Korsica Photographs from Pierre

Whilst paddling the Travo we met 3 cool French paddlers, Remy, Pierre and Alex we teamed up to paddle the river and had a blast. Pierre has sent me a few photos he took on the Travo and the Fium Orbo the next day, merci beaucoup Pierre, a bientot.

The famous Travo slides

Boof face on the Fium Orbo

Avoiding a syphon on the Fium Orbo

Until the next time,
James

Korsika, paddling paradise.

I have just spent 10 days exploring the numerous paddling opportunities of the French island of Korsika, good quality creeking followed by relaxing evenings on the beach is hard to beat.

A typical day on the island, photos by Lilli Winter, thanks babe.

Sunrise, a good reason to get up early

Driving to the river in my Nookie bus

Scouting from the road, the rapids always look smaller!

Korsika is an island where every river has countless drops and rapids, it rocks!

more solid rapids..

My best boof face!

When everyday is this much fun you know you are in the right boat

Every trip has it's ups and downs

UP

Travo photos coming soon

The Travo was one of the hardest 6kms I have ever paddled but also one of the most rewarding, maybe a canoe first descent?

Down

Gutted! My Sigma 70-200mm EX APO now has shattered effect!

Up
Camping Malamar after 3days roughing it was the best thing ever, beautiful seaside location and cheap as chips!

A big thanks to the companies who keep me on the river; Nookie, Esquif/Patschifik and Kober

Peace out,
James

Edit 1.1
Here are a few more photos

Carving 'n' Creeking Combo

Saturday worked out very well in my world, here are a few images of the days adventures.

Toys in the bus

Of course we didn't ride past the sign

Always time for a quick snowball fight

Toro catching some air in the backcountry

30minutes driving to the next adventure

Lunch at the take out

Off down the river

Rock sliding

Big boof on the home run

Awesome 'boarding and boating both in the same day, Graubünden is a great place to live.
Play hard, stay safe
James

Hurley Feb '08

I took the opportunity to go for a surf at Hurley the last time I visited monkey island, it was a well planned event as I met up with GB team OC1 paddlers Chris Nobel and Paul King. Here are a few photos from Paul's dad.

The legendary middle gate at Hurley

Hanging out in the eddy with UK Esquif importer Aaron Dempsey from Squarerock

Hanging in the eddy with GB team paddler Paul King

So world stay safe and see you somewhere nice
James

Riverjabber in Canoe&KayakUK March 2008

Besides being interviewed for Britain's best selling paddlesport magazine I have been writing words for my book Canoe Culture which will be published by Pesda Press in 12months time. The writing is going well and I am very much looking forwards to starting the photography.
Peace out
James

My Tuppence Worth
(If the title makes no sense to you, replace tuppence with two cents)

Photo by Jens Klatt

It has come to my attention that several paddling forums like people to declare ones sponsors when replying to threads questioning said products. Cynically, members of these forums seem to think we, sponsored people, are biased, corporate whores who will say anything to promote the product regardless of its real quality, merits etc. So here I am to set the record straight, partly because I have come across this situation several times recently and partly because I am bored at home with little to do besides court controversy on the web!

Photo by Lilli Winter

I am sponsored by Esquif canoes because I think they make the best canoes in the world, and I want to paddle the best canoes in the world. Luckily/cleverly I don't have to pay for this pleasure and Esquif is more than happy to give me canoes to paddle. Personally I would not sell my soul to get a cheap/free canoe that was not the best canoe for me or not as good as one I could buy. That would be dumb and would lead to people not respecting my opinion or my decisions, which in turn detracts from me being a sponsored representative for a company or generally speaking a respectable member of society, which I am, nearly!

Photo by Jens Klatt

When somebody on a forum asks about the performance of an Esquif Taureau and I reply, as my sponsor would expect me to, saying I think that the boat tracks well, is easy to roll , turns responsively and boofs with ease, people assume that I would say that because I am sponsored not because it is actually true, shock horror! It is my responsibility as a sponsored paddler to be sure that the canoe is a good as it can be, this involves hours and hours of testing, development and thinking to get a product that is as good as it possibly can be before it goes out to the consumers. We, the sponsored people, could turn this around and say that because you paid £1000 for a canoe you are bound to say it is good, highlight it's plus points, after all you wouldn't admit you purchased a lemon would you, it would make you look like a fool. I am not saying that my opinion is worth more than anybody else's just that it is equal and should not be discounted purely on the basis that I am a representative of said company, we are all in the same boat, so to speak.

Photo by Lilli Winter

I am fairly sure there aren't any professional paddlers out there who paddle with substandard kit just for the kudos of being sponsored, we all just want to have the best things in life and like it or not we all have to work for them, you in your office saving money for a new canoe or me on the river trying to work out how to make a canoe turn quicker and still track well, we all put the hours in to earn our toys. So rant over and I hope a few people read this and think about how they form their opinions on sponsored people and will maybe have a little more respect for our opinions in future, after all we are professional paddlers, this is our trade, our livelihood.
So on that note I am off to ride my snowboard, I mean cross training.

Peace out,
James

Fireworks, skirts and zips

A bit of a random title to describe a fairly random few weeks in the world of James.
I am in England at the moment and we English like to celebrate Guy Fawkes' attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliment on November 5th 1605 by letting off fireworks, I celebrated in Calstock and had a mighty fine time.


Like all men I feel mildly embarrassed when caught wearing a skirt, this time I was caught in Scotland by Rob Avery, to find out more click here

And finally to zips, I am working at Nookie this week developing new things and during that process I got stuck in a dry suit, most people who have seen the picture have found it funny so here it is for all to see, here I am being rescued by Bill Mattos armed with a screwdriver and a pair of pliers!

No doubt there will be more funny stories to share by the end of the week so stay tuned.
Tschuss
James