ThePADDLER 36
WHEN DID YOU FIRST START KAYAKING ? Right out of high school , I got a summer job as a raft guide in Colorado . I was 18 , and all the other raft guides were in their 20s , and I looked up to all of them . Many of them went kayaking after work , so I decided I better learn how to kayak so I could hang out with them .
Another woman raft guide lent me all of her kayaking gear because she ’ d had a bad experience and was taking a break from the sport . I had a rough learning curve . I jumped right into the class III run that my fellow guides were paddling without learning any skills – I didn ’ t even know how to wet exit the first time I went and ended up bashing my knees through the spray deck when I had to swim .
I kind of hated the sport at first because I was so bad at it , but that also made it elusive and intriguing to me . I stuck with it and slowly built up some actual kayaking skills , which were extremely helpful !
After my first full year of kayaking , I ended up going to Nepal with a friend . That experience of travelling with a kayak ( it was my first time outside of North America ), doing multi-day river trips , and seeing Nepal as not many other tourists got to is what hooked me on the sport . It was a challenging trip because I still wasn ’ t a very good kayaker , and we were running some more challenging rivers .
Still , the experience stuck with me and motivated me to improve my kayaking skills and seek out more opportunities to travel with my kayak .
YOU ’ VE RECENTLY BECOME AN AUTHOR ; HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED WITH WRITING , AND WHAT WAS YOUR INSPIRATION ? I ’ ve enjoyed writing since I was young . I used to love Stephen King when I was a kid and even tried to write a horror story – haha ! After the Amazon , I guess I felt that I had finally done something worth writing a book about , so I set out to try .
I figured it would take me 8-12 months . Well , 6.5 years later , I had a book , a literary agent , and a publisher ! It was incredibly challenging , but I learned so much along the way and am so grateful for the process .
I would write a totally different book if I set out to do it again today , but I suppose we are constantly evolving , so you can never write the same book twice ; - )
CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT ONE STAND OUT MOMENT DURING YOUR EXPEDITION ON THE AMAZON ? Playing volleyball with the local Peruvian women . One night when we pulled into a small town to camp , I went walking around and discovered an intense volleyball match . It took me a while to muster up the courage to ask if I could join because the women were such good players and were pretty serious about the game .
When I finally did ask , they were sceptical , and I could tell they didn ’ t want to let me join , but I persisted and told them I knew how to play . They relented , and I took my place with one of the teams . I played volleyball in college , and it was all I could do to keep up with them .
These women are amazing – they are incredibly strong players , and I still think about them all the time . I got to play in four games before we hit the Brazilian border , where they didn ’ t play volleyball . Getting to share this time with the local women created some of the most memorable trip moments for me .
Darcy by Matt Power
YOU ’ RE PASSIONATE ABOUT HEALTHY RIVER ENVIRONMENTS - WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE BIGGEST THREAT TO RIVERS ? Greed , corruption , and overconsumption of resources .