Kia Ora .....

By: Jordy Searle

By KAVU

November 19^th, 2019

Jordy Searle here, and I am just sitting down after my 2nd year medical school exams to write about our trip to Cali earlier this year.

Usually the delay in my writing would be due to being slack and just going kayaking, but as we said with last years Norway update, things have changed for Barny, Ari and Myself and we’re now all dealing with the "big kids" balance of work and play….....

..... but I think we’re doing it right;-)

This year we made it to California but we did not have the luxurious 3 months or so that we have been accustomed to.

Essentially, we had 18 days which also included July 4th so.... there was always going to be a day or two lost to “social investment”.

Ari actually had only13 days, as he has taken over management of the Gold Mine in Mongolia so, we had to make things happen fast.

Luckily we had boots on the ground in the form of Jared Johnson, Ben Coleman, Scott Lingren, the Serrasolses brothers and Team Square (Evan Moore, Johnny Chase and Carson Lindsay).

kavu days

A mixture of planning/logistics, good fortune with cooler temps, the right snow pack and a new sense of motivation/time pressure......

all turned into a pretty action packed tour.

Ticking off South Yuba, Golden Gate, South Merced, Yuba Gap x2, Fantasy Falls x2, Cataracts and Forks of the Kern, 4th of July in Kernville, partying in Calabasas and Dinkey Creek.

Not to mention taking the time to catch up with a lot of the good Cali folk we have been lucky to meet over the years.

The kayaking is incredible of course, but I think the true value is that we’re maintaining our passion for the sport and the friendships that we have made over the past decade.

And also keeping things in perspective; normal life issues like exams for me, building deadlines for Barny and mining logistics for Ari seem more surmountable when compared to staring down the barrel of the stacked rapids in “Total Reality Vortex” gorge on Fantasy or, sitting above the monstrous “Hour Glass” slide on Yuba Gap.