T-Minus 72 Hours! By Ken Whiting and Kevin Varette June 20, 2001 Today, the water levels started off at what is anticipated to be the competition level, which drew a large crowd to the hole and provided lots of exciting training rides. By mid-afternoon however, the river had almost completely dried up and stayed dry until a short release came just before midnight. With only a few chances left to get into the hole, competitors are going all out whenever the water is up and they make it to the front of the line! The Pit was out in full force this morning, as intimidating as ever for most and a sticky playground full of potential for those who are willing. Use of the Pit could be the deciding factor when things get tight later in the competition. Most competitors (in men's and women's K-1 and men's C-1) are consistently linking left cartwheels and clean-cartwheels, with fairly consistent right blunts and left-right split-wheels. Pulling these moves off in the Prelim's will likely be enough to move forward to the Quarter's, but competitors will quickly be forced to step it up. This World's is going to be a flurry of Loops, Aerial Loops, Air-Wheels, Space Godzillas and Tricky-Woo's - with the winner being the one who is able to pull off the most of these trophy moves in 45 seconds. The hottest rides so far have been coming from the likes of EJ, Jimmy Blakeney, Ken Whiting, Dan Gavere, Clay Wright, Alex Nicks, Billy Harris, Eric Southwick, Tyler Curtis, Brad Sutton, the Adventure Quest crew, Anna Levesque, Tanya Shuman, Tiffany Manchester, Julie Dion, Chris Manderson, Luke Hopkins and others… This was an unusually quiet night in Sort - not surprising after quite a lively Tuesday evening. Four more training days before the 2001 World's kick off. Day 2 Videos 2 versions available: Cable or High Speed (better quality, slower upload and larger) Modem (smaller, lower quality, faster upload) Some of the practice action today! Billy Harris in the hole (Cable AVI 2.0 MB) | (Modem AVI 1.1 MB) An EJ blunt to backstab (Cable AVI 1.1 MB) | (Modem AVI 496 kb) Julie Dion of Canada in the Pit! (Cable AVI 1.2 MB) | (Modem AVI 531 kb)

Kayak Futaleufu Follow Kayak the mighty Futaleufu river in Chile each winter with World Champion Ken Whiting, Instructional guru Kevin Varette and World Champ/Olympian Eric "EJ" Jackson! Check out the site kayakfu.com! Liquid Skills Canada's Elite Kayak School on the Ottawa River! Join Ken Whiting, Kevin Varette, Tyler Curtis, Chad Hitchins, Joey Hitchins, Ruth Gordon, Paul Harwood and a host of guest instructors at Liquid Skills. Join courses The Essentials, The Quickening and The Edge and bring your paddling skills to new levels on the phenominal Ottawa River, Canada!