous Chris Wing at a sick play spot called “Eternity Hole”. It was great to be able to start working on playboating again and all the fun tricks you can do. During this play session

we worked on loops, eternity hole being one of the friendliest and fun spots to

work on this specific trick. So after working on “plugging” for a bit and how

to make sure your boat doesn’t go off to one side or the other and that it

stayed…

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As some of you already know the New River Academy crew has set up base here on the Ottawa River right now. We’re taking in all the amazing features that are in such as Corner Wave, Babyface, Push button, and the famous

Garbarator. All these features are at wonderful levels especially Garb; it’s at

a prime right now perfect for throwing those big tricks and getting massive

pop. One trick that is great to throw at…

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Your hear the grumbling of the big yellow school buses a never dying symbol of school and know you don’t ride on one of those. Ohhh no, you ride in a much more prestigious, the New River Academy van! The “Huge” logo

stamped on the side and all the stinky kayaking students you can imagine.

Everyone talking about how sick their blunt or airscrew was on the Ottawa that

day. But, this is only the beginning of our…

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This “how to” is a little tid bit on safety on the river. One of the big things that needs to be part of a boaters knowledge is how to throw a throw rope. It can help you in emergency situations and just help pull

your buddy out of the river quickly.

The first step is picking a throw rope of a good…

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Don’t you hate not knowing an efficient, easy way to store your boats? Tired of all the excess space they take up. Well, I have a solution for you! Don’t worry this isn’t some corny infomercial type of deal about some

miracle product. It’s just a simple storage solution that works. So, your hulls

stay “unoil-canned” and your boat stays out of the way.…

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The competition circuit that takes place in Colorado is quite an amazing experience. It all begins with the small town competition in Buena Vista, Colorado, the CKS Paddlefest. The Buena Vista Whitewater Park is

one of the best whitewater parks I have ever been to. It keeps getting better

and better. Last year, they had only 4

features and this year they added one new feature, a wave making it the fifth

feature in this already exciting park. That wave…

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Hey Everyone,

I'm still traveling around with New River Academy and this quarter we have been exploring the beautiful country of Chile. This past week we spent in a hostel next to the Rio Claro.

(c) Taylor Cote



The Rio Claro has quite a few different sections to it: the Ventidos Saltos, the Entres Saltos, and the Siete Tazas.…



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Putting on my gear in hurry, running from my last class period, preparing for what could possibly be one of the biggest things I have run in awhile. The adrenaline the guys had been feeding off of for hours now had finally started reaching my veins, I was ready for this. I was excited, I was intense on my mission for the day, I was ready to kick some butt and show the guys how it’s done because I was the only girl on this run. Driving up the road everyone’s faces were glued to the windows,… Continue

This school year has turned out to be the most amazing year so far, and do you know why? Well, I’m attending New River Academy this year aka Huge Experiences. To be completely honest, it’s the ultimate teen kayakers dream. I have been wanting to attend this high school since I was about 12. When I first arrived at the Fayetteville, West Virginia base, I loaded my Project 45 on the boat rack on top of the white van with the GO HUGE!… Continue

Being back home from the Keener program on the Ottawa is weird. I do however still feel all the newfound confidence the program gave me shining through. I remember one of my crowning achievements there was winning the red ribbon for “Best Beat Down of the Week”. That week was like full of me having realizations of why the instructors were making us do some of these things that seemed so silly or unnecessary to us but, it was secretly helping improve our boating. One of the things I believed was… Continue

Hey everyone its Taylor,



I'm into my second week up here on the Ottawa. It's Thursday and this week has already just blown my mind to be completely honest. Keeners just keeps getting better and better. Well anyway, to start it off we had speeches on Monday like always and my speech this week was about Southeastern rivers. So, I just talked about some of the more well known rivers we have that people come to paddle, such as the Green River, I'm sure everyone has at least seen that… Continue

Well my journey through the Colorado tour has finally ended and I have to say, this is something that has definitely impacted my paddling so much. This was an amazing way to finally put myself into the freestyle community and competition scene. I met so many new people and have a lot of new experiences under my belt. One of the last competitions was in Lyons, Colorado. It’s a lovely small town with many nice people and some very cool little play spots. I would have to say this place would be… Continue

What a long journey it has been from traveling out to Colorado with the New River Academy to try and make the US team to ending up where I am now in Lyons, Colorado prepping for the next outdoor competition. I remember when I was actually preparing all my bags and stinky paddling gear for this trip, the night before we left to drive up to West Virginia, to get dropped off with New River Academy how excited I was, how full of anticipation for what was to come. I know I didn't really sleep that… Continue