Payette River Games

Kelly's Whitewater Park is honestly one of the most amazing places that I've had the privilege to go while on tour this summer. Free camping, an awesome lodge with a pool table and showers, and most of all, the feature is fantastic.

I competed in three whitewater kayaking categories: Women's Freestyle, Sprint, and Boater Cross.

Honestly, I didn't do as well as I know that I could have, especially in the freestyle. There really are two very different sides to freestyle - hole tricks, and wave tricks - and being from the southeast, I'm good at the hole tricks, and not so good at wave tricks. I feel like I was struggling more than I should have been, but I don't mind. The feature at Kelly's was ridiculously fun to surf, and a fantastic location for me to begin working more on the tricks that I'm not so good at doing, such as roundhouses, blunts, and clean spins.

Cold weather makes hand driers for drying gear totally necessary

While I was struggling to score over 100 points, competitors in some other divisions (such as pro men) were pulling out rides scoring over 2000 points in single rides - some of the highest rides EVER made during a competition.

Prelim results - from two combined ride scores

The sprint was a mile and a half of flatwater. Since I'm on my own out here in Idaho, I left my Shiva with my dad, so that I wouldn't have to figure out how to get it back to the southeast. Day one of the sprint, I paddled a large Pyranha Burn with about four inches of foam on top of the seat. Day two of the sprint, I paddled a medium Pyranha Shiva, and sat on a folded up jacket, using a sponge and an Immersion Research fleece as extra hip pads. My times were 12 minutes and 19 seconds, and 12 minutes and 31 seconds, and I took 6th place in sprint.

Getting stoked for a flatwater race!

The boater cross was loads of fun, and the medium Nano was definitely a good boat to race it in. Though the shorter length compromises the hull speed a little bit, it can certainly still keep up with or ahead of everyone else. The short length provides faster turning though, which turned out to be absolutely necessary to make it around our required upriver buoy gates. Unluckily, I did a little too much turning, and spun out on the eddy line next to the freestyle feature, and I didn't make it on past semi-finals.

I've had heaps of fun out here in Idaho, and I'm stoked for these next couple days of lake time and possibly wake surfing here in McCall. Keep your eyes open for a nice full summer review within the next week - this tour has been sick!

Photos: Philip Robert