Team Riot

New Riot Kayaks Team Site

2008-08-11T11:48:00.001-07:00

Hi folks,

We have a brand new Riot Kayaks Team web site at TeamRiotKayaks.com Please go there from here on out to see all our team member's bios, the latest news blogs, words from the company President and info about our boat designs and their designers. This blog is no longer in use and will self destruct in T minus ten seconds.

Raundalen

2008-08-01T02:57:00.000-07:00

Raundalen

This year we have spent a lot of time on the Raundalen river. It’s my favorite by far, and with loads of snow in the mountains we have had good levels this year. So good levels and a disapproval of a proposed dam calls for a celebration of this river. This summer we have also really fallen in love with the Thunder. It’s partly because we have started to explore some of our creek runs at higher flows and partly because some of the best play spots are located in these gorges. Both good reason to choose the Thunder which is my favorite at big water/creeking/river running/play……when it’s all mixed up and you want to have the cake and eat it too.

This was also why I took the Thunder when I went to Futa last winter. I needed a boat to go on the big rapids and waves and that would get me safe down some of the waterfalls we found on our way to Futa.

Well, we were out to take some pictures for you, when the whole river suddenly went brown….we got up and just ahead of us the river was blocked by a huge landslide. Sadly this landslide might have destroyed my favorite rapid…time will show.

Here are some pics from the river of me, Eirik and Silje.

Foto: Jarand Naa and Mark Basso

Riot Kayaks at FibArk

2008-07-06T14:21:00.001-07:00

My brother Eli and I both made the trip out to Salida, Colorado once again this year to participate in the FibArk Festival on the Arkansas River. This year, who-ever-the-people-are-that-decide-things decided to make the competition here freestyle nationals and the qualifiers for the world cup.

Anyway, Since I turned 19 this January, I had to compete in the Pro class. Eli is 17 and competed in the Junior class.

The competition was a little tough because the water was so high. With all the extra snow Colorado has had this year, the extra flow made the Salida hole a little bit flushy. All the same, more water is never a bad thing. In prelims my first ride was sweet but my second one was a bust. Oh well, I hit a paddle twirl loop after the buzzer. I ended up in 12th at nationals. (I was 14th over all but there were two Canadians in the top 10).

Eli did well in prelims and advanced to semi finals where he secured his place as the 8th best junior freestyle kayaker in the nation.

Despite the best efforts of the freestyle competitors, the Hooligan race (people floating down the river in whatever they can find) still took the spotlight as the most fun event of the festival. My favorite float was a guy riding through the hole on a floating exercise bike. The part where he ran into the bridge was especially sweet...

Anyway, here is a short video and some pictures of the event. All pictures by Karen Van Dusen. There is also a little bit of footage from the Pueblo hitewater park. The park is sweet at all levels and I would encourage anyone who finds themselves in the area to check it out.

David Looping

Eli in the Hole

Eli had some nice spray on that loop.

Thats it for now. Eli and I will be paddling around the NW for a while.

David

Rusher Photo in Newsweek

2008-07-03T09:47:00.000-07:00

OK... so I'm new to the whole blog thing and I'm really good at taking photos on my trips and then letting them sit on my hard drives. I'm going to try to remedy that but just so everyone knows I'm a little behind. Don't worry, ill keep it within the last year or so! The other thing that hinders my posts is the all the writing... I'm a better kayaker and photographer than a writer. So... I'm hoping to stick to the "a picture is worth a thousand words" theory for now and at lest start putting up some small trip reports, session photos and other random Riot related stuff!

with all that said... I had a small photo of me published in Newsweek Magazine. The photo was shot in Laos by Trask McFarland and it accompanied a review on the Vio helmet cam that we used down there (http://www.vio-pov.com/). Its not everyday i can tell my mom to go get a copy of Newsweek and see a photo of me! Supposedly there was a Japanese version we never got our hands on... anyways, kind of cool...

matt

Coming Home

2008-06-29T16:20:00.000-07:00

A long, long time ago a little company called Riot took a chance on sponsoring a no-name kayaker who had no money, no real prospects, and no paddling resume to speak of. Actually, in the beginning I owed Riot a boat because I demolished a demo boat on Eagle Creek.

I realize that no matter what I say, people will write this off as a completely biased review. For those neigh-sayers, skip to the video for proof that the boats actually perform. For everyone else that's curious about how the boats perform, read on.

Astro 54: I'll be honest, at first I looked at the Astro's kick rocker and assumed the boat was going to be a pig on the wave. Usually the more rocker on a boat the slower it's going to be on the big wave. I had seen Fisher paddle the Astro 58, but that man could Air Blunt a dugout canoe.

So to give the boat a real test I shoved it into the back on my trusty Subaru and headed up to Skookumchuck for some big wave testing.

Once I had the Astro out on the wave I absolutely fell in love with it. It's surprisingly fast. I'm not saying it's a rocket ship, but I was really surprised that I could stay on the wave even when it completely greened out. It also holds speed so you have a better chance of doing combo moves - like bread and butters or KY's - without getting dragged off the wave.

The big flat area under the seat also makes for a really large landing pad for big blunts and airscrews. I had a lot of fun doing past verts and landing in a green grind without catching my edge and getting completely destroyed. The biggest down side to the Astro is that with the bow rocker you really have to pump the boat to do Flashbacks.

In all I was really stoked with how the boat handles on a big wave, and I only thing I regret is leaving Skook.

Magnum 72:
The plan was originally go to Skook for a few days and then go creeking in the Squamish area. Unfortunately we were banking on cold weather keeping the snow melt to a minimum. What we got were warm sunny days at Skook, and nothing but ridiculously high water for the rest of the trip.

Shut down on Plan A, we switched to Plan B which involved paddling anything remotely doable so I could finally get some time in my Magnum. I ended up paddling Icicle Creek, and another creek that I can't remember in, Washington with my nomadic friend Morgan Koons.

The Magnum handled everything like Muhamed Ali; "Float like a butterfly, and punch through everything that stands in your way." Even without properly outfitting the boat I was stoked with how nimble it was on the water. It turned easy and still held it's line through a hole. I didn't get a proper chance to run the Magnum through it's paces so I'll just reiterate what Spencer said to me. "This things the sh!t"

I'll post more when I get the chance to take the Magnum back out on the water, but for now it feels good to be home.

Check out the video of Skook at Rapid Transit.

Enjoy,
Karl

The Backwheel in a Riot Magnum

2008-06-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

The Backwheel. The Backwards Freewheel. A Reverse Freewheel. The Switchwheel...No actually the Switchwheel might be a splitwheel freewheeled, now that I think about it. Yes, that's what a Switchwheel would be. This is a Backwheel.

My good buddy BK, as in Bryan Kirk, not Booger King, took these outrageous shots of me last summer (N. Hemisphere summer that is.) The stage is set at Pummel Falls on the Potomac River at last year's Po-toe-Mac-n-Cheese Fest. (No baked potatoes smothered and covered with Mac-n-Cheese were actually served at the Fest, although it was quite a good time!) I received them recently, and thought some of you cowboys and cowgirls out there might be keen on viewing them. So before we begin I'll say THANKS to Bryan for being hot on the trigger, as well as shooting them down under to me! Chur bro!

It is a common misconception about the Backwheel that it is what you do when you are scared and don't want to look as you go off a waterfall. That is what freewheeling is for. If you think about it, when you freewheel, you look down at the lip as you go off, and then look upstream...you never have to look down! Backwheeling is quite different.

This Backwheel was done out of anger, spontinuity, and curiosity. When I got back up to the top after hucking, Bryan was like..."Bro I got a picture of you doing that where you can see the whites of your eyes!" If people on the bank can't see the whites of your eyes while you are backwheeling drops, you probably aren't going to land them. Spot yer landing ya'll!!!

Patience is an invaluable tool while kayaking. The Backwheel requires much patience. At this point though, fluidity kicks in, your body un-winds and you raise the roof because just for a split second all is good and well in life.

Take that, rewind it back, the Magnum got the beat to make yo booty go CLAP!

Mc Coy Creek Wa.

2008-06-16T16:00:00.000-07:00

Its true, the best creeking in Oregon is in Washington!

McCoy Creeks is a bitty trib of the Cispus near Randle Washing. Bennet calls for 150-600 cfs at 5-15% of the Cispus at Randle. We had about 3K there giving us a calculated 150-450cfs but I swear it was more than that. Its been a banner snow pack year in the Northwest so getting with almost all the water coming from up top our own visual estimates were more along the 600cfs range. You can look at the photos and make up your own mind though.

McCoy is a fairly rarely run and often over looked high quality creek that is probably over shadowed by close by runs, the Upper Upper Cispus , the Ohanepecosh and the Clear Fork of the Cowlitz. While it may not have the draw of the other better known runs, its packed with fun ledges and some big slides and combo drops. There’s even a good sized waterfall just to round out the experience.

Casey, Rick, Jame, Richard and I met the bridge over the Cispus on FR 23 at 9:45AM. Rick and I met up in the morning, the other three had camped up there the night before for a shake down cruise in his new EuroVan.

Put on grins

Rick and I had done this one once, about a year before the other three were new to the run. McCoy Cr on Oregon Kayaking.
It looked a bit higher than last time and there were few eddies in sight. There was a nervous pause at the put in and a brief hesitant conversation then ended with us putting on happily but nervously but that could have had something to do with the miners with guns and a stuck pickup truck down the put in path.

As it turned out Rick and I had forgotten most of the run which is a real shame considering the number of quality drops that are in there. I was constantly anticipating the pothole drop around every bend fearing wood in the narrow channel allowing you to skirt the pothole.

Richard finishing up the drop with the pothole. We all ran left.

Rain forced me to put the camera away after a few misty photos of the first big slide. We all ran down the right skirting the pocket hole on the left. The next major drop is a tight double drop with a log filled bouldery s-turn lead in. The line is clear but the potential for carnage is obvious.

Richard below the tight double drop.

The next big drop is Chinook Falls, or as the Bennet Guide calls it. BUD (Backwards and Upside Down). The lead in to Chinook lurks around a tight right hand turn that currently has wood most of the way across guarding the normal scout eddy. It’s a little bit of a scramble to make it, but there are other eddies available before being committed to this 50ft + three tiered slide.

Chinook starts with a twisty, boily lead in to a 6-8 ledge that you want to boof with left angle. The right side is ugly and will probably result in a quick and unexpected trip down the center of the last slide, into a nasty hole.. that is, if you make it through the crack there. Out of the 5 of us, we had on walker. The 4 that ran it, nobody had exactly a clean line of this ledge. The eddy between the last two drops is swift.

Me on the entrance to Chinook from an earlier trip. Photo by Rick Cooley

James halfway through Chinook Falls workin to stay in the eddy

The last part of the drop is a wide slide, clean down the right and nasty down the middle to left. There’s some video floating around of a Portland boater getting sucked back into that hole. It seemed to flush more at our flows though, and a good thing too as James, who didn’t quite make the line, gutted the bottom hole but came out upright and just fine.

Richard finishing up the bottom slide of Chinook Falls

After bombing down through some fun and clean ledges you eventually make it to the big runnable falls. The book calls it 20ft. They also suggest a portage.
Silly books. The falls is super fun and we had runs down the right for a plug and doen the middle for a boof. I recommend strong left to center momentum as the left wall hooks in and the current will push you into it. I ended up again the wall rolling and getting pulled back in. Not fun when a 40' un-runnable drop is just downstream.

The right line at the 20ft falls. Photo by Rick Cooley.

Richard really hit the boof on the '20ft' falls.

The big portage was next up and though I've heard of a better way, we instead went up and around and roped the boats down a couple hundred feet before 'schwacking down to river level. Once down there and after a short breather, Rick paddled across and looked upstream at the clear path down to the river.

Shortly after that, the confluence of Yellowjacket and a mile or so of read and run class IV followed by a couple more miles of annoying class II.

Unfortunately, my shoulder was too sore in the morning to paddle on Sunday but we spent the better part of it driving around anyway. We found out that the road to the Super Slides run on the Cispus still has plenty of snow miles from the take out and that the put in for Smith Creek is REALLY steep.

Check out more photos here.

Till next time!

Magnum 80 video

2008-06-12T21:16:00.000-07:00

For those who were interested, here is a video of Riot's new, big creeker, the Magnum 80. Perhaps this will give you an idea of how the boat performs. All the footage is of Daniel Windham on the Green.

View and/or Download video in much higher quality HERE.

New Videos on Rapid Transit Video!

2008-06-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

Hey this is Andy Gates from Rapid Transit Video, I have posted two new videos under my library. Here is a link to my library on Rapid Transit Video.

The first video is a kayaking instructional video, showing how to loop, called Bag-0-Tricks. This is the first of many instructional videos. If you have any suggestions on new tricks for me to instruct just leave a comment and I will try to get to it as soon as possible.

The second video I have posted is of Spencer Cooke, Alan Young, Jason Aytes, and myself, paddling Eternity hole on the Tuck., 1/4 mile hole on the Noli., Green river play, and Wilson's creek.

Heres a link to my library at Rapid Transit Video.

Remember to check out all the libraries while your there.

Until next time,

Andy Gates

Raven's Update

2008-06-03T21:27:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's time for another Raven's fork update. A few weeks back we got enough rain for the ultra-classic Raven's to run at a good level. The team: Will Lyons, the sickest creekboating c1-er I've met... Clayton Gaar, an up and coming young jedi who attends UNCA with me. I'm sure you'll see some cool footage from him this fall, as he's out in california right now. Lastly, the infamous Saunders Southecorvo. Saunders and I started kayaking together 5 years ago. It's been cool progressing together from the flatwater of the french broad to the raven's fork 5 years later. Saunders paddles the Riot Magnum as well and loves it almost as much as he loves fried chicken. Anyways, here are some pics of the Magnum in action:

Yours truly at Mike Tyson's (photo Will Lyons)

Getting cuddly with the cave at Headless (photo Clayton Gaar)

Wet Willlllyyy (photo Clayton Gaar)

Saunders keeping it steady on Mike T. (photo Will Lyons)

Saunders: BIG BOOF at Cave. (photo Clayton Gaar)

Thanks to Will and Clayton for shooting pics. Hope to get out there again soon.

-Nathan

South Silver Goodness

2008-06-01T10:24:00.000-07:00

After a heat wave and some high levels, flows have dropped off a bit here the the northern Sierra. No worries though, because when most runs are too low South Silver is perfect! My old paddling parter Tim Robinson recently returned from a two year hiatus in Australia, and was all too happy to brush the black widows out of his familiar Magnum and join me for a run down a 700' per mile whitewater theme park.

Tim Robinson and Ben Zuppo demonstrate their blue angel style of paddling

What happens when you run Boof, Boof, Slide without a Magnum

And Boof, Boof, Slide with a Magnum

Tim Robinson running Skyscraper

Yours truly running Skyscraper. Photos courtesy of Ben Zuppo.

After Skyscraper and Off Ramp we were all happy and relieved. Most everyone's lines were really good, and while the rapid isn't really that difficult, being a little off line can turn bad here rather quickly.

But even with that notable challenge behind us, several impressive rapids like Ankle Breaker and Plastic Surgery were still waiting for us downstream.

Tim Robinson on one of the drops above Ankle Breaker

Tim fires up Plastic Surgery

Yours truly on Plastic Surgery for the crowd. Photos courtesy of Ben Zuppo.

Fun times for all! It sure is nice to have a gem like this in my back yard.

Thanks to Joe Bosquin for the good beta, Ben Zuppo for helping out with pics, and the Sacramento paddling community for setting lots of safety.

How Tim likes to unwinds after a good day of paddling:

Yours truly (junior) testing out some new outfitting

Thanks for stopping in, see you on the water!

Dan Glauser

Riot welcomes two new Team Paddlers

2008-05-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

Riot Kayaks is proud to announce the addition of two new team paddlers, Patrick Camblin and Karl Moser. Patrick, hailing from Eastern Canada and Karl from the Western US are both extremely accomplished and well known kayakers who Riot welcomes to our family.

Patrick Camblin:

(Patrick styles a fairly handsome hat)

Accredited with: Pioneering combo moves, Being a Buseater local and Traveling the world with a kayak...

Other accolades: Winner of the IR Big Gun Show, Lyon River Festival, Quebec Cup, Buseater Invitational & voted by peers as 'Playa of the Year' (Best freestyle kayaker)

(Patrick, sailin' on in his new Astro)

Other Sponsors: Red Bull, Tribe, h20, Levelsix, Smith, Astral, Snapdragon

(And again, flying in the Astro)

Patrick gave us some words regarding his recent career decision: "I've had 7 amazing years with the good folks over at Liquidlogic. A big thanks to Shane and everyone there for all of their help and support over the years... But times change and people need to move on... Riot is a company from my backyard that i've always admired for their innovations and consistently great boats. I'm stoked to join their already stellar team..."

Patrick's links:
www.triberiders.ca
www.younggunproductions.com

Karl Moser:

(Karl in Africa)

Most folks know Karl through his former association with the Epicocity Project where he co-produced popular kayaking DVDs, Bigger Than Rodeo, Mission Epicocity and the most recent, play-boating instructional video, Amplify. Karl has moved on now to become the head coach at the World Class Kayak Academy. Additionally Karl is organizing other worldly efforts including benefits for kayaking clubs and environmental knowledge growth in countries such as Uganda and China. He has also become a highlighted video producer on Rapid Transit's web site where he plans to broadcast some of his upcoming kayak adventures on video.

After recently placing well in the Best in the West comp in Montana Karl gave us a few words regarding his new Astro 54: "Paddling was sick yesterday! The more time I spend in the Astro the better it paddles. I think it makes me look pretty." (Maybe Karl said that about his photo, not the boat...? Anyway, the photo of you in the boat make's you look pretty Karl!) He went on to further explain that the Astro, "loops big and McNasties well. Now I can't wait to see what she can do at Skook. I'll send you some pics when I get back." So, expect to see a report from Karl when he arrives back from Skook. The guy is amazing on a wave so we will expect some nice action.

(Karl clean-split sequence via Astro at Best in the West comp)

Other Sponsors: NRS, Astral Buoyancy, AT Paddles, Shred Ready, H2o Audio

(Karl loops huge in Astro)

(Karl unwinds a powerful McNasty, courtesty Astro)

Karl's links:
http://worldclassacademy.com/
http://rapidtransitvideo.com/producers/moser.php

Once again, welcome to these two guys to the Riot team. We will no doubt see great things from both of you.

Waitaha River

2008-05-18T21:14:00.000-07:00

Hello, everyone! Just wanted to share a trip report I recently wrote about my first day of Heli-kayaking in New Zealand! You can find the write-up on my website, Downstream Movement. Below is a sample of the visuals taken by Kev England. (Cheers for that Bro!!!)

I ride my bike by a florist every morning on the way to school. They have a chalk board outside that has a couple quotes written on it each day. Today it read..."Sometimes taking the risk is the safest thing to do." Who would've thought a florist could be so inspirational!

The Magnum has proved over and over again to be THE boat of choice to take into the shit. As if it has a "boof on command button," the thing just jumps out of the water. I think salmon were tested in the prototype process.

Again the trip report full of deep thoughts, LOTS more pics, and plenty of entertaining stories can be found at...Downstream Movement. Video footy of the day is featured in my South Island Video at...Rapid Transit Video.

And like a Buttermeleon, I'm OUT!

-Cooper Lambla

Magnum in 3-D!

2008-05-16T17:35:00.000-07:00

Hello ladies and germs!
Hope all is going well in the kayaking world. I just finished up a semester of school, and have something exciting to show for it. A 3-D animation!

I imported photos of the Riot Magnum into the program and recreated it as a 3-D model. In addition I made a landscape, waterfall, and kayaker. Here's the video:

A wide angle of the scene

Homeboy close-up

To see more stills from this project and others surf to http://ridetheflow.blogspot.com/

good lines good times

Nathan

High Water Ottawa

2008-05-13T11:00:00.000-07:00

Recently, the New river Academy headed up to the Ottawa river in search of some big waves. We were hoping to get there right in time for Mini Bus, but instead we got up there and found the water was too high for Mini Bus. This was ok because there was still an epic wave in, Big Bus. This wave is huge! I have been on some big waves, but this one is still intimidating. With a great righty shoulder, going big isn’t too hard. The only hard part of this wave is that it is so fast that getting back up to the top can take some work, but once you do you're in luck for getting some big air.
3 pictures here

going for the panam © Michelle Yates

airscrewing © Michelle Yates

The water began to drop so big bus was getting a little trashy and mini bus wasn’t in yet. We found another wave that was quite as big but was great for working on every move from spins to combs.

Riot's Zach Mitchell going big on a Pistol flip © Michelle Yates

Getting a blunt © Michelle Yates

The on the last day we were up on the Ottawa the water level still was going up and a high water mini bus level came in. this wave even at this supposedly off level was still amazing. Giving up some of the biggest air I’ve ever had or seen. This wave introduces a new challenge however, the tow rope. The entire group had some trouble to start with using the tow rope but eventually people started to get it down to where they could get out every time instead of just face planting on the eddy line every try.
The Ottawa is one of the best play rivers in the world and coming back at high water after only seeing it at low water just proves to me how good it really is. Hopefully I will be able to get up to the Ottawa again sometime when mini bus is in.

See you on the river

Eli Spiegel

Big Magnum is out there + Alabama Video report...

2008-04-25T12:47:00.001-07:00

I have a couple pieces of news to report. 1st, the Magnum 80. There are some boats on the water and the big guys are loving this boat!
Here is Daniel Windham, 6'2", 180 lbs, dropping into Go Left on the Green in his Magnum 80. (photo Andy Gates)

Same guy, same specs, at Nieces Pieces (photo Andy Gates)

Same guy, different day, different rapid. (photo Chris Gallaway)

Big guys, even 300 lb guys, fit in this boat. Should I have phrased that as 300 lbs of guy fit in this boat? Well, at least two 150 lb guys fit in this boat, just to give you an idea of its capacity. That little short person in front of us was even impressed.

Yes, this is a little bit embarrassing but you gotta prove your point somehow. The Magnum 80 and the new Thunder 76 have a LG cockpit, lots of thigh room, a larger, more accommodating seat... as you can see. We haven't actually tried paddling like this yet but we plan to. We are having the custom spray skirt tunnel made at IR as we speak.

Some video of the Magnum 80 is coming soon as well. I am out at the Green once, twice, maybe three times a week and will have the Magnums and Thunders on my vehicle if anyone is in the neighborhood and wants to use a demo boat.

Now, this is the 2nd part of my news. Alabama, it's a wet, cold, frozen place in the first weekend of March. At least it was this year. Andy Gates and I went down to NAWFest and froze our arses off.
Cooking breakfast on the frosty, winter landscape (photo Adam Motes)

Snow and ice doesn't generally make me want to go play boating and I tried to refrain as much as possible. I did, however, manage to shoot some video of the event and some more on the Little River Canyon the following day. Please enjoy the video at the Rapid Transit Library.
Chris Wing and I thumbed it up. (photo Isaac Ludwig... I think.)

Ooh, while I'm here, one more little tidbit. IR has title sponsored the Mustache Growing contest and it starts June 1st, runs through July 31st. Grand prize is a drysuit! You heard it. All you have to do is grow a stache for two months and you may win a drysuit. Many hi-dollar consolation prizes exist as well. Go to http://TheMustacheKing.com to sign up now. It's free and all you have to do is be capable of taking photos and posting them to a blog... oh, and growing facial hair.

Later,

Spencer Cooke, Team Riot

NZ: South Island Video Update

2008-04-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

Greetings, my peoples of this ball of muck we call earth!!! I'd like to invite you to share the people, scenery, rivers and good times of a land far, far away in a wee place we like to call New Zealand. In particular the South Island of New Zealand...

Yours truely dropping into the tasty goodness of Nevis Bluff on the Kawarau River.

What you are about to witness is the second installment in a series of video journals hosted by Rapid Transit Video, that document my travels down here in NZ. The aim of these videos is to share the best kayaking New Zealand has to offer. In this South Island flick we travel to Hokitika...the Heli-Whitewater-Boat-Ridin' Capital of the World, as well as Fiordland...one of the most gorgeous places I've ever been, and finish in Queenstown on the mighty Kawarau River...which contains the best high volume rapid ridin' on the South Island. (And is actually where I paddled again today!!!)

Enjoy...
NZ SOUTH ISLAND VIDEO HERE!!!
You may also view this and other Rapid Transit videos at the free video podcast. Either use the Podcast link on the RT web site or go to iTunes and search for Rapid Transit.

I'd like to thank all the rockin cats who I've paddled with, who have been patient and let me point my video camera at them! As well as everyone who have let me/ us crash on their floor, given rides or just provided hospitality! Cheers!!! Also big ups to Spencer Cooke who has been a tremendous help in every way, including editing the footy. And CHEERS to New Zealand for being such an awesome place!

Keep an eye on my blog, Downstream Movement, which will continue to be updated with pictures and stories from the trip, including all the rivers and good times shown in the video.

Until next time, this has been the captian speaking, reminding you to fasten you seal belts when riding in dragonflys.

Peace,

-Cooper Lambla

Canyon Creek Race and Northwest Creeking Comp

2008-04-16T13:08:00.000-07:00

The Peanut gallery at the the starting line

This past Saturday marked the first NW Creeking Competition in its new incarnation. Past years have seen low turnouts and lower water levels for the Canyon Creek Extreme Race but the combination of new ‘management’ and a significantly earlier race date was a grand success.

Joe Stumpfel, I and 80 some-odd of our closest paddling friends, came out in force on April 12th 2008. As some of you may have heard from me before, Canyon Creek levels are measured against the ‘unit’ (he). Its runnable very low and very high but flows within 4 or 5 inches of the unit are pretty standard happy flows. Past years flows have been more like 12 inches under. This year lots of racers we caught by surprise with the higher flows and found themselves rodeo-ing when they should be racing.

Luke S, the guy who made it all happen

You may also notice the Ol’ Joseph was in a K1 instead of a C1… I don’t get it either.

I volunteered as a starter right between Prelude and Thrasher. Prelude is one of the sticker spots on the river and I and the other starters watched or rescued 10 or so swimmers all while watching from above as another smaller handful of paddles swam out of the first drop as well! I heard personally from about 5 people who swam on their morning practice runs!

Richard hitting the boof at Thrasher

Well we couldn’t have asked for a better day and the even turn out exceeded anyone’s expectations. A big thanks to Luke Spencer of Next Adventure for making the whole thing come alive, to Shannon Crosswhite for doing a great job as volunteer coordinator and to all the racers, volunteers and spectators who came out to hang and made the day what it was.

Results are posted at Paddler Magazine

Don’t read to much into my place! 1: it was my first race and I didn’t want to blow my wad 2: since I was a starter, I ended up coming down after the R2s which was well after they were expecting any kayakers SO, I think my time was a little bit made up. No worries though, it was just a good day on the river with friends, in the sun, with great water. Pretty ok in my book! I’ll take the whole thing next year.

Riot C1-er Joe Stumpel, cross training.

Check out some more photos here

Hope to see ya’ll on the river soon.

EJ

Photo by michaellongphoto.com

ThisRiverLife

Clemson, SC Video Premiere and Demo...

2008-04-09T22:57:00.000-07:00

What up all!

Spencer Cooke, Andy Gates, and I will be traveling to Clemson University next Tuesday evening. We will be hosting a premiere of Spencer's video, Night of the Living Donkey, as well as hanging out at the pool session with a fleet of Riot boats to try out. For you larger paddlers, we will have the Thunder 76 and Magnum 80, Riot's newest toys at this demo...

Check out the trailer for NoTLD here.

The whole event will take place in the Fike Recreation Center on campus... the movie will start at 8:00 pm, with some complementary pizza and Red Bull provided, and then we will move downstairs to the pool as soon as it's over(around 9:15ish) for the pool session and demo.

This event is open to the public as well as to Clemson students, so hope everyone can make it out!

For more information about the event please contact Andy Jordan at:
aojorda@clemson.edu

Good lines!
Chris Gragtmans

Cooper Labmla New Zealand video #1 on Rapid Transit

2008-04-08T19:32:00.000-07:00

Cooper Lambla reports with his Magnum and Astro from down under with a video journal entry on the Rapid Transit web site. Take a look at http://RapidTransitVideo.com

More coming soon from Cooper. Stay tuned. See Cooper's blog follow his year abroad in detail. Downstream Movement

2007 skook stuff

2008-03-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

HELLO everyone!

Dru and i had a wicked season on the sunshine coast last year. we got a ton of footage and only lost half of it...this video is made up of what was left over. Quality is not so great this time but its a crazy one! Our camera crew was laine and shana, they're the stars of the show!!

Highlights of '07 were watching the sea lions endlessly devourer fish in the eddy, insane phosphorescence under a full moon, trying to keep the surfers the fu*k away, tracking down stolen kayaks, surfing at first light Christmas day (we were the only ones there?), and just having a great time with everyone coming and going.

Sister Natalie and I. She is in the video too.. and she'll be at skooks a lot this summer :)

Micah and dru. Scary ride down the face.

thanks for checking in....you style it out there....ya hear!!!

ms. emily

Spring Break

2008-03-26T06:18:00.000-07:00

boofing cave man pic by Joey Jarrell

Well maybe not that wild, but definitely wet. After givin' her all semester with school and keeping good grades, I was in definite need of a break. Luckily I was able to do some kayaking locally and then got to travel up to Western NC and sample some of their finest. I managed to catch our local classics Johnnies and LRC at good flow. Then I came down with a bad cold and was out of commission for a few days, but recovered in time to meet up with some some friends in NC to get on Big Creek and the Raven Fork.

The Raven Fork is by far an incredible place, and I feel very privileged to have kayaked there. Enjoy the pics:

shot of Headless by Ryan Moore

pic by Joey Jarrell

Launching at Mortal Combat pic by Joey Jarrell

Sam watching me at Mike Tyson's Punchout(I'm the little yellow dot at the top of the picture) pic by Joey Jarrell

It's so easy a caveman can do it!!! pic by Ryan Moore

And here's the video thanks to Ryran:

http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=822819&server=www.vimeo.com&fullscreen=1&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color="> http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=822819&server=www.vimeo.com&fullscreen=1&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=" />
The Raven Fork from r.moore on Vimeo.

http://www.vimeo.com/822819

Now it's back to the books!!!

-Charlie Mix

winter boating in germany and austria

2008-03-25T12:53:00.000-07:00

hi everybody!

it's snowing again!
the word is that it's been the coldest eastern in a hundred years or so around here. AAAHHH!
but there still is hope!
actually we've been out quite a lot!
i've been creeking, playboating, partying, so i won't complain at all!
due to the winter i haven't paddled my magnum for almost four months, and i almost forgot how good it feels! this boat is simply the most predictable and sporty creeker i can imagine.
and the astro is: well, the astro! going huge, stable, comfy...

oh wait, do you wanna hear more?
no?
really?
if i have some pics?

well...

yes!

you're welcome!

we spent a night in that car!

rissbach - photo jensklatt

more rissbach - photo jens

roemerfall - photo mathias raabe

same drop, same photographer

washing machine, augsburg, loop paddleswitch
photo micha schomann

dto

dto no PS

winterboating!
jensklatt

hmm, hope that was enough for now! full stories are to be found on bootfahrer.blogspot.com
guess i'll go back to the washing machine asap! good to go boating every day again!

peace,
sven

New Vid...

2008-03-24T12:31:00.001-07:00

Watch Wintertime Creeking Video.

What up all!

So I've been paddling and filming a good bit recently, and finally had the opportunity to sit down and put the footage together. This video includes headcam footage of Big Hungry Creek, the Green at 400%, Raven Fork, as well as other footage of the Horsepasture, Toxaway, and the Valles River in Mexico.

Pat Keller going large south of the border.

Watch the video HERE.

I would like to give a special thank you in this post to the artists that are gracious enough to supply us with such sick music. They are mentioned at the end of the video, but here is the info about each of these artists:

Statistics
"Another Day"
www.jadetree.com

Big Dro & Zinndeadly ft. Mystic
"Choose One"
http://zinndeadly.com

I'm pretty fired up about this video, because it sums up in about 8 minutes some of my all-time favourite places to go kayaking. Of particular note on the video are the 2nd and 3rd descents of the left line of the Micos waterfall in Mexico by Pat Keller and Lawrance Simpson(after first d'ing it 2 days earlier). That drop is a sicko twisting slide into about 55 feet of freefall. Very cool. Also, the footage of the Green at 24 inches or 400% is also the same day that Pat and I ran Gorilla at the highest flow I've ever attempted it. For reference, check out the wave that is usually the whale tail rock...

And it's kind of eerie when you just boof right over the top of the Frankenstein Rock.

Anyways, incredible day out there, and my headcam fell off in Go Left, but allowed for us to go for a soul-boating descent of the monkey without any cameras or outside influences involved. I may be wrong, but to my knowledge it's the highest that rapid has been run. It was a really awesome experience.

Well, hope you enjoy the video, and see you on the river sometime soon!

Peace.
Chris Gragtmans

God Jul from Sweden!!!

2008-03-21T12:17:00.000-07:00

This past Christmas I traveled to Sweden (with no plans to go kayaking) to visit my girlfriend and her family in their home town of Orebro, a charming little city about a two hours drive south of the capital of Stockholm.

The Strompis Wave

I was hanging out at local coffee shop next to Orebro's castle along the banks of the Svartan River, and noticed a nice looking wave. I began to wonder if there were any other kayakers in the town, so that night my lovely girlfriend Idamaria got on the internet, found and contacted a local kayaking club, and made plans for me to go paddling the next day with a borrowed Riot Orbit and gear.

The next morning I found my self gearing up next to a castle about to drop into the freezing-ass cold "Strompis Wave" or "Castle Wave" as my non Swedish speaking self called it. It was definitely the coldest weather and water I've ever paddled in. With an air temperature around negative 6 degrees Celsius and the water not too much warmer, every time I flipped I felt like I was going to puke because the brain freeze was so intense. The locals were all laughing at me and seemed unaffected by the cold, but were highly entertained by this southern boy's reactions to it.

McNastying my way to a brain freeze

The wave it self was really good and gave up cartwheels, blunts, and McNasties on both sides, but was a little shallow for loops. The coolest thing about the wave is that it's dam controlled and the club has a key to the dam to adjust the water flow. I'm told there are plans this spring to improve upon the wave by adding an under water ramp that will allow operators to control the size and shape of the wave, and it will also create another feature behind the current one. They hope to have the feature tweaked out enough to host the Euro National Championships sometime in the next couple of years.

Strompis showing how dynamic it can be

Sweden as a whole is a very charming place with nice people, incredible food, good beer, and some of the best espresso I've ever tasted. I highly recommend to people looking for a kayaking location off the beaten path of Europe. A big thanks goes to Dan Lindberg, a very talented professional photographer and president of the Orebro kayaking club and the rest of the highly dedicated club members for lending me a boat and gear and for showing me their local spot. I look forward to going back in the near future!!!

Urban kayaking: European style

For more information on kayaking in Orebro, visit the Orebro kayaking club's website: http://www.extreme.nu/kajak/

*photos are credit of Dan Lindberg

See ya on the water,

-Charlie Mix

New Zealand adventures

2008-03-21T09:49:00.000-07:00

Hey

I’m new Riot team paddler, I’m 21 years old and I’m from Slovakia. Few days ago I came back from New Zealand. I was there only for 6 weeks but it was an amazing trip.
After two days of traveling we landed in Auckland. We walked out from airport in the morning and we moved straight to Taupo and in the evening we ran one of the most famoust waterfall in New Zealan - the Huka falls. It was a great introduction to New Zealnds whitewater. Next few days we stayed on North island kayaking on Kaituna river and then we moved to West coast of South island. During the long traveling south we stopped on Maruia falls and ran it few times.It is clean 10 metres high waterfall and we enjoyed it a lot.
West coast is one of the best places for kayaking on the world. Great rivers, clean water, challenging and fun rapids, awesome scenery… Only disadvantage is that you should fly on the most of the rivers with helicopter, what is a little expensive but its fun. Our first river on the west coast was Kokatahi. It has continuous class 4-5 rapids and some deep gorges.

Entrance to one of the Kokatahi's deep gorges...

...and one of the rapids in this gorges

Next days we ran other west coast classics like Arahura, Upper Hokitika, Whitcomb, Kakapotahi and many more.

Wanganui river has same sweet drops

Honza running the Viagra falls on Upper Hokitika

Gates of Argonath

After two weeks of paddling on West coast we moved further south to Kawarau river. On this river are well known rapids Nevis Bluff and Citroen. Citroen is fun class 4 bigwater rapid with big waves. Nevis bluff is little bit harder, with flow of 200cumecs and some huge hydraulics it looks very impressive.

Me running the Nevis Bluff

Middle hole on Nevis bluff

Then we moved back to North Island to take part in Wairoa extreme race. It was a cool competition with a great atmosphere. I ran the river first time during the competition so it was very crazy but I ended 7th after Saturday prelims. On Sunday I wasn’t so lucky and I fell out in round 3. To the finals went Kenny Mutton vs. Mike Dawson, and Kenny took the firs place. You can check out the results on http://www.paddle-power.com/extremerace/results2008.htm

Wairoa extrem race

In New Zealand we traveled a lot, paddled a lot, but first of all we enjoyed it a lot.When I came home I realised that everything I heard about New Zealand is true. It is an awesome country with lots of great whitewater, friedly people and stunning scenery.

See you
Palo

Thanks to Honza Lasko and Miro Sukany for the photos

Summer in Norway

2008-03-18T01:07:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody.

Before I start to tell you guys about my great summer in Norway last year, I think it´s a good idea first to introduce myself. I´m in the German Riot Team for one year now and I´m also new to this blog here. My name is Timo Köster, I´m 26 and I live in Germany. Beside kayaking I´m trying to make my way at University, but that´s not that easy when you try to sit in the boat as much as possible ;-). I started paddling about 20 years ago. I´m kind of sitting in a boat my whole life, because my parents are also members in the local kayaking club.

Ok, before it starts getting boring for you, I will show you some pictures of my Norway trip last year. I think Norway is generally one of the greatest places in the world for excellent creeking. Luckily this spot is “only” 10 hours away from where I live. So in the summer time it became something like a “duty” for me to get there. Clear, cold water, slides and tons of waterfalls keeps you always smiling there. Have a look at the pictures and start also planing to get there if you have some time in June or July.

This one isn´t as horrible as it looks

The pool of this drop isn´t realy deep so your boof should work

Beautiful landscape everywhere

This one is the third of the famous 5 Drops on the Store Ula

See you,

Greets Timo

A Southern Boy Goes Further South: Rapid Ridin' in New Zealand!!!

2008-03-12T10:22:00.000-07:00

New Zealand. These two words have just always automatically come out of my mouth whenever anyone has ever asked me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego. No, wait...when they ask me where in the world, if I could go anywhere, I'd like to go. Yeah, that's right, Carmen Sandiego might be in New Zealand as well, but that just rolled off the tongue too well not to write. That was an amazing show, by the way. If I had a show called "Where in the World is Cooper Lambla," New Zealand would be the correct answer at the moment. Sadly, my name doesn't have the same ring as Carmen Sandiego, so I'm just going to say, that New Zealand is the JAM!!!

I've been here since New Year's Day, and have been paddling all summer, all over the country. Starting up on the North Island, and working my way south to the South Island throughout the summer, I've been able to get a great taste of what whitewater action New Zealand has to offer. (Click on the map to see a rough idea of my route thus far!) This is the first installment of many, recapping my dream summer vacation, paddling my heart away, in one of the most amazing places in the world...New Zealand.

Walking through the airport with three kayaks is a sure way to get some funny looks. Most people would just stare, and then sputter something like, "You're going to have some fun, aren't you?" "Yes I am!!!" I'd reply...and I have!!!! One Boogie, an Astro and a Magnum are a perfect combination of kayaks to bring to a foreign country for a year's study. Whatever condition of paddling arises, you are equipped with the best kayak possible to optimize those conditions!

After landing in Auckland, I immediately headed straight for the closest whitewater...The Kaituna. While not containing the grade V heli-boating that makes New Zealand famous among the creeking crowd, the Kaituna pleases on a whole different level. "Sweet as" playspots, clean drops, warm water, and a great atmosphere are what you get when you take a float trip down the Kaituna. I couldn't have asked for anything better to start off my summer adventure. Here I am boofing the Weir. (Photos by: Wheels)

The Kaituna is most famous for its bigger drop in the middle of the run named Tutea Falls, as well as the Take-out hole, named...The Take-out Hole. (So Original!) Because these features are so amazing and famous, I didn't take any photos of them. The camera did, however, come out below the take-out at a drop called Trout Pool Falls. This is a picture of me running the Falls of the Pool that supposedly has Trout in it. It has an amazingly stout hydraulic at the bottom. Since I brought three kayaks down to New Zealand, I decided to take the one that was most likely throw-down the hardest, if I got caught in the hole at the bottom off this drop...I didn't get caught, and there was no throwing down, I was happy, and there was much rejoicing.

And that was only my first day of paddling in New Zealand!!! There are tons more pictures, even more stories, and then maybe a little video action (coming from Rapid Transit), if you kiddies out there behave! Make sure you keep tuning in here to the Team Riot Blog for more updates as the action moves South to the real goodies!!!

In the mean-time check out a new post I put up on my website, Downstream Movement, for the real story of how a Southern Boy went further south. (There ARE points below the Mason-Dixon line that are further south than THE South, and they aren't even named "The South." I know it's amazing, truly remarkable, and I'm still having a hard time getting over it. I think I'll cope, but we'll see.) (While The South Island does contain the words "The South" in its title, it is not referred to as "The South." Its official nick-name is "The Mainland" therefore still further south than THE South, and still not called "The South.")

Until next time, this has been Cooper Lambla sayin' Kia Ora! from Tutea Falls on the River Kaituna, in NEW ZEALAND!!!! (I still can't believe that I'm actually here!)

January on the Little White Salmon.

2008-02-26T11:33:00.000-08:00

Its Sunday, three of us are driving from Corvallis bound for the Little White Salmon and all I can think of is a way to get out of it. The LW is at one of the perfect levels: right around 3ft. It a cold grey day, its been snowing like crazy and we know there will be feet of snow at the put in. Fortune seems to stack in my favor when one of our group, already in Portland, calls to back out. He’s feeling sick and now we don’t have shuttle. “Come by and grab a bike,” he says. “What about Canyon Creek?” I say. Chris and Rick have similar feelings but are less vocal about it and we borrow a bike and finish the snowy journey to the take out where we pile out, relieve ourselves in different directions, drop the bike and drive up the steep and snowier that expected roads to the put in. “Chris, are you sure you want to bike in this?” I ask, betraying myself again and again. At the put in after some tense, ‘I don’t know what do you want to do’ Chris G says, “quit your whining and get dressed, lets do this.” At the end of the day we are all smiling, and happily BSing about the drops: “Did you see my line over S-Turn?” “Yea, you had a sweet boof!”, “Wasn’t Wishbone weird.” The day showed we were all competent and capable and left me wondering what we (especially me) were so worried about and why I’d been putting Joe off for so long.

I’ve been down the Little White perhaps 15 times since I started creeking in July of 2004. The first was in the spring of 2005. I had a great day, was left riding high, thinking I was pretty badass and wondering why it was such a legendarily hard run. Over the next few years, a series of experiences would eventually leave me with a heart-pumping, pit of the stomach, voice quavering feeling about it. I’m no badass, I’m certainly no local paddler running 5 laps a week after work at 3.8ft and higher, but I do alright and the LW is certainly within my skill level. I’ll happily put on longer, harder, more technical rivers without the same nerves so what the heck happened? For me, it started with a Jefe. I had an unfortunate time surfing in a sticky ledge hole above a sticky ledge hole above a sticky ledge called Horseshoe. It left me somewhat shaken. I lost confidence in my ability to drive that boat and navigate that gorge. A few boats later, I was following Chris Korbulic down at a healthy flow and suddenly, I couldn’t hit my lines, couldn’t boof, blew a few eddies and even if I could catch an eddy, I’d soon be seeing Chris K’s head disappearing around the next drop. By the time we got to Island, I was pretty pissed at myself before realizing I had a large crack under my seat and the boat had several gallons of water in it. I had a long hike out for my bad day to sink in. It all stacked up to a losing ‘head-game’ on that river.

All paddlers deal with fear, nerves, the head-game at some point: new paddlers, seasoned paddlers, those in between. To paraphrase Steve Fisher: We are all between swims, as you get better they get farther apart and worse. I think the same can be said for dealing with the fear when things start stacking up against you. Except perhaps one well known paddler who has gone on record saying something like “I don’t really feel fear…” Well, I’d tell him that fear is just a word. The idea behind it is universal combination of questions: How likely am I to screw up and how bad is it going to be if I do? When you fall on the negative side of either or both, that’s something like fear. Its not always rational and its not always bad. The fear that paralyzes, when you lose it on the river, is bad. The fear that focuses, keeps you in the moment, is arguably one of the major reasons we are all on the river and what keeps it exciting and keeps us coming back.

Call it fear, call it whatever you like. It’s just a word. The balance is different for each paddler, different for each day, different for each river. There are paddlers without as much skill or experience as some, who are willing to huck themselves off big drops, knowing their chances of a clean line are minimal but not caring about, or not thinking about the consequences. Where the balance falls is obvious for them. There are paddlers who have years of experience, are so smooth and clean they never even get their faces we let alone miss a line but will never boat anything with significant consequences because the risk isn’t worth it, and of course there are those paddlers who have tremendous skill and experience who run the biggest drops clean. We all fall somewhere in there. What kind of boater are you?

I know that I am not a true hucker and probably never will be. I care too much about having a clean line, worry too much about the consequences. I’ll never be a Chris Korbulic, or Jesse Coombs. I know I don’t have enough experience or skill to be exceedingly confident yet: If I look at a big drop for more than about 20 minutes, I’ll talk myself out of it. Take Frustration Falls on the Oregon Salmon for example. We paddled up to that drop and I knew I was going to run it. An hour later, I was cold and had looked at the crux too long and convinced myself out of it.

Experience will come, its something we can all use a little bit more of, mastering my fear… who knows. To boaters that know me, I’m fairly conservative and I like it that way. I hope to get my head on right enough to run the big drops and be confident, but I’m not going to rush it and it may not ever happen. I’m ok with that though. I’m just happy to have gotten back on the Little White, for a clean, confidence-building run with friends who understand my fears, share them to a certain extent, and finish smiling and happy to do it again sometime soon.

Fast forward to a few weeks later, I was sitting up at Dr. Greg’s cabin on the hill near Hood River with Johnny, Brian, and Dave having almost an identical conversation. “I want to get back on it but it scares me,” someone says and for me it’s good to know I’m not the only one that deals with fear on the river. Its good to know the Little White gets in the heads of other boaters I know and respect. Everyone in the room agreed, if there is one river that is run regularly that everyone should respect and never take for granted, never stop being just a little nervous on, it’s the Little White. It’s good not to be alone.

Cheers

Thanks to Rick Cooley for the photos.

Hagen Creek, Washington

2008-02-21T23:14:00.000-08:00

Video by Tony Skrivanek.

Having recently moved out to the Pacific Northwest I've been busy exploring and paddling as many new creeks as possible. After a dry autumn and several low water runs down the Green Truss, Little White, Wind, Ohanepecosh, and Cispus the rains finally hit and I hooked up with local paddling guru and Oregon guidebook author Pete Giordano to check out Hagen Creek. With quality class 4-5 whitewater, easy access, and a location less than an hour outside of Portland I was surprised to learn that the first descent of Hagen was made just 2 years ago. Before our run Pete explained that although Hagen had been known for some time it had always been passed by as paddlers looked for first descents to the north and east. Although Hagen itself is quite short it packs in many interesting ledges and slides and is home to a great 30' cascading falls named Euphoria. You are then dumped into the best part of the Upper NF Washougal where several technical 15-20' falls with names like Tea Kettle and Double Drop await. So whether you're an expert level creeker or someone looking to build your skills on some fun (and easily portagable) class 4-5 rapids then keep Hagen Creek on your short list the next time water's rising!

Joe Stumpfel

Photo by Rachel Crowder.

DeSoto Falls First Descent...

2008-02-08T11:29:00.000-08:00

Whats up Everyone!

Well, I'm still in a bit of an afterglow from an incredible day of paddling in Alabama yesterday. There have been a number of waterfalls and rapids in my life that I've considered big stepping stones for myself as a whitewater kayaker, and the waterfall that I ran yesterday has kind of been the pinnacle goal for me over the past four years.

This is DeSoto Falls.

This picture has been on the desktop of my computer on and off for two years. Every time I turn on my computer to do schoolwork, edit video, or check levels this is the first thing I see, and I've literally spent hours just daydreaming and staring at this beautiful drop, and wondering about its runnability.

DeSoto at a runnable flow.

I first discovered DeSoto four years ago, while on one of my obsessive Google image searches for waterfalls. I researched it online pretty thoroughly for a while, and Spencer Cooke and I finally went to look at it three years ago after the North Alabama Whitewater Fest down near Birmingham. It wasn't running, but it was sick to just stand at the lip and think about the possibilities. Since then I've been in touch with Adam Goshorn, who is fortunate enough to live 5 minutes from the drop... and I've kept a pretty close eye on the gauge for the West Fork of the Little River, hoping to some day time it at the perfect flow of 300-600 cfs.

The past week has been a good one in the Southeast, Saturday was a sick day out on the Raven's Fork of the Oconaluftee, and after a morning run of the Green on Wednesday, and an intense afternoon run of Big Creek at 4 ft., I realized that I was paddling as well as I ever have, and with the West Fork gauge at 1100 cfs, well above floodstage, the stars might just be aligning for that incredible waterfall.

Raven's Fork... such a beautiful place to find yourself in a kayak.

Credit: Clayton Gaar

One of my favourite people to train with, Daniel Windham, and myself in Caveman.

Credit: Rob Tompkins

So early Thursday morning Chris Gallaway and I loaded up my Subie with our sights set on Alabama. After a 4.5 hour drive that seemed to last an eternity we rolled into the DeSoto Falls parking lot, and immediately saw a wall of brown water rolling off the big dam upstream of the first drop of the monster. Adam Goshorn took work off and met us up there, and after about 40 minutes of scouting and discussing with the boys, I decided that I was ready to get into the flow and paddle off it. Adam was very cool to hike all the way around and down to set safety for the drop... cheers man! Can't thank you enough.

So this drop has always appealed to me/scared the shit out of me because of the commitment of running a 15 to 20 foot drop directly above the 70-80 foot main waterfall. I chose to run the top drop down the far river left side, and knowing that the landing was only about a foot or two deep, I had to roll off vertical, and then hit a late boof off the shelf halfway down. This was also made a bit more stressful considering the two gallons of water sloshing around in my boat waiting to take me safely into the vertical plane on the big drop, rather than boofing out.

Top drop without water.

Credit: Chris Gallaway

So when it finally came time to go for it I made eye contact with Chris on the bank to make sure everything was ready, cleared my mind of all other thoughts, and reached a state of focus that I have only felt once or twice before in my life. I rolled off the first one and boofed into a stomp just as I had hoped, and then I set up really close to the left wall to keep from being pulled towards the center of the river, and the abrasive, shallow crack/shelf thing that would send you into a pitchpole or spiral into green water off the big drop.

Working out the first drop. The curler in the foreground is at the lip of the big one...

Credit: Chris Gallaway

Moment of truth.

Credit: Chris Gallaway

I took a right sweep as my left edge connected with the curler coming off the left wall at the lip, and then placed my left stroke in the water as the world opened up, and I rolled off to vertical. I have never fallen that far before and it was surreal slowly pulling my left stroke into a tuck, and staring at my landing for what seemed like an eternity as I accelerated towards it, with all the solid water around me exploding in the air and turning into spray. About fifteen feet above the bottom I finally closed my eyes, clenched every muscle in my body, and prepared for what I thought was going to be a gigantic hit.

Trying to lock in the angle... you can see the lip of the entrance drop in the very top of the frame.

Credit: Adam Goshorn

Tucking up and preparing for impact.

Credit: Adam Goshorn

I was ripped out of my tuck on impact, but DeSoto was merciful with me, it was not nearly as hard of a hit as I had anticipated, and I let out a big victory scream as I resurfaced upright to the left of the boil, staring back up at where I had just come from.

All in all, it was probably the most incredible drop I've ever done, and I feel honoured to be the first person to run it. Adam, Chris, and I finished the day off with a great run of Little River Falls and the Canyon at a great level of just over 12 inches. Thanks again for showing us the lines Adam!

Signing off from cloud nine,
Chris Gragtmans

Mexico New Year

2008-02-06T20:02:00.000-08:00

Greetings Whitewater World!

I just got back from an incredible trip to the country of Mexico... the place has an unbelievable amount of whitewater and some very very large waterfalls. Mexico is an awesome place to go for paddlers of all levels, but carries a special attraction for class V paddlers looking to step it up and start freefalling long distances.

Scouting in Mexico...

Pat Keller, myself and Jake Greenbaum rode down in Pat's truck, and met up with Austin Rathmann, Ian McClaren, Jon Meyers, and Lawrance Simpson in Valles, Mexico.

Ready.

The reward after 35 hours of driving!

Filming at the lip of the first drop of Day 1, the Micos. 2 ran, the rest did a sick rappel off the side.

Micos waterfall from below... about 75 feet of total drop and 55 feet of freefall... Lawrance knocked out the First D of the left side on this trip, sick!

After Pat and Lawrance ran the Micos, we did the beautiful travertine waterfall run-out below and packed up to go to the second huck of our trip, Cascada El Salto. This waterfall has to be one of the coolest looking drops ever, dropping about 100 feet over three tiers. I've always wanted to run this beast, but my head just didn't feel right to do one of the biggest hucks of my life, so I opted out.

Two bad lines on El Salto...

Unfortunately day 1 took Jon Meyers out for the trip. He flipped on the 70 foot second drop of El Salto and fractured his left elbow. McClaren flipped too and although he didn't break anything, his elbow wasn't quite the same after that... the big drops will get ya!

Getting hassled by the fuzz. They had big guns.

Another 6 hours south and the next day we found ourselves in the final destination for our trip, Tlapacoyan in the state of Veracruz. This is where the Rio Alseseca makes its 30 mile plunge from the mountains onto the coastal plan flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. Other than the Middle Kings, I have never seen any other river with sustained sick, (marginally) runnable whitewater for so long. The thing just keeps falling and falling, and unlike the Kings, this river is formed by volcanic basalt, and its jungles hide a tonne of huge waterfalls. Several different sections of the Alseseca were our focus for the remainder of our trip in Mexico, and I can't wait to get back and explore more.

The jungle here just makes you want to run everything. "Looks a little low but the portage is horrible, I'm gonna run it!"

Austin on Rapid 1, roadside Alseseca.

Lawrance styling one of the coolest rapids in existence, S-Turn.

The author enjoying the tropics.

Great drop on the Pezma section.

Pat Keller doing what he does best... plug in first and probe that shit for us!

The trip came to an end somewhat abruptly due to pending school responsibilities and some sickness in the group, but I know that we'll be back. If you are planning your own trip to Mexico in the future, I would advise the following precautions:
1) Wear long pants to avoid poison ivy/bug bites.
2) Don't carry anything illegal in the car... you don't want to go to jail there.
3) Take the toll roads, they are very worth it.
4) Bring tonnes of climbing gear... ascenders, two big climbing ropes and rappel gear
5) Take a vehicle with big clearance, the speed bumps are killers.
6) Bring your A game, you can go as big as you want!!

The boys satisfied after an awesome trip. We're pretty tough in case you can't tell.

Until next time...
Chris Gragtmans

Butte Creek, Oregon

2008-01-31T21:05:00.000-08:00

Hey ya'll, I'm new to the Riot blog and excited to be! I'm a 27yr old paddler living in Corvallis Or. You can check out more about me here.

On to the fun!

Jan 13, Butte Cr is a small creek near Scotts Mills. Its mostly Class 2-3 but sometime it drops over twisty steep ledgy drops that end in stompy holes. Its kind of schizophrenic but in playboats it can be pretty fun! Three of us, Mike L, James B and I went out hoping to huck Upper Butte Creek Falls: a 30ish foot river wide falls you can see here but sadly, we got snowed out and just headed back down stream. I like to be short on the words and long on the photos so here goes! Thanks to Mike for the photos, check him out at www.michaellongphoto.com

Cheers,

EJ

Big boats coming a little later - New video out now

2008-01-28T16:41:00.001-08:00

To all the folks who are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Magnum 80 and Thunder 76, you are going to have to wait just a little longer. We are receiving the molds a little later than we expected and now think we will have boats available by late Feb, early March. Hold your horses because these things are worth the wait.

In light of all the waiting I do have something to report that is available now!
Night of the Living Donkey is a new kayak/horror video I've been working on for over a year and it's done now. Fellow team Riot paddler Joey Hall and I have just produced this video, the first of its kind, a horror themed kayak flick. Zombie theme to be exact. Several extremely famous Riot team paddlers are part of the cast including David Finney, Nathan Silsbee, Cooper Lambla, Chris Gragtmans, Andy Gates, Alan Young, David Spiegel, Joey and myself. Mind you, more famous than you could ever imagine. The world premiere (that's the whole world, meaning planet Earth, which is at least several hundred feet around) is this Thursday night, January 31th, 200ATE in Asheville USA at the Pizza Company. They serve pizza there and it's good to engulf several piece. Please visit the web site to see all about the video and the zombies and horror and kayaking, purchase a copy and to view the previews in Quicktime. http://NightoftheLivingDonkey.com
Read this flyer and the legible words it has on it so that you understand what the details of the video going on, rambling about the countryside.

Riot boats look good in zombie movies to be frank, real good. Zombies look good in kayak movies. Special too.

Love,

Spencer Cooke, Team Riot

Early Morning Eternity

2008-01-24T16:51:00.000-08:00

The morning after the Millrace Massacre I got up at 3:30 A.M. to head off in the freezing cold to Eternity hole. I picked up Alan and was on my way. We drove for 3 hours up the dark interstate till we came across Sylva, North Carolina. When we got to Sylva and looked at the temperature gage reading 30 degrees we decided to stop by Walmart to pick up some cleaning gloves. After we made our purchase we headed to Eternity. When we pulled to the side of the road at the hole we noticed that nobody was there, not surprising because it was only 32 degrees outside. Then we suited up and headed down the hill to the hole.

Alan Young throwing split-ends.

Andy Gates Looping.

Alan Young back-blasting for a Mcnasty.

After two hours of paddling in the freezing cold we decided to get out, not five minutes later the water started to go down.

Here is the video of Eternity hole.

Be safe out there.

- Andy Gates

In Search of Flight

2008-01-14T13:15:00.000-08:00

There is something euphoric about getting air in a kayak. That feeling keeps you coming back time and time again in search of mankind's fleeting desire to fly. The laws of physics prove themselves strong every time--but for that moment, when you are in the air, flying, you can get a taste of what people have been trying to do for centuries: Fly.

If you are having trouble viewing the video, CLICK HERE

Some have said that the New River Dries are the best waves in North America. I certainly have not found any better to date. This was an epic March 23rd, 2007 day. I left my hometown, snow pelting me in my face as I boarded my truck, and saw the temperature on the First Mountain Bank sign read "24 degrees". I then went to pull away from the light where I had stopped, which happened to be on a very slight hill, and my tires began to spin. I thought to myself, "Today is going to be a good day."

Adam Johnson in flight on the main feature.

The landing from the previous shot.

Two hours later I found myself in a surprisingly empty parking lot at the New River Dries Put-in waves. The level was huge. It was snowing and below freezing; yet, no one was there. I was shocked. I thought to myself "F#@%", until Ben Guska, Andrew Holcombe, and Yonton Mehler showed up shortly afterwards.

Andrew Holcombe skies an Airscrew part 1.

Part 2 of the Airscrew.

Holcombe with a backstab--a scary thing to do on this uncontrollable feature!

Andrew in survival mode taking a large bounce from the wave.

Part of the crew (from right to left): Yonton Mehler, Ben Guska, and John (?) from CO.

Soon we all put on the river. The day truly was a good day (as you can see). The photos say more than words ever can. A big thanks goes out to the Fayetteville crew for setting up the fire and filming (especially to Ben, thanks dude!).

Yonton goes big on a panam.

Clean Blunt!

Adam in the middle of a large panam.

Laid out: mid Airscrew

Ben Guska with a large blunt/panam off of the surfers left shoulder.

Andrew with another panam.

Until next time...

-Adam Johnson
WhitewaterFreestyle

canadian summer!

2008-01-14T05:46:00.001-08:00

well, what else is there to say?
2007's summer in canada was awesome, i was competing in the worlds, working for owl and mkc at the ottawa and madawaska, been boating every day and met tons of interesting people.
and here's the result of this summer: me and my astro 58 on the ottawa and lachine, enjoying life...

photography fernando torres

photography fabian krummreich

photography erin rayton

i just can't wait to go back this summer!

peace, out,
sven

2008-01-09T06:57:00.000-08:00

hi everyone!

this is my first contribution to the infamous riot blog, so i guess at first i'll try to explain who i am and what i do.
sven perschmann, germany, 25 years old, former student of english and sports, kayakinstructor, raftguide and member of the german freestyle team since 2006.
at the moment i'm staying in augsburg germany, close to the alps, a nice playhole in town and a pretty damn cool scene to hang out with.
from spring on i'm gonna be back in canada, then chile, then...
i'm supported by riot kayaks, kober paddles and artistic sportswear as well as the ahoishop. though i do enjoy creeking a lot i'm in a playboat most of the time.
my weapons of choice are the Astro 58 and the Magnum 72 and yeah, i´m biased but both these boats just feel as if they were made for me. and that´s how a boat should feel, shouldn't it?
besides the riot-blog i'm trying to keep track with my boating on bootfahrer and ahoishop.

i wanna say thank you to arnd schaeftlein for hooking me up with riot as well as vincent normandeau and jeff rivest for the great support in canada and a super cool time.

okay, but now to my actual topic:

LA MALATE

two weeks ago we were out in france for some bigwave riding and it was awesome.

la malate is one of europe's best and biggest waves, a super fast, glassy, steep, green wave feeding into a massive hole. quite intimidating at first but such a sweet ride.
i finally had my astro back out and i loved it!
but i think the pics and video speak for themselves...
thanks to Micha Schomann for the pics.

photography Erin Rayton

peace, out
sven

Fall Paddling in California

2008-01-05T22:52:00.000-08:00

Running the Poe Dam on the North Feather

Although the reputation of California whitewater has reached a worldwide audience, most people think that after August there is nothing to paddle out here. Oh contrare'. Whitewater flows throughout the fall and winter months in most of northern California. Two fun class III runs flow on the South Fork of the American all winter long. This fall we saw releases on the South Feather (V), North Feather (III-V), and a section of South Silver (IV) below the well known class V section.

A fun boof on a seldom run section of the North Feather

Our "standby" run out here is the South Fork of the American. At normal flows it is similar in difficulty to the Ocoee. Unlike the Ocoee it not roadside but offers more opportunity for air with the price of additional flatwater.

Happy Paddling!

Dan Glauser

NEW RIOT SEAT for... Magnum 80, Thunder 76, Astro 58 & Nitro 58

2008-01-02T11:33:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,

Well, with the advent of the Magnum 80 and the Thunder 76 in a couple of weeks' time, I figured some of you might want to know about one of the outfitting changes that is occurring in some Riot boats. A new seat, built to be released with the new river runner and creek boats this Winter will also be implemented into our existing "big-boy" boats, the Astro 58 and Nitro 58.

Here is a picture of Charles from the Riot Factory working on the large seat.

One of the most important things about designing boats for different people is that everything needs to be adjusted proportionately, including the outfitting. In this case, the larger Riot boats are designed to accomodate paddlers in the 180-250+ pound range, and the seat needs to fit those folks as well as the increased volume or length of the kayaks.

You can see from the prototype sketches that there is added length from front to back and side to side while still retaining the comfy, snug, fitting features of Riot's unique seat shape.

With Riot's already highly regarded outfitting this new seat will be warmly welcomed by larger paddlers who want to get into a Riot boat. That dream is now a reality.

I love Santie Clause,

Chris Gragtmans

North Fork of the Blackwater (V+) (WV) Headcam + Freestyle Footy

2007-12-27T20:34:00.000-08:00

Adam gyrating in Hungry Mother, Upper Gauley, WV.

Watch the full video embedded below or click HERE.

Anyone who paddles in WV knows that the Blackwater River in the northern central part of the state is of the same caliber of North Carolina's Green River Narrows (but, of course, better in every way ;-). The Blackwater is a naturally fed stream that has three different sections: the "North Fork" (V+), the "Upper" (IV-V+), and the "Lower" (IV-V).

Jake Greenbaum admires Douglas Falls, North Fork of the Blackwater, WV.

Out of these three sections, the Upper Blackwater, averaging 233 fpm, runs the most frequently and is paddleable at a wide range of levels (some people run it real high, it just depends on how crazy you are). The Lower is less frequented because you have to either run the Upper into the Lower, or hike in and down a steep 400 vertical foot mountain (see map below). The Upper and lower offer extremely challenging boulder drop rapids with a few slides and larger drops. Both the Lower and the Upper will challenge any paddler when they descend the canyon, no matter their skill level.

Blackwater Area Map. Note the sections. When the Upper and North Fork meet, the remaining stretch is called the "Lower" Blackwater.

The North Fork, on the other hand, is a completely different stream. Instead of boulder drops and hard, tight, technical moves, the North Fork, which has a max gradient of almost 400 fpm, offers steep vertical drops consistently. The big drop, called Glutial Mash, is a picturesque 30' drop that you have to either boof or enter at a maximum of a 45 degree angle to avoid pitoning potential.

Some of the best things about the North Fork is that you can run it multiple times in a day (provided that you have the corn to power up the 400' vert hill and 1.5 miles of rail trail each time), it runs fairly frequently, and, essentially, is a park and huck (due to all the hiking).

Needless to say, the Blackwater is a powerful river that should not be taken lightly. Experienced teams only. In the words of LVM, "If you don't have the skillz to pay the billz..." please admire from a distance...

OR from this video!

If you are having trouble viewing this video, click HERE.

The video is from the North Fork of the Blackwater with some headcamera footage (WV, V+) and some freestyle on the Upper Gauley. Enjoy!

Also, if you would like to see the entire North Fork of the Blackwater headcam footage, click HERE.

Happy holidays and see you on the water,

-Adam Johnson
WhitewaterFreestyle

Looking Good While Blowing Your Line: Part 1

2007-12-13T13:26:00.000-08:00

Good Evening

As some of you, our faithful readers, are aware, blowing one's line is a very common occurence. Some Asheville boaters may claim that they have the perpetual lines of perfection, but they are tellin tall tales.

As some of you all may also know, it has been raining a good bit here in WV, and we got a few days on the Upper Gauley at high water. One of my personal favorite runs is paddling the Lower Meadow into the Gauley and finishing at Sweets. Its pretty sweet. Actually very sweet, like a lemon thats not really a lemon, but a piece of candy dressed as a lemon for halloween. Candy sure can be silly. But I digress...

I am going to get right to it. This is an instructional, how-to thingy on how to throw an entry move in your creek boat. This is especially useful when heading towards an enormous hole that you have no chance of going over, under, or around. In this type of situation you have two options: getting beat down, or getting beat down with style. Since I am the self-proclaimed king of style, I will instruct on the latter. Enjoy.

Step 1: Always look at the camera.

Notice how I am paying no attention to the rapid in front of me. That rapid does not matter. If it did matter, I would obviously be looking at it. The most important thing to remember is that rivers do not get the ladies, pictures get the ladies.

Step 2: Realize too late that you are off line.

But don't act like you care. Do not let off a flurry of strokes to correct your line. In fact, stop paddling hard at all. Remember, you're going into that hole on purpose. For the ladies.

Step 3: Hit the meat of the hole

Dodging holes is for open boaters. If all the water is going into that hole, then so should you. As you approach that hole you must smile, because you never know who may be watching from the bank. Because if an onlooker sees your fear, no more ladies.

Step 4: Get eaten by the hole

This is the magic part. This is your disappearing act. You want to disappear just long enough for people to wonder what cool move you have in store for them...

Step 5: Whammee!!!!!

Blast out of that hole into your vertical entry move. Get that bow up into the air because you want everyone to see your awesomocity. No, I didn't make that word up. If you haven't heard it, then you just aren't in the know. It comes right after awesomalicious, which is obviously synonymous with Gragtmans.

Step 6: Surf out of the hole and don't look back

You don't need to look back. You're an awesomolicious kayaker. You are always looking forward. The past is in the past, look forward to the future...your future...the future of action sports.

Check out the video...

Until I get burled again, I remain...

Dave Finney

North East Update

2007-12-10T17:30:00.000-08:00

In the past couple months myself and Paul Twist have been traveling all over the Northeast hitting a couple of the classics. Beaver fest is like Mecca for paddlers in the Northeast, they travel from near and far to hit the one day release of the Moisher section of the Beaver River. After the Moisher and Eagle sections of the Beaver, Paul Twist and I met up with some of our favorite local paddlers, Michael H. Laflair IV and Uncle Jim "Hot Rod" Dobbins to paddle the Stone Valley Section of the Raquette. Here is the video.

Beaver and Raquette Video

beaver

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After the Beaver, it was time for Moose Fest. The Bottom section of the Moose is a classic Adirondack pool drop run with great drops. There is nothing like waking up in the morning and taking the hit at the bottom of Fowlersville Falls, a 40' slide. The Moose also includes Gorilla's sister, Magilla. Magilla is a huge ugly drop that just makes you cringe when you look at it. This year Michael H. Laflair IV was man enough to fire up this drop. Here is the video, which is a great peice of editing by Paul Twist.

Moose Fest 2007

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Be sure to look for our next post on Medina Falls, a perfect 40' vertical drop in Western New York.
Signing off for Team Riot Danny Doran and Paul Twist

Looping on the Upper Gauley

2007-12-01T17:59:00.000-08:00

Adam Johnson Loops in Hungry Mother Hole, Upper Gauley, WV.

This fall, after the huge crowd had left town post Gauleyfest, Stephen Wright, Tanya Shuman, Kelsey Thompson, and myself (Adam Johnson) had the opportunity to cruise down the Upper Gauley during near record high temperatures. The day proved to be filled with lots of gyrations, flips, and flops from each person in our party.

Stephen Wright going big in Geeks Hole.

Kelsey Thompson looping in Hungry Mother

Adam Johnson loops in Hungry Mother.

Tanya Shuman, recently retired, heading for the hole.
This is a great sequence

Stephen, completely aerial, about to land on his face after a *huge* ender

Stephen was super fired up about that last ender. We got to catch him in a rare moment of exuberance.

Stephen Loops big in Hungry Mother, and, well, pretty much anywhere.

This was certainly a great day to be on the river. I cannot remember the last time it was late October and I was paddling in a shorty splash top on the Gauley. This past weekend a crew which included David Finney, among others, descended the Upper Gauley from the meadow down at around 12,000cfs (the normal fall flow, pictured here, is 2,800cfs). The following few days were preceded by a 5,000 to 6,000cfs day, as well as a 4,200cfs and a 2,900cfs day. A truly classic river.

Looping Tips:
1. The biggest thing to remember when looping is keeping your boat straight when you drive your bow under water. You can control your lateral movement with braking and ruddering strokes as your bow travels towards the seam of the feature.
2. When you reach the seam, lean forward, keeping your boat straight. Your boat will soon start the ender. As soon as you start to ender upwards, stand on your feet and try to "jump" up and back into the hole to get your boat out of the water.
3. As you start to go over vertical, tuck back up and throw your paddle into the water. Do a stroke that starts at your bow and travels in an arc over your head to your stern (think of it as making a half circle with your paddle). This stroke aids in pulling your stern through the water. As this stroke travels towards your stern, lean back and help get your boat back upright.
4. Once you have completed the loop, be sure to get back forward and on top of things as the feature will want to mess with you while your are on your back deck. And that is how to loop in a nutshell.

See you on the water,
-Adam Johnson
WhitewaterFreestyle

Welcome Spiegels + Big Wave in China with Huge Experiences

2007-12-01T09:21:00.000-08:00

Team Riot has a couple new team members named Speigel. David is the older brother and Eli is the youngin'. These kids are from the Seattle WA area but are rather worldly travelers. I have a unique privilege of coaching both these guys last summer on the Huge Experiences Colorado tour.

Currently David is attending his freshmen year of College in CO. We'll get a report from David soon. For now, Eli is in his Junior year of high school at Huge Experiences, currently traveling in China. Huge Experiences recently checked in with me from China with some sweet photos and a report regarding Eli:

When the New River Academy recently discovered what they are calling, "one of the world's best surf waves it was Team Riot paddler and student Eli Spiegel who hit the Huge move of the day. The school was departing the Salween River lying near the border of the former country known as Burma and China. After two and a half hours of curvy roads, constant bus honking, and viewing the roadside big volume water of the Salween the students spotted what they named "Fortune Cookie."

Students and faculty quickly noted the 12' trough, a huge pile, its steep glassy nature, and eddy access. Yes, that is right a big water wave with a perfect eddy that students would drift into. Fortune Cookie had a large curling river right shoulder and a river left rib in the middle offering teen kayakers the opportunity for the biggest aerial moves of their experience.

It was Eli Spiegel who stepped it up. Huge Experiences coach and director David Hughes stated, "Eli had been the first on and the last off the Burning Time wave all week. He kept trying more moves than anyone on what we thought was the best wave. That is until we discovered Fortune Cookie. Eli's hard work and passion definitely paid off big when he hit a 4 to 5' airscrew on his last ride of the day."

Eli Spiegel is an A student at the New River Academy and a Team Riot paddler. For more reports on Eli surf to kayakschool.org

Eli airscrews on Fortune Cookie wave on the Salween River.

Another

A blunt

Pre-China: Eli with his new Astro 58 and Magnum 72, ready to travel.

Photos ©Huge Experiences and Eli Spiegel

Later,

Spencer Cooke
Team Riot

NOC's Homers Hole

2007-11-27T00:19:00.000-08:00

GAF was awesome this year with some great karaoke performances, and clear weather. One of my favorite things about GAF was that the "NOC Wave" has been changed in to a hole and renamed "Homers Hole", so I'm told. The hole was pretty fast and shallow but over all fun, with a few strategically placed rocks to get a little more water flowing through the hole it could be a cool new attraction to add to the Nantahala. Loops were pretty rough, but cartwheels, blunts splits, space godzillas, and even donkey flips are possible.

Over all i had a blast and I am already looking forward to next year.

Alan Young

Photos by Casey Jones and Andy Gates

The Answer for the Big Boys... large Magnum and Thunder!

2007-11-19T17:59:00.000-08:00

Hello Ladies and Gents.

Riot Kayaks has got some pretty cool designs for this winter, geared towards the larger folks out there. Expected release date for the Magnum 80 and Thunder 76 is January 2008. These two boats will both feature larger seats, and a standard(large) keyhole cockpit for easy entry and exit, as well as comfort.

Large Magnum:

80 gallons
8'4" length
26.5" width
45 lbs.

Magnum 80 prototype alongside Large Habitat and Mega Rocker.

Profile shot with Mega Rocker.

We tested the Magnum 80 prototype all over the Southeast this spring/summer, and it's been a joy to paddle. At 170 pounds I am not exactly in the target weight range for this boat; it is really going to be an ideal creekboat for the 190+ pounders. It will not be a replacement for the Magnum 72 at my weight, but rather another tool to use in certain situations. For me, the big Magnum will be ideal for overnighters, extreme races, and pushy class 5 creeking... Green at 200+, Raven's, Linville, etc. The Magnum 72 will be perfect for all other applications... big waterfalls, low-volume creeks, etc.

Rolling off the Gorilla at high water.

Cruising into the Happy Place after a good run... the boat definitely inspires a feeling of invincibility.

The Magnum 80 has the same chines that are featured on the Magnum 72, starting right around where the knees are, and extending back to peter out just before the stern of the boat. These allow the boat to be driven through big rapids, and help you to place the kayak exactly where you want it while planing out of drops, or resurfacing from holes. Another appealing aspect of this boat is the enormous amount of stern and bow volume, which, when combined with the same backband as the standard Magnum, will allow the stern to be packed full of a tonne of overnight gear.

Here are a couple of comparison shots between the Magnum 72 and Magnum 80:

Footage of the Magnum 80 prototype can be seen on Nathan Silsbee's VIDEO.

Large Thunder:

76 gallons
8'0" long
25.75" wide
43 lbs.

Joe Stumpfel enjoying the big Thunder C-1 style on the Green.

Photo by Maggie Snowel.

The Thunder 76 is the answer for larger folks who want a kayak that can do everything. The platform for this boat was the Booster, one of Riot's most successful kayaks to date. The Thunder features the hull from the Booster, which also happens to be the boat in which the helix was invented by Steve Fisher. What this translates to is a great deal of playability from the hull, while more creeky deck keeps you safe in hard whitewater.

Profile shot with the Large Diesel.

Please disregard my meatheadedness... think I was making some kind of joke about being diesel or something... my bad.

The first thing that stood out for me about this kayak was its hull speed. It easily keeps up with most creekboats on the market, while the flat hull and sharp edges allow for surfing, carving, spinning, and even cartwheeling. Definitely a jack of all trades.

Spencer testing out the creeking abilities of the Thunder in Go Left.

Spencer styling an off-the-beaten-path slot on the Green.

**All photos by Spencer Cooke/Effort.tv unless otherwise stated**

Both of these kayaks will be available at Riot dealers in January, so be sure and check them out.

Good lines.
Chris Gragtmans

Golden Rules of Creeking and River Running

2007-11-03T05:33:00.000-07:00

Thats right, you heard it here. Creeking etiquette: what are some good general rules to follow whilst creeking? Here ya go:

Tha Golden Rules:

Sorting things out before putting on the river, Northern Quebec.

1. Always Bring a Rope.
I have been on too many creeks with people who have "forgot" their rope. Putting on a creek without a rope is "iffy" at best. As kayakers, we evaluate risk, run rivers and hard drops; however, sometimes, one cannot predict what will happen on the river. This is why we bring ropes--they are our backup plan and help lessen that "Oh shit" factor. If you have a rope, put it in your creekboat and leave it there until you need it on the river.

2. Bring Your Rope to Scout Rapids.
If you bring your rope with you on the river and lug it around all the time, why not take it with you when scouting? Oftentimes when someone runs a rapid, they do not want to stop and wait for someone to get a rope or camera set up. They simply want to go. Therefore, when getting out of your boat to scout, quickly grab your rope out of the back before you head down for a look. This is the most likely situation where you will use your rope.

Scouting a sweet 30+ footer in New Zealand.

3. Unsure of the line? Scout it!
There are lots of creeks out there which our friends run over and over again and know the lines to (Eg. Green River Narrows). Oftentimes, they would like to run the larger rapids just by telling you the line and going. This works most of the time, but if you feel like you would like to scout (for whatever reason), then do it. That is safer. Just because they have run that rapid a gazillion times doesn't mean that you are omniscient and know where the line is and how to paddle it. When in doubt, scout.
Also, if your party gets to the top of a rapid and is unsure of the line, but it is not something that everyone needs to scout, then send one person who is *good with giving directions* to take a look. You should always trust this person to give you the right line and good, accurate, and clear directions (guess what, that person should bring his rope when he is taking a look because it could save your ***).

While Kevin Dombey and Philly Williams are comfortable with the directions provided, Chris Sellers asks for more beta.

4. Standardize River Signals.
It is a horrible feeling when you are at the top of a drop, looking down at your buddies and they are giving you these weird hand signals that make no sense to you. At that point, you have no idea what the line is and you are thinking to yourself, "WTF!". Before you get on the river, have a chat with your buddies (in the car on the way to the putin, right before you get on the water, wherever) which standardizes river signals. Remember that not everyone has 20/20 vision as well, so they might not be able to see those hand gestures that you are pointing out from 100 yards. American Whitewater has a great resource HERE which explains the standard river signals, as well as some other very useful information (did you know that cold water can extend survival time for drowning victims? It is all there, check it out).

Kevin Dombey receives directions through signals from people on shore.
Kevin Stoked after getting good directions and nailing the line.

5. River Responsibility.
Do you know who you are directly responsible for whilst running a river? The person who you need to keep an eye on is the person *directly behind you*. Why is this? You can see the person in front of you; thereby, you will most likely know if something goes wrong. But what happens if the person behind you gets pinned? Most likely, you will be the first person to reach him.
Obviously, everyone is responsible for everyone while running rivers, but the person directly behind you is the person you are directly responsible for. If you are in the back of the group, you are responsible for having the gear in case of an emergency (med kit, breakdown paddle, duct-tape, whatever) and are also responsible for the safety of the people in front of you.

Adam Johnson, left, and Chris Gragtmans, POV, running the Doncaster river near Montreal, QC, Canada. Here, Adam is most responsible for Chris who is paddling directly behind him.

6. Know Your Limits.
Be prepared. Oftentimes, there is a paddler who is at the top of one group, but not quite ready to go on the same rivers as another group. Many times it is hard to evaluate the difficulty of a river from others who know it well or are highly skilled. Or, the other case is when the better paddler wants to take someone down a new river who may or may not be ready for it. It is that paddlers' responsibility to get some background information, evaluate the paddlers who invited you, and do the research to determine the difficulty of the run.

Paddle off of this tall one with rocks at the base? I think not!

For example, this past spring I took a friend of mine who had just started kayaking down Hopeville Canyon (Cl II-III) on the South Branch of the South Fork of the Potomac. He had rolled before, but his roll was weak, but seemed to enjoy other rivers such as the Arden Section of the Tygart above Deception (Cl II-III). Needless to say, I thought he was ready to paddle Hopeville Canyon. He put-on and did fine for the run, had a few swims, but, all in all, everything was OK. At the takeout, he told me he was "gripped" throughout the run. This is a good example of a skilled kayaker who struggled to properly compare the difficulty of this (mighty) class II-III run between the Arden Section of the Tygart.

Good shoes come in handy right here. Notice Philly (left) holding his Chaco's in hand.

Other things that are certainly "good ideas" to have could be:
Good shoes capable of hiking long distances (a good fitting pair of shoes can make you a better hiker, just as a well outfitted boat can make you a better creeker).
Food
Extra Gear (biners, another throwbag, layers, etc)
Pin Kit
An escape plan (do you know where there is a trail to hike out?)
Water
Someone who knows where you are and when to start worrying if you do not come back (in a certain time frame).
Matches! These come in really handy for those unplanned nights out on the river.
A solid, high functioning group you can trust.
Knowledge: knowledge is power. Everyone has a certain skill set. Someone in your group may be good at making fires or scouting or ghetto rigging broken gear--whichever. Always be prepared. Know where to hike out from if necessary.

There could be many more things that I am missing here, so feel free to write whatever I missed in the "Comments" section of this post as a continuing dialog.

Have a fun and safe time on the river. See you out there,
-Adam Johnson
WhitewaterFreestyle

South Eugene High School Kayak Club

2007-11-02T10:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go kayaking with the South Eugene Kayak Team/Club. The South Eugene Kayak Club, as I understand, was founded by Macy Burnham in 1998. This successful program is fueled by volunteer head coach Tom Powers, guest volunteer coaches and parents who are willing to serve as shuttle bunnies and chauffeurs. The kayak team has a wide variety of skill level and experience ranging from beginners to some students who are working on advanced moves like helixes and pistol flips.

The club has adult volunteer coaches attending the trips, however the students are in charge of planning the weekly river trip. The students take initiative to research water levels, driving distances, etc. and then make a team decision on where to paddle. At the put-in, the senior club members, under coach Tom's supervision, take a leadership roll by administering the, "safety" talk and the discussing group dynamics on the water. Students are responsible for paddling as a team, boat rescue and setting safety where appropriate.

This past weekend the team decided to paddle the Santiam River near Salem. We paddled the Spencer's Hole section and had a great trip. Check out some of the highlights in the video.

Happy Paddling,
Jason Aytes

Team Riot at the Green Race

2007-11-02T10:01:00.000-07:00

So I've had class all week, but I haven't learned a thing... Want to know why? THE GREEN RACE IS UPON US!!! The mental infliction of the green race gives me the jitters, and I visualize running gorilla over and over again as my teacher rambles. Riot made a very good standing in last year's green race, taking three out of the top six shortboat times. The Magnum is proven to be a fast contender. Team Riot is making a good representation again at this year's race, so be on the lookout for some fast times in the Magnum.

Here's the team:

Spencer "The Donkey-Slayer" Cooke. Spencer is the man with the plan, and leader of the Riot pack. He's quick and dangerous. Be wary, last time Spencer raced the green was in 2005, and placed 5th in shortboat with a wicked 5:15. Spencer has been known to shoot a video or two, so get ready for a good sequel to the award-winning Enter the Donkey. The new flick is called Night of the Living Donkey, and should be in theatres within the next ten or twelve years. Go to effort.tv for more details.

Spencer dropping in to Sunshine. (Photo courtesy of effort.tv).

Spencer making the squeeze. Go Left and Die. (Photo: Nathan Silsbee)

David "The Charmer" Finney
Not much is known of this mysterious racer aside from the fact that he has a large head which helps him to ram through rocks when he flips over. Finney has two very good attributes in his favor: a very strong forward-stroke, and long eyelashes which assist him to snag the ladies. A dangerous combination indeed.
Finney running Cathedral. Linville Gorge. (Photo: Robin Betz)

Chris "Canadian Bacon" Gragtmans . As the nickname implies, Gragtmans comes from a foreign land... many thousands of miles away. It was in this land that he mastered his superior playboating skills, and rumor has it that he can throw a mean spin-to-helix. Graggle is a good candidate to win the whole thing this year, so watch out for a bright yellow flash of light as he darts down the river. More info about Chris at chrisgragtmansfacts.blogspot.com.

Chris dropping into Gorilla, well over the standard level. (Photo courtesy of effort.tv).

Chris pulling a sneaky move. (Photo courtesy of effort.tv).

Chris paddling hard in the attainments race. (Photo courtesy Lee Pirtle at lep@lepirtle.com).

Cooper "The Manimal" Lambla
Cooper's smooth as margarine. Whether it be spitting some game at the ladies, or greasing Gorilla at 350 percent, Mr Lambla styles it all the way. You can track his extraordinary exploits at downstreammovement.blogspot.com. Coop-a-loop had a very fast run last year with a time of 5:09, placing him in fourth for shortboat class. Unfortunately, Cooper injured himself at the russell fork last week, and will not be racing. The top competitors should consider themselves lucky, because Cooper is one of the fastest, smoothest creek racers out there.

Cooper running the G-monk at scary low-water in a playboat.

Cooper charging it in the longboat last year. (Photo: Leland Davis)

Andy "Blue Dragon" Gates . Andy is an excellent singer, and can be seen throwing huge loops in the pop-up hole. If you don't know who Andy is, start doing your homework because he's one of the up and coming young paddlers in the southeast. Andy won't be racing, but he's paddling to give moral support to his teammates.

And myself . I like sushi, racquetball, and racing down the green. I'm excited to say I'll be racing longboat for my first year. I'd never taken a longboat down the green until yesterday (two days before the race), and it has been interesting getting the feel of the new boat. Big thank you to Robert Peerson for lending me the new Momentum.

Chiefs (Photo courtesy effort.tv)

Gorilla at scary low-water. (Photo courtesy effort.tv)

Battling Chris Graggle and Chris Gallaway at the head to head attainment race. (Photo courtesy Lee Pirtle at lep@lepirtle.com).

Hope to see everyone out there, and be sure to carpool, as the parking situation at the trail-head is a bit chaotic.

Nathan Silsbee
Flow Rider

Riot Kayaks on the CBS Early Show

2007-10-29T17:30:00.000-07:00

Recently CBS' "Early Show" was broadcasting live from the US National Whitewater Center, here in Charlotte, NC. The show's weatherman, Dave Price, was on-hand to lead the chaos on a soggy Friday morning.

Yours truly was also on location, representing in my Riot Astro 58, on national television. With all the spotlights, crowd noise and excitement in the air, it was hard not to get fired up to go boating, "in the name of kayaking."

On-water, complete and utter chaos ensued. When you offer free kayaking in an environment where it usually costs $15+, this is what happens. People are also stoked be on TV.

The banks of the ditch were lined with mad folks all screaming and yelling like kayakers were the modern day equivalent to The Beatles landing in America. Kayaking to America, we are here.

America, this is a kayaker...And your weatherman, see it's not that hard after all. Get U Some. Dave jumped into a boat and tooled around the eddy, to show off his skillz. Kayaking skillz. Weather predicting skillz. Num-chuck skillz. Liger drawing skillz.

Among the masses were some representatives from the Charlotte Bobcats. Troy couldn't focus.

Dave Hepp, water sports head dude-man at the Center, gave the event a thumbs up!!!

Thanks to Jeff and Lance out at the Center, for use of the pics!

Oh boy, smells like Bojangles. After the event, we hit the road and caught the last of the water on the Green that day. Paddling is fun, paddling and then paddling again at the Green is exceptional.

See ya'll on the tube.

-Cooper Lambla
Downstream Movement

Riot Karaoke Tour '07 wrap up

2007-10-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

Well, the fat lady didn't sing... oh well. Lots of other people did sing and many more were entertained. The final three Riot Karaoke stops occurred at the AW Gauley River Fest, Diamond Brand Outdoors and the NOC GAF. Enjoy a video from the Gauley that team member Andy Gates put together.

Many fabulous prizes including an Aquabound Carbon Shred paddle, Mion shoes, IR & Shred Ready gear, and H2o Audio housing, Astral Buoyancy t-shirts and more were given out.

Karaoke followed the world premiere of THE GREEN RACE MOVIE by Chris Gallaway at Diamond Brand in Asheville NC on October 5th. 150+ folks turned out for the viewing. You can watch the trailer and read a bit about the movie at http://TheGreenRaceMovie.com

Riot Team paddlers, Chris Gragtmans, Nathan Silsbee, Cooper Lambla and myself, among several of other talented athletes, were very pleased to be featured in the film. It is well worth viewing and an incredibly inspiring film for any kayaker trying to set goals for themselves, whether it's racing the green or learning to roll. One notable quality of the film is its ability to capture the undivided attention of non-paddlers and paddlers alike. Not many kayak films have that attribute. Everything about the film is done well from the editing, music, smooth and seamless narration and beautiful footage. Chris Gallaway hit a homer for his first kayak film ever.

Speaking of the Green Race, good luck to everyone who competes this coming weekend! If the hype is any indicator this year's race will be the largest to date. We finally have a little bit of extra water to pad things out a little. One thing to note: if you are hiking into the narrows as a spectator please remain on the trail and be mindful of the environment around you. I was speaking with a friend recently who was very concerned of the environmental impact of 500 people walking into that gorge on one day. It's something to think about for sure.

It was hard letting go of the tour this past weekend but our good friends at NOC helped make it a bit easier. MC, Jason McClure, was truly inspirational to any and all NOC and Riot Karaoke guests. Here you see him in the background with open mouth, backup singing for one of our most talented contestants, Bryce Bryce Baby.

You might notice that Bryce is already wearing a Riot Karaoke Tour t-shirt. That's because Bryce is what I refer to as a repeat offender. Not only did he butcher one song, which was so beautiful and mesmerizing that I can't even remember what song it was, but he came back to maim the absolute dickens out of Vanilla Ice's "ice ice baby". Wherever you are out there Bryce, we love you. Come home Bryce Bryce Baby.

Many other brave competitors belted out tunes ranging from "pretty woman" to "sexual healing". Astounding as I'm sure you can imagine.

In the end all were bested by that silly penguin. I kept saying it was too hot for a penguin to be just walking around but there he was, aaagain.

Make sure to visit Diamond Brand and NOC this winter when Riot's two new boats, the Big Magnum and Thunder are released. More on those later...

Thanks again to all the sponsors of the Riot Karaoke Tour. We probably won't hit as many events this coming year with karaoke but maybe a select few. At any rate, thanks also to everyone who participated.

Later,

Spencer Cooke, Team Riot

Final Riot Karaoke stop of 2007 - NOC GAF

2007-10-26T00:30:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, Saturday, October 27th, at NOC GAF Team Riot makes their final stop on the 2007 Karaoke Tour. We will proceed with the chlorophyll at approximately 12 noon and continue until 5 or 6 or until all the prizes are gone. All our most famous team paddlers will be present to humiliate themselves with you and not sign autographs. Come belt out your favorite tune and win some prizes. For the last time of the season we thank all our kind and gracious sponsors for all the rad prizes: IR, Mion, Shred Ready, Astral and of course, Riot.

Don't quit your day job. See you at NOC GAF.

Spencer Cooke, Team Riot

Waterfall Tour of Quebec

2007-10-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

As creekboaters, there are a couple of destinations that we hear a lot about as being the holy grails of extreme kayaking. Norway, Mexico, California, and Chile come up time and time again as the places to visit when you can gather the funds and the crew. I love traveling to locations such as these that are well-established and documented, but once in a while it's fun to get off the beaten path a bit. That is what Quebec is to me... a fairly undocumented mecca of absolutely everything that you could want as a kayaker. But you've gotta work for it!

A typical Quebec waterfall...

Photo: Kelsey Thompson

This July I took a week long trip with my buddy Kelsey Thompson, and we paddled some incredible rivers in the Laurentian Mountains.

First stop... Les Sept Chutes de Saint Anne, Drop 1.

Photo: Kelsey Thompson

The Sept Chutes of St. Anne are located east of Quebec City, and are 7 absolutely incredible park and huck waterfalls on the St. Anne du Nord River. These drops were first-d'd by Dominic Chaput and Dominic Fournier(Dom and Domer) a couple years back at low water, and to my knowledge have only been run a handful of times by them since then. I've been researching and wanting to run them for the past three years, and I finally got a chance. After the 4.5 hour drive from Montreal, Kelsey and I met up with Steve Arns, Krusty Thompson, and Bob Butler and got to paddle these sick cataracts. Incredible day at a flow somewhere around 200 cfs.

"Big Water" Bob Butler styling it while I film and Krusty shoots photos.

Photo: Steve Arns.

Steve Arns, Drop 5.

Photo: Kelsey Thompson

Bob mid-bounce on Drop 1.

Photo: Steve Arns

After the Sept Chutes, we made the big drive northeast into the middle of nowhere to paddle the Malbaie River. In spite of it's remoteness, it is well worth the drive, and provides a great day of high volume class IV/V creeking and the sweetest 30 footer you'll ever run! The whitewater immediately took my mind off of the long drive and rainy night that we had just spent, as well as the fact that I had 1/4 tank of gas about 120 kilometres from the closest gas station!

Myself enjoying the zen moment.

Photo: Steve Arns

Kelsey rolling off the lip.

Photo: Steve Arns

Kelsey boofing another cool Malbaie drop.

Photo: Steve Arns

Upon completion of the Malbaie, Steve, Bob, and Krusty had to make the 11 hour drive back to the city of Ottawa, and the real world. Kelsey and I decided to rally back to the Sept Chutes and spend another day running those bedrock wonders. Upon arrival, we discovered the river had increased exponentially in volume because of the rain... and the Sept Chutes had now entered the realm of truly world class whitewater.

Kelsey's and my run that day was one of the best days of the summer for sure, and I was fortunate enough to end it with possibly the biggest/sickest/most fun rapid that I have ever run in my life... a burly cascade starting with a boof over a huge hole at the top, then down a whiteout curler-filled slide dropping about 30 feet, immediately off a 40 footer at full speed(trying to get right, because the left half of the boil pushes into a nasty kiwi-in-a-pocket type place), and then down another Toxaway-style slide dropping about 30 more feet.

The forty footer from the overlook.

After finishing our run on the Sept Chutes, Kelsey and I headed back in the direction of Montreal, and scouted the infamous Steve Fisher rapid called the Chutes de la Sainte Ursulles. I've been looking at this one for a couple years too, and the damn South African superstar had to crush my hopes and dreams when he first d'd it last year. Punk ass! Haha... just kidding, didn't want a piece of it in years past, and that didn't change during this trip.

The sickest thing ever run in my opinion...

Photo: Kelsey Thompson

After our grand adventure, Kelsey and I were treated to two days of sessioning the Lachines Waves in Montreal. Couldn't ask for a better place to mellow out after scaring yourself a bit.

Kelsey doing his Canadian National Champion thing...

Well that's all for now folks, hope you enjoy the video, and see you at the Green Race!

Peace.
Chris Gragtmans

Photos and a Clip of Worldly Travels 2003-2007

2007-10-06T18:23:00.000-07:00

Here is a video from some of my travels from the past few years. It documents travels from Africa, the USA, Chile, Canada, Ecuador, as well as several other places. Enjoy! (Note: if you are unable to see the embedded video, click HERE)Dropping off of Big Brother, White Salmon, WA
World Class Kayak Academy Van in the home state, West by god Virginia.
Adam Johnson boofs #5 on the Zambezi, Zambia, Africa
Adam Johnson looping in Right Side, Ottawa River, 2004.
Flipturn on the Dries of the New, Gauley season 2004.
Epic shuttle driving in Mexico for a playrun. 4 hours in, 4 hours out, +1 to the takeout.
Adam on Sunshine, Green River, 2003.

Great Falls Waterfall Gallery

2007-10-05T00:24:00.000-07:00

Dug up some freeze-frames from this summer's Potomac Festival, you can lay your eyes onto more photos, video and stories on my information highway page, Downstream Movement.

The Nastiest Nathaniel breaks off a piece of that Kit-Kat bar, in his Orbit 47.

Spencer Cookes-a-lot-of-spam, points and plops. That's just how he rolls. Noted on this trip was the fact that the Thunder, his craft of choice in this photo, needs to be pronounced Tun-DA, the way Arnd would say it.

Andy Gates-of-paradise takes on the gravitational pull of the moon, in one large boof for man-kind. The motion of boofing is the Magnum's zen state of being. To be or not to be, is not the question. When and where are not the questions, either. It WILL scoop up more servings than your local Ben and Jerrys. Can you eat them up? Now that might be the question.

Eat or be eaten.

-Cooper Lambla
Downstream Movement

blunting..

2007-10-03T12:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, so you are comfortable on a wave, and you want to start to expand your wave play abilities beyond spinning. Well, a good basic play boating trick is the “blunt”. It is a great skill to build upon to learn more difficult wave moves. An ideal wave for blunting can be defined in two basic ways one is a wave that has a defined high side or where the water curls back in the trough of the wave. The other is a wave that is fast, steep, and has a good amount of power. The other day I was at the USNWC with Andy playing on their “M Wave”, which is a very fast relatively powerful wave. Okay, to begin to blunt you need to get as far back on the wave as possible by either spinning or dropping an edge. Next, accelerate toward the trough of the wave, once you hit the trough stomp your feet at the same time you drop an edge (drop the opposite edge you cartwheel on), while simultaneously with the same blade as the edge you used launch your self forward with a quick powerful stroke. This will get you the speed and bounce you need to get into the air. Immediately after, switch your edge hard while you’re still going up and pull your other blade down (like a cart wheel) pulling your boat up and out of the water. Then, simply land in to a back surf, and spin forward.

Hope to see you on the water soon

Black River NY

2007-09-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

Draught+Cruncher+Voodoo=Lots of Fun!!!!

Well it’s been a crazy summer up here in the Northeast, with the lack of rain we’ve had compared to the water we’ve had the last couple of summers. Nevertheless we have been holding things down up here. During the weekdays in Rochester, NY we paddle Lock 32 whitewater course after work which gives us dependable whitewater 6 months out of the year. On the weekends we head up to Watertown, NY where we paddle a northeast classic called the Black River.

The Black has everything you could ever want during a summer draught. It offers class three and four rapids with a couple of class five lines thrown in here and there. Also it has a stout little waterfall with a huge re-circ that gets the heart pumping if you mess up your line. Also there is a huge hole named Cruncher that destroys rafts. A lot of the rafts are pulled out with the use of ropes. Most boaters freak out at the thought of even dropping into it or running the line that skirts it. My friends and I on the other hand have a couple of screws loose I guess. For some reason we find ourselves daring each other to drop it, in order to see who survives its wrath. Hudson River rafting gives us free shuttle rides because we deliver great entertainment for their guests.

With this blog I am including a video that shows our antics on the Black River. You will notice that there is a lot of carnage and yes there is a lot of voodoo dancing going on as well. For some reason whenever someone does a dance with sticks in their hands people get destroyed. Kayakers are not the only ones affected by the voodoo curse…we cast spells on the rafters too, so please enjoy our video of our summertime run in Watertown, NY

Black river+Voodo

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This is Paul Twist Signing off for Team Riot

The Riot Gauley Marathon

2007-09-25T19:51:00.000-07:00

A group of 13 determined kayakers from Charlotte, NC (my hometown) decided to start this year's Gauley Fest off with a bang. By bang, I mean a 26 mile jaunt down the white fluffy stuff know as the Upper, Middle and Lower Gauley. Seven of the 13 that put-on at the top were paddling Riot Kayaks. 6 Astros and 1 Nitro.

Some would say that a long-boat is more along the lines of the boat of choice to run 26 miles of river. Clinton Koontz says otherwise as he charges it through Iron Ring. Why take a long boat when there is so much play to be had? Clinton was in fact the one that suggested, "Why don't we all paddle Astros?" Sounded crazy at the time, but so did paddling the marathon.

Sanders, Josh, Andy, Ashley and Angela take a break to watch the may-ham at Diagonal Ledges. I think the wait in line to catch the wave was clocking in at somewhere around two hours.

Will White says, "This outfit is Hee Haw Jones approved!!!"

Big ups to everyone from Crown Town who took part in the big push. 7 1/2 hours later it was all worth it. Special thanks to Quay Hunter for getting everyone motivated early in the AM. As you can imagine, it was quite a task at the G-Fest!

Until next time, the fluffy bunny don't bite unless you make him stay up all night!

-Cooper Lambla

Riot at the 2007 Gauley River Festival this weekend....

2007-09-20T09:30:00.000-07:00

Get ready, the worldwide phenomenon that has been terrorizing innocent kayak festival go-ers everywhere is aiming for the 2007 AW Gauley River Festival. The Riot Karaoke Tour 2007: Don't Quit Your Day Job will be in full effect on Saturday night, September 22nd. Look for the Riot booth for a chance to sing your favorite karaoke tunes for a chance to win fabulous prizes from Mion, Shred Ready, Immersion Research, Astral, and of course Riot. The Riot team will be there to embarass themselves right along side you. We look forward to seeing all of you for some hilarious karaoke action at Gauleyfest this weekend.

--Joey

Lockapalooza 2007 Follow Up

2007-09-16T15:21:00.001-07:00

In the words of Borat, "Great Success". Lockapalooza had a huge turn out. Lock 32 white water park in Rochester, NY was packed with over 800 people and 50 competitors.

The competition was fierce in all divisions, youth, junior's, women's, and men's. All were battling for the gold, but more importantly the bragging rights. It is truly exciting to watch and be part of with probably the best group of under 16 year old kayakers in the Northeast. Combining slalom, boatercross, and freestyle events, Lockapalooza determines the best all around boater. The first place in each event received 5 points, 2nd place: 3 points, 3rd place: 1 point.

The freestyle was the most successful event with competitors from all over the world, an amazing sound system, and who can forget our awesome MC, Fergus Coffey. The freestyle consisted of a ten minute jam session where everyone showed off there most impressive tricks. The top 5 were then chosen from a carefully selected panel of judges. These judges then scored until there were 2 left. I (Danny Doran) was faced with some very tough competition and it came down to me and fellow Team Riot member Aaron Roney. We had a head-to-head battle for the title of "Rodeo Champion of the World" In the end I won the title by a slim margin.

Even at one of the worst water levels (but still good) some of the biggest tricks were being stuck by 12 year olds. Air flips, space godzillas, split wheels, and phonix monkeys were common tricks in the youth and junior divisions. The men's division consisted of these tricks and more. The men's division came down to a battle between local paddler, and member of Team Riot Paul Twist, and Team Dagger member, Tino Specht. It was quite a spechtical (pun intended) to see these two pro boaters go off. Tino was hitting loops, space godzillas, and maybe even a switchflip, while Paul was hitting rides with loops, phonix monkeys, cartwheels, and a mcnasty or two.

Overall Results:

Youth:
1st Place- Tyler Deets
2nd Place- Ciaran Brown
3rd Place- Gardy Webber

Juniors:
1st Place- Danny Doran
2nd Place- Aaron Roney
3rd Place- Chris "Sla" Laflair

Mens:
1st Place- Paul Twist
2nd Place-Tino Specht
3rd Place- Andy Cook

Womens:
1st Place- Jenna and Ruth
3rd Place- Amy Brown

Thanks to Norm Deets for the pictures.
www.prestophotovideo.com

Check out the video made by Paul Twist

lockapalooza 2007

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Danny Doran and Paul Twist signing off for Team Riot

Hello Riot Fans, Joe Stumpfel here...

2007-09-14T13:02:00.000-07:00

I'm super excited? Why you ask? Is it that sweet crossbow boof off of Sunshine? Nah. Is it that I just moved to the year round creeking capital of the US, Hood River? Well that certainly is sweet. But the real reason is that I've just signed on with the coolest kayak company on the planet, RIOT. Why? Well it all started like this. Recently I was becoming more and more frustrated by the lack of good, comfortable, performance oriented short playboats for the average sized adult male. It seems that at 185 lbs and 5'11" I've found myself either completely cramped in a boat that is just too small for me or swimming around in a bathtub. Don't get me wrong, there were a few that fit, but none that had the combination of comfort, performance, and user friendliness that I was looking for. With the promising look of the recently release Astro 58 (among other new designs) I took some time to revisit Riot. This spring, on the way back from NOC's Glacier Breaker Race, I stopped in Asheville and picked up a used 58. The Potomac was booming so after some quick outfitting I headed up to Harpers Ferry to put the Astro through its paces. WOW! Needless to say after my 2nd surf I was sold.

The boat is phenominal combining the perfect amount of speed and bounce on a wave. Huge aerials are nearly effortless and landings are forgiving. In a hole the symetrical volume distribution makes for super smooth cartwheels and the wedged bow provides maximum pop. It's truely one of the greatest all around play performers ever made and it's sized JUST RIGHT for me!! But spins and water wheelies are only so much fun, it was time to check out the venerable Magnum. And what better place to put a creekboat through it's paces than in my backyard test facility, Great Falls. There are many things I look for in a great creekboat but topping the list are stability, maneuverability, and resurfacing characteristics. Many boats out there nail one or two of these but few excel at all three.

The Magnum is, simply put, one of the most reliable creekboats ever produced. Rocksolid stability, playboat like maneuverability, predictable resurfacing, it boofs like a demon, has excellent safety features, and it always goes where you want it to go. On top of that it also moves along for a boat of its length. I was sold! So here I am, the latest member of the team and honestly, aside from the superior boats, I can't think of a nicer group of folks to support. If you haven't tried a Riot kayak lately you really are mising THE boat! Coming up I review the new, larger Thunder, and don't miss my c-1 helmet cam footage of the Green at 200%!!! That's it for now, gotta go boating!

Joe Stumpfel

Pics courtesy of Maggie Snowel, Bryon Dorr, and Nathan Sass

Colorado Video 2007

2007-09-12T21:28:00.000-07:00

Colorado is long gone, but the photos and video keep it fresh in my mind.

Gore rapid, high water.

I like flying.

Dave Finney: Narrows of the Poudre.

Finney on a tight line. Big South.

Cooper Lambla showing us how it's done. Rigomortis

Cooper clearing away clear creek.

Cool world. Big South!

Eldorado Canyon. 245 cfs.

Check out the video:

Hope you enjoyed the vid and pics. Adios

Nathan Silsbee
Flow Rider

Salmon River Gorge

2007-09-10T09:19:00.000-07:00

The Salmon River rises on the south slope of Mount Hood, fed by the melting ice of the Palmer Glacier. From its alpine beginnings, the river flows swiftly south down the flank of the volcano, carving a maze of steep canyons in the soft pumice and ash that makes up the smooth south slopes of Mount Hood. Read more about the Salmon River Gorge at: http://www.splintercat.org/SalmonRiver/SalmonRiverMainPage.html

The Salmon River Gorge is said to be the Everest of Oregon Kayaking. It's a remote canyon with many waterfalls, clean water, and top-notch scenery. Check out the video.

Linville in the desert

2007-09-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

Midsummer, Colorado was long gone and I was beginning to wonder if Asheville would ever see a drop of water again.

2 weeks later... Finally it rained.
Watch Spencer's video:

It dumped down, and Linville was looking like it might go. We decided it was now or never. Billy Murphy, Jesse Wilensky, Dylan Bruce, Chris Gallaway, Spencer Cooke and I headed up the mountain to go kayaking. The one mile hike-in seemed more painful then usual, as the thought of there being no water was on my mind. I was soon relieved when I heard Billy start yelling from below me. We had water. The run went well, and it was good to get on some natural flow. The Magnum was excellent for the narrow and technical moves that Linville has to offer. Here are a few shots taken by the famous hairy zombie killer. Also known as Jesse Wilensky.

This is a sequence of Spencer Cooke's new move... the rock bouncer.

"Fight Club" or something of that nature.

The melter downer. Babel Tower

Spencer on a no-name.

Over and out,
Nathan Silsbee

Flow Rider

Middle Kings River... Trip of a Lifetime

2007-08-26T11:46:00.000-07:00

After two Upper Cherry runs and a couple chill days, it was time for Pat, Coop, Dylan and I to bite off the crown jewel of the Sierras... the Middle Kings River.

We met up with the Asheville crew that was just taking off the river and got some very encouraging advice, as well as a couple scary peeks into what we were going to be dealing with:

Tommy- "It's the river trip of a lifetime."
John- "Here's a picture of Jules hiking in the snow on Bishop's Pass... ok here's a picture of Jules puking on Bishop's Pass."
Tommy- "There's the rapid where I swam."
Katie- "There's the rapid where I swam and lost my boat."
Jason- "Get ready to punch a thousand holes. It's awwwwwwnnn in there!"
Jules- "There's the rapid where homie compound fractured his arm and swam."

I knew that the Middle Kings represented a milestone that I've been training for since I started creekboating. The specs of this adventure are pretty incredible:

Shuttle- 400 miles down around the southern slope of the Sierras
Hike- 13 miles to putin, over a 12,000 ft. pass, 2 miles up at the takeout
River- 31 miles
Putin Elevation- 8600 ft.
Takeout Elevation- 2200 ft!!

I didn't take any pictures of this trip, so I'm going to refer to Pat Keller's Blog, and Cooper Lambla's Blog to tell the photographic story of the Middle Kings. It was six of the most incredible days of (I think) all of our lives, and I can't wait to go back.

Click below to watch the Middle Kings video.

Peace.
Chris

Ohiopyle Falls Festival Rescheduled to September 15, 2007! Downriver Race, Freestyle, & More

2007-08-23T00:15:00.000-07:00

The Ohiopyle Falls Festival is happening. The festival will include a downriver sprint, freestyle off the falls, upstream race through Entrance Rapid, a wicked town party, and much much more. So, if you are cool and want to continue to be cool, come out to the Ohiopyle Falls Festival Saturday, September 15, 2007.

Additionally, there has been some concern about the level for the race. Recently the area has been getting a considerable amount of rain which has brought the level of the Lower Yough up considerably. The official word is this:

It does not look good... The Corps of Engineers can adjust the flow from the Yough dam to meet our 1.8 limit but they cannot adjust the flow of various tributaries and only do so much. If we cannot run the falls on Saturday we will try to run the falls on Sunday assuming the water level will permit this. If we can run the falls on Sunday we will still have the town party Saturday night which will now be the beginning of the Festival as apposed to the end.

If the water levels are too high for both days, then the event will be rescheduled for September 15, 2007. (UPDATE: Event Rescheduled to the 15th). Information about the event will be updated Thursday, August 23rd at FallsRace.com
Photos coutesey of Bob Anderson, SYOTR.com
See you there!

-Adam Johnson

Cheesman Canyon and Yule Creek

2007-08-20T18:05:00.000-07:00

Hello Folks! Hope all is going well in the whitewater world. We had a pretty good summer out west, and now I'm back in the southeast paddling the green off and on. While we were out there, we met a lot of cool coloradonians, who made our trip go a lot smoother! Whether it be showing us down the mankety-mank or letting us crash on their couches, these guys really helped us out. Eli Loper in Vail, Nate Brown in Boulder, Evan Stafford and Kyle McKutchen. (Check out their bad-ass colorado guide book here: http://www.wolverinepublishing.com/). Also thanks to Nic Vanderhoof in Glenwood, the Wavesport guys, and whoever else I'm forgetting.

We were lucky enough to get on Cheesman canyon, which is very rarely run as the access issues are pretty tight. As we put on, the stories of rock-throwing fishermen and photo shooting old men lingered in our minds. One incompetent police officer, and one photo-shooting old man later, we began paddling down one of the most beautiful rivers I've ever run.

The famous Dave Finney demonstrating a perfect rudder.

The entrance to "double undercut" or something like that.

Boogie

Sitting in the blazing hot sun at the take-out

Yule Creek was probably the highlight of the trip for me... It was absolutely gorgeous, with huge waterfalls, crazy steep scree slopes, and crystal clear water.

Go HERE for more photos from Yule.
Stay tuned, we have lots of good video and more photos from the trip. Be safe out there,

Nathan

The Upper Cherry Double

2007-08-15T11:03:00.000-07:00

I've heard a lot about Upper Cherry Creek near Yosemite National Park, but none of the hype could possibly have prepared me for just how incredible this granite playground is.

The 11 mile hike in through a lunarscape...

*All photos by John Warner*

Dylan and I drove straight through the night from Crested Butte, Colorado with beta from my buddies Max Kniewasser and Chris Harjes that Upper Cherry was super high, but would come in to a perfect level with a big cold front rolling into the area. Unfortunately, Max and Chris did not know just how cold it was going to get, and about halfway through the brutal hike it started snowing on us. We then recieved the news from some hikers that the high for the next day was 40 degrees, and lows for the next two nights would be in the teens! Needless to say, after 4 non-stop days of paddling in Colorado, a 27 hour drive straight through a night and a half to get to Upper Creek, and only 4 hours of sleeping in the dust before starting the hike, we were freaking demoralized! I had a 40 degree sleeping bag, a couple of good IR thick skin layers(thank God), and another crucial, lifesaving piece of gear, my tent fly. That night was brutal, nothing short of a blizzard hit us at the put-in, and we all hunkered down and shivered it out next to a dying fire. Harjes got the worst of it with no shelter, and the group was feeling rough in the morning.

It got sunny just long enough to coax us into not hiking out, and putting on to paddle down to Cherry Bomb...

Rapid #1, right below camp.

Filming Sam...

As soon as we put on and ran the first couple of the rapids, the snow started falling again, and the temperature plummeted. There was a lot of blowing into hands that day, and praying that we wouldn't swim as we worked our way through the Class IV Gorge, and the Gorilla Gorge.

Upon reaching the top of Cherry Bomb Gorge, the last place to exit before you drop into the 8 or so entrance drops, Cherry Bomb Falls and the next 5 walled in holes, I was feeling super pumped to drop in without the standard walk around and scout the gorge from the top, and Nick Wimsett, an incredible Kiwi paddler who had run Cherry Bomb the previous year, was also in. After a couple of minutes of deliberation, Sam and Dylan decided they were feeling fired up as well, and the four of us left Harjes, John, and Peacher and started paddling into that chasm.

Leaving the point of no return...

Amazing what glaciers can do.

Climbing up to the rock at the lip of Cherry Bomb was pretty incredible, just because that rapid is so legendary and I've always been so impressed with the way it looks in video and photos... and there I was, finally!

Our lines went well through Cherry Bomb and the next series of walled-in holes, and needless to say I was repeating the 7 Rivers Expedition famous line... "left, left, middle, right, right, middle, left". My dorky kayaking video obsession finally paid off!

Dylan givin' er.

Paddling the beautiful teacups coming out of Cherry Bomb Gorge.

A bunch of wet, cold, underdressed kayakers crowd around the fire at Flintstone camp while the blizzard fires back up.

Filming from the media ledge after it finally warmed up on Day 3.

Brendan Bayly styling Double Pothole.

Needless to say, in spite of the two nights of blizzards, a ruptured eardrum, and a couple of big swims, Upper Cherry is one of the most incredible places a kayaker can find him or herself in. We got two runs with a total of 7 days out there on the granite, and I can't wait to go back. I'll let the video do the rest of the talking...

**Thanks to John Warner for use of his images**

Peace.
Chris Gragtmans

Lockapalooza 2007

2007-08-09T18:13:00.000-07:00

On August 18, Lock 32 Whitewater Park in Pittsford, NY will be holding its 3rd annual Lockapalooza Whitewater event. Lockapalooza consists of a slalom race, a boatercross, and a rodeo. Last year there were over 300 spectators and 50 participants in the men, women, and junior divisions. The rodeo will take place at one of our holes called Faceoff. It is possibly one of the best man made playspots in the North East.
This year we hope to have even more participants and more spectators to make this year the biggest Lockapalooza yet. It will be a great time with competition, food, drinks, movies, and I can't forget that the Riot Karaoke Tour: Don't Quit Your Day Job, will be making an appearance. If you want some free kayaking gear, just pick a song.

Lockapalooza Schedule:

9am - 3 pm Registration ($15.00 for participants, spectators – no admission charge)

10 am-1 pm Free Clinics by Lock 32 and Zoar Outdoor Instructors

1:00 pm Youth Slalom Race (under 14)

Junior Slalom Race (14-18)

Adult Slalom Race (18+)

3:00 pm Youth Boater Cross (under 14)

Junior Boater Cross (14-18)

Adult Boater Cross (18+)

5:00 pm Youth Freestyle Competition (under 14)

Junior Freestyle Competition (14-18)

Adult Freestyle Competition (18 +)

Here is a short video of last year's Lockapalooza. Edited by Corey Robinson

See you at Lockapalooza,
Danny Doran

Splash

2007-07-31T11:54:00.000-07:00

Well that rare time of year has come in the Pac Northwest when water levels are sinking lower than the President's approval rating. At this time of year when the mighty Little White is reduced to barely more than a trickle and the mountain runoffs have long since peaked, there is one run that remains a dependable source of a summer time splash: the Truss. Here's a little clip from a recent summer stroll, enjoy. Video by Nathan Herbek.

Later roller blader

Andy

Skook News

2007-07-29T20:06:00.000-07:00

On tOp of the WORLD

Where to begin? This year has been one endless skook session! Each day is remembered by which paddlers showed up, what crazy sweet steepness the wave brought, and of course by pictures and footy! We've had everything from incredible tides all to ourselves, to packed days being forced to surf the meaty pile for a ride, even a few days when the druman had to work and i had not a sole to surf with... that was the day the seals showed up... check it out:

this is me!
I hear a pod of dolphins are still up the inlet but no sign of them at skooks yet. Here are some pics from the last while - its been fabulous!!

Dru

Chris Gragtmans

Spencer Cooke

James Mole

Karl Moser

Big heads UP!! boats are not safe at skook! We have had three taken from the wave. Two of our stolen boats our good buddy Jay found for-sale online... So we got the cops to bust the thief and dru's astro and boogie will be back on the Skook this week!! Thanks so much Jay!! Thanks to Spencer and Chris for leaving dru the loner too!

Jay Clarke

The summer is just starting. Gonna bust out the shortie tomorrow!! We'll keep the skook news coming. Oh and just wait till we blow your mind with some footage. Keep it real yall..

see ya at skook..
emily

PS. the logging issues are far from over in the skookumchuck area. The Friends of Egmont have expressed much gratitude to all the kayakers who sent word of their concerns.

The fight continues! On the Friends of Egmont website there are a list of Brisith Columbian government contacts that you can email your thoughts/concerns to. The more people that fight for the trees the better chance that they will stay standing!!

Colorado 2007...

2007-07-25T17:45:00.000-07:00

Hey Sports Fans,

Well I recently returned from an incredible trip to the Western US, and just wanted to share a couple of pics and video from the first stop of our trip... Colorado.

Watch the Colorado Tour Vid.

Woohoo made it!!

Lake Creek. This was one of the more stressful rapids of the trip... big entrance drop before it fires around the corner into Paralyzer Rapid.

Photo by Josh Werts.

Moving left in the thick of Paralyzer, below the double boof, above the huge pillow rapid run-out.

Photo by Josh Werts.

The put-in for Oh-Be-Joyful Creek, 10,500 ft elevation. The Magnum took good care of me out there...

Photo by Dylan Bruce

Dylan Bruce post-styling Stupid Falls on the Upper East River.

Photo by Jim Toman.

Watch the Colorado Tour Vid.

Peace, and good lines out there! Upper Cherry Creek update/video coming soon.
Chris Gragtmans

Riot at the Potomac River Festival 2007

2007-07-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

The Great Falls of the Potomac River at the MD/VA line. Pictured here is the MD side of the falls where the race was held this year. Senor Finney Photo:

Watch the Potomac Fest Video.

Adam Johnson absolutely rocked it for Riot at the Potomac Fest last weekend. "Riot AJ" made finals in the falls race, the freestyle event, and the boatercross, placing well in all. I think if they had named overall winners of the event Adam would have definitely made top five this year. Good job AJ!
Bryon Dorr Photos

Adam boofs the dickens out of Pummel. Photo by Dr David Finney

On Friday, prior to the festival, the Riot team taught several free, private kayak clinics ranging from strokes and rolls to cartwheels and bow stalls. We were excited to be able to help out so many people with their paddling skills. Thanks to Risa Shimoda for setting up the clinics.

Team Riot as a whole had a huge showing and incredible performance at the Potomac this year. Four of the top twelve placers in the Great Falls Race in the short boat division were Riot team members in Magnums. The top placing junior was 14 year old Danny Doran in a Riot Thunder, and the top placing C-1 was Joe Stumpfel in a Riot Thunder. In the freestyle we had Riot AJ in the Astro 54 place fifth in men's pro and Alan Young placing second in juniors in the Astro 54, followed by Danny Doran in third with the Flair 47.

Additionally, Riot was pleased to be the freestyle event sponsor this year, giving an Astro 58 as a silent auction item. The company is very excited to be supporting our dealers close to the DC area, Appomattox River Company (Midlothian VA) & Starrk Moon, (Delta PA).

We proceeded with Riot Karaoke at the Saturday night party with several happy singers stepping up to the mic. We gave away Mion shoes, IR, Shred Ready and Astral gear and Riot Karaoke Tour t-shirts to all the fabulous contestants. Watch the Potomac Fest Video to see some of the lively karaoke action.

Please enjoy the photos, event results and video from the weekend.

Nathan Silsbee races off of Pummel, the first drop. At 19 years of age, Silsbee is absolutely killing it. He was a top contender at last year's Green Race in the Magnum and has made finals at top events this year including Potomac, Vail, Lyons and more soon! Bryon Dorr Photo

Nathan is also known as Mr Smooth. Dave Finney Photo

Mr big shot Nathan had to go and freewheel the drop since it was so easy for him to run forwards. Dave Finney Photo

Nathan tucks... medicated. Finney Photo.

This was me running Horseshoe drop on a post-race run. Bryon Dorr Photo

Pummel is a really fun waterfall. Photo Mr Captain Macho Man Dave Finney.

Joe Stumpfel is shown here boofing Pummel in the Thunder during his C-1 race victory. Bryon Dorr Photo

Paul Twist from New York caught huge air off Pummel during the race. The Magnum jumped right off the rock with him. Bryon Dorr Photo

Photo by the one and only Dave Finney

Andy Gates is another up-and-comer to keep an eye on. Here is he boofing the dookie out of Pummel Falls. Bryon Dorr Photo

This is Cooper Lambla who is a poetic genius and an amazingly fast paddler, partly due to his long wing span and partly due to his very fast Riot Magnum. Correction: The poetic genius is not directly correlated to the wing span or Magnum, just good genes.

Here are all the Potomac event results from this year with Riot paddlers and boats highlighted.

Men's Short Boat Race Results - Only the top 12 places are shown here
Bib Name Time 1 Time 2 Boat
74 Geoff Calhoun 00:48.60 00:47.38 Nomad 8.5
90 Eric Jackson 00:48.94 00:47.50 Super Hero
110 Jason Beakes 00:47.16 00:48.13 His own/WS
119 Danny Stock 00:50.07 00:48.53 Super Hero
112 Jay Kincaid 00:50.25 00:49.44 Mega Rocker
41 Adam Johnson 00:51.78 00:50.65 Riot Magnum
114 Bryan Kirk 00:51.91 00:51.44 WS Habitat
34 Nathan Silsbee 00:50.84 00:51.77 Riot Magnum
117 Jessie Shimrock 00:51.16 00:53.04 LL Jefe
101 Cooper Lambla 00:51.19 Riot Magnum
102 Billy Murphy 00:52.09 Jefe
36 Spencer Cooke 00:52.25 Riot Magnum

Junior Men's Race Times
56 Danny Doran 01:00.63 Riot Thunder
91 Dane Jackson 01:02.00 Punk Rocker
115 Nathan Sass 01:02.35 Punk Rocker
92 Jason Craig 01:06.40 Punk Rocker

Men’s Long Boat Race Times
Bib Name Time 1 Time 2 Boat
55 Aaron Mann 00:44.56 00:43.47 Excel
74 Geoff Calhoun 00:42.94 00:43.63 T Canyon
90 Eric Jackson 00:46.41 00:44.47 Excel
110 Jason Beakes 00:48.07 00:45.13 Excel
38 Nejc Poberaj 00:47.38 00:45.55 T-Canyon
114 Bryan Kirk 00:46.10 00:47.36 Momentum
119 Danny Stock 00:45.72 00:47.70 Excel
34 Nathan Silsbee 00:47.78 00:49.87 Riot

C-1 Race Times
Bib Name Time 1 Boat
100 Joe Stumpfel 00:56.06 Riot Thunder
49 Alden Bird 00:57.97 Necky Blunt
37 Seth Chapelle 01:08.75 Fluid Solo

Boatercross Results
1) Geoff Calhoun - Dagger
2) Jason Beakes - WS
3) Adam Johnson - Riot
4) Eric Jackson - Jackson
5) Adam VanGrack - ?
Jay Kincaid (DNF) - Jackson

Men’s Freestyle Pro Class Preliminaries
1st Jay Kincaid 535
2nd Bryan Kirk 455
3rd Eric Jackson 445
4th Todd Baker 330
5th Adam Johnson 325 - Astro 54
6th Alex Mohn 305
7th Aaron Reimer 175
8th Joseph Potoczak 165
9th Spencer Cooke 140 - Flair 47
10th Paul Twist 120 - Astro 58
11th Jeremy Laucks 115

Men’s Freestyle Pro Class Finals
1st Jay Kincaid 335
2nd Eric Jackson 320
3rd Bryan Kirk 215
4th Todd Baker 130
5th Adam Johnson 95 - Astro 54

Junior Freestyle Class Results
1st Dane Jackson 300 - Jackson
2nd Alan Young 190 - Astro 54
3rd Danny Doran 130 - Flair 47
4th Jason Craig 120 - Jackson
5th Nathan Sass 115
6th Jordan Poffenberger 60
tie Andy Gates 60 - Astro 54

See the Potomac Fest Web site at http://potomacfest.com/

Watch the Potomac Fest Video.

Later,

Spencer Cooke, Team Riot

My son made me do it, I swear.

Photos of Yore: Chile and Middle Skool USA

2007-07-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from yesteryear. Do you remember the days when cartwheels were still cool but going out? When loops were the hot new move that everyone wanted to learn? The days when aerial freestyle kayaking was sought after but much less prominent than today. Well, here are some photos from that time. Bringin' it back to the middle skool days!

Valley Falls, WV, Center Falls 2003.
Valley Falls, Tygart River, Lower Right Drop 2003.

A slot on the Palguin River, Chile. An absolute classic--crystal blue water, warm temps, and great drops.
Pistola Wave, Futaleufu River, Chile, Early 2004

An unbelievable wave and place. This is one of two places I have traveled which I promised to return to someday. This wave is on what's called the "Bridge to Bridge" section of the Futa. Above there was the short run with a very large rapid called "Terminator" (aptly named), and above that was a long, Class V section of big water rapids called "Inferno Canyon". Additionally, there is a run below the Bridge to Bridge run which has some good rapids. While our group was there, we must have run the Bridge to Bridge section about 25 times in 30 days and it never got dull in the slightest. The other days were spent either running Inferno Canyon, Terminator, or combining two. All in all, an absolutely beautiful place and something to visit if you have the opportunity. The window for when the Futaleufu is prime is late January to mid-march, although that changes a bit from year to year depending on the water.

Adam Johnson at Portage Hole, Potomac MD 2004

See you on the water,

-Adam Johnson

Big Wave update from Munich, Germany

2007-07-13T22:04:00.000-07:00

For all paddlers who want to check out the Munich waves on the river Isar with high water watch out, 2.1m is not enough any more. Here a picture from the old times and one from a few weeks ago. Good old times:
Photo: Nico Langner

Status Quo:
Photo: Seppi Strohmeier

The link to the full story: http://soulboater.blogspot.com/2007/06/big-wave-surfing-in-munich-rip.html

As I´ve already got eMails from friends around the world expressing their condolences and sadness, because the waves were on their to-do-list, I´ll keep you all posted on the development with higher water and if we maybe find other waves...

peace and out
Markus

Potomacfest 2007 July 13-15: Great Falls Extreme Race, Free Clinic Hosted by Riot Team Members, Rodeo, and Festival

2007-07-06T11:59:00.001-07:00

Potomacfest 2007 will be held July 13th-15th on the Potomac River near Great Falls, VA. Competitors must pre-register for the event by going to http://www.potomacfest.com/ . There will be an extreme race down Great Falls, a boatercross, a freestyle rodeo, clinics, old school wave surfing, downriver race, attainment race, eddyline squirting, a silent auction, karaoke and, of course, a great party!

If you do not want to compete, the festival will be held in Great Falls Park, VA side. The park is equipped with several options for viewing all of the events.

ALSO, there will be several Riot Team members hosting a FREE CLINIC Friday (13th) at 3pm. Show up at Carderock, MD and get professional instruction from Spencer Cooke, Adam Johnson, and Cooper Lambla, among others, on anything from your forward stroke to McNasties. Remember, its all free, so you cannot go wrong.

As always, Team Riot will be at the Potomacfest Party with the legendary Karaoke machine video taping the antics throughout the night whilst adding great humor and liveliness to yet another boater party.

Also, as Riot Kayaks is the official sponsor of the freestyle events of Potomacfest, the enterprise has donated a Riot Astro to the silent auction. So, come out, bid, and get great gear at great prices.

There are several options and lines to paddle down the falls, as well as several playspots to choose from, water level permitting. So, do not hesitate, register today! http://www.potomacfest.com/

See you there,

-Adam Johnson

A Quest to Find the West

2007-07-05T19:16:00.000-07:00

On the Road to the West. To find the Best of the West. A Quest. I feel Blessed. For the Rest. The Rest my Guest. Is a Dest.

A Destiny. A Contingency. A hows-it-goin-matter-a-fact-no-i'd-rather-be. In California.

The Promised Land. Where Upon the Land. We Learned That We Can.

Live our Dreams.

Please join me on my website, Downstream Movement, to re-live the trip of my life that I just got back from. Here's some random shots of fellow Rioters and I searching for the goods...

Here I am dropping into the first rapid on the Poudre Narrows, CO. Photo by Will Stubblefield.

"Nasty Nate" Silsbee coming in hot on a drop on South Boulder Creek, CO.

Chis GoldenGrahams lining 'er up on the Good Morning Rapid after Sick Camp on the Middle Fork of the Kings, California.

David Finney riding the rapids through the First Gorge on the Clear Creek of the Ark, CO.

Giving 'er the old boof stroke in the midst of some action on South Boulder Creek.

Chris Gottahavemypops on the Big Slide on Day Two of the Middle Kings.

Got plenty more pics, so ya'll stay tuned on Downstream Movement.

Signing off at the confluence of the Middle Fork of the Kings and the South Fork of the Kings, pretty stoked to be there.

-Cooper Lambla

Burlfest update Number 2

2007-07-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen of the paddling community

All I can say is that a lot has happened since our last Colorado update. We've been all over the state, paddled some big s&*t, met some crazy folks, and even broken an axle on our trailer. I could list all the rivers we've done, but then you all would just get jealous. So instead, I'm just going to give you, our faithful readers, a small sampling of our awesomeness. So put on those crazy pants and away we go...

Above we have two pics of Clear Creek of the Arkansas taken by Nathan Silsbee. This little creek runs into the Arkansas right above the town of Buena Vista. It has a super easy shuttle, and has two gorges that offer some classic read and run class IV/V whitewater. Cooper Lambla is on the left, and I am on the right.

After clear creek, we needed our freestyle fix and headed down to Salida for a little playboating. Above I am in mid super power jedi screw. If you don't what that is, then you don't understand.

After we'd had enough of the Buena Vista/Salida area, we headed back north to the front range. Our first stop was the Eldorado Canyon of Boudler Creek. Nathan charged it. I on the other hand, did not.

After Eldorado Canyon, we continued to charge northward into the Poudre drainage. While there, we ran Spencer Heights, the narrows, and the Joe Wright creek. As you can see from the pictures above, it was a burly burlfest.

So paddling is cool, but what's even better than paddling is running over things with your trailer, and then breaking the axle on that very same trailer. As you can see above, I ran over Shanes box of trinkets with the trailer. If you look even closer, you can see that the hub on the trailer has come apart and the wheel is grinding away at the axle. We did not see this when that photo was taken. We decided to notice the problem on the dirt road that runs parallel to Yule creek. Needless to say, it was a burl of a fest. We ended up driving many hours and spending many dollars to replace the axle. Did we learn anything? No.

Stay tuned for the next update which will include Yule creek and candid photos of Chris Gragtmans running on the beach.

I'm out.

Dave "El Caballero" Finney

Chris Baer runs tall rapids in Magnum

2007-07-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

Chris Baer from Colorado sent these photos in from some of his recent paddling trips in the Magnum.

This photo was taken of Chris during an extreme race in Montana.

And he said this waterfall was taller than it looks. Looks pretty tall to me.

"Big timber creek, Big Timber Montana," Chris explained was the run shown in the photos. "These silly guys out here in Montana wanted to throw a race and that they did. The whole race was just over two minutes and you dropped a solid 200 feet..... impressive! The event went off great with no injuries. So, keep your eyes and ears open for big timber race #2 coming to you some time next June."

Virginia Trip- Early June

2007-06-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

In Early June Spencer Cooke, Alan Young, and I went up to Virginia for a Riot demo on the James. When we got there the river level was around 5 foot. At that level the Z-Dam is a great playspot. The Z-Dam is best between 5.8 foot all the way down to 4.8. The lower it gets the stickier it gets.

Here is a video of our trip.

In the Picture below Alan Young is doing the first part of a McNasty.The next day we ran up to the Potomac River at Great Falls. We ran the center line a few times before it began storming. This is the first time Alan or I have ever run anything like this. It was amazing, the feeling of your body going weightless as you boof over the lip of Grace Under Pressure.

Spencer Cooke Boofing Grace Under Pressure.
On our way out of the Potomac River we saw a ton of dear on the side of the road.

On the following day Alan and I headed back to the Z-Dam. The water was a little lower but it was still awesome.
Alan Young Looping big at Z-Dam.

A swan attacking me at my dads apartment.

Our new Riot Sales model.

See you on the river.

Joey Hall is the greatest donkey to ever live.

Andy Gates