Dane and Rafa Ortiz navigate some white water during the Red Bull First Descent : Michoacan project , in Tlapacoyan , VE , Mexico , on 20 November , 2013 . Photo : John Rathwell / Red Bull Content Pool
I was so driven to want to win and also fighting to survive financially . Emily was born in 1990 and Dane in 1993 . As a full-time kayaker , it was a roller coaster ; I made the Olympic team in 1992 , got 13th place out of the 105 competitors , and was the top USA finisher in men ’ s K1 .
Dane ’ s rise to the top seemed effortless from the outside . At the same time , he learned his strokes and concepts ( most important skills you can learn if you want to be the best at any event in kayaking ) at an early age and paddle every day . It was up to him to decide if he wanted to be the best and keep breaking new personal ground every day . When we were on the Nile or Zambezi , it was how he ran a rapid or the tricks on a wave or in a hole .
LAPPED IT TEN TIMES
When we river ran , it was running new rapids or lapping a drop ten times if he liked it . Tallulah River - Oceana - the first time there , he must have lapped it ten times . “ Dane , we have to go ; the water is going to go off .” I have no way of knowing what was going on inside of his head , but it was undoubtedly a combination of “ this is fun ” and “ I can do it better .”
With all of the slalom racing I was doing , I was still wearing my ‘ Protrek ’ helmet because it reminded me that I am a ‘ Playboater ’ first . I won almost any rodeo I competed in and everyone that had prize money . In 1993 , the year Dane was born , I won my first World Championships in rodeo . It took me until 1996 to finally stop training for slalom in DC and move into an RV to travel and enjoy whitewater as a lifestyle sport , versus an Olympic sport , where you trained in an artificial environment , at one primary location and had a regimented schedule that wasn ’ t conducive for taking advantage of good water levels around the country and new river runs .
However , like Dane , I was the guy who ran Great Falls on the Potomac almost every day and lapped it endlessly , running it at the highest levels , new lines ,
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