how i got here
Brad Ludden, 28
» philanthropist
E
leven years ago my life was a lot simpler and easier
than it is now. I was kayaking over 300 days a year just
for love of the sport. I was really happy and successful as
a pro kayaker [Ludden won two World Freestyle Cham-
pionship medals as a Junior in 1997 and ‘99] but I saw it
as just a chapter in my life. I realized that living solely for
myself was ultimately going to be unfulfilling. I wanted to
close that chapter and see the world, so I bought a round-
the-world ticket and travelled for six months. The places
I saw and people I met opened up new possibilities in
kayaking that I hadn’t considered before.
In the late ‘90s, my mom was helping at a pediatric on-
cology camp and I volunteered to teach the kids kayaking.
I realized how fulfilled I felt doing this and the idea for
First Descents—a free whitewater kayaking and outdoor
adventure camp for young adults with cancer—was born.
After spending two years building a business plan for the
foundation, I needed a place to host the camp. Just then
the town of Vail asked me to be their new whitewater
park ambassador. From there, we raised donations from
sponsors, fellow kayakers, friends and family.
The growth of First Descents has been a hell of a
road. In the first year, my paddling days shrank to 100 as
I watched my former competitors and peers leap ahead
of me in terms of paddling ability. But a lot of people
believed in and helped develop my vision—today First
Descents has hundreds of volunteers with nine weeklong
camps in six states. I spend a lot of time at my computer
growing the organization, and almost every week I travel
domestically or internationally to meet about First De-
scents, go paddling and talk about kayaking. I don’t have
a lot of free time but it’s incredibly rewarding. —As TOLD
TO VIRGInIA MARsHALL
R
vola
k
o
th
h
ea
P
hoto
Air Screw Phonics Monkey
Clean aerial barrel roll of the boat from Clean pirouette initiated by a cross-
Freestyle
front surf to front surf. bow stroke while front surfing a hole,
followed fluidly by a front loop.
Back Pan Am
Lexicon
A past-vertical aerial back blunt on Wave Monkey
green water where the paddler rotates A new trick invented this spring by Eric
180 degrees around the stern of the Jackson and Stephen Wright, the Wave
boat and finishes in a front surf. Monkey is essentially a Phonics Monkey
performed on a wave. Cross-bow blunt
Tricks of The year:
Helix
from a front surf, followed by a front
the lowdown on the throw-down
Spinning 360 degrees from front loop. Likely to be performed as a trophy
surfing a wave, the boat move (see page 30) at the ‘09 Worlds.
Like surfing, snowboarding, mountain
pops out of the water into an
biking, skateboarding and just about inverted aerial spin, finishing
every other “extreme” sport, kayaking
in a front surf.
#
reality
check
employs its own jargon to mystify
McNasty/Pistol Flip
2
all those hopelessly un-hip, less-
Half a barrel roll starting with
Ka
ya
K
company
than-extreme souls. The new website
a back surf in a hole and
Freestylekayakmoves.com pairs videos
flowing into a front aerial
employee
place
loop or Space Godzilla (a
seat
in cockpit.
with names and descriptions. Here are
loop with a 90-degree twist
stainless bolts, threads to inside of boat.
line
up
holes.
insert
the sickest tricks you’ll see at the in the middle of the flip).
slip on w
ashers and tighten locknuts.
2009 World Championships.
place seat in cockpit.
line up holes…
www.rapidmag.com 27
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