Hey man, thanks a bunch! Yeah I always like to go back and compare older paddling videos to new ones to see what I've improved on, and what I still need to work on. It's funny because when I was just getting started, I felt like becoming a better paddler would translate to being able to take faster and more paddle strokes in general since I wasn't getting to where I was trying to get in rapids, as well as missing paddle strokes entirely from my frantic and panicked paddling on rapids that scared me. Now as I've improved, I've learned that it's almost the exact opposite of what I originally thought. Turns out becoming a better paddler is way more about getting the most power and maneuverability from a single well placed paddle stroke, and concentrating on keeping your body and line of sight focused on where you want to end up instead of on the front of the boat or on my paddle blades. So improving for me actually translated to taking one or two well placed and timed paddle strokes in a way that accomplishes the same thing that I would have had to take 10+ strokes to accomplish 2 or 3 years prior. I bet that if I slowed down the video and counted my number of total strokes in the first video versus the last, the last video would have about half the number of total paddle strokes, and a way better line despite how much less hard I worked paddling in comparison to the earlier videos. Would be really curious to do this again 5 years down the line and check out the comparison then! And yes, the god damn water drops on the lens are the bane of my existence. I've alternated between trying to lick the lens, or splash it a few times before major rapids to clear off the drops, but no matter what I still end up with them. Lmfao I don't know if my saliva is defective, or if I'm just incompetent, but I have the absolute worst luck with keeping my lens clear. May have to try one of those protective water repelling lens covers next, because I'm always just as frustrated as you are with the water drops. As I'm sure you know, there isn't much of a bigger buzzkill after running a line your proud of on a rapid then going to watch your footage, and not being able to see anything because of drops on the lens. That's one of the three videography mistakes that can completely ruin your river footage, the others being accidentally switching your camera into still photo or timewarp mode when trying to manually turn the camera off, or not being able to hear the recording beeps and ending up with footage of all the eddies before and after rapids, but none of the rapids themselves since you end up accidentally stopping the recording whenever you meant to start it! GoPro's are obviously awesome, but also a constant source of frustration and heartache. I'm sure you know how shitty it feels to realize you didn't get the footage that you came there for in the first place, or have some problem with the camera that leads to you not being able to use it at all, and being super bummed out all day that you won't be able to have any footage to remember your paddle by... Sorry, went really overboard rambling on and on there. Thanks again for watching, the kind words, and I hope to maybe see you out there some day!

@@brianluisi7616 thanks a bunch for the kind words man! Really appreciate it, and have a good night