News & Musings

Being on the Lower Salmon River is magical. I have grown up on its banks, eddies, and rapids and it is still on the top of my list of favorite rivers. Last year, I had the pleasure of sharing the river with women on our wellness retreat. Our retreat was a perfect combination of whitewater and Pilates. The women were able to choose between riding in the raft, inflatable kayak, or their hard-shell kayak. Some enjoyed learning the fundamentals of paddling for the first time while others were able to fine tune their whitewater skills. Lisa Marie instructed her Pilates routine to fit what paddlers need. Our mornings began with Pilates followed by breakfast on the sandy beach, then we took to the water. The Lower Salmon has a perfect mix of whitewater and calm pools that work great for kayak…

Introducing a new podcast by our own, Jessa Rego, the California Women’s Watersport Podcast! In Episode 1, jack-of-all-watercraft, Cali Collective instructor, and ex-stand up comedian Teresa “Tree” Rogerson talks about strength and finesse, fear management, and the joy of surf competitions. You can find the podcast both on Stitcher  and iTunes. Episode 2 isn’t far behind so stay tuned! About our podcast creator: Jessa Rego was lifeguarding for roll sessions at the old Humboldt State University pool and watching students nearly drown themselves for months attempting to master the maneuver, when she thought “I might like to try that some day.”  She knew the Universe wanted her to be a kayaker when she was  hired by the HSU outfitter as a backpacking guide, yet her bosses kept assigning her to sea kayaking tours.  She grew to love paddling, and then…

In thinking about our first international Cali Collective trip in Chile, I found myself returning to the phrase “Beauty begets inspiration,” and I realized that I didn’t know where “inspiration” comes from. According to dictionary.com (whose definition I found most poetic), inspire means “to fill with an animating, quickening, or exalting influence,” and is derived from the Latin inspirare, “to breathe upon or into.” What exalting beauty did I discover in Chile? Beauty in the turquoise waters and weird and wonderful landscape of the Araucanía Region, and beauty in the stories and moments shared by the gente querida (dear people) that I grew to know there. What did I feel has been breathed into me? A yen to continue exploring my environment and my own self, with a view to the ever-expanding horizon of potential. [Magical Puesco Valley. Photo: Sami Hawkins] It is…

Two Strokes Forward. . . . Two strokes forward, then three hard back strokes to pass through Gate 9, lined up for Gate 10.  What am I doing? I’m kayaking a whitewater slalom course. When I first watched whitewater slalom I was impressed by how graceful and effortless it appeared. Once I tried it myself, I realized looks could be deceiving. What is Whitewater Slalom?  Whitewater slalom is a competitive sport with the aim to navigate a canoe or kayak through a course of hanging downstream or upstream gates on river rapids in the fastest time possible. (Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitewater_slalom) [Author, Donna Weber, focuses on precise technique to make the gates. Photo credit: sagephotographystudio.com] A slalom course is made up of numbered gates hanging from ropes stretched across a river. You paddle your kayak through the gates in the right order, and…

In July 2016, the women of Cali Collective hosted a 2-Day Whitewater Kayaking Clinic on the South Fork American River in Coloma, California. Shot and edited by our own Kayla Lopez, this video embodies the fun and camaraderie of the weekend. Enjoy! watch here

Here you will find a simple guide to balancing your hormones: estrogens and progesterone so you can feel optimal and empowered in all of your sports! In the last two blogposts we have looked at Macronutrient ratios (fat, protein, carb) and super foods to meet optimal health in various water sports. Now we look to identify triggers for hormone imbalance in female athletes and from there how to recalibrate. Hormones play a plethora of roles in the body; thus when your cycle is off, many other pathways are either under-nourished or in overdrive. Luckily, research shows that a Paleolithic diet with balanced macronutrients (containing a high amount of beneficial fats), can ward off and/or correct the common hormone scenario: estrogen dominance. Estrogen dominance occurs often in female athletes who are under-fed or over-trained! As a young athlete I experienced years of what allopathic…

It’s been an incredible spring and summer on the water! We began in the wee hours of early spring with some fun on the coast with our Surf Kayaking and SUP Clinics, for both beginners and experienced paddlers. We made a splash at Santa Cruz Paddlefest – where our own instructors and students competed and earned podium finishes at the event! At the start of the river season, we held our second River Rescue Course with Sierra Rescue, leading straight into multi-day Whitewater Kayaking Clinics on the Rogue River in Oregon, South Fork American River in Coloma and the Salmon River in Idaho. Day trips abounded with mountain biking and boating, river SUPing, kayak races and even a whitewater pool floaty trip! We began our Community Outreach Program with volunteer events for Images of Hope El Dorado, a non-profit organization which strives to promote…

“DO ONE THING EVERY DAY THAT SCARES YOU.” Melissa DeMarie wasn’t the first kick­ass lady who said these words—I believe that was Eleanor Roo­sevelt. But as she stood in front of a bus full of 50 white­wa­ter women who had just charged down a stretch of Class III rapids, I knew that I wasn’t the only one who felt the words resonate. All over the coun­try women are mobi­liz­ing into out­door adven­ture orga­ni­za­tions that cater specif­i­cally to females, cre­at­ing a safe and fun space for them to learn from one another and test their lim­its. Last sum­mer, Melissa orga­nized and insti­gated a women’s only water­sport coali­tion to get more girls out on the river and con­nect­ing with each other… Read the full article by Jill Sanford here. Author Jill Sanford lives in Truckee, California and dabbles as a creative storyteller,…

Pivot turns, precision, finesse and fast lines have always drawn me to the sport of slalom kayaking. I’ve dreamt of training and racing for years, but I’ve never been able to figure out how. The more I tried, the more I ran into dead ends. Finding a boat with modern dimensions and within a recent college graduate’s budget seemed out of reach. Getting some sort of coaching, other than by my brother, or finding a slalom community, other than my brother, was proving impossible in California. Expanding my slalom racing experience to more than just the American River Festival (to my dismay the Tobin race and the Cherry Creek race are not slalom races) meant that I needed to find where other Americans were practicing this sport. Where do I even start? The whitewater world and the slalom world are…

Every spring, Steamer Lane hosts Santa Cruz Paddlefest (SCPF), an event eagerly anticipated by the paddle surf community.  Elite Kayak, Waveski, and Standup Paddleboard (SUP) Surfers from around the World gather in Santa Cruz, California to surf this famed break.  March 2016, SCPF marked its 30th anniversary and my first surf kayak competition. For a colorful history of surf kayaking and SCPF, check out Paul McHugh’s article in Canoe & Kayak. Decision Time SCPF is not only the longest running paddle surf competition, but it is the only competition with an intermediate class for newbie competitors.  The Cowell’s Classic is held at the tail end of Steamer Lane where the waves are smaller and the competition is friendlier.  As the registration deadline for SCPF approached, I was still wavering between entering the expert and intermediate class.  I sought the advice…

Happy to be back on the Cali Collective Blog! In my last post we discussed balancing your Macronutrient levels (protein, fat & carb) to meet the demands of optimal performance! This is the very foundation that gives you the energy and strength to meet your goals in any sport. When we feed ourselves adequately our energy stores (glucose & glucagon) refuel, while our muscle fibers regenerate (proteins) and our cells detox and regenerate (healthy fatty acids & H2O.) When the macros are dialed you should feel ready to take it on! This isn’t always the case though; that’s when super foods come into play! Whether you are a daily charger or a weekend warrior, superfoods have the capacity to enhance mental clarity, quick-twitch muscle response and cardiovascular/muscular endurance. Beets Research suggests that consuming beet juice pre-workout boosts endurance due to the beet’s naturally occurring…

Over the past year, kayaking has completely changed the direction of my life. It has taken me on long, sleepless flights to Zambia, Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Australia, and most recently, Chile. It has left me begging South African custom officials for days on end to allow my ‘wave ski’ into the country, and it has pushed my mental strength almost daily. Kayaking has left me fending off baboons with my paddle and sharing eddies with crocodiles; but best of all, it has given me a purpose to travel, and it has taken me to remote corners of the world that can only be accessed by kayak. So, after returning from a couple months of chasing waterfalls in Mexico, we set off on a new adventure, with our sights set on Chile. Our trip began on the Rio Maipo…