Nookie Team Blog

Update from Team Rider Doug Cooper

noreply@blogger.com (DAN) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:48:00 +0000

With team trials out of the way it was time to get down to some serious training for the worlds. Hurley slowly drew to an end and it was time to migrate over the pond to Canada. Starting in Montreal with super high water proved to be no good so I trekked over to the Ottawa River. Meeting up with plenty of other Europeans with the same idea, I set out to get some wave action under my belt.

After a week or so I heard that the Gateneau river had come up nice and high and the high tension wave was well in. Arriving at the wave it felt surprisingly European. With paddlers from 4 EU countries I was at home. A week later my back was in turmoil so I left the great high tension wave to spend a few days paddling the famous Petawawa river.

Hearing that the Ottawa was on the up I headed back just in time to watch the river rise to fifteen on the gauge. Yes we had bus eater. After a week of high water Ottawa, I went back to high tension for a further week.

Time passed and after a few hectic nights in Montreal surfing the St Laurence waves and getting hideously drunk with mark from wave sport and Leone from Switzerland it was time to go home.

Arriving back in England I spent a week circuit training and doing sprint training on the river. Friday came round and James arrived at my house. We loaded up the truck and headed to Europe via the airport to pick up a friend flying in from Oz. Well we spent a few days in Holland with a Dutch buddy before heading to worlds.

Worlds began with training every day at 8 am. We got 3 rides each if we were lucky. Myself and John Best spent almost every night at the wave getting extra surfing time so we would be peak for our rides on the day. Time went by quickly and it was time for my rides. Well let’s just say “I fucked up. Big time “finishing in 44th position it felt like the last 7 months training was all for nothing. With no buzzer I hit my helix’s ten seconds after my ride. With great furious anger I went to the bar and got ridiculously hammered. The rest of the event sailed by with many a cheer and good times hanging with the rest of the Nookie crew.

Time to move on further in to my Euro trip heading to Leone’s house for a night of chilling before making the big drive across to Slovenia.

Slovenia was a haven of good water and fine food and wine. Low levels made the siphon canyon runnable it also meant we could skip the camp site and stay on the river bank and spend the days chilling. It began to get cold in Slovenia so we upped and headed in to Austria hoping that the wave in Kohal would be working. The waves work when it’s high and when it’s low. We got there and it was middle.

Hell it’s time to go home. Heading back to Switzerland to once again chill at leone's place and celebrate my birthday with wine and good steak. On the way I received a phone call from good friend Rob telling me of the famous wave at the falls of Laura would be in on the biggest tide seen in a few years I knew my time to leave main land Europe was close.

Leaving the good company of the Haberlling family I travelled across Europe for one more stop. The Netherlands, as flat as a pancake with about as much white water as my downstairs toilet. Arriving in Delft after dropping crazy Irish Neil in Amsterdam was brilliant. Hanging out with the Dutch boys was well up on my list of cool things to do. We settled down to rest our weary limbs after the long drive and digressed into kayak talk over pizza and a cold beer. Morning broke and we were off back to Blighty. With a week to do my washing and pick Swiss Leone up from the airport and get to Scotland I had time to chill and see the parents.

Big thanks to Nookie, Streamlyte, Sweet and Wavesport for the lovely kit, boats and support getting me to the worlds.

A Great Example of the Assassin Drysuit Fit

noreply@blogger.com (DAN) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:26:00 +0000

We (at Nookie) have had a fantastic feedback from the new Assassin Dry Suit and have been finding ways of showing examples of just how tailored and well fitting it is. Team Rider James Weir provided this photo.....

James in the front wearing the Assassin Dry Suit doesn't have any of the excess material around the back yet has full freedom of movement.

We also have a video coming very soon showing how quickly one can put the dry suit on and zip it up without the need of help.

New 80N Rivermonster with Gaiafoam®

noreply@blogger.com (DAN) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:36:00 +0000

The NEW Rivermonster Buoyancy Aid/PFD is now in stock using the environmentally friendly Gaiafoam® and it's now 80N!
Gaiafoam® is an environmentally friendly PVC free foam which does not include CFC ozone depleting materials and phthalate ester plasticizer. Its low apparant density reduces weight without performance loss. The ultra soft foam effectively resists cold and heat, is easy to clean and resists most chemicals, petroleum products and humidity.......
Basically we've just made an incredible buoyancy aid even better!

For more information please visit the Rivermonster webpage at www.nookie.co.uk/rivermonster

British Surf Kayak Championships - Wales

noreply@blogger.com (TeamRiderz) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:38:00 +0000

The British Surf Kayak Championships took place recently after a lot of hard work from Team Wales.

Llangenith, Gower, South Wales was the venue for the champs this year, and with the increasing numbers in surf kayaking at the moment, it was no surprise that we had over 40 entries.

The surf was great and the weather played ball so everybody had a great time. The surf kayak awards were a new addition to the champs this year, with prizes going to a selection of categories:
Media Hog
Most consistent competitive surf kayaker
Biggest contribution to the sport
Best surf kayak shot of 2009
Hottest newcomer
Most improved surf kayaker
Biggest wipeout.

The surf kayak awards had a strict dress code of black ties and ball dresses, which for a load of trainer wearing hoodied surf kayakers, turned out to be pretty entertaining.

The finals went down on Sunday and new British Champions were crowned. With a fantastic range of prices from NOOKIE, all finalists went home with new gear, and Junior British Champion, Jordan Thomas, left with a £100 Nookie Voucher!!

A massive thanks therefore must go to Nookie for supporting the event!!

Nathan 'Yellowboy' Eades
Nookie Team Rider

Full results are on kayaksurf.net

The Dartcam is back with Nookie!

noreply@blogger.com (DAN) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:14:00 +0000

The River Dart (Devon, UK) Webcam is now back in action with Nookie! Now all you have to do each day is visit www.nookie.co.uk/dartcam to know exactly what the level is at.

Updated every 30 minutes with a still shot, the new gauge will display ft and also markers correlating to features on the river such as the well known 'slab'.

For any technical queries about the webcam please email: ben@riverdart.co.uk

Oetz Valley

noreply@blogger.com (HAZEL) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:01:00 +0000

After a hard week of work at Kanumesse, Steve (Sales Manager) and Hazel (Designer) took a (rather large) detour on the way home to hit the Oetz Valley in Austria for a bit of 'product testing'. The water was low-ish, but the weather and the location were stunning.

Jochen Lettmann in the Nookie Assassin Drysuit - Middle Oetz

Steve testing the Lettmann Granate - Middle Oetz

Two days of paddling a variety of rivers in the area with Jochen (from Lettmann Kayaks) meant we both had the chance to be the first British paddlers to test the excellent new composite creek boat, the Lettmann Granate.

British Surf Kayak Championships - 3-4 October 2009

noreply@blogger.com (DAN) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:01:00 +0000

The British Champs will be on the 3rd and 4th of October this year, and the first ever surf kayak awards will be held in the evening. Get your entries in by 25th of September!! Lots of great prizes to be won. Nookie will be supporting the event!

Paddletrain - Ron Fischer

noreply@blogger.com (DAN) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:42:00 +0000

A much heard adage among paddlers: “kayaking equal motorsport.” We wanted to re-write this a little we thought, so booked Inter rail tickets for Norway. The kayaks heavy loaded with equipment to survive, we entered the train in Voss and went off for a two week adventure.

Uncertainty plagued us in the beginning. Trains do not appear every half an hour. The few trains every day have limited storage space for bicycles or kayaks, but they are officially not allowed. Do we have enough time at the stations to enter and leave the train with four kayaks and are the conductors friendly minded? We had to try it.
We are: Tomass Marnics from Latvia, Lukas Wielatt and I from Switzerland and the Norwegian Benjamin Hjort which organized the whole trip.

In Switzerland you buy a ticket, jump in the next train and you can go pretty much anywhere you want. In Norway however, the rail network is relatively small, it usually only runs one to two trains per day with room for bikes and you have to reserve your seat in advance. We had so much to plan and set, and that for paddlers is notoriously difficult.

Voss was our starting point and of course, the classic Raundalselvi was our first river on the program. We did it not too classic and started at the highest possible put-in in Upsete which is about 15 kilometres further up then Mjölfjell. A lot of water from below and above, plus low temperatures dominated the first 25km down to the train station in Reimegrend. Maybe the most famous train station for kayakers, because it’s the put-in for the “railway section” on the Raundalselvi. Our luck was the waiting room was open and heated! A perfect place to spend the night.
For breakfast we eat Poritsch, the usual multiday menu. For the next section of white-water the water level was high, but the local Benjamin guides us through perfectly everywhere and we had a lot of fun despite persistent rain.

The day was not without a spectacular incident. In the case of “morning glory”, one of the larger rapids with two thick holes, as usual, we went out to scout. It was a lot of water in the river and the holes have seemed huge from the shore. Direct comparison to something festive we get promptly delivered. Suddenly a green Prjion Cross with a yellow paddle came down the entry of the rapid. Our eyes wander over to Luke, whose eyes couldn’t be more open then in these seconds. Camera, passport, money and credit card, sleeping bag, food and dry clothes were all in his boat, which just get trashed from a monster hole! We no longer looked after the kayak, but made our way back to the ours in order to portage super quickly and save the important goods.

Tomass and I followed Benjamin blind through the next rapids until we could pull Luke’s kayak to the shore in a large pool. The waterproof packed material survived the trip unscathed! What you learn here? Right, by scouting it’s always important to fix the kayak safe on the shore.

Our next stop on the trip was Hallingskeid which is approximately 1200 meter above sea level and surrounded by snow fields and glaciers slightly above. Beautifully, and only reachable by train or foot. We started on the creek with a few cool slides and waterfalls, then we had to cross a lake, then slides again, back a little lake and so on. Some rapids like the “Konduktör” were high, long, fast, never run before by paddlers and brought us some nice adrenaline rushes. Towards evening we became busy. The train left Myrdal at 6.22 pm and we had to get it! At 5.40 we were at the end of the last lake and had about 200 vertical meters ascent with heavy loaded kayaks up to the train station ahead of us. We arrived just in time, but were completely at the end!

At Finse we spent the next night in a hotel of the Norwegian Alpine Club( DNT). Pricey but with the rain and these temperatures it’s value to each instance. In the morning the thermometer showed us less then five degrees Celsius and kayaking was not at the very top of my wish list, but we had no other choice, because the train didn’t wait for us and we have made the reservations already. On this day, we paddled 28km down to Haugastöl. Much of it was lake, but in between were always good rapids surrounded by breathtaking nature.

After another night in a hotel (Haugastøl Turistsenter, http://www.rallarvegen.com/) by friends of Benjamin and another day on the Ustedalen, we took the train to Oslo where we spend the night in the park with the “Homies”. The next morning we continued north to the river Driva.
After a great run on the upper Driva from Kongsvoll to Oppdal, Fleming Schmitt invited us to their home where we spent the next two nights. The first of these, however, more or less in the pub, because of cheep beer every Sunday night. On Monday we relaxed and when Fleming came home from work and asked about paddling down the Graura Canyon, we couldn’t say no to the shuttle service. It is one of the most beautiful canyons in Norway and hides 20 km of junky class 4 kayaking!

Our plan was to start from here by train until Bodö north of the arctic circle where the rail ends, to paddle the most powerful waterfall in Norway the Laksforsen. Unfortunately, because of holidays all the trains with space for bicycles were fully booked and Benjamin’s daily calls to the rail company were futile.

But still, we had a “big” one on our “to do” list. The Rauma, one of the most popular white-water river for paddlers in Norway. Our luck: there’s rail support along the river! We reached the put-in of the upper part at noon. For this section, we had a perfect flow, but is it also possible to navigate down the lower Rauma? We were sceptical, but Benjamin motivated us full throttle, even though as a local he has never that much water.
The upper part was a perfect warm up, before the big slides and drops on the lower started. With much excitement, palpitations but clean lines we could run every rapid except the 20 meter drop at the end. At 9 pm I went out of my kayak completely stoked about my personal first descent of this river. I know nothing comparable, just wicked!

The next morning we got the train back home to Voss. Not the joy of all the passengers I think. Elapsed four paddlers after two weeks with only one shower and only one sentence synthetic clothes that dry quickly but stink like hell…. concern.

The “Paddletrain” as we call it, was in any case an exceptional Kayaktrip with quite different challenges to be mastered. By car you can go wherever and whenever you want, but for the train, we do not have our own key. In addition, the stations are not always directly by the perfect put in and take out’s. Sometimes we had to cross lakes to get there, or carry our kayaks for a while. But for this we had a super team and highlights like the Rauma, the “Kondukör” rapid, or the night in the pub in Oppdal, which are making the Paddletrain absolutely rewarding and memorable.

Important links:
http://www.nsb.no/
http://www.rallarvegen.no/
http://www.turistforeningen.no/
http://www.hjortmedia.com/ for photos and movie

Ron 'The Don' Fischer
Nookie Team Rider

In a shop near you....TODAY

noreply@blogger.com (DAN) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:10:00 +0000

An email from 'The Don' Ron to Dan @ Nookie

noreply@blogger.com (DAN) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:19:00 +0000

"Oh yes, and here are some pictures with my Assassin! Fuck I love it.
The pics are not that great, but i'm happy to be a coloured man again and paddled the fucking Middle Oetz with kind of high flow :)"

Apologies to those easily offended but i loved this email so thought i'd share it! dan @ nookie

Good Luck Team Nookie

noreply@blogger.com (TeamRiderz) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:34:00 +0000

Fresh off the back of Yellowboys bronze medal at the World surf kayak championships Nookie Team Riderz are ready to represent again. The World championships for freestyle canoeing will be kicking off next week in Thun, Switzerland.
All of of us at Nookie would like to wish our Team Riderz the very best of luck, go big boys!

Ben White, K1SquirtMen, Great Britain, current World Champion

Leo Carpene, K1Men, France

Doug Cooper, K1Men, Great Britain

James Weir, OC1Men, Switzerland

If you see the boys in Thun buy them a beer, they deserve it.

Good luck to all the competitors,
Nookie Team Rider X

Norway Part II - 24 Hour Sun

noreply@blogger.com (TeamRiderz) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:41:00 +0000

The 2nd instalment from Norway, 24 hour sun!

After the warm up we met up with a couple of Norwegians who where heading North. Tore is writing a new guide book for Norway, he knows his stuff. So we tagged along to see what North Norway was all about.

We were greeted a wealth of virtually unexplored, world class rivers and 24 hour daylight. With time threwn out of the window as we passed Trondigm, we had 6 days [I think!?] of 24 hour boating darting across the Norwegian / Swedish Border. Unsuprisingly finding a good time to have an epic being 2:30am! Up here we even bagged a 1st descent - but that's another story!

Stunning scenery, Stunning Crystal clear water, Stunning Paddling - another day - another river

Rockin it up in the evening sun on a tidy class V on the Ena

Drop to Slide Combo in Sweden

The view from my bed @2am!

More photos and info can be found on my Blog Here

I'll post up more from week three - Voss & Sjoa, next week...

Stay Wet

Ben

Yellowboy - 3rd at Worlds

noreply@blogger.com (DAN) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:50:00 +0000

Hey Just got back from the World Surf Kayak Championships in Portugal. We had an amazing time out there and surfed some fantastic waves under the hot portugese sunshine!
I turned up with my new surf kayak design the 'Alushe' from new surf kayak brand AIRTIME. This is a sub-brand of the very well established and well manufactured Downtime squirt kayaks.
The boat worked really well, carrying loads of speed and is very manouverable. Those two things combined made difficult dynamic moves much easier!
Surfing the 'Alushe' and kitted out in the best paddling gear in the world :Nookie, I gradually made it through round after round and eventually found myself in the final. Now i had gone out there this year to try and match 9th place which i finished last year so you can only imagine how utterly STOKED I am to be sitting here now ranked number 3 in the world!!! Not bad for a soul surfer.

I first signed with Nookie after a chat with Bill Mattos when I was 17... I am 27 this year so 2009 marks the 10 year that I have been lucky enough to be supported by such a great company who support their team riders so well!

Thank you all so much for the support!!

I'd love to stay and chat, but my flight leaves tomorrow for a 4 week surf trip in Tonga!

Life is SWEEEEEEEEET!

Nathan 'Yellowboy' Eades

Nookie Team Rider

Photos Credit: MING FARTHING

Norway Part I - The Return...

noreply@blogger.com (TeamRiderz) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:13:00 +0000

As Promised here's the first installment from my latest adventure...

Its been 6 years since my last visit to Norway and i'd forgotten how stunning it was and how good the paddling was!

Cooking dinner on the very first night!

We'd all agreed to take it easy for the first couple of days, so warmed up on the Setninga en-route to Sjoa, where we enjoyed big levels on the Sjoa play run. Of course taking it easy we couldn't resist a run down the mighty Amot before heading off to the Stor Ula

Running the slides, home of the Ula extreme race

Nailing the line on Ula No.1

So three days in we'd already bagged a number of waterfalls, slides and big volume rapids, this trip was only going to get better, but you'll have to wait for Part II for that! If you can't wait that long you can check out my blog here for some more photos from the first couple of days in Norway

Hey, It's raining here in the UK, stay safe with the Summer Boating or if your stuck in the office check out the Surf Worlds in Portugal - Team Rider Yellow Boy's out there with his new toy...

Ben

Assassin In Action

noreply@blogger.com (TeamRiderz) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:38:00 +0000

With all this talk of the new Nookie Assassin Drysuit, I thought I’d let you all know what it’s like on / in the water!

The guys @ Nookie were kind enough to let me ~~abuse~~ use their new Assassin Drysuit on my recent adventures to Norway. Despite my best efforts 150ish hours of pure adrenalin fuelled abuse and its still going strong. Anything I could throw at it, it shrugged off, scrambling, climbing, abseiling, scraping down rocks and that was just getting to the river!

Paper, Scissors, Stone - the ultimate way to decide who goes first, it would appear i'm quite good at this game!

The new 3ply bamboo fabric is so soft and super breathable that you don’t even notice your wearing it, but don’t tell people on the river or they’ll end up stroking you every time you eddie out! But this does mean that 12 hour days on the river are a revelation.

Take Off, The infamous cushion on Ulla Slides

Some more idyllic snow melt, crystal clear, white water.

The mesh reinforcement is still amazing me. The guys @ Nookie told me they had so much faith in it that I could throw away my elbow pads! It’s so durable it just slides off rock, literally! OK I’m a whimp, and used some 661 chicken wings under the suit, but thankfully you can at last say good bye to bulky elbow pads.

Line up & tuck, Money Drop

Check back soon for more stories from

Norway

…

Get Wet - Stay Dry

Ben

Assassin Dry Suit Maintenance Kit

noreply@blogger.com (DAN) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:01:00 +0000

The Nookie Assassin Dry Suit is going to be presented in a Limited Edition Assassin Star 35L Dry Bag with a self maintenance kit including Zip Oil, Glue and fabric patch.
Available to buy NOW, delivered to you on 01.09.2009

Arriving on your doorstep 01.09.09 (if ordered...)

noreply@blogger.com (DAN) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:51:00 +0000

The long awaited Nookie Assassin Drysuit uses an incredible natural fabric technology to combine durability and strength with the comfort and flexibility you'd expect from a Savile Row suit.

Fabrics: 3ply Bamboo Charcoal with Enduro mesh and Gaiaprene®
Neck: Latex gasket with O-ring Gaiaprene® outer
Wrist: Latex gasket with O-ring Gaiaprene® outer
Ankle: Enduro mesh reinforced with hook & loop adjustability
Socks: Fabric dry socks

Back Zip: Waterproof BDM® brass zip with protection cover

Relief Zip: Waterproof BDM® brass zip with protection cover
Waist system: Deep tunnel with spraydeck grab clips and dual drawcord and hook and loop power ups

Colourway
Smoke and Fluoro Green Herringbone with Black Enduro mesh

Sizes
S, M, L, XL, XXL

Available to pre-order now from your local dealer the Assassin Dry Suit will be delivered to everyone who has ordered one on 1st September 2009.....

Nookie Creek Dayz - THE MOVIE

noreply@blogger.com (TeamRiderz) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:20:00 +0000

So seven weeks ago I was in the Swiss Alps with James, Alex, Hazel, Ron, Tim and the boys from Riverside Oxford. The creek dayz were going superbly, until I stumbled, fell off a ledge and broke my foot! RUBBISH

Whilst away the boyz from Riverside Oxford got a bit carried away with their video cameras and thanks to Finn Burrows have produced rather a good movie. Please watch and enjoy.....

Any way I have just had my cast removed and now looking forwards to getting back in a boat again coaching in the French Alps in two weeks time. I just can't wait for many things but in particular want to sit in a kayak again, use my lovely Nookie Guide Strides and am very impatiently awaiting the arrival of my Nookie Assassin Drysuit which looks awesome.

Lastly a huge thanks to Alex for organising the Creek Dayz and a bunch of generally unorganised paddlers, we are all looking forwards to the 2010 repeat.

See you on the river

Rob

Mis-print to latest Advert

noreply@blogger.com (DAN) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:38:00 +0000

We were informed this week (and have indeed witnessed today) that the latest advert for the Nookie Assassin Dry Suit has been mis-printed......
Keep an eye out for a rather elongated advert in the mags. However, if you'd like to know what it looks like then here it is.

Released on 1st September 2009. The new Assassin Dry Suit.....

Dan

The Californian Don!

noreply@blogger.com (TeamRiderz) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:49:00 +0000

After I had a wonderful time at the Nookie Creek Dayz in Switzerland I went to the USA for some more kayaking. The first week I spent in Vail, Colorado at the Teva Mountain Games. One week, 21 different competitions, partying all night long, good people and my 9th place in the creek race made this event one of the highlights of this year.
Then, two weeks later, I took my Teva van and drove together with Jakub Nemec to California. The rivers here are good stuff! Endless slides and drops. Every river is an adventure and takes mostly two days or more. But for those who don’t like hiking, portaging and driving a lot, it is not the paradise. I definitely prefer Switzerland with Team Nookie!
Enjoy summer buddy’s and the pics below!

later

Ron 'The Don' Fischer
Nookie Euro Team Rider

Nookie in Portugal Surf Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (TeamRiderz) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:49:00 +0000

Thanks to Luis Pedro Abreu of http://www.kayaksurf.net/ Portugese surfing mag 'Freesurf' has just ran an article about my adventures using NOOKIE Gear. Unfortunately i don't have a translation of the article, but here's the pages that Luis sent across to me! Life's been tough since the last trip, stood infront of the classroom to earn some pennies and hit the road again! The Portugese World Champs are approaching so the surf kayaking world is getting excited, more exciting for me though, is the trip to Tonga. Marc Holland, Naomi James and I head out in August!

There's been heaps of swell up in Wales, and the weather has been getting hot so life on mud island has been pretty good of late! I hope every one has a great summer. I'll report back on Tonga in September!

Nathan Eades
Nookie Team Rider

Creek Dayz - Tessin

noreply@blogger.com (TeamRiderz) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 10:32:00 +0000

Creek Dayz - Tessin

Ron dropping in on the Lower Versazca, photo by James

Tessin is one of the most beautiful places in the World to go paddling and record snowfall over the winter has provided sweet water levels all through the spring, it seemed obvious that Tessin would be our next stop on the Creek Dayz tour.

Team riders Alex, Ron and James hanging out at the Ribo put in, photo by Hazel

Leaving the carnage behind the team headed to over the San Bernadino pass to hook up with team riders Ron Fischer and James Weir and with world renowned kayak photographer Raph Thiebaut. First stop was the Ribo, the river provided many opportunities for Raph and the other photographers to ply their trade and for the team riders to style it up, check it out.

Ron leading the team down towards the Ribo gorge, photo by Sanne

Ron styling on the first drop of the Ribo gorge, photo by James

Alex flying on the Ribo, photo by Sanne

Tim lining up for the Ribo fall, photo by James

James dropping the Ribo fall, photo by Sanne

Time is money and all that so after a session of high fives it was back on the road heading towards the stunning Versazca valley, first stop the James Bond dam all 220metres of it! We were lucky to find a beautiful riverside camp complete with firewood for a BBQ.

Shooting fireballs from the hand is a prerequisite for being a Nookie team rider, photo by James

As is catching MM's in your mouth! photo by James

There was no need to make a plan for the next day, the Versazca is one of the most beautiful rivers in Europe and yet other chance to mix top class paddling with great photographers, the results speak for themselves.

The Versazca, a beautiful place to paddle, photo by James

Ron at the Secret spot, photo by Hazel

Thanks to Nookie for great stuff and supporting us and thanks to Raph for some awesome photos and finally to Ron, Alex, Tim, Hazel, Raph, Sanne, Laura and Tim for a great few days in the magical Tessin.

Top tip from the team, safety first!

James

Nookie Creek Dayz (Part 1) - Graubunden, Suisse

noreply@blogger.com (HAZEL) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:17:00 +0000

I love working in the paddling industry, unexpected exciting opportunities crop up all the time, and the first Nookie Creek Dayz was definitely one opportunity I wasn't going to miss.

International Nookie Team Riderz gathered in the beautiful Swiss Alps for adventure and mis-adventure ; )

The incredible snow melt and blazing sunshine provided the best conditions we could have hoped for, things were off to an awesome start.

We warmed up on the Glenner near Illanz which was quite literally cracking! An incident in a stopper, combined with a temporary loss of paddles and a rock to the head. I finally rolled up, the inevitable amount of time under water proved years of squirting had paid off. (I think even the boys might have mumbled they were impressed I rolled after that length of time.)

After a visit to the hospital where I was stitched and glued I was ready to paddle again.

Steri-strips courtesy of Team Rider Rob Yates. "Thanks Rob!"

If only Nookie made helmets : )

Team Rider: Hazel Wilson

Pic: Rob Yates

Over a tasty bar-b-q that included Ostrich we decided to head to the beautiful Cristallina for the next days paddling.

The put-in, Cristallina.

Team Rider: Alex Keller

Pic: Hazel Wilson

Due to my new found pirate (one-eyed) status I was elected to be team photographer for the day.

The boys were lucky with a great water level. They paddled the river and scouted their way into the gorge entrance with rescue support when necessary. This river claimed our next victim. Rob Yates broke his foot while providing safety at one of the drops and provided me with a second visit to the hospital in as many days, but not before he insisted the rest of the team finished paddling. I'm sure the team were grateful because they managed to squeeze in these two beauties:

Team Rider: Tim Copplestone

Pic: Hazel Wilson

Team Rider: Alex Keller

Pic: Hazel Wilson

This is just a taster from the beginning of the Nookie Creek Dayz. Keep posted for more pics and tales from our road trip down to the Ticino/Tessin region.

Hazel : )

Team Nookie in Corsica

noreply@blogger.com (TeamRiderz) — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:42:00 +0000

Hi all,

As never before seen, the island of Corsica has been overrun by a huge number of paddlers this April. It might be because of the first kayaksession event organized over there, or because of the knowledge that one of the greatest rivers, called Rizzanese, will be soon dammed and it would be the last chance to run it, or even because the many tons of snow loaded on the mountains that promised perfect waterlevels, which you never really get on Corsica...

However, on the ferry it was showed on many car roofs, the paddlers invasion would be about to reconquer napoleons home and support the local querilla fighters against mother France's energy industry.
Waterlevels in fact were great - but on Corsica it doesn't means it wouldn't be pretty rocky.

As i took note, many Nookie Team Riders did visit this place this year, but only one did not crash his boat... (that wasn't me!).
The kayaksession event was pretty cool and had the paddlers feeling they had the island to themselves. In fact you couldn't run across any street, cross any town or cruise over any pass without making fingersigns to
many paddler cars crossing you.

One of the highlights of the event was to visit the Rizzanese an run it in memory and by thanking the local people for there fight over 20 years in trying to stop the plans of the water energy industry - sadly without results... the works already began and my mind was smashed over when i did first see the put out of the codi at the conclusion to the rizza: Last time i stood here, it was a place far away of streets, in the middle of nature, with the greatest slide of the hole island. Now everything was removed by huge trucks and other machines, several road ends and the slide is destroyed. Here will be the wall of the damm, and at the
takeout of the second gorge the pressure-piplines entry to the river.

So nothing will be well to paddle here when this guys finished their job... a very special fact about the hole project is that this river only brings a few cubics of water in April and May, the rest of the year
its dry anyway, so everybody wonders how they want to produce energy during the whole year.

So on the events last day, around 30 paddlers did get together and paddled down the standard section of the Rizza, and on shore many local people did serve us with perfect barbecue and other local specialities.
I never thought that local people - that normaly look pretty dusty - would be so open and friendly (including fishermans) in discussions and joining some time with foreign paddlers, but it's good to know that Corsica is full of pearls of steep rocky creeks that promise to make many more visits to great roadtrips!
i will be there again and again...

take care

Alex

Alex Keller - Nookie Team Rider

All pictures taken and copyright of Boby Frieser

noreply@blogger.com (TeamRiderz) — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:50:00 +0000

Schweizer Meister

A few weeks ago Doug wrote a long and detailed blog of his antics running up to and during the GB freestyle team trails, I am afraid my attention span isn't what it used to so here is my short and sweet account of my preparation for the Swiss team trails...

To go to worlds you need to win a place in a national team, I decided not to paddle for GB but to paddle for Switzerland. There is no complicated political reason for the decision simply that the GB trails where held in the winter when I was busy snowboarding.

Swiss team trails where held in beautiful Bremgarten on the upper wave, I took some practice rides and was very thankful I remembered how to make freestyle moves in my canoe. I was able to keep the stiff competition at bay and scored enough points to qualify for the world championships in Thun this September and earn the title Schweizer Meister.

My Gran used to say "you are what you wear young man" so I suppose this makes me an airhead!

Big thanks to Ralph and Roland for organising a superbly chilled event, Beat for taking great fotos and the sun for shining on us all day long.

Play safe people of World and see you in Thun,

James