North Carolina: The Land of Tornadoes, Sweet Tea, and Big Whitewater

North Carolina is the place to be in April. I certainly have lucked out this year with training camps. After being forced off the water mid-November due to ugly weather we commenced the bulk of our dryland training. Workouts in the gym, in the dungeon a.k.a Mike’s beautiful garage. Around Christmas we embraced the snow with our annual winter camp in the Bow Valley. I then took a min-break from training to go on my first family holiday since I started kayaking, Cuba. In the brutish cold weeks of winter I was in Australia and for the brief couple of weeks that I was home in March the weather was uncharacteristically warm and we were able to paddle and enjoy the outdoors, minus the white stuff. It was weird to be able to go for a run around Glenmore reservoir in nothing more than shorts and a t-shirt. Now, while it is continuing to snow in a wintry fashion at home, we’re living it up in balmy charlotte, N.C. We’re down here for an ICF ranking race to get point for our nation to compete in international races such as world cups and world championships.

Graham and I arrived in Charlotte to discover that Star Alliance airlines United and US Airways had not cooperated enough to get our bags onto the planes we were on. It was pretty hard to train with no running shoes, clothing or boats. Luckily, or unluckily, Charlotte was not running water in an attempt to change one of the drops, bridge drop. Graham and I got our luggage the next day but our boats still had not arrived. After some detective work, we discovered that our boats had actually been on the same flight as our luggage. The boats were behind some nets- an area which apparently doesn’t get checked all too often. I think my boat has seen more of the US of A than I have. At the end of the second day, we had boats and were ready to depart for Bryson City and the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC). As we were driving along the freeway we hear a snap and then the glass of the back windshield shatters blowing bits of windshield all the way up to the front and into Mike and Paul’s laps. Some good did come out of the mysterious strap snapping incident, we got a way bigger vehicle. The increased leg room on the way to Nantahala I will admit was very much appreciated.

The 3 hour drive to NOC took us a little long than expected. Thankfully we did arrive in enough time to get a session in on the course. NOC in a nutshell: rocks, mini waves, rocks, big-ish drop, rocks, and very, very cold water. After our session Jessica paddles over to me and says, “What a terrible, terrible place.” Then she smiles, “At least we have a hot tub.”

Mike really scored on our accommodation: log cabin on the top of a hill-billie hillside. After crossing over 17 bridges and experiencing the “local flavours” such as the tiny white church and greetings over shotguns shouted from porches you climb up the side of the hill driving the switchbacks. Finally you arrive to a drive-way that takes you to the Falling Waters cabin. Fully equipped kitchen, washer, dryer, fireplace, clean, comfy beds, and hot tub greet you with tunes similar to Beauty and the Beast’s “Be Our Guest”.

We raced Saturday and Sunday on some pretty tough courses. Canada had a strong showing with teams from Ontario and Alberta racing. Congratulations to those who raced and thank you to the volunteers who ran a very smooth race. Full results can be found here: Saturday Sunday Overall

Photo Credit: Pam Hurd

Photo Credit: Pam Hurd

Immediately after the awards ceremony in NOC, we drove back to Charlotte to pick Matt up at the airport and settle into our new accommodation for the week at the Studio 6. As we approached the airport, the sky grew darker and darker and the winds started to tug on the boats atop the roof. We make it back to the motel and as I’m flipping through the channels on the TV I come across the weather station. Curious about our sun potential the next couple days I stay on. The news anchor is busy babbling on about some storm watch. I think, “whatever, it’s not close to us, tornadoes are overrated anyways.” As I look closer on the screen at the swirling greens and reds I realize that it is a map of North Carolina, and… oh shit… Mecklenburg County. The wind started picking up outside and I could hear it whistling through the cracks of the building. The torrential downpour starts and I get a little freaked out so I call over to Mike and Paul’s room. I’m told to “chill out” since it’s “just a storm”. I sit back on the bed and watch as the purple clouds continue to gather in the sky. The news anchor tells me that the tornado warning is over for the Mecklenburg County but that now we are in a storm watch. Cue thunder and lighting. The TV is showing clips now of the damage that the winds of over 70 m/h caused; eves torn down, trees snapped in half, signs blow off buildings. The thunder and lighting are happening in closer succession now, not 5 even five seconds apart. The room lights up and KABOOM! the ground shakes around me as the building rattles in the aftermath. The fire alarm goes off. With a sigh I climb out of bed grab my rain jacket and head outside with the rest of the Studio 6 visitors. The fire and EMS show up and we wait for the say so to go back inside. It was a night for the books, most memorable alarm at the 6 ever.

We trained all week at the Charlotte whitewater course, enjoying temperatures in the mid 20s all week; I could feel my tan making a comeback after Australia. After getting my butt worked for 3 sessions, I finally got a hang of the strange whitewater again. They should have t-shirts for you as you leave the course with “I survived Charlotte”. My boat is still in one piece and I only really had one serious working in the middle pool. The course changed a bit since we were there a couple years ago. They poured cement into bridge drop to change things up a little bit which resulted in an uphill paddle to get down the course with a pretty significant gradient.

We raced the Charlotte Open on Friday and Saturday. I was pleased with a couple of my runs but couldn’t really get a fast run together. I did have 2 totally clean runs this weekend which I am happy with. Full results for the weekend can be found here.

Photo Credit: Pam Hurd

Photo Credit: Pam Hurd

Now we are into the final stretch before national team trials in May, junior on the Mamquam near Squamish and senior on Rutherford Creek. We have a month at home now to settle in before we leave for B.C at the beginning of May. It was so nice to see all the paddling crew again! Happy Easter!