Dane signing Jessica Fox ’ s T-Shirt at 2005 worlds
Photo : Corey Rich
when I was 15 years old . I got my first kayak that year and learned to roll it .
bit more like Dane ’ s . I was paddling every day and realised I could make money doing it . I became very good that year and learned that I could ender and pirouette better than anyone I knew , and I could hand paddle the Kennebec and surf all of the biggest holes and enjoyed it . I wasn ’ t afraid of anything I was experiencing .
I scouted and ‘ almost ’ ran Moxie Falls in my fibreglass kayak ( 1990 ). I cut the lock on the dam , open it myself and solo the run , but chickened out on Moxie , portaged it and completed the class 5 creek that flows into the Kennebec . The people living on Moxie Pond were not impressed when they saw the water levels dropping and closed the gate – I never got caught .
Dane got motivated . After Dane did his first expedition with me in Newfoundland in 2007 ( he was 14 ) and had a close call with Nick Troutman ( same rapid ), he switched mental gears and got the drive he was missing . We had a long paddle on the Cloud River in the dark after a two-day mission that started with a floatplane into the put-in . He tried to keep up the entire time , but we had to hike into everything we were running , and he did his best to pull his weight there . He became a hard worker from that moment on , which started to complete his kayaking skill set .
Photo : Corey Rich
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