Four C1's on the Green

On Saturday morning Tad Dennis called and left a message. Tad never calls me. He texts. I discovered the message when Gina and I were at REI that afternoon. His message was simple enough, "Call me back." This was interesting. I shot a quick text back, "What's up?" Less than a minute later he responded, "Want to go to the Green with Jordan tomorrow afternoon?"

I first met Tad almost seven years ago when we both moved to Charlotte because of slalom. Tad made the US Slalom team. I trained hard, but always fell short. We trained together a lot and have paddled together on the Green quite a bit. During this time Tad has even won the Green Race. Recently Tad secured a spot on the US Freestyle team and has been picked up by Wave Sport. It has been fun to see my friend experience so much success in paddling.

During this time, I was also doing a fair amount of coaching during the various camps held here in Charlotte. One of the athletes who came down for a camp was Jordan Poffenberger. If I recall correctly, this was four or five years ago now. Needless to say, a few more people know Jordan now.

This looked to be a fun opportunity, to get on the water with a couple of outstanding canoes and good friends. Right before leaving, Tad texted again, "Dane is coming as well."

We met Dane Jackson and Jordan after their first lap at Fishtop, the takeout. Apparently Dane felt left out or something. He borrowed Jordan's creek boat, a C1. Jordan paddled his Redline C1. Four canoes on the Green Narrows. The only other time I have seen this many single blades on the Green is during the race.

As we made our way down the Green in the late afternoon light, we had an absolute blast. Tad commented afterwards on the way home, this was one of the best days on the river in a very long time. I could not agree more.

I brought along my GoPro. Unfortunately I did not have time to upload the high resolution version before leaving for the airport this week. However, here is a 640x480 resolution version.