[blockquote type=”left, center, right”]Whitewater kayaking as a lifestyle[/blockquote]

STORY BY MARLENA AV

[dropcap]H[/dropcap]i, you’ve reached Teague, sorry I couldn’t get to the phone right now, I’m probably kayaking.”

If callers have had a hard time getting ahold of Western freshman Teague Manley, it’s best to reach him at the Nooksack River, where they can find him in his black-and-blue creek boat paddling class V rapids — extremely difficult, long and violent currents with drops and obstacles.

After nine years whitewater kayaking in destinations from China, Chile to Peru, Manley made his way up to the Pacific Northwest to study and kayak along with a few of his mates. While Manley says paddling is exhilarating, he has come to think of it as more of a lifestyle after dedicating his life to kayaking since age 11.

Manley grew up in Jackson, Wyoming, where his neighbor first exposed him to the sport. At age 15, he coached kids at the local kayak club and later joined the world’s first accredited kayak school, World Class Academy, his sophomore year in high school. In the White Salmon, Washington-based program, students travel abroad to learn, study and kayak, earning high school credit comparable to state public schools.

[blockquote cite=”Japhy Carpenter-Dorworth” type=”left”]“For some of us, kayaking is like going to church.”[/blockquote]

“It’s an accredited school, but obviously it’s super unique because it’s a traveling high school for kayaking students,” says Olin Wimberg, a friend of Manley’s, Western senior and a World Class Academy alumnus. “You don’t get to go kayaking unless you get your work done. So that’s the incentive.”

Manley experienced schooling abroad, living in tents and doing homework on riverbanks, by campfires and on picnic benches.

A sport that started off as a hobby turned into a way of life for Manley.

“For some of us, kayaking is like going to church,” says Japhy Carpenter-Dorworth, a friend of Manley’s from the World Class Academy. “It’s our religion and faith. It’s what gives us meaning in life and what motivates us. It brings us together, as a community of like-minded people.”

Contrary to most beginner kayakers, Manley didn’t learn how to roll — the act of flipping one’s boat and body upright using body motion and a paddle after having rolled under water — until a year after he began.

The roll is a basic necessity for kayaking, Manley says.

Initially afraid of the water, he chose to swim every time he’d flip over, abandoning the boat by pulling off the spray skirt, a flexible cover attached to the body, which keeps the person in the kayak and keeps water out of the boat. At last, Manley conquered the roll on an average day paddling with the local kayak club in Jackson.

Manley paddled competitively in high school, sponsored by a number of large kayaking companies such as Astral Buoyancy and Werner Paddles that supplied him with essential kayak gear.

Today, the sport has become more of a passionate hobby and less about the competitive aspect that once consumed his life.

After kayaking all spectrums of rapids, Manley has become familiar with paddling great heights, paddling off 10 to 50-foot waterfalls depending on the river.

“Really, the only way to practice and prepare yourself for running waterfalls is to run waterfalls,” Manley says. “I definitely scout it out, and set safety at the bottom. Usually, I am nervous beforehand, but as soon as I get into my boat I just focus on my line.”

After attending the academy and graduating high school, it was time for Manley to buckle down. He chose to attend Western, influenced by previous academy alumni.

Washington state has renowned rivers and waterfalls for “creekers” — kayakers who run rivers — such as the North and Middle Fork Nooksack River and the Little White Salmon. Both rivers are class V rapids, popular destinations for Manley and his friends.

Since moving to Bellingham, Manley’s free time consists of strapping his paddle, gear and boats onto the rack of his Subaru Outback and heading north to the Nooksack with friends.

“Middle Fork Nooksack is a good local run,” Wimberg says, “It’s a solid class V run and it takes about 30 to 40 minutes, it’s like our home river for Bellingham.”

Globally, the kayak community is close-knit. Everyone is friendly and is willing to help each other out.

“You’ll travel places and see [other kayakers] from all over the world,” Manley says. “I ran into someone in Peru, and then I ran into them [in British Columbia.]”

Manley’s desire to kayak across the world and experience traveling with the academy has led him to bond with a number of paddlers and make friends from China to Chile. With his core group of friends in Bellingham, whom he met during his academy days, he continues to paddle as much as possible, ranging from two to four times a week.

However, with skiing season underway, Manley will be juggling his two favorite sports. In the meantime, it’ll be just him, his kayak and the rush of the river before him.

Coffee freshly brewed, spray skirt, life jacket, dry suit and booties hung to dry from the last kayaking adventure, Manley anticipates another daytrip up to the mountains for another run on the rapids.

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