Monday, September 21, 2015

Donations to help Sioux Falls Kayaking by Shopping at Backcountry.com

We have more great news.  Now you can help donate to our Sioux Falls Whitewater Park Nonprofit Organization by shopping at Backcountry.com. You can get all your outdoor gear at this site along with tons of great deals on paddling equipment.

You can select the link below to start your shopping experience. You can even get Free 2-day shipping with purchases over $50.00!

Thank you again for help out the Sioux Falls Whitewater Park Nonprofit Organization.

Monday, September 14, 2015

Future Sioux Falls Whitewater Park Location




 Sioux Falls Whitewater Park Nonprofit Organization recently had a whitewater park feasibility study completed back in July 2015 by RiverRestoration. Out of five spots that were looked at three were a feasible location for a whitewater feature or park. We needed to choose between Rotary Park (26th and southeastern), Lien Park (north Cliff Avenue) and Falls Park (North side of Falls Park). Our feasibility study showed pros and cons of each site so our board sat down and went over all the pros and cons and made a decision on the location.
 

Our decision was based on a several items. We went over the feasibility study which went over roughly 18 categories, SFWP supporters opinions, club members opinions, and Sioux Falls Parks and Recreation opinions.


Going over all the opinions and the discussion with our board of directors we have chosen Falls Park north for the following reasons:


Existing parking
Possible Dam Removal


Existing bathrooms/changing rooms


Along bike trail


Bank rehabilitation needed


Possibly dam removal – depending on design


Not a normal kayaking route

In downtown Sioux Falls

More than 550 feet in distance to work with (more drops/waves and features)

Existing rapids

Enough elevation drop to offer more than one drop (other location would just be one drop/wave/feature

Possibility for two play waves and a slalom course/rock garden

Highest scoring from the feasibility study and best suggested site

Highest votes from club members and supporters

Sioux Falls Parks and Recreation are willing to explore this area further with very little concerns compared to the other locations.

Our Official Website

Bank Erosion
Falls Park at this point is the best location for these reasons. In the map below you can see the area the park might cover.
Now that we have picked a site location we have a lot of work ahead of us. We are currently working on Phase II and III of the project. With supporters help we can get this done in a timely fashion. Most of the work is detailed in fundraising. We are planning to talk to more local business and companies but we also need the help from our individual supporters and community. Phases of the project

Bank Erosion
You as an individual can help donate to our phases simply by purchases items through our links below.

You can shop Amazon and eBay right now with the hopes of being able to shop Austin Kayaks, Under Armor, Columbia, Backcountry, and Colorado Kayak Supply.

Below are the links available, just click on the link and save as your favorites so you can purchase through our links and donate each time you make a purchase on these sites. No extra cost for you the purchaser.
Like us on Facebook
Existing Rapids
Existing Rapids

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Kayaked Split Rock Creek T-Shirts

Kayaked Split Rock Creek T-shirts (Pre-order)
Sioux Falls Whitewater Park Nonprofit Organization is selling t-shirts to raise funds for their organization. 100% of profits from sales will go to the organization.

We are now taking pre-orders for shirts so make sure you get one in your size. We don't know who all wants them, so pre-order them so we can keep this low cost. Otherwise, we would need to raise the price up $5.00 or so.

Order below from sizes S, M, L, and XL (XXL will only be available for pre-orders)






Or you can EMAIL us at siouxfallswhitewaterpark@hotmail.com to meet up with one of us and save us on PayPal fees.

Thank you for your pre-order and we hope to get them out asap! We will keep you updated on our Facebook Group Page "Sioux Falls Whitewater Paddlers Group" when shirts are available!

AND REMEMBER: you can help get our organization donations simply by making purchases on Amazon or eBay. Here are the links below for both sites. You can save the links in your favorites to do all your shopping throughout the year or you can make purchases on our website for Sioux Falls Whitewater Park!




Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Sweet Protection Strutter Kayak Helmet

This Helmet comes in three sizes S/M (53 - 56cm), M/L (56 - 59cm) and L/XL (59 - 61cm) and weight of 1.08 pounds. The Strutter comes in four colors gloss white, dirt black, shock orange and gunmetal blue.

This helmet is designed with different levels of protection and comfort:

Starting from inside going out the inside layer starts with comfort pads. These pads are molded comfort pads with soft and comfortable foam wraps. You have different sizes depending on the best fit for you.
The next layer is the impact absorption liner. This liner provides great low volume and shock absorption. Its tough and thing. It also is resistant to low temperature and wont crack.
Then we have what they call the CRP Shell. This is a carbon fiber reinforcement to strengthen the helmet and help with hard impacts.

The outer and last layer is what they call the LFT Shell Technology. It’s made of long threads of fiberglass woven together to keep a hard protected shell for you melon. Trust me I have hit plenty of rocks with this helmet already and its sound and I could barely feel I hit rocks. Compared to the lower cost helmets that are not built with fiberglass; this helmet I don’t get headaches from nailing a rock to hard.
The straps can be adjusted very easily. One thing I loved about these straps is the little flap they put on the strap clip. I have a beard most of the year and with this flap it protects me from getting any skin or hair in the clip. This flap definitely adds to comfort

On the back side of the helmet there is an occigrip. This tool is amazing. With a push of a button it resets the helmet for the largest size head. Once you have the helmet on you can tighten up the back occigrip to get the helmet more snug. This is just can be done with a flick of the finger. It reminds me a lot like switching a light on. But this occigrip makes the helmet fit better with ease.

And my favorite option of the Sweet Protection Strutter, the bill. This helmet is built like a baseball cap. With the extended bill I think it helps protect your face more, keeps sun out of your eyes, and looks more like a cap instead of a big bulky helmet. I even had an instance when someone asked me if I was going to wear a helmet for this run “I was already wearing my Strutter!!”

Now this helmet is on the pricy side ($197.99) but well worth it. I have gone through a couple of cheaper end helmets. They didn’t fit well and the insides got knocked loose after a few hits on rocks. Instead of spending $40-$80 on 2-3 other brand helmets I wish I would have purchased this one right away and it would have saved me money and comfort.

If you are interested in ordering this item, you can select the link below. Percentage of you purchase will be donated to the Sioux Falls Whitewater Park Nonprofit Organization.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

The Next Phase to a Whitewater Park In Sioux Falls South Dakota

Sioux Falls Whitewater Park just completed phase I for the park. We are now heading to Phase II which includes modeling, designs, and river studies by engineers. These professional services have a significant price tag on them so we decided to think outside the box for fundraising. We wanted to do fundraising that would cost the general public little as possible. Hope this option we have chosen will benefit us all the way through Phase IV. 
Phase I: Site Reconnaissance
Feasibility Study
Phase II: Alternative Analysis
Decide on Site Location
Conceptual Design
Site Inventory and Assessment
Hydrology
Hydraulic Analyses
50% Preliminary Design and Alternatives
Phase III: 50% Design and Permitting
Permitting
50% Design
Phase IV: Implementation
Develop Bid Package
Negotiating Bids with Contractors
Construction of Park
Phase V: Park and Play
Use the park and have FUN!!
So without further ado, here is one of our many ideas to help fund the whitewater park in Sioux Falls South Dakota.
Sioux Falls Whitewater Park is glad to announce a new partnership with a local LLC company to help raise funds for our Kayaking for Kids Program, Whitewater Park Program, and general operating expenses.
Our new partner is using a page on our website  as an Amazon shopping site.  In return for letting them use a page from our website, the LLC will be paying our website annual fees, advertising our website, and donating 90% of their profits to the Sioux Falls Whitewater Park Organization. Donations will be split into three categories: 66% goes towards the Whitewater Park Program, 21% will go towards our Kayaking for Kids Program, and the remaining 13% will go towards our general funds (pool sessions, river cleanups, fundraising events, organization fees, trips, scholarship program, training, and miscellaneous costs). The LLC is planning on using the remaining 10% profits for paddling sports, paddling education, river stewardship, and donating to other entities related to paddling and the local waterways in the Sioux Falls area.
How does the organization get funds? Well when people use our webpage shopping page and they order items off Amazon; the LLC in return gets a percentage of the purchase you make.  There are no added fees for you. The revenue comes from Amazon sellers fees. So you can buy the same items but from our page. Our page will be advertising mostly paddling items but any item you buy will get us a percentage donated to our organization.
Two ways you can help donate money to Sioux Falls Whitewater Park by making your normal Amazon purchases.
One – Go to our webpage and load up your shopping cart and make your purchases.
time you order on Amazon. Each order will make a donation to our organization)
Remember you can buy any item or service off Amazon and it will help our organization. Birthdays? Christmas? Halloween? Anything!
Please help spread the word. We want this whitewater park as soon as possible. Help launch our dream of a whitewater park.
Thank you for your support and enjoy shopping with Amazon.


If you don't shop Amazon but you shop eBay, please use this link and save to your favorites. We will also get donations for eBay purchases!
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=1&pub=5575136725&toolid=10001&campid=5337738907&customid=&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Moving Forward with Sioux Falls Whitewater Park

**Notice: We know there is a duplicate post on our blog but someone on Facebook reported us as spam/offensive, so we were not able to share this post on Facebook with anyone. So we made a new blog post about our future plans and will spread that post

Sioux Falls Whitewater Park just completed phase I for the park. We are now heading to Phase II which includes modeling, designs, and river studies by engineers. These professional services have a significant price tag on them so we decided to think outside the box for fundraising. We wanted to do fundraising that would cost the general public little as possible. Hope this option we have chosen will benefit us all the way through Phase IV.
Phase I: Site Reconnaissance
Feasibility Study
Phase II: Alternative Analysis
Decide on Site Location
Conceptual Design
Site Inventory and Assessment
Hydrology
Hydraulic Analyses
50% Preliminary Design and Alternatives
Phase III: 50% Design and Permitting
Permitting
50% Design
Phase IV: Implementation
Develop Bid Package
Negotiating Bids with Contractors
Construction of Park
Phase V: Park and Play
Use the park and have FUN!!
So without further ado, here is one of our many ideas to help fund the whitewater park in Sioux Falls South Dakota.
Sioux Falls Whitewater Park is glad to announce a new partnership with a local LLC company to help raise funds for our Kayaking for Kids Program, Whitewater Park Program, and general operating expenses.
Our new partner is using a page on our website  as an Amazon shopping site.  In return for letting them use a page from our website, the LLC will be paying our website annual fees, advertising our website, and donating 90% of their profits to the Sioux Falls Whitewater Park Organization. Donations will be split into three categories: 66% goes towards the Whitewater Park Program, 21% will go towards our Kayaking for Kids Program, and the remaining 13% will go towards our general funds (pool sessions, river cleanups, fundraising events, organization fees, trips, scholarship program, training, and miscellaneous costs). The LLC is planning on using the remaining 10% profits for paddling sports, paddling education, river stewardship, and donating to other entities related to paddling and the local waterways in the Sioux Falls area.
How does the organization get funds? Well when people use our webpage shopping page and they order items off Amazon; the LLC in return gets a percentage of the purchase you make.  There are no added fees for you. The revenue comes from Amazon sellers fees. So you can buy the same items but from our page. Our page will be advertising mostly paddling items but any item you buy will get us a percentage donated to our organization.
Two ways you can help donate money to Sioux Falls Whitewater Park by making your normal Amazon purchases.
One – Go to our webpage and load up your shopping cart and make your purchases.

time you order on Amazon. Each order will make a donation to our organization)
Remember you can buy any item or service off Amazon and it will help our organization. Birthdays? Christmas? Halloween? Anything!
Please help spread the word. We want this whitewater park as soon as possible. Help launch our dream of a whitewater park.
Thank you for your support and enjoy shopping with Amazon.


If you don't shop Amazon but you shop eBay, please use this link and save to your favorites. We will also get donations for eBay purchases!
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=1&pub=5575136725&toolid=10001&campid=5337738907&customid=&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg

Monday, July 13, 2015

Our Group Visits Manchester Whitewater Park

Manchester Iowa Whitewater Park
A few members of the Sioux Falls Whitewater Park made a trip to the new and biggest whitewater park in Iowa, Manchester Whitewater Park.  Now this park is quite a drive from Sioux Falls but it was well worth the five hour trip.
Manchester Iowa is a small town of 5,179 people in Delaware County with big dreams. And these dreams became true for them this winter. Through the winter of 2014-2015 the city started work on removing a dangerous dam on the Maquoketa River. This dam was severely damaged from floods back in 2008. The city wanted to do something special other than just putting the normal rock arches when a dam is removed. So they came up with a plan to construct a great whitewater park after seeing the success of Charles City and Elkader’s whitewater parks. The original plan was to have 6 features at 18 inches. But as we found out in our visit they had 7 features and I didn’t bring a tape measure but I can guarantee some of those drops were over the 18 inch marker.
Now we went when the water was a little low for those advanced paddlers but we wanted to check out the new park and work on our skill building. When we first got to the park it was like a different world. People were walking the trails with family and friends. I have never seen so many people with huge smiles on their face other than Disney World! We first walked down the path that travels along the whole whitewater park. we were able to watch people and check out the 7 features Manchester had to offer from this path. The river was packed with kayakers, tubers, and swimmers. Now that we are super pumped to get in the water, we get our gear on and meet up with a great friend and supporter of the Sioux Falls Whitewater Park. She was a great asset to our adventure. She had experience on the course and the area so we were in great hands for the whole day. It was like having our own personal river guide for the day.
Walking down the beginning part of the park was great. They had large sandstones to walk on along with a nice sidewalk winding all the way to the beginning . As we wait our turn to start heading down the first feature you can’t help to notice your perma smile from all the kids laughing down the first feature.

The first feature was steep and fast. It was a hot day so it was nice to get a good splash right off the bat. We played around with eddy turns and peel outs and headed to the second feature. The second feature was steep like the first one but not as swift. We also played around for a few minutes with the feature eager to hit them all right away we headed to the third feature. The third feature we spent most of our day at since it had a good entry into the wave and had a good distance between this feature and the next. We ended up staying on the third feature for about 45 minutes until we decided to hit the rest of the features and try it all over again. The fourth feature is more of a rock dam in my eyes, no decent wave to surf but fun to practice some boofing. We quickly moved the fifth wave. This one was steep and really fast. The fifth feature really got the blood pumping and was a nice wave for side surfing. We quickly ran feature six since this one looked similar to feature five and wanted to great rush of speeding down the wave and slamming into a wall of water. Now our pulse is really jumping so we continued to hit feature seven. All of our group had smiles from ear to ear and a lot of woohooing on those last three features.  Getting out was easier as pie. Simply got out of our kayaks and walked up the windy sidewalk path and started our way to the beginning. We continued to go down and hit up the different feature throughout the day and a blast hanging out with paddlers, tubers and swimmers. Towards the end of the day we decided to try going down all six features just with our lifejackets. We had to get the full experience but didn’t feel the need to rent a tube at the local restaurant right at the park. So we jumped in at the first features and let the current take us. Surprising enough this was a blast, we actually ended up going down three times this way. The waves were save enough for us to go down the features feet first and head first. To me it felt like a slip and slide adults could enjoy.
We spent around 6 hours on the park watching hundreds of people tube, kayak, raft, stand up paddle board, ride blow up Shamus and turtles, and just going down with a life jacket. One event I will probably always remember are the middle aged men coming down the features in a tube smiling and screaming on their way down. I’m almost positive those older individuals had more fun than the kids!!

It might be a five hour drive but it is 100% worth it. Great people use these features, everyone is friendly, and the local restaurants are top notch.
Check out Manchester Whitewater Park!