The Reno River Festival starts today with registration and preparation for the main events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The festival keeps getting better every year with a visitor-expo, great concessions and a rockin’ good time in the Northern Nevada Sun. This year the festival is introducing some new events like the Run Amuck race, whitewater clinics and more. Check out the festival Web site here, and watch a video interview with organizer Jim Litchfield (produced by the Tahoe World newspaper).

Reports of amazing winter weather are coming in from all over Reno-Tahoe. Our first hand investigators confirm EPIC powder everywhere you turn! And the powder on the ground is being rapidly covered by even more POWDER!!!!!

• “I can’t believe how hard it’s snowing right now,” said Alpine Meadows spokeswoman Rachael Woods. “This kind of snowfall definitely sets up the Sierra for great spring skiing conditions and really helps with our water situation.”
• “Everybody’s ready to ski,” Kauffman said. “They missed out last year, and this last Saturday and Sunday were excellent. The snow is very deep, powdery dry, like Colorado and Utah,” Kauffman added. “We don’t get that too often.”
• “We did get hammered up here,” said Greg Murtha, spokesman for the resort [Sugarbowl], which has 71 inches of snow at its base, 104 on top. “It was hard to tell when one storm stopped and the next one started.”

I woke up Thursday morning at 6am because of a phone call from EJ. I am usually up by that time anyway but was sleeping in a bit because I was at the gym wrestling until late the night before. So, of course I answered the phone as I knew that it was my good friend and boss. I am not sure of exactly how our conversation went but basically he gave my his credit card number and told me to go to the airport and catch a flight to Washington DC for the Potomac Festival. That night I was in DC and the next day we’re running the great falls which was very exciting for me as I had never been there before.

July 5th at Camp Richardson Resort was spent under sunny skies and above blue water. We made our Lake Tahoe vacation plans online where we could plan our trip ahead. Our day started at Camp Richardson resort and lunch on the deck. The view was beautiful and the local band playing made the day just that more entertaining. Our afternoon was spent on Lake Tahoe cruising on the Tahoe Queen where we road through Emerald Bay. It was great to see the historic Vickingsholm Castle up close and the popular "Tea House" in the bay. I recommend http://www.tahoeactivities.com for a list of sightseeing tours and places to visit around the lake. Our next trip we will attend Shakespeare at Sand Harbor, an experience we enjoyed once before and recommend to others.

Joe

Where do I start? OK, my side is all better and I am excited to be paddling every day again. I just got back to Reno and will be planning a trip into
the large North West to see a bunch of our Jackson Kayak dealer. I am very excited about this and will be working on getting it all organized this
week.

Next, I would like to take a moment to apologize to all the ladies of the world. Lisa and I got married last weekend with all of our closest friends
and family, and it was so much fun.

This is how the week went down, for me at least. I drove up to Eugene just in time for Fathers Day, which meant a lot because I haven’t been with my Dad on fathers day for many years. The next day I went paddling at a local favorite spot of mine that we call the DTS (down town split). It was a lot of fun but kind of scary my first day back, since I haven’t paddled there in years and it is a low head dam that not many people find enjoyable at all. A day or two later some of my best friends in the world showed up in Eugene in the big Jackson Kayak RV and we all went back to the DTS and had a great time trying to do all kinds of funny stuff that you would probably never try by yourself. Being on the water with EJ, Nick, and Emily was the most fun that I have had boating in a long time. We were all like little kids, and I think that days like that will keep us young forever. Thursday we went boating again, of course. That night my Mom and Step Dad had a great BBQ out at their house in the country. Everyone had a great time and the weekends festivities were officially under way. Friday we moved up to the lodge on the Mckenzie River were the wedding would
be held. We quickly unloaded a bunch of stuff and then all of the boaters that were there at the time headed up to a hole called Red Sides. We must have had 20 people on the water and we all had a good time playing the worlds longest and most confusing game of HORSE. I really enjoyed being there on the water with Taylor and Macy because we had paddled there hundreds of times together growing up. With that said, the feature wasn’t as good as we remembered so who knows when I will be back. That night we had a  great rehearsal dinner that my Dad and Step Mom hosted. The food was unbelievable and there was no better place to be then right along side the river. Saturday was the big day, and there is no better way to start off a big day then to go kayaking first. So, that is exactly what all of use did. We did a couple hour long play run and took out at the lodge and wedding site. Very cool. I recommend it to everyone.

So now the wedding; The weather turned out to be perfect, we were in a really large grassy lawn right next to the river, and our dinner and party
area was just feet away under the a very nicely decorated event sized tent. Lisa and I have been together for around seven years, have lived together for many of those, and were with the most important people in the world to us on our wedding day. This made for a very comfortable and relaxed feel for the two of use while the whole deal was going down. I was not nervous one single bit and I don’t believe that Lisa was either, which I believe to be a good sign. Lisa looked absolutely beautiful in her wedding dress and I was breaking hearst up until the last minute. I thought so at least. Really though, there probably wasn’t a person there even looking at me. Anyways, our long time friend and kayaking buddy Dan Gavere married us and we couldn’t have been happier with how it went. Thanks Dan! After the wedding we ate some good food and the party began. I could be wrong, but I think that our wedding party might officially go down as legend. I am proud of that! So, all in all it was a week that was unbelievable. Lisa and I had an amazing time and we got to share it with the ones that we care about the most. From Eugene we went to the Coast and spent the week right on the Oregon Beach. We had a great time but agreed that we would have rather of shared it with our friends.

Now I am back in Reno, married, happy, ready to go kayaking, and loving my wife.

Jay Kincaid

I just wanted to let you all know that my ribs are getting better. I paddled flat water the last two days and I was able to paddle at around 60 percent.

I have been in Colorado since the week after the Reno River Festival.

As a fellow whitewater kayaker of more than 15 years (you can check out my blog at http://blog.robertpayne.net/) , I would never have dreamed that I would witness the day when a convention and visitors bureau issued a press release using terms like, McNasty, the Phonics Monkey, and the Donkey Flip.

But the day has most certainly come. Just check out the 2nd paragraph of the below press release, which the RSCVA issued today. I just goes to show how far the sport has come, and how much Reno has done to embrace it.

If you want to know what moves like the Phonics Monkey look like, watch this video from the Reno Whitewater Park.

4TH ANNUAL RENO RIVER FESTIVAL DRAWS RECORD ATTENDANCE

RENO, Nev. (Friday, May 18, 2007) – A record number of people experienced the annual Reno River Festival in 2007, bringing 32,800 attendees and some of the world’s best professional kayakers to downtown Reno and the Truckee River Whitewater Park May 10-13. The Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority (RSCVA) produced the Reno River Festival and reported that an estimated 27.5 percent of attendees were out-of-market visitors.

With sunshine and ideal spring temperatures throughout the four-day event, spectators had a chance to see 72 professional and amateur kayakers from across the U.S. and six countries perform tricks like the McNasty, the Phonics Monkey, the Donkey Flip and much more in the $1.5 million Truckee River Whitewater Park, which opened in 2004.

Reno athlete and 2004 Reno River Festival champion Jay Kincaid topped the men’s freestyle division, edging out 2007 world freestyle champion Eric “EJ” Jackson from Rock Island, Tenn., who was the two-time consecutive defending Reno festival champion. Bryan Kirk of Charlottesville, Va. rounded out the field in third place.

In the women’s division, Tanya Faux of North Arbury, Australia was the one to beat as the returning 2005 and 2006 Reno River Festival champion, but she proved to be unconquerable once again landing in first place for the third consecutive year. Seventeen-year-old Emily Jackson, a member of the Jackson “first family” of kayaking, placed second followed by Rotorua, New Zealand resident Nikki Kelly.

Another Reno local placed first in the junior’s division, with 13-year-old native Jason Craig taking top honors. The current junior national freestyle champion, Craig trains at the Truckee River Whitewater Park with Kincaid and has experienced a meteoric rise in the sport since first being inspired to kayak competitively at the inaugural Reno River Festival in 2004. Thirteen-year-old Dane Jackson placed second, completing a string of second-place finishes for the Jackson family at the 2007 festival, and the third place finisher was Jonathan Shales from Madison, Ala.

In the fast-moving boatercross competition, kayakers were pitted against each other in a 250-yard dash down the south fork of the Truckee River Whitewater Park during elimination rounds. In the men’s division,

Jud Keiser placed first, Andrew Holcombe placed second and Josh Bechtal placed third. Emily Jackson placed first in the women’s division, followed by Faux in second and Devon Barker in third. In the junior’s division, Craig led again with Shales in second and Dane Jackson in third. Fourteen competitors also participated in Sunday’s down river race.

During the festival, approximately 320 people attended instructional clinics that ranged from free beginner “Kayak 101” courses to more advanced technique sessions for experienced kayakers. Led by Different Strokes Kayaking of Reno, owner Jon Fairchild and team introduced more than 70 people to the sport of kayaking during two days of clinics on May 12 and 13.

The Reno River Festival also included nine live bands at the outdoor Wingfield Park Amphitheater, 60 exposition vendors and a charity raft race benefiting the Truckee River Foundation and the Transplant Network.

About the Reno River Festival:

The Reno River Festival takes place at the $1.5 million Truckee River Whitewater Park at Wingfield, located in the heart of the booming downtown business and arts district in downtown Reno. The park is both Nevada’s and the region’s first whitewater park and kayak slalom racing course and totals 2,600 feet in length. The park is rated a class 2 to 3 for difficulty (on a scale of 1 to 6) and features north and south channels that surround a city park on an island in the river, 11 “drop pools” and boulders for kayaking maneuvers, a slalom racing course, and 7,000 tons of smooth flat rocks along the shores for easy river access and spectator seating.

Visit www.RenoRiverFestival.com for details about the annual Reno River Festival. For kayaking packages and the area’s best hotel rate, logon to www.VisitRenoTahoe.com/bestrates and find the lowest guaranteed rates online. For more information about Reno-Tahoe, America’s Adventure Place contact 800-FOR-RENO (800-367-7366) or visit online.

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After returning home to Reno after the World Championships I really only had one thing on my mind. The Reno River Festival was this weekend and I was as excited for this event as I get for any.