Kayak Rodeo

Giddy up!

Grab yerself a paddle and that dar thing that floats and show 'em here how a proper rodeo is done.

Kayak rodeos have nothing in common with those involving cows, "chewin' toe-ba-kee" and death... for the cows. In a kayak rodeo there are 4 divisions. Junior (younger than 18), Master (older then 40), Pro (those that make every other kayaker look like a beginner), and Sport (those who are too old for the junior class, too young for the master division, and not good enough to enter the pro class). I entered the Sport Division.

In a horse and cow rodeo the idea is to stay on the animal you are riding or chase down a cow and strangle the poor thing with a rope. The only thing remotely similiar between this kind of rodeo and a kayak rodeo is that you want to stay on the thing you're riding. In a kayak you want to stay in the whitewater part, in kayak jargon it's known as a hole. Once on that hole a kayaker wants to perform as many tricks as possible, in 45 seconds, as the judges add up the points.

I took 4th place, in the Sport division, of six other very skilled boaters. I had somehow sneaked by to 2nd place in the first round, but since I couldn't pull off the front flip, the other kayakers that could surpassed me in points in the second round. I was just completely enthralled to be able to show off my new trick that I learned this summer, the cartwheel. The person in the sport division that took 1st beat all of us by a quadrupleton of points. He was a beast out on the wave and looked like a pro.

After our division, the pro kayakers tore up the wave and had a huge battle that would rival that of WWII. They displayed their skills by launching double helixes, barrel rolls, space Godzillas, flips, endless cartwheels, and so many more that I don't even know the names of. As you can imagine by the names of these tricks they looked incredibly AWESOME. Here's some photos that I took and maybe a video if I can figure out how to host it.

Watch a video!

          Lady kayaker

             Flip

       The colorful boats

  Juniors watching the action

Note: I won't be posting for a week. A family friend is getting married in Colorado. It will be an interesting wedding. The wedding is on his ranch and it is going to be an 1800's style Rendezvous and they are getting married at high noon. The invitation said to come dressed in mountain man attire. Ha! There will be many old west style games and parties going on afterwards and a pig roast.