Shaneslogic

I had planned to head out to Colorado to do some paddling this spring all winter and a week before I was set to leave. Jennifer Cribbs called and said she wanted to go. I was psyched I didn’t have to do he drive by myself. So she jumped on board with me and Biscuit, my dog.

It was the crack of 5:00 pm when we left Ashevegas headed for Colorado. We didn’t know where in Colorado but we were headed to Colorado. We started calling all our friends trying to find out what was going to go first and the closer we got the worse the prognosis for water. “Its cloudy and cold today, stuff is dropping”.
“The only stuff that is running is in Durango” So Durnago was the destination.

Woody rung us up while we were driving the low route, I-40 all the way into New Mexico then up to Durango. He said we should have a warm up run on the Piedra first and then stuff was going to start running because a warm spell was on the way.

Day 1 in Colorado was a nice mellow paddle on the Piedra River just outside of Pagosa Springs. The level was low but the section was just what the doctor ordered after a straight through the night drive. The Piedra was a technical class 3+4ish run with a handful of fun drops. Of note the rapid Woody called Eye of the Needle had changed quite a bit. He said that a rock used to sit right in the middle of the rapid and now it is a good 30 feet downstream and a little left of center so this rapid has gotten a lot easier according to Woody and the locals we have talked to.
Unfortunately I didn’t get a shot of that.

It was a beautiful run. We had bluebird skies, and cold beers at the take out. We did the lower half of the run. I guess there are a few more miles upstream that we didn’t do. I could see this being a fun overnight trip.

All in all it was a sweet warm up and a great place to chuck it with Biscuit.

Time to go drink a margarita!
I will try to post everyday of the Colorado experience.
Shane

A few years ago I had rented a surfboard for an hour while we were in New Zealand and I had managed to get up a few times and actually surf a wave. The funniest part of the experience was while I was laying on my belly trying to look for waves to surf I saw a wave that looked like a really good one. Way bigger than what I had been seeing. I paddled as hard as I could and managed to catch it. I felt the wave pick me up a little like it does in the river, and then I was able stand up after a lot of wobbling around and waving my arms. I finally got it together enough to look around and it was then that I noticed I was surfing a wave that didn’t even come close to being up to my knee. Its all in your perspective isn’t it?

Those first initial surfs planted a seed and every once in a while I would rent a board for a couple hours and try it out, but I never really got any feel for it. A group of us had tried for several years to put together a surfing vacation, well finally this year we got it together and it pretty much has changed my life, well at least for one week a year.

Dixie Marie, Big Simon from Switzerland, Maria (and her two kids), Whitney, Sophie, and I spent a little more than a week learning how to surf. It was perfect. Sayulita is a perfect spot for learning. Its a mellow little break that was consistent and soft. Its pretty fun to be a beginner again. You learn so much so fast. And it really is fun to be a total geek. Especially if you can laugh at yourself which is what I did a lot of.

It was great everyday. Wake up go do a couple hour surf first thing. Go get a cup of coffee. Hang out at the house. Eat some lunch. Take a nap. Go surf again until you couldn’t move your arms and then go drink margaritas and each fish tacos. Then repeat. I think we are going to do this every year.

We already started looking at our next trip where it might be, what the waves are like, what the logistics would be, when is the best time to be there, etc… sounds kind of familiar.

If you haven’t surfed before I highly recommend it. It was awesome. The one thing that was super lame though was some of the surfers attitudes. Its crazy to me that folks could have such an amazing sport, activity whatever you want to call it, and then have such a crazy attitude.

We did meet lots of very cool surfers and it seemed like the most experienced surfers were the coolest. I think they realized that there were plenty of waves. They even smiled and laughed when we cut them off and fell on our heads. They would give us little key instructions just when we needed them and ask us about the waves we surfed.

It really makes you appreciate what we do have with kayaking. Rarely if ever do you run into anyone that has a bad attitude on the river. Its an awesome thing we have I hope we can always keep it so casual.
Here is a video of the surf action with good surfers, and us.
Sayulita Surfing Video

Shane