Today (Tuesday) we ventured out of the Arkansas valley towards Vail to find some goods on the Eagle River.  Mark Miller always said that Gilman is Colorado quality at its finest.  There were some good rapids for sure, but it is a completely unnatural river bed.  With a railroad on one side and a old mining road on the other, most of the riverbed is blast rock.  There is also an abandoned mining town at the beginning of the run.  Good run, good rapids, bad environmental effects.  Here are some shots from our run.

 

 

 

 

After a good run on Gilman, we headed down the road a little bit for a nightcap on a lower section of the Eagle.  Dowd Chute is a half mile long wave train that is just plain fun.  No holes, no stress, just big waves and fun.

 

Until next time…

Photos: Rob Hurst (unless otherwise noted)

Here’s the intro to LVM30, “Winter.” These babies are getting replicated right now and will be shipping soon, so be sure to Subscribe Right Here, Right Now! Also, just a side note we released quite possibly the deal of the century. We’ll just call it the Ben Franklin because for one large Benjamin you’ll receive 23 issues of LVM. That’s right 1-25 (minus 5 and 6 because we are sold out). You can thank us later, or just See it HERE for YERSELF! Other than that, stay classy…

We ended up in Bellingham for the Ski to Sea event a few weekends ago.  The event went great as we were supporting and documenting a team commissioned by the Disabled Veterans Association.  Check out Team River Runner and the DVA for more info on these great organizations.

Any who, after all that work I was hungry for some brown kayaking action.  I began pestering Cody Howard of HuckinHuge.com for beta on any sweet waterfalls to run, he mentioned that Racehorse Creek Falls may be good to go.  After using Barneys I-Phone and checking out some google images I made the decision that it was a viable option.  That night I partied with my cousin Mark Landvik, who just finished a huge season of filming snowboarding for Travis Rices new video, Thats It Thats All and standard films new movie Aesthetica.  Mark and his buddies came out to come check out the waterfalling action the next day.  I was stoked to have them there.

The falls looked great.  Starting with a log slide to a 25 footer, then a ten foot slide followed by the big transitioning slide that stacks up to 60-70 feet.  The top few drops went according to plan.  Then, I eddied out to rescout the “Stout”   I decided I had to be far river left to land in the smoothest part of the transition, then I would just slide into a nice little pool. Right?

It all went according to plan until I skipped into the pool at the bottom.  Instead of stopping or at least slowing down I felt like I accelerated.   I skipped across the pool  careening towards the rocky riverbank.   Fortunately,  I was paddling a Liquid Logic Jefe.  The forgiving bow of my boat took the shore and turned it into a ski jump instead of a piton.  I was then launched through the air  and into the rocks at least 15 feet.  I landed upright and wobbled for a moment in disbelief.  We celebrated by roasting bratwursts at the base of the falls and telling stories.

~Erik Boomer signing out from a coffe shop in McCall Idaho.  Water is high here.

Follow along as we cover The Teva Mountain Games and LVM’s very own Will Lyons journey through It. Rather than simply report on a few paddling events we decided to capture the full Mountain Games experience. Will is slated to compete in: Homestake Creek Race, Dog Competition, Freestyle Comp, Fly Fishing Comp, HALF MARATHON up to Vail Pass, Bouldering, Teva Mud Run and Road Bike Event. Keep checking in on The Gnar website as we cover it all. This ought to be interesting!

After a quiet morning enjoying the sunshine on the west side of the island it was time to head to Waikiki to meet up with Kainoa McGee and Kainoa Beaupre to hear what these 2 cutting edge stand up paddlers had to say about the sport of stand up paddling(SUP). We rondevued at Waikiki Beach, where Kainoa McGee is a lifeguard.

We first spoke with Kainoa McGee who was born and raise in Oahu and is a true waterman. Some of his oldest memories are spent in the water right at the Waikiki wall. At the age of 18 Kainoa became a professional body boarder in 1989 and through the 90’s picked up stand up surfing in which he became a pro at as well. In the last 2 years Kainoa discovered stand up paddling, which he fell in love with, and quickly caught onto and became a pro. Kainoa McGee is one of the few who can stand up paddle the famous Pipeline break on the North Shore, where he surfs and body boards as well. An underlying rule in the stand up paddling world is to only stand up paddle where you normally surf or body board.

[caption id="attachment_1161" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Kainoa McGee SUP"][/caption]
We continued the day catching up with Kainoa Beaupre, another born and raised Oahu waterman and a Werner Paddles athlete. Standing at a stout 5′ 6”, Kainoa decided to push the sport of stand up paddling in a way that most can’t-making the smallest SUP boards functionally possible. SUP boards have to be wider, longer and thicker than traditional surf boards in order for the surfer to not sink while paddling out to the surf or in flat water. To push these limits Kainoa Beaupre decided to start the company Ku Hoe with shaper Robin Johnston. They currently sell SUP boards 8′-10′, but are making boards as small as 6”5′ that Kainoa Beaupre rides. With boards this small Kainoa can ride waves more dynamically than most stand up paddlers. Kainoa is also working on eliminating the weight of the foam required for SUP boards, which will lighten the board up in hopes to one day get SUP surfers doing areal tricks. [caption id="attachment_1162" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Kainoa Beaupre on a Ku Hoe Board"][/caption]
While Kainoa McGee and Kainoa Beaupre continued to tell us more about themselves and the sport, we started to get into the etiquette and opinions of stand up paddling. With SUP being a fairly new sport, especially in terms of surfing, there is a lot of people who dislike it, particularly on the mainland. People feel that it is dangerous to surrounding surfers and that the stand up paddlers don’t deserve to take their waves. It is because of these opinions that both Kainoa McGee and Kainoa Beaupre feel that etiquette is the up most importance; especially since they are some of the few pushing the limits of the sport. The most important rule is safety; with SUP equipment being of larger size it is essential that a stand up paddler does not surf beyond their comfort zone and is aware of their surroundings at all times. Much of SUP etiquette is that of surfing-no your place and be respectful. The more people witness people like Kainoa McGee and Kainoa Beaupre pushing the sport to new levels and tearing it up on Oahu’s famous surf breaks the more people will realize the potential of the sport. If you ask me, all it takes is trying to stand up paddling in the ocean once and then you will have full respect for these guys who are paddling out into the break and surfing some of the toughest breaks in the world.

Stay tuned from the next SUP report as we join Kainoa Beaupre, Kainoa McGee, Dan Gavere, Nikki Gregg, and others on the west shore of Oahu.

Click here to learn more about Kainoa Beaupre and Ku Hoe

Click here to learn more about Kainoa McGee

Stand Up Paddling Etiquette from Lunch Video Magazine on Vimeo.

There has been a lot of hype about stand up paddling in our industry. So in ordered to form an opinion about the sport and to offer our subscribers some real knowledge on SUP, John Grace and myself decided to head to Hawaii to find out what the sport is really all about. With the help of Dan Gavere of Werner Paddles and frequent flyer miles we made our to the beautiful island of Oahu. Oahu is mainly known for 2 things; 1: Honolulu and Waikiki beach for the non surf world and 2: North Shore to all the surf lovers in the world. For us, our adventures began on the west shores of Oahu in a small town called Makaha.
Makaha is about a 45 minute drive from the Honolulu airport that takes you along the coast much of the way-lending itself to beautiful views of the sunset as we made our way to The Hawaiian Princess Condos. The Hawaiian Princess claims to be one of Oahu’s best kept secrets, and I would have to agree. Now, if you are looking for a all inclusive resort with 5 pools ,10 restaurants and pool boys, this is not the place for you. The Hawaiian Princess is more of a quiet get away that seems to attract those who are escaping the cold of the winter months up north or east and families, rather than college students going on spring break to party. The condos are very comfortable, cute, and contain everything you need, including a lanai that gives you a 180 degree view of the amazing secluded beach and ocean. The resort also has a pool and hot tub for all its guests. The nearby towns of Makaha and Waianae have everything you need to get you through your stay and the hustle and bustle of Waikiki beach is only an hour.
After a peaceful night of sleep we woke up to the sound the persistent trade winds. The day before we left, we were notified that strong trade winds had settled in on Oahu and it didn’t look like they were going anywhere during our stay. This meant up to 50 mph gusts on some parts of the island, which doesn’t help the surf at all. But we were determined to make the best out of it and find surf somewhere.
After talking with Dan Gavere, we decided to head up to the North Shore to meet up with him to get a tour of the North Shore and hopefully find some surf. We made our way over the mountain and met up in the quant little town of Waialua. We immediately headed north to get a glimpse of all the famous breaks of the North Shore, such as Pipeline, Wiamea, Laniakea, Sunset, Log Cabin, Chuns, and Left Overs. Due to the strong trade winds, the waves of these famous breaks were less than desirable, but there were still a few people out there tearing it up.
When we finished the tour, we headed over to Wialua Bay to get a stand up paddling lesson from Dan. After getting the hang of it, we headed up river to get away from the waves and wind. It was here that I fell in love with stand up paddling and realized the versatility of the sport. We paddled up the river for 30 minutes or so, which gave us time to improve our stroke and get more and more comfortable on the board.
With the wind dying down some, we had high hopes that the surf would clean up and we headed out to Turtle Bay to catch Dan in the waves during sunset. Although the sea was still rough from wind, Dan battled his way out to the waves a had a session that was short and sweet. With the water being so rough, it takes a lot of strength to stay standing as well as getting into the waves; it also means the beat downs are a little more painful as well. [caption id="attachment_1138" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Dan Gavere at Turtle Bay"][/caption][caption id="attachment_1139" align="aligncenter" width="240" caption="Dan Surfing at Sunset"][/caption]
As the sun made its way behind the ocean we enjoyed Turtle Bays famous Mai Thais and then made our way back to the west shore.

Stand Up Paddling Turtle Bay, Oahu from Lunch Video Magazine on Vimeo.

Colorado is kickin up.  Heres a sample of some of the Crested Butte runs.  Jacob Roland fires up Midget Wrestler on the Upper East and Andy Hobson drops the 25-footer on OBJ.  Look for more to come as the snow continues to melt.  Peace.

 

Photos by Rob Hurst

Limit water in Gore Canyon to 700 cfs!
Take out 80% of the water in The Colorado!
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AW Interview with Nathan Fey from Lunch Video Magazine on Vimeo.