We hope your offseason is going well. As we move towards our first race in April, the team here at EKI wanted to highlight some of the changes we made in order to qualify for the series and the class system.
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As we were pulling together the idea for the Kentucky Waterman Series, one of our most ardent supporters of the concept was Pat Dour, owner of Southern Paddlesports; a performance paddlesports company based in Taylorsville, Kentucky.
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We know that watersports can thrive in Kentucky and we plan to keep working in 2017 with the Kentucky Waterman Series, a 6-10 race season.
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There is a saying that there is no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing. This is how I feel about hiking.
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A few weeks ago, my good friend Gerry James was kind enough to come visit and speak at one of my events at the Brown County Library in Mt. Orab, Ohio. I asked him to bring ‘adventure’ and ‘outdoor exploration’ to our young people, and he delivered so much more. He brought a beautiful message from the Explore Kentucky Initiative, of his adventure paddling 137 miles on the Ohio River from Cincinnati to Louisville, that did spark enthusiasm and excitement in the children. The children were given an opportunity to get a close up, hands on view of the SUP board that was used in the presentation.
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You might notice, that I mentioned earlier, that I had a chance at changing my own equilibrium. I have changed. I have Melinda Walker and EKI Director's Gerry James to thank for it. You see when I started BeintheWater my intentions were to inspire people and to help make changes in our community. I fell prey to my own comfort zone issues. You see, I felt like if I couldn't create a huge event or undertaking, that it wasn't worthy of the effort. I wasn't heeding my own advice. I wanted the mountain in one big step. I had forgotten my own personal motto. "Be Water, Matthew. Be Water." I needed to focus on the raindrops and not worry about where the river merged with the ocean.
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I took what I’d call a reconnaissance trip to The Breaks in 2012. I wanted to look at it with my new climber’s perspective, and I was thrilled with what I found. Several sport routes had already been developed. Assuming (generally a bad idea) that climbing was permitted, I got a crew of Lexington climbers together to explore the new territory. That’s when I met Austin Bradley.
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Writing about the great outdoors is incredibly intimidating when you haveThoreau's Walden and Leopold’s Sand County Almanac at your bedside stand. But here it goes, and I’ll do my best not to murder their legacy with this page out of my sketchbook…
A few months before moving to Kentucky....
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Would you believe me if I told you that I have lived within 15 miles of the Red River Gorge the majority of my life and that at 32 years old, this summer was the first time I ever set foot in it?! I’m afraid it’s true.
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In our day & age, it is knee-jerk to make mountains out of molehills or walk on egg-shells around topics of racism. Is a man creating a motel pattern after a Sioux tribe racist or was he simply replicating a culture he admired you'd decide.
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Leaving the land of the Queen, Tea, and red double decker buses, Claire Painter headed to horse capitol of the world where she has been coronated the Leather Lady. Get Clever With Leather and go behind the scenes of her shop with Field Team member Kyle Wooton.
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I'm from a small town in Eastern Kentucky called Jenkins. I don't get to go home often, but I recently took a trip there, and ended up having several sessions. I like using a model to test out new locations, and that's what Ashley helped me do. We went to Fish Pond Lake to scout out the area, and so that I could figure out some poses for an upcoming senior.
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