Allen took a break from his nearly non-stop adventure race schedule to race with me in an OC2 in the Southeastern Wildwater Championships Sept. 27.

He and I paddle mostly flat water, so we were really looking forward to hitting the fast water of the Nantahala River near Bryson City, N.C., and uncertain at how we'd do in the race. It rained a ton the day before, so we knew we were in for a great ride in our tandem open canoe, which we borrowed from world champion wildwater canoe paddler Jon Pinyerd.

We wrapped the bow and stern with a bunch of duct tape and stuffed the boat full of all the float bags we could find and borrow. Allen steered from the stern, while I took the job of guiding the boat from the bow.

Turns out we won with a time of 55:21 for the 8.2-mile course ... and it also turns out we were the only OC2 in the race! Hey, we can't help it if nobody else showed up in our division!

Hopefully, next year more folks will show up. We'll be there to defend our championship along with the other Wildwater canoes and kayaks. Wildwater's a great sport. Check here for more on races around the country.


- Paul