Clinic: Kayaking Skills with Sage Donnelly
Instructor: Sage Donnelly
Cost: $100
Max Participants: 6
Fine tune foundational skills on the Lower White Salmon with Sage Donnelly.
In general, what you can expect includes: a chance to identify and begin to fix bad habits; a focus on skills such as reading water, picking lines, posture, stroke timing, and boat angle; and encouragement to try lines you don’t normally take and catch eddies you usually pass right by.
Sage has been kayaking since the age of 2! She competed in her first kayak event at age 6 and continues to compete in – and WIN - freestyle, slalom, SUP and creek races around the world. Most recently Sage won the 2023 Freestyle World Championship, and holds many, many other titles (North Fork Championship, Green Race, Lord of the Fork, etc.). She is a natural teacher with a deep understanding of kayaking technique. (Photo credit above: John Webster)
To get the most out of this class, you should be generally proficient at paddling the Lower White Salmon, or equivalent runs such as Dodge to Oxbow on the Sandy, Packsaddle to Mill City on the Santiam, or the run on the Washougal below Big Eddy to MP3.
You might be running more challenging whitewater such as the Roaring River section of the Clackamas or Middle White Salmon or Lower Hood. You may tend to think of yourself as a Class III boater. Great! Think "hard moves on easy water." Expect to do Class III moves on Class II/II+ whitewater and to be offered the opportunity to challenge yourself in new ways on a familiar run.
