Werner Blog

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.

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, 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!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Werner Paddles family.

From the home of Werner Paddles, Sultan Washington, from our family to your's we wish you a Happy and healthy Thanksgiving holiday.  We hope it is enjoyed with lots of laughter amongst close ones.

P&H and Werner Team paddler, Sean Morley, blogging about some Oregon coast play boating.

Photo by Leff Laxier.  Paddler Sean Morley off the Oregon coast.

P&H Kayaks and Werner Paddles are proud to support Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe's "Lumpy Water Symposium" each year.  Our own Sean Morley, paddling his Delphin 155, took the Monday after off to hang with some of the coaches and do some play boating Oregon coast style.  Check out Sean's blog on the P&H site.  Thanks Sean!

"Digging for Britain" Archeological digs by kayak with Werner Team paddler Kevin Mansell.

Thanks to Jersey's Kevin Mansell from the Werner Paddles Team in the UK for this interesting video piece, "Digging for Britain."  Kevin lead Dr. Alice Roberts along the Jersey coast in search of potential sites for research.  Watch for this on the BBC this Autumn.

(Pictured is Dr. Roberts, Kevin has a much stronger chin.)

Paddle to the Ocean-Zac Crouse's final video installement, or is it...

(Words by film maker and Werner Paddle's Team paddler, Kelsey Thompson.) "If you're new to Paddle to the Ocean, Halifax based paddler and musician Zac Crouse paddled and biked from Beachburg, Ontario to Halifax, Nova Scotia this summer to promote an active lifestyle and carbon free methods of transportation. Here is the rewarding final installment of the video capturing his journey.  You can view video updates from various legs of his trip on the Paddle to the Ocean vimeo channel to catch up, http://vimeo.com/channels/paddletotheocean

These updates were meant to serve as progress reports and additional promotion for the trip. Zac and I are now working on putting a full length documentary on the trip including the difficulties of traveling by sea kayak and other aspects of the trip that weren't covered in these short videos that will be released in the fall of 2012. For more info on this project and Zac's trip visit www.zaccrouse.com"  Thanks Kelsey and congrats Zac.