What’s it all about…..

A few weeks ago I wrote on my Facebook page ‘Rob is off to Norge to live a Nookie Life…’

Now this to me seemed quite self explanatory and obvious as to what I meant, but soon messages were arriving saying ‘Nookie Life what do you mean?’ So as opposed to explaining individually to everyone what this means, I thought I would just write once for every one to read what it means to me.

I suppose to me living a Nookie Life means hat you take every opportunity that is presented to you, squeeze the most in to life, do good things for other people, travel any where and every where for the perfect paddle and work damn hard at having a great life.

So my Nookie Life this summer has taken me all over the place but two places that are sticking in my mind so far are two weeks coaching creeking to a group of young people in Norway




and todays Hurley early session in the sun




A massive thanks to young boater Finn Burrows who has put together these videos and is starting to live a Nookie Life…. He is a paddler to watch out for in the future, 16 yrs old and styling it.

Any way I’d love to stop and chat but have a ferry to catch to France. Another mission, another load of smiles and new friends to be made.

Enjoy

Rob Yates

Nookie at OR Show, Salt Lake City - U.S.

The Nookie Team have worked hard this year to develop some exciting new products. The OR Show in Salt Lake City saw the first unveiling of a few of them.

The NEW Nookie Assault Shell is a full latex whitewater shell made from Xtetra4 ply fabric and brand new Enduro Mesh.

The NEW Nookie Guide Strides are perfect legwear for open boating, rafting, instructing and playing hard. Made from SomaTX3ply fabric with Enduro Mesh reinforced panels and removable padding in the knees.

The NEW Delta Cirrus Jacket and Trousers are super lightweight protective layers ideal for touring, sea kayaking, recreational paddling and every day protection from the elements. The Jacket packs away neatly into its own pocket and they're both a great choice when the weather is unpredictable - so that means they're always a great choice.

Check out the pics at playak...

Or download our new catalogue....

Upper Glenner River, a side creek of the Vorderrhein

(the gorge, pic by Alex)

On the Upper Glenner river, a side creek of the Vorderrhein, there's a
sweet run between two classical sections. Not too often people run this,
because some breathtaking portages make you work. When the snowmelting
time is over, there's still enough water in this section and thats why
it counts as one of just a few cool whitewater runs in summertime in its
area.

(Team nookie-look, pic by Alex)

This day Ron Fischer and Alex Keller found some perfect conditions to
run it. The section "Lumbrein" offers all you need for a long
afternoon-creek: A thin deep gorge that's hard and only at a few spots
to leave makes every step more serious, some really cool class 5 rapids,
and a horrorable portage if you don't want to run the keyrapid -
that's probably even more dangerous then just running it...(ask Alex
why) And after all that, there waits a nice paddle-out with some class 4
rapids that you just can paddle all on sight and enjoy.

(entry drop, pic by Ron)
(portage stuff, pic by Ron)
(key drops, pic by Alex)
(key drops, pic by Alex)
(key drops, pic by Alex)

(exit drop, pic by Ron)
(exit drop, pic by Ron)


(exit drop, pic by Alex)

Alex Keller & Ron Fischer
Nookie Team Riderz

R+D

We love hanging out with our Team Riderz on the water in awesome locations, but we also love it when they pop in for a cup of tea.
Last week saw Team Rider Doug Cooper mission his way to head office to meet all the peeps and share some product design ideas. All our Team Riderz play a critical part in Nookie R+D from giving feedback on the kit they wear every day and offering up ideas on new designs.
Doug has been bending my ear about buoyancy aid designs for months, so this visit was a perfect opportunity for him and I to pool our ideas together...
















The day was a success and we sent Doug away with a prototype that included nearly all of his ideas with the addition of some practicalities to put it all together : )

Here it is:




















Sorry, that's all we can show you for now : )

The Swiss Alps & Don Ron

A few weeks ago, i had another weekend full of water here in the Swiss Alps. Because of lot's of snow in the late winter, we have had the best spring season since i started kayaking.


With my good friend Luke Wielatt we went to the upper parts of the famous river Reuss. This river has a lot of beautiful sections like the "Schöllenengorge" or the "Gurtnellen", but they're only runnable in spring or after rain because of the many f..... dam's we have.

This weekend the flow was perfect for that runs, but we wanted to check out some new creeks which are coming down from the Gotthard- and Furka- Pass. The road on the riversides are steep and make one 180degree-turn to the next. Normally, rivers beside roads like those have too much gradient, but not these ones. What we found, was much better than i could believe! Un-countable drops and slides and all of them good to go!


The "Gusbisreuss" and "Wittenwasserenreuss" showed us a perfect playground for steep creeking. Thank's! The pictures above show you why i like these rivers.

Don Ron

Yet Another Nookie Adventure

First pile your car high with toys courtesy of Wavesport and Nookie then put on your favourite Nookie sweater (almost forget your paddles) & drink fifteen cans of Red Bull.
One ferry trip and sixteen hours later i had arrived in Plattling East Germany . with sweet water levels i figured a week should be plenty to brush up on my hole skills. Plattling is famous for its warm water and half naked chicks sunning themselves on the bank.

After re-aquaintinging myself with the wave i started on a mission to get back loop Mc nasty’s down.
By day two the weather was 32 degrees and scolding and by then all the other English boys had arrived and had started putting their tents up.
The tents looked oh so bland so i set about cheering every one up by Nookieing every tent with a stencil and a can of red graph paint.
The week drew to an end, averaging 9 hours a day on the wave.............. i needed a break.


It started to rain.... solidly. With rising river levels we had to get to Austria and fast. I had a gut feeling that before long the wave at Crazy Eddy’s would be good to stomp some big moves on .
Arriving at Prutz it was obvious that the Inn was close to bursting with a mass of brown swollen water swirling past.
Every one got some pizza and then climbed in to our newly Nookied tents and slept .

Day break and we were chomping at the bit to get down some rivers. First on the list was the Tosens section on the Inn. As half the water was snow melt and bloody freezing it was perfect timing to do a little RnD on the Nookie Softcore and hell did i need it. The cold from the water could be felt from the bank. Wishing i was in Uganda i peeled out and then spent the next hour and a half throwing wave wheels , macho moves and down river kick flips down what could only be described as a farm of big waves, this must be where they are born. With no big holes we stomped the river just in time for friend Fraggle to return from hospital after previously cracking his head open on a down time mission. Imst to hamming was next on the list. This section has a huge catchment area for water so un-surprisingly it was huge perfect for catching waves on the fly and getting more air with some down river tricks. Thank god for my Nookie Airhead cag, without it i would have been sweating my nuts off. As we got off the river i couldn’t help feeling sorry for every one in their heavy drysuits. Well after what seemed to be a another rodeo session i retired to bed. Morning bought a quick blast down the Shults gorge.

By now i was getting sick of wave trains and rock dodging. I wanted a wave and a big one at that. Arriving at Crazy Eddys i legged it on to the bridge and to my delight a monster sized bowl shaped wave had formed just down stream of the bridge. Now this wave you have to share with surfers and as in Munich they aren’t to keen on kayakers. My first ride a nice warm up getting the feel for the wave and my surroundings


Sitting in the Eddy was like waiting for the nurse to give you a reboot of morphine, finally the surfer was off and i was out of the eddy like a shot, high contrast blaring out of the ipod, touch down, one super fast steep acceleration and i was plaining. First trick climbing to the top of the wave i loaded my rail with a big chunk of water and headed out on to the shoulder, aggressive edge change supplied me with a sweet amount of air. Thinking i'm going to have me some of those apples i chucked a sic clean Panam, with a smooth landing after that it was plain sailing. After a manic 300 ride, two day session at Crazy Eddys the guys had to eventually tear me away by reminding me it was time to go visit fellow Nookie ambassador James Weir.
We rocked up in Switzerland just in time for it to start raining. Jim arrived at the camp site which was situated just outside Carara and we got down to a good old fashioned Thames valley style tale gate party in Jim's Nookie bus. With rivers nice and high James set about taking us on some of the better rivers the first i cant remember the name but it starts with a nice 4 metre fall and then your in, from then on in its moderate volume class 4 hole and rock dodging. The day ended with smiles all round and a bbq. Day two bought more river fun.
Finally it was time to say goodbye to James Weir and be on our way to Leon France. Upon arrival i shot to the airport to pick up Dan Fellow Rocket Boy, then we zipped to the wave. The wave was running and at about 1700, well after far too much driving i crashed out and let the boys play .
H.S.R is one of those waves that feel like you are being pulled down the high way at 90 behind a Ferrari. Three days of rocket launcher style riding and it was time to head home .


Mission accomplished.
Many thanks to Nookie Kayaking Equipment, Wavesport kayaks, Streamlight paddles & Marsport.

Good things come to those who wait…

One of my favourite places on the planet has to be St Davids on the SW coast of Wales, a sleepy little place, dotted with tea shops full of old people. Not the most rocking place for a kayaker but that’s not why you go there! It’s home to the largest tidal race off the British coast - the Bitches

The Bitches

The tide height was due to build through the week, unfortunately we were hampered by random sea fog so couldn’t make the 1.5 mile trip out to sea [a little hard when visability is down to 10ft!]– luckily there is plenty of other stuff to do, surfing, diving in and out of tea shops, crab fishing and rock hopping, through the awesome coastline caves oh and Dolphin spotting [yes off the coast of the UK!]– so we didn’t get bored.

Sarah Exploring the Caves

A couple of lazy days later, the fog left, the sun came out, the swell picked up as did the tide – good things come to those who wait, time for the main event…

Soul Surfing the Top Wave

Head honcho Bill and top Designer Hazel from Nookie called by for the big tides as did Nookie team paddler Tim Copplestone. Arriving just in time for the tidal race to start working we played on all the features until the tide was spent, paddling back as the sun set over the horizon.

Bill Ripping in his Sea Kayak

Hmmm the magic of the Bitches

Bill and Hazel chilling out in the eddy

Ben White

Team Rider Alex Keller - Swiss Adventures

In the centre part of the Swiss Alps, the River Reuss starts at its source up at the Gotthard massiv. A short section, called the Schöllenen Gorge, offers some of Swiss most continues whitewater and counts as one of the
most impressives spots of all. At the famous Devil's Bridge, the Reuss enters over four huge drops into the gorge and offers in the middle of big granite boulders for about 5-7km a neverending class 5 creek - depending on waterlevels: at lower levels, the entry drops are good to run, what you get severel times a year, but only a few times, you catch some higher levels which make the lower part of the gorge what it's really about.
Last week, after some highwater-melting-days, the levels droped down to perfect cubic numbers to put in on the lower section. We caught a nice day and went for the ride of this Spring.

Start up with a nice slide kicker
Kees Van Kuipers flies to hell
Neverending granite gorge
chibbn' boof
some ducktape-promotion



peace out
Alex

Sun..Surf...and Sand

The sun greeted us late in the morning as we set up the booth at the Hobuck Hoedown. The event is Washington's largest Ocean Surf Comp, drawing dozens of competitors, hundreds of spectators, and even World Champ Sean Morley.

I can say, the Zone Shell with the Latex Free Gaskets was a huge hit, no salt water and sand irritation and the surfers kept occupied, stretching and poking my gaskets! They all held up.

1st Place Prizes in the top three heats were Nookie Products, Surf Skirts and a Zone Shell.

It was three days of fun and sun, while the rest of the state was pounded with rain, we seemed to catch a positive weather pocket. This was my first time to this area of the coast, and I will be coming back. Thanks to Rob for coordinating the event http://www.hobuckhoedown.com/ and inviting us. Next stop, the largest event in the Northwest US, Wenatchee River Festival.

French Spring 08’ - Léo Carpene

The Freestyle kayaking season in France has already started since a few months now and all the different waves worked one after the other.
Noisiel wave started to work in February for the whole month. That was nice, because my houseboat is about 300 meters from Noisiel’s dam. All the paddlers from Paris came for the occasion; we even had Sam Ward paddling with us as he stayed two weeks on my boat to visit France. It was the right time for us to take some shots and to warm up before the coming of big waves.



We then had the competition season with two stages of the French National selection: Millau and Metz.
Millau was under the snow, the wind and the cold water whereas Metz was a super cool contest in the centre of the town with the sun, good music and nice girls =)
The hole was pretty easy and it was the time to try Butterflies for the first time.


Here is a video of the week end:



The water rose up on the Doubs the same week-end I had to help my girl-friend moving house so I did not catch La Scie and La Malate but I was so upset that I drove 10 hours alone directly to Lyon and I got all the different levels in four days. When I arrived the water was super high and I went down very fast as I was here. It was hot and nobody was on the water except me and Mathieu Dumoulin. We had crazy sessions!

Checks the pics and the small clip I made:






I know going to Gabon for 6 months training on the sea and getting ready for the Worlds in Thun!
See you when I’ll be back…

Cheers

Léo Carpene
Nookie Team Rider

StraightDownStriit and the Nookie foto kontest

Awesome is the the way to describe yesterday, we paddled, raced and partied 'til we couldn't stand up. StraightDownStriit is one of the hardest kayaking races on the calendar, challenging class5 rapids and high water meant every competitor had to work hard to get down the river.

Nookie team rider and event organiser Ron Fischer cleaned every line in style and took first place in the mens creekboatercross race.

The highlight of the event was of course the party and the Nookie foto kontest. The rules were simple enter your best three photographs of the event and win cash, the standard of entries was incredible and a big shout out to all the photographers who entered. Pictures paint a thousand words so without further ado the results of the StraightDownStriit Nookie Foto Kontest, applause!

First place photographer of the Creek Race and winner of 100 swiss francs Michi Gaehwiler

First place photographer of the Fun Race and winner of 100 swiss francs Nicole Offenhausen

Last but not least first place photographer in the Lifestyle catagory was Eva Gruenwald

Thanks to the organisers for putting on such a awesome event we look forward to StraightDownStriit 2009.

Happy Boating

Rob & James