Werner Blog

Reel Paddling Film Festival Announces Winners

We are super proud to have supported Sea Kayak With Gordon Brown.  The film was just awarded Best Sea Kayaking Film at the Reel Paddling Film Festival in Toronto Canada.

Here is a full list of winners....

1. Best Sea Kayaking Film: In Rescues – Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown, you’ll see exciting and practical rescue coaching sessions from one of the world’s top coaches.
2. Best Canoeing Film: Tracing the Columbia brings together two historical moments: David Thompson’s charting of the Columbia River in 1811 and the 45-day journey paddling the river to mark the 200th anniversary of Thompson’s achievement.
3. Best Whitewater Film: In Wildwater, journey into the places only river runners can go.  It’s a visually stunning feast for the senses, and an expedition into new ideas.
4. Best Kayak Fishing Film: ExOfficio Presents Kayak Fishing: Game On 4 Jim Sammons hooks up with Paul Harwood on the Fraser River in BC with the goal of catching one of the areas enormous sturgeon.
5. Best Environmental Paddling Film: The Pipedreams Project follows 3 kayakers on their epic two-month expedition to oppose a $5.5 Billion pipeline project in British Columbia.
6. Best Paddling Documentary: Chasing Water is the story of Pete McBride, a child of the Colorado River, as he decides to follow the water from his ranch in Western Colorado to see where it ends up.
7. Best Amateur/Short Paddling Film: So Fine sees Zac Crouse develop banjo paddling with the help from a Muppet.
8. Best Instructional Paddling Film: Advanced Classic Solo Canoeing with Becky Mason will leave you spellbound by the advanced strokes and maneuvers she shows and the stunning underwater camera angles.
9. Best Stand-up Paddling Film: In Standup 4 Greatbear, Norm Hann takes us on a 400km SUP expedition through the Great Bear Rainforest, and along the proposed North Coast oil tanker route.

Check out the schedule to see when these films are coming to your town.

  

Reel Paddling Film Festival Schedule

The Reel Paddling Film Festival is about to kick off.  Check out the schedule  and find a showing close to you.

Attention Left Coast sea kayakers! Hang with Werner's own Paul Kuthe in February.

Featured on the cover of this month's Canoe and Kayak Magazine is one of Werner Paddle's own Team paddlers Paul Kuthe.  Along with heading up one of the most prestigious paddling schools in the country out of Portland Oregon's Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe, he is one of the great young talents in the sport of kayaking.  With his whitewater boater on the shelf for a short bit Paul will be hitting the sea kayak coaching tour in the month of February with some great West Coast events on tap.  Check out his Blog to see his February schedule and where you can get salty with this great young man and all his friends.

Touring Paddle Winner: Dan Montgomery

We have a little contest where you can register to win a Werner Paddle. This quarters touring paddle winner is Dan Montgomery.  Dan has been paddling in the Pacific Northwest region since 2001 as a member of the Mountaineers, the Washington Kayak Club, and the Peninsula Wilderness Club.  Dan is a certified Level 3 Coastal Kayaking Instructor with the American Canoe Association. He has organized and taught a variety of beginner and intermediate level sea kayaking classes since 2002, and served on the Sea Kayak Basic Course committees for the Tacoma and Kitsap branch of the Mountaineers.  His paddling experiences include the Puget Sound, Strait of Juan de Fuca, the San Juan Islands, and Barclay Sound, BC.  Dan says..."I’ve been active on, in, or around the water for most of my life. I grew up on a river; I swam competitively through high school and college; I was a SCUBA diver for 8 years; I spent a Navy career piloting ships across 5 of the 7 oceans; I drove a charter tour boat in the Seattle area for 7 seasons. Kayaking allows me to venture into many different marine environments and observe the marine habitat with the least amount of intrusion and impact. A kayak affords me the opportunity to watch the birds and mammals in their ‘undisturbed’ state; and I can experience the true nature and energy of the weather, the waves and current, and the surf. Kayaking affords me the best way to connect as directly as I can to almost every aspect of the marine environment."

Looking back at 2011 and Looking forward to 2012

When you look back a year it is much more than just 52 weeks, 365 days...It holds so many memories and emotions.  As you look back on 2011 we hope both your triumphs and set backs serve as a spring board to start yet another New Year.  From the family at Werner Paddles we want to first thank our customers for all your support over the years and of course in 2011, we can't do it wihout you.  For all of our friends out there may the start of 2012 open new doors to a great future.  .

Happy Holidays from the family at Werner Paddles

No matter how you celebrate the Holiday Season my it be filled with family and friends, health and laughs.   Cheers!

Werner Paddle's Team kayak angler, Rob Choi, with a fish and deer "tail" from Virginia.

Read the full story at Rob's blog, Angling Addict.  Thanks for a great post!

Werner's own Mark Scriver, touring Antarctica by sea.

Pictured below, all words are by Mark Scriver.  World class white water canoeist, SUP paddler and Werner Paddle's Eastern Canada sales rep.

I just returned from paddling SUP, kayaks and overnight camping with One Ocean Expeditions on the Antarctic Peninsula. It was late spring but that meant we had snow several times during the 2 week trip and temperatures averaged just above of zero Celsius.

 The landscape is spectacular! It’s big and beautiful and there is, of course, a lot of ice. Rugged mountains frame ice sheets and glaciers while icebergs and pack ice dance with the wind and tides. On a bright sunny day after a fresh snowfall, it is really magnificent with pure, white slopes and cliffs and steep jagged peaks everywhere.

The wildlife is definitely a highlight. Starting in Ushuaia we saw a lot of seabirds. The southern ocean is a very abundant ecosystem, rich with plankton krill and fish that support large populations of penguins and sea mammals. Out of water penguins are awkward and hilarious with fascinating social behavior. In the water, they are graceful, and playful. It is pretty cool to see them scooting around under your boat or porpoising along in groups of 10 or 20. We had some curious seals having a close look at our kayaks. While we were there, the penguins were claiming nesting spots and had just started laying eggs in some of the rookeries. We also saw Humpback, Minke, Beaked Whales and Orca. The Orcas were spy hopping and breaching near a leopard seal stranded on an ice flow. With a coordinated effort, they created a wave, trying (unsuccessfully) to tip him off.

 

We sailed from Ushuaia, Argentina aboard the very comfortable 96 passenger Akademik Ioffe, an ice class research vessel in the off season. After crossing the Drake Passage with moderate 2-meter seas on the way down (but a Force 10 gale on the way back), we cruised around the Shetland Islands, the Gerlache Straight and the Danco coast, making frequent landings at penguin colonies, scientific stations. There were great views from the ship but getting out on land or in the zodiacs and especially getting into a kayak or SUP were the best ways to explore coastal Antarctica.  

 The kayaking was just amazing, paddling amongst bergs, pack ice and tidewater glaciers. The kayaks were lowered by crane to the water on a zodiac, and then towed to where we wanted to start kayaking. This was a pretty efficient way to get on the water, and with a zodiac at our disposal, we had the flexibility to combine paddling with shore visits. We would paddle the coast or explore islands, sometimes going ashore to visit penguins and then call in the zodiac for a speedy return to the ship. On our overnight camping, we were sleeping tents on the snow and enjoying wonderful long sunsets of the Austral spring with an early and warm sunrise.  We had a few paddles on calm, magical days and a got in a few down-winders with good stiff winds and swell.

 I was really glad to have taken along a Starboard inflatable SUP standup paddleboard and a 3-piece Werner Fuse Paddle. I had a couple of great sessions and even caught a couple of waves. The SUP gave a better vantage point to see penguins swimming underwater, the beautiful colours of underwater ice and made it easier to see a route through the brash ice.

 I left Antarctica deeply moved and eager to go back.

 - Mark Scriver

 For more details of this story, please visit Mark’s blog at: http://markscriver.wordpress.com/

Werner Paddles Hires Rob Yager As Northwest/Midwest Sales Rep

Werner Paddles has added to its stellar sales team.  As the 2012 season kicks off, Werner has announced that Rob Yager will join their team as the Northwest/Midwest Sales Representative. 

Rob has a long history in paddlesports with over twelve years of paddling experience. Most recently Rob was the Retail Manager at Mountainman Outdoor Supply Company.   Rob will be responsible for servicing Werner dealers in OR, WA, ID, MT, WY, ND, SD, NE, IA, AK, MI, WI, MN, IN and IL.

“We are very excited to have Rob as a member of the Werner Sales Team.  He has a great passion for paddling and a vast wealth of retail experience,” says Doug Ragan, Werner Paddles Sales Director.

Danny Mongno, who was filling in for this position, will continue in his position as Regional Sales Manager for the Northeast and Eastern Canada and Field Marketing Coordinator. 

Werner Paddles, supporting the Deception Pass Dash. Come say hello in our Wa backyard.

Look for the Werner Paddles van and flags flying at this weekend's 6th Annual Deception Pass Dash.  We are so proud to be supporting the Ruby Creek Boathouse in our own backyard, this is a great event.  Stop by and see us and get some stickers.  Dress warm, race fast, cheer loud!