“Hey guys, just thought I'd send in a little update, as last week was pretty epic.

The Dries on the New River in West Virginia were running at 50,000 cfs the first day we got on them and that offered 2 great waves at the put in. There was a really consistent smaller wave on the right and everyone was throwing everything from clean spins to blunts, to an occasional air screw or pan-am.

Then we had the middle wave. This guy was a giant. It offered up some huge air and a nice pile to make all the moves very stickable. We had two days on the put - in waves and the second was still really fun but on a smaller wave.

As the put-in waves go the actual run offers up some awesome catches on the fly waves and even quite a few spots with eddy access.

We got to surf ourselves to death and many of us really dialled in our wave moves we'd been working on. The run itself is just crazy; it’s probably about a mile and a half long and has at least 10 awesome spots to play at. We went to bed every night with sore bodies and happy minds.

When the Dries dropped out completely the not dry part of the New River is really good. We were really lucky to catch Surprise Wave, which is sometimes thought of as more rare than The Dries waves themselves.

This wave was pretty epic. It was huge, bouncy and more consistent than the bigger put in - waves of the Dries, with a good shoulder on the right to whip your boat around on; we threw pan-ams and blunts until we couldn't see straight.

The whole week was filled with huge days of boating and really reminded us all of why we have such a deep love of paddling. There’s really nothing better than sitting on top of those waves knowing that as soon as your boat starts going down the face, you’re going to bounce yourself half way to space.

(Well not quite, but maybe a foot or two off the water.) 

We’ve now left West Virginia and heading to test the world of artificial course which is like the new course in North Carolina. This is supposed to be similar to the one in Penrith Australia. I've heard its fun but a little strange and shallow and I’ve attached some pictures of The Dries.

By the way the snow kiting looks totally sick...some of the guys said they've tried it and loved it ……. Sam”.