Questions You Never Thought to Ask. Interviews with Whitewater Kayakers: Recent Episodes
Seth Ashworth
I AM SORRY I HAVE BEEN AWAY. Building a house has been more time consuming than I expected but I got this one done and hopefully there is more in the pipeline here. Enjoy this quick chat with Alec Voorhees about the upcoming North Fork Championship extreme race and let me know who you think I should get on a call next!
This week I chat with young upstart Kaelin Friedenson (@kaelinkayak ) about how paddling journey so far. You no doubt have seen his back freewheel of Tomata 1 (60ft), back freewheel twisted pleasure (60ft), Cobra Flip Side chick, (40ft) but what you may not have seen is his slalom career, extreme slalom world championship win, and what he hopes to do in the future. We also talk about the process of getting better at downriver freestyle and kayaking in general as well as how not to be scared. A solid episode I know you will enjoy.
I talked once again with expedition legend Ben Stookesberry about some of his recent adventuring in Ecuador, we barely scratched the surface on all the stuff we could have talked about and it was still a great podcast. Check it out!
I caught up with Adrian Mattern about his recent trip doing First Descents in Kenya, with Dane, Bren and Czech powerhouses David Sodomoka. It sounded like a magical time!
2 Kayakers, 1 car, 1 week, 6 First descents. Pretty incredibly fruitful whitewater kayaking mission from Andrew Oxley and David Silk in the Cote Nord region of Quebec, Canada. Waterfalls flowing into the ocean with plenty of potential for return journeys and much much more to do up there. Check out our conversation of the trips highlights. And low lights.
Quick chat with Tom from SaveOurRivers.org about the river advocacy work they have been doing since 2013 and the ongoing work they are doing globally, what you can do to get involved and ideas about saving a river near you.
I AM SORRY THIS IS LATE. I had a tough time making my schedule and Rush's schedule line up but I think it is really worth the wait. I talk to Rush about his new film and did my best not to re-cover ground covered on The Hammer Factor Podcast last week. I hope you will enjoy it and hopefully progress will be back on for regularly scheduled programming now.
This week I chat with the founder of Dewerstone: Outdoor lifestyle, A UK based company that cares about the environment AND IS ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT! We talk about all the things they are doing to make a difference for the environment and ways in which they are being (and leading) the change that they want to see in the world, as well as some ideas for what people can do in the future.
Hayden Voorhees, younger brother of Alec Voorhees (ep 38) has a range of 100ft+ waterfalls under his belt, high-water decent of many rivers across Idaho and the north west, a formidable professional kayaker and just 21 yrs old. We mostly talk about some of his recent big water falling adventures and mis-adventures collecting some sweet second descents, his descent of Salto de Puma (115ft) in Chile and some general life stuff. He is a humble guy and one to watch in the future. Enjoy!
This week I spoke with with Kokatat Brand manager Shannon Finch about overnight kayak trips, Avalanche Rescue Dogs, eating on the river and Kokatat's new Five Decade limited edition as well as some history on Kokatat from then until now.
Red Bull Pro Kayaker Adrian Mattern, originally from Germany is currently based in Innsbruck, Austria. Along with Bren Orton he runs the SENDERS YouTube Channel and is a part of the SEND conglomerate with Bren, Dane Jackson and Kalob Grady. Adrian and I chat for the second time about lessons learned from suffering, scouting from instagram, biking and kayaking around Austria and the lessons learned from that trip. And finally I asked him questions submitted by Patreon Backers. If you want to ask questions of future guests, hear podcasts early and have interaction in future podcasts just like this trial run off Patron only Q+A's then go to Patreon.com/sethashworth
Possibly the luckiest unlucky person I have ever spoken to, or at least that is how it seems at first. California pro Kayaker Johnny Chase runs us through some of his best mis-adventures and what the take aways are.
A Casual chit chat about whitewater kayaking with up and coming legend Alec Voorhees. We talk mistakes made, lessons learned, grown up kayaking in Idaho and of North Fork Championships.
Sal Montgomery is a UK based, pro kayaker, explorer and TV personality, best known for her TV expeditions with Steve Backshall in Bhutan and more recently in Russia. We chat about everything from expeditions, injuries and more.
Original blog can be found on www.sethashworth.co.uk/blog
and as always if you want to support on Patreon and hear these episodes early you can do that at patreon.com/sethashworth
I chat with Man, myth Legend Ben Marr on his recent 30 hr/almost 500km solo paddle in BC earlier this season. We talk route, nutrition, poop, preparation and more.
This Podcast had a rough start after I forgot to press record initially but thankfully Pringle was gracious enough to re-hash alot of our original conversation, regarding his starting in paddling, his journey to become 2011 Freestyle Kayak World Champion and how that journey was aided by his transition to eating a raw vegan diet. We then went on to talk about his more recent endeavours and journey within the plant based eating world and his new book "Juicing for Health and Performance" LINK BELOW
https://payhip.com/b/Vxiw?fbclid=IwAR3LH0YYYoX8fZCVxsmes3rKpdEVSN-u3g4LC5d7mf1x2cKruOFJHqh0uh4
My quest to save Whitewater Kayaking meanders into the world of Slalom Kayaking this week and I chat with Canadian Olympic hopeful Lois Betteridge about what we can do for slalom and what it can do for us. And also how the current pandemic situation has affected pre-Olympic training plan, the opportunity that has created for more training and more.
Saving Whitewater Kayaking keeps me awake at night and getting more people into our world is one route to saving it. This week I chat with Anna Levesque of MindBodyPaddle (formerly GirlsatPlay) on what we can do to work together to get more people involved. (Men and Women).
Below is a link to the IG story we talk about in the podcast.
https://www.sethashworth.co.uk/blog/2020/4/fear-management-podcast-supplement
After an interesting talk with some friends about their fear level getting somewhat out of alignment with their ability level I did some thinking on the subject. Then it occurred to me that I has seen a great IG Story from someone who I consider to be somewhat fearless, or at least have a very good handle on it, mr Benny Marr. We talked through all the things that go into managing fear and a bit about how to detach and deal with it. I thought it was interesting. Hopefully you will too.
Have you ever used an app or webpage to get information on a river? Found a description, grade and maybe even a live gauge telling you if it will be good or not? Well this week I speak to a group of paddlers who help create and manage a variety of those resources. And as best as I can I try and get a handle on what you and I, the everyday, non computer programming kayaker can do to further these resources so that we can reduce the barriers to entry in our sport and get more people involved in it. Big shout out to Jonathon, Mike, Konstantin, Tim, Sergio, Logan and Toro for making time to talk with me. At times it was a bit disjointed but on the whole pretty good. If you want to see anymore of their work check out the following resources:
https://www.it4paddlers.org
https://www.rivermap.ch/map.html#sprache=en
https://www.riverapp.net/en
https://riverzone.eu
https://github.com/jriddell/wheres-the-water
http://www.whitewater-journal.com
https://whitewater.guide
https://www.andyjacksonfund.org.uk/
https://www.riverlog.info/
The drone pilot behind that one video of Dane Jackson that I am sure everyone in the kayaking world has seen by now, assuming they don't live under a rock. Link below incase you haven't.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8T3QAbHiKs/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
Rapha's story is pretty incredible, he is a fantastic kayaker who has successfully branched out into the aerial cinematography world and I think you will love listening to him. let me know what you think
Article in discussion: https://paddlerezine.com/2019/11/14/the-state-of-ww-kayaking/
This week I follow up on an article I read and thought was interesting about the state of the whitewater kayak industry and what that might look like for us in the future. And also what we can do to work together to save it. Super interesting discussion, I think at least.
Ben Stookesberry breaks down his most recent trip to Colombia trying to finalise a first descent he started a few years ago that wound up with him getting detained/kidnapped/you decide what you call it by a group of locals.
I chat expedition advice and stories from one off the best in the business Nouria Newman
I chat with 'Queen of the Green' Adriene Levkenecht about all things green race, what you need to know as a first timer, shit talking and more. Let me know what you think, Appreciate you!
Original article: https://www.blueridgeoutdoors.com/paddling/your-beatering-is-not-cool/?amp
Other Article Mentioned: http://www.sitezed.com/pushing-it/
I chat with the author of a cool little article from BlueRidgeOutdoors.com called 'Your Beatering is Not cool' Which was widely shared throughout the whitewater kayak social media community. Some interesting discussion points here especially about being in over your head and being there safely.
In this episode I chat with Geoff Calhoun about ways our community can work together to increase participation, what the problems are and how we can overcome them.
Alec Voorhees and I discuss if his run down 100ft Alexandra Falls just over one year ago was worth the time off the water since then.
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Another instalment of Coaches Toolbox. This time digging into a giving real world applications of why a certain drill is important.
If you love this podcast please consider supporting through Patreon www.patreon.com/sethashworth or donating through PayPal, Just follow the link and donate. Any amount appreciated! https://www.paypal.me/SethAshworth?locale.x=en_US
I wanted to share some of my kayak coaching knowledge but was too lazy to write a book. Here are some of my thoughts. Hit me up on another social channel and let me know if you dig it or if i should just stick to the normal podcast format. cheers! Seth
A great chat with Men's Freestyle Kayak World Champ Dane Jackson on his point of view for the case for or against Freestyle Kayaking heading into the Olympics. It isn't going there right now by the way, but the ICF (International Canoe Federation) are making moves with a view to getting it there.
I chat with the article author Fiona Hough about here article "Certification is Killing paddling adventures"
Original article link: https://paddlingmag.com/stories/columns/rock-the-boat/certification-killed-paddling-adventures/?utm_source=Paddling+Magazine&utm_campaign=807b47f136-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_05_30_03_42&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_66b554bdc5-807b47f136-84557441&fbclid=IwAR1mFvy4gzUh2l5cVO6a3S-2C34jihmEnYUfH2DFfdT4_tHC4eSnfRVwhi8
This week I walk you all through a life lesson that happened to me. Slightly different format again so if you love it get in touch with me and let me know, and if you don't get in touch with me and let me know. But if I don't hear from you then you can't complain. Just saying.
I sit down with one of my oldest Kayak friends and talk about how he made it to where he is and where he is going next. We talk UNLEASHED, mentors, the gym, waterfalls, skills, perception and more.
Bren, Dane and I sit around and shoot it about kayak memes, their recent bashing and what it all means.
I chat to a British OG exploratory kayaker, about his first descents in Asia, solo descents on the rivers of Everest, Soloing, speed descents, vegetarianism, his adventure Tourism company in Nepal, and more. Let me know what you think!!
GALWAY 2020 March 6-8th. chat to Aoife Hanrahan who is one of the event organisers of Ireland's Galway Festival. A kayak event that has grown to be MASSIVE, garnering international attention and kayaker's from all over the world. If you are thinking of setting up a kayak festival this podcast will help a lot. If you aren't then you might still be interested to hear about everything that it takes to make this happen.
I managed to get a quick chat with kayaking's "Man On Fire" Rafa Ortiz. We talk everything from his most recent "on fire" stunt to world record lobster, chasing Niagara and more. This was recorded just a couple day before the birth of his daughter, Congrats Rafa and thanks for making the time to talk to me.
As ever Please consider supporting the show by donating on Patreon. Patreon is a platform that allows you to pitch in a couple bucks to help me keep the podcast going. Check it out on www.patreon.com/sethashworth it really does mean a lot to me, you can cancel at any time and oh by the way you get to hear the podcast before they go live on all the other podcast apps. How cool it that!
A sit down with One of the world's top Kayakers on what to do off the water that can make a difference for you on the water.
I throw down with Evan Moore on the importance of Rapid names following up on a well written article form Nouria Newman in Kayak Session Magazine #68. Super interesting discussion on a topic that turned out to have more to it than I expected!
I call 7 pro kayakers and ask them what they do when they are nervous before a rapid. Answers were super interesting, all 7 were kind of similar but kind of different.
Ben Stookesberry is without a doubt one of the most accomplished expedition kayakers of modern times with and absolutely fascinating to chat with. In my opinion this is the best podcast so far but hit me up and let me know what you think.
A funny few minutes early one morning with Nick Troutman. Lots of laughs shared during this interview.
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Wife, Mother, World champion kayaker, Ted speaker, Emily Jackson turned out to be pretty funny too.
You can now support this channel on Patreon. patreon.com/sethashworth
In my opinion the best interview of Season 1. Ej is not only one fo the most accomplished kayakers in the world but has also done the work to get there. He has done what it takes to get to the top.
You can now support this channel on patreon. Patreon.com/sethashworth
Maybe one of the coolest people I know. Ben Marr exudes cool charisma. Super cool guy to get sit down and pow wow with.
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This was my third shot in the Interview world, and whilst I think the whole thing is getting better the icing on the cake for this episode is definitely the rap at the end of the track.
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Full disclosure I didn't think the background noise would be such a huge factor and it really taught me a lesson during this interview. I caught up with Nouria in England at the Hurley Classic event.
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This is where it all started. Dane was stuck in an airport near my house and I helped him out with a place to stay for the night. I had an idea for an interview for my Youtube channel and that was what started the whole idea for this series Questions you Never Thought to ask.