Sam Stephenson Promo video

Just finished editing together a little promo video using footage from this year.. Enjoy!

Sam Stephenson

west coast tour

Hey guys, so I have been hanging out in southern morocco for the past six weeks surfing and preparing for my trip down the entire west coast of africa. Today we finally got the custom roof rack finished and all the spare kit on the roof. We drove the first 200 km and have arrived at a perfect point brake.
I flew home for a few days to organise visas etc for a few of the country's and had enough time to put together short video of me in my projectX with the help of friend Paul Scott. Have a look, I hope you like it.


Doug cooper
P.s more south updates coming (moritainia next)



http://vimeo.com/m/33010589

Just vote for this video and thereby help a charity!

I think everybody who has a GoPro does not need the 10.000 Euro as much as e.g. some kids in Uganda....

I just edited some footage from our last trip to Lapland this spring. Excuse my quick and dirty editing, but time was short to get the video online for the contest. After the contest I will cut one properly and publish it in HD! ;-)
Please vote for my new Lapland-Video in this Sportscheck-Video-Contest, because the winner will get 10.000 EURO (= around 13.600 US Dollar) shopping-voucher for this sports-shop “Sportscheck” and if my video wins, we will sell all the products on ebay and donate the money to a charity of your choice! We guess the money will accumulate to around 6.000 - 10.000 US Dollars.

You can vote for the charity the money should go to on my blog:
www.soulboater.blogspot.com

To support this charity-project just like the “Sportscheck”-Fanpage on facebook and vote (i.e. click the button "abstimmen") for my video:
Sports4Charity Video

Two possible charities you can give your vote for on my blog are Soft Power Health or Soft Power Education in Uganda.

Please vote and spread the word!

Thanks a lot for your support!
Markus

A journey across East Africa .

A Kigali Sun down (Rwanda)

Arrrrrrgh final few months of uni. wow wee it was going to be a struggle placement was a high secure forensic hospital so for the entire three months I saw little to no sun shine . but essays were handed in and some how I had squeezed enough cash together to buy a ticket to Rwanda for the day after I graduated . With that in mind I bashed my way through the hours and packed my bags again and stuck new NOOKIE stickers on my shiny WAVESPORT Project X .
August the second, 0900 hours boat blagged on to the plane, bashed a sleeping pill, woke up some hours later , walked up and down Cairo airport until my feet hurt , Boarded a plane slept like a log, had a G&T landed drank a beer found a hotel out like a light .


They say Rwanda is the switzerland of East Africa

Morning broke. I had to know what it felt like to stand in a land where a Meer 18 years ago 80,000 people were hacked to death, plus I had been told that the rivers were worth a look.


Looking toward Kassase and Western Nile (the place of Amine )


Kigali was super cool and relaxed , but no water in sight, the drought that had consumed east Africa paid its toll on Rwanda too. So nice to know you Rwanda cheers for all the beers . I got a bus to the Uganda Congo border . It took ages and the man I was squashed next to stank like a pig , but I was back in Africa and didn’t give a shit. Crossing a national park on route I saw elephants and gazelle grazing at the side of the road . I think my stinky companion thought I was mad as I pointed in delight and grappled for my camera . I had to explain to him after that we only had cows and sheep in England. He asked inquisitively weather the lions ate many of the cattle. Laughing I said we had the fox.


Crammed in to the matatu talking about Lions

So the Congo border was a laugh, along with some stunning sights around lake Ungaruba, a crater lake in the Ruwenzori mountains . I wanted to go up there to do some time laps filming for my movie Im making . So a few days went by and a lot of games of cards sat next to a rolling camera . Time to bugger off back to the Nile for a few weeks and then on to Kampala for more filming and coffee.

The congo border


Doug air screw


high water made malalu work, a wave i hadn't seen in years


Surf till sun set , the river just keeps rising


Early morning super high Club wave

After three more weeks of surfing and filming on high water Nile , I spent a day in Entebbe at lake Victoria drinking with some south African gold miners from Congo . Then it was time to fly home and do some work , and quite possibly plan a few more trips.


Lake Ungaruba, filming with a beer




So what will become of our adventurer ? Gabon, Mexico, Senegal, or even back to morocco. Looking back its been an epic year , and it couldn’t have been done without all the awesome gear that NOOKIE WAVESPORT and STREAMLYTE have given me . Massive thanks.


Hear is a short flic of the trip.

east africa from douglas cooper on Vimeo.

Article by Team rider Doug Cooper

Revelations of a Curry

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The most southerly point of India

“India, not a place I imagined to ever have surf”.
Sitting comfortably in my seat on the plane bound for Thiruvananthapuram the capital of the state of Kerala. “Consider the vast state of poverty mixed with high class Mercedes” were the departing words of my mother as she dropped me off for the thousandth time at the airport. Landing in this eastern country I couldn’t help think, how wonderful it was to leave dissertations and drug calculations aside for a month and concentrate on waves again.
The first thing that struck me was how lush and green the land was, it felt like Uganda but almost greener. Lush banana and coconut trees stood tall around the airport, marking the way out and in to the jungle.

The temperature was crazy hot with humidity so high that it felt like my louse fitting jeans were trying to strangle me in the heat. Three weeks pre monsoon season was the time for big waves so we would just have to put up with the stifling humidity. Danny had done a bit of mad research and had us a driver waiting to take us to a house for the night.

Strapping boats on to the roof was like torture, heat blazed down on us and we were more than happy to get in to the air-conditioned pickup truck. Not very eco of us but looking back it was a saving grace that’s for sure .
Our house was tucked in to the jungle out of sight and only a five min walk from the beach “ perfect”. We settled in and melted in to pools of sweat and discomfort.

HQ

After a few days we were slightly more acclimatized and were beginning to scare ourselves on the local reef. Breaking only a foot from a bank of Muscles and other sharp bits of rick made wave selection quite important.


The reef outside our house


Nookie's team rider beach babe

Later in the week we hooked up with this American guy “J” who had uprooted his entire family for three years to teach them the value of money and to get some good waves. He seemed to have all the local knowledge and was super stoked to share some of the waves that he had found ( for the purposes of keeping India’s waves un crowded I will rename the waves and will not let out their locations ). First off we headed to a super long beach, after about fifteen mins of looking sadly at beach mush suddenly a river mouth appeared, and a set of waves, perfectly formed for getting shaqued up in . Well we rode the pants off that, and were able to hold back a little as the floor was sand rather than reef, but still pretty shallow.


Walk from HQ to the reef

Next up a 5 am start and a long drive out of the jungle across the bustling town of Thiruvananthapuram in to the quiet suburbs ( back in to dense jungle). We arrived at a river. J jumped on his board in to the river and told us we had to float down to the beach. Floating down we passed what looked like a harbor wall, out in to the sea and then paddled round the wall to a quiet bay. “J where are these waves “ “ set will be hear in a min “ a few mins later a perfect left formed off the deserted harbor wall. The face held for ages and Danny and my self could get a good three turns in before we had to think about charging.
The waves lasted until about 11am, but by then it was time to get out of the sun and chill for the evening beach set back at the house beach.

J's secret harbour Left


The river mouth pumping


Another sweet wave


We surfed a fair few waves, reefs and beaches over the month. The culture was incredible, but not as good as the food.
My departing thoughts from India were from an old man whom I met on the jungle road from the beach to the house. He pointed up to the coconut trees and said, “ keep your helmet on, if one of those hit you, no more surfing “

Team rider Doug cooper

GB Freestyle Selection Event

Hey this is new Nookie Team Rider Sam Stephenson checking in with my first blog post.. I'm a 17 year-old freestyle paddler on the British Squad who loves paddling and can be found at a different playspot almost every weekend! Last weekend was the British Team Selection Event at HPP - probably the most important competition of the year for me as it decides who gets a spot on the team for the Euros next year. I've spent the past few weekends paddling lots both at Cardiff and Nottingham in preparation for the event, trying to perfect some of the harder moves such as the McNasties and Phonics Monkeys which would give me the high scores I need to place in the top 3 and get my place on the team.

The first half of the competition, held on Saturday, was in the Inlet Gate - a very even, predictable feature in which I'd had lots of practice over the summer. This all paid off as I put together my best ever competition ride, getting McNasties, Space Godzillas and maybe a Phonics too totalling at about 750 points! My following two rides didn't go quite as well, but it was enough to give me 3rd place for the day - just behind James Benns and Bren Orton - who as usual both laid down some seriously impressive runs!

On the Sunday the competition moved to twin-waves, which is a much trickier - less predictable hole compared with the inlet gate, making it harder to do all the moves both ways. This put me in a slightly difficult position - with some of the easier, usually bankable moves like Space Godzillas being much harder to do in this feature - instead I had to resort to going for a Switch McNasty instead, something I hadn't practised much but that would really boost my points if I pulled it off. Luckily I hit my first ride almost perfectly and scored about 600 points, which made up for my slightly lack-lustre second and third rides - this was just enough to put me in third again for the day, closely followed by Tom Goddard in 4th and James and Bren taking the 1-2 again.

Overall this was a really good weekend for me, getting the results I was looking for and setting me up in a good position for the Team selections. I also had lots of fun messing about on the course afterwards, paddling with my little brother and working on a new combo-move, the Splitwheel to McNasty - not working yet but still pretty fun to try!

I also did a bit of filming over the weekend so I'll put a short edit together with that and some other footage from the summer - expect to see that on the Nookie blog fairly soon!

In the meantime though check out this video from Jonny Williams with some of the highlights of the weekend...

Cardiff International Paddlefest 2011

Hi Guys,

My name is Josh Wedgwood and I am new to the Nookie Team. A little bit about myself; I am 17 and based in the South West of England. I am on the GBR freestyle kayak squad so you will often find me at playspots across the UK! I do lots of blogging and writing of articles so you will be able to follow my travels here. I am thrilled to be supporting Nookie and helping develop some exciting new products!

Recently Cardiff International White Water Centre held their annual paddlefest… here is a report of the day!

The chance to try all things paddlesport! From the very latest boats, paddles and kit to something new like Stand-Up Paddle Boarding. The day proved to be yet another great day on the water at CIWW!

With a range of cumecs throughout the day, fun events and evening entertainment; over 150 paddlers descended on the artificial white water course on the 3rd September. There were over 15 different retailers including; Wavesport, Nookie and new paddle brand Fire it Up (to name a few) all at the event with demo boats, paddles and great advice. This was a great opportunity for people to have a go in something new or get the low down on the latest products. There was lots of interest for Nookie’s new products including the updated Rivermonster and the Airscrew cag. With no rafts on the course paddlers were allowed to have fun without the worry of getting flattened! Enjoyment was definitely had by all as the many smiles suggested. There was lots of action in the main freestyle hole but also loads of people enjoying themselves paddling round the course working on their skills.

The first event of the day was a favorite for many; the Duckie Demolition Derby! A carnage filled event due to the 20 duckie paddlers and an inflatable dinghy all piling down the course at once… I shall let the pictures do the talking!

Following the Duckie Demolition Derby the next event of the day was the Palm 4x Challenge. Here two adults and one youth paddler join forces with a pro paddler from one of the exhibitors to race down the course as a team. The fastest team down the course wins. Prizes and bragging rights were on offer! The challenge of white water was made more difficult with tasks that had to be completed on the way down. Paddlers had to break into eddies and surf waves without losing too much time! Timing seemed to be the key here, the faster teams managed to avoid getting in each other’s way allowing all paddlers to get down the course as speedy as possible. I was competing for Team Wavesport as the pro paddler. Somehow all of our plans came together to produce the fastest run of the day!

Straight after the team challenge all the pro paddlers were entered for a head to head BoaterX race. With no rules, heats and semis to get through before the final there was plenty of carnage! Slalom poles were placed in the river that paddlers had to go round or get disqualified… as an extra challenge; duckies were ready to spring, popping decks and getting in the way! Any tactics went out the window as paddlers clashed paddles and bashed into each other fighting for position. I had lots of speed and always managed to get a good start and avoid most of the chaos! Due to this I reached the final against; Pete Simon, Aaron Buckingham, Cheesy and Tom Parker. With 5 of us racing down the course there was even less space! I was third going down the first drop with Aaron and Tom in front. Due to duckie intervention I managed to pass Tom near the end and finish second! Cheesy, despite being a strong candidate for the win, boofed onto a duckie and quickly got sunk so finished last!

The final event of the day was the Paddlefest Raft Race. Lots of people got involved with this, creating teams of 6 to compete in time trail, slalom and endurance racing. Spectators enjoyed the sight of rafts chasing each other down the course while listening to the great live bands that were playing on stage… the party atmosphere continued well into the night!
The Cardiff International Paddlefest 2011 was a great event… a massive thanks must go to all the organizers and retails that turned up to support and make the day fun! Keep checking the CIWW website for information on next year’s event, if this time is anything to go by… it is not to be missed!

See you on the water!

Josh Wedgwood

Nord Norge

The last two weeks, Mariann and I have been on a road trip to “northern Norway“. As you probably know, Norway is a very loong and big country! The area called “north“ surprisingly starts even before you are halfway through it. Anyway... after passing Trondheim, you see fewer villages, cars and people. The landscape is more remote than the south, with big forests, beautiful lakes and rivers. Now it‘s time to lean back, set the cruise control and enjoy a long drive northwards.

me running Laksforsen...one of the biggest rapids in europe

After an eight hours drive from Otta we arrived in Hatfielldal, where we met up with Benjamin Hjort to paddle the rivers in the area. Since waterlevels are very low at this time of year, we could run every section of whitewater on the Susna river. Including one complete descent of a yet unrun canyon.

where is acces to the river?...the blond lady asked the farmer...

Mariann after the crux of the lower Susna canyon

Later we met Simon Westgarth, Jakub Sedivy, Dag Sandvik, Nini and Erika to paddle some more sections on the Vefsna and Fiplingdalserva. Good times!

Jakub Sedivy on the Fiplingdalen

Fiplingdalselva

Mariann and I wanted to see some more of the country and drove along the coast further north. Due to the fiords, Norways coastline is more than 20‘000km long and amazingly beautiful. The mountains become bigger, with higher cliffs and snow capped. Out in the sea you see thousands of islands and once in a while you get a glimps of the second biggest glacier of Norway, called Svartisen. Right there, just a bit north of the arctic circle,in a fiord, right by the sea with the view of impressive mountains and amazing sunsets,... Mariann bought a piece of land.

not kidding... this is the morning view from the property...

We spent one day chilling in the sun and driving around to see the area. The next day we climbed a random peak you can see from the property. 833 meters high, with a beautiful view of Svartisen and the sea.

chill time after 800 meter ascent... view of Svartisen

Then it was time to get back in the kayak and after a short scouting mission of some possible first descents we want to do next year, we met up again with the boys/girls and paddled the Rana and Løndalselva, in addition to the Mjoelkelva with it‘s incredible triple combo.

granit paradise on the Løndalselva

amazing canyon on the lower Vefsna

Befoe we got back in the van to drive all the way south again, I got a hold of all the balls I have and ran the infamous Laksforsen, one of the biggest drops in Europe. And one of the best rapids I‘ve ever run!...I look forward to do it again next year, then hopefuly without having the bootie beer afterwards..... Since running Rheinfall in the spring, this was the second time this year I got ripped out of the kayak upon impact. Think i need to work on my outfitting :)

Ha de bra!

Air or Beer?

The last two weeks have been a lot of fun out in Peru! Holland has been a great addition to the antics out here, pushing things in the waves and keeping us entertained off the water. Huanchaco was the perfect place to end the trip, with consistent waves and long rides. It always has been... BUT this time with the help of Marc we found a new section which has been right under my nose for the past year and a half! The last section down by the pier, way down from the point is fast, steep and serves up air on a plate! Holland's little game was this; who ever hits the biggest air doesn't pay for their beer for the evening and despite doing my best to take him down, I have to admit my wallet is now empty- check him flying!











Huge thanks to Huanchaco for living up to expectations and of course for Chicama for waking up for us last week, let’s not forget the great food at Otra Casa and their massive breakfasts. With one last bus journey left we splashed out and booked ourselves onto Excluciva for the most luxurious 8 hour ride in Peru, check out Marc in his pimping chair!

Nathan Eades

Is the new Nookie Deck the most bomb proof on this planet?

Following some epic waves at Chicama surfing countless Kilometres, we headed up to Lobitos 8 hours north to score some waves at a heavy barrelling break named Pasinas. Marc Holland was hunting the barrel and took some heavy curtains right on his lap, his deck didn't budge an inch! Lobitos was busy with the Peruvian holidays co-insiding with the middle of our tour so we hit the water at 5am before the biggest crowd I have seen in my life entered the water at 6.30 am. Having got what we came for, we headed to Mancorra for cocktails and sunshine, before taking another 8 hour bus ride back down to Trujillo and onto Huanchaco. Huanchaco has a lovely set up; loads of great places to eat, constant waves and a chilled vibe in the water... We'll be here for the remainder of the week surfing waves and sipping back cold cervezas. Holland took some solid waves on the head today and again his deck didn't even flinch...Following the punishment I gave it in Chile along with Holland's constant abuse out here, we are starting to think that this may just be the best surf deck of all time!






Nathan Eades & Marc Holland