June 22, 2004
FIBARK (First in Boating on the Arkansas)
is in its 56th year and going as strong as ever. A commodore,
a board, tons of local support, a carnival, live bands daily,
beer sponsors, slalom races, freestyle event, downnriver races,
a Holigan Race, and even a water dog fetching competition.
Not too mention the Colorado Foam Boating Competition organized
by Dane Jackson, and sponsored by both Jackson Kayak and Liquid
Logic with cash prizes. Yes, it is chock full of stuff to
do, and boredom is impossible. The Jackson family, of course,
tries to do more than is humanly possible. Just yesterday,
I raced slalom, helped run the Foam Boating Competition, manned
the Jackson Kayak RV putting about 25 people into Funs of
all sizes, taught a clinic for about 15 people, including
teaching several people to roll, then I took out Alexander
(my partners son) for a one on one and taught him to roll
(he is 10). Then it was more bombardment by people hoping
to sit in the Funs to experience for themselves the outfitting
that is making people happy, and getting the EJ personal fitting.
Still 90% of the people, including kayak shops, are clueless
on the Happy Feet Footbag, and how to position the hip pads,
oh well, education takes a while.
Emily (14) decided to step up to the plate this
weekend and go head to head with the Pro Women- I was very
proud of her paddling, coming in at 3rd place in prelims,
and heading on to finals. Her air loop became her staple move
and she hits it almost every time, very cool.
Tanya Shuman won prelims, followed by Katie
Selby, then Emily, then Tracy Brabant.
Dane took third in that round, with Zach Miller and Kevin
Dumby beating him with some great rides.
I took first, followed by Jed Selby (last year’s
Fibark winner, beating me in finals) , and then Brian Kirk.
The water was too high for the hole making it not very retentive
so the moves and scores weren’t as impressive. Air loops,
and Space Godzillas were the staple move, but a couple of
us could also McNasty making our scores higher.
- Tanya Shuman won again using the ZG 54 (biggest
one) to get really big loops, followed by Katie Selby, and
Tracy Sage. Emily got 6th.
Dane won this round with a great first ride getting air loops,
space Godzilla, back loops, cartwheels, etc. Zack Miller,
and Kevin Dumby were second and third.
I won this round with both of my rides and was
quite comfortable with my moves, knowing that there was not
a move I couldn’t pull off during my ride. I took my
time on my first ride and ticked off Lunar Orbits, McNasty,
Tricky Woo, all loops, but forgot to do the Phonix Monkey.
Clay Wright reminded me before my next ride to do that move
too. Dustin Urban nailed his second ride, keeping his run
for the money going strong and securing a place in the finals.
Clay had a solid ride, but flushed and needed another 5 seconds
to secure a spot in finals as he nailed three big moves just
after the buzzer. Javid Grubbs had an awesome ride on his
second try, busting out the “Grubb” among a flurry
of other tricks. My second ride was an attempt to pack 90
seconds worth of moves into 45 seconds. I attempted to do
every move linked into another move. It was super fun, quite
tiring, and a little messy from time to time as I tried to
pull big moves like the McNasty, and Phonix Monkey from less
than ideal set ups and before my face cleared of water from
the last move. For the most part, I nailed all of them.
- Tanya took the girls to the cleaners winning every
round with her huge loops. Her choice to paddle the biggest
boat available was an interesting one. She decided to give
up on doing any move besides air loops and space godzillas.
She was able to get the “huge” bonus that way
and it was fun to watch! That was enough to win every round,
which was very impressive. Other paddlers, like Erin Griffith
worked all week on the McNasty and was close to getting them
in competition, but not quite. In the upcoming competitions,
I believe the women who learn the new moves will dominate
and I think a shakedown in the women’s class is forth
coming unless they all start working on the new moves. Meanwhile-
Katie Selby did some great paddling to take second, and Tracy
Sage earned her bronze!
I was very happy to hear Dane’s question to me when
he won semi-finals and was about to compete in finals. He
said, “Now, nobody can lose right? We all win now right?”
He was truly psyched that everybody would win at this point
because there was only three left. He was not super concerned
about how he did, very cool. Well, Dane lost his Mojo on the
opening round, flushing early and missing some of his bigger
moves, but was very happy just the same. In the final round,
Kevin Dumby took out Zack Miller with a great ride to win
it all. The crowd was in the hundreds for each round, and
the cheering quite loud. What a great competition for the
juniors.
My partner, Tony Lunt and his family had
to leave for the airport literally seconds before finals.
They stayed to the last possible moment before leaving. After
they left, II ferried to the other side of the river and looked
at the crowd. It was huge! Mike Harvey and PT Wood were announcing
and getting the crowd all juiced up. Both of them do a terrific
job. It was interesting to hear their commentary. Both of
them are now new dads. Last year, they talked about completely
different things. This year they talked a lot about my kids,
families, etc. It was an interesting observation, I thought.
Javid went first and threw a great ride, followed by Dustin
who through a great ride, making it impossible to tell who’s
was better. They were so close. I went and had a great ride,
hitting everything I wanted before running out of time to
win that round. I was having Fun (pun intended). Javid got
knocked out by a hair, leaving it to Dustin and I to battle
for the top position. Dustin went first and nailed his opening
lefty Tricky Woo. Then he went for his righty and missed it.
Suddenly, he looked a little flustered, not knowing whether
to go for it again or to move on. He moved on, but lost his
groove and flushed on a move. Although he got back in the
hole and got some big moves, he flushed again. I didn’t
need a big ride to win, but went for a big one anyway. I did
hold back a little, about 10%, to make sure I stayed in the
hole on my big moves. (Richard Fox once said, to be the best,
you need to be able to win at 90% of your full effort) My
ride didn’t suffer, I just didn’t go overly fast.
I had a last ride that included Lunar Orbit both ways, McNasty
both ways, Air loop, Space Godzilla both ways, Back loop,
tricky woo both ways, and phonix monkey left. I think I accidentally
got a cartwheel too (I love Cartwheels, but am making a point
to keep 100% of my moves in the “big” category.
The scoring sheet is basically divided in half and everything
on the left side, staring with a spin, roundhouse, cartwheel,
etc. are the lower scoring moves. Everything on the right,
starting with the Air Loop, and Pan Am are higher scoring
and have a completion bonus, as well as can be “Big”
or “Huge”. I am trying to us my 45 seconds up
doing nothing but the right side of the sheet. The better
the spot the easier it is to do. I am very excited that two
of my latest moves, “McNasty” and “Lunar
Orbit” which appear on my “EJ’s Advanced
Playboating” are finally catching on with the other
freestyle paddlers. Every competition, more of the pro men
can do a McNasty. The Lunar Orbit is a move that I have only
seen nailed in competition by two other boaters so far, but
after this weekend, I think I know what people will be working
on! The cool thing is that there are plenty of new, fun hole
moves to do, where a couple of years ago, people were trying
to say that all hole moves have been invented already, and
only wave moves on really big waves were left.
EJ
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Dane ready to do finals
Kristine watching the event and having
a good day
Dane deep in the water
Dane going for air
Fun 1 looks cool too
Tony, Alexander, and Kristine watching
the event
Dane concentrating
Fun 1 hull by Dane
Cool shot
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