FLOW RIDER

TerraVida Threads Launches!

2011-04-22T17:16:00.000-07:00

Green Race '08

2008-11-25T23:18:00.000-08:00

Yoyoyo! Green Race came and went, another fantastic day of '08 down the drain. Here's a shot my dad took of me at Gorilla! Thankfully the big monkey was good to me. Graggle-funk wrote up a longer report on TEAM RIOT. Check it out if you're interested. I ended up in 10th place with a 4:56. 2 seconds behind John Grace, who I had made a bet with 2 days before. My hair is now strawberry blonde...

-Nathan
Riot
NRS
SnapDragon

Canada '08 Video!

2008-10-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

Andy Gates finished putting together the footage from the Gatineau and Ottawa rivers. Andy is paddling a Riot Flair, Alan is paddling an Astro, Gragtmans is paddling a Turbo and I am paddling an Orbit (at minibus) and an Astro (at high tension). Also featured: Andrew+Andy from Riverrun, Anthony Yapp and Dave Neiwenhaus (Spelled that wrong probably).

Thanks for putting this vid together Andy!
http://www.rapidtransitvideo.com/assets/podcast//rapidtransit_torrent_canada08.m4v

-Nathan

CANADA and the LVM Giant Slalom Qualifier!

2008-08-07T20:51:00.000-07:00

Silsbee signing in... Recently inspired by my fellow compatriot's blogging action, I decided to update my digital life. My website has a new motto.

'The Flow is the life that we live... It's the air that we breathe, it's the dreams that we sleep, it is the unstoppable force which drives our every action or thought. Kayaking is my weapon to ride the FLOW.'

It's been a great month in my life! Just got back from an epic big-wave surfing trip to Canada where we got more water then you could shake a toilet scrubby at. I'll start from the beginning... Met up with Andy Gates and Alan Young in Asheville, NC... Packed up my crap in a tub... (I had a Rubbermaid tub with several T-shirts, some shorts a nice raincoat, an extra pair of shoes and some cheetos.

We drove straight through to Canada, and after confirming to the border man that the owner of the truck did in fact know we were bringing the truck to Canada, we arrived at the Ottawa river. Blah blah blah, we had lots of fun. After 5 days on mini-bus, we met up with some river-run raft guides named Andy (#2) and Wiley. Cool dudes.

We went to the gatineau river with them and loaded our playboats up with sleeping bags, food, tents and fishing poles. It must have looked like a floating landfill, as all of our gear was wrapped up in black trashbags and strapped onto the outside of our kayaks. We then paddled down to High Tension, my favorite wave in the whole world. I surfed High Tension two years ago, but I'd forgotten how perfect that wave is.

We camped out on the sandy beach and surfed until it got dark. The days that we camped next to High Tension were probably the best playboating days of my life. The Astro was sick on that wave! After 2 nights and 3 days on the river, we left some of our stuff in my tent on the river, and paddled out to get more supplies and meet up with Christopher 'Canadian Bacon' Gragtmans.

Soul surfing (or searching?) on the green glass. (Photo: Chris Gragtmans)

Andy 'the blue dragon' Gates... blunting it up (Photo: Nathan Silsbee)

Alan Pan-am (Photo Andy Gates)

Wiley the backstabber. He likes tea and biscuits. (Photo Andy Gates)

Andy (#2): Helix (Photo: Andy Gates)

Gragginator cleaning it up. (Photo: Nathan Silsbee)

After the Gatineau, we headed to Montreal for a day to say hello to the boys at Riot. (Jeff and Simon). It was cool seeing Santa's factory where those glorious hunks of plastic come from.

After Montreal we headed back to the southeast, just in time for the Giant Slalom Qualifier! What a cool event... John Grace and team set-up gates on the slides below gorilla, making for a very technical and fast-paced race. In addition to the slalom race, there was a timed down-river race from the put-in down to chiefs. Congrats to Graham Cracker for reeling in first place.

The Top 10 overall were as follows:

1. Chris Gragtmans
2. Pat Keller
3. Nathan Silsbee
4. Shane Benedict
5. Tim Bell
6. John Grace
7. Toby Macdermott
8. Caleb Coaplen
9. James Kodaras
10. Fergus Coffee

for the full write-up, visit LVM TV

I will be posting some photos of this event as well as some additional photos from Canada on the new Team Riot website, so stay tuned.

Raven FORK

2008-06-03T10:59:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's time for another Raven's fork update. A few weeks back we got enough rain for the ultra-classic Raven's to run at a good level. The team: Will Lyons, the sickest creekboating c1-er I've met... Clayton Gaar, an up and coming young jedi who attends UNCA with me. I'm sure you'll see some cool footage from him this fall, as he's out in california right now. Lastly, the infamous Saunders Southecorvo. Saunders and I started kayaking together 5 years ago. It's been cool progressing together from the flatwater of the french broad to the raven's fork 5 years later. Saunders paddles the Riot Magnum as well and loves it almost as much as he loves fried chicken. Anyways, here are some pics of the Magnum in action:

Yours truly at Mike Tyson's (photo Will Lyons)

Getting cuddly with the cave at Headless (photo Clayton Gaar)

Wet Willlllyyy (photo Clayton Gaar)

Saunders keeping it steady on Mike T. (photo Will Lyons)

Saunders: BIG BOOF at Cave. (photo Clayton Gaar)

Thanks to Will and Clayton for shooting pics. Hope to get out there again soon.

-Nathan

3-D Kayaking Animation

2008-05-18T12:29:00.000-07:00

Team N takes 2nd and some 3-D modeling

2008-05-12T13:48:00.001-07:00

Time to update the ol' blog mobile. Been up to this and that lately, some raven's fork, some green, some school, some work. Jerry's Baddle (bike/paddle race) was a few weeks ago and as always steven hughes and brooks did an excellent job organizing and making it happen. Big thanks to Shane Benedict for hooking me up with a remix 100 last minute. I didn't actually get my hands on the boat until about 30 minutes before the race began. I was definitely nervous about taking a new boat for the race, but it took care of me. I got a decent kayak time and Nate Wyatt killed the bike, placing our team in second overall. Congrats to Clayton Gaar and Jed Hinckley for taking first. No surprise came when Adam Herzog won the ironman class for the 3rd year in a row. (or 4th?) Looking forward to next year for sure.

So much text and no photos? I'll leave you with this wicked shot Will Lyons captured on the Raven Fork. (More to come soon).

Until next time...

Nathan Silsbee

Colorado Video 2007

2007-08-31T16:04:00.000-07:00

Finally finished editing the Colorado video. Had to cut it a little shorter then I was hoping so it would fit in the 10:00 youtube time limit, but it's still a good watch. Here are a few video stills from the video.

Shane Groves making a chunky line happen on the North Saint Vrain.

Oh be joyful

Dave Finney keeper 'er steady at Clear Creek.

Shane Dropping in.

Check out the video!

For more information on the rivers in this video, go here:
http://wolverinepublishing.com/whitewater.html

see ya on the river,

Nathan Silsbee

Yule Creek, Potomac Fest and Linville

2007-08-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

So I've been pretty slack about updating the blog the last couple months, but I've finally settled down in Asheville again and have found the time to put up some photos. Yule Creek was definitely my favorite thing we got on out west, and seemed to be the Toxaway of Colorado.
Big thanks to Dave Finney for shooting the yule pics.

This is the first big one, adoringly named "ball check"

Dropping into Wall Check.

Making the transition

Launch!

Here's a clip of Wallcheck.

Oriental Massage. Another biggy. This rapid does a lot of things to your back, but I wouldn't say it resembles a massage.

The last 20 footer.

Yule Creek was about as low volume as you can get, so it was a big relief to get on some highwater stuff later in the trip. Here's a shot of Finney running "upper death".

Stay tuned for the video from Colorado.

As soon as we got back from Colorado, we set off for Potomac Fest.

To see the video from Potomac Fest, go HERE

After the Po fest, we traveled home to our desert village of Asheville. The rivers in Asheville were thirstier then a dead bullfrog. Finally it rained just enough to make Linville a runnable level, and we got our class V fix. Shout-out to Jesse Lewinsky for these wingdinger photographs.

Dropping into "homie's slot", or "fight club", or any of the dozen names this rapid seems to have.

Dylan moving in for the knock-out at fightclub.

Billy Murphy keeping his bow up.

Spencer utilizing his plastic exoskeleton to slide over a rock.

that's all I got for now. Hopefully I'll get the Colorado video in order some point soon, and post that as well. Until next time,

Nathan Silsbee

And don't forget you can find discount pooper scoopers at your local ingles.

NRS Sherpa Creeking Video

2007-05-01T13:04:00.000-07:00

As the sun beats down, the creeks grow drier by the day. The Green continues to show us all why Asheville is the place to be rain or shine.
We've been missing the great rains from Christmas break, and I've been dying to get on the Toxaway or Ravens again, but alas, no rain. This is some footage from that rain, as well as some new footage from the Green River. The remote runs that I got on last Christmas break have some brutal hikes and it can be tough on the neck and shoulders carrying your boat on your head, but now I have the new NRS backpack system! Hopefully it will rain sometime soon and I can test it out. Until then, I'll probably be at the Green. Enjoy this shiz like you would fried chicken!

see the backpack system here:
http://nrsweb.com/shop/product.asp?pfid=2932&deptid=1767

peace

Nathan Silsbee

Green River- Explained

2007-04-04T16:30:00.000-07:00

For my video class we were assigned to make a video on something, and this is the result. Big thanks to Clayton Gaar for shooting a lot of the kayaking footage. Enjoy!

SE Creeking Update

2007-03-29T12:48:00.000-07:00

So unfortunately it's been dry for the last couple weeks, but at least I've had the time to edit video and reflect on the great kayaking from before the drout.
SE creekin' vid

On Daniel Delavergne's birthday we all headed down to the notch to catch the infamous 'birthday eddy' which is an absolutely terrifying eddy poised just above Gorilla. It was the highest the eddy had been attempted, and 5 of us stepped up to catch it. After we all caught it, about 10 people gathered around and watched as Toby poured some of Daniel's ashes into the notch. A good memorial for an amazing kayaker.

The birthday eddy itself is probably the scariest eddy I've seen anyone catch, and it takes a great amount of precision.

The Magnum really whips around into the eddy nicely. Here's Chris Gragtmans on his first run.

Carving in.

Peeling out into the notch

A week or so later, we got some good old fashioned high-water green.

Here I am switching edges as I boof into the notch.

Gragtmans, large and in charge.

Walking up for another go.

A couple weeks later, the water dissipated and we had no other option but some low-water triple falls. Clayton Gaar and I headed to Dupont for some park-and-huck.
Stomping

Clayton stylin'

Second drop

Clayton at the lip

Hope you enjoyed the post, comments are appreciated!

Nathan Silsbee

Jerry's Baddle and more

2007-03-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

It's been really warm lately, and the Green is the spot to be. The Jerry's Baddle bike/kayak race was yesterday, and my partner Travis and I placed 2nd in the team race, with Scott McCluskey and his bike partner taking first. It was a really good time, and it's cool to see so many people out there racing in Jerry's name. They raised a lot of money for ALS and the Green River access fund, and the event was a huge success. It was really cold when Clayton Gaar and I showed up at the take-out to sign-in and prepare for the race. After a somewhat chaotic search for my bike partner, I was paired with a new partner. (Travis ----). Back at the put-in, I took some time to remove a giant chunk of ice from my kayak. I paddled down to the staging area, where Big Hungry creek comes into the Green. I was the third person to start, so I didn't have long to wait. Everything went well, and I managed to catch up to the guy in front of me at Rapid Transit. I got to the take-out and passed under the finish line and Travis took off for the biking leg. It was really disorienting seeing Steven come in behind me, because he was the first paddler to start the race. I guess I passed him while he was running around Sunshine. All the racers were really fired up when they got to the finish line, and it was cool watching the Greenmen like Adam Herzogg(1st place) and Brad Kee(3rd place) run across the line only to change clothes at lightning speed and hop onto a bike for the long ride back up. Other notes of interest from the race... Chris Gragtmans and Toby Macdermott tied for the fastest time on the run. (27 minutes and 45 seconds). Respect to Cooper Lambla for a fast time on the run, then getting onto a beater mountain bike for the biking leg. Big shout-out to the organizers of the race, Brooks, Steven, etc for all their effort in making it happen. The food was really good at the festival, and they had a variety of delicous desserts as well. I can't wait until next year! On that note, here are some cool pics from the green a couple days ago... Big shout out to Ryan Moore for shooting these great photos.

Gorilla run #1

Clayton Gaar on the Monk.

Rock star eddy

Scream Machine

Gorilla run #2

Scream Machine run #2

Gorilla run #3

Scream Machine run #3

Rapid Transit

Sunshine

Clayton on Sunshine

I hope you all enjoyed the pics... Again, big thanks to Ryan Moore for shooting those. Check the RIOT BLOG soon for some birthday eddy video, and high-water Gorilla.
-Nathan Silsbee

VA Creeking and some 200% Green

2007-01-19T09:24:00.001-08:00

Greetings earthlings. Rain has been aplenty in the southeast the last few weeks, and there's been some really quality creeking to be had. (Gorilla at 200%). (See below for video).
Saunders and I headed up to Virginia for some action up there...

We met up with Nate Bell and Michael Shields from Virginia Tech. Big thanks to them for showing me down. (Saunders had been twice before). We set off for the river from Blacksburg. Our destination: Bottom Feeder creek. This creek is super low volume and abundant with cool boofs and tight lines. Here's a sequence of me at Kettles.

Saunders dropping into Kettles.

Nate at Kettles.

A very beautiful creek indeed.

Pullin the bow up at "Crash Test Dummy".

Mike at "Crash Test."

Mr Shields at Mouse trap.

Nate doing his thing

Saunders engulfed at "Gorilla North."

Mike on Gorilla North.

No turning back now.

Mouse trap.

Saunders getting himself a taste of "Two blind mice"

Following Saunders' excellent example.

All good things come to an end.

After the trip to Virginia, we got rewarded with some highwater green for about a week. Here's a video from Gorilla earlier today.

Hope you all enjoyed the post,
and don't forget to shower at least once a week.

-Nathan Silsbee

Beginnings

2007-01-15T19:31:00.000-08:00

So I was just looking at some old photos, and I came across all these pics from when I first started kayaking. This was before I learned how to roll, and when I was just beginning to love kayaking. My friends and I used to innertube this section of river that ran across the edge of my parent's farm, then one day my buddy Warren suggested we take his parent's kayaks down instead. This is when it all began... Here's a shot of me on the Chattooga Section 3.
It's funny how fear when running drops is in perfect proportion. I was just as scared running Second Ledge for my first time as I was running Gorilla for the first time or Landbridge on the Toxaway for the first time.
Feeling triumphant after running the big bad "Narrows" of Sec 3.

Kayaking is fun.

My dad on second ledge.

Later when I had the basics down, I fired up the big bad "Bull Sluice."

Well that's the end of my blast from the past, and stay tuned for more updates soon.

-Nathan

More Toxaway!

2007-01-07T12:07:00.000-08:00

Another great day on the Toxaway yesterday with a really big crew. Paul Stamilio and I headed to the take-out to find 15+ people lounging around discussing shuttle and water levels.

The choice was medium-high Horse Pasture or low Toxaway. Everyone drove up to the put-in to check out the gauge, which didn't seem to be very accurate when compared with past trips. Pat said he thought it had enough water so everyone decided to go. Nick looks on as Eric prepares to launch.

Eric on the put-in slide.

A blurry pic of Drew in Minigizer.

Portage around the manky entrance rapids to Energizer.

Drew getting energized.

Taylor after running the majority of Feeding trough upside down.

Brian dropping into Landbridge.

Wintergreen run-out.

After Wintergreen there is some great class IV boogie to the take-out where a nice 4 mile hike awaits. A few more things worth saying: there were two upside down runs of feeding trough, one backwards run of landbridge, and one run of 40//40. (Nice Pat!). Otherwise, everything went surprisingly smooth considering the number of people in the gorge.

Disclaimer: Everyone on the Toxaway yesterday were very capable boaters, and most had been in the gorge before. Please approach this river with the UTMOST respect and caution. Photos/video do not give these huge rapids credit. The gorge is very secluded, and there is a 4 mile hike-out that you will have to deal with if something does go wrong.
Hope you enjoyed,

Nathan Silsbee

ps check back to the RIOT BLOG soon for some really awesome Toxaway photos from a few weeks ago.

Magging the Green Again

2007-01-07T11:46:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays! Nate Dawg signing in... I've had an unbelievable two months of kayaking, and have been lucky enough to get on some of the best creeks in North Carolina. When it's not raining however, the Green is the place to be. With the dry 70 degree weather in Asheville, I've been paddling at the green a lot. My buddy Saunders Southecorvo came down from Virginia Tech a few days ago, and I've been out there a couple times with him. Saunders just got a new Magnum from Diamond Brand, and I thought it would be cool to document one of his first experiences in the new boat.

I called Gragtmans, and he was up for a study break. So Saunders and I met him around 11:00 at the take-out.

Here's a shot of Saunders practicing his forward stroke from the safety of dry land. (Photo: Nathan Silsbee).

Saunders at Boof or Consequence. (Photo: Nathan Silsbee).

Saunders showing how it's done at Go Left and Die. (Photo: Nathan Silsbee)

Me going Left. (Photo: Saunders Southecorvo).

Saunders screaming through the notch. (Photo: Nathan Silsbee).

Grag catching air at the Gorilla, while Saunders averts his eyes in sheer awe. (Photo: Nathan Silsbee).

Putting in to have a second go with the monkey. (Photo: Saunders Southecorvo).

I like the rock star eddy. (Photo: Saunders Southecorvo).

Gragtmans in the powerslide eddy. (Photo: Nathan Silsbee).

Saunders stomping it at Groove Tube. This rapid is great for learning how to stomp your bow down for a softer landing. (Photo: Nathan Silsbee).

This is me running the standard line at Sunshine. (Photo: Saunders Southecorvo).

Grag styling the Left line, Sunshine. (Photo: Saunders Southecorvo).

Saunders' opinion on his new Magnum: "The first couple days I tried it, I had great lines. Some of the places that I didn't have great lines, I was able to stay in control and recover quickly. I also had the courage to run Go Left for the first time in a while, as I got beat pretty bad the last time I ran it. As far as outfitting, I loved the seat especially and it's way more comfortable then my last boat. This boat is bad-ass like a samurai sword." -Saunders

Saunders seems to really like his new boat, and is looking forward to getting on some other stuff with it.

I hope you enjoyed the trip report, and I'll probably not see ya on the river!

-Nathan Silsbee

Promo

2007-01-04T19:50:00.000-08:00

Hello folks,
I put together a promotional video of my last year or so of kayaking. Hope you enjoy!

peace,
Nathan

Elk River

2006-12-15T14:26:00.000-08:00

Watch Elk Video
Got on the Elk river with the rain that we got a few weeks ago, and it was a pretty epic day! Directly after the put-in, is a 50' waterfall aptly named Big Falls. None of us thought we were actually going to run it, but when we scouted it looked good. After scouting it from the bottom as well, Cooper and I decided to run it. Coop and I scouting from the top.

Coop off the lip

Fading off, while Coop films in the corner.

The gorge was really cool, lots of class IV+,V big water slides.

Here is a shot of me rolling off the lip of the 35' at the end of the gorge.

Watch Elk Video

check yo' self

Nathan Silsbee

The one and only... Toxaway

2006-12-03T11:53:00.000-08:00

I have thought about this run a LOT, and I finally got on it. It's even more awe-inspiring then I expected it to be. It was 70 degrees out, the rapids were way bigger then I imagined, the portages were more heinous then I envisioned and it was relatively high water. A truly epic day. The last part of the put-in slide:

We weren't sure if it would run the night before, but with two inches of rain in in 24 hours, Gragtmans called me Friday morning and he thought it would run. Good enough for me. Turns out there was more then enough water! I packed up my crap and met Gragtmans, Spencer Cooke, Brad Key and Dylan Bruce at the BP off the Asheville airport exit. We were all really pumped up, and someone was saying it was going to be pretty high. We all loaded up in Dylan's car and Spencer's truck and headed towards the river where we met Paul Stamilio. We clambered down the mountain next to Toxaway falls, and got to this one 20' drop-off where we had to push our boats off. Gragtmans and I pushed ours off to the right, and Dylan decided to try and fire up the left line of the cliff. He chucked his boat off and it bounced down about twenty-five feet before pitoning straight into a tree, bending the bow up. What a hilarious start to the day.

The first slide is super long and not too steep until the last 50 yards or so where it drops off into the pool below. A really cool warm-up for the rapids to come. We cruised through the boogie water, until we got to the first of a series of class IV+ gradual slides. These were super fun, and we just blue-angeled our way through, briefly stopping at the bottom of each rapid to regroup. The first major rapid is called Minigizer, it has a tricky entrance where you charge left then slide down sideways and brace into a big curler. Here's a shot of Gragtmans cruising down...
Dylan "the blue blur" Bruce, moving fast on Minigizer.

Paul on Minigizer

A few rapids later we got to Energizer, another extremely narrow, very steep chute. We got there just in time to see someone from the group in front of us spin out half way down and run the rest of it backwards. Hmmm... Here's a shot of Gragtmans on Energizer.

Dylan enjoying the Feeding Trough...

Sorry, didn't get any good photos from the two biggest rapids, Landbridge and Wintergreen, but stay tuned to the Riot Blog for video of the trip... We got to the take-out just as it was getting dark, and hiked out in the moonlight. Luckily it was warm and clear, so hiking out in the dark was not an issue. I felt truly privileged to get on this run with such a great group, and such good conditions. On a more serious note, the Toxaway is a truly irreplaceable treasure, and I would hate to see anything happen to ruin our access to it. Please be extremely careful when running this gorge, and always remember to leave a note telling the rangers that you are in the gorge. Be safe out there!

-Nathan Silsbee
Urgh?

Linville

2006-11-20T12:18:00.000-08:00

WATCH LINVILLE VIDEO
I was lucky enough to get on Linville Gorge about a month ago with Spencer Cooke, Robert Peerson, Mefford Williams and Nate Elliott. It was running about 2'6", which is a little pushy, yet very manageable. The hike in is absolutely stunning, and we took a break at one of the overlooks to enjoy the beauty of the gorge. Nate had been down a dozen or so times so he led the rest of us, and we made pretty good time down the run. It was a really awesome day and I hope to get back there soon!
later

Nathan S

Green River Narrows Race

2006-11-14T10:37:00.000-08:00

Skip the bullshit and watch the video?

This was my first year in the Green Race, so I was pretty nervous. I really wanted to get a fast time and beat my friends, and I kept visualizing the lines over and over again before I ever got in my boat... It was pretty chilly out, so about 20 of us waited at the put-in parking lot so we could stay in the sun and play some hacky-sack. This was probably one of the more intense aspects of the race, knowing there were 500 people waiting downriver to scream and yell at you as you run the biggies. (Photo: Doug Silsbee).

My friend Saunders Southecorvo and I headed down to Bride after about an hour and a half, and timed it pretty well so both of us only had to wait for 20 minutes or so at Bride. (Saunders was to start 2 places behind me). Then it was on... (Photo: Casey Jones). I had great lines through Frankenstein and all the boogie above Boof or Consequences. Boof went well, and I made sure I was far right at the bottom so I wouldn't waste anytime above Go Left. I hit the race line at Go Left going up over the rocks in the entrance and charging over the log without losing any time. I hit the rock in the middle and braced off it with my hand, but lost no speed coming through. I could hear people yelling my name and I resisted the urge to look up.

This next move was my biggest mistake during the race. Immediately after Go Left I automatically went for the boof on the right which is a good second or two slower then the middle. This is the line I always take when not racing, so by instinct I went for that side. Luckily I didn't really stall after the boof and probably only lost one second here. I kept sprinting and nailed the race line at Zwick's and Chief's. HOLY $%#! That is a lot of people! I rounded the corner after chiefs and glanced up at the enormous crowd that lined the left bank at Gorilla. As I came into view I could hear everyone start yelling. DAMN this is awesome! I stuck pencil sharpener and made sure I was in position for the notch. My notch line went well and before I knew it I was flying off the pad. One of the important things here is to remember NOT to boof. It's much easier to stay in control and avoid a spin at speed trap if you just hold a stroke and fade off the pad. (Photo: Doug Silsbee).

I felt myself start to flip right when I landed and I managed to hold a brace so I would stay upright. WHAM I hit speed trap and it overwhelmed my brace flipping me right. I knew I wasn't in the eddy though as I rolled up and I didn't really lose much speed from the flip. At this point I was really drained and I was more concentrating on sticking the slides clean then trying to paddle real hard.

I had pretty clean lines through Scream machine and Nies' pieces. (See video). Powerslide was done in a flash, and I approached the last slide, Rapid Transit. This went smoothly, and I came out pointed directly at the finish rock. One last weak sprint with the remainder of my energy and the race was over. That was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

I went back up to Gorilla to watch the rest of the racers. Coop bombing scream machine.
For everyone that wants to know where to sit next year: BETWEEN PENCIL SHARPENER AND THE NOTCH... (If you like carnage). I watched probably 8 people flip on the first part of pencil sharpener, then run the second part upside down. They would roll up exhausted and out of it from the PS crash... then there's the notch. It was really cool seeing people's faces at this point in the race. Some looked completely drained and out of it, floating into the notch. Others looked so determined and their faces were painted in a grimace as they put every ounce of strength into getting some speed for the notch. Someone off the lip, with Grace filming on the left. (Photo: Doug Silsbee).

After the Time Trials, Jason rounded up a few last minute head to head races... I wasn't going to do it, but after I saw the crazy expression on Jason's face as he gestured for me to get my ass down there on the rock, I changed my mind. We all lined up and Speed Trap was trying desperately to pull one of us in. Someone was holding my stern, thank god, and I didn't get washed in before I put my skirt on.

GO! GO! GO! I started paddling my ass off, and was side by side with Chan, Johnny Kentucky and Billy as we started crashing down the first slide. Cooper was just behind us threatening to spear someone. A sixth racer was stuck in the eddy behind Cooper. (Watch the video, Cooper does this amazing "thread the needle" between Johnny and Billy). I was the furthest right which was a big advantage on the first slide and the 3 of them all crashed into the hole together. I passed them and hit the gas. (Photo Joshua Coxe). Then Cooper came out of nowhere and started riding my stern. Where the hell did he come from? I thought he was going to pass me for sure in the landing, but somehow I came ontop and beat him to powerslide. After powerslide it was just a short stretch of flatwater until the end.

The party afterwards was a great time, and everyone got to see the results. Here is someone jumping over the fire. (Photo: Caroline Moon).

Pat won with a time of 4:36 in his new "Dagger Tank". Pat also won the shortboat class with a record time of 4:54. I personally got a time of 5:11, placing me in fifth in the shortboat class. I was really happy with this result as I hadn't trained much and this was my first year racing. I hope to see you all out there next year!

Good lines out there,
Nathan S

Raven's Fork

2006-11-12T22:59:00.000-08:00

If not the hardest run in North Carolina, it's probably in the top three. Raven's Fork has some of the most difficult drops in the southeast, and it puts some of the best boaters in the world to the test every time it runs. It doesn't take too much rain for it to run and I've been lucky enough to get on it twice in the past month. Big thanks to Chris Gragtmans for showing me down.

Here are a few photos from the two runs:

Put-in to Raven's.

Rob, Chance and Coop.

Entering the Headless Horseman. (Photo: Jared Seiler). The crux of this rapid is the very first ledge which lands in a sticky hole. Immediately after this hole, you must charge right, because half the water falls into a nasty cave on the left.

Tommy Hilleke stomping Big Boy. This is a a notorious 35-footer which lands on rock towards the river-right side of the waterfall.

Grace on Big Boy

Looking down the gorge from atop a rock at Mike Tyson's Punchout.

Drew entering the turmoil... Mike Tyson's is one of the biggies on Raven's.

Coop and Gragtmans scouting

Quite the crowd on this day. The Mangler looms in the background... (Photo: Jared Seiler)

Urgh?
-Nathan

Oh Canada

2006-11-12T13:06:00.000-08:00

Hello Folks,
went to Canada this past summer with Nick Urquahart, Dylan Bruce, Chris Gragtmans and Matt Woodward.

Typical Ottawa Countryside:

It was a fantastic trip, and we were lucky enough to get on one of the best waves in the world... High Tension.

Gragtmans throwing a big pan-am:

Dylan blunting it up on High Tension:

Here I am getting a Mystery-flip thing...

Mid-beatdown in Phil's

Our trip started at High Tension. We paddled in with sleeping bags, tents, pads, food and water strapped to the outside of our boats, in order that we could camp next to the wave. We had a great day on the wave, then camped out on a beach right next to the wave. The next morning we got up around 8:00 and started paddling again. We had the wave completely to ourselves for about 4 hours before people started trickling in. Here's the Canada Video:

After High Tension, we spent a few days at the Ottawa so Gragtmans could show his premier of Enter The Donkey. We hit up Lachine next, which resides on the St Lawrence river. (An absolutely ENORMOUS river). Lachine is a big rapid with a number of fantastic waves. Watch the Lachine Video from last year with Huge Experiences:
We went back to the Ottawa for another week before finally heading home to Asheville. This was after making an 8-hour detour to see Niagara falls. Quite possibly the largest tourist-trap I've ever seen. They have built an entire city next to the waterfall, and have made the road system so it's really confusing, and difficult to escape. Well that's about all I have on that subject... Stay tuned for more updates. (Also, I just added a feature so you can subscribe at the top of the page).
peace

Nathan Silsbee

Green River Narrows Collection

2006-11-10T18:53:00.000-08:00

Even though the Green is probably the most all-around documented river in the world, it's always fun to look at even MORE photos and videos from it. Here are a bunch of photos and a video since I began paddling El Rio Verde. Enjoy this like you would microwave popcorn.

Now for the photos:
(Click photos to enlarge)

Green Race '06. (Photo: Doug Silsbee)

Brendan Garvey going left at Sunshine.

Spencer Cooke smoothing Go Left and Die

Spence on the Monk

Another of Spencer at Sunshine.

Flying off the pad with the beautiful fall colors in the background. (Photo: Jared Seiler)

Billy Murphy

Paul Stamilio going left at Sunshine

My first time going Left at Sunshine. Crashed on this one. (See video). Redemption didn't come for another 6 months after this. A truly scary, yet rewarding line. (Photo: Eric Chance)

Eric "The Tulip" Chance, fading the monkey like he loves to do. (Everyone knows the super-boof is the way to go).

Saunders Southecorvo on Scream Machine

Chance on Sunshine. I have no idea why the skin on his face is so orange in this picture

Matt Woodward. Nies' Pieces

Adam Bixby, old school style.

Saunders-Groove Tube.

Jared Seiler threading the needle at Go Left. (Photo: Saunders Southecorvo)

Saunders shot this pic of me Going Left.

Typical Sunshine-rock crew on a Saturday.

All of the following shots were taken by my Dad when he hiked into the green this past summer. Good job geezer!
Go Left and Die

Zwick's

The Notch

Gorilla

Nies' Pieces

Rapid Transit

Sunshine

You are probably all Greened out now, so get back to whatever you should be doing and leave my blog alone. More "posts from the past" are on the way though so stay tuned. Hopefully I'll catch up to the present at some point soon...
Nate Dogg signing out...

North Alabama Whitewater Festival

2006-11-10T15:29:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos and video from the NAWF from last spring...
Driving to Alabama from Asheville...

Eric Chance and I showing our gangster heritage.

Freestyle off the waterfall competition. Yes you guessed it that's me.

Eric Chance, showing how it's done.

Jeremy Adkins backfreewheeling that shiat.

Thousands of spectators came out for the event...

Eric freewheeling the Response. He is such a bad-ass. This is why they call him "The Tulip".

Brian Jennings going for the screw on Mount Chaos.

And last but not least... The NAWF video.

peace out home slices,

Nathan

Carnage

2006-11-08T22:07:00.000-08:00

Here are some kayaking carnage and beatdowns from a while back. Enjoy. Go kayak after you watch this, it's a real morale booster. Photos:
Alex getting beat in a big hole after a freewheel.

Andrew Dillard going way over vertical (Photo: Bryan Kirk)

Alex Mohn after breaking his nose... for the first time. (Later he broke it again at Maruia falls)

These are two videos from a couple years' worth of footage. Many different videographers. Enjoy.

River RoadKill Part I

River RoadKill Part II

peace

Nathan

New Zealand

2006-11-07T21:21:00.000-08:00

New Zealand is an absolutely amazing country, and probably the highlight of my time with Huge Experiences. The scenery is stunning (go watch Lord of the Rings if you still don't believe me after these photos). We had a great group and the trip was a huge success.
Watch the New Zealand Video:

Chris Miller

Matt Fithian

Mountain... (Volcanic?)

Same mountain at Sunset...

The most beautiful hike I have ever done...8 miles

The put-in to the Rangatiki. Class IV

Right as the Rangatiki started narrowing up and getting steeper.

Hokatika beach at Sunset

Heli-kayaking near Hokatika

Shot from Helicopter

Through the harder stuff...

This is a sequence of myself freewheeling Maruia falls. Making a sequence is very easy, all you have to do is set your camera so it shoots rapid photos, then open all the photos in Photoshop. Choose the shot of the paddler that is most difficult to cut out, and use this as the background. Then cut out the paddler out of the additional shots, paste them into the background, blur the edges and you're done! (All sequence photos were taken by Bryan Kirk)

Another sequence from the Weiroa river.

Weiroa:

Maruia falls again

Fourth Quarter

2006-11-07T21:10:00.000-08:00

This is the Fourth Quarter of my Junior year at Huge Experiences... We traveled around the south-east of the United States, mostly creeking.
Stephen Wright carving it up when the Dries came in... 60,000 CFS

This is Chris Gragtmans throwing a big pan-am at "low water dries". 30,000 CFS.

David Hughes, head of New River Academy, running Oceana on the Tallulah

Matt Fithian running Mill Creek Falls, while David Hughes hangs from a zipline and films.

Catching up...

2006-11-07T20:41:00.000-08:00

So I decided to jump onto the bandwagon, and begin my own blog. (Since it is the cool thing to do and all). Since I have so many videos and photos from the past few years, I'm going to do a major dump and condense it with very little text. (This will be great for all you paddle porn watchers out there). So here goes...

These are some shots from my first semester at Huge Experiences.
Getting up and personal with a viper in Costa Rica...

Poison dart frog in Costa Rica.

Showing off for the camera. (Costa Rica)

Posa Azul... Still the biggest waterfall I have run to date. Hopefully I will have changed that in the next year or so...

The Huge Experiences Costa Rica crew... From left going clockwise: Tom Simenc, Zach Mitchell, Todd Baker, Grant Wildman, Nathan Silsbee, Eric Chance

Well that's the end of the first post... more "posts from the past" will be coming...