Team Kokatat is our group of sponsored whitewater and sea kayaking athletes, with backgrounds and stories as mixed as their skill sets. These athletes travel the globe competing and exploring, trusting their safety and comfort to a mix of Kokatat products and apparel. Here is an update from Nick Troutman and his experience at the Green River Race…

Well this year I finally took the plunge and raced my first even Green River Race. It was a ton of fun, after I wore all the safety equipment I could think of to make it less scary. No for real it was a lot of fun, I got to hangout and paddle with a whole bunch of good friends, and a couple new friends too.

Clay, Dane and I went up a week early to paddle the river and get accustomed to the lines before the race. We were able to stay at Shane Benedict’s house and paddle with him and Adriene. Thoughout the week we were getting more and more comfortable. We were running Go Left and the Notch direct every time. As the weekend came closer more and more people started to show up, and Shane’s house get even more cozy.

On Thursday night I had my first real encounter with Jason Hale. I had heard a lot about him, and he was pretty much exactly what I was expecting. I guess the simple way to describe him is as an Alpha Male. He and I got into an hour long discussion about how much of a girl I was because I wasn’t racing a long boat. For those who don’t understand what I mean by a ‘long boat,’ for the Green Race there is no length limit on your kayak, so the people who win are usually in a 13 foot long kayak, many of which we designed and built over a decade ago. So being that I am not big into peer pressure I took the insults and nagging, but when there was a challenge attached than it changed the whole ball game.

Jason and I kind of made a bet, not for money or anything, more less for our words sake or man sake, that I would paddle a Long Boat down the Green and then Race it, and he would catch the Birthday eddy Backwards in his long boat. As for what the birthday eddy is, I will get to his part of the bet later. So I went home that night wondering if I would regret what I had done. I had only ever paddled a long boat for 1 day before, and I had never paddled it on the Green.

Now I am waking up on Friday morning by my phone ringing. It is my best friend Joel who is on his way down from Canada for the race. He has just finished driving 18 hours straight, and has one day to paddle, and figure out the race lines for a class 5 river. So it is the last day of practice before the race, I am going to take Joel down nice a slow, make sure he knows all the lines, I am going to try paddling this crazy Long boat.

Joel, Dane and I made our first run down, in around 3-4 hours or so. Joel was remembering that the river is steeper than he thought, I was thinking, well this whole long boat thing just might be doable, and Dane was thinking ‘Come on lets Go.’ Clay drove us back up to the top and we did it again, but this time in 45 minutes. Joel was obviously remembering the lines, which was a good thing because it was his last practice run before the race.

Saturday arrives and it is Race Day. To my surprise Emily had driven four hours by herself (which is pretty much impossible) to come hang out for the race. I asked to race in both classes Long and Sort boat, though I would race my Super Hero (Short Boat 8′6) first. I figured that I had been training to go fast in my short boat so I should do that first, and then if I needed to I could drift in my long boat run.

I paddled both of the boats down to the start, well I really paddled one and pulled the other one. I hung out and watched some people start. Then I was called up. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO! I started with a couple sprint stokes, then easing off coming in to the first rapid Frankenstein. It went better then any of my practice runs, I continued at a medium pace knowing that the race was at least 5 minutes long. I went though Pin Cushion, Whale Tale, Boof or Consequence all going great. I came into Go Left or Die, and I went Left. The rapid doesn’t look pretty but it is way faster, and that is pretty much how i did it, not really pretty but fast. I then came into Zwicks, not my fastest but still pretty good, and coming into the Notch above Gorilla I started to ease off a bit and take a couple deep breaths. This was a tip Clay talk me about. I then new what I had to do, and I charged the Notch, pretty much greased the line. I was know coming over the Launch Pad off Gorilla, which is the biggest vertical drop of the River.

Everything was kind of moving in slow motion as I was deciding which boof stroke to take, a right stroke, no a left stroke, no just keep it straight so i will just keep cruising though the speed trap (there is a hole which can stop you 50% of the time, which then you have to either swim or surf your way out of). I don’t know if it was the fact that I just didn’t take a boof stroke, or if I leaned back or what, but I saw the landing coming and BAM!!!!! I pitoned my brains out, went end over end onto my head. Now I was thinking, ‘wow i didn’t really think that was possible’ then I was thinking ’sweet I didn’t get stuck in the speed trap,’ and finally I thought to myself, ‘I just crashed in front of 1,000 people, just roll up and paddle hard to finish the race.’

Fortunately for me, somehow I stayed in the fast water the whole time, and I rolled up and paddled away as fast as I could. There are only a couple slides now before the race is finished. I went through each slide pretty quickly without spinning out at all. I got to the finshed as had a quick little laugh about what just happened.

I got into my Long Boat and decided I would do it, and if anything went wrong I would just eddy out and call it quits. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO. This time I took it a bit easier. Though all the lines were going great. Knowing that a lot of time can be made up in the flats, but also being tired I decided to coast, still keep my speed but not paddling hard. I got through everything pretty well, came to the Notch and didn’t think twice, as I can to the Launch Pad I was a bit too far right and fought to get back left all the way off the lip, and………….. splash, I was at the bottom as smooth as silk. From here I knew that I could start paddling a little harder, and when I came into the finish I was thinking that both runs felt pretty much the same length.

From here I went back up watched the rest of the race, hung out and talked with friends, and saw Emily, who hiked in for 2 hours with our dogs. Back to the Bet with Jason Hale. Well, he went through with his end of the deal as well. He had to catch the birthday eddy in his long boat, scary at best. The birthday eddy is an eddy that is pretty much parallel with the Notch, and is only possibly 4 feet long. Not Jason’s boat is along 12 feet long, so you could see how this could be a bit of an issue. He actually had to paddle into it backwards which was a feat on its own. Long story short, everyone who know about the bet came to watch it, and everyone could see the fear in Jason’s eyes. To be honest I was really afraid for him, I didn’t want to be the blame for him getting hurt, but in true fashion he pulled it off just about a best as anyone ever could, and like Jason then starting calling everyone on. Though he did tell me that he was really scared.

After Making it to the Take Out parking lot, we all headed across the road to Woddy’s place for the awards and after party. This was Joel’s 21 birthday and it was all pretty special. At the awards there were plenty of new record times, though the main ones were the Faster Man and Fastest Women. Andrew Holcomb won his second ever Green Race, and beat his record by a whopping 9 seconds with a 4:18, and Adriene Levknecht who beat the previous record by 24 seconds, with a 4:49, HUGE!

The Party then went on all night with the DJ busting out all sorts of tunes, keeping the dance floor moving.

If you have never been to the Green race it is a pretty amazing thing, come and race it or just come to watch, though you should come and check it out! Thanks to all the volunteers who made the whole race happen.

More info on the Ronin Pro PFD here (click for link).