Werner Blog

Collinsville Canoe and Kayak's, "Paddle University" kicks off Werner's NE Events

 
There was a time when scenes like this, photo of Trish Walter, taken on the "T-Ville" section of the Farmington River, CT, were shared by "Experts Only."  However with advancements in gear and better instruction more readily available, paddling earlier or deeper into the shoulder seasons, or all winter long for that matter, is becoming more and more accesible to the everyday paddler.  It is the love of the peace and quiet, the solitude of off season paddling that spawned Collinsville Canoe and Kayak's, "Paddle University."  Join the staff of CCK, paddling instructors and industry experts as they kick off their 20 Year Anniversary on March 6th with this great new event. 

 
Throughout the day attend classes on the challenges associated with cold water paddling and how to dress and plan for it, on land stroke and skill work, choosing the best gear for you and individual segments looking at canoeing, white water boating, kayak fishing, recreational and touring kayaking and the exciting new sport of stand up paddling.   In between classes get your first look at all the new 2010 boats and gear as they continue to roll off the trucks and onto the shelves.  Werner Paddles will be represented by paddling instructor Danny Mongno, taking you through a variety of topics through out the day including  more efficient paddling by using the proper fitting paddle and better stroke work.  Be sure to call the shop (860) 693-6977 for more details or check out the web site for a class schedule.  Centrally located to so many paddlers, set in the beautiful Famington River valley, Paddle University is a must attend event for north east paddlers looking to meet up with friends, take some classes, check out some gear and kick off the spring paddling season.  See you there!

Tino Specht, gives Werner Blog subscribers a Super Bowl white water fix

The NFL's Super Bowl game, and all the parties this afternoon, certainly help to divert our attention from the fact that most of North America is still struggling to escape Old Man Winter's death lock.  Luckily Werner team paddler, Tino Specht, is giving us a life line to some white water action from his travels in Chile. 

 
Aside from killing it play boating and running the stout lines in his creek boat, Tino is becoming a very talented film maker.  Check out the short video he put together for our blog subscribers to try and remind us that winter will end and spring white water is not that far off.  (yes you can believe this as well VA, WV, PA and MD, even though you are arm pit deep in snow right now.)

Thanks for the update Tino and keep charging.

Werner Paddle's athlete, Ben Lawry, introduces his new instructional DVD servies

The Essentials of Sea Kayaking With Ben Lawry will be a must have edition to your paddling instructional libray, check out a short video segment here.      A real introduction to the sport of kayaking, learn how to get the most out of your kayak, paddle and equipment. Ben Lawry is an internationally recognized coach and competitor and will walk you through many strokes, proper equipment selection and even how to best transport your kayak. Ben will demonstrate how to improve the quality of your strokes for more efficient paddling and more fun on the water. The video will also walk you through how to get started on a trip what to look out for, what to pack and how to paddle efficiently. Using S.E.E.N – Safe, Efficient, Effective and Necessary, giving you the tolls to develop your own kayaking style. Topics of discussion will be Clothing Design Equipment (safety) Strokes Rescues Transport Information gathering Float plans Correct paddle grip Injury prevention The experience Ben brings to the Werner Paddles team is a huge asset to our company and how we can help support local paddling communities around the world, The project, in partnership with Show Me How Videos,  is just another great example of that.  He has been paddling for over 30 years and teaching for 25. He has taught and lead trips on four different continents and is a trainer with the ACA and a BCU coach. Once you have Ben's coaching at home look to work with him in person to solidify these skills.  You can email info.y07@wernerpaddles.com to see where Ben will be representing Werner Paddles in 2010 and check out his web site for his full teaching schedule.  On behalf of the entire team at Werner Paddles, great job Ben and congratulations.

ARE YOU READY!! Werner Paddles announces it's 2010 Event schedule.

Stand Up Paddlers sea kayakers, White Water boaters, Canoeists, Recreational Paddlers, Rafters and KayakFisher People, this is your call to action.  On behalf of the entire team at Werner Paddles we invite you to join us around the world at the multitude of great paddling events we are supporting in 2010. 

 
 Check out our Events page at Go Paddling for a complete list of all the events we will be attending in 2010.  Getting it kicked off on February 8th will be our South East rep, Mette Mosquera, as the guest of honor at the Tampa Bay Sea Kayakers "Paddle Prescription Party," hosted by Bill Jacksons in Florida. 

Along with Go Paddling, keep up with the Werner Paddles Blog as we give you information and updates on events coming to your town each week.  We have a highly respected group of paddlers on our staff, whether it be our reps, tech reps, or team paddlers you will be sure to have a great time and learn something new when you stop by the Werner booth to say hello. 

So no matter what you paddle or where you paddle it, we look forward to seeing you on the water in 2010.
 

Werner Paddles: Voted 2nd Best Company To Do Business With For The Second Year In A Row

Werner Paddles     was voted the second best company to do business in the Outdoor Industry, in the 2009 SNEWS Outdoor Retailer Dealer Survey.  The survey appears in the Winter 2010 issue of SNEWS magazine and full results will be posted on line February 1, 2010.

Werner captured the number two position for the second year in a row after moving up two places, from number four, in the same survey in 2007.  “It is such a great honor to be named in top positions three years in a row.  This is especially important to us, in that it is our dealers who cast the votes.  It takes our entire team; great product design, quality production, on time delivery, and our sales, service and marketing teams focusing on helping our dealers sell through.  These seem like basic concepts, but it is our area of focus”, says Jim Miller    , Werner’s Marketing Manager.

The SNEWS full survey lists the best and worst vendors to do business with.  Werner landed right behind The North Face who took the number one "Best Supplier To Do Business With" position.

"We look forward to working in partnership with our dealers in the coming season. Our service really is a margin builder and a reason we repeatedly get recognized by our dealers,” says Miller.

To get the full results you will need to be an All Access SNEWS subscriber. You can login to view the results or subscribe by visiting the SNEWS site.

Werner Athlete, Paul Kuthe Featured On "The Season"

Werner Paddles World Team Member, Paul Kuthe is being featured in a new web television project, titled The Season, which followes five athletes through the course of a single season in the Pacific Northwest. A veteran climber invents a new piece of gear.  A pro snowboarder searches for a way to return to the roots of his sport.  A boulderer returns from a series of injuries with new perspective.  A family man goes to Whistler to test himself against mountain biking’s elite. A young sea kayaker (Paul Kuthe) with a troubled past sets out to reinvent his sport.

Here is what Paul has to say about getting involved in this project...

Ever since we filmed Pacific Horizons together, I have jumped at the chance to work with Bryan Smith.  His film projects have opened more doors for me than I ever could have imagined.  At my roots I am a whitewater addict, but have found amazing success within the world of sea kayaking with Bryan's help.  When he came to me with this idea about a web series that would feature sea AND whitewater paddling I agreed without hesitation.  How else would I convince my boss to let me off work to go creeking in B.C. in the middle of our busiest time.  Check out The Season...you won't be disappointed.  
 -Paul Kuthe 

BTW - Bryan Smith is doing some incredible work with the cable cam.  Don't miss this. 

Werner’s Adriene Levknecht Raises Awareness During the Kimberly Expedition

Werner Team paddler Adriene Levknecht is widely recognized as one of the most talented female white water boaters in the world.  After a busy 2009, making the US Freestyle Team, competing at the Worlds in Switzerland and countless top extreme race results; she is turning her attention in early 2010 to an expedition to help raise environmental awareness. 

Below Adriene puts the importance of the Kimberly Expedition in her own words.
“During a 6 week journey to the Kimberly Wilderness of Western Australia, me and eight other people will raise awareness to fight the proposed industrialization of this pristine region.  A region which not only is home to such endangered species as the hump back whale, marine turtles, Dugongs and the Golden Back Tree Rat, but also is still home to one of the oldest human cultures in recorded history.  During this trip we will be spending a month on the Fitzroy River, which during flood season is regarded as the highest flow river in the world.  With raft support along the trip we hope lightened boat loads will allow us to truly explore this river and its tributary creeks.
The group is meeting in Melbourne in mid-January and driving cross country to the put in and start of our adventure. Along the way we will be speaking to Aboriginal people, learning of their tricks to live off the land and the ways of their forgotten culture. We will be taking pictures of possibly never before seen Aboriginal paintings and exploring unknown gorges along the way down the river.

“Great, another kayaking vacation!”  Hardly.  Certainly this is an amazing opportunity to put all my kayak training to use on a highly challenging expedition and of course leave the stress of the real world back at home.  However we are going with a mission at hand.  While experiencing a historic cultural few ever get to learn about first hand, we hope to share with others what we learned about them and the wilderness that is so important to not only them but the ecosystem of our planet.  This type of short sighted raping of the wilderness is not just occurring in the Kimberly.  Closer to home regions of Quebec and Ontario are being logged and dammed at alarming rates and let’s not forget about unsubstantiated oil exploration in our own country.  With our time spent in the Kimberly Wilderness and on the Fitzroy we will produce a full length movie of our endeavors and increase avenues to raise money and awareness of the Kimberley.  Along the way showing more and more people the harm that will come of thinking less and less about the values of the pristine regions around us.

I am certainly stoked for the adventurer in me as well; there is so much we are all hoping to get out of this trip personally. Learning about the Aboriginal people, seeing new animals and plants and being able to live off the land.  Not to mention the chance to boat some HUGE water along the way! We have set up a page for our expedition and it will be more put together once the crew all gets in one place but feel free to check it out and see what this is all about.  Also be sure to check in here for updates as well as my other blogs I have been working on. 
www.adriene-spankinit.blogspot.com
www.liquidlogicladieslounge.blogspot.com

Thanks Adriene.  Everyone at the Werner Paddles Blog is stoked that you are embarking on this expedition not only as a paddler, but as a tiny little soldier for the environment. 

Happy Holidays From Werner Paddles

I want to take this opportunity to say Happy Holidays from everyone that brings you Werner Paddles.  We are happy to be producing the best paddles in the world from our factory in Sultan Washington, USA. We have closed down the factory until January 04, 2010. So please be patient if you are trying to contact us.  We are likely to be ending this year and starting the new one by paddling.

What are your holiday paddling plans? 

Steep Creek Report From Trafford McCrae in the Virginia Blue Ridge Region

Werner's regional Team paddler, Trafford McCrae has been on the Virginia Blue Ridge's steep creek scene hard in 2009. He and his crew are making sure they finish up strong.  With the amazing rain year Virginia and the Southeast has been having in 2009 (making up for back to back years of record droughts) the boating has been stellar throughout the region.  Below are some photos and some words from the man himself.

"Last week was good back at home, with a couple of good rains on top of some early season snow melt.  Gordon Dalton and I paddled Paul's Creek Wednesday after work. Unfortunately, we were behind the peak of water on this super-steep micro creek.  It was still worth the hike as you can see from the picture (above) of Gordon running one of the biggest rapids 'Chutes and Ladders'.

Gordon and I didn't have the problem of being behind the water on Sunday afternoon; we scored a double on the VA classic the North Fork of the Tye. 

There's nothing better than a weekend afternoon of creeking, and the NFT delivered with boof on top of boof."

Thanks for sharing Trafford and we appreciate all the stuff you have sent us this year.  Keep it coming!

Werner Team Paddler, Tino Specht, Shares His Chilean Experience

Tino Specht, Werner Team Paddler and instructor at the New River Academy just got us some great shots from Chile.  Check out these images.  A big thanks to Tino for running the drops and to Matt Smink for pulling the trigger on the shots.

"These photos are from the Yeso river up in the Chilean Andes.  We are just getting into it.  It is looking real good so far!  More updates to come.  By the way, I love not having to worry about my paddle breaking all the time On The Drops!"