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Let's see how our friend Jake Stachovak and the Werner Paddles supported, "Portage to Portage Paddling Project," is doing on day 51. Follow his daily journal, with photos, daily on his expedition blog.
Good luck Jake and I hope the weather starts to work with you a bit more. Until then, sunsets like these have to make the hard work all day seem worth it.
This past weekend at the 25th annual Grand Marais Sea Kayak Symposium, mother nature was serving up some humble pie out on Lake Superior. With stong on shore winds swells of 4-5 foot turned into great surf as it slammed into the small town beaches of Grand Marais, Michgan.
If there is one thing I love about paddling it is playing in the surf, but not because of the "rush." Although it is of course fun, for me it is the challenge of controlling a kayak in these conditions and testing my skills that gets me excited to paddle out again and again as things get rolling. Core skills like torso rotation and edge control become even more important as waves wash over your bow and stern and essentially try and lock your kayak in place. It is here that we start today's short lesson, because if we do not "get below the deck" with our paddling, we will never tranisition all the work our upper body is doing into the water efficiently.
Have you ever paddled past a dock, a pier or a water front walk way and some maniac yells down at you from above, "HEY! WHERE ARE YOUR LEGS IN THAT THING!!" Well...have you given that much thought lately? By pushing against our footrests with our feet, when going forward, and with our butt into our seat and back band, when going backwards, we essentially lock our lower body into place. This gives us higher confidence, through more stability, but also allows us to generate more torque as we rotate our upper torso and move the paddle through the water.
Practice this first on placid water.
1-Sit up straight in your kayak and while keeping you shoulders square, reach your right arm and index finger out as far as you can, imagine you are trying to grab your bow toggle handle. With your finger extended, touch the deck of your boat and note how far you reached.
2-Now, same excersise except, with your arm and finger stretched out, rotate your right shoulder forward, turining your torso, eyes forward! Now lower the finger to the deck, look how much longer your reach just got!
3-Last step. Arm extended, right shoulder rotated, reach hard without leaning your head forward! Remember sit up straight. NOW, move your right butt forward in your seat slightly, check how far you can reach.
Each step should gain you a longer reach with your finger, or "Catch" with your paddle. However that last step, moving the butt should have significantly increased the pressure on your right foot rest. IMAGINE how much more torque you will now create as you drive off that footrest with your feet as you rotate your torso and move the paddle through the water, across the morning glass or up and over that wave.
Try this same excersize only in reverse to feel the power of driving your butt into the seat and back band. Now pratcice your basic strokes, like sweeps and forward and reverse strokes with your new thinking of, "Getting below the deck," with your paddling. Practice on flatwater and as you move into more advanced conditions this will start to just become second nature for you and allow you to move your boat with a higher level of ease. This is just a short intro to more efficient paddling, be sure to check out our Events Page for up and coming symposiums to work with some of our amazing instructors on the water or check out Go Paddling to find a Werner Paddles shop or Outfitter offering classes in your area. Too busy to get out? Sorry to hear that. Check out our short Forward Stroke and sweep stroke videos on Werner TV for an introduction to this line of thinking. Ready to graduate? Check out Team Paddler Ben Lawry's DVD on the Forward Stroke. We always suggest getting proper training and instruction before any level of paddling and especially as you increase the the difficulty of water you explore. Because even at expert levels you are always one mistake away from this!
Words by Werner Paddles kayak instructor Danny Mongno and photos by Down Wind Sport's, Bill Thompson. Be sure to keep an eye on Bill and the gang at Down Wind as they prepare to take the Symposium at Grand Marais to new heights in July of 2010.
To say Jan Brabant is still getting after it is an understatement. He built his College white water
kayak club in Colorado from the ground up. Started a family business teaching kayaking and running tours in New York's famous Thousand Island region. Showed young people there are no limits to how big you can go when he started charging the snow fields with his power kite. And now he is getting out ahead of the West Coast's latest fitness/action sport; stand up paddling. "I want to be different, I want to seperate myself from the masses and give people and their familes something exciting to look forward to." A mantra he follows himself and has built into his families business T.I. Adventures, getting people on the waterways of the Thousand Islands for over 23 years.
Jan sees stand up as an amazing way to easily get the family on the water, tour the islands or get a great work out while taking in a sunset over the water. I had the chance to get on the water with Jan last week and it is really a wonderland up there, a must do on any paddlers list. If stand up is new for you don't sweat it, lessons and even guided tours are avaiable. FYI, it does cost extra to rent the family dogs!
Kayak, canoe and paddling accessories manufacturers attended Canoecopia, the worlds largest consumer paddlesports show, March 13-16, 2009. “At Werner Paddles we look to early season sales in Florida and consumer events hosted by Mountain Man, Rutabaga, Jersey Paddler and Kittery Trading Post as key indicators for the upcoming season. If the 2009 early season trend holds true, consumers are out there ready to spend,” says Jim Miller Werner Paddles Marketing Manager. Both traffic and dollars were up at this year’s Canoecopia.
Here is what a few manufacturers had to say:
“We were very pleased. Overall, Canoecopia was a really good show for us. We were busy the whole time and we sold more dry suits this year over last year.” - Michael Duffy, Director of Sales and Marketing for Kokatat.
“There was a lot of activity around the Easky 13’ and 15’ touring boats and the Fusion our new hybrid river running/touring boat. It was a really good show, I am feeling solid going into the season,” - Jim Hagar, Sales Director of P&H.
“Perhaps it is the mid-west, but people really responded to the fact that Werner Paddles are manufactured in the US and that we are giving back by partnering with non-profits through our Healthy Waters initiative. We did not have any problem moving people up from our recreational product to our Premium and Performance Core lines.” – Jim Miller, Marketing Manager, Werner Paddles.
There are two trends that resonated with many manufacturers; people are looking for activities close to home (staycations), as well as activities that allow for family together time. “Families are being cautious, but not afraid to spend on paddling gear. They view paddling as a way to get everyone out, without breaking the bank,” says Werner’s Jim Miller.
You can see a video of the show that Byran Smith and Lise-Anne Beyries of Reel Water Productions put together here.
With the success of his first feature length kayaking film, Pacific Horizons, it didn't take long for Squamish BC's Bryan Smith to start planning his paddling routes along the East Coast of the US and Canada.
In partnership with Rutabaga Paddle Sports, Werner Paddles, P&H Sea Kayaks and Kokatat, Bryan's latest film Eastern Horizons will premier Saturday March 14th, 8:00pm at the High Noon Saloon in down town Madison WI. The movie has been honored by the Reel Paddling Film Festival's, Kayak Movie of the Year.
It is hard to call it a sea kayak movie. Although Bryan and the entourage of paddlers he joins up use sea kayaks as their exploration vehicle, the film truly captures the spirit of adventure, the mystique of the locales and the people he meets their. The film spans the Atlantic Ocean, capturing the wildlife rich swamps and mangroves of the Carolinas to the icebergs of Newfoundland; from surfing the "zipper" at Tybee Island, Georgia to playing in the tidal flows around Nova Scotia's Bay of Fundy; and from capturing the iconic urban landscapes of New York City to the remote fishing villages of Quebec's north shore.
Eastern Horizons will inspire paddlers and non-paddlers alike to get out and explore the ocean! While at Canoecopia, be sure to stop by the Werner Paddles booth to meet Bryan as well as other athletes who star in the film. We are just as excited about the films premier as you are, so we look forward to seeing at the High Noon.
Jakub Nemec is living the dream. He is currently in New Zealand paddling with friends and working just enough to get to his next destination. Check out his blog where he shares the highs and lows of tripping around the world with a kayak. Pictures courtesy ofJakub Sedivy.
This is the second post from Whitney Lonsdale, as she leads a group of World Class Kayak Acadamy studednts in Mexico...
Exploring la cultura mexicana
Leaving the small whitewater haven of Jalcomulco we headed across the isthmus to the state of Oaxaca, stopping first in the capital city bearing the same name. Oaxaca has many beautiful old colonial buildings with at least 3 large cathedrals dating back to the 16th century. As well, the city is famous for its tasty hot chocolate and its variety of mole sauces, both of which are on offer in restaurants, street stands, and markets all over town. Our weekend visit coincided with one of Mexico’s major holidays – The Day of the Dead, or Día de Muertos. Spirits of the deceased family members are believed to return to visit with their families on these nights, and in churches and cemeteries altars are created in their honor, bearing mounds of flowers as well as favorite foods and drink. Families gather in the cemeteries throughout the night to celebrate the lives of their loved ones. On our visit to Oaxaca City, we also had the chance to visit the hilltop ruins of Monte Alban, which date back to the 4th century.
Coastal Kayak Destination – Huatulco, Oaxaca
Dropping down from Oaxaca, we made our way slowly across the coastal mountain range. In true Mexican style 130 km (85 miles) of switchbacks took us 6 hours! We were relieved to finally arrive at our coastal paddling destination – las Bahias de Huatulco. Huatulco is home to two quality rivers – the Copalita and the Zimatán. In addition, there are several good surf breaks not far from town, most with few board surfers except on weekend afternoons.
El Rio Zimatán
The Zimatán River is a class IV treasure: warm turquoise water flows through white granite for about 10 km, offering up clean lines and excellent boof potential. For the first few km, the gorge is narrow and the steeper pool-drop rapids stack up one after another. After this first gorge, the canyon opens up and the river eases into class II for several kilometers allowing paddlers time to take in their surroundings. Giant ceiba and guanacaste trees rise from the banks and are host to a multitude of birds and other plants. The gradient cranks up again towards the end for a number of rapids before the run ends in a 25-foot, impressive waterfall called El Chorro. With a challenging entrance and caves in the walls on both sides of the landing, this drop is not frequently run. We hiked our boats past it each time, stopping to look and imagine (mostly someone else running it!), before making our way to the finale of the mission – a 20-foot “huck your boat and jump” into a pool, and a short flat water float to the take-out.
More than just kayaking at WCKA
Many people who see our group in passing think that all we do is kayak. We do spend a lot of time on the water and we do arrange our travel around the best water levels, play spots and river runs. But we are indeed a high school, and we do spend more time on academics than we do on the water. School comes first, and students don’t paddle if they are not doing well in classes. Learning experiences abound outside of the ‘classroom’ as well at World Class and we had one such evening in Huatulco…
That Wednesday afternoon offered up the biggest waves we had yet to see and we all enjoyed an incredible surf session. Once we talked ourselves into dropping onto the first wave that felt enormous (yes, I am getting to the non-kayaking part…) it was all good to go, and big cheers accompanied big moves and some even bigger beat downs. As the sun set at one end of the beach and the full moon rose on the other, we reluctantly left the surf and dragged our boats up on the beach. Tucked into a cove in the cliff walls lining the beach, we set about building the driftwood fire that was to be the backdrop for the English classes’ evening poetry session. In the process of collecting firewood, one of the students made an amazing discovery. There was a hatch of baby sea turtles making its way across the beach to the sea. The more we looked the more we found - tiny creatures moving with surprising determination towards the water they could not possibly see. Knowing the odds stacked against these endangered creatures, we followed their progress eagerly and cheered each time one made it into the waves. We all knew it was a once in a lifetime experience and looked at each other wondering how we had gotten so lucky. The full moon, roasted marshmallows, and poetry read aloud rounded out one of my favorite World Class days I’ve yet to experience.
Werner team member Whitney Lonsdale has been on the road in Mexico for two months with World Class Kayak Academy. WCKA is a small, traveling high school for students who are excited about individualized education, whitewater kayaking, and cultural exploration. During each semester they travel one quarter in the US and Canada and one quarter abroad. For four months they call two vans and two trailers their home as they form a small traveling tribe on an educational whitewater odyssey. Thus far on the trip they have visited the Mexican states of Veracruz and Oaxaca, exploring the whitewater each has to offer. Here is a trip report from Whitney about her Mexican School/Paddling adventure....
JALCOMULCO, VERACRUZ
Our first main paddling stop in Mexico was the small town of Jalcomulco, Veracruz. It’s a small pueblo that has been transformed over the last ten years into one of the main whitewater hubs of Mexico. There are many rafting companies and 30-40 Mexican guides and kayakers live in the town and work on the Antigua River, which flows right through town and has two main day trip sections. The lower run, which carries the name of the river, starts right in town and is a great class II-III warm up for the upper section. The river runs through a wide but scenic valley, and birds and flowers abound. Upstream of town is the Pescados section, with class III+/IV- boulder garden rapids flowing through a beautiful valley. Canyon walls rise up vertically from the river at various points on the run, and lush green jungle flora hangs from the cliffsides and rise in tangles up the valley sides. There are endless small boofs and a number of catch-on-the-fly waves and holes to keep paddlers entertained for the entire stretch, and a few harder rapids make for a little extra excitement.
The Sordo River, a tributary of the Antigua, offers the next step up in paddling from the Pescados. It is a small river with pool-drop, boulder garden rapids, offering up continuous boat scoutable action. To get to the river we had to drive our vans and trailers down a steep and unlikely road into the depths of a densely planted coffee plantation. We dropped into thick jungle growth on the short hike to the river, dodging the huge banana spiders in their webs alongside and across the trail.
We spent 10 days living this friendly and tranquilo little town and loved our routine of early morning fútbol games, classes during the day, and then paddling in the afternoon. Jalcomulco provided everything we needed for school, kayaking and life in general: easy access to the river, good food, varied paddling, a strong river community, Internet, and good coffee. We got involved with a local preschool during our stay and spent a day helping them clean up their playground area and get it ready for planting grass. In the following week the Spanish classes visited the preschool - for language exchange and, of course, good playtime.
Check back here for more on the WCKA Travels in Oaxaca soon. For information on kayaking trips in Veracruz check out Esprit Rafting.
Werner is proud to be supporting Yosef Dror and his team as they prepare for an expedition to Patagonia in sea boats. Here is what Yosef has to say about preparing for their trip...
On November 8, 2008, Roy Shatzki, On Arnon and I, Yosef (Yosale) Dror from Israel will start our Patagonia expedition. We will fly to Santiago, Chile and will head south to Puerto Montt. In Puerto Montt, at mid November, we will start paddling south, along the island of Chiloe, will pass by San Rafael glacier, and into the heart of the Patagonian Fjords.
The three of us don’t have a real time limit for the expedition, but we hope to get to the city of Punta Arenas, (more than 2,200 km south of our starting point) in about 3 months. The Chilean Patagonia fjords are known for an impressive variety of marine life. Including many different species of whales, dolphins, and many other inhibitors of the sea. The variety of birds is even larger. In addition to the unique flora and fauna, this southern part of our planet, is one of the places where the global warming is most noticeable. The glaciers of Patagonia are declining rapidly, and some of them are already gone. In a few years from now, there might be very little left of them. Another thing we are expecting to encounter is the notorious Patagonian winds that slides of the mountains surrounding our route.
These days, we are busy with gathering the last pieces of gear needed for the expedition. Werner Paddles together with Optimist Sea Kayaking Club from Israel are supporting the expedition and provided us with 2 sets of Ikelos neutral bent shaft paddles for each of us.
Another thing that keeps our hands full is having as much sea time as possible. We take advantage of the warm Mediterranean water and the ever changing weather conditions in the Israeli fall in order to get our surfing, rolling, and rescue skills to the maximum. A few days ago, Optimist Kayak Symposium took place in our own back yard, so we got the chance to learn and practice new skills.
Other supporters of the expedition are Reed that will provide us with paddling wear and gear and LARABAR that provides us with energy bars.
We will update the expedition blog as much as we can via satellite phone and internet access when available. For the 3 of us, spending long periods of time in nature and on the water is a way of life, however, this is the first series kayak expedition and we can’t wait to get started. 3 more days to go…
Check back here for updates on this amazing trip.
