Paddlesports

The Get Out & Paddle days are back! Three times a month, NA Kayak School staff leads a group of whitewater kayakers down one of their favorite rivers - everything from classic runs to rarely paddled gems.

Usually my blogs are about disc golf since I am a member of the Next Adventure Flight Crew disc golf team.  However this blog is going to be a little different. 

Saturday the 2^nd of June my husband Steve had the opportunity to go on his first ever kayak trip with Evan a friend from work.  Evan has two kayaks, and all the gear needed.  They spent the day at Smith Bybee Lake.  He was amazed at how easy it was to just get into the kayak and go.  He was so stoked about the experience, and knew it would be something he would love to do more of.

The tidal, weather, and navigational aspects of sea kayaking can be complex and difficult to understand. When Tom, one our lead sea kayak instructors, explains them, these concepts are simple and fun.

Our super-awesome Sauvie Island Kayak Trip is coming up this Saturday. A few of the thing I love about kayaking there are:

• Watching Ospreys hunt
• Weaving in and out of flooded strands of cottonwood trees
• Juvenile bald eagels perched up high
• Exploring narrow channels opened up by the high water
• Red wing blackbirds flitting about

We have some spaces left on the trip; to sign up, call the Paddle Sports Center at 503.233.0706 or register online. It is going to be a great trip. I hope you can join us.

For 10 happy Portlanders, last weekend started with an early morning meeting at the Next Adventure warehouse. There was pride and excitement in the air as we loaded food and gear into vehicles and went over final details for our weekend at the Ski to Sea race in Bellingham, WA. This was the moment we had been planning for for months.

In less than 2 weeks, 8 brave souls will venture North to represent their beloved Next Adventure at the Ski to Sea race in Bellignham, WA. You might be asking yourself, who are these people? How did they become the superheroes that they are today? How did they all end up working for Next Adventure? Well, hopefully this blog will answer all of those questions and more. From the mouths of the racers themselves, plase let me introduce you to Andrew, Wrenna, Troy and Don. (The other 4 bios will appear in "Meet the Athletes: Part 2).

Sunny days and warm weather are quickly making this May the perfect month to get outside and play. That's why my boyfriend, Don, and I decided to head out in the Columbia River Monday afternoon for a one-night camping trip. The goal was to find something easy to paddle, with a beginning and an end (we didn't want to make a loop or go there and back), and close to Portland so we could take advantage of this hard-earned sunshine.