Jason Craig tests the Sidekick on the South Yuba: 49 to Bridgeport!

Photos

By Stephen Wright

After an awesome weekend storm, Jason and I headed-out to paddle a California classic run on the South Yuba. 49 to Bridgeport is a beautiful run with super high-quality boulder-rapid class 5, which combines a little push and a good bit of gradient. We were guided down in a by a great group of boaters, with local hotshot Brad feeding us lines. I paddled the Hero, and Jason paddled the Sidekick. We were both psyched on the performance of these new toys! Jason is close to 110 pounds, and at 5’2ish is close to the top size for the Sidekick. It’s also the smallest river/creek boat he’s ever paddled. Even at the top of the weight range, it paddled great and he was all smiles all day. This should be an awesome boat for kids who want a small, stable river-runner in their size!

Enjoy the photos of the day of Jason–I shot with my cool waterproof Olympus camera that Jessica gave me for christmas and with my trusty 40D. I had fun with photoshop’s Liquify function on the only photo of me 🙂
Live from Reno, NV,
Stephen Wright