Pro kayaker Katrina Van Wijk has made her mark on the whitewater world in more ways than one. This year she became the first female to compete in the North Fork Championships on the Payette River in Idaho and has a come in first at both the Green Race in 2013 and the Little White Salmon Race in 2014. Not only is she paving the path for female boaters by scoring high and turning heads at these competitions, but she is also the founder of TiTs Deep, an organization that recognizes and celebrates other extreme women in the sport of kayaking.
THE CLYMB: Can you give us a run down on what TiTs Deep is and where you came up with this idea?
KATRINA VAN WIJK: It’s kind of funny: a group of us Slalom girls started joking around and telling each other, “You gotta look sexy out there, tits up,” as a way to talk about our different style of boating. In 2010 when I was training for my first Green race in North Carolina I was practicing this one move above a 15 foot drop. Sometimes you can get pitted into it and sink way down. I just plugged it in one of my training laps and just yelled out, “I’m Tits Deep!” From then on the word just kind of stuck.
The kayaking world is awesome, I have incredible guy friends and I love it but I started asking myself the question, why aren’t there other girls out here charging with me? I felt like we needed an all female mission. That’s why I grouped up with a bunch of other girls and we travel the world and kayak. We just came back from Norway.
THE CLYMB: TiTs Deep is definitely a motto among all the female boaters I know, like you said. Why do you think it’s become such a popular saying?
KVW: There are other female paddling groups out there. And I think there’s room for all of us. Someone like Anna Levesque with Girls At Play has a slower approach, a more supportive way of learning how to kayak, whereas TiTs Deep is just a little bit more out there, pushing yourself to another limit. So I think there are girls out there who been stoked to have a different outlook to look up to. And then there’s also the wow factor of the name, I’m sure.
THE CLYMB: Do women have a different style of boating than men? Are there pros and cons of being a female athlete in this sport?
KVW: Yeah, I definitely have watched men and tried to copy their style. As female kayakers we have to learn to use the water because we aren’t as strong as the men. We learn how to use the water a little bit easier, how to harness that energy. You really don’t have to be that strong to paddle. You just use the water to your benefit.
THE CLYMB: What advice do you have for women and girls who are new to whitewater kayaking?
KVW: Do it. Take a course or get your friends to get you on a river. Don’t give up if it gets to hard because it’s incredible out there. Even if it’s on Class II there are so many incredible rivers that go through some of the most beautiful, magical places in this world and it’s so worth it to paddle those rivers.
THE CLYMB: What has kayaking taught you about yourself?
KVW: You always have to be patient with kayaking because sometimes you don’t get it. That’s a hard question but I think I learned most things that I know about myself on the river when I’m traveling, doing a solo mission, or from the other people that I know through kayaking.
THE CLYMB: Who are the other athletes that make up TiTs Deep?
KVW: There’s lots of girls out there, we don’t really have a team, per say. We kind of just say everybody’s TiTs Deep if they want to be.
THE CLYMB: What is the future of TiTs Deep?
KVW: I’m hoping to build some sort of website for anyone around the world in any sport to find out information about an area or to hook up with other females. It would also have content for female athletes, like videos, stories, and cool adventures that women are doing around the world. I think that would be incredible. I’m in school right now so I’m quite busy but one day it will be up there.