Thank you everyone who came out and supported our 2010 season kickoff fundraiser!

We packed the place but most importantly everyone had a blast!

ORT is especially thankful for our donors who were so very generous in donating around $2,400 worth of goods and services.  These supporters of our whitewater community included;

http://www.whitewaterdesigns.com/

http://www.riverconnection.com/

http://nextadventure.net/

http://www.thebuffalogap.com/

http://www.usoutdoorstore.com/

http://aquabound.com/

http://www.tqfc.com/gyms/default.aspx?GymID=1

http://www.lvmvideo.com/

http://www.enrgkayaking.com/

http://www.mccormickandschmicks.com/Locations/portland-oregon/portland-oregon/sw12thave.aspx

Through the silent auction and raffle, we were able to convert donations into dollars which will cover most of our spring expenses which include; event permits and insurance, GAS, website and gear maintenance, event shuttle, misc. event costs, etc.

The very next night we rallied down to Team Quest off of Stark.  Pro fighters put us through a comprehensive FIT class designed to synthesize every muscle group in the body.  Early the next morning we engaged in our own unique workout at the Upper Wind which consisted of cardio, flexibility, river survival, paddle technique, and of course some head to head racin!

We hope to see you all at the 3^rd Annual Upper Wind Festival March 20-21^st!

http://oregonraftingteam.com/events/upper-wind-festival/

Finish line for the Wind Race.

Eddy at the finish line.

Early Saturday morning the Eugene/Corvallis crew was on I5N heading to the Gorge. Picking up the rest of ORT along the way, the team headed over the Columbia and up into White Salmon. 

Scouting Husum on the way up, we arrived at the Farmlands barn, suited up, and hucked the boats into the gorge below barely 2 boats wide.

Blasting down through the canyon, we wheelied the boats over one log portage and skirted the other. After some great class 3 water, a portage at Lava, and some good (and not so good) lines at Off Ramp we arrived at the Truss bridge.

While Dr. Frankenstein and No Karl were rigging the boats at the bottom with some cams, Professor hooked up a winch cable to the bow and throwbag to the stern, to assist in pulling the boats up the 40ft vertical wall. After the boats were on the trailer the crew headed down to the BZ put-in for some R6 training in the Super D. Clean lines and ever-improving paddling technique got us to Husum in good time. We lined up and dug in above the drop and entered just left of the boof line, not missing a stroke.

Circuit training followed at the takeout, with Nick (kayak support) looking on in confused admiration.

Check out the details on the “Events” drop down tab or at:

http://oregonraftingteam.com/events/2010-season-kickoff-fundraiser/

“Intestinal Fortitude”

That’s what the mission hardened Navy SEAL used to say back in my Navy days.  I was a BUDS (Basic Underwater Demolition School/SEAL) training dropout yet I learned a lot of valuable lessons that continue to pay off.  While ORT training is about 1/80^th as difficult as what SEALs do, the basic message of performing under adverse circumstances is one which is communicated during our races and missions.

Last Saturday we decided to crank it up a notch and will continue to do so.  Following our warm up jog which consisted of jogging and plyometrics, we implemented a race survival conditioning circuit.  The 1^st phase consisted of running down the bank, swimming across stream into an eddy, swimming back across and climbing into a boat, running back up the bank, and then performing push ups, flutter kicks, split squats, crunches, and then doing this two more times without a break.

After a quick water break the 2nd phase of training focused on crew communication. An R5 and R4 crew had to either seal launch or swim out to their boat while another member bagged the paddle-less crew in from the shore.  Bagger duties were switched as the rest of the crew carried the boat back to the top of the course for another lap without a break.

The boys had a few minutes to catch their breath as we split up into R2 crews.  We then did a 5 boat mass start head to head race from the put in on the Upper Wind to about 1 mile below Climax.  After some, well maybe a lot of bumping, yelling, pushing, tree boofing, and drafting my boat finally settled into second place behind Dr. Frankenstein and Professor.  They maintained their lead by styling nice lines right up to Rams Horn where for some reason they went right and got rodeoed out in the meat allowing us to pass on the left.  Now that’s whitewater  racin!

Ox and No Karl graciously bumped them out of the hole (we weren’t going to stop!).  These two crews battled for the next mile and a half with Ox’s boat edging them by literally one second at the finish!

For the R4 stage of training we rolled up the Aire Pumas and used them as dead weight in the middle of our Aire D Series boats which were then each loaded with two R4 crews.  This “race” consisted of trying to move one’s arms and shoulders as lactic acid wreaked havoc on their ability to stay focused.

After rolling the boats we ran up the take out hill to the to the parking area and peeled off our gear.  Drysuits?  Not.  Cant wait until next time!  What kind of course can we come up with next…wonder if we can find someone with a helicopter?

ORT files for Non-Profit Status

ORT now officially a 501c3 non-profit serving our community. As a result we have been mandated to remove all commercial links from our website.
That’s right, we can now accept your generous donations!!!

ORT updates it’s web site and moves to DreamHost for web hosting. The new site is built using WordPress which will allow us to keep the site fresh.

Our vertical assault unit was back in action hucking and ducking the steepest-sikkest drops in the region.

http://www.mthoodh2o.blogspot.com/

Meanwhile our boats stayed horizontal as the North Santiam River provided numerous opportunities to practice flatwater paddling.

In a constant pursuit of improvement….
http://oregonraftingteam.com/