Monday, June 4, 2012

How to Make Friends At Paddling Festivals


Welcome, Guest Blogger, Mitch Suliak of Aquabatics in Calgary, AB
Paddler: Leela Samuels

All paddlers know that kayaking festivals are a great way to meet new people, run into old paddling buddies and have a good time whether its on the river or around a fire at night. 

Each year the May long weekend marks the start to festival season in the Canadian Rockies with the Pincher Creek Three Rivers Rendezvous in southern Alberta.  Despite the name this festival is a meeting spot for all sorts of paddling in Southern Alberta and has everything from beginner courses to some of my all time favorite creek runs and a 35-foot park and huck ten minutes down the road. What more could you ask for.  

I’ve been going to this gem for 5 years now and it is here I discovered the one piece of gear that guarantees you new friends every year and more than the occasional free drink:  the Kokatat Gasket Repair Kit. Its one tool that follows me to every festival I go to but it never gets more use than down in Pincher Creek with paddlers dusting off their gear after a long winter.   

Kokatat Neck Gasket Repair Kit

The water is still freezing and there is nothing worse than getting wet when you paddle, so you can imagine how stoked people are when a fire side gasket replacement gets them back on the water warm and cozy by the next afternoon.  The kit is ridiculously easy to use and is a life saver when your gasket goes while your taking off your top after your favorite runs with old friends and new paddling partners.

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Green River, UT

Green River, UT
Photo: Shawna Franklin