jamesweir.net

2009-06-06T17:34:00.006+02:00

Life as I know it...

Photo by Rob

Every May white water canoe and C1 paddlers from across Europe meet up for the legendary European C-Boats Armada, last year I somehow ended up saying yes to help organise the event. It was my task to organise test boats from Esquif, test paddles from Kober and cook dinner for everybody; a few telephone calls, a lot of roof rack straps and 5kgs of spaghetti later I was all sorted! Many thanks to Sabrina for organising all the stuff I didn't and to all the paddlers who journeyed from far and wide to join what is fast becoming one of the biggest events in the European canoeing calendar.

Discussing canoes and their outfitting is a key aspect of the Armada, photo by Flo

As is having fun on the river, photo by Sabrina

And drinking Socawasser from a paddle, it is the only way finish a day, photo by Martina

At the Armada I learnt that Esquif have a new importer for mainland Europe, Mark and his team at Waterwalker will as of now be the poeple to talk to if you want an Esquif canoe. I am very much looking forward to working with Mark to promote Esquif canoes.

Photo by Sanne

I had been looking forward to the Nookie Creek Dayz all Spring, I hooked up with other Nookie team riders and we hucked 'til we hurt or in some cases 'til we broke! We crammed a huge amount into a few days touring Graubunden and Tessin, shot a load of cool photos and made a lot of high fives! Thanks to Alex for the plan, Nookie for supporting it and Ron, Hazel, Raph, Rob, Sanne, Tim, Tim, Laura and everybody else we met along the way for making it one of the most enjoyable tours I've ever been on, bring on Creek Dayz '10!

Photo by Sanne

Big props to everybody who has been part of what was an awesome month, and a get well soon to all those who got broken out on manoeuvres!

Boom! I have learnt to shoot fire balls from my hand, when I grow up I wanna be an X man!

Stay safe,
James

2009-05-12T18:06:00.012+02:00

28 days

So la, after a super canoe course in Sault Brenaz I headed to Wallis in Switzerland to do a river survey for the Kanton, Richi and I spent an enjoyable few days being offical experts.

Inspecting things and making fotos, what experts do best. Photo by Richi

An intro to whitewater canoeing course for KanuschuleVersam on the Vorderrhein was next up on the program. 3 days of really nice work, introducing enthusiastic paddlers to moving water is a very rewarding way to spend my time.

Good canoeists are happy canoeists. Photo by Me

6days off, the only thing to do with a 6day holiday in the middle of April is to load up the wagon and race down to Corsica. Kayak Session organised a superb week of paddling action and entertainment, I caught up with loads of people I hadn't seen for a while, paddled a load of sweet rivers with great friends and made a possible first descent of the Middle Vecchio in an open canoe.

Travo Friday, I love the Travo it's great. Photo by Richi

ARRRRHHHH! I am getting married in August and before all good weddings there must be a good stag weekend, my best men Dave and Lee did not let me down. Pirates from several corners of Europe headed to the Loire valley south of Paris to swash and buckle 'til it hurt.

Cruising like pirates on the high seas of the Loire. Photo by Bill

I want to compete in the Freestyle canoeing world championships in Thun this year, and to do that I need to be a memeber of a National team, next up on the mission list for April was to train for a place in the Swiss team, since I have lived in Switzerland for more than 2years I am officially allowed to surrender my English international status and take up a place on the Swiss team.

Photo by Beat

The selection event was held at Bremgarten on the river Reuss, made famous in 1866by John "Rob Roy" MacGregor in his book A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe. I had so much fun in my freestyle boat, scoring spins, shuvits, cartwheels, roundhouses and back roundhouses.

Photo by Beat

Through a combination of luck and judgement I scored enough points to qualify for the world champions, and to be crowned Schweizermeister Swiss national champion.

Photo by Beat

Next up on the list of things to do was attend a breathing apparatus course in Feuerwehr Zentrum Thusis. I joined Atemschutz troop of Versam Valendas volunteer fire brigade this year, the course was very interesting, the highlight was putting out a training fire in the burning house where the temperature reached over 500degreesC! It was very interesting to take part in a cousre for a change, and I learnt a great many interesting things.

In the fire container. Photo Unknown

Straight off the back of fire brigade it was time for another training course, this time a Rescue 3 SRT 1 course at KanuSchule. I hope to complete my training to become a Rescue 3 Instructor this summer and one of the prerequisits is to revalidate my SRT 1. Rescue training is never a bad thing and I thoroughly enjoyed the 3days of knots and swimming, big up Alex and Kasi for running a superb course.

Wow! That was a busy 4weeks, so now a 1week pit stop and then on back on the road for another river survey, the Cboats European Armada in Lofer, Nookie Creek Dayz and more fire brigade training.

Live life with style and a smile,

James

2009-04-10T07:09:00.007+02:00

KanuSchule

Hanging out in the training eddy with Beni

To earn pieces of eight I teach whitewater canoeing at the world renowed Kanuschule Versam in Switzerland. I take great pleasure in helping other paddlers progress and improve, interacting with them and discussing and explaining how a canoe can be paddled efficiently and enjoyably.

Bankside coaching with Reto

Putting your skis or snowboard away and dusting off your canoe after the winter takes a certain amount of detirmination, especially when the ski resorts are still open and there is loads of snow! The solution is to man up, load the wagon and head South towards the sunshine, we chose Sault Brenaz, near Lyon France as our location.

Land based training may look silly but works a treat!

The aim of the course was to warm up for the fothcoming season and set some goals for future trips to the river this summer. Beni and Reto were superb guests, a nice start for my season, the sun shone and the sky was blue, we ate yummy food and drank tasty wine in the evenings at camp and generally had a first class time.

And of course a demonstration always helps

Enough wittering, here are a few videos courtesy of the Beni and Reto videoarchives.

Inflatable canoes can provide a lot of entertainment, surfs up!

No weekend would be complete without a comedy moment, Beni asked me to demonstrate how to stabalise yourself in a stopper or pourover and then an exit stragegy. Keeping your body upright and proud is good, looking down towards the paddle blade is bad, getting stuck in the stopper at the end of the demo, priceless!

After video analysis I think it is clear that I should of used cross deck paddle strokes to pull me out of the stopper because there was more green water on that side!

Thanks to Beni and Reto for a superb weekend, I hope to see you both for another course soon.
Today I start an Easter introduction to whitewater course on the Vorderrhein for Kanuschule, for details of upcoming courses check here, then Monday evening I'm back on the road and heading to Corsica for a cheeky week of steep creeks and Petra beer!
Paddle safe,
James

2009-02-28T18:48:00.009+01:00

In the bleak midwinter

I have only been paddling once since Nepal and that was in a pool for a photo shoot, I really miss canoeing. I had the chance to practice some of the harder canoe rolls, here is off side roll sequence. Off side rolls are not so easy to do so I am pleased with how well this turned out.

Thanks to Michi for a super foto shoot.

I have been meaning to post this short video of me in my Taureau running the Schlitz on the Glenner for ages, the Taureau is a great canoe and helps me make easy work of punching through the 2 stoppers.

Thanks to Flo and Martina from Bushpaddler for the video and a nice day out.

Hurry up Spring melt!
James

2008-12-08T11:53:00.006+01:00

Namaste Nepal

The funny kayak with no spraydeck and half a paddle! Photo by Lilli

"So you paddle this canoe with no sprayskirt and half a paddle down the river? Can you roll it?" This is a typical react from a Nepali kayaker or raft guide upon seeing me on the river in my Spanishfly. I do not intend to accuse the Nepali paddlers of being ignorant, simply to highlight their amazement on seeing a white water canoe, in Europe and North America OC1 paddling is also not so common but the kayakers don't really seem interested in us, in Nepal they were fascinated by the canoe and I spent many happy hours discussing the advantages and disadvantages of paddling a canoe on whitewater with the local paddlers. These discussions got me thinking a lot more about my paddling style and equipment than I normally do, these thoughts shouldn't be wasted so here are a few of them to chew over.

Trying out a dugout canoe in Chitwan National Park. Photo by Lilli

I spent a great deal of time deciding which boat to take to Nepal, the rivers a generally big volume with longish rapids, big waves and uncomplicated lines. There are also smaller creek type rivers with steep, continuous class4/5 rapids. Finding a canoe suitable to paddled both types of river, carry kit for mulitday expeditioning, some rivers are over a week long, not too sluggish for the inevitable flat sections that come between the big rapids and most importantly one that fits on the aeroplane. A lot of factors to consider but only one good answer, the Spanishfly, one of my all time favourite OC1s. When I left Pyranha to paddle Robson canoes I sold my 'fly and have secretly quite regretted it, it is a superb river running canoe, luckily Esquif have recently acquired the mold from Pyranha and have started to remake one of the classic whitewater canoes of our time, Hooray! If you could solve the aeroplane problem I am sure middle size Royalex whitewater canoes, Ocoee Spark etc, would also be fine on the rivers of Nepal, maybe even more suitable.

Big volume rapids on the Sun Kosi. Photo by Lilli

For multiday trips the canoe is a great craft, there is plently of easily accessable space near to the middle of the boat, this makes packing and carrying your equipment much easier than if you are in a kayak. I used Gaia Stowfloats, airbags with a zip in, to transport my equipment safely down the river, simply put they are great, completly dry, easy to pack and unpack, perfect for mulitday canoeing.

The Bohte Kosi, a superb Alpine style river. Photo by Lilli

The Tamur, read and run class 4. Photo by Lilli

I paddled 4 different rivers in the month I was there; the Bohte Kosi, steep technical Alpine style whitewater with long class 4/4+ rapids, very enjoyable, my favourite river from the trip. The Sun Kosi, big volume easy class4 rapids seperated by long flat bits, stunning views in every direction and lethal "local wine". The Tamur is a bit of the cross between the too, lower volume than the Sun Kosi, and a bit easier than the Bohte Kosi, a very enjoyable river and worth every minute of the challenging ride we took to the put in. The Trisuli, the venue for the 2008 Himalayan Whitewater Challenge, an easy class 3 river with one harder rapid, ideal for a first river intro to Nepal.

Standing, looking and waiting for the LandRover to fix itself on the way up to the Tamur put in.

The Himalayan Whitewater Challenge was brilliant, over one hundred crazy paddlers, 4 fun events and a monster party. I was the first person to compete in Himalayan Challenge in a canoe, this meant that I was able to win the C1/OC1 catergory of the event, I did manage to finish 13th in the mens freestyle which I was quite proud of and not last in the slalom. I also finished forth in the raft race as a part of an international mega team consisting of 16 paddlers!

The all conquering mega raft team, thanks guys and girls it was a blast.

Nepal was great, lots of friendly people, loads to do, great cooking and I can't wait to go again
Big shouts go to many people for helping to make the trip a superb one, so here goes;
My sponsors Nookie, Esquif, Kober and Gaia for providing me with superb stuff to keep me happy on the river day after day.
White water Nepal for helping out with logistics, planning and generally being really helpful people, thanks Bidur, Olga and the rest of the team.
Finally to Lilli and all the other cool people I met on the way for great times on the river, in the bar and on the back of trucks.

On the back of truck between Fishling and Mugli. Photo by Ron

Enjoy the winter and ride safe,
James

2008-11-04T15:43:00.004+01:00

New sponsor and a few sweet photos

The closest river to my front door, photo by Michi

I am very excited to announce that Gaia Sports and I have struck up a deal. Gaia make many cool paddling accessories; airbags, drybags, airbags that are also drybags and all other kinds of useful odds and ends. I have recently received my first box of tricks from them and am very much looking forward to helping with the development of products and raising to profile of the company here in Europe.

Packing my See Turtle dry bag, photo by Michi

I am trying out the stow canoe floatation, the see turtle dry bags and the hip pack. All these things will be coming with me to Nepal, so watch this space.
I have also been out and about finishing off the photos for Canoe Culture, here is a sneak preview

High brace canoe stylee, photo by Micha

Bow jam, photo by Micha

Peace, photo Micha

That's me for a month or so, I will try to post some news from Nepal but might be too busy doing to do any telling,
Stay safe
James

2008-10-22T07:30:00.006+02:00

Rafting '08

We are very lucky to have a superb photo crew on the Vorderrhein, www.nordlichtphoto.com
Steffi and her paparazzi girls spend the summer busily capturing all the best moments for our rafting guests, at the end of the summer we also get a CD with photos on, here are a few of my favourites, thanks Steffi.

Work rocks! Stay safe world
James

2008-10-10T06:46:00.008+02:00

An adventure on the Ticino

Sunrise on the river

It is not always necessary to jump on a plane to find adventure, sometimes you can find it on your doorstep. The Ticino national park in Lombardia Italy is only 3hours drive from my house and is drop dead gorgeous. Flowing out of Lago Maggiore and winding its way towards Pavia where it merges into the river Po, the Ticino is one of the most relaxing and enjoyable short canoe tours I have had the pleasure of paddling.

Ready for the off

We put on just below the second weir near Somma Lombardo to avoid any portaging and cruised about 30km to an island for our first nights camp. Camping is forbidden in the National Park so don't leave any sign of your being there and don't get caught! Most of the islands are formed out of pebbles so finding a comfortable place to pitch a tent can be challenge.

Alex and Sanne

The river is mostly flat water although there are a few little rapids and the occasional weir, some of which could be dangerous if run in the wrong place, if in doubt inspect. Exploring the many channels and islands of the Ticino feels at times like a jungle expedition, deep in the middle of somewhere.

Franzi and Lilli

Finding our second camp was a bit trickier, the islands where more pebbly and very close to the water level we finally found a lovely little patch of grass on river right. For our final day we cruised to the Lido at Bereguardo and the famous floating bridge.

Enough waxing lyrical, here is photo story of a day on the Ticino.

Wake up when the sun rises

Eat pancakes for breakfast

Paddle

Swim

Pitch a riverside camp

Make dinner

Camp fire, finish.

Lots of people helped make this a superb 3days; thanks to Lilli, Sanne, Franzi and Alex for great company along the way and thanks to Nookie, Kober, Esquif/Patschifik and Kanuschule Versam for supplying all manner of useful things.

Stay safe
James

2008-10-04T08:56:00.004+02:00

A Clever Thing

Here is something I have never seen, or done, before, an OC2 hand roll! Quite why anybody would need this skill is beyond me but didn't stop Dave and I from trying and even to our own surprise, succeeding.

Big thanks to Steve for lending us his pool, Craig for shooting photos and to the Dave for flapping his arms wildly with me.
It's cold and snowy here in the mountains so expect more blogs from the summers adventures coming your way soon.
Peace out,
James

2008-09-01T07:31:00.006+02:00

Freestyle Canoeing World Cup '08

photo Timmy Raa

I returned home late last night from the 2008 freestyle canoeing World Cup tour, happy and tired. The event consisted of 3 events; Prague in the Czech Republic, Augsburg in Germany and Thun in Switzerland. I was unable to attend Prague due work commitments and my birthday so was left with a lot to do in the final 2 events. As well as competing I spent a lot of time in the judging tent helping out Jasper to do a superb job of moderating the events.

photo Timmy Raa

I arrived early on Wednesday morning at the Eiskanal in Augsburg to attend GB team training, it has been nearly 2years since I last entered a freestyle so I was excited and slightly nervous to be back on the competition circuit. Augsburg is one of my favourite places to paddle and I was hoping for a good result, I had solid rides in the prelims and qualified in first place for finals, yes! The finals have slightly changed since I last competed and instead of a knock-out system the finals are now 3 runs with your best score counting, I think this is definitely an improvement. My second run of the 3 was my highlight, I hit all my tricks and scored the highest scoring ride of the competition, yippee! My first comp in 2years and straight to the top of the podium.

photo Timmy Raa

The tour was soon back on the road and heading to Thun I made a quick stop at home with Timmy Raa, Flic, Jasper, Casper, Tom, Roeul and LP on the way to go for a beer, pick up some clean clothes and have 24hours rest and recuperation. Thun is the feature for the 2009 World Freestyle Championships and so practice there is essential for a good result in the Worlds next year. Thun is a very beautiful town, a challenging wave and typically a superb event, this year was no exception. Simon Hirter and his team pulled out all the stops to build an event unlike any other on the canoeing calender, well done mate, it rocked.

photo Sabrina Barm

I had prelims on Thursday and was again slightly nervous due to my lack of practice time, I had a few lucky rides and managed to qualify in first place going through to final, phew. Judging was the order of the day for the next 2days in the tent with Jasper and his team again. Judging is sometimes a very thankless task and I wonder if everybody really appreciates the work judges do. Judges give up their time for free, because the ICF won't pay us, and sometimes have to suffer being critised and abused just for doing our job, a prominent "professional" kayaker saw fit to thank us for our work by sticking his middle fingers up at us, thanks TC, an apology would be nice. On the plus side Team Jackson kayak went out of their way to thank us for our work so big shouts out to EJ, Stephen and Nick for being really nice people.

photo Beat Ruettimann

Sunday saw me back on the water for finals, and from the moment I woke up I knew I would have to work very hard, I was not feeling top fit. After an hours delay we were finally under way, I struggled to find form and had 3 bad rides, gutted, I finished in 3rd place. My result was strangely academic as I only competed in 2 of the 3 WorldCup events it was impossible for me to finish any higher than 3rd place overall, so although disappointed with my lack lustre performance I am back on the competition scene with a bang finishing 3rd in the WorldCup after a 2year break is not so bad. I am looking forwards to the Worlds next year and will have to get into a serious training regime to ensure a good result.

WorldCup podium winners, Jez, Toby and Me, photo Markus Leppaenen

Next up will be a few days jumping the ramp at GEHLA, an open canoe trip on the Ticino, off to Holland to run some open canoeing clinics at Dutch Water Dreams at the end of September, then a wedding and SUP surfing in Cornwall and then off to Nepal, sweet.

Big thanks to AKV and Simon for organising great events, Jasper and all the other volunteer judges and scribes, all the cool competitors who make these tours such a blast and finally to Esquif/Patschifik, Nookie and Kober for sorting me out with cool stuff.
See you somewhere nice,
James

2008-08-26T19:40:00.003+02:00

Safiental - Ruinautal Book

It is nice to be surprised and even better when it turns out to be a supersurprise! Two weeks ago a book arrived in my letterbox, it was a Terra Grischuna guide to Safiental and the Ruinautal. Two photos of mine had been used in the book to illustrate the watersports section of the guide, here is a sneek preview.

Lilli downstream of the Crumwag on the lower section of the Vorderrhein

Yvonne and Ciccio finishing the SchwarzesLoch rapid on the upper section of the Vorderrhein

Many thanks to Maria Hunger-Fry for supplying the PDF's and Toro for sorting it all out.

Stay tuned for news from the freestyle canoing World Cup series.
Ciao,
James

2008-07-11T19:25:00.008+02:00

News from Planet James

It seems ages since I last blogged, and it was, but here I am with some news. A few months ago I was interviewed by Tom Laws for an article in Canoe Kayak UK magasine, and this month here I am, well my photographs and a few wise words, plastered across three pages!

The summer is flying by at lightspeed, paddling at every opportunity, working at KanuschuleVersam and working on my book, Canoe Culture to be published by Pesda Press.

I have just returned from Lofer where I hooked up with a few friends to paddle the Teufelsschlucht in inflatables! This action was met with scorn and critisism by several local kayakers and they saw fit to share their opinion with us. They learnt a valuable lesson that day, just because you find it hard in a kayak doesn't make it automatically impossible with a canoe! All photographs by Jurgen Pfannhauser, veilen dank, voll geiler bilder.

Inflatable canoeing has rocketed up in my list of fun things to do. Big shout out to Jon, Marco, Dave, Flo, Armin, Micheal and Jurgen my partners in crime for extreme white water inflatable canoeing.

Stay safe world and remember, if a kayaker says you can't do it, ignore them!
James

2008-05-21T11:47:00.006+02:00

StraightDownStriit and Nookie Photo Contest

photo by Daniel Bally

Several months ago I was asked by the organisers of the StraightDownStriit if Nookie would be interested in sponsoring the event. This was the first event I have been involved with sponsorship wise, a led me down a whole new path of thinking which ended up in a familiar place, maximum media coverage.

photo by Andreas Fernekorn

Whether you sponsor a person, team or event the goals are similar, raise the profile of the brand to those who know it, introduce the brand in the best light to those who don't and get as many logos strategically placed as possible. I was faced with a challenging task the main sponsor of the event was VW and second sponsor Teva, both considerably bigger brands than Nookie, I was gonna have to work hard to keep up, for the first time in a while I felt like a small fish in the ocean.photo by Daniel Bally

The outcome was superb, the Nookie Photo Contest received plenty of entries, including several professional photographers, loads of people are now sporting cool Nookie keyrings and by the end of the party most of the people were covered in Nookie stickers, result!

The winner from the lifestyle category of the Nookie Photo Contest by Eva Gruenwald

My favourite and runner up from the creek category of the Nookie Photo Contest by da Zarnbrodas

I have learnt the importance having lots of banners instead of cleverly trying to position a few, the importance having friends to help you out when you are struggling to make sense out of things and most of all to always give 100% from getting up early in the morning 'til you can't stand up any more!

photo by Daniel Bally

Big shout out goes to the StraightDown Crew, a good bouncy band and a raw beatboxchampion
Stay safe
James
PS
Anybody coming to the Bregenzer Ache Festival tomorrow?

2008-04-23T07:12:00.005+02:00

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

2008-04-17T15:15:00.011+02:00

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

2008-03-31T18:36:00.005+02:00

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

2008-03-05T18:16:00.003+01:00

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

2008-03-04T14:45:00.002+01:00

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

2007-11-23T11:42:00.000+01:00

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

2007-11-05T19:14:00.000+01:00

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

2007-10-12T09:43:00.000+02:00

New Sponsors

I am excited to announce that I have two new sponsors, Esquif Canoes from Canada and Kober Paddles from Germany, and it is with regret that I announce that I have left Robson. After a long relationship with Robson, over five years using their paddles and two years using their canoes I am moving on, thank you very much to Robert, Karl and the team at Robson.

The Esquif Taureau, this boat rocks in a big way!

Esquif are the market leader in open canoeing in North America and I have joined forces with Esquif to conquer the European market, with a range of over 20 canoes varying from the Salsa whitewater freestyle canoe, the Taureau creek canoe and the Mistral touring canoe Esquif has a canoe for every paddler and every occasion.

Receiving my new paddles from Kobers team manager Thomas Funke

Kober have over 100years of paddle making experience and are used by many professional padddlers in a variety of disciplines. I will be working closely with Kober to develop paddles for open canoeists, starting with a test project with a new type of carbon weave, twice as strong so your paddle will be half the weight!
I am just finishing up my summer in Switzerland before heading back to England for a few weeks for some Hurley action, a trip to Scotland and a work at Nookie HQ.
See you there
James

2007-10-04T10:03:00.000+02:00

A Summer Rafting

Yesterday I received a CD full of photographs from Steffi Blochwitz, she is the resident rafting photographer here on in the Rheinschluct. I have selected a few of my favourites for the World to enjoy, it is reassuring for me to know that I have fun at work!

Boat hard, stay safe
James

2007-09-13T18:25:00.000+02:00

Shameless self promotion!

I have just been sent the new Nookie catalogue and there are a few cool pictures of me and a few pictures taken by me. Thought i would share some of the best pages here and for the rest of the catalogue click here.

Whizzing around in speedboats is all part of a days work at Nookie!

As is whizzing across zip lines.

And of course hucking the local creek, all in the name of research and development. I love my job.

2007-07-31T08:59:00.000+02:00

Star date August 1st 2007, the world according to James.

Everything's OK, photo by Bill Mattos

It seems that my enthusiasm for blogging is wavering, maybe Facebook is taking over? Still since the last time I updated I have been up to all kinds of things; canoeing for both work and pleasure, shooting photos for various projects including a front cover shot for this months Canoe Kayak UK magazine, writing words for my book and for CKUK and doing a lot of testing of next years white water collect from Nookie. Rather than bore the world with words I though I would load up a load a photos as they paint a thousand words. Also of note is the upcoming Thun Riverjam, I have been asked to be the head judge again this year and am presently putting the final touches to the scoring system with event organiser Simon Hirter.

Rafting in the Schwarze Loch, photo by Steffi Blochwitz

German Ladies Rafting team, photo by me

Testing chest harness release system, photo by Bill Mattos

Kayaking for fun on the Glenner, photo by Sanne

Checking out the Medelsbach for an upcoming first descent by kanu, photo by Lilli

First test of the top secret Zoot Suit, photo by Bill Mattos

Another front cover photograph by me, featuring Lilli in the beautiful Vorderrhein canyon

That's me done for now; boat hard, stay safe and see you somewhere nice,
James

2007-05-04T17:43:00.000+02:00

It's not all about boating

Last weekend Will and Dave formally known as Clown came over, although avid paddlers we discovered just as much fun can be had from walking up and down rivers as paddling them. Here are a few of the best photographs from the day.

Peace out world.

NB This is my first post without a picture of a kanu in it.