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NAME: Dustin Urban
HOMETOWN: Sedgwick, Maine
BIO: 20 years old. Went to Bay School elementary in Blue Hill.
STARTED BOATING: In seventh grade with my dad (Phil). We did the Union River in a tandem canoe (a Tripper), all the way up to the Dead at 5500 cfs. We tried to surf waves and then realized we needed to get kayaks. We lived 10 minutes from Blue Hill Falls and we got super-hooked. Then we paddled Marsh Stream, the Souadabscook. Then we did the Kennebec. That was a big deal.
CREDENTIALS: Dustin is one of the best freestyle kayakers in the world.
He began competing at the men's level in freestyle competitions two years ago. Since then he has placed second at the 2001 World Championships in Spain, he won the last two Teva Mountain Games Freestyle competitions in Vail, CO and he won the Wave Competition in Lyon, France in June.
FAVORITE BOATS: I'm sponsored by Dagger so I've been paddling the Kingpin 6.2 the last two years. Dagger just came out with its new playboat, the Crazy 88, so now I've got a bunch of those on my roof. I have a Nomad creek boat and a paddle a Jim Snyder designed Asylum squirt boat.
FAVORITE PADDLE: I use Jimistyx paddles (also a Jim Snyder design). That's sort of one of my signatures, no one else on the circuit uses wooden paddles.
SQUIRT BOATING: I started squirt boating on the Kennebec two years after I started paddling. It complements freestyle kayaking really well. There are a lot of elements in squirt boating that are past vertical, which helps in learning recovery strokes, so I'm able to stay under control and smooth in my freestyle boat.
RIVERS PADDLED IN LAST 12 MONTHS: 20
FAVORITE RIVERS: Lachine in Montreal, Ottawa, Hawaii Sur Rhone Wave in Lyon, France, Futaleufu in Chile, Any creek in California, and the Kennebec (this is the one I've paddled most. It's one of the places where I got good.)
MOTTO: Like my friend Andrew Holcombe says, "Don't do it for the cameras."
ADVICE: One of the big things is make sure you're doing it for the fun of it. The rock star status might come, but that's not the point. If it seems like work, there's definitely something wrong.
ADVICE 2: Respect the river ... in that don’t ever come at it like, "I'm going to kick the river's ass today." Remember, the river is always more powerful than you.
MAINE: I’ve got to give props to the Maine community. It's an awesome place to get into paddling. It's such a tight and unique paddling community. I'd like to send out thanks to the community there.
FUTURE: Dustin is in his second year at Princeton, and is leaning toward a Psychology or International Affairs major. At press time he was driving from Colorado to New York to participate in the US team trials on the Black River for Worlds in Australia in January.
STORY: In May in Reno while competing at an event at the city's waterpark, I took a three-hour final in the hotel room before the event and had to send it back FedEx and then run down to the event. I was surprised they were so flexible.
Photos courtesy of Urban Family
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