Photo courtesy of Nantahala Outdoor Center: Asheville’s Andrew Holcome in his winning run from the 2009 shootout event.
Press release here. Check this event out.
The Nantahala Outdoor Center Freestyle Shootout kayak rodeo—now in its third year—was recently named the inaugural event for the USA Freestyle Kayaking national championship points series. The series features six events spanning the country, with the first-ever national championship to be decided July 2 in Missoula, MT. This series will be crucial in helping the sport of freestyle kayaking gain inclusion in the 2012 summer Olympic Games in London.
With three days of paddling events, The NOC Freestyle Shootout will share the weekend with NOC’s perennial spring festival, Demo Days, where 60+ kayaks and canoes will be available for free test-paddles on the Nantahala River. Events begin on Friday evening, April 16 with an ‘open surf’ under the lights. Kayakers can enjoy practicing after dark on the wave outside the NOC Outfitter’s Store. Following the open surf, Eric Jackson, founder of Jackson Kayak will give a talk on the rules, moves and scoring of freestyle kayaking at The Pourover.
The competition begins late Saturday morning, and runs throughout the afternoon. Classes are Pro Men, Pro Women, Expert Men, Expert Women, Cadets, Open Novice and Open Canoe. Each paddler gets three 90-second ‘runs’ on the wave feature, with the top five paddlers in each class advancing to Sunday’s final competition. Throughout both days, visitors can enjoy a festival-like atmosphere with DJ Terrence Young and restaurant specials at NOC. Saturday evening, The River Bottom Nightmare Band featuring members of Asheville’s Firecracker Jazz Band will perform at The Pourover. Sunday evening, NOC hosts an awards ceremony where $10,000 in cash and prizes will be handed out to the top three paddlers in each class.
Rounding out the weekend, the NOC Outfitter’s Store will feature beginning-ofseason sales both inside and outside the store, including $200 off the purchase of new, in-stock boats. Free parking is available for guests all weekend at NOC, and there is no admission cost to attend the festival. For more information about participating or attending the event, visit noc.com or call 800-232-7238.
What is Freestyle Kayaking? Freestyle kayaking, similar to vert-ramp skateboarding, features an athlete performing technical moves and tricks on a single feature, only instead of using ahalf-pipe, kayakers use rivers features like waves and holes. If you’re somebody that is new to kayaking and is busy looking at kayak reviews, you may want to become familiar with the sport before you start freestyle kayaking. Freestyle moves are usually highly stylized spins, turns, cartwheels and flips that often involve the boater going completely airborne.