Nookie boyz & Scotland

So 10 days ago myself and Mr Weir found ourselves in bonny Scotland with a group of clients and very little water.

With a bag of Nookie toys from the lovely folks in custard country we headed out in search of water..... We all got kitted up ready to hit the river and it was great to see the high quality taste of the clients with so many of them sporting fine Nookie garments. In particular much love was given by all to our new Zone Paddle Jackets and new River Monsters which are amazing.

During the week we took our wicked clients (who were mostly under 18 years old) off to do some creeking. They sampled the delights of the Orchy, Awe, Etive & its tributaries and many hours listening to tunes in the minibus. By the end they were sliding, boofing and hammering like pro's.

It was great to see such a cool group of young people all kitted up in their Nookie paddling kit, enjoying their boating and showing great potential for the future.

Now back in the valley, it is time to find my desk and the weir for 5 days before I hang up my kayak, relocate to North Wales and change weapons to a canoe for a week and Mr Weir I believe is down sampling the hospitality of custard country.

Cheers & Beers

Rob Yates

Nookie Team Rider Chris Harvey takes Bronze at World Kayak Surf Championships

Hi Everyone

The last week i've been in Spain, competing at the World Kayak Surf Championships. Conditions have been tough with small messy surf but i've managed to pull out some good performances and made it through to the finals which were held on Sunday morning. Conditions were great with light winds, sunshine and 8ft surf. I've been struggling with cold and flu this week but managed to get myself fired up for the final heat. With the world's best competitors, the 4 man heat was always going to be extremely tough. 2 USA team surfers, the European champion and myself (the only UK competitor in the final) all fighting for the 2008 world title. My 'game plan' was to go out and enjoy the heat. It was exciting to be in such a high class final and i was excited for the spectators who were guaranteed a good show. With a big set at the start of the heat i was straight into it, but struggled to find the best take-off spot, finding only short 'close-out' rides. Midway through the heat i knew i had quite a lot of work to do and i managed to find a couple of nice waves to pull my score up. I found a nice wave that walled up well and managed to work it hard and with an all or nothing attitude managed to land a nice little aerial on the inside section...allbeit a bit close to rocks for comfort! I found myself getting a bit frustrated through the heat as i was always in the wrong place when the best sets came through. However, i had fun and it was a great feeling to have 100s of people watching and cheering...i'm told it was really great to watch! It was a tense wait for the results and the news that i had the bronze (again!)...i'm very pleased with that. It's so hard to keep up with the pace of the sport, so to be 3rd in the world for the 2nd year running is a real achievemnent. I also received the prize for best move of the contest which i'm really excited about. In what was difficult conditions earlier in the week i landed a really nice air which felt great...and helped me get the nickname 'Air Harvey' amongst the Americans!
Any one of the top 20 has the potential to win an event and it's so difficult just to make the final. With a greater focus on coaching recently and struggling with a cold all week i wasn't feeling like i was on my best form. This is another great result for me and one that i can hopefully build on. I've got a few projects in the pipeline for the coming months, including a magazine column, coaching and also a documentary expedition to Peru which I'm really excited about.

Sponsorship support: The hardest thing for me at the moment is securing financial sponsorship and i'm surprised by the lack of support from Guernsey companies. Over the last few years, and particularly the last year i've had some great competition results and masses of media attention around the world. Most of the other competitors secure several thousand pounds each year in terms of financial sponsorship and especially the English competitors seem to attract some good sponsorship. I'd like to think that as a wealthy island there are companies out there that would be supportive of local athletes and i might be able to secure some major sponsors for the next year. I'd be really interested to hear from anyone who can help, so feel free to email me: chrisharveyonline@gmail.com

Chris 'Air' Harvey

Nookie Team Rider Ron Fischer takes on Rheinfall in Switzerland

The newest rider to the Nookie Team is Ron Fischer, and aren't we stoked to have him on board! Don Ron took on the Rheinfall in Switzerland on 20th October in the new Nookie Latex Free Zone shell.
The Rheinfall is Europe's largest waterfall at 150m wide, 23m high and in the Winter months has an average water flow of 250m3/s while in the Summer, the average water flow is 600m3/s.
Watch the video here!

Big Boat Bonanza 2007

Last weekend i drove out to Ireland for the Big Boat Bonanza which was held in the heart of the Wicklow Mountains. I was out there last year for the race and it was low, this year it was even lower! But never mind at least there was still just enough water to race on unlike Austria the weekend before. Saturday saw the team event, where you race in a group of three with each having a task to do during the race. The three tasks where making a very small eddy before the final drop, a tight down stream slalom gate and throw a 20m throwbag through a small slot in a board on the bank. I was given the throw bag. This turned out to be the hardest as no one had managed it yet. On our run down we managed to nail everything which was good as that gave us extra bonus points to take the team win. Sundays race was the fastest one down in groups of four, as normal there was lots of pushing. Just missed out on the final by one place with two people going through to the final. A great weekend with a good party, thanks to all those who ran it.

Rich

Sickline Adidas World Championships Austria

Last weekend i went out to the Adidas extreme downriver race, organised by the boys at Sickline. It was held on the River Oetz in Austria which is a pretty hard river to race down. After three days of waiting around, the race never materialised as the water was too high on the section that they had set up on. In Austria you have to get a permit to hold such an event, due to the permit they could not move the event or just let us race down it for fun as they would have been in alot of trouble. We still managed to go and run some other rivers while we were there, so not a wasted trip. Hopefully it will run next year as they had put so much effort into the event!

Rich

The NEW Rivermonster Buoyancy Aid

It's busy, busy, busy here at Nookie HQ and I've got a new toy to offer you : ) It's already been spotted on the river and caused a bit of a a commotion, yes, we've done a ground up redesign of our Rivermonster.
The classic 70N Rivermonster has been updated and improved for even better performance and comfort when you need it most. It will still keep you afloat in gnarly swims yet won’t hinder your performance when rollin’. The high strength shoulder webbing network now offers a full harness system. This new design features a failsafe krab park, with an extra pocket slot for other useful rescue equipment due to demand. The Rivermonster’s sleek new look utilises a spacious stretchy neoprene pocket yet still offers an integral dry bag for all those essential electronic items such as car keys and mobile phones. The internal D-Ring is ideal for attaching a rescue whistle or non-electric car keys. Adjust the quick release compression straps to personalise the fit of your Rivermonster the first time you wear it... and never again! This is Nookie’s unique ‘once only’ adjustment system, just pop the clips to release.

The 50mm reversible and removable chest belt has retainers that minimise the danger of accidental hook up. They are positioned to create a kink in the chest belt on the contrast panel for easy krab location in an emergency situation. The shoulder straps are padded to offer clavicle protection. The shell is constructed from Cordura with bar tacks at high stress points for maximum durability.

Alpkit Challenge, Nene

The 29th and 30th saw the third leg of the Alpkit Challenge, this was held at Northampton White Centre the Nene to those who know it. The Saturday was the day of the boat across, for this you had to run 50m with your boat to the top of the course, then race down making certain gates. At the start you where given one of four colour's, this is how you knew which gates to go around. This was to try and create more overtaking as the course is very tight and not much chance to get past anyone. My biggest mistake was selling my creek boat before the event, leaving me the only option to use my freestyle boat which is much slower. After a lot of hard work, bannanas and jaffa cakes i manged to make it all the way through to the semi's. Sunday was the day of the freestyle, this was held in pool A a very tricky pourover. Not many big moves can be done here, so it turns into a chartwheel fest making it a close call between paddlers. Again making it into the semi's i ended up finishing in 8th place. Overall a very good well run event.

Rich