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My vision of the Grand Canyon started at the Nike World Headquarters in July of 2004. I had infiltrated a meeting with Anna Levesque and team Dagger on the 70 acre headquarters in Beaverton, OR. We were going from one meeting to the next being treated like royalty- All Conditions Gear, Nike vision, Nike Time, and just as the R&D meeting was about to start, my cell phone blew up. It was Bill Wildman from the Whitewater Ranch in Wisconsin, and I could feel expressed urgency in his voice.

"Sam, I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for weeks! As you know, I have a Grand Canyon permit coming up September 17- two days after the motor season and supposedly the absolute best time to paddle the canyon. I left a spot on the trip for you and I would love for you to be a part of the core team. My only problem is- I need to know if you can go today. The permit names are due tomorrow. It will cost about $2,000 for the whole thing. And if you are part of the core team- I want you to paddle the entire river with us."

"Wow! What an opportunity. I’ve wanted to run that stretch of river for years. But, ouch that is a pretty hefty price tag- especially for someone who usually is paid to be on river trips. Who else is on the trip?"

"Well, as you know, I am organizing the trip in the spirit of a true first descent - i.e. no one on the trip will have been down- and I am trying to run it as small as a group as possible. We have two of my third year guides on the Peshtigo coming (Sanchez and Lisa), Randy who is a hardened river soul, and Chad Randall- one of Hollywood’s most revered stunt man / coordinators (on his first river trip) will make up the core team. For the first seven days, team Malibu will float with us- Don Wildman, his wife Rebecca, Laird Hamilton, Sonny Miller (a world renown surfing cinematographer), and Leatham Stern would be on the trip. The second 10 days we will be a lean group with only seven members the addition of one kayaker- Nate Alwine - and the last five days will include my wife, daughter and a few close friends. You would be part of the core group."

"O.K., I am in for at least seven days," I responded with a slight tone of hesitation.

I originally classified the trip as vacation as I was going on a river trip with a bunch of folks I didn’t really know, and I wasn’t in charge- but soon saw opportunity for potential work. My hesitation came from the fact that I was going to be running three river expeditions on two different continents in the two months following the Grand Canyon trip. I decided I was up for the challenge of getting everything ready before I left. So I immediately started making arrangements and plans.

My entrepreneurial mind engaged, and I started coming up with ways I might be able to pay for this private trip through production and/or photography. Being an extreme kayaker myself, I knew that having Laird Hamilton (one of the most high visibility extreme surfers in the world) on the trip- on the river- presented a unique opportunity. I considered different scenarios, and ultimately called one of my closest partners in crime- Nate Nash who works for Matchstick Productions- a pioneer in extreme ski films. I explained the situation, and within minutes had a plan. See if we could get a filming permit, contact Laird and see if he would be willing to work with us, and try to get Nash on the trip. The best of all worlds, get a friend on the trip, a job, and a great experience on the Grand Canyon (maybe this wasn’t going to be all vacation after all).

After a bit of research (an e-mail to the filming permit coordinator of the Grand Canyon National Park) I found out indeed, we could get a commercial filming permit on the private river trip. All we had to fill out the proper forms, and pay the fee. Bill was fine with adding Nash to the roster with a late fee as long as he would paddle a raft once team Malibu hiked out. Nash was even able to pre-sell a show about a river trip down the Grand Canyon- in High Definition Television, and Laird’s agent seemed open to the prospect. The kicker was that the only way Nash was going to be able to get out of his current production contract was if this Grand Canyon project was a go. It seemed like it was all coming together. I called Bill, and told him I would paddle the entire Canyon- 22 days, and 296 miles, and I would bring my SAT phone. If it was going to be work, why not get the whole experience.

After much consultation and many different visions of craft, I decided to paddle WaveSport Foreplay. I didn’t want to paddle a slalom boat because I figured it would limit my ability to play, and Adam Druckman from Teva told me, "Nothing that you take down the Grand will ever be the same," referring to the high silt content of the water and the harsh sunlight. I considered taking my WaveSport ZG 54, but opted against it because I knew that at least 200 of the 296 miles where dead flat. The Foreplay was the best compromise I could come up with.

Ten days prior to our departure, Nash heard back from the film permit coordinator, and our permit application had been rejected. A supervisor at the park headquarters wouldn’t allow the permit approval. In fact, we should have never been told that we would be able to get a commercial filming permit on a private river trip. Ouch. Things started to unravel from there. Nash wasn’t going to be able to come on the river, and I was out of a close friend on the bulk of the trip. The investments I made on preparing for the trip were a wash, and I was committed to paddle the entire river.