Check out the Demshitz Blog for a bad ass update from Pucon Chile!

Here is a Teaser for our Next Demshitz Movie ¨Dashboard Empanada¨

Run the Shitz! Looking forward to the NEW BURN and the NEW PLAYBOAT ¨THE MOLAN¨!!! PYRANHA WORLD DOMINATION!!! DEMSHITZ!!!

The first word that everyone learns upon arrival in Nepal is the ubiquitous greeting ”Namaste”. Our trip however was to be different. The first word we learned was “Banda”. Banda is the Nepali word for a strike. These strikes aren’t quite the same as you’d get back home, where a line of disgruntled workers stand at a factory gate, they are much more extensive and indiscriminate. Traffic is not allowed on the roads, shops aren’t allowed to open and the whole country effectively grinds to a halt. 
 
We arrived in Nepal at 10pm the evening before three consecutive days of these strikes. One day of waiting may have been acceptable, but no matter how you look at it, 3 days of a 2 week holiday is a lot! Despite stories of the rather violent enforcement of the banda by the Maoists, on day 2, a local guy we met in the street said he could get us a “landcruiser” to take us and our boats off to the first river under cover of darkness. Obviously this would cost us dear, but we figured it was worth it. When the “landcruiser” turned up, it turned out to be a tiny car, and the driver wouldn’t go without his mate, but by then we were beyond caring, so we crammed 5 guys three boats and 2 weeks worth of kit into and onto the machine and set off into the night…

Although December is the low water season, there is still some great paddling to be had, especially if you venture further up the valleys of some of the rivers normally done “in season”. Whilst dodging strikes, we ticked off upper sections of: Bhote Kosi, Marsyandi, Kali Gandaki along with a few other nice runs down some of the classic sections of these and other rivers.

Anyways, enough spiel… To the photos!! Here’s a flavour of the trip:

Ominous Gorges:
 

Good Lines: (more…)

This last weekend saw the annual gathering at the River Dart Country Park for the 7^th annual Gene17 weekend organised by Simon Westgarth.

Three factors meant this weekend was always going to be a great weekend, all the usual suspects heading to the same location mixed with a (heavy) sprinkling of rain and Pyranha launching the new Burn.

Saturday morning saw frantic activity around the Pyranha stand as the majority of UK Team P were picking up their new Burn’s to go play, with padding being thrown around and some rather desperate sharing of a rather rubbish screw driver everyone headed out to go and play on the various rivers around Dartmoor.

Saturday night was spent catching up, partying through the small hours and wondering if torrential rain outside would give enough water for some of the more adventurous Dartmoor runs.

Sunday came with a very thick head, but, the rivers were definitely up, so off to play again.

So what’s the 2010 Burn like? Well when I was told the Burn was going to get a once over, you could probably hear me scream the other side of the pond! It’s no hidden fact everyone loves the Burn. So how could Pyranha possibly make it better? Well the guy’s in R&D have listened to you lot and given you something you’ve always wanted.

The 2010 Burn is still all Burn, but on steroids, its quicker, quicker acceleration & faster in a straight line. It hold’s it’s line better in the white stuff, yet a quick paddle placement and it’ll change direction on demand. More rocker and more carve means you be boofing and flairing your way down the river but still get that crisp Pyranha signature carve across eddy lines. In short it’s a lot of fun, if you don’t believe me go try one yourself, they’ll hit the stores in the next couple of weeks…

See you on the River

Ben

In about 7 hours I am off to Bhutan!

I will meet up with Mike Abbott in Bangkok and then head up to Bhutan to catch up with the team.  We are off to Eastern Bhutan, a long bumpy ride away to the Drangme Chu.

We completed the 1st D of the Same river, where it starts up in India 2 years ago so it is nice to approach from this side and complete the story.  In Arunachal it it called the Tawang Chu, that story took us 5 days and a bit of a hike out just before the Bhutan border.

This time, just in case we have to carry anything on any portages we thought we would take some customers!  That’s right, its a rafting Expedition.  We have 2 paddle rafts with willing clients.  They are in for hell of a ride, as the river looks pretty full on until further down near India, so we will see what happens!

I will post a report when we get back and I am sure this will be a grand tale to tell!

You can see more about this trip HERE

This is a great movie from Benji Hjort, summing up the summer of fun in Voss, Norway, 2009.  There are other amazing videos in the gallery to check out! But this one have several Team P featured, even me!

Nice job Benji!

Check out the video here

Fall in the southeast has been predictably awesome once again. Starting in September the rain clouds gathered and brought our parched rivers to life. This storm was the ‘big one’ we seem to get once or twice a year. By the time the rain stopped, most creeks were too high to paddle…but instead of sitting on our hands and waiting for the water to go down…my friends and I searched for places to paddle that either required more water or handled the increased amounts of rainfall better than other places.

At the top of my hit list was Silver Run Falls. This drop is just shy of 40 feet and has a tricky entrance. A crew of four of us headed up to check out the drop but in the end, only Clayton Gaar and I stepped up to the plate.

Me rolling over..photo by Jonathan Absher

Clayton had a love tap on the bottom of the river.

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check out this video Demshitz put together of the Raquette River in New York last weekend. Featuring Randy Youngbuck’s Demshitz debut. Enjoy. Raquette with Randy Video

The big hit on the Upper Driva (photo: Pat Clissold)

The final destination for our summer road trip was Norway, my first visit to Northern Europe’s whitewater Mecca, but certainly not my last.  Bex and I spent an incredible few weeks in Southern Norway, firstly being shown the classics around Sjoa and Otta, and then joining up with a couple of other British boaters to catch a few other late season runs.  There have been plenty of posts about the quality of Norway’s whitewater rivers, so I’ll spare the words and just leave you with some photos from our travels in Norway. (more…)

Demshitz Stay out of jail tour was a success! Dave Fusilli Nicole Mansfield and I survived a summer traveling from state to state in the Team Pyranha van ( aka “orange bitch” ) visiting Pyranha Dealers events, rodeos, races; we went everywhere! Here is a video from our last stop on the tour in Ouachita Arkansas with Ouachita Outdoor Outfitters.

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DEMSHITZ MADE 3 – Dave Space- the final episode of Demshitz MADE. Will he surf Skook? Find out in this final episode of DEMSHITZ MADE 3. 

For those of you who don’t know Demshitz Made- check out the first two episodes of Demshitz MADE.
DEMSHITZ MADE EP1
DEMSHITZ MADE EP2
DEMSHITZ MADE EP3
watch the whole thing!!! you’ll love it!

We have the best Kayak Movie of all time!!!
Demshitz The Movie
Check out www.demshitz.com 

Bex leading the way on the Soca

It’s been a few weeks since Bex and I packed up the van and left the rivers of the French Alps, and it’s been a busy few weeks.  Starting with a week of work and play in Slovenia, we met up with Chris and Tom at the Soca and had a fantastic time coaching during the days with a  great group and getting a few cheeky runs in on the Trnovo to Kobarid section in the evening.   (more…)

Dave Space fired up to run his first waterfall!

Check out Episode 1 of Demshitz Made if you haven’t already…then watch Episode 2. Demshitz Made!!!

http://www.demshitz.com

Racing the Karnali on Fish Creek in Steamboat Springs Colorado at the PaddlingLife Pro Invitational.
 

Dave Fusilli throwing a loop at the C-Hole Steamboat pro invitational rodeo on the Yampa river. Read the rest of this entry for photos from our past weekend in Steamboat Springs.photos: Anna Bruno

 

 

 

For those of you who do not know about Demshitz, we have an extreme kayaking movie out called Demshitz The Movie that just hit the shelves! With help from Lunch Video Magazine we are selling the movie online for $19.95 US, which includes a solid hour of whitewater kayaking footage in Chile, Argentina, Colorado, California and the Pacific Northwest as well as bonus features that will keep you entertained for years!!! Here are some teasers for the movie! more @ http://vimeo.com/lvmvideo/videos

 

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Dave Fusilli throwin up the air brown at the Reno River Fest.

Demshitz is here in Buena Vista Colorado for Paddle Fest! We have been non-stop from Cheat fest WV to Reno River fest NV and into Californ-i-A ! Check out some of the photos and videos from the trip so far.

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Since school let out for the holidays, I have thoroughly enjoyed myself paddling the steep whitewater of western NC and east TN. I was fortunate enough to paddle my favorite runs – the Raven Fork, Toxaway, and Cullasaja several times in the last month as well as spend time with the family. Paddling highlights from break included an extremely high water run of the Raven Fork, my first run of Big Boy (a few days later after the water dropped), and an awesome day on the Toxaway.
A few days before Christmas, the mountains of NC got hammered with rain. A band of storms blew in from the west bringing several inches of rain to the parched southeast and causing paddlers to rejoice. After watching the front dump inches of rain on the Smokies through the radar map the whole day and night before, Pat Keller, Toby MacDermott, Drew Duval, and I decided to venture into the Raven Fork for some high water action. With the Oconoluftee River in Cherokee well over 2000cfs, we knew we were in for a big day.
Typically this creek holds water very well and is runnable for days after a rain event, so often a Raven Fork trip involves bluebird skies. Even at lower levels, this creek is nothing to sneeze at. On this day, we drove to the takeout through pouring rain that continued to fall as we hiked and paddled downstream.

Photo: Chan Jones/courtesy of Astral Bouyancy

Pat Keller in the bottom drop of Anaconda. Photo: Chan Jones/courtesy of Astral Bouyancy

Pat Keller at the top of Headless Horseman. Photo: Chan Jones/courtesy of Astral Bouyancy

When we passed the gauge on the way to the top it read 20 inches. Shortly after putting on it was apparent that the level was still rising and was estimated at Mike Tyson’s to be between 24 and 27 inches. We moved downstream cautiously, running most of the enormous rapids but walking a few. This steep creek was a ridiculously steep river on this day but I was safe in my new Astral Green Jacket and Pyranha Burn. The new vest from Astral is an awesome rescue jacket. It has all the familiar features of the 300-R but with an improved fit – less bulk in the bottom front of the jacket, an improved strapping system, and added protection in the upper back. The result is a very low profile rescue vest that, once adjusted, does not move around on your torso.
Because the water was rising, photography wasn’t high on the priority list that day. I managed to record the trip by snapping a few quick shots of Pat and Drew.
The next trip back to the Raven Fork was two days later, with Leland Davis, Mac McGee, and myself showing Andria Davis down for her first time. We took our time and shot a lot of photos and video and I threw together a clip of the trip. Look for this footage in Autoboof Productions’ new film, Slave to the Rain soon. A personal highlight of this trip was my first run of the Big Boy waterfall. It’s a 35 foot drop that lands between a rock and a hard place, with the finest of lines. I’m so stoked to have finally run that beast!

Chan Jones dropping Big Boy. Photo courtesy of Mac McGee
Raven Fork video

After blitzing the Raven Fork several times in a row, I took a few days off from paddling to hang with the family and let my body rest. When I was just starting to get the itch to paddle again, another front showed up on the radar, bringing with it lots of rain. Pat and I made a couple calls back and forth and had narrowed down our options to a southeastern waterfall tour, a trip up to the Elk for some action on the 50’er, or a ride on the magic carpet down the Toxaway River.
The weather was going to be perfect and we anticipated a high water day on the Toxaway, so we decided to go there. This river and I have a bit of history. On my first trip there two years ago, I flipped in the Feeding Trough and ended up exiting the gorge downstream with a broken paddle, ruptured eardrum, and a concussion. Each time I went back to run the Toxaway, something else happened that prevented me from being able to go through with plans – whether it was low water or getting my car stuck and having to be towed out.
This day shaped up great. When I arrived at the put in, I found the river at a good medium flow, then drove down to the takeout to meet Pat and Isaac Levinson. We put on and moved downstream quickly until we got to the big rapids. We shot photos and video and each ran Energizer a couple of times because it’s such an awesome rapid.

Me before the second lap on Energizer. Photo by Isaac Levinson

Near the top of the rapid. Photo by Isaac Levinson

Riding it out. Photo by Isaac Levinson

Then the weather changed. It had been warm and sunny when we put on but suddenly in the pool below Energizer, we noticed the air cooling quickly. A few moments later it was snowing. We were all thankful at that moment that we were warm and dry in our IR Double D drysuits.

From the top of the Landbridge. Photo by Chan Jones

Pat punching through the top wave at Landbridge. Photo by Chan Jones

Isaac sizing up the huge overhead curling wave at the top of the slide. Photo by Chan Jones

The snow continued as we made downstream progress and the cameras stayed in drybags until we got to the Landbridge. I took a couple shots of Pat and Isaac before firing off the beast myself. We blue-angeled into Wintergreen Falls, a giant rapid that drops around 100 feet in a very short distance then continued through the slackwater to Yo Adrienne, the horrible rapid normally portaged but named when Adrienne Levknecht missed the eddy above and had to run it. We pulled out at Augerhole Rd, rested and ate some food to bring up our energy, and began the 4 mile hike with our boats, gaining 1000 feet in elevation on our way out of the gorge. Later, on the way home, a blizzard blew into the Highlands/Cashiers area ! I guess my streak of unusual events associated with the Toxaway continues!

Here are a couple more random boating shots.

Alexis Decosimo sticking her first run of Nantahala Falls on New Year’s Day. Photo by Casey Jones

Me somewhere on Suck Creek. Photo by Alexis Decosimo

Until it rains next time…

Running Mike Tyson’s on the Raven Fork in the Karnali L. Photo by Clayton Gaar.

After a little over a month in the Karnali, I decided to put together a few thoughts about the boat. First off, I picked mine up from the warehouse in Asheville the day before the Green Race, raced it, and have been hopping in and out of it and my Burn to compare since then.

Speed
Fast…but maybe not quite as fast as the Burn in certain situations. The Karnali L has plenty of speed to make tough moves but in my opinion, this boat is ideal for paddlers who prefer to float most of the time and take a few strokes when they need to. Nothing wrong with that style of paddling, but with my background racing on the USA Canoe/Kayak Team, I have developed my style of paddling to one that drives the boat rather than float into things. I’ve paddled the Burn and Everest for a while and because of their edges, these boats lend themselves to that style. With that said, I’m liking the Karnali a lot for cruising in a chill, post-Green Race fashion. This boat’s forgiving nature really makes kayaking fun.

Rocker
At first, the Karnali seems to have a funny feeling bow sitting in the water. From the cockpit, it looks like the bow is almost pointing into the water but it certainly doesn’t paddle like that. The Karnali’s bow profile allows it to pierce and carry speed better through certain features like holes with a big pile rather than over them. The Karnali still has plenty of rocker to get the bow up and over things easily, though. In my race run, I remember skipping when I hit the pool below one of the low-angle slides after Gorilla.

Dropping into Anaconda on the Raven Fork. Photo by Mac McGee.

Forgiveness
Ah, the Pyranha edge. First on the H:2, tweaked on the H:3, and refined on the Burn. Compared to these boats, the Karnali’s edge has undergone an evolution and has emerged fairly tame. It’s an excellent balance of forgiveness and performance for a creeker, in my opinion. The edge is there enough that you feel it and can use it easily but not so much that you have to take time to learn the boat’s edge and adapt. Edge transitions are also very easy despite the boat’s outstanding stability.

Comfort
At 5′9″, 160lbs, I’m way down on the light end of the weight range for the Karnali L. At my height, this boat is very comfortable though. I had to add significant outfitting to the boat to keep from flopping around on the inside of this beast. It’s big but it didn’t feel huge out of the box. Now that it fits me, it’s like paddling a more forgiving Burn L.

On the water, I was impressed with how the boat was so easy to get in and paddle. The first time I paddled the boat was in this year’s Green Race where I ended up sixth in the short boat class. In the Burn, you learn to be aware of your edges in boils, eddylines, and cross currents. The first thing I noticed about the Karnali was how forgiving it was when it reacted with these same features. It just planed up and cruised through without any sharp feeling edges but with enough crisp feeling for control. Next I noticed the boat is very easy to turn! It seems to sit on the surface of the water and just spin so easily when you need it to but getting the boat up to speed and tracking is no big deal. I have to wonder how these characteristics were brought together so well. It rides high in rapids and is very rock-friendly for a chined, flat-bottomed creeker. Boofing is as easy as in the Burn and resurfacing is similar.

Wayne Dickert in the Karnali M on the Cullasaja. Photo by Casey Jones

The Karnali is great! If you’re looking for a forgiving creeker or river-runner with a flat hull and a touch of performance, give this boat a shot. It should be a good fit for everyone from new paddlers to class V creekers. I look forward to paddling this boat more and continuing to put it through its paces.

Until next time, I’ll leave you with some shots to compare the size of the Karnali M to the Burn M.

Another year, another Green Race. Though this year the race wasn’t quite as big as in years passed, it certainly wasn’t a small race. As you are probably aware of by now, the southeast is nearing the end of a second year of drought. In 2007, the operators of Tuxedo Hydro Station were able to give us a little extra water for the race, but no such luck this year.

The 13th annual Green Narrows Race was held at a low 100% release – a mere 6” on the gauge locals are normally used to seeing read 8” to 9” this time of year. At this low level, the Green is a scrapy, technical creek with tight lines and painful consequences for missed lines. Most lines stay the same but Gorilla, the biggest rapid on the river, also becomes the most technical. Gorilla’s turbulent entrance slot, The Notch, becomes a little steeper and taller but no less terrifying, and a hydraulic that will stop all forward momentum forms on the lip of the monkey itself. Add the fact that this hole has a bad tendency to kick right, toward the river right shelf, and it’s easy to understand why this is combat kayaking. Enter the brave Green Racers.

Chan Jones firing into Gorilla in the new Karnali – Photo courtesy of Clay Lucas

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The annual BCU Student Safety Symposium is a weekend long course aimed at keeping University students safe and happy on rivers in the UK and around the world. Run by Tom Parker and held at Plas-Y-Brenin, the weekend saw a variety of coaching workshops, lectures and Q&A sessions covering everything from how to run a intro white water trip to advanced technical rope work.

 Photo – Sarah Jones

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Last week, the Clemson University Whitewater Club hosted an LVM 27 premiere at Fike Recreation Building. Following dinner and the movie, Pyranha Kayaks hosted a demo and pool rodeo. Casey and I headed down to Clemson Friday evening from Franklin with a pile of boats to join the festivities. We were met with a good turnout of folks at the premiere who blew off homework and other responsibilities to join us in the pool for a bit of fun.

Most of the time we spent in the pool was for folks to spend trying the different boats we had available but the highlight of the evening was the pool rodeo we held at the end of the night. The judges decided to keep things simple by having two classes: Funniest Trick and Coolest Trick. There were no rules, as long as your ride involved a kayak and was the best thing you could come up with in the pool. Some amazing feats of skill and daring were displayed but winners had to be chosen.
Mac, mid-airscrew off the diving board at the Clemson demo
After much deliberation by the judges, it was decided that Todd Henry had performed the Funniest Trick – a bouncing seal launch to faceplant off the high diving board. Mac McGee did the Coolest Trick, an airscrew off the low diving board. Our winners walked away with Pyranha shirts, stickers, and other swag, but we brought enough that everyone who attended got something.
Mac stoked on his new Pyranha shirt
Handing out prizes to the winners
Thanks to Brian and Dave at Pyranha Kayaks for hooking us up with boats and swag for the event, to Penstock Productions for the video, to the Clemson Whitewater Club for organizing and promoting the event and getting food, and to Clemson University for hosting the event. We hope to be back!

Other news in the drought-ridden southeastern US is a recent rain event. After said rain, the aforementioned wonderboy Mac from Clemson met up with me at the Cullasaja River near Highlands, NC to fire off the seldom-run Bricklayer Falls. I’ve heard about this drop and seen the circulating photos of Pat Keller or Joe Barkley running it years ago but never knew exactly where it was. FOUND IT! And…now I understand why this drop isn’t run very often. It’s a nasty 30 foot drop with a sloping entrance, tricky landing, and a terrible cave at the bottom. Mac and I loaded up our Burns, ran the falls at first light the morning after the rain, at a perfect level, and found perfect lines. Here are the goods, as well as a few other shots from that day.
Mac taking one last look while I head for my boat
Me rolling over the lip
Mac givin’ er
And the man behind the lense – fellow Pyranha paddler and brother, Casey Jones

Now, all that there’s left to do is wait in anticipation of the Green Race this weekend and try to control my nerves heading into this event. I’m picking up my new Karnali in a day or two and can’t wait! The weather is chilly now (we just had our first snow of the year last night!) but weather forecasts for Saturday are looking to be perfect for racing. More to follow after the race!

Good lines out there.

We recently got to hit the Canyon Creek in Oregon and the Canyon Creek in Washington, as well as run some fun drops on the East Fork Lewis. You can check out the full report at www.RiverGypsies.com.

Here are a couple of nice pictures taken by Trip Kinney on Canyon Creek, Washington:

Andria on a nice ledge.

Leland on the falls.