October 18, 2023 • 48 mins
37-year-old, Professional Ultra-endurance Paddler and Coach, Jennifer Fratzke, won 2nd place solo female, and 9th overall out of 500+ competitors, in this year’s MR340 ultra-endurance race, held on the Missouri River. Jennifer talks about her life and career, as a Professional paddler, Coach, and the sport of Ultra-endurance paddling.
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Outdoors People is broadcast live Wednesdays at 6PM ET.
Outdoors People TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
Outdoors People Radio Show is broadcast on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
Outdoors People Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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(00:00):
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(00:31):
Welcome to outdoors people with me.Cw Getz and her Maya mar Zaki.
Good evening. It's Wednesday, Octobereighteenth, twenty twenty three. We've
(00:53):
got a kloude sixty seven degree fahrenheit, twenty degrees celsius hamperatehure today. You
can really tell it's it's fall now. Yeah, the leaves are all falling
down and it's windy raining half thetime. I well, you know what's
really funny, because I'm sweating.I just notice I'm sweating, and I'm
(01:14):
thinking, Okay, why I wasout this afternoon? As I mentioned,
I shot some footage for an upcomingmushroom mushroom episode. Check that out right?
Oh cool? Yeah, I don'tknow when that's going to happen,
but we just shot some footage thismorning and that came home and mowed my
lawn. And I'm telling you,I went out there with a sweatshirt,
T shirt underneath of it, longpants, shoes. But you know,
(01:36):
and I'm telling you, what aboutten minutes out there, I said,
I gotta go get a jacket.I got a car hard I put onto
the stocking. It was chilly whenthe wind was blown. I'm like,
man, it is fall here,so get used to accustomed to the indoor
temperatures. I think, Yeah,how is your weather down there in sam
Polo Americana, Brazil. Oh mygosh, it is a but it is.
(02:00):
It doesn't feel like spring. Feelslike summer right out already. Oh
my gosh. Yes, with twentythree degrees south shoes, and it means
for you, sev seventy three degreesfahrenheit, really sunny warm. They that
(02:20):
fine. Its perfect though, Imean, seventy three degrees is like ideal.
That's what I keep my house.Seventy three seventy four, yes,
kind of is better because we arein the edge of the evening. But
during the oh my gosh, sowarm. Oh was it really that hot?
Oh my gosh. Yeah, andyou get a little humidity going on
too, so I get that.Oh, yes, a lot. It's
raining every day. Actually yeah.Yeah, that's the kind of weather that
(02:45):
makes sure underwear stick to your skin, doesn't it. Yeah, I hate
when that happened. Well, it'sback there going what did he just say?
The I did? Well. Today'sepisode of Outdoors People is brought to
you by Rutebega Paddle Sports, providingtime on the water, by Kem Grund
Views making campaign easier, Bida luthPack made in the USA since eighteen eighty
(03:08):
two, and by Jackson Kayakkeepers soenjoy through pedal sports. Tonight's episode is
My Life as a professional paddler withour special guest, Jennifer Fratski, thirty
seven year old endurance I'm sorry ultraendurance paddling athlete and coach. Jennifer Fratski
has been paddling racing for over adecade, with thousands of miles to her
(03:30):
credit, having studied political science atthe University of Hawaii at man Now manoah,
and get that right, Jennifer madea decision to follow her true passion
and natural ability to pursue a careeras a professional ultra endurance paddler and coach.
A few of Jennifer's achievements include secondplace female solo at the Yukon River
(03:52):
Fest twenty nineteen, fifth place solofemale in the m R three forty twenty
eighteen, twenty nineteen and twenty twenty, second place solo female in Alabama twenty
twenty and twenty twenty one, secondplace solo female in the MR three forty
twenty twenty two, and second placefemale solo in the MR three forty twenty
(04:14):
twenty three, which was not justbut very recently. So with that,
welcome to the show, Jennifer,Thank you, thanks, Yeah, what
kind of those are some pretty impressivetitles, man, I mean like wow
and that Yeah, that twenty twentythree race, that was just that was
not that long ago if I'm correct, right, No, it was it
(04:35):
was quite recent. Yeah, thatwas so you post about that. That's
very cool. So well, hey, glad to have you on the show.
Yeah, thank you for being herewith what with us? And how
did you get sorry, how didyou first get into Padolin. Oh wow,
Well, it was years and yearsago. I had a friend who
(04:59):
was do doing the sea Paddle NYC. It was more or less like a
twenty I think it was about twentyseven mile paddle around Manhattan Island in New
York that supported autism. And hesaid, hey, why don't you come
over, and you know, I'mgonna donate a bunch of money to this
organization and we're going to go racearound Manhattan Island on a stand up paddle
(05:21):
board. And I'm like, howfar? And yeah, I went and
did it, and I've just fellin love with that feeling. Of of
course, I didn't stand up thewhole entire time, and it was really
grueling, but it just kind ofbecame an addiction. That's kind of how
it started. Well that's yeah.You know, it's funny that the people
that say, gosh, you know, when I tried it the first time,
(05:43):
I was addicted And you got toknow if that happens, that is
the sport, right or the activityfor you? Yes, And it is
funny. I was going to saysomething like that too. All rockstars we
interviewed started just like you, youknow, like with notions, oh some
more invited to me and then Ijust called never, that's true. That's
true. Yeah, well that's prettymuch what happened to you then, Jen,
(06:08):
Right, yeah it is. AndI mean I think that kind of
kind of lit a fire in methat I didn't even know was there,
and it just kind of went onfrom there. And I'd say the first
ultra endurance that I was introduced towas when a friend who I knew from
stand up from prior years, whowas living on Maui at the time,
(06:29):
and I had went over to hishouse for coffee. I was there for
another paddling event and he's I said, what is all this gear you have
here? Where are you going?He's like, oh, I'm going to
go do this thousand mile paddle inthe Yukon. It's a race and I
said, oh my god, whatthat sounds so fun. Yeah, And
that's kind of how I got intomy That's that's when I did my first
m R three forty back in twentyeighteen. I just randomly look found that
(06:54):
race. Because the Yukon you kindof had to have like prerequisites, like
prove yourself that you could actually finishit because there's like grizzly bears and you
know, no big deal, Yeah, just that. Yeah, So I
couldn't do that one that year.So that's how I got into the m
R three forty and that was myfirst true ultra endurance race. And then
(07:15):
I was like, wow, youknow, three hundred and forty miles,
I did it. What more canI do? That's pretty cool? That's
pretty cool. All right, here'sa term. Surf ski. Is that
ring a bell? Tell us aboutthat? Yeah, So it's funny.
Surf ski is something that I've knownof for a very long time, but
I just never participated in this sport. And coincidentally, this year I started
(07:43):
actually racing surf skis and it waskind of for for a specific reason,
and I love it, and I'mkind of like, why didn't I do
this a long time ago? Soa surf ski is just basically like,
if you think about it, it'syou can think about it in two ways.
It's either a very very narrow kayakbecause you are double blading, whereas
I come from more of an outriggersingle blade background. Or you can look
(08:05):
at it like a like an outriggerbut with no outrigger and of course more
stable shaped a little differently, butjust real narrow, real fast slices the
water. That's pretty cool. That'spretty cool. Has a new term on
me. I've not heard of that, so thank you. Oh really,
Yeah, most people when they seea surf ski they think it's a rowing
(08:26):
shell of some sort. They reallydon't know what it is. So you're
not alone in that. Well.I feel a little better knowing that,
because I do sometimes feel like Ilive in a shoe box, you know.
But yeah, that's cool. Iwas find of the same, So
thank you guys for making me tooin a group of people who doesn't know
you know, I know, youknow, that's right. And a week
(08:50):
do you prefer solo pagging or teaingpaging? And why, oh that's a
hard one, you know. Ithink that there's something to be said about
both. I personally, because ofthe direction I've gone, obviously, I
prefer solo paddling. And that's justbecause when you're on a team, you
(09:11):
really you have to dedicate a lotof time and it's not necessarily your own
time, it's you know, workingaround other people's schedules and other people's times,
and if you don't show up,you're not only letting yourself down,
you're letting a whole team down.So for me, with kind of my
my kind of crazy lifestyle and justmy responsibilities, I think it's a lot
(09:35):
easier for me to find my owntime to paddle and to train solo than
it is for a team, becauseI've raced with a team for you know,
several years, and there's definitely positivesto that. I mean, you
make I mean some of my bestfriends that I have right now, I
met at Outrigger on a wahu forthe six man team, and we've created
(09:56):
so many memories and we've created abond, and I really do miss that
and I love that about team teampaddling. But then you know, with
the solo stuff, you really,you really just you're counting on yourself and
you're the only person really that you'regonna let down. So it's a little
bit different. So I do preferthe solo stuff overall, just for the
(10:18):
way things are in my life.But I like team as well. You
know, here's where I'm going withthat. I'm going you people are slowing
me down. I could be somuch better. Well, you know,
it's it's hard not to think likethat because a lot of times you're like,
oh, it's everyone else, itisn't me, you know, And
(10:39):
I've definitely done a lot of growingup looking back, like you know,
it's it's not you can't point fingers. A team is a team. You
guys are one. I mean,everyone's putting in the effort, everyone has
to work together, So you reallycan't really point at one person. I
mean you can, but you knowexactly because there is something to be said
for a chain is only as strongas a tweak link. Yes, and
(11:01):
if you you know, I thinkeven though you you shouldn't say anything,
of course, but I think maybein the back of your mind at some
point maybe you've said, you know, there's this one person, or maybe
maybe it's more than one. Idon't know, you know, just like
boy, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, And I think one thing
I've learned about that too, isthat some of the strongest outrigger teams you
(11:22):
see out there, like Team Bradleyand even like you know, the Outrigger
Canoe Club, now, they're doingso well. They they kind of know
each other so well that maybe theweakest part of one of the team members
someone else can pick up for thatand vice versa. So it's really being
on a team, you know,being one and being a family and learning
(11:45):
to know each other and how youcan actually help each other out, So
not competing against each other, butworking together to make the team stronger as
a whole. Do you ever getto the point where you're close enough and
team members that you can kind ofstart to tune on each they're a little
bit I mean not in a meanway, but like brothers and sisters.
Can you ever get to that point? And may come on, Joe,
(12:07):
you know what I mean? Likethat? But you you do that?
That's good, right. There's areason why they say paddle ticks. I
mean there's definitely a lot of drama, A lot of drama. I don't
miss. I don't miss drama,but you know it comes with it.
I mean, anytime you're with agroup of people, different personalities, different
perspective, different life experiences, you'regonna have drama. So it's not really
(12:31):
what you're saying, it's the approach. It's yeah, the relationship. Yeah
yeah, but we love drama.So I'm on that as well. You
know, I'm kidding. But whatI love about team is that you bond
so well. When you are doingany sports with a group of people,
then they really become friends and eachone push each other up. So that's
(12:56):
so nice. And I use itto do all like lone and sports like
swinging and I mean to groups partsand I am enjoying it so much.
So every think we have the goodin the bed. Right it's lonely out
there paddling three hundred and forty milesby yourself, I would think, so,
(13:18):
I mean, geez, I mean, do you take some tunes with
your radio? What do you do? You know? When I first started,
I used to listen to music,but now I don't unless I'm like
super You know, I've stayed awakefor you know, two nights, and
I'm really suffering. But I havethese little mascots I bring with me,
and everyone who's paddled with me orseen me out there racing, they know
(13:39):
that I have my little mascots.I think I had a narwhall one year.
It's like a little stuffed animal thatI bring and I talk. I
talk to the stuffed animals, andI'd like to think they talked back to
me. I don't know what's reallyhappening. You're not well. I mean,
have you tried like Metallica or somethinglike that, because that would just
get you going. You know,I don't know me, Yeah, that
(14:01):
would make me just like you know, yeah, I get you mad.
You know. It's like working outright. You get to play the music
that makes you angry, you dobetter, you know. I like country
music. When I'm pad. Ohsee, I would fall asleep and that,
you know, I couldn't do thatjust melting it out or either that
or you just start getting all bummyand mellow. Depends on the country group.
I guess our music. Hey,what inspired you to leave Hawaii and
(14:26):
then move to Mexico? What wasthat? I wouldn't necessarily say it was
an inspiration. It was kind ofat a moment in my life where I
had to. I had no otherchoice. Hawaii's a very expensive place to
live being a single parent. Wasreally struggling for i'd say a good five
years, and it finally just cameto a head where I was like,
(14:48):
Okay, like this is not workingright now and I need to make a
change, And was just going throughsome hard family stuff and just decided,
you know what, I'm going totake my my got it. You must
have been thirteen or fourteen at thetime, and I said, We're just
going to go to Mexico and takea year sabbatical and just wow, go
(15:09):
down, just do nothing, noworries, just surf, paddle fish.
I'd like to try that. Yeah, that's right, that's right. That's
what we did for a whole almosta whole entire year, and it was
great. We needed it for ourmental clarity and it was kind of a
reset. I like that Maya.Yeah, I like her program. I'm
(15:31):
thinking about it. I think it'sgreat. That sounds too good to be
true, but she did it right, right, And if food in Mexico
is delicious, it is it isand it's different, you know, mainland
Mexico from Baja. Baja is moreof a I would say, more of
a seafood influence. I mean that'swhat I got out of it because I
(15:54):
grew up in Oregon eating like real, real Mexican food, like let's say
Mexico City. But Baja is alittle bit the cuisine is a little bit
different. It's kind of hard toexplain. Definitely a lot of shrimp,
a lot of fish. Yeah,so you're living it up in Mexico.
Right, what brings you back toOregon? I mean, I'm thinking you're
(16:18):
in paradise there, right. Whathappened? Yeah? Couple of things.
So, first and foremost, themoney was running out. It's really hard
to make a living down in Mexicobeing American. I couldn't really find I
couldn't find a good stable job.I was definitely doing my coaching down there,
but it just wasn't as consistent asI would have liked it to be.
(16:41):
And so I also had an opportunityto join Team Stellar, which Stellar
Kayaks that's the brand of serf skisthat I that I race now, and
I had an opportunity to connect withthem and be able to do my first
ultra endurance race on a surf SI. So for me, it was it
(17:02):
was kind of timing like these raceswere coming up. I had the opportunity
to, uh to paddle for Stellarand have them give me a serf Ski
to use, and it kind ofjust the universe just kind of like threw
that at me and it all madesense. So that's why we left,
and that's why I'm in Oregon tokind of just fulfill some of those op
(17:23):
arrows point in the one direction.It's pretty obvious sometimes, isn't it.
Yeah, yeah, and nevit.It is easy find a good job and
I establish uh worthly life when youwere abroad. I've been that in this
situation two times, and I knowhow har gids. So sometimes it's just
(17:44):
better went back to your country,right. Yeah, it's hard, it's
a hard pill to swallow. ButI mean, I'm so grateful and so
thankful that the opportunity was there andI took it. Because Mexico was just
lovely. I mean, I thinkmy son and I both learned a lot
down there, and you know theSpanish too, Like my son's dad is
(18:06):
from Peru, so we already knewSpanish. It was a great place to
be, Lovely people, lovely placeto be. Yeah. I mean,
I'm a Latin, so I've beengoing to say good stuff about Mexican,
right, And I'm sure you guyshad the opportunity to travel a lot there
because it's a big and beautiful country, right, mm hmm. That's nice.
(18:33):
Well, guys, don't go away. We are going to aldo break,
but we will be back. Afew years ago, someone asked Rudebakga's
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(18:55):
Darren replied, well, we don'tsell boats. We sell time on the
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(19:18):
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(20:26):
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We are made right here in Barta, Tennessee, at USA. This
(20:48):
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are Jackson Kyak. We are,we are. We're Jackson cot we are,
we are. We are Jackson Kayak. And we're back with Jennifer Fretskiy
(21:11):
Jen. Let's say you tell usa little bit about the race that you
recently compete completed, actually are competedin the m R three forty. What
is that race? Tell us alittle bit about it? So that race
is a a race holds very dearto my heart because, like I said,
it was the first Altar endurance raceI ever did back in twenty eighteen.
(21:32):
So it's a three hundred and fortymile race on the Missouri River.
So it starts at Cow Point inKansas City, Missouri, and it ends
in I always butcher this. Ithink it's Saint Charles. I always want
to say, Saint Louis, SaintCharles. Yeah, and it's there's no
portages, no dams, no nothing. You have leave eighty eight hours to
(21:56):
complete it and you can basically paddlethe whole thing NonStop through the night,
without sleeping or stopping, whatever youwant to do. And is that what
you do? Yes? What aboutit? I didn't do that, but
the last two times that's what Idid. Because if you want to be
like the super competitive, if youwant to try to win, you have
no other choice. You got todo that. Okay, you know,
(22:18):
I know there are people out theregoing, Okay, what happens when she
has to pee? And that's fornumber one? Number two? Yeah,
I mean everybody's gonna ask that,right, or maybe I'm the only idiot.
And then do your legs ever crampup? I mean you're a kay,
you mean you're you're like you're youknow, what do you how do
you keep from going numb or gettingcramps and things like that. I think
(22:42):
that's the thing that sets the ultraendurance racers, or at least the ones
that do really well apart from theothers, is being able to endure those
things because no matter what you're goingto feel some of the worst pains you
ever felt in your life, andthey're not going to go away. You
know, some people choose to takepainkillers. I'm one of those people who
(23:03):
I just don't take painkillers. SoI just I have a really extremely high
pain tolerance and I've I'm able toblock it out. So, yeah,
your legs go numb, especially inthe outrigger because you're more kind of leaning
towards the outrigger, especially if there'sheadwind, side wind, anything like that
where you have to keep the amadown without flipping. So then like your
(23:26):
whole left side will go numb.You know, from your pretty much your
waist down. You can hang yourleg over the side and stretch it out,
but it's just going to go rightback to just being a pain in
the butt once you put your legback in. That's something I really enjoyed
about the serf Ski is that everythingis just more even, Like you're paddling
(23:47):
left right, left, right,You're not having to be leaning. It's
more core stuff. So there's thatit's just being able to endure that pain,
know that it's going to come,it's not going to go away,
and I'm I'd tell you. Ihad some of the worst pain this last
m R three forty. I don'teven know how I got through it,
because it was it felt like Ihad to put my hands on a on
(24:11):
a burner and got you know whatever, first degree burns. I forget what
level the worst burns you could everimagine in your life, and then having
to grip a paddle and headwind andjust keep going. It was like excruciating
pain, just for hours and hoursand it never ended. Yeah, So
(24:32):
that's that. And I know you'regoing to tell us how you pee in
the canoe or how do you do? You ever fall asleep? I think
maybe after so much sleep deformation,I would be going, you know,
wake it up. Oh that's right, I'm on the river. You know,
No, it happens. I meanyou definitely doze off after staying awake
for two nights in a row.It's that second going into the third night
(24:55):
where it's like, I mean,your body, you got to sleep at
some point unless you're taking some sortof stimulu, which no, I'm not.
Well that's not true. So there'sa I'm going to tell everyone my
one of my secrets, right,Oh right, you've heard it here.
First, exclusive. We love that. Yeah, all the people that I
coach this and everyone is like,oh my god, I wish I would
(25:17):
have found this stuff sooner. Soit's called MEG you can find it on
Amazon. It's military energy gum andit's I think it's one hundred milligrams per
piece, and that's like my emergency. I keep that in my life jacket,
so if I'm falling asleep, Iwill pop one of those. There
was one time where I took onetoo many and had a caffeine overdose and
(25:38):
it was scary thought, but itkeeps you awake. It kind of just
takes the edge off and keeps youalert. I've also, you know,
I slap yourself, splash yourself withwater. There's things you can do.
But yeah, I think I've definitelysleep paddled a couple times. But what
(25:59):
things. You're not driving anything that'sdangerous of motorized vehicles to be follos.
All right, the first day scenario, you got a life you have to
wear a life jacket. You're notgonna drive. Yeah, absolutely. So
the last one that everybody's waiting foris okay, well you got to go
to the bathroom. What do youdo? What do you do? Do
you pull over? Can you pullover? I don't know. So when
I first started these races, Idid pull over. But I mean,
(26:22):
can you imagine if you're really goingfor the wind and you're pulling over every
twenty minutes, you're losing five minutesthe amount of time it takes you to
get to the shore, get out, go to the bathroom, get back
in, get back. Of course. Sure. So I've learned over time
that you just pee yourself. Sothere's really nothing, no trick to it
or anything, just like here wego. For the men, you know,
(26:44):
they're lucky they can just pee ina jar or whatever. But for
the women, it's so much harderfor us. And I've tried so many
different things and devices. Yeah,yeah, there's really nothing. There's really
nothing easy. I mean, youjust end up in Hawaii. We call
it she she shi yourself. Itis what it is, right, Yeah,
(27:06):
don't care about smelling pee? Yeahyeah, you are kind of in
the water any ways, so youcan work something out, So that's fine
the world. Yeah right, youwant it that bad, you'll yeah,
you'll do whatever. It's what's moreimportant smelling not smelling bad, or win
(27:27):
the race. Right, you gotbecause one's just temporary. But when you
lost the race because you had to, you know, then that's that's all.
That's forever. Yeah, sounds somuch fun. Right, You don't
sleep, you feel pan and yoube yourself. You put it like that,
(27:51):
ye know, I'm just kidding.You are like a hero, and
everyone who does any injursance ports arelike hero. You guys have such a
strong mentality and I I look itup for exactly. That's amazing, that's
(28:12):
really that's really nice. Yeah,huge respect. Yeah. Yeah, and
I'm talking about that. What hasbeen your biggest flure failure and what did
you take away from that experience?Oh man, that's such a hard question
for me, I think, Ohman, I've been thinking about this one.
(28:33):
I really don't. I don't knowif I have an answer to that
other than I would say overall,my my biggest failure in life has been
doubting myself. I tend to doubtmyself a lot. In a lot of
these races, I think, youknow, if you haven't noticed, I
always get second. There's there's awoman that always beats me, and I've
(29:00):
always kind of doubted, like there'sno way I'm ever going to beat her.
It's just going to be impossible,impossible. And this last race,
actually, the m R three fortwenty twenty three, is when I kind
of realized, Actually, it's absolutelywhen I realized that all this doubt is
all in my head, that Iwas actually ahead of this woman for a
(29:21):
very very long time, and Ido strongly believe that I could have beat
her. And that was when Ifinally got rid of all that doubt and
I trusted in my training and Itrusted in everything that led up to what
I was doing, even though ittook me years. I mean sometimes it
takes athletes ten twenty years to makeit to a point that they always wanted
(29:45):
to be, and it's just notgiving up getting rid of that self doubt.
So that would be a lot ofmy regret is over these years,
just kind of accepting always getting second, always geting a second. Yeah,
yeah, I didn't. I didn'trealize that people actually do that. I
suppose maybe if it happens over andover again, you're like, you know,
(30:07):
but yeah, but from the schoolnever quit, never give up,
never say never, right, Yeah, it was, Yeah, twenty twenty
three was a big year for meand It really made me realize, like,
you can doubt yourself as much asyou want, but it's it's one
of those things where you really haveto just you put in the work and
the results are going to come.Just don't give up. Even if they
(30:29):
don't come for ten fifteen years,you're gonna get there. Really. Yeah,
that's a great advice for life ingeneral. So I hope everyone who
is listened to that can't learn tothrow her experience because we in general we
put ourselves down and we don't believeyou know ourselves. So let's believe you
(30:52):
know ourselves and put some work tomake whatever we want to do happen.
But that's a really nice well wehave some pictures to look it up.
But after the leedle break, sodon't go away. A few years ago
(31:19):
someone asked Rudebegga's owner Darren Bush,Hey, how long have you guys been
selling boats? Darren replied, well, we don't sell boats. We sell
time on the water. Of course, that comes in all types. We
help people paddle more safely with Rudebigaoutdoor programs. We rent canoes, kayaks,
and stand up paddle boards. Wesell and install racks to get you
(31:40):
from home to adventure. Rudebega's goteverything you need to get you out on
the water, like paddles, lifejackets, dry bags and clothing. Rudega
paddlesports on the web at Rudebega dotcom. Mention you saw this ad on
the Camping Show it is time togo camping. Introducing campground Views virtual tours,
(32:00):
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see where you are going. TheLoothpack is handcrafted for every lifestyle, making
(32:55):
memories since eighteen eighty two in storeat three sixty five Canal Park Drive,
or online at the Luthpack dot com. We are one big family, a
community of tattlers, and we wantto make sure that everyone has a great
time out of the water. Weremade right here in part of Tennessee,
(33:15):
USA. This is where every Jacksonkayak is born. You'll buy him with
a focus on innovation, we arejack and Kanyak. We are we are,
we are Jackson Kyak and we arewe are We're Jackson, we are
we are Jackson Kyak and we areoutdoors people. Back with our guest Jennifer
(33:43):
Franski. One, let's through acouple, uh couple. Let's throw the
photos out there that John sennas andwe'll have her tell us a little bit
about each of them. Okay,that's my favorite part. I know,
It's like it's like showing tell inkindergarten. Always loved that too. Yeah,
what is this? I love mygosh, so I really love this
(34:05):
photo too. And I have aI have a good friend Andy, he
lives on a wa who's a veryamazing photographer. He does really funny stuff.
He contacted me on Instagram one day. I didn't even know who he
was, but I guess he wasjust looking at photos and stuff that I
did. I've done a lot ofwater stuff, obviously in Hawaii, and
(34:30):
he messaged me and said, hey, would you be interested in doing a
photo shoot. I said, oh, yeah, sure, let's do it.
You know, And the first timeI met the guy, you know,
he was explaining to me what kindof photography he wanted to do,
and he was like, it's underwater, like he was doing wearing a dress
underwater and lifting weights underwater and doingall this stuff, and I thought,
oh, God, like it hasit's been so long since I've held my
(34:52):
breath for that long. And youknow, he he's such a crazy,
like just awesome person. He's verywild personality, very go with the flow,
and it's a lot like my personality. So we vibed really well and
we just did a whole bunch ofphotography underwater, and this was one of
those really good ones. I thinkthis was at Waimea Bay where the water's
(35:15):
like really really clear. It lookscrystal clear. I mean there is nothing
in that way. I don't evensee any fish. There wasn't There wasn't
really any fish in this specific areathat we were in. And believe it
or not, this is probably aboutthe sixth the sixth shoot that we did,
So it's it takes a lot ofpractice to be able to keep a
(35:37):
very calm face like that underwater withyour eyes open, to make it not
look like you're holding your breath.Yeah, you're the salt waters burning your
eyes to death. Yeah, Itried it. So many times and it
never work it out for me.It takes practice. Wow. Yeah,
(35:58):
because you don't even look like you'reunder water. That's amazing. Yeah,
all right, what do we gethere? I love this photo. So
this is from the twenty twenty threem R three forty. So this is
my Stellar kayak. It's a Falcon, that's the version of it. That
was the boat that was given tome to use for the m R three
(36:20):
forty. So this was the start. So this is where I believe the
Kansas River and the Missouri River merge, and that's where the start of the
races. That's at cop Point.So that was me getting ready to put
in. Oh so they start thisat the confluence and like that. Okay,
yeah, wow, I liked it. Boat though. These are cool,
(36:44):
isn't it cool? I called it. I called it the Bumblebee.
I love the colors. Yeah,And again this was me at cop Point.
I'm just really excited getting ready torace. So that was just another
shot right right at the start beforethe start. These boats look like there's
(37:05):
some balance going on there there.Hans absolutely. Oh man. Yeah,
and that was that was one ofthe challenges in switching over from outrigger to
serfski was that the serfski is veryunstable. So I had a lot of
challenging moments in the beginning of theyear because I just learned how to serf
ski. Like literally, first timeI'd ever been on a surf ski paddled
(37:29):
on a serf ski was in Februaryof this year getting ready for a three
hundred and forty mile race just afew months later. So I had to
learn fast, so I put itall my work. Wow, yeah,
oh my gosh, that was me. Actually that's my backyard, well at
my parents' house in Oregon. That'sthe Willamette River, the beautiful lamit where
(37:51):
I did all my training on.So that was my trainer serf ski.
That's a little bit of a widersurf ski, the SAT and SX by
Stellar, So that was what Iwhat I trained on before I went more
narrow and faster of course, rightthis, yeah, this one is not
as fast as the Falcon, butit's still a very fast, awesome boat.
(38:12):
Just a little more stability so thatI could learn that's cool, you
have that leak. So this isalso the Willamette River. This is I
believe this is a this is aFalcon. So what I did was I
paddled I think this one was sixtyfive miles up river, camped on this
(38:36):
island, and this was my testrun to see what gear and where I
should place it to get ready forthe m R three forty and the Alabama
six fifty, which I didn't endup doing this year, unfortunately, but
this was my test run. Howlong is that bulgin? Oh, my
(38:57):
gosh, just a guess I shouldknow. I think it's nineteen. Wow.
Yeah, it's a long boat.Yeah, it's pretty long. Isn't
it heavy? No, it's not. It's not heavy at all. It's
it's not as heavy as you'd thinkit would be. Uh. This is
probably me leaving by the looks ofthe boat and the river. This is
(39:21):
the Missouri most definitely, just leavingfrom probably a checkpoint. Maybe I stopped
to refill water. You don't goback to the wage And what do you
think that boat weighs? The falcon? Oh, the falcon. So there's
different layups. That one was alittle bit more of a stronger layup in
case I hit a rock or something. I would say that boat weighs only
(39:45):
about twenty five thirty pounds. Youyou're going to say that that is so
light. It's so light. They'reso nice especially for that length. My
god. Yeah, and there's thestart, the start of the Yeah,
that's the start of the MR threebefore it, there's tons of people.
There was over five hundred paddlers thatyear. So actually most years it's it's
(40:12):
the it has the most people.Out of all the endurance races Alter Endurance
paddles, it's the most people.It's the most popular one. And what's
really cool about it is that Ialways tell people that are that come to
me and say, hey, I'mreally interested in doing an ulter endurance race.
This is the first one I tellthem to do. Because there's so
many places that your support crew canaccess you, and there's so many places
(40:35):
that you can stop safely that it'sa really it's a good race. Yeah
start, Except for twenty twenty threewasn't It was dangerous, But generally that's
a that's a great idea, youknow, if you're going to try one,
doing a place that you can safelyget out and blah blah blah,
it just yeah, you don't haveyou don't walk away with a bad taste
in your mouth. Should things notwork? Yeah, don't do the yukon
(41:00):
for your first race. There yougo again, cappoint the people that are
there seeing you off. I mean, this is just the community. The
community. Community gets so involved inthis race, so it's really exciting.
You get people that aren't even paddlerscoming out to watch, you know,
(41:22):
support crews, family members. Imean, it's just it's a party.
I mean I think it's interesting though. I mean, you know, yeah,
I mean yeah, I Hey,if I was a community person going,
hey, let's go down and watchthat boat and you know, this
guy's race that had taken off,I'm like, I think that's a great
Yeah. And it's fun to justsee all the different crafts. I mean,
people make crafts. They make likepedal drives where they're peddling with their
(41:45):
feet and they've rigged these paddles tomove. It's just crazy. There we
go. Well, bad memories.Oh my god, So these are the
hands I was talking about. Andthis doesn't this picture does not even do
this justice. The pain. Yeah, that was just like I don't even
(42:07):
know what it was. It waswater logged hands. I mean it felt
like a giant blister over my entirehand. I was gettings, water,
blisters, all kinds of blisters.Why not gloves jen Well, when you
think about it, the gloves arereally trapping in moisture anyway. Sometimes I'll
(42:30):
wear gloves if it's really cold outsideto keep my hands warm, but really
glove A lot of times gloves irritateme. The only gloves that I've ever
found that don't irritate my hands areby the company NRS. They makes some
really nice gloves. But my itwasn't cold during this race, so I
didn't have to wear gloves. Butit's kind of a hit and a miss.
(42:52):
I mean, your hands need tobreathe in your in You're paddling with
carbon fiber mi correct? Yes?Not a piece of wood, which is
more of a natural material might helpout. Maybe not. I don't know,
you know, I'm just kind ofwondering. Well, the carbon fiber
does definitely rip up your hands aftera while. So but this this is
a mix of just me gripping thepaddle too hard because I again, I'm
(43:15):
a single blader that has switched overto a double blade, so I'm gripping
the blade too hard, And itwas just constant rain so my hands were
always wet, Like I wasn't theonly one whose hands looked like this.
Yeah. Wow, Yeah, mylovely support crew. She stepped up when
(43:38):
I had no one to support me. For this year's m R three forty,
I put out on Facebook that Iwas looking for someone, and yeah,
she stepped up. Her name isNicole. She stepped up and offered
to follow me along the course,and she was awesome and we created a
great friendship out of it. Andthat's one thing I love about paddling.
(43:59):
The people you meet. Yeah,that's m mixed. You're taking me down
memory. Yeah, yeah, we'rewinding down about six minutes here, got
it. We're gonna have you tellus a little bit jin about the podcast
that you do. Yeah. SoI I started a podcast a few years
(44:23):
ago called ninety percent Mental Ultra EndurancePaddling Adventures. And when I started it,
I really had no expectations. Ididn't know what what it was going
to be about, or what,you know, if anyone was even going
to listen to it. But itturns out that people do really like it,
(44:44):
and that's awesome. I just inviterandom not random people, but I
invite people that have done races likethis before, like I've had Sally O'Donnell
Bobby Johnson, which are too firstwinners of the Alabama six fifty. Just
really good paddlers, really good people, just kind of talking story with them
(45:06):
and not only do I learn something. That's kind of why I started it,
just because I wanted to talk storywith people and kind of learn more
and see what why do they doultra endurance and kind of see if we
have things in common, which itends up we do. And people just
started liking it and listening to itand from all over the world, and
(45:28):
I thought, oh my gosh,okay, this is cool. And people
started asking me, why are yougoing to do another episode? Or you
know, can I be on yourepisode? Or maybe this person be on
your episode. So it's been kindof a fun little project. A little
bit draining, honestly, it's hard. Yeah, I mean, you guys
know, podcasting is time it's timeconsuming, but it's definitely been really rewarding
(45:52):
and I hope to keep it going. Yeah, it's just talking story with
friends and having a good time.Yeah, yeah, that's cool. I
know. We really love listen toyou guys, like who knows. Yeah,
right, And Jennifer, where canpeople go to follow you on social
(46:13):
medias? So social media, Ido have Instagram. I'm not very active
on it. I kind of tooka little bit of a break from it,
but everything is still up there.Some cool pictures on there. You
can check out some of the stuffI've done, paddlefish, surf that.
Yeah. So that's my Instagram,and then Facebook is just my name,
(46:36):
Jennifer Nicole Fratsky. You can findme on there. I'm pretty sure there's
only one of me. Yeah,and I do. Like I said,
I've kind of taken a little bitof a break from posting, but I
hope to kind of get more inthere because it's just such a great way
to connect with people you know allover the world that you don't otherwise see
(46:59):
every day or you don't live closeto them. It's absolutely true. Yeah,
it sure is. It's a andit's kind of a community in its
own. Really, you need tothink about it. Yeah like that.
Yeah, Well, Jennifer Listener,we want to thank you for being our
guest here tonight on Outdoors People.Absolutely a pleasure having to chat, an
opportunity to interview you and and getinside the mind of an endurance paddler.
(47:22):
I love that whole thing. Right, Yeah, we're a little crazy,
but I think a little bit superstaris you know? I think that was
what. Yeah. Yeah, allhawkstars are crazy, so that's a really
good thing. There you go,that's right, the compliment. Actually,
all the superstars are awesome. Bityeah, a little bit crazy, yes,
(47:45):
And thank you very much for ourtime. And we'd also like sorry,
we'd also like to thank each ofour sponsors for bringing you tonight's show,
Ruta Baga, Petro Sports, CampgroundViews, d Luf Peck, and
Jackson Kayak. Be sure to tunein for next week's episode, Holiday in
Arubo along with Maya Marzaki. Thisis CW Gees saying thanks for tuning in
(48:07):
to Outdoors People. See you nextweek. Tw
Topics and opinions expressed in the followingshow are solely those of the hosts and
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should be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing W FOURCY Radio.
(00:31):
Welcome to outdoors people with me.Cw Getz and her Maya mar Zaki.
Good evening. It's Wednesday, Octobereighteenth, twenty twenty three. We've
(00:53):
got a kloude sixty seven degree fahrenheit, twenty degrees celsius hamperatehure today. You
can really tell it's it's fall now. Yeah, the leaves are all falling
down and it's windy raining half thetime. I well, you know what's
really funny, because I'm sweating.I just notice I'm sweating, and I'm
(01:14):
thinking, Okay, why I wasout this afternoon? As I mentioned,
I shot some footage for an upcomingmushroom mushroom episode. Check that out right?
Oh cool? Yeah, I don'tknow when that's going to happen,
but we just shot some footage thismorning and that came home and mowed my
lawn. And I'm telling you,I went out there with a sweatshirt,
T shirt underneath of it, longpants, shoes. But you know,
(01:36):
and I'm telling you, what aboutten minutes out there, I said,
I gotta go get a jacket.I got a car hard I put onto
the stocking. It was chilly whenthe wind was blown. I'm like,
man, it is fall here,so get used to accustomed to the indoor
temperatures. I think, Yeah,how is your weather down there in sam
Polo Americana, Brazil. Oh mygosh, it is a but it is.
(02:00):
It doesn't feel like spring. Feelslike summer right out already. Oh
my gosh. Yes, with twentythree degrees south shoes, and it means
for you, sev seventy three degreesfahrenheit, really sunny warm. They that
(02:20):
fine. Its perfect though, Imean, seventy three degrees is like ideal.
That's what I keep my house.Seventy three seventy four, yes,
kind of is better because we arein the edge of the evening. But
during the oh my gosh, sowarm. Oh was it really that hot?
Oh my gosh. Yeah, andyou get a little humidity going on
too, so I get that.Oh, yes, a lot. It's
raining every day. Actually yeah.Yeah, that's the kind of weather that
(02:45):
makes sure underwear stick to your skin, doesn't it. Yeah, I hate
when that happened. Well, it'sback there going what did he just say?
The I did? Well. Today'sepisode of Outdoors People is brought to
you by Rutebega Paddle Sports, providingtime on the water, by Kem Grund
Views making campaign easier, Bida luthPack made in the USA since eighteen eighty
(03:08):
two, and by Jackson Kayakkeepers soenjoy through pedal sports. Tonight's episode is
My Life as a professional paddler withour special guest, Jennifer Fratski, thirty
seven year old endurance I'm sorry ultraendurance paddling athlete and coach. Jennifer Fratski
has been paddling racing for over adecade, with thousands of miles to her
(03:30):
credit, having studied political science atthe University of Hawaii at man Now manoah,
and get that right, Jennifer madea decision to follow her true passion
and natural ability to pursue a careeras a professional ultra endurance paddler and coach.
A few of Jennifer's achievements include secondplace female solo at the Yukon River
(03:52):
Fest twenty nineteen, fifth place solofemale in the m R three forty twenty
eighteen, twenty nineteen and twenty twenty, second place solo female in Alabama twenty
twenty and twenty twenty one, secondplace solo female in the MR three forty
twenty twenty two, and second placefemale solo in the MR three forty twenty
(04:14):
twenty three, which was not justbut very recently. So with that,
welcome to the show, Jennifer,Thank you, thanks, Yeah, what
kind of those are some pretty impressivetitles, man, I mean like wow
and that Yeah, that twenty twentythree race, that was just that was
not that long ago if I'm correct, right, No, it was it
(04:35):
was quite recent. Yeah, thatwas so you post about that. That's
very cool. So well, hey, glad to have you on the show.
Yeah, thank you for being herewith what with us? And how
did you get sorry, how didyou first get into Padolin. Oh wow,
Well, it was years and yearsago. I had a friend who
(04:59):
was do doing the sea Paddle NYC. It was more or less like a
twenty I think it was about twentyseven mile paddle around Manhattan Island in New
York that supported autism. And hesaid, hey, why don't you come
over, and you know, I'mgonna donate a bunch of money to this
organization and we're going to go racearound Manhattan Island on a stand up paddle
(05:21):
board. And I'm like, howfar? And yeah, I went and
did it, and I've just fellin love with that feeling. Of of
course, I didn't stand up thewhole entire time, and it was really
grueling, but it just kind ofbecame an addiction. That's kind of how
it started. Well that's yeah.You know, it's funny that the people
that say, gosh, you know, when I tried it the first time,
(05:43):
I was addicted And you got toknow if that happens, that is
the sport, right or the activityfor you? Yes, And it is
funny. I was going to saysomething like that too. All rockstars we
interviewed started just like you, youknow, like with notions, oh some
more invited to me and then Ijust called never, that's true. That's
true. Yeah, well that's prettymuch what happened to you then, Jen,
(06:08):
Right, yeah it is. AndI mean I think that kind of
kind of lit a fire in methat I didn't even know was there,
and it just kind of went onfrom there. And I'd say the first
ultra endurance that I was introduced towas when a friend who I knew from
stand up from prior years, whowas living on Maui at the time,
(06:29):
and I had went over to hishouse for coffee. I was there for
another paddling event and he's I said, what is all this gear you have
here? Where are you going?He's like, oh, I'm going to
go do this thousand mile paddle inthe Yukon. It's a race and I
said, oh my god, whatthat sounds so fun. Yeah, And
that's kind of how I got intomy That's that's when I did my first
m R three forty back in twentyeighteen. I just randomly look found that
(06:54):
race. Because the Yukon you kindof had to have like prerequisites, like
prove yourself that you could actually finishit because there's like grizzly bears and you
know, no big deal, Yeah, just that. Yeah, So I
couldn't do that one that year.So that's how I got into the m
R three forty and that was myfirst true ultra endurance race. And then
(07:15):
I was like, wow, youknow, three hundred and forty miles,
I did it. What more canI do? That's pretty cool? That's
pretty cool. All right, here'sa term. Surf ski. Is that
ring a bell? Tell us aboutthat? Yeah, So it's funny.
Surf ski is something that I've knownof for a very long time, but
I just never participated in this sport. And coincidentally, this year I started
(07:43):
actually racing surf skis and it waskind of for for a specific reason,
and I love it, and I'mkind of like, why didn't I do
this a long time ago? Soa surf ski is just basically like,
if you think about it, it'syou can think about it in two ways.
It's either a very very narrow kayakbecause you are double blading, whereas
I come from more of an outriggersingle blade background. Or you can look
(08:05):
at it like a like an outriggerbut with no outrigger and of course more
stable shaped a little differently, butjust real narrow, real fast slices the
water. That's pretty cool. That'spretty cool. Has a new term on
me. I've not heard of that, so thank you. Oh really,
Yeah, most people when they seea surf ski they think it's a rowing
(08:26):
shell of some sort. They reallydon't know what it is. So you're
not alone in that. Well.I feel a little better knowing that,
because I do sometimes feel like Ilive in a shoe box, you know.
But yeah, that's cool. Iwas find of the same, So
thank you guys for making me tooin a group of people who doesn't know
you know, I know, youknow, that's right. And a week
(08:50):
do you prefer solo pagging or teaingpaging? And why, oh that's a
hard one, you know. Ithink that there's something to be said about
both. I personally, because ofthe direction I've gone, obviously, I
prefer solo paddling. And that's justbecause when you're on a team, you
(09:11):
really you have to dedicate a lotof time and it's not necessarily your own
time, it's you know, workingaround other people's schedules and other people's times,
and if you don't show up,you're not only letting yourself down,
you're letting a whole team down.So for me, with kind of my
my kind of crazy lifestyle and justmy responsibilities, I think it's a lot
(09:35):
easier for me to find my owntime to paddle and to train solo than
it is for a team, becauseI've raced with a team for you know,
several years, and there's definitely positivesto that. I mean, you
make I mean some of my bestfriends that I have right now, I
met at Outrigger on a wahu forthe six man team, and we've created
(09:56):
so many memories and we've created abond, and I really do miss that
and I love that about team teampaddling. But then you know, with
the solo stuff, you really,you really just you're counting on yourself and
you're the only person really that you'regonna let down. So it's a little
bit different. So I do preferthe solo stuff overall, just for the
(10:18):
way things are in my life.But I like team as well. You
know, here's where I'm going withthat. I'm going you people are slowing
me down. I could be somuch better. Well, you know,
it's it's hard not to think likethat because a lot of times you're like,
oh, it's everyone else, itisn't me, you know, And
(10:39):
I've definitely done a lot of growingup looking back, like you know,
it's it's not you can't point fingers. A team is a team. You
guys are one. I mean,everyone's putting in the effort, everyone has
to work together, So you reallycan't really point at one person. I
mean you can, but you knowexactly because there is something to be said
for a chain is only as strongas a tweak link. Yes, and
(11:01):
if you you know, I thinkeven though you you shouldn't say anything,
of course, but I think maybein the back of your mind at some
point maybe you've said, you know, there's this one person, or maybe
maybe it's more than one. Idon't know, you know, just like
boy, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, And I think one thing
I've learned about that too, isthat some of the strongest outrigger teams you
(11:22):
see out there, like Team Bradleyand even like you know, the Outrigger
Canoe Club, now, they're doingso well. They they kind of know
each other so well that maybe theweakest part of one of the team members
someone else can pick up for thatand vice versa. So it's really being
on a team, you know,being one and being a family and learning
(11:45):
to know each other and how youcan actually help each other out, So
not competing against each other, butworking together to make the team stronger as
a whole. Do you ever getto the point where you're close enough and
team members that you can kind ofstart to tune on each they're a little
bit I mean not in a meanway, but like brothers and sisters.
Can you ever get to that point? And may come on, Joe,
(12:07):
you know what I mean? Likethat? But you you do that?
That's good, right. There's areason why they say paddle ticks. I
mean there's definitely a lot of drama, A lot of drama. I don't
miss. I don't miss drama,but you know it comes with it.
I mean, anytime you're with agroup of people, different personalities, different
perspective, different life experiences, you'regonna have drama. So it's not really
(12:31):
what you're saying, it's the approach. It's yeah, the relationship. Yeah
yeah, but we love drama.So I'm on that as well. You
know, I'm kidding. But whatI love about team is that you bond
so well. When you are doingany sports with a group of people,
then they really become friends and eachone push each other up. So that's
(12:56):
so nice. And I use itto do all like lone and sports like
swinging and I mean to groups partsand I am enjoying it so much.
So every think we have the goodin the bed. Right it's lonely out
there paddling three hundred and forty milesby yourself, I would think, so,
(13:18):
I mean, geez, I mean, do you take some tunes with
your radio? What do you do? You know? When I first started,
I used to listen to music,but now I don't unless I'm like
super You know, I've stayed awakefor you know, two nights, and
I'm really suffering. But I havethese little mascots I bring with me,
and everyone who's paddled with me orseen me out there racing, they know
(13:39):
that I have my little mascots.I think I had a narwhall one year.
It's like a little stuffed animal thatI bring and I talk. I
talk to the stuffed animals, andI'd like to think they talked back to
me. I don't know what's reallyhappening. You're not well. I mean,
have you tried like Metallica or somethinglike that, because that would just
get you going. You know,I don't know me, Yeah, that
(14:01):
would make me just like you know, yeah, I get you mad.
You know. It's like working outright. You get to play the music
that makes you angry, you dobetter, you know. I like country
music. When I'm pad. Ohsee, I would fall asleep and that,
you know, I couldn't do thatjust melting it out or either that
or you just start getting all bummyand mellow. Depends on the country group.
I guess our music. Hey,what inspired you to leave Hawaii and
(14:26):
then move to Mexico? What wasthat? I wouldn't necessarily say it was
an inspiration. It was kind ofat a moment in my life where I
had to. I had no otherchoice. Hawaii's a very expensive place to
live being a single parent. Wasreally struggling for i'd say a good five
years, and it finally just cameto a head where I was like,
(14:48):
Okay, like this is not workingright now and I need to make a
change, And was just going throughsome hard family stuff and just decided,
you know what, I'm going totake my my got it. You must
have been thirteen or fourteen at thetime, and I said, We're just
going to go to Mexico and takea year sabbatical and just wow, go
(15:09):
down, just do nothing, noworries, just surf, paddle fish.
I'd like to try that. Yeah, that's right, that's right. That's
what we did for a whole almosta whole entire year, and it was
great. We needed it for ourmental clarity and it was kind of a
reset. I like that Maya.Yeah, I like her program. I'm
(15:31):
thinking about it. I think it'sgreat. That sounds too good to be
true, but she did it right, right, And if food in Mexico
is delicious, it is it isand it's different, you know, mainland
Mexico from Baja. Baja is moreof a I would say, more of
a seafood influence. I mean that'swhat I got out of it because I
(15:54):
grew up in Oregon eating like real, real Mexican food, like let's say
Mexico City. But Baja is alittle bit the cuisine is a little bit
different. It's kind of hard toexplain. Definitely a lot of shrimp,
a lot of fish. Yeah,so you're living it up in Mexico.
Right, what brings you back toOregon? I mean, I'm thinking you're
(16:18):
in paradise there, right. Whathappened? Yeah? Couple of things.
So, first and foremost, themoney was running out. It's really hard
to make a living down in Mexicobeing American. I couldn't really find I
couldn't find a good stable job.I was definitely doing my coaching down there,
but it just wasn't as consistent asI would have liked it to be.
(16:41):
And so I also had an opportunityto join Team Stellar, which Stellar
Kayaks that's the brand of serf skisthat I that I race now, and
I had an opportunity to connect withthem and be able to do my first
ultra endurance race on a surf SI. So for me, it was it
(17:02):
was kind of timing like these raceswere coming up. I had the opportunity
to, uh to paddle for Stellarand have them give me a serf Ski
to use, and it kind ofjust the universe just kind of like threw
that at me and it all madesense. So that's why we left,
and that's why I'm in Oregon tokind of just fulfill some of those op
(17:23):
arrows point in the one direction.It's pretty obvious sometimes, isn't it.
Yeah, yeah, and nevit.It is easy find a good job and
I establish uh worthly life when youwere abroad. I've been that in this
situation two times, and I knowhow har gids. So sometimes it's just
(17:44):
better went back to your country,right. Yeah, it's hard, it's
a hard pill to swallow. ButI mean, I'm so grateful and so
thankful that the opportunity was there andI took it. Because Mexico was just
lovely. I mean, I thinkmy son and I both learned a lot
down there, and you know theSpanish too, Like my son's dad is
(18:06):
from Peru, so we already knewSpanish. It was a great place to
be, Lovely people, lovely placeto be. Yeah. I mean,
I'm a Latin, so I've beengoing to say good stuff about Mexican,
right, And I'm sure you guyshad the opportunity to travel a lot there
because it's a big and beautiful country, right, mm hmm. That's nice.
(18:33):
Well, guys, don't go away. We are going to aldo break,
but we will be back. Afew years ago, someone asked Rudebakga's
owner Darren Bush, Hey, howlong have you guys been selling boats?
(18:55):
Darren replied, well, we don'tsell boats. We sell time on the
water. Of course, that comesin all types. We help people paddle
more safely with rudebiga outdoor programs.We rent canoes, kayaks and stand up
paddle boards. We sell and installracks to get you from home to adventure.
Rudebega's got everything you need to getyou out on the water like paddles,
life jackets, dry bags, someclothing. Rudebea paddlesports on the web
(19:18):
at rudebega dot com. Mention yousaw this ad on the Camping Show it
is time to go camping. Introducingcampground Views virtual tours, you can tour
the campground, see the site,see if they are available, and click
to book your perfect spot, hitthe open road and explore the amazing places
(19:41):
found in nature. We make iteasy to discover, find and book your
site so that you can go havethe fun and freedom you seek. Campground
Views virtual tours make it easy andsimple for you to see where you are
going. D Luthpack is handcrafted forevery lifestyle, making memories since eighteen eighty
(20:26):
two in store at three sixty fiveCanal Park Drive or online at the Luthpack
dot com. We are one bigfamily, a community of tattlers, and
we want to make sure that everyonehas a great time out on the water.
We are made right here in Barta, Tennessee, at USA. This
(20:48):
is where every Jackson Kayak is born. Bull buy him with a focus on
innovation. We are jack and Kayak. We are, we are. We
are Jackson Kyak. We are,we are. We're Jackson cot we are,
we are. We are Jackson Kayak. And we're back with Jennifer Fretskiy
(21:11):
Jen. Let's say you tell usa little bit about the race that you
recently compete completed, actually are competedin the m R three forty. What
is that race? Tell us alittle bit about it? So that race
is a a race holds very dearto my heart because, like I said,
it was the first Altar endurance raceI ever did back in twenty eighteen.
(21:32):
So it's a three hundred and fortymile race on the Missouri River.
So it starts at Cow Point inKansas City, Missouri, and it ends
in I always butcher this. Ithink it's Saint Charles. I always want
to say, Saint Louis, SaintCharles. Yeah, and it's there's no
portages, no dams, no nothing. You have leave eighty eight hours to
(21:56):
complete it and you can basically paddlethe whole thing NonStop through the night,
without sleeping or stopping, whatever youwant to do. And is that what
you do? Yes? What aboutit? I didn't do that, but
the last two times that's what Idid. Because if you want to be
like the super competitive, if youwant to try to win, you have
no other choice. You got todo that. Okay, you know,
(22:18):
I know there are people out theregoing, Okay, what happens when she
has to pee? And that's fornumber one? Number two? Yeah,
I mean everybody's gonna ask that,right, or maybe I'm the only idiot.
And then do your legs ever crampup? I mean you're a kay,
you mean you're you're like you're youknow, what do you how do
you keep from going numb or gettingcramps and things like that. I think
(22:42):
that's the thing that sets the ultraendurance racers, or at least the ones
that do really well apart from theothers, is being able to endure those
things because no matter what you're goingto feel some of the worst pains you
ever felt in your life, andthey're not going to go away. You
know, some people choose to takepainkillers. I'm one of those people who
(23:03):
I just don't take painkillers. SoI just I have a really extremely high
pain tolerance and I've I'm able toblock it out. So, yeah,
your legs go numb, especially inthe outrigger because you're more kind of leaning
towards the outrigger, especially if there'sheadwind, side wind, anything like that
where you have to keep the amadown without flipping. So then like your
(23:26):
whole left side will go numb.You know, from your pretty much your
waist down. You can hang yourleg over the side and stretch it out,
but it's just going to go rightback to just being a pain in
the butt once you put your legback in. That's something I really enjoyed
about the serf Ski is that everythingis just more even, Like you're paddling
(23:47):
left right, left, right,You're not having to be leaning. It's
more core stuff. So there's thatit's just being able to endure that pain,
know that it's going to come,it's not going to go away,
and I'm I'd tell you. Ihad some of the worst pain this last
m R three forty. I don'teven know how I got through it,
because it was it felt like Ihad to put my hands on a on
(24:11):
a burner and got you know whatever, first degree burns. I forget what
level the worst burns you could everimagine in your life, and then having
to grip a paddle and headwind andjust keep going. It was like excruciating
pain, just for hours and hoursand it never ended. Yeah, So
(24:32):
that's that. And I know you'regoing to tell us how you pee in
the canoe or how do you do? You ever fall asleep? I think
maybe after so much sleep deformation,I would be going, you know,
wake it up. Oh that's right, I'm on the river. You know,
No, it happens. I meanyou definitely doze off after staying awake
for two nights in a row.It's that second going into the third night
(24:55):
where it's like, I mean,your body, you got to sleep at
some point unless you're taking some sortof stimulu, which no, I'm not.
Well that's not true. So there'sa I'm going to tell everyone my
one of my secrets, right,Oh right, you've heard it here.
First, exclusive. We love that. Yeah, all the people that I
coach this and everyone is like,oh my god, I wish I would
(25:17):
have found this stuff sooner. Soit's called MEG you can find it on
Amazon. It's military energy gum andit's I think it's one hundred milligrams per
piece, and that's like my emergency. I keep that in my life jacket,
so if I'm falling asleep, Iwill pop one of those. There
was one time where I took onetoo many and had a caffeine overdose and
(25:38):
it was scary thought, but itkeeps you awake. It kind of just
takes the edge off and keeps youalert. I've also, you know,
I slap yourself, splash yourself withwater. There's things you can do.
But yeah, I think I've definitelysleep paddled a couple times. But what
(25:59):
things. You're not driving anything that'sdangerous of motorized vehicles to be follos.
All right, the first day scenario, you got a life you have to
wear a life jacket. You're notgonna drive. Yeah, absolutely. So
the last one that everybody's waiting foris okay, well you got to go
to the bathroom. What do youdo? What do you do? Do
you pull over? Can you pullover? I don't know. So when
I first started these races, Idid pull over. But I mean,
(26:22):
can you imagine if you're really goingfor the wind and you're pulling over every
twenty minutes, you're losing five minutesthe amount of time it takes you to
get to the shore, get out, go to the bathroom, get back
in, get back. Of course. Sure. So I've learned over time
that you just pee yourself. Sothere's really nothing, no trick to it
or anything, just like here wego. For the men, you know,
(26:44):
they're lucky they can just pee ina jar or whatever. But for
the women, it's so much harderfor us. And I've tried so many
different things and devices. Yeah,yeah, there's really nothing. There's really
nothing easy. I mean, youjust end up in Hawaii. We call
it she she shi yourself. Itis what it is, right, Yeah,
(27:06):
don't care about smelling pee? Yeahyeah, you are kind of in
the water any ways, so youcan work something out, So that's fine
the world. Yeah right, youwant it that bad, you'll yeah,
you'll do whatever. It's what's moreimportant smelling not smelling bad, or win
(27:27):
the race. Right, you gotbecause one's just temporary. But when you
lost the race because you had to, you know, then that's that's all.
That's forever. Yeah, sounds somuch fun. Right, You don't
sleep, you feel pan and yoube yourself. You put it like that,
(27:51):
ye know, I'm just kidding.You are like a hero, and
everyone who does any injursance ports arelike hero. You guys have such a
strong mentality and I I look itup for exactly. That's amazing, that's
(28:12):
really that's really nice. Yeah,huge respect. Yeah. Yeah, and
I'm talking about that. What hasbeen your biggest flure failure and what did
you take away from that experience?Oh man, that's such a hard question
for me, I think, Ohman, I've been thinking about this one.
(28:33):
I really don't. I don't knowif I have an answer to that
other than I would say overall,my my biggest failure in life has been
doubting myself. I tend to doubtmyself a lot. In a lot of
these races, I think, youknow, if you haven't noticed, I
always get second. There's there's awoman that always beats me, and I've
(29:00):
always kind of doubted, like there'sno way I'm ever going to beat her.
It's just going to be impossible,impossible. And this last race,
actually, the m R three fortwenty twenty three, is when I kind
of realized, Actually, it's absolutelywhen I realized that all this doubt is
all in my head, that Iwas actually ahead of this woman for a
(29:21):
very very long time, and Ido strongly believe that I could have beat
her. And that was when Ifinally got rid of all that doubt and
I trusted in my training and Itrusted in everything that led up to what
I was doing, even though ittook me years. I mean sometimes it
takes athletes ten twenty years to makeit to a point that they always wanted
(29:45):
to be, and it's just notgiving up getting rid of that self doubt.
So that would be a lot ofmy regret is over these years,
just kind of accepting always getting second, always geting a second. Yeah,
yeah, I didn't. I didn'trealize that people actually do that. I
suppose maybe if it happens over andover again, you're like, you know,
(30:07):
but yeah, but from the schoolnever quit, never give up,
never say never, right, Yeah, it was, Yeah, twenty twenty
three was a big year for meand It really made me realize, like,
you can doubt yourself as much asyou want, but it's it's one
of those things where you really haveto just you put in the work and
the results are going to come.Just don't give up. Even if they
(30:29):
don't come for ten fifteen years,you're gonna get there. Really. Yeah,
that's a great advice for life ingeneral. So I hope everyone who
is listened to that can't learn tothrow her experience because we in general we
put ourselves down and we don't believeyou know ourselves. So let's believe you
(30:52):
know ourselves and put some work tomake whatever we want to do happen.
But that's a really nice well wehave some pictures to look it up.
But after the leedle break, sodon't go away. A few years ago
(31:19):
someone asked Rudebegga's owner Darren Bush,Hey, how long have you guys been
selling boats? Darren replied, well, we don't sell boats. We sell
time on the water. Of course, that comes in all types. We
help people paddle more safely with Rudebigaoutdoor programs. We rent canoes, kayaks,
and stand up paddle boards. Wesell and install racks to get you
(31:40):
from home to adventure. Rudebega's goteverything you need to get you out on
the water, like paddles, lifejackets, dry bags and clothing. Rudega
paddlesports on the web at Rudebega dotcom. Mention you saw this ad on
the Camping Show it is time togo camping. Introducing campground Views virtual tours,
(32:00):
you can tour the campground, seethe site, see if they are
available, and click to book yourperfect spot, hit the open road and
explore the amazing places found in nature. We make it easy to discover,
find and book your site so thatyou can go have the fun and freedom
you seek. Campground Views virtual toursmake it easy and simple for you to
(32:28):
see where you are going. TheLoothpack is handcrafted for every lifestyle, making
(32:55):
memories since eighteen eighty two in storeat three sixty five Canal Park Drive,
or online at the Luthpack dot com. We are one big family, a
community of tattlers, and we wantto make sure that everyone has a great
time out of the water. Weremade right here in part of Tennessee,
(33:15):
USA. This is where every Jacksonkayak is born. You'll buy him with
a focus on innovation, we arejack and Kanyak. We are we are,
we are Jackson Kyak and we arewe are We're Jackson, we are
we are Jackson Kyak and we areoutdoors people. Back with our guest Jennifer
(33:43):
Franski. One, let's through acouple, uh couple. Let's throw the
photos out there that John sennas andwe'll have her tell us a little bit
about each of them. Okay,that's my favorite part. I know,
It's like it's like showing tell inkindergarten. Always loved that too. Yeah,
what is this? I love mygosh, so I really love this
(34:05):
photo too. And I have aI have a good friend Andy, he
lives on a wa who's a veryamazing photographer. He does really funny stuff.
He contacted me on Instagram one day. I didn't even know who he
was, but I guess he wasjust looking at photos and stuff that I
did. I've done a lot ofwater stuff, obviously in Hawaii, and
(34:30):
he messaged me and said, hey, would you be interested in doing a
photo shoot. I said, oh, yeah, sure, let's do it.
You know, And the first timeI met the guy, you know,
he was explaining to me what kindof photography he wanted to do,
and he was like, it's underwater, like he was doing wearing a dress
underwater and lifting weights underwater and doingall this stuff, and I thought,
oh, God, like it hasit's been so long since I've held my
(34:52):
breath for that long. And youknow, he he's such a crazy,
like just awesome person. He's verywild personality, very go with the flow,
and it's a lot like my personality. So we vibed really well and
we just did a whole bunch ofphotography underwater, and this was one of
those really good ones. I thinkthis was at Waimea Bay where the water's
(35:15):
like really really clear. It lookscrystal clear. I mean there is nothing
in that way. I don't evensee any fish. There wasn't There wasn't
really any fish in this specific areathat we were in. And believe it
or not, this is probably aboutthe sixth the sixth shoot that we did,
So it's it takes a lot ofpractice to be able to keep a
(35:37):
very calm face like that underwater withyour eyes open, to make it not
look like you're holding your breath.Yeah, you're the salt waters burning your
eyes to death. Yeah, Itried it. So many times and it
never work it out for me.It takes practice. Wow. Yeah,
(35:58):
because you don't even look like you'reunder water. That's amazing. Yeah,
all right, what do we gethere? I love this photo. So
this is from the twenty twenty threem R three forty. So this is
my Stellar kayak. It's a Falcon, that's the version of it. That
was the boat that was given tome to use for the m R three
(36:20):
forty. So this was the start. So this is where I believe the
Kansas River and the Missouri River merge, and that's where the start of the
races. That's at cop Point.So that was me getting ready to put
in. Oh so they start thisat the confluence and like that. Okay,
yeah, wow, I liked it. Boat though. These are cool,
(36:44):
isn't it cool? I called it. I called it the Bumblebee.
I love the colors. Yeah,And again this was me at cop Point.
I'm just really excited getting ready torace. So that was just another
shot right right at the start beforethe start. These boats look like there's
(37:05):
some balance going on there there.Hans absolutely. Oh man. Yeah,
and that was that was one ofthe challenges in switching over from outrigger to
serfski was that the serfski is veryunstable. So I had a lot of
challenging moments in the beginning of theyear because I just learned how to serf
ski. Like literally, first timeI'd ever been on a surf ski paddled
(37:29):
on a serf ski was in Februaryof this year getting ready for a three
hundred and forty mile race just afew months later. So I had to
learn fast, so I put itall my work. Wow, yeah,
oh my gosh, that was me. Actually that's my backyard, well at
my parents' house in Oregon. That'sthe Willamette River, the beautiful lamit where
(37:51):
I did all my training on.So that was my trainer serf ski.
That's a little bit of a widersurf ski, the SAT and SX by
Stellar, So that was what Iwhat I trained on before I went more
narrow and faster of course, rightthis, yeah, this one is not
as fast as the Falcon, butit's still a very fast, awesome boat.
(38:12):
Just a little more stability so thatI could learn that's cool, you
have that leak. So this isalso the Willamette River. This is I
believe this is a this is aFalcon. So what I did was I
paddled I think this one was sixtyfive miles up river, camped on this
(38:36):
island, and this was my testrun to see what gear and where I
should place it to get ready forthe m R three forty and the Alabama
six fifty, which I didn't endup doing this year, unfortunately, but
this was my test run. Howlong is that bulgin? Oh, my
(38:57):
gosh, just a guess I shouldknow. I think it's nineteen. Wow.
Yeah, it's a long boat.Yeah, it's pretty long. Isn't
it heavy? No, it's not. It's not heavy at all. It's
it's not as heavy as you'd thinkit would be. Uh. This is
probably me leaving by the looks ofthe boat and the river. This is
(39:21):
the Missouri most definitely, just leavingfrom probably a checkpoint. Maybe I stopped
to refill water. You don't goback to the wage And what do you
think that boat weighs? The falcon? Oh, the falcon. So there's
different layups. That one was alittle bit more of a stronger layup in
case I hit a rock or something. I would say that boat weighs only
(39:45):
about twenty five thirty pounds. Youyou're going to say that that is so
light. It's so light. They'reso nice especially for that length. My
god. Yeah, and there's thestart, the start of the Yeah,
that's the start of the MR threebefore it, there's tons of people.
There was over five hundred paddlers thatyear. So actually most years it's it's
(40:12):
the it has the most people.Out of all the endurance races Alter Endurance
paddles, it's the most people.It's the most popular one. And what's
really cool about it is that Ialways tell people that are that come to
me and say, hey, I'mreally interested in doing an ulter endurance race.
This is the first one I tellthem to do. Because there's so
many places that your support crew canaccess you, and there's so many places
(40:35):
that you can stop safely that it'sa really it's a good race. Yeah
start, Except for twenty twenty threewasn't It was dangerous, But generally that's
a that's a great idea, youknow, if you're going to try one,
doing a place that you can safelyget out and blah blah blah,
it just yeah, you don't haveyou don't walk away with a bad taste
in your mouth. Should things notwork? Yeah, don't do the yukon
(41:00):
for your first race. There yougo again, cappoint the people that are
there seeing you off. I mean, this is just the community. The
community. Community gets so involved inthis race, so it's really exciting.
You get people that aren't even paddlerscoming out to watch, you know,
(41:22):
support crews, family members. Imean, it's just it's a party.
I mean I think it's interesting though. I mean, you know, yeah,
I mean yeah, I Hey,if I was a community person going,
hey, let's go down and watchthat boat and you know, this
guy's race that had taken off,I'm like, I think that's a great
Yeah. And it's fun to justsee all the different crafts. I mean,
people make crafts. They make likepedal drives where they're peddling with their
(41:45):
feet and they've rigged these paddles tomove. It's just crazy. There we
go. Well, bad memories.Oh my god, So these are the
hands I was talking about. Andthis doesn't this picture does not even do
this justice. The pain. Yeah, that was just like I don't even
(42:07):
know what it was. It waswater logged hands. I mean it felt
like a giant blister over my entirehand. I was gettings, water,
blisters, all kinds of blisters.Why not gloves jen Well, when you
think about it, the gloves arereally trapping in moisture anyway. Sometimes I'll
(42:30):
wear gloves if it's really cold outsideto keep my hands warm, but really
glove A lot of times gloves irritateme. The only gloves that I've ever
found that don't irritate my hands areby the company NRS. They makes some
really nice gloves. But my itwasn't cold during this race, so I
didn't have to wear gloves. Butit's kind of a hit and a miss.
(42:52):
I mean, your hands need tobreathe in your in You're paddling with
carbon fiber mi correct? Yes?Not a piece of wood, which is
more of a natural material might helpout. Maybe not. I don't know,
you know, I'm just kind ofwondering. Well, the carbon fiber
does definitely rip up your hands aftera while. So but this this is
a mix of just me gripping thepaddle too hard because I again, I'm
(43:15):
a single blader that has switched overto a double blade, so I'm gripping
the blade too hard, And itwas just constant rain so my hands were
always wet, Like I wasn't theonly one whose hands looked like this.
Yeah. Wow, Yeah, mylovely support crew. She stepped up when
(43:38):
I had no one to support me. For this year's m R three forty,
I put out on Facebook that Iwas looking for someone, and yeah,
she stepped up. Her name isNicole. She stepped up and offered
to follow me along the course,and she was awesome and we created a
great friendship out of it. Andthat's one thing I love about paddling.
(43:59):
The people you meet. Yeah,that's m mixed. You're taking me down
memory. Yeah, yeah, we'rewinding down about six minutes here, got
it. We're gonna have you tellus a little bit jin about the podcast
that you do. Yeah. SoI I started a podcast a few years
(44:23):
ago called ninety percent Mental Ultra EndurancePaddling Adventures. And when I started it,
I really had no expectations. Ididn't know what what it was going
to be about, or what,you know, if anyone was even going
to listen to it. But itturns out that people do really like it,
(44:44):
and that's awesome. I just inviterandom not random people, but I
invite people that have done races likethis before, like I've had Sally O'Donnell
Bobby Johnson, which are too firstwinners of the Alabama six fifty. Just
really good paddlers, really good people, just kind of talking story with them
(45:06):
and not only do I learn something. That's kind of why I started it,
just because I wanted to talk storywith people and kind of learn more
and see what why do they doultra endurance and kind of see if we
have things in common, which itends up we do. And people just
started liking it and listening to itand from all over the world, and
(45:28):
I thought, oh my gosh,okay, this is cool. And people
started asking me, why are yougoing to do another episode? Or you
know, can I be on yourepisode? Or maybe this person be on
your episode. So it's been kindof a fun little project. A little
bit draining, honestly, it's hard. Yeah, I mean, you guys
know, podcasting is time it's timeconsuming, but it's definitely been really rewarding
(45:52):
and I hope to keep it going. Yeah, it's just talking story with
friends and having a good time.Yeah, yeah, that's cool. I
know. We really love listen toyou guys, like who knows. Yeah,
right, And Jennifer, where canpeople go to follow you on social
(46:13):
medias? So social media, Ido have Instagram. I'm not very active
on it. I kind of tooka little bit of a break from it,
but everything is still up there.Some cool pictures on there. You
can check out some of the stuffI've done, paddlefish, surf that.
Yeah. So that's my Instagram,and then Facebook is just my name,
(46:36):
Jennifer Nicole Fratsky. You can findme on there. I'm pretty sure there's
only one of me. Yeah,and I do. Like I said,
I've kind of taken a little bitof a break from posting, but I
hope to kind of get more inthere because it's just such a great way
to connect with people you know allover the world that you don't otherwise see
(46:59):
every day or you don't live closeto them. It's absolutely true. Yeah,
it sure is. It's a andit's kind of a community in its
own. Really, you need tothink about it. Yeah like that.
Yeah, Well, Jennifer Listener,we want to thank you for being our
guest here tonight on Outdoors People.Absolutely a pleasure having to chat, an
opportunity to interview you and and getinside the mind of an endurance paddler.
(47:22):
I love that whole thing. Right, Yeah, we're a little crazy,
but I think a little bit superstaris you know? I think that was
what. Yeah. Yeah, allhawkstars are crazy, so that's a really
good thing. There you go,that's right, the compliment. Actually,
all the superstars are awesome. Bityeah, a little bit crazy, yes,
(47:45):
And thank you very much for ourtime. And we'd also like sorry,
we'd also like to thank each ofour sponsors for bringing you tonight's show,
Ruta Baga, Petro Sports, CampgroundViews, d Luf Peck, and
Jackson Kayak. Be sure to tunein for next week's episode, Holiday in
Arubo along with Maya Marzaki. Thisis CW Gees saying thanks for tuning in
(48:07):
to Outdoors People. See you nextweek. Tw
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