Serious Testing Conditions

Team Rider Nathan Eades pictured here in Sri Lanka, has been putting the new decks through serious testing for the past 3 months. See the blog below for more.......................

Living the Dream

Nathan Eades has just returned from an epic 3 months in Sri Lanka, his trip completed his quest to surf all the southern coast of the island. He's spent the last three months ripping up shallow corral reef breaks in the hot sunshine with just board surfers for company!! Look out for the full report coming up in Canoe and Kayak...

Spraydeck Rant

I'm pleased to report that we have lots of exciting new product filtering thru during '07. It seems like everything's changed chez Nookie and the product range, of course, is where most of you out in the wild are going to notice the difference. What's more important than the changes, tho, is everything that hasn't changed. We aren't in the business of randomly superceding products that consistently outperform the competition, so in many instances it's just a case of restyling an already superb product to keep it in line with the current brand "look".

That isn't the case with the Nookie spraydeck range. We contend that the outgoing line has always been super-dry, super reliable, and less prone to damage than the competition. However, the boat manufacturers (see earlier rant) have been playing silly b***ers with their cockpit sizes and hence we felt we had to revise our sizing right across the board. Combining that with the future needs of several other incoming technologies and a new production facility that can make our Hardflex" reinforcing layer have even smaller gaps in its armour than ever, we ended up with a substantially revised version of a product that was already almost perfect. Which is a bit weird, but that's what's happened.

Now, I know there are gonna be people out there saying "What's so special about Nookie decks? All shockdecks are much the same aren't they? Aren't the new rubber rand decks loads better anyway?". To which I say read on, no, and no.

Anyone who's used y2k+ Nookie decks will know that they are easy enough to fit to all whitewater boats, super-dry, and basically never leak or blow if fitted correctly. It's very hard to get a deck to work this well, and it relies on careful sizing and quality/materials control. We are firmly committed to pulling this off. Or should I say on?

In addition to this our durability is second to none. Kevlar decks? Completely flawed concept in our view. Kevlar is friction/abrasion resistant, not puncture resistant. You can put a sharp rock thru a Kevlar deck as easily as any other. And Kevlar doesn't stretch significantly, which makes it THE most pointless material for a spraydeck. Your Kevlar deck will only fit perfectly on a cockpit the same shape as the deck - so on most boats the performance will be massively compromised. Furthermore, because it doesn't stretch, a Kevlar deck will be more prone to blowing even on a boat it fits perfectly. So we don't use Kevlar. We use our Hardflex layer which is abrasion resistant, paddle-pinch resistant, and puncture resistant, but still stretchy. Cool, huh? Some other decks out there have a thin screen print on them to imitate this reinforcement. Not the same. We offer a product lifetime warranty on everything we sell, and we can't do this unless we make sure everything's solid.

The concept of rubber rand decks isn't new. In fact it was the prevalent technology in the early 90's. It can work adequately but most of the ones we've tried are either a bit leaky or really difficult to put on. Or both. And in combination with Kevlar they are, in our opinion, expensive and useless. So we're not making rubber rand decks this year.

Of course a spraydeck is such a crucial piece of equipment that every paddler should try out all the options and make a personal choice. Don't listen to me. I'm lucky - I get to have the exact decks I want to paddle in, ones that won't let me down when I'm getting trounced in a giant hole, subbing-out in my squirtboat, or when 30' of ocean decides to fall on top of me. Believe me, if it wasn't working right I'd go right home and design another one. Final tip - don't buy based on the fact that your mate likes his deck - it might not fit as well on your boat even if they're both supposedly "keyhole" cockpits (thanx boat manufacturers). Unless it's a Nookie one of course ;)

Well, we're back! Hope you all had a wicked Xmas/NY. We've got tons in the pipeline for '07, it's all very exciting. In fact we're on fire.... at least, we will be as soon as our heads stop hurting.

Tequila Frenzy

Nookie-sponsored Nile local Geoffrey upholds the rodeo tradition of yester-year... (more like yester-decade actually - Ed) by transitioning seamlessly from the rapids to the attentions of the Tequila girlz at this year's Nile freestyle festival. Geoffrey rocks.

Top Secret

Hazel is working on something very exciting. Can you guess what it's going to be?

Composite Creeking

Last week the rivers were all very full here in Devon and so I decided to add some spice to one of our local runs which when high is a good grade 4+. To make it more of a challenge I ran it in a 3 metre glass/kevlar composite Pyranha Stunt Bat built in 1993. Compared with modern river boats this behaves in a comletely different manner due to its rounded hull and narrow profile. I had to relearn old turning techniques and indeed run the rapids in a different way. I also had get to grips with the tippy feeling of a rounded hull. I chose a big water day so there would be less rocks to hit however there were more holes of which some gave me a good deal of sporty action. The best buzz about this boat is the feeling of real speed as it fires down the rapids and of course the bemused looks of other boaters (in creek boats) as I pass them by.

Steve Whetman

Team Rider Ben White's latest

Its not quite the broken nose footage i'm still waiting for that to turn up! But heres what we were up to before work this morning...

http://www.ben-white.com/pages/Gallery/Recoil.htm

Some times when its grey and dull outside it really isn't that depressing! A week of rain has meant swollen rivers all of the North of England, taking the opportunity we grabbed the new Pyranha Recoils and went for a pre work spin...

Ben White

Someone gave me this vintage book today. First published in 1936. Nice one. Strangely it suggests that the highest point one should ever get in on the Dart (our local river) is well downsream of the lowest point we'd ever considered getting out!

Spraydeck(skirt) Sizes Debacle

Like pretty much all our competition, we make about four types of neoprene spraycover, in about four sizes. Unlike most of 'em we also do some more specialist products like special skirts for squirtboats, surfkayaks, kidz boats etc.

And we thought we were pretty cool because these all worked really well and (most) everybody thought they rocked.

But here's the thing. Kayak manufacturers seem to have forgotten that they have to design their boats to work with existing spraycovers, or else supply their own. Most of them don't supply their own in any meaningful way, which I take to mean that they realise how difficult it is. So why do some of them just make some random cockpit shape and ship it out into the market place expecting us (and every other softwear manufacturer) to work some kind of miracle and make everything watertight?

It's REALLY annoying for us as spraydeck designers but it must be doubly so for the boater who needs a deck for their new kayak... we sympathise.

F%^&* Lifetime Warranty

I'd like to say that much has been written about our (unique to this industry???) lifetime warranty but, well... it hasn't, has it? Despite being printed on the swing tickets of everything we've sold for the last two years, it doesn't seem like anyone's got their heads around it yet. Which is a shame. I'm gutted in fact. In a field where durability is most people's biggest concern when making a purchasing decision, one would assume that a lifetime warranty offer would be of interest to most buyers. Apparently not. In the two years since its introduction there's been no significant impact on the number of warranty enquiries, and most of the (thankfully) tiny number of people who do contact us with a problem have been blissfully unaware of our policy on these matters. Which in BLACK & WHITE is basically this:

IF YOUR KIT IS FAULTY, WE WILL REPAIR OR REPLACE IT FOC. IF YOU HAVE TRASHED IT, WE WON'T. NO CALENDARS, STOPWATCHES OR ANY OTHER TIMEKEEPING INSTRUMENTS WILL BE EMPLOYED IN THE MAKING OF THIS DECISION.

If you have any queries about this, please ask. If you think I'm BSing about the whole thing I'd be glad to hear your views, too. If you think I should stop typing and go boating now, our thought processes are fairly closely aligned... and I'm off now. Enjoy.

Introducing the latest addition to the Nookie Team. Here's Helen's baby Joe modelling an exclusive micro T. He hasn't actually been seen kayaking or surfing yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if he sneaks out for a session when Helen thinks he's asleep. We're going to get the ESP paparazzi on his case and see if we can catch him shreddin'.

Here's a shot of the Welsh Surf Team in Nookie clobber - we've got a 5 page report in the Ceufad- Welsh Kayak Magazine- with a cover shot of a kayak with a large prominent Nookie logo across the front!
I'm off to Sri Lanka in 3 weeks, so I hope to be able to send blog reports for you guys from outta there.
Nathan Eades

Just because it's kinda funny - Hazel beta-testing a new whitewater shell. It's November, in England - it's freezing. And she still claims to love her job ;)

Sometimes blogging can lead to browsing, and then to unexpectedly finding photos of oneself. Here's one I found on the Valley Sea Kayaks website... That's fine, but then someone pointed out that Knoydart have used the same photo in an advert. What? Could they not find a photo of anyone paddling in Knoydart gear?

I'd just like to thank Nookie for donating towards the raffle at the Wet West Paddlefest. We managed to sell around 2000 tickets for the raffle, and approximately 300 people turned up! Even better, we broke even and made a slight profit to go towards next years event. For a full report, see the blog section of my site (below), or keep an eye out for Scottish Paddler.
Thanks once again for your generosity; without you the event would not have been such a success!
Thank you,

Martin Higgs (and the rest of the WWPF organisers).
http://www.bigwethuck.co.uk

We were looking for a way to demonstrate the awesomeness of our failsafe krab park system. Sure, it never failed while we were flailing around in the water making our rescue video. But we thought y'all deserveda more graphic demonstration. And once you've crashed into the water at freakishly high speed a few times you can start to get a taste for it. Check this out - another Youtube snippet featuring some of the last week's footage... again, it's probably best if you don't try this yourself.

Another instalment of our 101 things to do with a powerboat. Waterskiing and wakeboarding are all very well. But Bill's been doing that since he was 7, and we wanted to try something new. It turns out you can have a whole bundle of fun with a surfboard. All photos courtesy Steve Childs.

The trouble with doing all the stuff your mother told you not to, because it would all end in tears, is that your mother was probably right. All good things come to an end, don't they?

***My mother, on the other hand, has always assured me that a bit of water never hurt anyone, so I'm exempt from exercising common sense and allowed to keep on playing in it (Bill)***

Here are a few of the pics of Bill surfing the Sneaker kayak on the wake of a 150hp Explorer powerboat. Do not try this at home, the kayak was about two feet from the propeller a lot of the time...


To watch a 'lil bit of youtube video of the above escapade, click here
Music courtesy of the Voom Blooms, thanx guyz.

Friday 13th - Part V

Day 5 - another day in the life of...

Ever wondered happens when you get up, yawn, stretch (here's James demonstrating the finer points of the technique, all photos SJC btw) and then...


have a hearty breakfast of bacon and copious amounts of leftover Chinese (protein and carbs for a long day on the go)...

load cameras and all these other toys ...

into big boats that can do this?

Well, check back L8r as the pics come thru. Friday the Thirteenth wasn't a bad day for us at all...