Our First Days in Switzerland

The Utah Whitewater Club did their unique part by making a deal with Corey that for every $100 they raised he would drink a bootie beer. So the night before we left for Switzerland Corey pounded 4 bootie beers. I will upload the video soon!

We left Monday morning for Switzerland. We flew from Charlotte to Baltimore to Philadelphia, where we serendipitously ran into Rush Sturges, fellow Dagger and U.S Freestyle Teammate. Even more surprising was that we all sat together on the flight to Zurich. After a grueling 7 hour flight, we landed in Zurich at 8am local time. This is where the real adventure begins. We arrived at the airport, gathered our bags, Rush's kayak and headed to the train station. This was an adventure in and of itself, it is rather difficult to move 4 bags and a kayak from point A to B.

Once at the train station Corey and I went on to the Guesthouse in Lerchenfeld while Rush went to the wave in Thun. We got lost once but it was worth it cause we got to see construction workers in neon orange short shorts with reflective stripes and no shirts. It reminded me of my beloved father-in-law.

Anyway, the Guesthouse is simply a dormitory. There is a cafeteria on the first floor and our room is on the second floor. We're sharing a room with Aussie, Tanya Faux, and fellow teammate, Elaine Campbell. Yesterday, we got in, dumped our bags and took off with other U.S. athletes to see Thun. The simplest way to get to Thun is to take bus, they run regular bus routes a block and a half from the Guesthouse.

In Thun, Corey got checked in but he couldn't do any paddling due to the lack of a boat and the lack of a wave. The Thun wave is controlled by a dam and it was non-existent yesterday, much to everyone's dismay. So instead of paddling we walked around Thun, it is an amazingly beautiful city! We were both a little disconcerted by the lack of english but we're adapting quickly, pictures are a universal language. The only problem is that sometimes you tend to misinterpret those pictures. Here is a for instance:

Last night we did some grocery shopping and Corey was thirsty so he bought an apple juice. He didn't pick it up where all the other drinks were located but I didn't really think much of it. When we got to the bus stop and were waiting for the bus Corey cracked open his apple juice and took a giant gulp. It was then that he realized it was NOT apple juice but in fact apple vinegar! He had this expression of utter horror and disgust on his face! He quickly turned around and spit it out and then threw away the bottle.

Corey and I had dinner at the Guesthouse then went out with the team to a Hooters a couple blocks away for food and drinks. The only people at the Hooters last night were us (the U.S. team) and the entire Swiss Army! It was interesting...to say the very least.

Today was the first day of training. Corey's boat arrived last night and after about 30 minutes of getting the boat correctly outfitted it was time for some whitewater kayak training. The wave is a very slow feature but it has a retentive spot in the middle, it is a very tricky wave to figure out but Corey is confident he will have it mastered in no time. Each team gets allotted time slots for practice; 1 hour per day. So a couple of the U.S. Team members are going to start adding an early morning training session at 4:30 am.

Time for more whitewater kayak training! Cheers!