Paddling Raft-Up
Over the past couple of days, there have been quite a few things going on out there in paddling land so here is a quick round-up to bring everybody up to speed.
Online Boat Review: Maelström's Vaag 174
Michael over at Canadian CKayaker made me very jealous this week when he recently posted a great review with some really good close-up photos of the Vaag 174 by Maelstrom Kayaks.
Maelstrom is a new up and coming kayak company based out of Quebec, Canada. They are unique in that they are only going after the high-end kayak market. You might remember the news recently their partnership with Boreal Designs to handle their manufacturing and distribution.
Image credit: Canadian CKayaker
New DVD: Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown
Simon Willis announced today that they have a release day of November 1st, 2009 for the new skills DVD that accompanies the awesome book, Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown. I’m really looking forward to seeing it when it’s released. Also, if you haven’t had a chance to pick up the book, do it, it’s fantastic.
Online Boat Review: Maelström's Vaag 174
Michael over at Canadian CKayaker made me very jealous this week when he recently posted a great review with some really good close-up photos of the Vaag 174 by Maelstrom Kayaks.Maelstrom is a new up and coming kayak company based out of Quebec, Canada. They are unique in that they are only going after the high-end kayak market. You might remember the news recently their partnership with Boreal Designs to handle their manufacturing and distribution.
Image credit: Canadian CKayaker
New DVD: Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown
Simon Willis announced today that they have a release day of November 1st, 2009 for the new skills DVD that accompanies the awesome book, Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown. I’m really looking forward to seeing it when it’s released. Also, if you haven’t had a chance to pick up the book, do it, it’s fantastic.
Monday, 10 March 2008 11:34
L.L. Bean counts their cash, Old Town gets new digs and a new kayak park gets proposed in Colorado
By: David H. Johnston
L.L. Bean ends 2007 in the Black
Lets see what's going on with companies in the outdoor industry.
L.L. Bean closed it 2007 fiscal year on a positive note. They posted a 5.5% increase in sales over 2006 bucking retail industry trends that showed disappointing results for many retailers.
L.L.Bean reported annual net sales of $1.62 billion.
More info: snewsnet.com
Old Town Canoe Company Opens new Manufacturing Centre
Old Town Canoe just had their grand opening
for a new manufacturing and distribution centre in its hometown of Old Town,
Maine.
"The distribution and warehousing center we were in in Bangor, we outgrew it, both in size and in utility," Director of Operations Tim Magoon said. "Along with that we decided to cease a manufacturing sourcing situation that we were engaged in in Michigan and buy a vacuum-forming machine and bring that manufacturing to here, to Old Town and to do that we needed space."
"It means the production of about 15,000 additional canoes," said Magoon. "Currently we've increased our job base by 20 with opportunity to improve upon that as we go throught the season in future years with this technology."
More info and video: wcsh6.com
Company info: oldtowncanoe.com
Colorado City Snares $25,000 Grant for Proposed Kayak Park
Canon City, CO has just received a grant of $25,000 from the Colorado Water Conservation Board. It has been earmarked towards the development of Whitewater Kayak & Recreation Park (WKRP - Canon City).
The new park will be located on the Arkansas River Large boulders will be added to the river and the waterway will be shaped to create holes and chutes for kayakers.
"There will be a great view of it from the riverwalk trail and people will be able to watch the kayakers play in the holes and practice their rolls," said Will Colon, an organizer. "It also will offer more user friendly access to the river without getting into quick current immediately."
Colon said he believes the park could be used for boating festivals, filling neighboring Centennial Park with people. He sees it as a boon to the local tourism economy.
The draft design is expected to be completed by the end of June.
More info: chieftain.com
Lets see what's going on with companies in the outdoor industry.
L.L. Bean closed it 2007 fiscal year on a positive note. They posted a 5.5% increase in sales over 2006 bucking retail industry trends that showed disappointing results for many retailers.
L.L.Bean reported annual net sales of $1.62 billion.
More info: snewsnet.com
Old Town Canoe Company Opens new Manufacturing Centre
Old Town Canoe just had their grand opening
for a new manufacturing and distribution centre in its hometown of Old Town,
Maine."The distribution and warehousing center we were in in Bangor, we outgrew it, both in size and in utility," Director of Operations Tim Magoon said. "Along with that we decided to cease a manufacturing sourcing situation that we were engaged in in Michigan and buy a vacuum-forming machine and bring that manufacturing to here, to Old Town and to do that we needed space."
"It means the production of about 15,000 additional canoes," said Magoon. "Currently we've increased our job base by 20 with opportunity to improve upon that as we go throught the season in future years with this technology."
More info and video: wcsh6.com
Company info: oldtowncanoe.com
Colorado City Snares $25,000 Grant for Proposed Kayak Park
Canon City, CO has just received a grant of $25,000 from the Colorado Water Conservation Board. It has been earmarked towards the development of Whitewater Kayak & Recreation Park (WKRP - Canon City).
The new park will be located on the Arkansas River Large boulders will be added to the river and the waterway will be shaped to create holes and chutes for kayakers.
"There will be a great view of it from the riverwalk trail and people will be able to watch the kayakers play in the holes and practice their rolls," said Will Colon, an organizer. "It also will offer more user friendly access to the river without getting into quick current immediately."
Colon said he believes the park could be used for boating festivals, filling neighboring Centennial Park with people. He sees it as a boon to the local tourism economy.
The draft design is expected to be completed by the end of June.
More info: chieftain.com
Thursday, 17 January 2008 06:08
Paddling Raft-Up: Dugout canoes, surf spots going under and GWB allows Navy to mess up the whales
By: David H. Johnston
We haven't had a paddling raft-up for quite a while so I thought we would check in to see what is going on out there.
Modern-day Tom Sawyer constructs a dugout canoe
Lee Young from Fort McCoy, Florida is building his own dug out canoe. Things were going well until somebody decided to try to steal the 600 pound piece of wood.
Modern-day Tom Sawyer constructs a dugout canoe
Lee Young from Fort McCoy, Florida is building his own dug out canoe. Things were going well until somebody decided to try to steal the 600 pound piece of wood.
It has been a while since the last raft-up
that I thought I would check in on what is going on in the outdoors these days.
Beavers are running amok in some parts of Alaska.
Apparently there are so many Beavers in the Dredge Lake area, that forestry officials are proposing bringing in a trapper over the winter to take a bunch of the critters out. In the past, they have live trapped and relocated but it has proved to be inefficient.
More info: JueneauEmpire.com
Energy Company Honors prAna, Patagonia, REI, Timberland For Environmental Conscience
Timothy Treadwell, Environmental Director at Juice Energy, Inc. recently awarded 10 companies including prAna, Patagoinie, REI and Timberland as frontrunners in the shift to green business.
Via: Inside Outdoor Retailer
More info: EarthTimes.org
City workers destroy wigwam
Last Thursday city workers in Middletown, Connecticut took down a wigwam in Harbor Park. City officials called it a tinderbox after discovering that there was an open fire inside. The artist who assembled the structure said it was part of a large heritage education program that also involved constructing dug out canoes.
More info: The Middletown Press
Thank the Good Lord it is fake!
The photo on the right shows a great white
shark apparently stalking an unsuspecting board-rider off Australia's NSW Mid North
Coast. It has been traveling around the surfing boards and people's inboxes
like wildfire.
It has been discovered that it is a doctored photo.
Professional photographer Shane Chalker, a keen surfer, told The Sun-Herald yesterday that he spotted the board-rider and shark - five minutes and 500 metres apart - while a passenger in a microlight flying along Elim Beach, near Booti Booti.
He took shots of both, then, as a lark, combined the images on his computer, making the shark look triple its size, before giving a print to a friend.
"I designed it to entertain a friend for a laugh and I never expected it would go further," he said.
Thank goodness. I was starting to think that it was much safer to just stay at home and watch TV.
More info: UnderwaterTimes.com
White Squall - The 4th Best Outfitter in the World
Finally, a big congrats goes out to out close friends at White Squall, Parry Sound, Ontario. They recently were awarded 4th place by National Geographic Adventures "Best Outfitters on Earth Survey" in the Paddlesports Category! Yeah!
The survey involved both a company response and participant satisfaction to generate the final tally.
Here is the link to White Squalls profile.
Overall there were 93 paddlesport companies that responded to the survey.
Beavers are running amok in some parts of Alaska.
Apparently there are so many Beavers in the Dredge Lake area, that forestry officials are proposing bringing in a trapper over the winter to take a bunch of the critters out. In the past, they have live trapped and relocated but it has proved to be inefficient.
More info: JueneauEmpire.com
Energy Company Honors prAna, Patagonia, REI, Timberland For Environmental Conscience
Timothy Treadwell, Environmental Director at Juice Energy, Inc. recently awarded 10 companies including prAna, Patagoinie, REI and Timberland as frontrunners in the shift to green business.
Via: Inside Outdoor Retailer
More info: EarthTimes.org
City workers destroy wigwam
Last Thursday city workers in Middletown, Connecticut took down a wigwam in Harbor Park. City officials called it a tinderbox after discovering that there was an open fire inside. The artist who assembled the structure said it was part of a large heritage education program that also involved constructing dug out canoes.
More info: The Middletown Press
Thank the Good Lord it is fake!
The doctored composite photo of a shark and a surfer
It has been discovered that it is a doctored photo.
Professional photographer Shane Chalker, a keen surfer, told The Sun-Herald yesterday that he spotted the board-rider and shark - five minutes and 500 metres apart - while a passenger in a microlight flying along Elim Beach, near Booti Booti.
He took shots of both, then, as a lark, combined the images on his computer, making the shark look triple its size, before giving a print to a friend.
"I designed it to entertain a friend for a laugh and I never expected it would go further," he said.
Thank goodness. I was starting to think that it was much safer to just stay at home and watch TV.
More info: UnderwaterTimes.com
White Squall - The 4th Best Outfitter in the World
Finally, a big congrats goes out to out close friends at White Squall, Parry Sound, Ontario. They recently were awarded 4th place by National Geographic Adventures "Best Outfitters on Earth Survey" in the Paddlesports Category! Yeah!
The survey involved both a company response and participant satisfaction to generate the final tally.
Here is the link to White Squalls profile.
Overall there were 93 paddlesport companies that responded to the survey.
Toronto was really hopping this past weekend. It is a
large city but with so many events in Toronto
this past weekend, it made life getting around town nuts. There was the Toronto
International Film Festival, 4 run for Cancer runs, and the Virgin music
festival . Oh yes, one of the major highways through town was closed for repairs.
Ahh our sweet and aging Gardiner Expressway. All of those events just want to
make you hunker down in your apartment and weather the traffic storm.
But no, we braved through the urban environment and took advantage of the small craft wind warning to catch some of the best surfing that I have had in a very very long time. We found a nice beach on the south side of the Toronto Island with a very gentle slope. There were no wind waves, just nice large swells pounding in. Most were an accurate 2 feet but there were several 3.5-4 footers out there aiming to kill us.
The other thing about being out there on Sunday was (as mentioned above) the Virgin Music festival was also taking place on the Island. There really is nothing like surfing and listening to some solid rock and roll from the Tokyo Police Club and Canadian indy heros, Stars.
What else is going on our there?
Team Jackson Kayak runs the Niagara Gorge
Erik Jackson and the rest of the gang from Jackson Kayak have made a successful run of the famed Niagara Gorge. The river flows at 100,000cfs. Yeah that is big. It is also illegal to run it. Here is a crazy photo of their run. [Jackson Kayak]
Dead canoeist identified
They were able to identify the kayaker who was recently hit by a vessel in the English Channel over the weekend. It is Robert Andrew Deacon, 42, from The Riviera in Sandgate, Kent. [The Argus]
Kayak crossing postponed again
Canadian Paddle Canada instructor, Chris Lockyer has been forced to postpone his 70km crossing of the Bay of Fundy to raise money for Cancer. So far he has raised $11,000 for cancer research. The weather has been bad. [novanewsnow.com]
Mystery Solved
A month ago, a large search was underway looking for a couple that rented an inflatable kayak and started off to paddle the English Chanel. They have been found living as a French church. It turns out that he is wanted by British Police for downloading kiddy porn. He got caught when he ran out of money and phoned his day to wire him some cash. His dad called the police. [Daily Mail]
But no, we braved through the urban environment and took advantage of the small craft wind warning to catch some of the best surfing that I have had in a very very long time. We found a nice beach on the south side of the Toronto Island with a very gentle slope. There were no wind waves, just nice large swells pounding in. Most were an accurate 2 feet but there were several 3.5-4 footers out there aiming to kill us.
The other thing about being out there on Sunday was (as mentioned above) the Virgin Music festival was also taking place on the Island. There really is nothing like surfing and listening to some solid rock and roll from the Tokyo Police Club and Canadian indy heros, Stars.
What else is going on our there?
Team Jackson Kayak runs the Niagara Gorge
Erik Jackson and the rest of the gang from Jackson Kayak have made a successful run of the famed Niagara Gorge. The river flows at 100,000cfs. Yeah that is big. It is also illegal to run it. Here is a crazy photo of their run. [Jackson Kayak]
Dead canoeist identified
They were able to identify the kayaker who was recently hit by a vessel in the English Channel over the weekend. It is Robert Andrew Deacon, 42, from The Riviera in Sandgate, Kent. [The Argus]
Kayak crossing postponed again
Canadian Paddle Canada instructor, Chris Lockyer has been forced to postpone his 70km crossing of the Bay of Fundy to raise money for Cancer. So far he has raised $11,000 for cancer research. The weather has been bad. [novanewsnow.com]
Mystery Solved
A month ago, a large search was underway looking for a couple that rented an inflatable kayak and started off to paddle the English Chanel. They have been found living as a French church. It turns out that he is wanted by British Police for downloading kiddy porn. He got caught when he ran out of money and phoned his day to wire him some cash. His dad called the police. [Daily Mail]
Get our Newsletter
David H. Johnston
