Sammie's Updates

Beginning of Colorado

2010-07-03T21:47:00.000-07:00

Boyd and I headed up to Colorado this time last week, first stopping by the impressive OKC Kayak in Oklahoma City, OK. We caught the tail end of the Central Mountains using up the last of Oh Be Joyful with flows on the low side of good (still fun!) We had a lot of fun with great friends but a little more rain in Colorado than we have seen before. Here are a few photos of the rivers and beautiful scenery.

Fun surfing in Boulder

Deja ready to hike and scout

Hucking OBJ

Boyd on the big one

Beautiful Crested Butte Sunset

The 2010 Boaterchick Fest

2010-05-26T14:54:00.001-07:00

Women's Beginner Playboating Clinic, Photo courtesy Jen Shearer

This past weekend was the third annual Boaterchick Fest. This is a fest for women, although men are welcome, to help increase the amount of women in whitewater, help these women develop their paddling skills, and provide a network for these women to support and help each other grow throughout the year. The festival takes place in the Nantahala Gorge and includes clinic that are taught on the Nantahala, Ocoee, and Cheoah rivers.

The three main women who work the hardest to make this fabulous festival possible are Anne Connolly, the festival coordinator, Salli Katz, the sponsorship coordinator, and Amanda Gettler, the website designer. You see these women everywhere throughout the duration of the festival and they work super hard to make sure everything goes smoothly, and you can believe they are incredible at it!

This year there were many awesome instructors for playboating, river- running, and creeking clinics on all of the closest rivers. This year also saw the most registrants that Boaterchick Fest has had. Both men and women came to the fest and enjoyed everything that it had to offer: clinics, yummy food, swag, door prizes, silent auction, live music, free beer.... need I say more?

This year I lead 2 clinics: beginner playboating on the Nanty, that had 9 participants, and a creeking clinic at Nanty Falls. These girls were awesome! They tried every skill I showed them and practiced those skills their way down the river. I was so impressed at the way those girls were so enthusiastic, energetic, and willing to try each skill over and over, no matter how complicated or intimidating the skill.

At the end of the day there was a beginner playboating comp at the NOC wave in which the girls could get in and show off their skills.

The BCF does a great job at promoting the ideals of women in paddlesports and paddlesports in general. A big thanks to everyone, guys and girls, for making this fest successful, thanks to all of the clinic instructors and safety boaters, and a very special thanks to Anne Connolly whose hard work made the fest happen in the first place.

The Outdoors Inc. Mississippi Canoe and Kayak Race

2010-05-26T14:04:00.001-07:00

May is a big month for the city of Memphis, TN. This month each year we celebrate a different country to learn more about its culture as well as pack evey weekend full of activities. Along with our huge music fest that brings many big names every year and out well- known BBQ Fest is the Outdoors Inc. Canoe and Kayak Great Mississippi Race followed by the Outdoors Inc. Demo day at one of the largest city parks in the country, Shelby Farms.

Every year people from all around come to Memphis to show off their racing skills. We have people of all skill levels: Olympic athletes whose goal is to get the fastest time to frat brothers and boy scouts that fill a canoe to the rim with people and set their main goal to stay upright the whole time. Regardless of who these participants are, it is fun for everyone.

The race always takes place the first weekend of Memphis in May, also known as "Memphis in Mud" to some. The reason for this is that it always seems to rain the first weekend in May, the saying "April Showers..." doesn't apply to Memphis.

This year we had a torrential rain hit Memphis the night before the race that didn't let up for the whole weekend. The morning of the race I drove downtown to the river in this heavy rain because, of course, if I didn't go the sky would open up and the sun would shine 10 minutes before the race was to start. As I drove to the put-in through the flooded streets the rain hadn't let up. Stair wells had become cascades funneling water into the streets and towards the river. Once the rain had let up a little the race had been restricted to elite paddlers only, all we could do was wait for the race time and hope that the rain didn't start again.

The Mississippi bridge

I got in my gear drove my car to the take out, where the post-race activities were to take place, and hitched a ride back to the put in. Shortly before the race was to start I arrived at the parking lot at the put in and got out of the car only to hear tornado sirens just south of where we were. Naturally, after I had seperated myself from my vehicle, the race was cancelled and the rain began to pour again. The Coast Guard, for the safety of all of the contestants, cancelled the race and unfortunately it did not happen this year. Luckily everyone had time to get packed up and get out of there before the bulk of the bad weather hit, and luckily for me I have great friends that got me back to my car.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day provided better weather for us at Shelby Farms so that the Outdoors Inc. Demo day could take place. This is the day that everyone can come to shelby farms, paddler or not, and try out different boats of all kinds and get more information about the boats and the sport. We had sunshine, great weather, and a great crowd.

Pretty Tough Interview

2010-01-23T09:00:00.000-08:00

Pretty Tough (Prettytough.com) is a company geared towards networking for young female athletes so that they can get their names out, market themselves as athletes, and connect with other girls just like them! I joined this team later last year because I like what they stand for and I fully support their cause. This weekend they featured me in an interview for their website. I attached the content and posted the links- check it out!

Sporty Saturday Spotlight 6-23-10
January 23, 2010 by keri mikulski Filed under General, Kayak
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This Saturday the sporty spotlight shines bright on twenty-two year old kayaker and skydiver, Samantha Brunner. Check out Samantha’s interview below where she shares what it’s like to compete in kayaking, how she balances school and sports, and much, much more.

Name: Samantha Brunner Age: 22

Sport(s): Pro whitewater kayaker, but I also skydive and like most outdoor sports

Hometown: Memphis, TN

High School/Middle School/College: I am currently a student on full scholarship at the University of Memphis. I graduate in May with a bachelors in Exercise Sport Science, then its off to Physical Therapy school

How many years have you been kayaking? I have been paddling for about 6 years.

What was your fave sporty moment or memory?
The first time I ran a creek that I had to fully memorize. The small creek was so consistent that I had to remember all of the lines because there was no time to stop in between rapids. This made me learn to trust and rely on myself.

What was the biggest lesson you’ve learned from playing your sport?
To trust myself. Kayaking, for me, is all about pushing your physical and mental limits and learning to trust yourself. Only you can truly know what you are capable of, nobody else can tell you that. Kayaking is a way in which I learn what I am capable of; it helps me become a more independent person and puts a lot of life’s experiences into perspective.

What lessons have you learned about work ethic from your sport?
Always be a team player. Getting down the river is a group effort. Your friends depend on you to know your skills as much as you depend on them to know theirs. Also, to always be respectful and truthful. Also, kayaking is a pretty poor sport, so you have to learn how to work to make the bigger trips worthwhile and how to do them within a budget. With that being said, I have learned to be able to put a lot of work and preparation into my trips to make them work and be beneficial for both my sponsors and myself.

What have you learned about teamwork?
It is the only way to be successful, you can’t do everything all by yourself. Everyone has something to bring to the table and is better at something than you are. It teaches you when to lead and when to listen.

How do you balance school and sports?
Haha, that’s the hard one. I know that school is more important and I have the rest of my life to kayak. Being in Memphis makes me a weekend warrior when it comes to kayaking. I plan my major trips around my breaks in school.

List the sponsors that you currently have:
Pretty Tough, Jackson Kayaks, Stohlquist Waterware, Keen Footwear, Kavu Clothing, SnapDragon Sprayskirts, Gaia Paddlesports, Grateful Heads Helmets, Freestyle Watches, H2O Audio, Zeal Optics, Colorado Kayak Supply

How do you plan to use your sport to influence others?
When I get out of Physical Therapy school I plan to start a non-profit, whitewater kayaking camp to fight childhood obesity and eating disorders. I find that kayaking is not only enjoyable; it can be a great motivator to get into shape. I want to show how fun kayaking can be and I think that when one is having fun it is easier to be motivated to stay active.

What’s the girliest thing you like to do? (Pretty Tough signature question)
Haha, I think it would be to dress up. So much of what I do requires pants and flats or sneakers (not that I’m complaining) so when I have a chance to have a date night with my boyfriend, which comes once every few months haha, I like to dress up. I’m usually “one of the guys” so this helps remind me that I’m not always. Also, I kayak in waterproof mascara which makes me

pretty girlie ;)

Thanks, Samantha! Best of luck with your amazing career.
Do you or someone you know want to be spotlighted? Send an email to Keri Mikulski at kerimikulski(at)gmail(dot)com.
Happy Saturday!

http://www.prettytough.com/sporty-saturday-spotlight-17/

http://www.kerimikulski.com/

http://kerimikulski.blogspot.com/

Have a great day guys!

Samantha

BSA Centennial Celebration (late entry)

2010-01-16T18:31:00.000-08:00

In October Boyd and I were asked to help teach a mini BSA Kayaking course to Boy Scouts that were coming to the BSA Centennial Celebration, the 100th birthday of the Boy Scouts of America. This took place in my hometown of Memphis, TN at Shelby Farms, the biggest city park in the SE. It started early in the morning and lasted all day with the scouts lining up to take their turn in a kayak.

Basically, a "mini BSA kayaking course" consists of some time of the ground talking about paddles, boats, safety, the 5 essential pieces of gear and more. After that the scouts are fitted into boats (about 12- 14 at a time) they get to go into the lake and paddle around while learning strokes and concepts and playing games.
Here are some pictures to recap our day:

All of the boats lines up first thing in the morning.

Boyd getting the scouts ready to get in their boats.

Boyd teaching the scouts how to hold a paddle

Fun Stuff!

Upper Big Creek, Jan.01

2007-01-05T12:46:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody, just wanted to say that I have been around- I just haven't had time to blog about it. School literally kicked my ass last semester, but I plan to stay current with my blog this year;)

Anyways, not the point. New Years eve was so great and it was made even better with my first time on Upper Big Creek New Years Day. Boyd and I decided to head to Rock Island New Years weekend to visit the Jackson's and the hole, as well as see their beautiful new home! On New Years Eve Christine and EJ had Boyd, myself, and few others over for dinner and fun. Clay had a newly found stash of nice fireworks so we all headed down to the dam and shot them off to bring in the new year.

Boyd and I woke up the next morning with a list of runs to choose from. Of course, we chose a favorite.... Big Creek. I have only done Lower Big Creek, so I was interested in doing a section of the Upper. Boyd and I grabbed Brad Sutton and headed over there to meet up with our friend Drew from Memphis and a guy nammed Adam from Alabama.

We got there in time for one run down, so we threw on all of our gear and hiked up the trail, me dropping my boat off below action alley and then heading up with my camera to Midnight Hole.

Boyd Ruppelt and Midnight Hole

(photo Samantha Brunner)

Then I followed the guys down to the next fun little rapid...

Boyd Ruppelt- photo Samantha Brunner

We finally get to the main rapid, Action Alley. Boyd and Brad were the only two to fire it up. This was Brad's first time down- both of them totally styled it!

Boyd and Brad scouting the top of Action Alley.

(photo Samantha Brunner)

Boyd boofing in Action Alley- by Samantha Brunner

Brad Sutton in Action Alley- by Samantha Brunner

After Action Alley, it was my turn to get in. I have to admit, Upper Big Creek looked very intimidating to me, so I was a little nervous! Nevertheles I had a blast!! Nobody swam, but I definitely flipped a time or two!

Drew Armstrong on Upper Big Creek- photo: Boyd Ruppelt

Me and my Hero having fun- by Boyd Ruppelt

Adam from Alabama, by Boyd Ruppelt

Upper Big Creek is definitely the most continuous run I have done so far. It is one of my most favorite runs: tight, technical, and lots of boofs- what more could a girl want.... besides waterfalls??? I love this Smokies run and I can't wait to do it again, but this time I'm going further up!

Samantha

Two Days in Salida

2006-07-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

So 4th of July weekend Boyd and I spent with his family. We did the Boulder town run, a little bit of shopping, and and a little bit of down time.

After Boulder, Boyd and I headed over to the Salida area. Boyd and I were on our way to the Numbers, and decided to stop for lunch at Bongo Billy's in Salida. There, we ran across Clay and so we decided to stay there and surf a little bit. It was going great! The afternoon storms were rolling in, but missing us and hitting the cities upstream of us. Alot of people were showing up at the hole, including the guys (and gal) from the HUGE experiences group. Everyone was surfing it up and having fun, then all of the sudden the river rose from 900cfs to an estimated 1800 cfs.

Guys it was crazy!!! After the water rose, of course it was dirty, and then stuff started to float down the river! First is was just pine needles- nothing too bad, just really annoying. After that huge logs came down the river. Some people got out of the hole to let them pass, some people surfed with them, and other were oblivious of them and, like one girl, head butted them when they went in for a loop.
Now this water wasn't just your plain old dirty water. the water was full of silt and it was so very thick. The water coated the paddlers as they rolled up.

Boyd looping in the thick, slity water.

It was cool at first, especially with the high levels, but after that it just got to ba a hassle. I got out before all of this of course, but the other paddlers would roll up spitting pine needles out of their mouth and trying to see through the coating of thick water that covered their eyes. When the guys took off of the river it started to rain. That night Boyd, Clay, and I decided that it was definitely a hotel night so that all of us can take showers and get clean. The next day We three headed back over to the Salida hole with the intention of running something else that afternoon.

Today the hole was a bit stickier than it had been yesterday before the rain hit. My first ride I got stuck in the trough and got worked a lil bit, flipped and got worked a little bit, and finally got flushed out right in time to roll up before I ran out of breath. I still lloved the hole it was definitely at a great level. Everyone had pretty great runs, and I have lots of pictures to show for it!

Boydgetting some air with his loop. He did really well today, feeling good he nailed some front and back loops getting the crowd goin' a little bit! It was an awesome day for Boyd!

Clay Wright throwin' it down as usual; he can make any wave or hole look world class anyway. A great guy, ust like the other jackson members that were out there today Lawrence and Greg

Favorite ride of the day: the tandem loop. Boyd Ruppelt and Josh Oberleas looping simultaneuosly- one of the only times they actally achieved this ;-)

A great day indeed. I am so happy to be around all of these guys. Being one of the least experienced paddlers in the group it is so great to be able to learn form them!

Tomorrow Lake Creek and then back to the hectic life of Memphis,

Sam

New video up!!!

2006-07-03T09:49:00.000-07:00

Check out this 2 min vid of Sammie creekin' in her new pink Jackson Hero!!!

Boyd :-)

Big South

2006-06-29T01:12:00.000-07:00

After we left the Crested Butte area on Saturday night, kind of late I must add, we thought that we were in for a little 5 hour drive. Nothing bad remembering that we drive 7 hours for a great run regularly; however our drive north to Big South was longer than we had thought. After pulling in at 6:30 in the morning Boyd and I slept sitting up in the cab of our truck. Three hours later we were awake and talking to the other guys about the run they were about to do.

The hiking trail on Big South

With 11 miles of hard class V/V+ at high water, Big South is considered to be within the top five runs of Colorado. The gates opened on Sunday and, although it was at high water, quite a few boaters showed up to enjoy the run. Some of the guys that Boyd met up with were Marty Cronin, the co-founder of Jackson Kayaks, and Clay Wright- a world class kayaker from middle Tn that also paddles for JK. A very good group of people to run this river with.

Flow Dog

Since I am not a solid class V/V+ boater yet, I wound up being a shuttle bunny for my first time ever. I gave Boyd and Clay a ride up to the put in and then drove the truck back down to the take-out so that they could get to the truck when they get off of the river. After dropping off the truck, I hiked the Big South trail with Flow(Clay's doggie), one of the best dogs I have ever met. The Big South trail follows the river, so I hiked it hoping to catch up with the guys. Flow kept me company on the trail as she warded off evil bears and mountain lions!

Trail on Big South

After hiking 8 miles, the trail started to veer a little too much from the river. If the paddlers came down I would have missed them, so Flow and I decided to turn around and hike to a cool rapid that I could definately catch them at called Slideways. While waiting on the guys to come down Flow and I played fetch and hung out in the sun.

With 11 miles of class V/V+ creeking I was a little worried about Boyd. Driving all night, three hours of sleep, and no food can knock someone off of their A-game. I knew that he was stomping the river- I had just hoped that he wasn't too worn out. By the time that the group came to Slideways they all looked tired, but they were still doing well.

Clay Boyd

After Big South Boyd and I headed over to Fort Collins to grab a hotel so that we could get some rest and take a shower since we had not had one in five days. During the five minutes that it took for us to get a room a stray bullet hit the back window of Boyd's camper top causing it to shatter. Already tired from no no sleep the night before, we were both in a pretty bad mood. We spent a lot of the night cleaning out glass form the back of his truck. We duck taped the window for now so that we could sleep while still feeling safe. I must say that it is quite a good ducktaping job! Boyd and I decided to spend the next day resting a little bit; so we worked on editing our footage and vacuuming the glass out of the back of the truck. That night we headed back over to the Big South area to meet up with some other boaters that were going to run Big South the next day. We camped there and wound up running shuttle for them the nthat morning before heading out to Salida, Co.

At Salida we got in some good surf. Sorry guys no pictures, but I will tell you that I got some awesome surf! Boyd still played in easy in the hole while still managing to land some beautiful loops and even an incredible space godzilla. We are planning on heading back over there soon so you can bet that we will have the cameras out! After surfing we headed back over to the Crested Butte area. Today Boyd managed to get two good runs in on the waterfall section of Oh Be Joyful before the rain hit.

As of right nowit is 3 in the morning in Gunnison, Co. I haven't had a shower since Sunday night so Imma need to hit that up before I crash.

Fun Times

Samantha

First few days in Colorado....

2006-06-26T11:43:00.000-07:00

Alrighty guys, so Boyd and I are in Colorado living it up! We left Wednesday and since then have had a few great adventures. The drive was long, but the wonderful Harry Potter books on cd helped us get through it fairly well. We were greeted with a wonderful lightning storm right when we came into Colorado. Just like usual, every county that we had to go through was under a tornado warning, but we kept on truckin' to Crested Butte watching the wonderful lightning show. The mountains are big, the weather is comfortable, and I am still kinda suffering from altitude sickness.
We had to take a wonderful road called Cottonwood Pass and this was the typical scenery along the Pass. I have never seen snow in June; but I must say that I absolutely LOVE it!

This is me at the top of Cottonwood Pass, which just so happens to be a Continental Divide. It was windy and cold up there, but it was also breathtakingly beautiful! After the continental divide we headed over to the Oh Be Joyful Campground near Crested Butte, where the scenery was much the same. Nestled in the mountains of the Crested Butte area were several creeks on our Colorado hit list. The creeks that we hit over there were The Slate, Oh Be Joyful, and Daisy- which is one of my personal favorites.

Friday, after a night of wonderful sleep, we decided to go look at Slate and OBJ. I was suffering a bit much from altitude sickness so I decided to play it cool that day. I did a lot of hiking to get some good footage of Boyd stomping the creeks. Our first stop was the Slate. The put in was a Beaver Pond, and yes it apparently got its name from all of the beavers that live there. It is a good creek that I should have done, but instead I was too timid and opted not to.
Pic of Boyd scouting a drop called Wicked Wanda on the Slate. He decided that it was too low to run. It is a beautiful run, but a bit hard to hike because that ground is mainly made of slate and it gives way pretty easily. Just ask Boyd about that, he portaged a log jam and wound up getting some pretty deep cuts on his palm because the ground gave way.( more pics of Slate coming) After the Slate, we headed over to Oh be Joyful which was just down the road; the run actually pours into the Slate. To get to OBJ you have to cross part of the Slate, and since we don't have a 4 wheel drive, we were forced to hike. The water was a bit low, but still runable. After we hiked our boats about a mile up the steep mountain terrain, I decided that OBJ was a bit too intimidating for me. Yup, all that work just to back out of the run- well at least I got some good pictures. When we were about at the put in another boater pulled up and he offered to take Boyd the rest of the way up and to paddle down with him- which was good bcz he would of had to do it alone. Since it was getting late (they put on at 6:00) they only did the waterfall section of OBJ.

A picture (by me) of Boyd at Dead Zone, a 25 footer on OBJ.

After they took out the same guy that gave us a ride up, Michael, gave us a ride back down to our campsite. Nice guy! In fact, all of the people, especially kayakers, are all so nice! Very different energy from the East coast boaters for sure!

The next day, our last day in the Crested Butte area, we decided to run Daisy Creek and go back to Oh Be Joyful so that we would have enough sunlight for Boyd to run the whole thing. The hike up to Big Wood Falls on Daisy is not nearly as bad as the hike up OBJ. After seeing the falls (and passing up two rivers the day before) my mouth started watering and I so wanted to run it. Of course, Boyd ran it first . He ran it beautifully! I was able to get some awesome pictures and video of his run!

After Boyd, it was my turn. The place that we put in was a little sketch, he had to rope my boat down to me. Right when I put in the water was moving fast! A couple of little schutes lead straight into the lip of the falls. I saw my line and went straight for it. The water was moving so fast that as soon as I saw the lip of the falls I was already launching off. I got pushed a little bit and corkscrewed of the lip, flipped, got drug over the slide right below it, and rolled up just in time for the hole at the bottom :) For my first time on Colorado-style water I didn't do too awful! So after I got over my disappointment in my line, what did I do? Ran it again, of course!

Photo of me at Big Wood Falls by Boyd. My second time down was much better! I went a little left of my original line. I knicked the right wall with my bow, hurting my knee a little bit. But other than that I had a great line down and I wass a happy camper.

I absolutely loved Daisy!It is really one of my favorite runs.

After Daisy we headed back over to Oh Be Joyful for Boyd to get a run in with plenty of daylight for footage. What a great day! Boyd got in quite a few great runs allowing me to get some great footage from a lot of great angles. This is actually my favorite ones!
The 25 footer is such a great, photogenic falls. It is a bit weird though. Two out of the many times Boyd ran it he hit himself in the forehead with his paddle. There are two parts of the Creek: the waterfall section (which is what Boyd ran the day before) and the slides section. This time we had enough daylight for him to run both sections. The slides section is just a whole bunch of slides that are full of timber and send you flying really fast. The most famous of these slides is called Avalanche. Here's a pic below. It is such a big slide that I could not fit it all in the picture. The slide ends in a pool that is dammed up by logs. You have to push yourself over the logs to get to the next slide.

The first two days that we spent in Crested Butte were awesome; what a great way to start off a Colorado trip! Great people, great water, great times! Can't wait to hit the next river!

Samantha

Memorial Day Weekend

2006-05-29T17:21:00.000-07:00

I took off of work on Friday so that Boyd and I could head out East. First stop, Rock Island, Tn. We had to pick up my new Jackson Hero from the factory. It is soo sweet! From Rock Island we headed over to the Tellico. In order to avoid the class V interstate full of weekend travelers we opted for the back roads which probably ended up to be faster. At the Tellico there was no spot to camp at the take out or the designated camping spots, so Boyd and I decided to camp in his truck at the put in. At about 2 AM local, an hour after we had crashed, we were awakened by a ranger's lights. Aparently we couldnt camp there. Long story short, we were lucky enough to know the ranger and wound up sleeping for 2 hours in town.

Saturday morning Boyd and I met up with 10 y/r Lauren Burress and her dad, Nathan. The only thing running in that area was the Tellico itself. At 2.5 ft. the Tellico was a great first run in my Hero. I absolutely love how it paddles! After that we headed over to the Cheoah; and because of the night before I was very tired so I didn't do as well. Lauren and her dad walked Bear Creek Falls, Boyd and I ran the right slot. He did great and I ran it, flipped, and got a nice litle gash in my chin. After the Cheoah Boyd ran White Oak Falls (the picture above) while Nathan set safety and Lauren and I watched and took pictures. (photo below Lauren Burress)

That Sunday, again after no sleep, Boyd and I met up with some more of the Memphis guys to do the Ocoee fromthe Upper down to Goforth. Boyd and the other guys did great. Nothing too special from this weekend. Awesome people, awesome fun. That's what its all about. Coming later next month, blogs from Colorado.

Me this morning testing out my Hero in the pool. Tons of fun! I'll catch you guys later! Sammie

Favorite Picture from this Weekend...

2006-04-16T11:20:00.000-07:00

"I am the Law"

A Weekend Out East

2006-04-15T19:22:00.000-07:00

A three day weekend with a storm involved means only one thing- three new rivers to paddle. Thursday night Boyd and I headed out pretty late in the afternoon in pursuit of the wonderful thing that we call whitewater. Friday, after crashing at Clay Wright's house, Boyd and I hooked up with this guy named Jase to go do the waterfalls at Rock Island. The first one that we did was Millside falls. It has an entrance rapid that goes into a 20 foot waterfall. I flipped at the top of the ledge and hurt my left hand, shoulder, and that side of my face. I don't have a picture of it yet, but I'll post one up soon. We spent most of the day at the falls. They were all a lot of fun, but I did not to The Spout because it looked a little too high for me. Saturday we met up with some friends (Nate and Elmore) and wound up paddling down the Cheoah with Emily Jackson. The Cheoah is such a fun river! I had such a blast, especially in my Jackson Star!It is a fun river that is full of little play spots.
Sunday, instead of hitting Tallulah, Boyd and I decided to hit Island Creek with the Memphis whitewater crowd. I was soo nervous- I had done two new rivers, successfully might I add, in two days and I didn't want to mess this one up. I had never seen the run before, and I was around the people that I feel are my biggest critics. But the run went well and we got some great pictures! This weekend showed me that it is ok to have confidence in yourself. If you don't have confidence then you will not perform to your true potential as a kayaker or in any other aspect of life. This was the first time that I was actually able to be aggressive and relaxed throughout the whole run, and I feel that I did very well, as well as everyone that we paddled with.

What a fun weekend! Next weekend is Spring Splash at Nantahala- I wonder what is going to happen there...

Sammie

Happy Anniversary!!

2006-04-01T21:26:00.000-08:00

Today, April 1st, is my four year anniversary with professional kayaker Boyd Ruppelt. Not only that, last weekend I turned 19 years old. So what did we do? Well, Boyd has a hurt wrist which has put him out for a couple weeks, so we just hung out around Memphis. So check this out, a couple of weekends at home did not keep me from behind my camera...

I mainly took pictures for my photography class, got some awesome shots too!

Not alot to say, Cheoah and Tallulah next weekend. I am so totally stoked, but nervous at the same time- this will be the first time that I have ever done Tallulah. I'll update you guys when I get back. See you guys later!

Sammie

NAWF

2006-03-19T11:41:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was the second annual North Alabama Whitewater Festival (NAWF). My boyfriend, Boyd, and I drove down from Memphis on Thursday night. This year I decided not to compete but to stay behind the camera and take stills the whole weekend. I am a whitewater photographer, and I decided to sell my pictures for the first time.

Friday was the waterfall competition along with a Boatercross. Boyd did extremely well along with most all of the other contestants.

Eric Jackson (owner or Jackson Kayaks) and his family was there. Boyd and I hung out with their family for a lot of the weekend.
Saturday was the Rodeo which was a lot of fun and the parties at night were even better! The pictues are going to be posted either tomorrow or Tuesday.