Gaining Courage

“Courage is the power of the mind to overcome fear” 
                                                                          – Martin Luther King

The following post has tips to empower the body and mind to overcome fear - co-written by Jeff Laxier and myself (Cate Hawthorne).  It is written about whitewater river kayaking, but one can apply these skills to many different situations on and off the water.

Make hard moves on water you are comfy with. photo: Jeff Laxier

Bobbing in a surging eddy, I bounce above an elevation drop.  Time slows, and the river holds me in its trance. My heart pumps loudly above the roar of the river as I second guess my ability to negotiate the rapid.  My inner voice screams “STOP,” and I start to work through my fear.

There are many ways to overcome fear. Here are 3 strategies that work for us:

Mathew Nelson reads the water with perfection. photo by Jeff Laxier

1.    Warrior Cry – Reach deep down into your core and belt out a primal roar.  This activates inner strength, positive attitude, and clears the head of “what ifs?”  By clearing the mind, it readies the body for action.  Don’t worry – no one else will hear you above the roar of the rapid.  If they do, they will blow off the stress to by laughing at you or emitting their own warrior cry.

Cate Hawthorne demonstrating a Warrior Cry. photo by Jeff Laxier

2.    Train Hard – Show up at the rapid with the skills necessary to style it.  In your training, build general and specific skills that you can apply to the rapid.  Examples of general skills include look where you want to go, generate speed, keep strokes forward.  Examples of specific skills include precise eddy turns, ferries, and boof strokes.  These skills don’t come by just running the river every weekend but are earned with focused practice and training.

It does not need to be hard or scary to learn, train hard. photo by Cate Hawthorne

3.    Visualization – Review the moves that need to be made and rehearse them in your mind.  Visualize them and talk yourself through them.  Emphasize the positive.

Cate Hawthorne in the flow of the Eel River. photo by Jeff Laxier

Often our minds get in the way of what our bodies know to do.  We allow ourselves to doubt our training and skills and focus too much on the hazards rather than the correct line.  In your training, focus on building your skills and using positive visualization and self-talk.  When you get to the tricky rapid, pour-over, or scary wave, use these tools to squelch fear and style the line.

Do you have strategies that help with managing fear?  If so, please share them in the comments.

Rivers, Arteries to Life! photo by Cate Hawthorne

Sea Cave Kayaking Video

Check out this sea cave kayaking video.  This video was made by a new whitewater paddler who had his first taste of whitewater of the sea and kayaking in sea caves with us this winter on our New Years Whitewater n Surf Safari.  

Kayaking in sea caves on the Mendocino Coast with Liquid Fusion Kayaking.

He found some caves and whitewater of the sea in his backyard and made this video.  Check it out and if you like it - give it a thumbs up and share it.  Here's a link.

We are stoked to see Cordell out there exploring and playing in the whitewater of the sea and look forward seeing more of his adventures. 

Whitewater Kayak Rock gardening on the Mendocino Coast

#whitewaterofthesea

Sea Kayaking Mendocino Video

My favorite part of the Paddle Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium is that it gets paddlers to Northern California and some take the time to come paddle in Mendocino with Jeff and I.  This year, we had a whitewater crew the first day for the Stoutside Ball.

Jeff Laxier getting a nice pour over ride in our Stoutside Ball Session. #stoutside

Then we had several East Coast paddlers join us for 3 days of sea kayaking (and a sunset and moonrise surf session).

Sunset - super moonrise surf session. Photo by Jeff Laxier

Day one was a coastal exploration with some rock gardening.  Day two was coastal exploration in sporty conditions with some sea kayak surfing.  Day three was sea kayak surfing.  Paddlers in the video are Snowy Robertson - Dagger Kayaks, Matt Kane - Prime Paddlesports, Chris Audet - Committed 2 the Core, Luke Rovner - Kayak Hipster, and of course Jeff Laxier and Cate Hawthorne of Liquid Fusion Kayaking.

Liquid Fusion Kayaking's Cate Hawthorne reviews the forecast. Photo by Jeff Laxier

Luke Rovner - aka The Kayak Hipster - made a video sharing these 3 days of sea kayaking.  Here's the video - If it doesn't show up in the blog post, here is a link to it on YouTube.  The sea kayaks that were used in the video were the Dagger Stratos - our go-to for rock garden and coastal play.  Snowy and I paddled whitewater kayaks for our sunset and moonrise surf session including the Dagger Axiom. 

I hope you enjoy it.  If it gets you interested in sea kayaking on the Mendocino Coast, check out Liquid Fusion Kayaking's Art of Sea Kayaking Mendocino Series and 3-5 Day Adventures.

Sea kayaking and rock gardening on California's Mendocino Coast

Drying Out

Even water people need to dry out from time to time.  Jeff and I had a few days free and decided to meet up with some friends in the Sonoran Desert for some mountain biking and camping.

On our journey to the Sonoran Desert, we stopped in the Mojave Desert.  I am always fascinated by the desert landscape and geology.  Someday, I am going to delve back into studying geology - especially geomorphology. 

We stopped at a place called Hole in the Wall.  The holes in the wall are formed by air pockets in volcanic ash.  When the ash cooled, these holes were left in the rocks.

The area where we were camping and mountain biking had lots of interesting geology and scenery.  It also had interesting plant and wildlife and fun mountain biking. 

We camped among the gigantic Saguaro cactus.  In one of the cactus, we found a great horned owl nest.

A place called Jackass Junction we met an interesting fellow. 

Jackass Junction is not an oasis but a shady spot for good times.

I am continuing to shop for a new mountain bike.  I of course was eyeing what everyone else was riding and stopped in a couple of shops on our journey.  Some of the bike shops were helpful and some were not.  I would like to give a shout-out to McDowell Mountain Cycles in Fountain Hills, Arizona.  Jeff stopped in to buy brake pads.  The owner was extremely helpful.  We stopped in a second time with some friends who wanted to check out the shop.  The woman who answered our questions was very knowledgeable and helpful.  She is a shorter rider and her insight into what might be a good bike for me was invaluable.

We are now back home, and it is raining.  We are going to have great flows for our Precision River Running Class this weekend.  Next week's forecast looks wet too so it is time to hang up the mountain bike and get wet!