Pat Just Got Back From N.Z. and Uganda

Pat left the great white north of the Ottawa River which is still locked in somewhat with ice so that he could thaw out his bones on the west coast of New Zealand and the White Nile of Uganda. New Zealand is such an awesome place to go because of so much good paddling and the surroundings are completely surreal. Lots of crystal blue, green, glacier water. Big Glaciers with crumbling faces just off the road and miles of beach with good breaks as well. Pat and Ben Brown threw some photos my way of thier time in N.Z. as well as Africa.







You have all seen shots from the Nile in Africa by now but Ben shooting these sweet shots and Pat are an amazing combo. Thanks to Ben Brown for the photos to use and Pat for ripping the way he does.



Pat is doing some really cool backwards moves out of a spin right now. I know there are cool names for this but I am less concerned with the names and more psyched to see the play moves constantly moving forward, or backwards as it would be.





Going Large.



This is the craziest looking drop. It just isn't right. It looks just horrendous but pretty much everyone seems to go through. Sometimes with big downtime, sometimes swimming but everyone seems to go through.



Thanks Pat and Ben for the awesome shots.
Shane

Thoughts about Daniel.

I paddled down the Green with Daniel and a big posse of people the other day. It was his birthday.
It seemed like most of the Asheville paddling crowd was there. It was a lot like any day on the river with that crew.
Meeting at the takeout, walking the trail, chatting, talking shit, and getting psyched for another run, fast lines,
and a good adrenaline pump at Gorilla. Daniel and few others caught a rediculous eddie 5 feet above the notch.
Other than that it was a fairly normal Green run. But now its totally different and things keep coming back to me
from that day and they have so much more significance now. I remember grinning with him in the parking lot over something funny that happened. He gave Whitney advice on how to run Boof, and she slicked it.
I had a super smooth run through Go Left and I remember looking back upstream at the rapid that day and remembering that Daniel had gotten me off the couch a few years before and had really helped me push myself to get paddling hard again.
I always love catching the eddie after the notch at Gorilla because it is one of the coolest eddies in the world. Just look around. At the take out we shared a 3.2 beer that had been rolling around in Johns van since Salt Lake City and laughed about the stupid eddie they caught, Tommy being a dad, extreme fishing, and how many times Jason thought he could walk back up and run Gorilla in one day.

Then I got a phone call and the river will never be the same.

In the days since that phone call I have paddled the river.
It's like paddling through an album of thoughts, memories, and emotions.
What makes any river powerful for me are the adventures that are shared there.
I don't feel something from the river. I feel something from the people, experiences, conversations, and lines that build up my feeling of what that river is all about.

My first trip over Gorilla after Daniel died was intense.
Someone put a rock cairn at the notch over looking the drop.
It was powerful.

The soundtrack of the notch, gorilla, and the slides are full of Danielisms.
"Yeeeeeeaaaaaauuuuuuuuhhhhhh"
"Yeah Dawg"
"Yeah he slicked that shit"
"Time to Run the Shit"
"Ride the Lighting"
It just rolls around in my head.
Not a bad soundtrack.

I put together some clips from that day paddling with folks on Friday. Daniel did so many amazing things but what I remember are days out on the Green having a good time with he and the rest of the gang. These shots are things that happened and thoughts of experiences I had with D on the river.
Video Thoughts of Daniel, Click This

The Bigfoot Vision 56 is shipping to stores now!

Dealers should start to have the Bigfoot in stores anytime now. We have been making them for the last few weeks and they are shipping now. The Bigfoot maintains the same hull and deck except for the foot bumps which were raised nearly an inch. Which creates a ton of extra room. I already have had several people check the boat out that couldn't fit in the Vision before. If you couldn't quite get in or get comfy before you should give it another shot.

Here are some comparison shots to the original Vision 56. The Orange boat is obviously the Bigfoot and the Yellow boat is the original Vision 56.




Here is a link some awesome Vision footage.

Marlow Long in a Vision

Pat Camblin in a Vision