#157 - How a class project packrafting in Nepal led to a kayak career with Alex Lalonde

WEBVTT

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Welcome to Paddling the Blue. With each episode, we talk with guests from the

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Great Lakes and around the globe who are doing cool things related to sea kayaking.

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I'm your host, my name is John Chase, and let's get started paddling the blue.

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Welcome to today's episode of the Paddling the Blue podcast.

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Alex Lalonde's journey to paddling business owner began with a class project

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to packraft several whitewater rivers in Nepal, which led to taking over leadership

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of one of the most iconic guiding and instruction brands in kayaking in Body Boat Blade.

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Alex talks about his 40-day experience in Nepal, favorite paddles in the Pacific

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Northwest, and how they're building the Body Boat Blade brand.

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Before we get to today's conversation with Alex, James Stevenson and Simon Osborne

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Enjoy today's interview with Alex Lalonde. Hey Alex, thanks for joining me on

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the Paddling the Blue podcast.

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Hey John, thanks for having me. Yeah, so I appreciate your time and love to

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have an opportunity to get a chance to connect with you here and learn a little

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bit more about you. But tell us a little bit about you as a paddler.

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A little about me as a paddler well i am primarily a sea kayaker but have a

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pretty varied background that covers pretty much the full spectrum of paddle

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sports i started out as just a flat water.

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Kayaker canoer and moved to

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whitewater rafting pretty soon after i got into

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into paddling just caught the bug of white

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water and just continued to

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find ways to get into anything that floats whitewater

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kayaks and a bit of whitewater canoeing some whitewater

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paddleboarding and then eventually

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found my way to the ocean so yeah primarily

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sea kayaker but yeah i have just a love for

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pretty much anything that floats yeah they're all boats and

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doesn't matter what we're paddling as long as were out there on the water having a good time

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that's right yes now what was it that drew

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you specifically to sea kayaking and said that was going to be the niche for

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you so i had a

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there's a an experience from my very

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first time paddling on the ocean i was a student at suny plattsburgh state school

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in new york and our our paddle sports course that we were doing had a trip to

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the coast of Maine as sort of the like capstone for that course.

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And our very first day out in the water was paddling from the mouth of the Kennebec

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River out to Seguin Island.

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And it's about a three mile crossing with some current and you're sort of going

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out into the Atlantic Ocean.

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And I remember very distinctly.

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Paddling through swell and kind

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of just feeling that like pulse of the ocean and just

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sort of like looking around and being like wow this is it just

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sort of felt the power and the beauty of where i

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was and so it was really the environment that kind of like gripped me and just

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kind of feeling the the life that was there that that moment kind of hooked

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me and from from that trip I just continued to pursue paddling in cool places on the ocean and yeah,

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kept kind of gravitating back to it, even though it wasn't until much later,

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many years after that, that I lived anywhere near the ocean.

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Yeah. And you're paddling on this thing and you got, like you said,

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swell and waves and you're thinking this thing's alive.

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Yeah. Yeah. And it wasn't terribly big swell either.

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If my memory serves, it was about four foot swell, which isn't certainly not small.

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But, you know, kind of since then, I've paddled much bigger swells as,

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you know, all perspective, I guess, but it felt massive.

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You know, I felt like I was just in, you know, the waves might as well have been 15 feet.

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You know, I just, it felt very, yeah, it was, it was life altering for sure.

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Certainly. Now, what brought you from New York out to the Pacific Northwest?

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The easy answer is work. I was just looking for kind of the next seasonal gig.

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I think at the time I was kind of moving between seasons, working seasonal jobs.

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And I was looking to go to the West Coast. I hadn't really spent any time on

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the West Coast at that point in my life.

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And I had some friends who had worked in this zone in the San Juan Islands.

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And so I reached out to them and said, hey, what did you think?

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And they were like, yeah, it was great.

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You'd love it. And I had no other questions. And so I drove my van out there and I never left.

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All right. And what were those first years like of guiding out in the Pacific

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Northwest? They were great.

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So two of the best summers of my life, guiding in the islands.

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You know, the vibe out here with guiding is very, yeah, it's very laid back.

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You know, the summertime here is the weather's amazing.

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You know, you can pretty much camp without a tent almost the whole summer.

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So a lot of nights slept under the stars and it was when i moved out here that

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i met shauna and leon the original owners and founders of bodyboat blade and

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got to do some training with shauna,

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and so sort of had made some cool connections like right when i got out here

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and yeah it it was the summers of guiding were were years that i look back on

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really fondly and now were you were Were you guiding with Body Boat Blade at one of those times?

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No. The company that I ended up working for used me as a guide trainer when I moved out here.

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So I had been, you know, working on, you know, building my certifications and

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training with coaches, you know,

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in the UK and kind of all over the States.

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And through the guide training that I was doing for the company I was working

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for, the owners of that company were personal friends with Shauna and Leon and

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hired them to do like a bodyboat blade guide training.

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And when Shauna and at the time she was working with Calvin Kroll,

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who I know is a person that you've interviewed.

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Sure. They came and all of a sudden just

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kind of like connected on oh you've paddled with with so

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and so and you've done you know i they've been doing a lot of british bcu stuff

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at the time you know i've been working a lot in that program so we had a lot

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of mutual friends and and a lot of people who i had mentored with were colleagues

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of shauna and leon and so there's this kind of cool connection there and,

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through the guide training they were able to sort of see what i had been doing

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with people and And I think just hit it off and they had offered at that time, I took it a,

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I didn't take it seriously, but they had, they were at the time trying to sell

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their company and they had, they had made an offer to me like,

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Hey, do you want to buy a kayak company?

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And I was just, you know, kind of like waved them off like, yeah, yeah.

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The kayak guy that lives in his van is gonna gonna buy a

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kayak company shirt but that

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was sort of the initial connection there was just a simple

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guide training and you know some conversation over a

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couple of days and and then you know i saw them

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a few more times over that first summer that i

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was there but it was mostly just in passing well and

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and here you are now any work with yeah yeah

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but you know to you know to on

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your question i i never worked directly with

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them in their company it was more just you know kind

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of that personal connection and i don't know right place right time slash you

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know we've had very similar approaches and just as we were talking it just i

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don't know it seemed to kind of make sense that we were gonna go somewhere yeah

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and that connection was made and And here you are now,

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you've taken over the reins of Body Boat Blades.

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So what was it like taking over an iconic business like that?

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It was terrifying at first.

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They built a massive legacy and a huge following.

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And, you know, in their day and even still are some of the most accomplished

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expedition paddlers and coaches to ever do it.

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So, you know, I was up for the challenge, but I definitely felt the weight of taking that brand over.

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And I think if it hadn't been for some of the people that I was surrounded by

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at that time, I may have folded under the pressure,

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but I was lucky enough to be, you know, actively working with some really high level people.

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And just, I think people wanted to see the brand succeed and,

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and, and to continue on. So yeah.

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Yeah, but there was definitely a lot of skepticism from people who were diehard

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followers of Sean and Leon.

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I had to do a lot of proving myself, and Sean and Leon had my back at every

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turn, which was amazing.

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They had a lot of stake in my success as well. Very cool.

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So tell me about some of your favorite paddles that you do up there in the Pacific

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Northwest. My favorite paddle depends on the type of objective we're going for.

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My favorite day paddle has got to be a lap around Burroughs and Allen Island.

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There are two small islands just to the west of Anacortes.

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And it's where, when I was working for Anacortes Kayak Tours,

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the tour company here, it's where we ran most of our day trips.

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And there's just something about that little section

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of the islands there there's a lot of cool wildlife

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there's a good amount of current that

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flows through the island so given you

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know the right wind direction you can get some cool waves to surf

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and and you can make it a whole

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day adventure but you can also make it fairly short by

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just kind of cutting in between the islands and zooming back

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to where you started deception pass has

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also got to be one of my favorite venues to

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go to you know it's it's a fairly quick

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paddle to get there but for anyone who's been there or seen videos of it it's

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a pretty dynamic place and there's a lot of fun that can be had there and then

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if we're talking overnight stuff because the san juan islands is a destination

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for overnight paddling and camping.

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Cypress Island is probably my top choice for going and setting up a campsite and spending a weekend.

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And after that, if I was to continue on, I'd go up north of Orcas Island up

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to Clark, Masha, Susha, and Patos Islands, the string of islands that's at the

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north end of the San Juan Islands.

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They're also some of my favorites.

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So what is it that really makes the San Juan so special for you?

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The appearance of the San Juans from shore is that they're quite placid.

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The water is you know you know

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it's a it's an inland sea so there isn't

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big swells and big crashing waves all the time there's days where

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you walk out of the shore and it's just flat glassy calm

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and but every single day there's water rushing through back and forth because

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of the tide and so even on a flat calm day you can go and find dynamic moving

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water that you know for me He is, you know,

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I, you know, am a little bit of a thrill seeker.

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Uh, you know, I like to challenge myself and paddle and, you know,

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and water that makes me think about it.

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And so I, I think that was part of what initially had really attracted me to,

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to the area and the longer I'm here, the more I discover about the,

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you know, about wildlife and,

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you know, just kind of the, the history of the area is a lot of,

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you know, native history,

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indigenous history, you know, mixed with kind of Spanish, Spanish conquests and English colonial,

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you know, stuff going on.

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And, you know, all kinds of, you know, westward expansion, history stories.

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So it's just, it's a place that's just very, yeah, it's really interesting.

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Just the more time we spend here.

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I guess I've never associated the English and the Spanish with the area.

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So the Spanish were the first sort of European explorers to come through here.

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They named a lot of the San Juan Islands and waterways and things like that. So there's, you know,

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The Orcas Island is named after the Viceroy of Spain.

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San Juan was the, I believe, the captain of the, of something.

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The whole story. Lopez Island, Rosario Strait, Strait of Juan de Fuca.

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So there's, there's lots of, yeah, sort of Spanish discovery here,

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but they never, I don't believe they ever really settled here.

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And then it was the English that, that came in, General Vancouver.

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They ended up setting up camps here and having a bit more of a cultural impact.

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Okay. Yeah, I guess it makes sense now that you start to go through some of

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the names and that just hadn't really associated it.

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I think of more of the First Nations as opposed to anything else for the area. Yeah, totally.

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Totally. And, you know, there's certainly, there's a lot of that history here

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as well. And so you've had an opportunity to do a, you know,

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to really see a lot of things and experience a lot of things.

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And outside of the Pacific Northwest and outside of New York and Maine that

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you'd mentioned earlier, one of the things I'd love to be able to have a chance

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to talk about is you did a trip for 40 days pack rafting in Nepal.

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So tell us a little bit about that. Describe that trip for us.

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That trip was, again, one of just, yeah, a life-altering experience.

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It was, that trip was my, mine and another student of expeditionary studies,

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our capstone project, our senior expedition.

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We each planned half of the trip to sort of fulfill the requirements of our capstone.

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But basically we were planning a yeah you

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know almost two month long trip together in the

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in nepal and we traveled there

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with inflatable boats pack rafts from the brand alpaca raft for for those that

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are familiar with it and we chose to do that because we had in our research

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We had read a bit about, you know,

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how if you go whitewater kayaking in Nepal,

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you can rent plastic boats from rafting companies.

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And, you know, the boats can sometimes be great. They can sometimes be really beat up.

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With plastic boats, you got to deal with transporting them.

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A lot of the like local buses won't let you put kayaks on them.

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So you have to end up having to hire private transportation.

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So as we were going through a lot of that research, we had been introduced to

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pack rafts already. So they were on our radar.

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And we were like, well, what if we took pack rafts?

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And we reached out to Alpaca. They offered to get us a couple of boats at a really good price.

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And then we, we said, we're going to paddle through the winter to train for

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this trip and only paddle in the pack rafts. Like we're not going to paddle hard shell kayaks.

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Cause if we're going to do this in Nepal, we better be dialed in our pack rafts. All right.

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We spent the winter paddling in upstate New York in the wintertime and springtime,

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and then most of the way through the summer as well, just in our inflatable packrafts.

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So a little bit of the sort of why we chose packrafts there.

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But the trip to Nepal was, yeah, kind of meant to be a, you know,

00:17:13.441 --> 00:17:18.181
when you think of Nepal, you think of the mountains and trekking.

00:17:18.321 --> 00:17:21.321
You don't necessarily think about it as a paddling destination.

00:17:22.001 --> 00:17:26.621
And in doing research for our capstone project,

00:17:26.621 --> 00:17:32.921
we came across a guidebook for whitewater kayaking in Nepal,

00:17:32.921 --> 00:17:41.201
and it showed us how much water was flowing out of those mountains and that

00:17:41.201 --> 00:17:45.121
there was actually quite a rich river community,

00:17:45.581 --> 00:17:47.581
paddling community in the country.

00:17:48.221 --> 00:17:50.941
So it kind of was attractive in that way

00:17:50.941 --> 00:17:54.001
and that it was like a kind of a at least to

00:17:54.001 --> 00:17:58.801
me at that time seemed like a really obscure place to go paddling i don't know

00:17:58.801 --> 00:18:03.741
maybe that is a big reason why we chose to go there let's go somewhere that

00:18:03.741 --> 00:18:08.621
is completely foreign to us that you know when someone's like you're going kayaking

00:18:08.621 --> 00:18:12.161
where uh you know when you tell them what you're doing so,

00:18:12.741 --> 00:18:16.601
yeah it's a pretty ambitious trip to take on i mean uh you know some of your

00:18:16.601 --> 00:18:21.041
your contemporaries in class may have been, you know, let's go down to the Carolina

00:18:21.041 --> 00:18:25.941
coast or let's go to Colorado or something like that. And you're like, no, let's go to Nepal.

00:18:26.849 --> 00:18:30.269
Yeah. Yeah. A lot of, you know, a lot of the paddlers and, and,

00:18:30.369 --> 00:18:33.569
you know, the program has paddlers, skiers, and climbers.

00:18:33.749 --> 00:18:37.749
And so, you know, based on the path that you're, that you kind of forged for

00:18:37.749 --> 00:18:40.429
yourself in the program, you, you know, you do generally are doing a,

00:18:40.429 --> 00:18:43.229
a trip within one of those three categories.

00:18:44.049 --> 00:18:48.729
And yeah, a lot of the paddlers are, you know, a lot of paddlers go to Maine

00:18:48.729 --> 00:18:53.929
or to the UK, you know, places where we travel to in the program.

00:18:54.489 --> 00:18:58.169
And one of the hard requirements of the senior expedition

00:18:58.169 --> 00:19:04.589
is that it has to be i'd have to go back and look to be to to be certain about

00:19:04.589 --> 00:19:09.029
this but it has to be like more than 100 miles from some place that you've been

00:19:09.029 --> 00:19:13.049
before so the idea is that you're going somewhere new you're planning an expedition

00:19:13.049 --> 00:19:15.929
somewhere that you haven't been before so,

00:19:16.965 --> 00:19:21.025
We sort of took that and went, what's the farthest we could go?

00:19:23.465 --> 00:19:27.105
So, yeah, you know, we had a lot of options. Obviously, in the U.S.,

00:19:27.105 --> 00:19:31.365
we could have gone a hundred different places without leaving the country and

00:19:31.365 --> 00:19:34.665
met all the requirements. But yeah, Nepal felt like the right choice.

00:19:34.865 --> 00:19:37.025
So neither of you had ever been to Nepal before, correct?

00:19:37.625 --> 00:19:42.205
That's correct. All right. So how did the trip logistics and planning come together

00:19:42.205 --> 00:19:46.705
for something like that halfway across the world? Well, we relied heavily on

00:19:46.705 --> 00:19:50.345
the guidebook that we found. It's just Whitewater Kayaking Nepal.

00:19:50.645 --> 00:19:55.585
It was written by a couple of British guys who spent a good amount of time there.

00:19:55.745 --> 00:20:03.825
That book really ended up being our Bible for figuring out how to navigate the country as a kayaker.

00:20:04.325 --> 00:20:07.885
There's a lot of really good tips in there for how to

00:20:07.885 --> 00:20:11.225
travel with your kayak what companies to like

00:20:11.225 --> 00:20:13.925
what rafting companies are in the cities that you

00:20:13.925 --> 00:20:18.805
can go and get information from there was a lot of information in there about

00:20:18.805 --> 00:20:22.565
certain you know a lot of the rivers that be ran there you know it's just they're

00:20:22.565 --> 00:20:26.005
coming right out of the mountains so the rapids change year to year with the

00:20:26.005 --> 00:20:33.185
monsoons so you can go to these rafting companies and say hey this has anything changed,

00:20:33.785 --> 00:20:39.545
We're going off this guidebook that was written in the mid-2010s,

00:20:40.685 --> 00:20:43.545
or actually, I think actually a bit earlier than that.

00:20:45.165 --> 00:20:48.345
So we were able to get some really good information just from that.

00:20:48.905 --> 00:20:55.805
Because it was our capstone project for our school program, we had to do quite

00:20:55.805 --> 00:21:00.325
a bit of writing and research on the country, on the risks that were there,

00:21:00.965 --> 00:21:02.085
sort of how we were going to...

00:21:03.894 --> 00:21:06.554
You know, how we were going to organize ourselves and, you know,

00:21:06.594 --> 00:21:10.234
make sure that we were following a plan and staying safe while we were doing it.

00:21:10.634 --> 00:21:13.574
So that guided a lot of our research.

00:21:14.534 --> 00:21:18.174
And, you know, it turned out to be, I think, you know, between the two of us,

00:21:18.314 --> 00:21:23.374
we had about 200 pages of, you know, sort of research paper on the history of

00:21:23.374 --> 00:21:29.014
Nepal, paddling history in Nepal, and then what our expedition was going to look like.

00:21:29.794 --> 00:21:34.674
Were you doing day trips? No, it was all expedition paddling. So it was all overnight.

00:21:34.914 --> 00:21:38.094
We did five different rivers when we were there.

00:21:38.514 --> 00:21:45.674
The longest stretch that we did was eight days. The shortest stretch that we did was four days.

00:21:46.214 --> 00:21:52.694
And yeah, so we were essentially just bouncing from river to river. We landed in Kathmandu.

00:21:53.034 --> 00:22:01.874
And from there, we took a local bus to the Trisuli River and started there.

00:22:01.874 --> 00:22:06.474
It's kind of a big water, mostly class three run.

00:22:06.654 --> 00:22:08.954
So we did four days on that river.

00:22:09.494 --> 00:22:13.034
That was sort of our warmup. And then from there, we just, when we got to a

00:22:13.034 --> 00:22:16.614
takeout, we'd spend the night or sometimes a couple of nights in the village

00:22:16.614 --> 00:22:18.274
where we, where we ended.

00:22:18.974 --> 00:22:24.094
We'd wait for the next bus to come through and we just keep, we just kept going west.

00:22:24.694 --> 00:22:30.734
So we went as far as we as far west as we could go reasonably and then kind

00:22:30.734 --> 00:22:32.714
of paddled our way back towards Kathmandu.

00:22:33.989 --> 00:22:37.989
So what was it like going through some of the villages and meeting the folks in those villages?

00:22:38.509 --> 00:22:45.649
Oh, it was great. The people there really were the kind of highlight of the trip.

00:22:46.109 --> 00:22:52.869
The Nepali people are so incredibly nice and very welcoming.

00:22:54.129 --> 00:22:59.369
Their whole philosophy is, you know, it's in their greeting, namaste,

00:22:59.669 --> 00:23:06.269
you know, which is, I believe the translation is, you know, I see a God in you

00:23:06.269 --> 00:23:09.829
and, you know, they are very just,

00:23:10.209 --> 00:23:14.909
I think all the people that we met really, they saw us and it was,

00:23:15.149 --> 00:23:19.169
there was no question coming to our home, you know, let us feed you,

00:23:19.589 --> 00:23:23.629
you know, let us, you know, host you and entertain you.

00:23:25.169 --> 00:23:29.109
And we didn't spend a whole lot of time in the big cities there.

00:23:29.149 --> 00:23:33.069
So most of our time was spent in these little villages that were just along the rivers and.

00:23:33.926 --> 00:23:37.006
Anytime we were getting off the river, you know, there was always a swarm of

00:23:37.006 --> 00:23:40.506
children that would kind of come find us and, you know, take our paddles and

00:23:40.506 --> 00:23:45.266
jump in our kayaks and, you know, you know, sort of pretend to paddle them on shore.

00:23:45.546 --> 00:23:50.206
And so it gave us an opportunity to, you know, sort of communicate through the

00:23:50.206 --> 00:23:54.486
paddle and, you know, they certainly weren't the first kayakers that they'd

00:23:54.486 --> 00:23:59.186
seen, but, you know, it clearly gets, it gets the, the community excited when,

00:23:59.286 --> 00:24:00.486
when paddlers are coming through.

00:24:00.486 --> 00:24:04.606
And I think that in part, you know, inspires some people to then,

00:24:04.746 --> 00:24:06.606
you know, go work for some of the rafting companies.

00:24:06.866 --> 00:24:10.926
And so it's a, it's a cool way to connect with people. Cool.

00:24:11.446 --> 00:24:15.706
Now, did you see many other paddlers along the way on your trips, on your rivers? We did.

00:24:15.866 --> 00:24:22.166
We ran into one kayak group from, it was a group of kayakers from Alberta.

00:24:22.806 --> 00:24:26.466
And they were doing some stuff that was way harder than what we were doing.

00:24:26.466 --> 00:24:32.386
I think they had run the upper Carnali, which if you're listening to this episode,

00:24:32.566 --> 00:24:37.286
go watch some videos of people kayaking the upper Carnali. It's insane.

00:24:37.806 --> 00:24:43.006
But they were really cool guys. We ended up seeing them a couple more times throughout our trip.

00:24:43.326 --> 00:24:49.026
We ran into them in Pokhara at a movie night randomly later on in the trip.

00:24:49.466 --> 00:24:55.986
And then we also ran into a couple of rafting trips that were on a couple of the rivers.

00:24:56.566 --> 00:25:02.186
Which were primarily like u.s and and european you know people being guided

00:25:02.186 --> 00:25:07.966
by nepali folks so and those were those were cool to to run into as well the

00:25:07.966 --> 00:25:11.046
company that we ran into both times were.

00:25:11.686 --> 00:25:16.526
Companies that we had connected with when we were in katmandu asking for beta

00:25:16.526 --> 00:25:21.266
so when we saw them we recognized the guides and they recognized us and sort

00:25:21.266 --> 00:25:24.826
of they invited us to come and hang out with them and party with them.

00:25:25.006 --> 00:25:29.486
And one of the fun stories I like to tell about running into the,

00:25:29.666 --> 00:25:38.386
this rafting company is the, the raft teams were sort of passing us as we were paddling down and, uh,

00:25:38.976 --> 00:25:42.736
They invited us to come stay at their campsite that night. So we paddled down

00:25:42.736 --> 00:25:44.416
and we met them at their camp.

00:25:45.036 --> 00:25:52.796
And the guides were wanting us to sort of stay separate from the customers that they were guiding.

00:25:52.996 --> 00:25:55.996
All right. But they told us we need to go get food for dinner.

00:25:56.696 --> 00:26:00.976
So come with us. And we're like, okay, whatever that means. We'll just follow

00:26:00.976 --> 00:26:02.536
you guys into the jungle.

00:26:03.136 --> 00:26:07.076
And we hiked up this fairly steep hill in the river valley.

00:26:07.696 --> 00:26:10.416
And about 20 minutes or so we get up to

00:26:10.416 --> 00:26:15.336
this plateau and there was a livestock farm and some shacks and some people

00:26:15.336 --> 00:26:21.756
living up there and i think it may have been cousins of of one of the guys that

00:26:21.756 --> 00:26:27.956
lived up there and they were asking for chicken and we thought oh cool they'll

00:26:27.956 --> 00:26:29.736
you know get some chicken and.

00:26:30.595 --> 00:26:35.615
Take it back and cook it. And while we're sitting there listening to them talk,

00:26:36.035 --> 00:26:42.215
one of the guys starts chasing after some live chickens and kind of jumps and dives and catches one.

00:26:42.435 --> 00:26:45.915
And we're like, oh, this is what they meant by they're going to get some chicken.

00:26:47.075 --> 00:26:51.135
So catch two live chickens and there's, you know, sort of holding them by their,

00:26:51.255 --> 00:26:54.615
you know, by their feet or their, their neck, wherever you hold a chicken when

00:26:54.615 --> 00:26:56.615
you're, you know, wrangling it.

00:26:56.615 --> 00:27:04.315
And then we walked back down the hill and we passed through another sort of shack.

00:27:04.575 --> 00:27:10.775
It wasn't a village, it's just sort of a shack that someone was living in on the side of the river.

00:27:10.935 --> 00:27:16.835
And it was another auntie of one of the guys that was there and they offered

00:27:16.835 --> 00:27:23.555
us Roxy, which is the local swill of Nepal. It's like a millet wine.

00:27:24.935 --> 00:27:32.755
And so most of the time that's served to you in a old soda bottle so really sanitary stuff,

00:27:33.295 --> 00:27:37.175
you know high high high brow stuff over

00:27:37.175 --> 00:27:39.935
there but it was really cool there was just again like sort

00:27:39.935 --> 00:27:43.235
of just showing you know it's very friendly you know we were

00:27:43.235 --> 00:27:46.275
just two white guys kind of following them around and

00:27:46.275 --> 00:27:50.935
but you know got to just sort of see what

00:27:50.935 --> 00:27:54.435
it was like kind of living along the river and you'll

00:27:54.435 --> 00:27:57.935
be welcomed into their home so then we carried on

00:27:57.935 --> 00:28:02.295
from there back to camp and we got back to camp the guy who was carrying the

00:28:02.295 --> 00:28:07.335
chickens stopped short of camp and you know he's like i got you know i'm gonna

00:28:07.335 --> 00:28:15.415
start preparing dinner and as we're walking away we see him you know pull out a big machete and just.

00:28:16.255 --> 00:28:19.515
Butchered the chickens right there. I'm like, all right, okay, cool.

00:28:20.095 --> 00:28:23.335
This is, this is how they do it on these, these rafting trips.

00:28:23.495 --> 00:28:26.675
And it turns out the chickens were for the guide meal. They weren't,

00:28:26.815 --> 00:28:31.875
you know, being fed to the customers, but, but we got to partake in it, which was cool.

00:28:31.955 --> 00:28:36.575
You know, they were just making a chicken curry doll bot, you know,

00:28:36.675 --> 00:28:39.975
type dinner for, for themselves, which they included us in.

00:28:39.975 --> 00:28:44.215
And so it's just kind of like that, that experience was one of the,

00:28:44.275 --> 00:28:49.775
one of the really cool experiences we got to have just sort of connecting with people, you know,

00:28:50.075 --> 00:28:53.895
from land, then on the river and just sort of getting to see and experience

00:28:53.895 --> 00:28:58.955
just the whole kind of, it felt like we were getting to experience sort of all sides of, you know,

00:28:59.295 --> 00:29:03.675
being in the country and not just, we didn't feel like we were just tourists there anymore.

00:29:04.155 --> 00:29:05.915
Yeah. You're getting the backstage tour at that point.

00:29:06.715 --> 00:29:10.635
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. What did you learn about yourself on that trip?

00:29:10.935 --> 00:29:17.495
I think the biggest takeaway for me was the importance of that,

00:29:17.695 --> 00:29:25.815
you know, paddling is a context in which you can go to some really cool places. And yeah.

00:29:26.446 --> 00:29:30.246
What I mean by that is Nepal is this beautiful,

00:29:30.506 --> 00:29:34.646
vibrant country, which, you know, people from all over the world travel to,

00:29:34.646 --> 00:29:38.526
to get to see and experience, you know,

00:29:38.746 --> 00:29:47.166
all the, all the places that are there by a kayak is really kind of a unique way to see the country.

00:29:47.666 --> 00:29:51.526
And I've taken that view of traveling for

00:29:51.526 --> 00:29:54.466
paddling with me kind of since

00:29:54.466 --> 00:29:57.586
then really sort of you know kayaking is

00:29:57.586 --> 00:30:01.526
the re you know the the vehicle that's getting me there but it's

00:30:01.526 --> 00:30:05.066
really just my way to like see and experience culture

00:30:05.066 --> 00:30:08.106
and the people and and the place

00:30:08.106 --> 00:30:11.266
so i think that is my biggest

00:30:11.266 --> 00:30:14.106
takeaway from that trip without going

00:30:14.106 --> 00:30:17.066
back and looking at my journal because i probably learned a few other things about myself

00:30:17.066 --> 00:30:20.006
while i was there all right what surprised

00:30:20.006 --> 00:30:23.906
you about nepal i was surprised by the

00:30:23.906 --> 00:30:27.006
variety of wildlife

00:30:27.006 --> 00:30:31.146
that was there i didn't know this until we learned

00:30:31.146 --> 00:30:35.066
this while we were planning but there are

00:30:35.066 --> 00:30:38.226
crocodiles and hippos

00:30:38.226 --> 00:30:41.686
and panthers and all

00:30:41.686 --> 00:30:44.746
kinds of jungle critters that you would not expect to be

00:30:44.746 --> 00:30:47.566
there and there was a particular river that

00:30:47.566 --> 00:30:51.326
we were looking at paddling that went through this sort of wildlife refuge

00:30:51.326 --> 00:30:54.546
uh name of which has escaped

00:30:54.546 --> 00:30:59.786
me it's in the sort of i think the mustang region of the country sort of on

00:30:59.786 --> 00:31:04.766
the west side of the country but the river not a particularly challenging whitewater

00:31:04.766 --> 00:31:09.026
run but went to a really remote section of the country and looked really beautiful

00:31:09.026 --> 00:31:13.146
but all of the information that we found was, you know.

00:31:13.206 --> 00:31:19.546
Beware of crocodiles and hippos and all these really dangerous animals that

00:31:19.546 --> 00:31:22.386
we really just didn't want to encounter while we were there.

00:31:22.746 --> 00:31:24.806
So we ended up putting that one in the.

00:31:28.075 --> 00:31:34.095
Yeah, so yeah, surprised by the wildlife that was there. Did you run across any of that wildlife?

00:31:34.635 --> 00:31:41.195
We didn't. The most foreign wildlife that we came across were the monkeys.

00:31:41.595 --> 00:31:46.935
Yeah, monkeys everywhere. But we did see evidence of some kind of wild cat.

00:31:47.095 --> 00:31:50.455
We're not sure what it was, but one of the rivers that we went down,

00:31:50.575 --> 00:31:58.115
we did on a number of the beaches see big paw prints that belonged to some sort of cat. Thank you.

00:31:59.338 --> 00:32:03.358
Did you have a chance to interact with the monkeys at all? They have a habit

00:32:03.358 --> 00:32:08.498
of interacting with you in the cities when you've got something to eat or drink. Okay.

00:32:09.098 --> 00:32:12.618
Monkeys will kind of just jump on you and try to take stuff out of your hands.

00:32:12.618 --> 00:32:16.358
Or if you set your drink down, they'll swoop in and grab it and run away with

00:32:16.358 --> 00:32:17.278
it and start drinking it.

00:32:19.118 --> 00:32:24.438
And we did watch a couple of monkeys steal soda bottles filled with Roxy and

00:32:24.438 --> 00:32:27.118
run away and get a little tipsy.

00:32:28.198 --> 00:32:31.198
But in the wild no they they pretty much

00:32:31.198 --> 00:32:33.958
kept it themselves we saw them quite a bit you know jumping around in

00:32:33.958 --> 00:32:36.658
the trees but from memory we didn't really

00:32:36.658 --> 00:32:39.458
have any wildlife you know sort of

00:32:39.458 --> 00:32:42.818
face-to-face wildlife encounters we saw lots lots

00:32:42.818 --> 00:32:46.158
of livestock but nothing nothing wild

00:32:46.158 --> 00:32:48.858
that that came up to us did you have to

00:32:48.858 --> 00:32:51.738
negotiate any any regulations or anything

00:32:51.738 --> 00:32:54.958
along the way in the country nothing super out

00:32:54.958 --> 00:32:58.238
of the ordinary getting in and out of the country was really simple for

00:32:58.238 --> 00:33:04.638
us and you know we were there on a 90-day visa so you know you can travel into

00:33:04.638 --> 00:33:08.038
the country you don't have to fill out on you you just fill the paperwork out

00:33:08.038 --> 00:33:13.138
there in the airport so you know we needed to carry our passports around so

00:33:13.138 --> 00:33:16.598
if we did encounter anything you know they could see that we had a visa.

00:33:16.918 --> 00:33:26.398
And we did at the takeout of the Berry River into the Carnali River, which ended us in the.

00:33:30.434 --> 00:33:34.194
Longest single strut suspension bridge in the world.

00:33:35.414 --> 00:33:39.494
And where we took out was right underneath that bridge. And at the top of the

00:33:39.494 --> 00:33:41.294
bridge was Nepali military.

00:33:41.914 --> 00:33:46.194
And they, we kind of had to like scramble and bushwhack from the river up to

00:33:46.194 --> 00:33:48.194
the road there so that we could walk into the village.

00:33:49.094 --> 00:33:53.734
And when we got to the top of the bridge, we were met by a handful of men with

00:33:53.734 --> 00:33:56.474
assault rifles and a lot of questions.

00:33:57.954 --> 00:34:01.014
And but they looked at our passports and

00:34:01.014 --> 00:34:04.014
you know talked amongst themselves and then

00:34:04.014 --> 00:34:06.814
just kind of shoot us away and we found out later

00:34:06.814 --> 00:34:11.414
that they were looking for people smuggling

00:34:11.414 --> 00:34:18.154
tigers across the border from i believe india as we were quite close to the

00:34:18.154 --> 00:34:23.114
border of india and apparently there's a lot of poaching of you know endangered

00:34:23.114 --> 00:34:27.054
animals going on at least at that time i'm not sure what the situation is now,

00:34:27.174 --> 00:34:32.214
but that was really the only run-in that we had with authority or any kind of, you know,

00:34:32.774 --> 00:34:35.894
you know, needing to prove that we were there lawfully.

00:34:36.274 --> 00:34:39.054
And it was pretty obvious that you weren't carrying a tiger at that moment.

00:34:39.274 --> 00:34:43.514
We think so. We had some pretty big duffel bags. So, you know,

00:34:43.614 --> 00:34:47.354
I, uh, we, we could have been, uh, smuggling, you know, half a tiger each or

00:34:47.354 --> 00:34:53.874
something, but, um, but yeah, we, we assumed that they watched us paddle in.

00:34:54.214 --> 00:34:57.334
And then, you know, we spent, you know, probably a couple of hours on the beach,

00:34:57.494 --> 00:35:01.614
just drying everything and, you know, relishing in our, the,

00:35:01.654 --> 00:35:04.574
the end of our river run for that week.

00:35:04.694 --> 00:35:07.674
And yeah, and then we just packed everything up and, and hiked up the hill.

00:35:08.450 --> 00:35:11.690
That's a pretty cool experience to have as your, your capstone project.

00:35:11.930 --> 00:35:15.130
So, um, how did you, what, what did you take from that, that you've been able

00:35:15.130 --> 00:35:16.770
to carry through to your other expeditioning?

00:35:17.130 --> 00:35:22.350
I think the thing that has, you know, that, that expedition showed me was that

00:35:22.350 --> 00:35:26.630
come up with a great plan for a trip.

00:35:26.950 --> 00:35:31.990
And then when you get there, you just kind of, you know, you have to adapt and

00:35:31.990 --> 00:35:33.990
react to what's happening in front of you.

00:35:34.110 --> 00:35:39.490
And so, you know, we, for our project, We had to have a day one to day 40 written out plan.

00:35:39.670 --> 00:35:43.090
So we had a whole itinerary for every single day.

00:35:43.950 --> 00:35:48.130
And that plan got crumpled up and thrown out the day that we got there.

00:35:49.010 --> 00:35:54.310
And so the order in which we ran the rivers that we did ended up being very

00:35:54.310 --> 00:35:59.870
much based on water levels and where the water levels were good at that time.

00:36:00.190 --> 00:36:05.110
We were there in October and into November, which is just the tail end of the

00:36:05.110 --> 00:36:09.030
monsoon season. So the, when we got there, the water levels were still quite high.

00:36:09.810 --> 00:36:14.870
And then six weeks later at the end of our trip, the water levels had dropped pretty significantly.

00:36:14.910 --> 00:36:19.470
So some of the runs that were looking a bit intimidating to us at the beginning

00:36:19.470 --> 00:36:24.150
had opened up and dropped down to levels that felt comfortable for us.

00:36:24.310 --> 00:36:28.430
So, you know, since then, you know, I haven't, I haven't done another expedition

00:36:28.430 --> 00:36:31.970
quite as big as that one since then, but the ones that I have done,

00:36:31.990 --> 00:36:34.970
and I think just in general, my approach to, you know,

00:36:35.310 --> 00:36:38.810
planning expeditions is, you know, come up with your best plan and then,

00:36:38.890 --> 00:36:42.090
you know, be ready to throw it out on the first day. Sure.

00:36:42.590 --> 00:36:45.310
And that, yeah, that's really stuck with me. Yeah.

00:36:45.430 --> 00:36:48.550
And that can apply whether it's multi-day trip or a day trip,

00:36:48.690 --> 00:36:54.430
but you always have a plan A, B, and C and expect to expect the unexpected.

00:36:55.407 --> 00:36:58.787
That's right. Yeah. So it sounds like a pretty inspiring trip.

00:36:59.027 --> 00:37:01.287
I mean, who inspires you as a paddler?

00:37:01.947 --> 00:37:08.607
There's a lot of people that inspire me. I feel really fortunate to have the

00:37:08.607 --> 00:37:12.307
opportunity to work with some of the best paddlers in the world on a fairly

00:37:12.307 --> 00:37:20.227
regular basis and people who are doing things that are sort of inspiring daily.

00:37:20.227 --> 00:37:25.967
Some of the people who I feel inspired by in no particular order,

00:37:26.367 --> 00:37:32.387
my good friend, Goodney from Iceland, he's a really hardworking guy.

00:37:32.907 --> 00:37:36.767
Him and I have had an opportunity to work together a handful of times now and,

00:37:36.767 --> 00:37:40.887
you know, getting to work with him and toss ideas around him has been,

00:37:41.127 --> 00:37:45.967
has helped me a lot in my personal life, but, and also in business and,

00:37:46.067 --> 00:37:48.947
you know, him and I have continued to work together.

00:37:49.879 --> 00:37:56.859
I have grown quite close now to, uh, Laura Zolliger and Amber Champion.

00:37:57.519 --> 00:38:01.979
Two badass women on the west coast here who have,

00:38:02.339 --> 00:38:05.199
you know, being able to work with them has just been, you know,

00:38:05.499 --> 00:38:11.179
they've accomplished so much in what they've done with paddling and just in

00:38:11.179 --> 00:38:15.419
their personal lives and getting to bump shoulders with them and,

00:38:15.419 --> 00:38:19.399
and work with them has been really inspiring in a lot of ways.

00:38:19.879 --> 00:38:28.979
And continue to be inspired by my mentors, Steve Maynard, who was my mentor at Plattsburgh State.

00:38:29.299 --> 00:38:33.919
I continue to be inspired by him, John Carmody.

00:38:34.179 --> 00:38:39.639
He's another mentor of mine. And, you know, people who are still very active

00:38:39.639 --> 00:38:41.319
and sort of pushing themselves,

00:38:41.699 --> 00:38:48.299
but also pushing the coaching bar, if you will, they are, in my mind,

00:38:48.419 --> 00:38:53.919
the highest level coach that I've been able to work with.

00:38:53.919 --> 00:38:59.299
And, you know, they're, they're just continuously trying to push themselves and learn more.

00:38:59.499 --> 00:39:03.979
And, you know, the forever student mentality is, is the, you know,

00:39:04.039 --> 00:39:05.739
sort of what I gain from them.

00:39:06.179 --> 00:39:09.399
Cool. Well, you get some, definitely get some good mentors and some good company there.

00:39:09.959 --> 00:39:14.519
Goodney was a guest on episode 57 for us. And Laura Zelliger was a guest on

00:39:14.519 --> 00:39:17.239
61 and Amber Champion on episode 112.

00:39:17.719 --> 00:39:20.699
So three alumni of the podcast.

00:39:21.839 --> 00:39:26.359
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, you know, they're, I've listened to their episodes.

00:39:26.539 --> 00:39:30.879
They're, you know, it's really cool leading up to this interview to sort of

00:39:30.879 --> 00:39:34.519
get to see, you know, I went through, I didn't listen to every episode,

00:39:34.639 --> 00:39:35.699
but I scrolled through all the

00:39:35.699 --> 00:39:39.679
episodes and got to see how many people who I've known or have heard of.

00:39:40.019 --> 00:39:44.959
And, and, oh, cool. So I've got a lot of, a lot more episodes to listen to the episode.

00:39:45.540 --> 00:39:51.560
Well, we'll keep them coming for you, too. So those experiences and those people

00:39:51.560 --> 00:39:56.700
that have inspired you and mentors really helped to shape your paddling career as well.

00:39:56.800 --> 00:39:59.660
And that continues to take off as part of Body Boat Blade.

00:39:59.780 --> 00:40:02.520
Now, tell us about the paddling shop part of your business.

00:40:03.300 --> 00:40:10.380
Yeah, the paddle shop is new. As of this year, we opened in April when we bought Body Boat Blade.

00:40:10.860 --> 00:40:14.700
And when I say we, I am referring to myself and my wife, Sarah.

00:40:14.700 --> 00:40:17.820
There at the time was a retail

00:40:17.820 --> 00:40:23.780
store along the business but we decided at the time that that wasn't going to

00:40:23.780 --> 00:40:29.580
be the right thing for us to take on so we left it on the table five years later

00:40:29.580 --> 00:40:37.440
handful of northwest paddle shops have shut down and it seemed like the right opportunity for us to.

00:40:38.320 --> 00:40:42.460
Bring that part of bodyboat blade back so we

00:40:42.460 --> 00:40:47.480
now have a brick and mortar and an online store our brick and mortars in anacortas

00:40:47.480 --> 00:40:52.800
and we're doing our best to sell all things kayaking you know we don't have

00:40:52.800 --> 00:40:56.960
every brand of every item there's certainly things that we're missing so if

00:40:56.960 --> 00:40:59.320
you're listening and you're looking for something let us know.

00:41:00.280 --> 00:41:04.080
But but yeah it's been a really cool new

00:41:04.080 --> 00:41:06.920
chapter for bodyboat blade and a

00:41:06.920 --> 00:41:10.660
huge learning opportunity for me who has

00:41:10.660 --> 00:41:14.060
no experience in the retail field never

00:41:14.060 --> 00:41:19.800
worked a day of retail in my life so lots of lots of new things to learn new

00:41:19.800 --> 00:41:27.040
systems and and really it's been a cool way to kind of complete the circle of

00:41:27.040 --> 00:41:33.720
interaction with our community and kind of bring people in a bit closer to.

00:41:34.882 --> 00:41:38.802
You know, into the fold, you know, we've, we've been able to have lots of really

00:41:38.802 --> 00:41:43.022
cool experiences with people on the water and, you know, inevitably the questions

00:41:43.022 --> 00:41:46.082
come up of, you know, where do you get that piece of gear or how can I,

00:41:46.202 --> 00:41:49.002
how can I get that gear? What, what are you wearing? I want to buy that.

00:41:49.142 --> 00:41:54.782
And, you know, so now we get to like have these kind of full circle experiences

00:41:54.782 --> 00:41:56.742
with people in that way of, you know,

00:41:57.102 --> 00:42:01.562
they come to a course with us and they're looking to, you know,

00:42:01.642 --> 00:42:04.502
upgrade their gear or maybe they're just getting into the sport and they want

00:42:04.502 --> 00:42:07.602
to know what to get so that they you know get the right thing the first time

00:42:07.602 --> 00:42:09.122
and we get to help them out with that.

00:42:09.702 --> 00:42:13.282
And and then we get it in the on the opposite side we get people now walking

00:42:13.282 --> 00:42:18.802
into the shop they come in like hi you know uh i've been interested in kayaking

00:42:18.802 --> 00:42:24.122
and and you know want to get into it and so well great we can set you up with

00:42:24.122 --> 00:42:26.242
a course or or a trick if you'd like to,

00:42:26.722 --> 00:42:30.102
you know learn more about the sport and and learn what it's all about and then

00:42:30.102 --> 00:42:34.702
we can also get you the gear that you need to make sure that you're well set

00:42:34.702 --> 00:42:39.062
up and dress properly and have the right gear.

00:42:39.462 --> 00:42:43.882
So it's been a really cool way for us to just kind of continue connecting with

00:42:43.882 --> 00:42:45.322
the paddling community here.

00:42:45.722 --> 00:42:48.862
Cool. Well, congratulations on taking that step. And out of curiosity,

00:42:49.122 --> 00:42:52.742
so we all, you know, those of us that are close to paddling,

00:42:52.882 --> 00:42:59.022
you know, really have a strong understanding of how the specialty retailer makes paddling.

00:42:59.262 --> 00:43:04.302
And And that's a really important segment of the sport to be able to have a

00:43:04.302 --> 00:43:09.082
shop that you can go to and then people who paddle and it can help you and support you.

00:43:09.402 --> 00:43:14.022
But in an environment where five other shops have closed, why did you decide

00:43:14.022 --> 00:43:15.882
this is the time to open a new one?

00:43:16.402 --> 00:43:23.142
That's a really great question, John. And I think really it is out of what I

00:43:23.142 --> 00:43:29.902
feel is, you know, if we lose those shops, you know, we're not just losing a place to buy equipment.

00:43:30.262 --> 00:43:37.982
We're also losing knowledge and community and, you know, a place for people to connect.

00:43:39.338 --> 00:43:44.298
You know, sort of a lifeline, you know, these, all of these shops have been,

00:43:44.498 --> 00:43:48.078
are still, you know, lifelines in the paddling community.

00:43:48.438 --> 00:43:56.258
And so I felt particularly pushed by that realization or mindset or what,

00:43:56.378 --> 00:43:57.418
you know, whatever it is.

00:43:57.878 --> 00:44:03.498
And it was when, you know, our, our, what I would call our local shop,

00:44:03.678 --> 00:44:07.078
Kayak Academy closing down really ended up being the catalyst for,

00:44:07.378 --> 00:44:12.518
you know, where are people going to go if, if, you know, there's now nowhere to,

00:44:13.016 --> 00:44:17.896
nowhere for us to go to try things on, to talk to somebody about buying,

00:44:17.896 --> 00:44:21.116
you know, buying gear about, you know, about paddles, about boats,

00:44:21.556 --> 00:44:24.996
going to try things on, you know, touching and feeling things,

00:44:25.216 --> 00:44:30.076
which since the shop has been opened, I can't tell you how many times I've heard

00:44:30.076 --> 00:44:34.936
that comment of, it's so nice that I can just come in here and touch it and try it on.

00:44:35.056 --> 00:44:38.536
And because looking online, you can only get so much information.

00:44:38.536 --> 00:44:43.016
And, you know, if you're doing your own research, The, the amount of information

00:44:43.016 --> 00:44:47.376
out there is overwhelming on what's the right piece of gear and what's the right,

00:44:47.636 --> 00:44:52.076
the right thing to wear when I'm paddling in this, this area or this time of

00:44:52.076 --> 00:44:56.116
year and what kind of boat should I get and, and all that stuff.

00:44:56.296 --> 00:45:03.816
So we get to fill that void for people and keep some semblance of that, that lifeline alive.

00:45:04.276 --> 00:45:07.276
So we'll see where it goes. obviously you know

00:45:07.276 --> 00:45:11.256
we're in our first year of business now and it

00:45:11.256 --> 00:45:14.736
looks like we're going to make it to a second so hopefully this

00:45:14.736 --> 00:45:18.036
is just a a phase of time where you know

00:45:18.036 --> 00:45:21.056
things are just shifting but i do believe that there is

00:45:21.056 --> 00:45:25.036
still despite the overwhelming presence

00:45:25.036 --> 00:45:28.416
of online shopping that there is still and hopefully

00:45:28.416 --> 00:45:32.256
always will be a need for that specialty store where

00:45:32.256 --> 00:45:35.076
people can go and connect with their

00:45:35.076 --> 00:45:38.056
their local paddle shop yeah i mean for some things online

00:45:38.056 --> 00:45:41.456
shopping might be great but for others it's it's kind of like getting a haircut

00:45:41.456 --> 00:45:44.816
over the phone you just miss something and without having having the opportunity

00:45:44.816 --> 00:45:48.576
to talk to someone and see the gear and all that so congratulations on taking

00:45:48.576 --> 00:45:51.856
that step and for everybody who's listening make sure you continue to support

00:45:51.856 --> 00:45:55.556
your lifeline and support your specialty retailers and help them thrive so,

00:45:56.038 --> 00:45:58.218
Thank you for doing that. How can listeners connect with you,

00:45:58.318 --> 00:46:05.118
Alex? You can connect with me through our website, www.bodyboatblade.com and

00:46:05.118 --> 00:46:06.438
through our contact form there.

00:46:06.778 --> 00:46:11.298
You can email us directly at info at bodyboatblade.com.

00:46:12.098 --> 00:46:17.518
You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook, just bodyboatblade and then send

00:46:17.518 --> 00:46:20.098
us a message or check out what we're up to there.

00:46:21.838 --> 00:46:25.038
And yeah, those are the best ways to get in touch with us.

00:46:25.358 --> 00:46:28.758
Very cool. Well, we'll make sure we put links in the show notes for people to

00:46:28.758 --> 00:46:31.398
connect with to you. And then you mentioned a couple of other rivers.

00:46:31.558 --> 00:46:34.538
You meant the upper Carnali. And so we'll have to talk to you about finding

00:46:34.538 --> 00:46:37.198
some videos and getting those out there so people can see that.

00:46:37.318 --> 00:46:40.678
Just kind of get a feel for themselves and what that time in Nepal was like.

00:46:40.718 --> 00:46:42.898
And I know you weren't on the upper Carnali.

00:46:43.078 --> 00:46:46.118
You said that was a little crazier than you wanted to be. We'll give people

00:46:46.118 --> 00:46:47.218
an idea of what that looks like.

00:46:47.878 --> 00:46:52.298
All right. Cool. Hey, one other question for you. Who else would you like to

00:46:52.298 --> 00:46:54.058
hear as a future guest on Paddling the Blue?

00:46:54.638 --> 00:46:59.158
I would love to hear Steve Maynard and you have a conversation together.

00:46:59.758 --> 00:47:04.278
Steve was mentioned a couple of times in the episode. He was my mentor when

00:47:04.278 --> 00:47:06.098
I was a student at SUNY Plattsburgh.

00:47:06.898 --> 00:47:11.998
Very accomplished paddler and outdoors person, traveled the world doing all

00:47:11.998 --> 00:47:17.478
sorts of multi-sport activities and overall just a very interesting and interesting

00:47:17.478 --> 00:47:19.918
person who I think you'd have a great conversation with.

00:47:19.918 --> 00:47:22.738
Cool well i'll make sure we uh we connect offline and

00:47:22.738 --> 00:47:25.678
get in touch with steve so again thanks for thanks

00:47:25.678 --> 00:47:28.218
for the opportunity i appreciate you telling me about some of your favorite

00:47:28.218 --> 00:47:32.578
paddles in the pacific northwest sharing your 40 days pack drafting in nepal

00:47:32.578 --> 00:47:37.258
and we absolutely wish you the best in continuing to grow bodyboat blade and

00:47:37.258 --> 00:47:40.758
make that specialty retailer as well as the guiding business thrive so thank

00:47:40.758 --> 00:47:43.398
you alex thank you so much john appreciate it.

00:47:45.064 --> 00:47:48.504
If you want to be a stronger and more efficient paddler, Power to the Paddle

00:47:48.504 --> 00:47:52.144
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00:47:52.144 --> 00:47:56.564
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00:47:56.724 --> 00:48:00.564
The concept and exercises in this book have helped me become a better paddler,

00:48:00.624 --> 00:48:02.224
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strokes more efficient,

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And who wouldn't mind that? So visit paddlingexercises.com to get the book and companion DVD.

00:48:30.364 --> 00:48:34.524
Thanks to Alex for joining today's episode and sharing his experience and story

00:48:34.524 --> 00:48:37.204
and some of that great information about the Pacific Northwest.

00:48:37.504 --> 00:48:40.924
Best of luck to Alex and Sarah in rebuilding the retail side of their business.

00:48:41.084 --> 00:48:44.964
They've certainly got their hands full with a couple businesses and also being new parents.

00:48:45.404 --> 00:48:49.044
Not sure if you caught it, but Alex dropped the names of four other paddlers,

00:48:49.264 --> 00:48:53.184
Calvin Kroll, Laura Zelliger, Goodie Paul Victorson, and Amber Champion,

00:48:53.424 --> 00:48:54.924
all previous guests to the show.

00:48:55.184 --> 00:48:57.904
Pretty cool how we have just such a small family.

00:48:58.284 --> 00:49:01.824
You'll find links to Alex's website and his socials along with those special

00:49:01.824 --> 00:49:04.964
places he mentioned in the Pacific Northwest by visiting the show notes for

00:49:04.964 --> 00:49:08.884
this episode at paddlingtheblue.com slash 157.

00:49:09.184 --> 00:49:13.804
If you're not already a subscriber to OnlineSeaKyking.com or OnlineWhitewater.com,

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what are you waiting for?

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You'll get 10% off just for being a member of the Paddling the Blue community.

00:49:22.856 --> 00:49:26.236
That's OnlineSeaKayaking.com and OnlineWhitewater.com.

00:49:26.456 --> 00:49:31.076
Thanks again for listening, and I look forward to bringing you the next episode of Paddling the Blue.

00:49:33.096 --> 00:49:36.656
Thank you for listening to Paddling the Blue. You can subscribe to Paddling

00:49:36.656 --> 00:49:41.956
the Blue on Apple Music, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

00:49:42.136 --> 00:49:45.096
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00:49:45.096 --> 00:49:49.376
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00:49:49.376 --> 00:49:54.016
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00:49:54.016 --> 00:49:59.436
more at paddlingtheblue.com until next time i hope you get out and paddle the blue.