En la escuela Rio Nuevo esta semana pasada, nostros estamos muy occupados con nuestros estudios. Nosotros apprendimos mucho. La clase de español tres y cuatro esta mirando una telenovela. Se Lama Entre Amor y el Odio. Es muy caseoso; Me lo encanta. La clase de pre-calc tomo un examen en el segundo capitulo. Pienso que el clase hizo bien. En la clase de quimica, ellos terminaron capitulo tres y empezo capitulo cuatro. El capitulo es sobre la tabla de elementos. La clase de gobierno miro el discusion presidencial. Tambien, los estudiantes escribieron unas letras a sus senadores sobre ediciones importantes en sus estados. Fotografia tomo ensayos de la foto sobre nuestro escuela. Fueron muy bien. Los estudiantes trabajaron muy duro en los ensayos.

La clase de literatura del mundo termino leer Nunca Gritas el Lobo por Farleay Mowat. Fue muy interestante. No se que esta clase van a hacer ahora. En la clase de biologia, ellos apprendieron sobre poblaciones y recursos humanos. Estos ediciones son muy importante en el mundo de hoy. La clase de calculo estudio sobre “relative rates of change” y “implicit differentiations.” En la clase de Historia Americana, ellos tomaron un examen en los capitulos uno a seis. Empezaron la era de Jackson. Y, en la clase de español dos, apprendio los numerous y la geografia de España. Muchos estudiantes tomaron los SATs el sabado pasado. No fue divertido. Fue un bueno semana.

In New River Academy this past week, we were very busy with our studies. We learned a lot. Spanish two and three are watching a T.V. show called “Between the Love and the Hate.” It is very cheesy; I love it. Pre-calc had a test on chapter two. I think that everyone in the class did really well. In chemistry, they finished chapter three and started chapter four. Chapter four is about the periodic table. Government has been watching the presidential debates. They also wrote letters to their state senators about important issues in their states. Photo class took photo essays about our school. They were really good. The students worked really hard on them

World Literature read “Never Cry Wolf” by Farley Mowat. It was really interesting. I do not know what the class is going to do now. In Biology they learned about populations and human resources. These issues are really important in today’s world. Calculus learned about relative rates of change and implicit differentiations. In U.S. History, the students took a test on chapters one through six. They started the Jackson Era. In Spanish two, they learned the numbers and the geography of Spain. A lot of students took the SATs last Saturday. They were not fun. It was a good week.

 

“Fall is chasing us down the east coast,’ said Ian Buckley (New River Academy Math and Science teacher) after noticing a change in color across the hills of West Virginia. As we conclude our first our first quarter of school, New River Academy has reached our final destination. West Virginia (Wild and Wonderful) is home to many of the best whitewater rivers in North America. On Monday of our last full week of school before break, NRA students took an epic full day whitewater kayaking trip down the Gauley river near our base in  Fayetteville, West Virginia.

 

  The Gauley river is a common favorite amongst kayakers in the sense that it has just about every whitewater kayaking feature one could ask for. Multiple lines down the rapids range from big water lines to steep and technical moves. Playboating features range from eddylines, to holes, to waves, to downriver moves. On our day on this river, we were fortunate enough to have Stephen Wright (professional kayaker for Jackson Kayaks) as our guide. Beginning with a pogo flip off a pour over rock at the put in, Steven showed us all the coolest moves, lines, playspots, and hazards from start to finish.

 

  After a lot of good playboating at the lead in rapid, we came to a big water challenge at Pillow Rock. Pillow Rock, one of the biggest rapids on the Gauley, consists of a series of powerful wavetrains, and a rock wall angling in from the left. A giant crack in this rock wall creates “The Room of Doom” an eddy that challenges some of the best boaters’ eddyhopping skills. At the bottom of this rapid Stephen showed us to an eddyline where we could do stern squirts and rock splats.

 

  As we continued on down the river Steven showed us some unique lines such as the “elbow move,” a narrow slot between two rocks in the middle of a rapid. We also encountered plenty of more big water in rapids with unique names such as Lost Paddle and Iron Ring. In between rapids we kept ourselves well entertained by playing in some of the many holes and waves that are present all across the entire length of this river. For many of us, including myself,  this was our first experience on the Gauley. Now that I have this behind me I can say that the Gauley is a classic river that every kayaker should experience.

 

  To conclude our quarter we will be running the Gauley again this weekend as well as some other creeks and rivers in the area. The group is gradually approaching our new horizons with indescribable excitement. In just a few weeks we will be in New Zealand throwing cartwheels and running waterfalls on legendary rivers such as the Kaituna.

The last few days of the quarter are finally approaching us bringing on anxious and excited vibe about the group. But before we leave West Virginia there are a few significant events to overcome which we are now in the midst of. On Monday us students found ourselves studying for midterms one moment and paddling off the edge of waterfalls the next. In the afternoon we drove to a place called Valley Falls on the Tiger river to run a series of clean 15 foot waterfalls. For many students, this was an introduction to the vertical realm of kayaking. While our advanced paddlers practiced freewheels (cartwheeling off the lip of a vertical drop), the rest of our group overcame their fears and plunged themselves onto a world of gravity and water that only kayakers are fortunate enough to experience. The 15 foot rock ledges offer many different lines ranging from clean, straightforward drops, to stair steps to slides. This was the ideal place for all the students to work on creek boating skills and simply have a good time.

Most students have a bittersweet attitude toward leaving for home, but more importantly we are excited for our trip to the far corner of the world. In New Zealand we will be running many clean and beautiful waterfalls on pristine rivers. Due to our hard work at school this quarter we have 10 extra hours out of the way. The spirits of the group remain high as we approach our new destination.

one morning on the Ottawa Spiegel, Keegan and I got up around 5:45 and drove out to see the sunrise. Unfortunately i could not figure out how to convert my HDR sunrise pictures to JPEG.
    This is the next best thing. while we were waiting for the sunrise some cars were driving by and i took a long exposure of one with it's head lights on. thats were the bright blurry line comes from. because i was working off a cable realse in manul mode it was largly over exposed because i was trying to get the whole passage of the car in the exposure. I later darkned it by 1.65 stops to get the effect I was looking for.



F/22  20 seconds ISO 100 at 17mm

In New River Academy this past week, we were very busy with our studies. We learned a lot. Spanish two and three are watching a T.V. show called “Between the Love and the Hate.” It is very cheesy; I love it. Pre-calc had a test on chapter two. I think that everyone in the class did really well. In chemistry, they finished chapter three and started chapter four. Chapter four is about the periodic table. Government has been watching the presidential debates. They also wrote letters to their state senators about important issues in their states. Photo class took photo essays about our school. They were really good. The students worked really hard on them

World Literature read “Never Cry Wolf” by Farley Mowat. It was really interesting. I do not know what the class is going to do now. In Biology they learned about populations and human resources. These issues are really important in today’s world. Calculus learned about relative rates of change and implicit differentiations. In U.S. History, the students took a test on chapters one through six. They started the Jackson Era. In Spanish two, they learned the numbers and the geography of Spain. A lot of students took the SATs last Saturday. They were not fun. It was a good week.

   This picture is of the bridge over the New River in West Virgina. I took this picture when photo class had a field trip to place in West Virgina. This picture is taken at a 25 shutter speed. It has an aperture of 4. The focal length is 55mm, and the ISO is 200.
    I took this picture to represent lines and pattern. It also shows the rule of thirds with one third being the sky, another third being the bridge, and the last third being the trees. The picture leads you to the end of the bridge, a leading line. All of the crosses in the bridge architecture are a pattern. The keep on repeating itself. The bridge is 877 feet tall, and you can only walk on it, or jump off of it on bridge day. I took this picture from a lookout deck below the bridge.

    So, this is a photo I recently took in Massachusetts. NRA was staying at our coach, Tino Specht's house. They live and work an organic farm, and their gardens are gorgeous. Their property is total photographer's heaven. I took a ton of pictures of the flowers, still in full bloom. The colors were beyond amazing. What I love about the picture shown here, is that it is full of natural beauty. One of my favorite parts of photography is the ability to capture just the immense range of sights that occur in nature. Part of being a photographer is "making" shots, not just taking them. Although I do love the satisfaction of creating a good shot, and I did pull grass and other flowers away from this flower and tilt it more into the light to make it a better shot, there is something so fluid and basic about just capturing the essense of nature's. 
   This photo is an example of color. The orange really stands out against the shallow background, which I made shallow by having a small aperature number (big aperature). To me, this color orange stands for fun, for summer, energy, warmth, sun. It denotes a playfulness, a carefree state of mind. This picture is also a good example of filling the frame. Filling the frame is where instead of having a picture with maybe this flower in the center, and then just the green stems etc around it with maybe some other flowers, you have just the flower. This prevents the viewer from distraction and makes your image more powerful. It is also more pleasing to the eye. 
    The picture was taken with a 6.3 f-stop. The shutter speed was 1/50 sec. The focal length was 200mm. ISO was 200. It was taken early morning during photography class. There was full cloud cover.
            Enjoy!

It is now Saturday the 16^th as I look out the window at the lake and the beautiful hills in the front of the Tillman house. After an eventual day of travel with the New River Academy, we have accepted the hospitality of Emery Tillman (NRA 9^th grade) and her family at their lake house near Middlebury, VT. In making our way from Canada to West Virginia, we are spending two school days here in Vermont. We will also be spending a week in MA in order to take a swift water rescue course through Zoar Outdoors.

    After our 11:00 pm arrival at Emery’s, everyone had a good nights sleep on the floor (long day on the road). On Thursday morning we also got the chance to sleep in and many of us got started by going for a swim in the lake. I was the last one to come down and I just so happened to bring a shampoo bottle with me before long everyone was standing on the dock covered in suds and jumping in one by one. We spent the rest of the warm sunny day in the town of Burlington. To begin with, we all got to walk around, shop, and eat lunch on Church Street. Church Street is a well known shopping area where all kinds of people come to enjoy coffee shops, candy, good food, ice cream, etc. ‘ It was a good historical atmosphere and I would like to return,” said Zach Kathrein (NRA 11^th grade). After this we visited the Burton snowboard factory. Rene, an executive global team manager for the company, had a good discussion with us about what it takes to become a sponsored athlete. The professional, yet laid-back atmosphere of Burton impressed me and I am glad that we went there. Our final experience in Burlington was a tour of the University of Vermont. This was a fairly big University (9000 people), but the campus was spread out and the class sizes were reasonably small. Everybody enjoyed the college atmosphere, which involved Frisbee, long boarding, studying, exercising, etc. In the evening we came back to a delicious meal of jambalaya. Thanks to Mrs. Tillman.

 

    Early the next morning for a workout David Spiegel (NRA coach) had us treading water out in the lake. It was definitely a little cold for all of us, but it was a great way to get the day started. After a day of school at the Tillman’s, we visited Middlebury College and got a feel for what a smaller, Private University was like. Both the University and the town of Middlebury had a classy vibe and everyone seemed to enjoy our time spent there. “ This is such a cool college,” said Jason Craig (NRA) 10^th grade) as we walked back to the van after the tour. We were also able to get another day of school knocked out on Saturday. In the afternoon we got some much appreciated free time in which most had a paddle/ swim session at the lake. Cheers goes to David Spiegel, the unofficial winner of the game King of the floating dock. Our time spent in Vermont was very much enjoyed. The spirits our group remained high amidst the town visits, swimming, and of course, schoolwork, all thanks goes to the Tillman family for sharing their home with us. As of now we will be on our way back south to our final destinations for this quarter, Massachusetts and West Virginia.

 

-Happy Paddling

David Gorski

Hey Everyone,

    Check out the new Shred Ready Commercial! The paddling is based on the whitewater in the Deerfield river area. I hope you enjoy this White Water video!
Best,
Tino

Michael Jorgensen
Academic report
9/14/08
Week 2, Ottawa River
Things are finally starting to fall into rhythm with our second week of school.  Stephen was named student of the week for all a round great work and epically good class participation. 
    In math AP calculus started their first calculus unit, which is limits. Algebra II just finished absolute value and inequalities, and is testing on Monday. Algebra I has started imaginary numbers, and number lines. Physics is doing falling objects, vectors, and projectile motion.  Biology just finished chapter 2 on experimentation, research, and characteristics of living things. 
    Human geography is reading A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, and students are hopefully prepared for there upcoming test of the geography of Africa. US history has been flopping back and forth between current events and the growing resentment between the colonists and great Brittan in the 1700s. American government discussed the three different types of democracy; republic, federation and confederation. The American government class is also following the presidential race and acceptance speeches of Sarah Palin and Joe Biden.
    Also on a history note last Sunday the whole school took a field trip to the Canadian parliament in Ottawa city. We took a tour of parliament and learned about the House of Commons and the senate.  We also visited the Canadian Museum of Nature.
    In English, American Literature started the Great Gatsby, with reading out loud in class, and studying vocabulary from the book.  Creative writing is writing about their greatest fear, including an artistic element. World Literature just started researching the background and setting of Never Cry Wolf by Farley Moat and has read the first chapter.
   

My photo assignment for this week was to take 3 pictures depicting one of the six elements of design, pattern, shape, line, color, form, and texture. below are the descriptions and my three pictures.

Fire- (color) we had a fire to get rid of the cardboard and Trop had put in something that made the flames burn cool colors. My aim was to capture these colors with a good compromise between blurred fire, and crisper colors.
- f/6.7 1/15 iso 100 -2 stops 70mm

Spider web- (pattern) All of our mornings are really cold so there is lots of dew. One of the spider webs on the volleyball net had lots of drops and I wanted to show the blurred tress in the background and the sharp upside-down tress in the foreground of the water droplets.
-f/11 1/60 iso 200 70mm
Sunrise-(form) I wanted to capture the sunrise and the fog off the Ottawa river. The fog lets the views see depth so they can feel like they are in the picture.
-f/6.3 1/25  iso 200 -.33 stops 17mm

Emery Kate

Academic Report

9.20.08

Canada

 

This week has been very full with paddling and school.  We have been really getting into our classes as it is the third week of school.  We changed the schedule to have an hour and fifteen minutes classes so we could gain days where we could just paddle.  All of the classes has been going great.

In Spanish 2 has learned all about conjugations of verbs like comer, beber, estar, ir, dar, and many more.  We have also covered possession, materials, and have learned many adjectives. Spanish 3 & 4 created a scavenger hunt for Spanish 2 using the preposition words.

In English the creative writing class has started 1984. They are analyzing the book and discussing the effect of communalism.  In American Literature they are reading The Great Gatsby. With this they are reenacting and analyzing the book. In World literature they have started reading Never Cry Wolf .  They are learning vocabulary and analyzing the chapters carefully.

In the math and science department there have been a lot of numbers flying around. In Algebra 2 we have discussed and reviewed how to solve equations and the types of equations and are also plotting points and graphing them.  In precalculus they have learned how to solve equations. In Biology we have talked about ecosystems and how everything works together and the water, nitrogen cycle.  In Physics they have learned how to solve things with vectors and falling objects.

In the arts, the photo students have been busy figuring out the elements of design and have been assigned their first blog homework so check back to see some shots that have been taken.

This week has been packed full with 1:15 minute classes and study halls are being used very well. SAT prep has been going over practice test gearing up for the tests in October.

We head back to the states this week and leave Canada so check back in to see how the transition works. 

 In photo class we are studying the elements of design, , the elements of design are Shape, Line, Texture, Form, Color, and Pattern. Our assignment was to take three pictures representing one of the six elements of design.  My three shots include a little kids bike, windows, and a sculpture. 

My first picture is a picture of a little kids’ tricycle with bright green grass in the background. I took this picture on our field trip down the road one morning. I am using this picture to have the element of color.  The green in it bring out the life and the energy a little kid has, while the red brings out the little kids passion to play. I took this picture with a shutter speed of 1/60, and a f stop of 18 and my focal length was 145mm.  I chose such a big aperture so that I would have a long depth of field and everything would be in focus.

My second picture is a picture of an engraving outside of parliament. I took this picture with a shutter speed of 1/125 and a f stop of 5.6 and a focal length of 55mm. This picture represents texture. I feel that with the different depths of the engravings it really captures the rough texture of the stone. 

My third picture is of windows inside parliament. It represents pattern with the window designs being repeated over and over again. Lines also are a key part of this photograph. I took this picture with a shutter speed of 60 and an f stop of 5.6 and my focal length was 18mm. 

Our first portfolio assignment had to do with the different elements of photography. These are texture, color, form, shape, line, and pattern. We had to take three pictures, and each one had to show a different element. I really enjoyed this assignment. It was challenging and fun! Enjoy!

This first picture was taken when NRA visited Ottawa and went to some nature museum. It was cloudy, but I am inside here anyways. It is in a stairwell going up between exhibits. It was dim inside the stairwell, only natural lighting. This picture displays, for me, color. Lots of people think color has to be bright and vibrant. Well, I portrayed blue here. Blue can signify so much. I think just showing one color really brings out its meaning. To me, this picture shows lonelyness, calm, solitude. These are all charactoristics of blue. It is kind of a sad picture, although just looking at it, one would not be able to put their finger on why. Answer? I swear it is the color.

The second picture was taken outside "yakistan" (the girl's cabin) in Canada. It was early morning during photo class, and we were outside taking picture. At first, I was just looking for cool shots with dew, but I saw this plant and really wanted to try and capture its essense. Fuzzy! this picture makes me want to reach out and touch it. The plant actually really is soft and pleasing to touch. This picture is showing texture. Texture is super important because it is was makes the picture relatable to the viewer. Instead of just a picture of a cool plant, it really makes you interested in feeling the plant, it makes you feel like you are there, like you really can reach out and touch the leaves.

This last picture was taken ouside, yakistan as well. It was early morning, as you can tell by the dew. the sunlight had not yet overcome the treeline, so it was shady and cool. This picture represents line. What I really like about this picture is that it really contrasts between the thick black rope and the thin and delicate spiderweb. What is even cooler is the dew droplets on the spider silk. To me it looks like tiny strings of beads strewn across the thick rope. I love the contrasts between the two lines. In my mind, I was thinking that it showed the contrast between man's awkward creations verses nature's beautiful and delicate masterpeices.

It is late September here in Ottawa and COLD. Classes are spent huddled in sleeping bags. I cannot wait to go to WV where it will be warm(er)!!! It is supposed to be a high of 33 degrees F tonight!! thank god the girl's cabin has heat...unfortunately the boys don't...

This past weekend we went into Ottawa City to do some sight seeing. First on the list was Parliament. It was really cool. We got to learn about the Canadian government and how different it is from ours. The architecture was amazing! There was one room that a certain sculpter had been hired to do. He was told that he was not allowed to sign his name anywhere on the sculptures. He was proud of his work and wanted people to recognize him for it. So, when the room was unveiled, up on the wall was a carving of his face!! 
Next we jetted off to lunch at the mall. Id forgotten what groups of clean people smelled like. It was good to eat a non wilderness tours meal. After lunch we went to the Museum of Nature (or something). It was a big building with four floors of different exhibits. The boys were running around playing with all the kids toys in play areas. I think the funniest moment was when Keagan and Stephen put on a puppet show. 
Finally we drove the hour and a half home to Keenerville. It was really fun to get out and do something completely different from our normal schedule. Ottawa is a cool city for sure.

The level is rising fast on the Ottawa. This sure has been a weird summer for the river. Normally it is around -1,-2 at this time. It is currently 5 3/4!!! I think it is cool that the river fluctuates so much. There is always something new! The students are hitting all kinds of big moves. I have been off the river due to tendonitis is both arms for the past week, but as of today am back on the water (thank god!). I cannot wait until I am fully healed and can paddle hard again...

We are really getting into the swing of things here. School is full intensity and there is a definite routine down. The honey moon is over so to speak. I am still having so much fun though!
-Tracy

Hey Everyone,

    So every week the New River Academy has a competition on or off the water. The idea behind a mandatory competition is to condition everyone competing to the everyday competition you encounter in life. And the rest of life such as trying to to get into college or applying for work. We did some training sessions in which everyone picked the moves they were going to do in competition and repeated them over and over again. This repetition helps everyone cement the correct motion before having to link each move together in a 45 second ride.
    So after a few days of intense training and instruction from myself and David Spiegel the competition was on our doorstep. We had a pre comp meeting on land to go over a few last things and then geared up and put on the water for out flat water warm up. As soon as both schools were in the eddy, we started off with the less experienced class athletes at the lowest wave on McCoys named Babyface. The New River Acadmey Athletes took the top three spots in the first rodeo. David Gorski who got third was the most consistent in his rides with clean spins and a blunt. Emery Tillman who was one of the only girls competing in a large class of junior men but not only held her own, she got second beating out every single world class junior in the competition. And last but not least for the babyface competition was Zach. Zach took first by staying consistent for most of his ride with spins and then at the last second when he was about to crash and flush off the wave gave into the water and threw a big back panam ending up in a frontsurf to win the whole competition.
    The Corner wave competition was just as exciting with our New River Academy Athletes taking the top three spots once again. Isaac Holden in third with some blunts a clean blunt and a back stab. Jason Craig in second with an unheard of loop on corner wave as well as some high end moves thrown in there for example a pan am and a helix. Now, Keegan Grady pulled down the top spot in the advanced class blowing away the competition with almost every move in the book. Keegan finished his ride with a score to beat most of the top pro men in the sport!
    Over all as a coach I was proud and impressed by the athletes poise and consistency under pressure. Everybody stepped up and performed to the top of their ability level as well as took time out of prepering themselves to help out with the logistics of the competition, asking "what can I go Tino?" numerous times which is something that shined through to make them winners of the competition as well as incredible and supportive team mates and competitors.

Here is the video update of the competition made by Ross of the New River Academy Video Class




Paddle Hard,
Tino Specht

Hey Everyone,

Our very own Keegan Grady has put together some of his footage from this spring to show what big wave kayaking is all about. He also put this together in video class so if you watch closely there are requirements that he had to meet throughout the video. Some of them are:
1: A good Interview
2: Color Enhancement
3: Multiple Angles
4: Text informing the viewer what is going on in the video.

So here it is, Hope everybody is entertained!
Best,
Tino

New River Academy

Academic report

written by Michael Jorgensen, 11th grade

Week 2, Ottawa River

Things are finally starting to fall into rhythm with our second week of school.  Stephen was named student of the week for all a round great work and epically good class participation. 

            In math AP calculus started their first calculus unit, which is limits. Algebra II just finished absolute value and inequalities, and is testing on Monday. Algebra I has started imaginary numbers, and number lines. Physics is doing falling objects, vectors, and projectile motion.  Biology just finished chapter 2 on experimentation, research, and characteristics of living things. 

            Human geography is reading A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, and students are hopefully prepared for there upcoming test of the geography of Africa. US history has been flopping back and forth between current events and the growing resentment between the colonists and great Brittan in the 1700s. American government discussed the three different types of democracy; republic, federation and confederation. The American government class is also following the presidential race and acceptance speeches of Sarah Palin and Joe Biden.

            Also, on a history note,  last Sunday the whole school took a field trip to the Canadian parliament in Ottawa city. We took a tour of parliament and learned about the House of Commons and the senate.  We also visited the Canadian Museum of Nature.

            In English, American Literature started the Great Gatsby, with reading out loud in class, and studying vocabulary from the book.  Creative writing is writing about their greatest fear, including an artistic element. World Literature just started researching the background and setting of Never Cry Wolf by Farley Moat and has read the first chapter.

We are adopting the philosophy of “work hard, play hard” and spirits remain high.  We are beginning to find that ever elusive balance between our schooling and out time on the water.   The busy load is manageable and it keeps us focused on our studies, but the ambient sound of the river can always be heard.  I believe that for most of us that is all the motivation that we need.

 

 

           

    Its great to be here! Starting a new year with new friends and some new rivers. We have had a great couple first day’s here living on the banks of possibly the safest most fun river in the world, the Ottawa River. For me the first day of the year is a time to get acquainted and get to know each other through team building exercises. So for our team building exercise as well as for everyone’s well being and safety we did an intensive safety class.
    After school, instead of going on the river, we all piled into Wilderness Tours Auditorium.  I gave a lecture covering such things as, trust on the river and how that is a fragile gift as well as how to maintain it, how to identify different safety situations on the river and fallowing the assessment how to react. We covered the fact that we are such a big group on the water that we need to constantly be watching out for each other on and off the water. I firmly believe building a strong happens as much off the water as on and that I expect people to treat each other with this in mind, even if there are personal conflicts. There were other subjects mixed into all of this but the last one we covered was how to use a very powerful tool on the river, a throw rope.
    After a long instructional on how and when to use a throw rope we went outside and spent the rest of the afternoon practicing the different types of throws. The Side Arm, Over Hand, and Under Hand. During this period we also practiced the rethrow, which will allow you to still get your rope to someone if you miss him or her on your first toss.
    So after this great intensive on safety, we’ve been paddling everyday and working on new moves. Its awesome to see everybody stepping up and really helping themselves progress as much as possible with the instruction from David Spiegel and I. The thing that really gets me excited is to see how safety conscious everyone is. Great decisions are being made on the water and people are so on top of looking out for each other that the other day I saw someone wait in line for 10 minutes to surf a wave but when he saw that someone was in the water swimming he paddled right out of the line with four other guys from the school to help their fellow class mate. Pretty awesome to see! Hope everyone back home having fun and getting some beautiful end of summer weather.

Paddle Hard,

Coach Tino Specht

Tino demonstrating how to pack a throw rope correctly

Emery and Tracy practicing their technique

 NRA