National Paddling Film Festival was big!

February 28, 2005

Photos

This is my second year at the NPFF and what an impressive
event. The purpose of the event is to help raise money for American Whitewater
as well as to showcase paddling films made in the last year. There were
many great things that came out of this event

First off: American Whitewater signed up 110 new members,
a new event record! (Even beats their best Gauley Fest!). AW also made
some good money from the silent auction and the door tickets. Emily, Dane,
Nick Troutman, Clay Wright, Kristine, and I were all on AW membership
sales. We gave away a boat of choice from a raffle of people who signed
up for AW at the event. About 25% of the participants bought AW memberships!!!
Penny was the big winner, and choosing the Red Granite All-Star for her
new boat! She got to paddle it on the Big South Fork the next day and
seemed to love it! Penny became a first time AW member and the karma was
with her!

There were lots of great videos, from “Foamie
Fun” an entire video featuring foam boaters, to Twitch V (winner
of best new video). Kent Ford won a lifetime achievement award along with
several other awards for his instructional videos. I wasn’t organized
enough to enter mine again this year, maybe next year!

The parties and band were awesome. The first night
we had a party with free whiskey bar, beer and other drinks served by
young ladies encouraging your next drink. I don’t really like whiskey,
so I nursed my “Bullet” for a long time, until I discovered
the kegs.

Here are some photos from the Festival. Everybody planned
on meeting the next day at the Big South Fork, where I planned on my first
paddling trip with 9 year old, Fun 1 paddling Lauren Burgess from Indiana.

🙂 EJ