Road Trippin'

I left Monkey Island with very little plan, but a van loaded with kayaks, coffee, Team Rider Tim Copplestone and Pete H. This was the beginning of Nookie Creek Dayz II. The sun was shining when we arrived in Versam to meet Team Riders James Weir and Lilli Winter. We cruised down the beautiful Vorderrhein before heading to Ticino.

Tim and Hazel

In Lavertezzo we paddled the classic Middle Verzasca following the effortless lines and cheeky wink of Team Rider Ron Fischer. The boys then continued to take on Lucifer on the Lower Versasca.

After a camp fire and some beers we woke up next to the stunning Rovarno River. The boys hiked in with boats and kit and I followed. We finally arrived at the get in and I had to walk back out on my own for 45 minutes. I felt a little like Hansel and Gretel. By all accounts the boys had a mission on a great river with a few crazy portages including abseiling with their kayaks on their shoulder.

Next day we hit the Ribo, and as always the Ribo Falls was sweet.

Tim hucking Ribo Falls

Our next mission was to drive to Elm for the Straight Down Striit. While the boys were being manly with chainsaws I went for my first paddle of the Striit.

Hazel and Tim getting to run the Striit for the first time

James checking the lines on the Striit

The competition was great with a few surprising upsets in the head to head. Ron Fischer came second to Jakobus Stänglein.

Ron racing one of his many competitors

Team Riderz Ron Fischer and James Weir sharing a little Nookie Love

The party was fantastic with music from The Clowns. In the morning to shake the hangovers and the rain we drove south. We arrived in the Valsesia region of Italy.

We went straight for a park and play on the Solba Slides.

Pete and Tim on Solba Slides

We then went for a quick huck on Landwasser Falls before paddling the Mastelleno.

Hazel on Landwasser Falls

The Valsesia region has so many beautiful rivers to paddle, so we spent a few days making our way round all of them. I think the Sesia has got to be one of my favourite sunshine runs.

During the week Ron and Pete ran the renowned Mollia Rapid. It was definitely a challenge worth watching.

Ron in the middle of the Mollia Rapid

Ron, Sesia.

It was a great road trip and of course, I'm now busy planning the next : )

StraightDownStriit and the Nookie FotoKontest

Hidden at the top of quiet valley in Switzerland there is a crazy little creek that is home to one of the best boater cross races and party's on the European kayaking calendar, its name is Straight Down Striit. SDS was born in 2007 when a small group of friends including Team Rider Ron Fischer got together and had a race, it was the start of something crazy. In 2008 Nookie was asked to sponsor the event, to relive the highlights of 2008 look here.

This year SDS was back bigger and badder than ever and so was the Nookie FotoKontest, congratulations to the winners who all took home 100CHF prize money for their winning fotos.

Winner of the lifestyle category Florian

Winner of the fun category David

Winner of the creek race category Sveta

And some more fotos of the Team Riders in action because they are easier than words on a Sunday morning!

Tim Copplestone boofing out on the second drop

James Weir charging in the timetrail

Event organiser Silvan taking it easy, good work fella.

Alex Keller being cheered on by Bobby

Tim Copplestone deep in the action

Nookie product designer Hazel Wilson checking out the race course

Ron Fischer, Team Rider, event organiser and Silver medal winner in the boater cross

Big props to Silvan, Ron, Luc and Lukas for organising an awesome event and to Nookie, Teva and Red Bull for putting their money where their mouth is, see you for the next one.

***Check out cool party photos from Daniel Bally here***

Paddle hard, stay safe

James

Boardies are here!

The NEW Nookie Boardies have arrived today just in time for the lovely sunny day we're having in Cornwall.

Light weight and quick drying the Team Riderz have travelled all over the world in them already.

Features include a zipped security pocket, velcro waist closure with traditional lace tie and Nookie's velcro system that locks into Nookie 3/4 Strides.

The cool black and white shorts with bright green trim are the landslide result of your votes. Thanks, we love 'em too.

Great for the river, beach or pub.

Unveiling the Nookie Absolute Deck

Nookie today release their first images of the NEW Absolute Deck. You may have seen the decks on the rivers around the world being tested by our fine Team Riderz, and here is your first view of the spraydeck to be released in the summer.
More information will be released over the following weeks about the technical specs, colourways etc so be sure to keep your eye on all that is Nookie :)

Dan

More Deck Testing with Doug Cooper

Arriving home to find a package from Nookie, I quickly scrapped my ideas of a rest day. Straight to Hurley with the new sexy proto deck and a new Airhead for the summer. First impressions were "WOW this deck is bright, but I LOVE IT"

Second impressions "Wooooooooo look at me go in my new deck"
Here are a few cheeky shots from Matty Kenna of me checking out the new deck .

I know you all want one........

Doug

Summer season warm up

Alright I don't want to whine. My winter season wasn't that bad. I had a great trip to Colombia and Chile for three months. But then February and March were a grey time. But then, April begins, the evenings became longer and the sun got more and more power, but still no water in the Alps because it's still too cold. Perfect time to go to French island Corsica.

I love Corsica! This year I went for my sixth time there. From my home it's just a six hour drive to the ferry which takes another four. Temperatures are normally at least ten degrees Celsius plus compared to home and it's warm enought to camp outside, enjoy campfire, french wine and friends. Corsica has great local food like cheese and dry meat, this together with a local sweet white wine is just a perfect little lunch after some creekboating.

It's every season the same. After a few cold months at home, lot's of work and some snowboarding, then it's time to get back in the boat and do what I love most and hopefully most of you too. When I start to watch the same kayak movie ten times and read some articles in Kayak Session Magazine more then once, that means I haven't been in the kayak for two months and thats a too long time!

Corsica is the place where modern Creekboating grew up. Kayakers go there since more then thirty years and it's unbelievablel how they ran these small and narrow creeks with their four meter fiberclass kayaks.

Corsica is definitely one of my favourite kayak regions. Its close to my home, always a super fun roadtrip, perfect warm-up for the season and it hides just a incredible amount of great rivers in a very small place. I like!
This year a very special hightlight happened to me. My almost ten years younger/taller brother Tim joined us on the trip and got addicted to the sport! Let's see how long it takes till he shows me the good line....:)

Thanks to Tim Fischer & Arnd Schaeftlein for all the photos

Ron 'The Don' Fischer

Nookie Team Rider

New toys @ Hurley - Part 1

In the recent years the infamous Hurley Weir has been on what is a funny three gates, meaning the middle wave is good but nowhere near the potential beast it can be. As of late we have been treated to the weir being on a very impressive level, with MASSIVE, GREEN, CURLING shoulders and a nice deep pit, well for Hurley anyway! This was aptly named the Brazilian by Doug Cooper, as the wave has a clean, smooth runway with a small tuft on top! Luckily enough I've been privileged enough to have the Wavesport Carbon Project on it and have been working on the consistency of my moves and making sure they score every time for competitions this year! Anyway, Team Wavesport Rider Mark Childerhouse has just got a pretty sweet new SLR and we have been toying around with his MASSIVE......lense and here's the results and photos!

Ive also recently brought an HD Cam so keep your eyes peeled next week for a cool new vid!Enjoy,

Keep Safe and Go Big,

Matt K

Steve Ugg Product Testing

The previous 12 hrs had precipitated 30mm of rain and so on Saturday March 20 we downed tools and set off to the river Erme, Ivybridge, Devon, UK.

The product testing was of a prototype new whitewater spraydeck and was also combined with a test of the new production model Bigdog Drop Zone kayak. The deck was being evaluated for implosion resistance and water tightness aswell as ease of fitting during a river trip. So far the performance results are very positive. The Drop Zone angled & changed direction smoothly in the technical turns. The bow gave a good sense of confidence whilst punching holes & landing drops. The Drop Zone is an ideal size for Mr Uggs weight, +- 80Kg.

Leo Carpene on Hawaii-sur-Rhone - Dec 2009

Back to Lyon – kayak freestyle from Dkayaking on Vimeo.

Team Rider Ron Fischer nominated in "Rider Of The Year" Awards

Nookie Team Rider Ron "The Don" Fischer has been nominated in this years "Rider Of The Year" Awards.

Photo Credit - Daniel Herzig

To check out more on the awards and Ron follow this link

Canoe Kayak Magazine Dry Cag Review - Assault wins CKUK Recommendation

Issue number 107 of Canoe Kayak Magazine saw the CKUK test team check out seven of the leading dry cags to find out which one's best for keeping you dry this winter.....and guess what?... The Nookie Assault won the CKUK Recommendation.

The Magazine stated "The fit on the Assault is excellent and our testers felt it was the best fitting cag in the test. It's a very close fit and there is no spare material anywhere to flap about and catch water, but it gives suberb freedom of movement without riding up. The waist tube sits just right and there's no bunching. It's clear that Nookie have put a lot of thought in to the shape of the Assault. The team also really liked the Xtetra4 fabric. It feels really light to wear compared to other cags, but seemed to be more than a match for the cold of a UK winter. Combined with the cut this makes the Assault really nice to wear. The elbow protection sits exactly where it needs to be and the other neat little touch was the spray-deck clips. Our decks always end up riding down a bit, and this simple feature makes that a thing of the past."

The CKUK team felt "the flat gunmetal grey looks very cool" but they'd have preferred it if the Assault was in a brighter colour, which is a valid point and one we considered when designing this shell. We (at Nookie) wanted a more stealth design for this cag and that the on-river visability would be bought through with the lid, Buoyancy Aid, and retro-reflective piping. There are many many bright colourful shells out there and our market research has proved there are many paddlers looking for something just a little bit cooler, whilst not compromising on safety.

To read the whole review please grab yourself a copy of Issue 107 or visit the website at www.canoekayak.co.uk

Team riders on honeymoon

In August Team Riders Lilli Winter and James Weir got married, hooray! After every good wedding, and it was a really good one, there should be a honeymoon, an experience of a lifetime for the happy couple. One of canoeings most famous adventures can be found on the Colarado River in America, a journey through the Grand Canyon, perfect!


Such an expedition needs a bit of planning, permits need to be applied for, logistics organised etc. We used Canyon Explorations to help us with our expedition, they are superb, big up to Cam, Swiss and the rest of the team at CanX.

The Grand is amazing, a thoroughly stunning 17day journey through one of the seven wonders of the world. We paddled a few chunky rapids (some twice), scrambled up side canyons, cooked yummy food and chilled out around a camp fire in the evenings with some of our best friends.

For most newly weds sleeping on a beach under the stars is part of a dream honeymoon, pimp that experience by sleeping 17nights under the stars and paddling big volume white water everyday in one of the most beautiful places in the World. Here are a few of our favourite photos from the adventure, a few rapids and some friendly creepy crawlies, enjoy.

17days of views like this, life doesn't get much better!

Lavafalls exitmove

Lavafalls left line

Havasu Canyon

Rattlesnake!

Running the sh#t!

Cruising along in the beautiful Grand Canyon

Parked up for the evening

The GC is full of side canyons to explore

Looking down towards Marbel Canyon from the put in at Lees ferry

Tarantula

There are plenty of waves to catch on the fly

Everybody loves the GC

The Grand Canyon is 17days of fun and smiles

Dropping into House rock rapid

Thanks to Nookie for our wedding present and for keeping us warm and dry on our honeymoon.
Stay safe and enjoy 2010,
Lilli and James