Spread Some Holiday Cheer

The holidays are upon us and we've created plenty of ways for you to share some holiday cheer. Parades, candy cane hunts, breakfast with Santa and best of all, "Santa Paws", photos taken with Santa and your four footed loved ones. Here's Morgan-the-dog and I getting our Christmas cards ready.

Check out our website at www.usnwc.org to see specific details about how you can be part of the holiday spirit. Remember to TAKE IT OUTSIDE this winter!

It's The People That Make The Difference

What a year it has been! Our first full year of operation is wrapping up and I'm almost to a place I can take a deep breath, look around and smile at what we have accomplished. I very purposefully say what we have accomplished because none of this year would have been successful without the great people that work here. Attached are some photos of our whitewater instruction staff through training and into the fall. Now, the whitewater staff aren't the only ones who deserve big props. Everyone who works for the Center are essentially "front line" personnel and are very appreciated. Way to go! to folks working in the restaurant, reatil store, front desk, reservations, maintenance, banquet, climbing, high adventure, rafting, flatwater, group sales, marketing, finance, human resources and kayak check-in. It takes a lot of dedicated folks to make this place happen. As you visit the Center over the holidays please take a moment and say thanks to those who've worked here in our first season. They are the true heart of this place.


Here's a shot of our first day of instructor training. This is not a group of people who enjoy being in a classroom super early in the morning.




Once we got outside things turned for the better but I remember that it was a very cold March day.






We spent a good amount of time teaching each other new skills. I don't exactly remember the skill set we were learning from Harriet that morning but I do remember how much we laughed.





As the season progressed we started to see some new faces on the staff and with such a great mix of people it just got sillier and sillier.





A lot of what we worked on was trying new approaches to teaching kayaking so we partnered up to try different theories.






We did a second round of training later in the season with a great new group of folks.








Here's Harriet with some guests.





Chris has ninja skills when it comes to teaching rolling.





After numerous physical mishaps, Sanders decided to go the safe route in choosing his attire for the day.




Some of the season's highlights were off the water.





If any of you know Ken, watching him paddle is a rare sight.



I'm not always sure what goes on in my office when I'm not there.

We are currently hiring experienced kayak instructors for the 2008 season. If you are interested in applying, contact Sarah Harper at sharper@usnwc.org for more information.

Cleanup on Sadler Island

Neil Allen leads our guided flatwater trips on the Catawba River. Neil took the initiative to start cleaning up parts of the river as part of the National River Clean-up day in early October.

Neil wrote: These pics are from a cleanup project on Sadler Island. I had noticed during our flatwater trips that much of the shoreline is strewn with litter, mainly cans and bottles left over from fishermen. Just by picking up for an hour over the course of 2 days, I was able to cover one side of the island and collect nearly 100 pounds of trash. This project will continue to cover the shoreline of the Catawba from Long Creek to the I-85 bridge, as well as routine cleanups on Sadler in an effort to protect the environment and beautify trips for our customers.

Keep up the good work Neil! We continue to offer flatwater trips on the Catawba throughout the winter. Paddling in December is a unique look at the natural river environment that the USNWC is part of.