Shred Ready Beatdown Blog

This is what happens when Shred Ready dares me to do something.

noreply@blogger.com (jHo) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:48:00 +0000

Are you proud of yourself Tom S? from joseph hall on Vimeo.

I hope you are happy Tom, don't be trying to step to me.

Goggles by Effort.tv

Sam and Tinos' great China Adventure

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Klaus Van Der Sherburne) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:55:00 +0000

Salween River from Sam Fulbright on Vimeo.

Sam and Tino took a vacation for kayaking and went kayaking........this is a hellish mission to find that Eddy Feeling. and they sent in this freaking update.

Hey Tom-
Just wanted to send in the report from our China trip. Sorry it took so long, but the video looks great. As for now its about time to hit the road and follow the water around the southeast. the link: http://www.vimeo.com/3289393
Hope you're well,
Sam

Back in December Tino Specht and myself decided to hop on a plane to China with our kayaks in tow. The game plan: make it to the Salween River outside of Gongshan, China in search of big waves, and bigger rapids. Few obstacles seemed to stand in our way once we made it to the New York City airport, all we had to do was catch the plane to Beijing, then a 38 hour train ride to Kunming, the capital of the Yunnan Province, and then figure out the Chinese bus system to get north to Gongshan. Luck seemed to be on our side, and shortly after we got off the train in Kunming we picked up our boats and were on a 17 hour overnight bus by the afternoon. We rolled into the town Fugong

by late morning the next day, and again we managed to get on the bus to Gongshan within 10 minutes of arrival to Fugong. Happy to be on our way to the base town for the trip spirits were high as we followed the Salween north towards Tibet. Catching glances of possible waves worth surfing kept us entertained for the short 4 hours from Fugong to Gongshan, with our faces glued to the windows we motored on. We settled in for the night in our small hotel room excited to paddle the next day.
We managed to grab a ride in a truck to go and scout out a few waves we saw the day before, and decided to camp at a wave discovered last year and deemed the “flying dragon.” It looked great from the road so we ferried our gear across the river and got ready to surf. As I dropped down onto the wave I began to realize that the foam pile was a bit larger than it appeared from up on the road. After surfing the giant hole a few more times to confirm in my head that it truly was a hole to get beat down in rather than a wave to catch air on we got out of our boats and set up camp for the night. The next morning we waited for the sun to reach the bottom of the gorge than began to get gear back across the river to head upstream in search of more waves and some big rapids. We opted to stay in the town for the night and head north the following days to explore the canyon upstream of Gongshan. With the convenient shuttle option of catching a ride north and paddling back to town it made life easy and allowed us some great days on the river enjoying the waves we found and the big water between. With the locals constantly cheering as we paddled past and good white water we felt very fortunate to be able to experience the canyons for another year. With many many good waves to surf and great big water the Salween is non stop fun, however, like most rivers in China it is threatened. The government has plans to build 13 dams on the river to help control the water, and generate power for the growing Chinese cities. Sadly we risk losing these gorgeous lands rich with culture as the land supports many different ethnic minorities, and supports one of the most bio-diverse regions in the world. As we left the river on our last day we bid farewell to the small town of Gongshan, as many people watched as we tied our boats on top of the public bus, reminding us of how fortunate we are to be able to experience these places from our kayaks before the are possibly lost in the effort to harness energy for our growing planet.

Little River Canyon 2-5-2009

noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Simmons) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 02:16:00 +0000

It was a low water day on LRC, but its always a good day when I'm on the water and especially on such a crown run.
For while now we have been putting in at the falls consistently, as apposed to the standard Suicide section put in (even when the water is too low to run the falls). See what we do is simply put in on the middle ledge of the typical river left LRC falls line. It starts the day off with a blast and all smiles for us. Below is a photo of Ray Morton taken by me, i really like this one. And above is a photo of me taken by Ray.
After good times and lines at the entrance falls, we headed off down the canyon. Passing up the photo opportunities of "Are you ready", "Martha's ledge","Mammoth", and "Terminal Eddy" rapids (for what reason i don't know)but we did however stop at "Avalanche" were i snapped some good photos of Danny(below). (SR standard fullface is a handpaddlers best friend!)
Next up was "Mushroom boof" and some boogie until "Cable Falls." Cable Falls at low water has a couple options both at the top drop and the bottom drop, but the traditional low water line is far river left and here are a couple pictures of that line....
The bottom drop of Cable falls at low water has and still is one of my favorite moves out there. Its a drawn out flare into a two foot wide foam pile channel that you ride out. Here is the only successful photo of the day of my taken by Cruise.
Then it was boogie on down to "Pinball falls" and its eddy hops. This has been my favorite rapid on the canyon since i first ventured in. It involves about 100 yards of class 4/5 eddy hopping or charging ,with many possibilities for lines, spilling directly into the meat of Pinball the falls dropping about 12 to 15 feet between two undercut boulders. Followed shortly by a couple ledge drops. We all had a blast charging straight into Pinball and never got out to take any photos or video......unfortunately.

So here is picture of me on the main drop of Pinball from another day for viewing pleasure. But we set our sight on another lap on Suicide and headed for it.
The second lap was a blast, never getting out of the boat at all and finishing the lap in just under 15 minutes followed by a hike out to our ride at Pinball.
Til next time, pray for rain -charlie simmons-

Team ShredReady

Gut Check

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Rafting Team) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:08:00 +0000

Challenges are presented to us every Saturday. Unlike in life, we know that on the seventh day we will be asked to dig down and step up. The rains have subsided thus our class IV-V rafting runs have diminished. In an attempt to emulate extreme conditions we decided to have a training day. This strategy worked as evidenced by the pulling of neck gaskets to breathe, and dudes doubling over so they didn't puke on their pretty new IR drysuits. We were all smiles in the end as every challenge and even failure presents an opportunity to grow.

Two paddle teams have participated in our sessions conducted 5 of the last 6 weekends. Here we come.

Eric Sends in article about accident

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Klaus Van Der Sherburne) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:12:00 +0000

telluride news article

We are Happy our Friend Eric Zuaro.....

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Klaus Van Der Sherburne) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:22:00 +0000

Survived! He was caught in an Avalanche last week near Telluride Colorado and tumbled over 80 foot cliffs and was buried for five minutes. His friends had the skills and got him out. Here is what he sent me.

Eric Zuaro wrote at 9:41am

Tom! I talked to the emt that was in the heli with me, he said if I had not been wearing the fullface helmet that I would be a veggie. I have not seen the condition of the helmet yet as i am still in the hospital but my bros say that it appears to still be intact except for some new scratches. Thank you for making such fine helmets, the standard fullface helped save my life!

We are all glad he is still with us. If you venture into the backcountry make sure you have the right equipment and your friends do too.

Shred Ready Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Klaus Van Der Sherburne) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:19:00 +0000

Ready the Inaugural 2009 Shred Ready Beat Down

Winter in VT

noreply@blogger.com (Elaine Campbell) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 20:10:00 +0000

This off season I’ve been going to pool sessions, working out and using my speed bag. Jeff bought me the speed bag for Christmas and it is so much fun and a great work out. Best gift I ever got! Winter has been going well. We have a lot of snow and have been spending a lot of time snow shoeing.

It’s been really cold here lately and I didn’t want to go outside so I went through some video and put together a short video of myself training on Rt.3 Wave on the Black River in NY.

Rt.3 is not a big wave but one of the best waves to paddle in my opinion. It’s great for beginners who are learning to surf and spin because it’s friendly and not too fast. What I really like about it is when you are working on harder moves like the flip turn or helix on Rt.3 you really have to be snappy so you don’t flush. I’m not consistent yet with those moves on the wave but I’m patient and it will come in time. That’s what I love about paddling is that every day I take a step forward.

Enjoy the video and Happy New Year!
Elaine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4WfbdjKD_M

Vote to Send SR Team Sledders to 2010 X Games

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Klaus Van Der Sherburne) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 17:21:00 +0000

Tom Mull ,a freestyle, extreme sledder is rocking SR standard helmet, and he produced a video for Totinos.com go vote for them here to send them to the games.....You can vote everyday!!!
HERE

And Remember: YES WE CAN

Oregon Rafting Team (ORT) WF Hood TR

noreply@blogger.com (Oregon Rafting Team) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:18:00 +0000

What up?
The day of the W.
Slightly Worried about the Workability of a Wordmonger but-
World class WhiteWater experience.
The West Fork of the Hood at 6.3 feet Was Way rad.
No Wood. Wow. No Worries.
Wall to Wall Waves in the gorge sections made this TR easy to Write about.
White snow lined the rivers banks in addition to the 18 inches or so as viewed through the Windshields of our 4WDs on the access road.
The river Wisdom amongst the 3 kayakers, 1 catarafter, and the ORT crew of 6 allowed us to Wiz through the run and fish ladder portage in just 75 minutes.
No Wisenheimers, just gracious Wit, as We Withdrew the boats out of the canyon by Wenching them up the cliff utilizing teamWork.
We are Worthy.
www.oregonrafting team.com

Demons out

noreply@blogger.com (Effort.tv) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 04:25:00 +0000

Back in September I visited Jim Buley up at Valley Mill Kayak Shop. Valley Mill is our exclusive Shred Ready dealer for the DC area.

While visiting, Jim showed me all the finer sites, sounds and smells this vast expanse of land had to offer. This is Washington DC, wherein comes Obama and out goes the Boosh, where Virginia and Maryland nearly fit together, but are forever kept apart by the whitewaters of the Potomac, and where Jim would be distributing Shred Ready helmets to all the safety conscious water sports enthusiasts of our nation's capital. We went out to eat, mingled with the locals, picketed, lobbied, voted, supported, protested, marched and subsequently went to the most memorable landmark in the entire DC area. Maybe you recognize it?

If Father Damien Karras had only been wearing a Standard Full Face then the movie would have ended so differently. Exorcism could have been far safer, but the technology just wasn't there yet.

After I'd had all the culture Jim could conjure, I headed over and spent a day with one of the most accomplished figures in the kayaking world.

After spending an hour with 62 year old Tom McEwan and watching him paddle off of a 20 foot waterfall I learned just how much he has contributed to the sport of kayaking, namely creeking, running waterfalls and expedition style paddling. Tom is in a new film that I have just completed, entitled "The Eddy Feeling."

A trailer for this film maybe seen at RapidTransitVideo.com in my video Library. Click HERE. This film is a broader story about paddling but with a particular focus on the Linville Gorge, North Carolina's Grand Canyon. It will be released on DVD this month and may be purchased HERE.

Happy New Year,

Spencer Cooke
Shred Ready Representative

HOT NEW TRAILER FROM N ZED LAND

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Klaus Van Der Sherburne) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:11:00 +0000

Team Shredder Tino Specht just sent in this trailer from Pilot Productions, of their time in New Zealand.
A smoking front flip over Mauria Falls after daily confessional is called a "hail marry". Looks like the Lord was watching over him on his swim!

Wonder what a "Our Father" looks like!

The Hail Marry from Tino on Vimeo.

Word is dat he is in the editing room with some fresh footage from China coming up in a few days.

Adventure in Pakistan

noreply@blogger.com (chrsk) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:45:00 +0000

It was interesting, to say the least, to land in Islamabad after several major incarnations of what we in the USA solely see and hear from the media about Pakistan: terror. Islamabad was in the midst of recovering from the bombing of the Marriott Hotel and next door gov't building, cross border drone attacks from the USA, and a controversial presidential election. We stopped where the blast crater was just getting topped off in front of the Marriott Hotel and sped by the nearby Red Mosque, which has also seen much violent excitement in the past year. It was a daunting introduction to the threat of Muslim extremism in Pakistan.

The Team:

Roland Stevenson: trip mastermind; cultural guide; price haggling master, inshallah al hamdulillah.

Ben Stookesberry: ultra-motivated trip leader; shit-runner; boat scouting guru.

Darin McQuoid: photo capturing guru; California homeboy; undeterred to boat scout class V after two days of chundering at our hotel in Skardu.

Phil Boyer: realistic/optimistic decision maker; solid on the water and an assuring presence on the river; did not get wet, the water got Phil Boyered

Rafa Ortiz: Red Bull representative, left early to get back to Mexico City for finals(but otherwise would have cut our portage total, maybe significantly), easily lost in a crowd of Pakistanis.

Me: drank more "Haleeb, The Thickest Milk" than previously thought possible in Pakistan

Need to give Roland extra credit here, for making this trip entirely possible and hooking it up with Mr. Zakaria for a place to stay in Islamabad and innumerable translation and general cultural awareness instances.

Shukria al hamdulillah.

Our drivers, Mustafah and Rashid, only a few hours into our drive still looking satisfied with their decisions to chauffeur us around for a month.

We left Islamabad and spent two long days driving the Karakoram Highway to Skardu high in the heart of the greatest mountain range on earth, the Karakoram mountains, home to more than sixty 7000 meter peaks, K2, and some of the world's largest non-polar glaciers. We passed through places where natural devastation and extreme poverty stood to highlight the intense natural beauty and local hospitality of the region. We drank tea with villagers to whom illiteracy, herding, and farming have been reality for centuries. While on the river we passed villages accessible only by steep, exposed trails and old bridges high above the water. We were made nervous to float under the incessant road construction blasting in ever developing rural Pakistan. It was just another obstacle towards the safe and full descent of the Indus River through the Rondu Gorge.

Roland admiring typical views and warding off typical cold temps with a local wool shawl.

Two Pakistani men befuddled by the alien outfit of Phil Boyer.

The river was hard. Maybe the hardest any of us had ever done. At times tranquil, the Indus demanded scouting and fierce strokes often and turned relaxation to a far off dream. The intense mountain scenery and enormous scale of the landscape framed leisure time into a foreign and even unneeded luxury. The challenges the people of the Indus valley face every day proved that our expedition was merely a drop in the full flow of the mighty Indus.

A sheepherder moving his herd from high in the hills, along the road toward the Pasturelands of Hanuchal.

Darin Mcquoid experimenting with some very big holes.

We tried to keep moving at a rate that would get us to the confluence of the Gilgit and Indus Rivers in as short a time as possible, but we had to juggle more than just the challenges of the river, landscape, and logistics. Aside from the legal/permit issues we had to deal with before even putting on the water, the military escort afforded by the District Commissioner of Skardu, we were suddenly and fully absorbed into the education efforts of the Dawn School in the village of Hanuchal.

Roland and I spent an afternoon teaching English to a class of gravely respectful students in one of the four stone classrooms next to the main classroom, pictured below.

From paki

In a part of the world considered to harbor terrorism and radical Muslim militants, the front lines of the war on terrorism are spreading to classrooms just like this one. Greg Mortenson is bringing it there with his less-than-massive initiative of education and literacy as the firepower against terrorism. His CAI is building schools and promoting education, especially for girls, in very remote and sometimes volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Mortenson greeting a young girl on his way to greet every student at an event in Jafarabad in Northern Pakistan.

Shred Ready Fan Mefford Williams writes in about his travels in the land of blue eyed blonds, waterfalls, expensive beer, au natural refridgeration

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Klaus Van Der Sherburne) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:02:00 +0000

photo by mefford williams

so everybody knows norway. it's famous, especially famous among whitewater boat riders. everyone wants to hear about and see the big waterfalls, beautiful blond women and amazing scenery from norway. i am just back from my second summer there, and my gorgeous girlfriend was there with me and didn't run anything over 40 feet; so you can just go ahead and not be interested.

beautiful brunette:

photo by mefford williams

exaggerated forty:

photo by philly williams

the roads in norway may be interesting, however

photo by mefford williams

my experience in norway involved living and working as a river guide on the jolstra river for jolster rafting in the jolster kommune.
mostly guiding rafts:

photo by amos shuman

and safety boating whenever the chance arose:

photo by amos shuman

although incredibly scenic, i was pretty much in the middle of ding dang nowhere.

photo by mefford williams

oh wait...the sogndal river was only an hour away:

photo by jono ramsey

the goods are there. believe me.
i saw them with my own two eyes:

photo by jono ramsey

the goods are also all up in and around the very voluptuous village of voss, where, after much weaseling, we were able to leave work and attend the world famous "voss extreme sports week". a festival of extreme activities, extreme people and extremely expensive beer...

amos shuman puts the energy from hot dogs wrapped in bacon to good use:

photo by philly williams

the author. put in rapid. brandsetelva.

photo by amos shuman

philly bear williams enjoying some norwegian goods:

photo by mefford williams

the author - a competitor. competitors get into the festival tent to see shows at a discount, but the race course is a good time too. I guess that's a win win.

photo by elizabeth duncan

the mo' gives you an advantage and allows you to stand out as a kayaker when you are kicking it at parties with base jumpers and extreme skiers:

photo by elizabeth duncan

philly bear williams. still enjoying norway:

photo by mefford williams

amos shuman. same:

photo by mefford williams

good times where had by all. even though we weren't nearly as hard core as this other blog that you just read, even though we didn't run flemming's fossen on two consecutive days like tommy, even though i only drank like 12 beers over the course of 5 1/2 months. chances are good you could have a fun time in norway as well. take your helment, because rocks hurt.
and don't forget, norway is also half way to the himalayas from asheville:

photo by mefford williams
i didn't set any records on my trip there either, though, so i am sure no one wants to hear about it.
peace in the middle east

Customs Graphics Hold up to 60 Grit Concrete

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Klaus Van Der Sherburne) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 00:48:00 +0000

Tom,
It's Jason from Louisiana, now Charlotte, you made the custom glitter pink Sherlock for my wife, anyway you hooked me up with the Standard Halfcut with the SR splash graphics at Gauleyfest this year. The helmet is killer real good fit and after paddling at the USNWC park a bunch and taking a number of good solid hits at M wave and sunset wave it is showing no signs of even being in the water, the graphic still looks great, the Standard is quickly become the choice helmet at the park, buddy of mine picked up the fullfacce after seeing how mine has held up. On a side note it really keeps your head warm too, at least compared to my old Sherlock. Have a good holiday and we'll see you at NAWFest.

Jay

here is his helmet not sure if he got the half cut or full cut:

Helmet Art: Custom Graphics

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Klaus Van Der Sherburne) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:42:00 +0000

Artist: Tarek Shaer
Graphic: SR Topograhpic
Helmet: TDUB in Carbon Fiber/Kevlar
Athlete: Erick "Butter" Hurd

Check Shred Ready Group on Facebook for more custom graphics. Add photos of your own Shred Ready lids.

Artist: Tarek Shaer
Graphic: SR Logos: Brushed, Robo, Stacked
Helmet: Standard Full Face
Athlete: Jim P. Los Angles

Hello? Hello? Tom, mi amigo, can you hear me? Rodrigo calling in: Rodrigo-Garcias-demshitz run some more shit

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Klaus Van Der Sherburne) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:41:00 +0000

Hello there my dear Shred Ready Team.
What can I say, Pucon have more and more surprises every day and every year, I was running the Nevados river for some years and was all the time very popular the normal take out, but no more.

Also, have the opportunity to paddle whit a solid and good crew, of course is very important and make the big diferent, I love to paddle whit the Garcias brother and the Deam Shitz team, is good to have peolple that whant to Fire Up good all the time...and run the S$%&/(:...Thanks to Jared Seiler from Pyranha team and Deam Shitz for make the run more easy and show us the line en el Diablito...

Here is the new big water fall in Town the Low Nevados,,,awesome good...

remember to go Garcia's Blog for have more action and follow they life here in Chile

The rest of the run,,,AWESOME GOOD...very hard rapids and incredible deep canyon.

We ready start to work whit kayakpucon and that part also go good...

See you on the good ones....

Special thanks for Fred and Ian, for the cool shot of that day...

And also incredible thanks to Shred Ready Helmet...

SHRED READY IS THE BEST.........

I loved.

Rodrigo.

Ladies Lower Gauley

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Klaus Van Der Sherburne) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:11:00 +0000

Robin Betz sent in this video from Rapid Transit. The ladies are shredding it up and looking good in those vixens. Check out the custom artwork on the Super Scrappy at the beginning of the video.

Here is Robins Blog
and Profile

Ladies Lower G

Shreddin Sleddin

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Klaus Van Der Sherburne) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:19:00 +0000

Shred Ready has teamed up with Mad River Rockets and the Sled Head Team to protect their team riders. These guys are making an ol past time new.

Also check out their other videos. I especially liked the "The Street's a Stage (T.S.AS) skating video.
Tom Mull's style reminded me of Rodney Mullin skate tricks.

What ever you say about sledding you got hand it to these guys for pushing and being creative in everything they do.
We are happy to have them shreddin it up with the new Standard Half Cut with Customized graphics their Crew. I will post those pics here soon as I have finished their awesome helmets.

Check out their logo; I think it's rad.

Here is a bit of how they got started from Tom Mull:

"Yeah sure I can give you more info. I am 18, Steve Mull is 17, and Josh Gauthier is 17. We live in the Bennington and Manchester areas of Southern Vermont. We've all been sledding for about 6 or 7 years maybe. Started out riding K-mart sleds (there's some footage on our channel), just invented a lot of weird stuff for fun. Then we heard about Mad River Rocket sleds, so I sent Whit Phillips some footage and he liked it so he's been sending us free sleds ever since. We try to put together a video every year, most of the segments are on youtube. Earlier this year I sent footage to Skullcandy earphones and they loved it, so now we're riding under flow-sponsorship from them. I sent more footage out over the summer and got a response from PRO-TEC, so we're sponsored by them now as well. It's a pain dealing with the representative so now we're looking for a new helmet/padding sponsor."

p.s. My three brothers and I skate a lot. We also make a lot of skate videos as you can probably tell. Thanks for the compliment on my style ha. The main reason that I ride like that is because I have bad joints and can't skate like my bros."

Team Shred Ready Dominates 2008 Green Race

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Klaus Van Der Sherburne) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:04:00 +0000

The Green Race holds a special nostalgic place in the heart of Shred Ready. Our first sponsored team athelte, Tommy Hillike is a Green Race legend. Others team members of our early days; Al Gregory, Nate Helms, Chris Young, are the pioneers and legends of the race. Our newer team members like Pat Keller, Chirs Gragtmans, Adriene Levknecht, Robin Betz are taking the places of the old guard and charging the narrows of the Green the first weekend in November.

The Tdub version of the Shaggy helmet owes itself to the Green River Crew; It came as vision of Nate Helmets who loved the Shaggy but wanted more coverage. He cruised down the old factory, and we made him a Shaggy helmet with extra coverage. We continued to make this helmet but for only on special request to team members. Two years ago it was brought to limited production and is now the best selling composite helmet in our range.

With the exception of of the first race in 1996 guys that have rocked Shred Ready Helmets have won and dominated the race.

Of the top five places in the long boat class we have no less than two members on the podium every year. Tommy Hillike has won the race 7 out of the 12 years (two of which in did not compete; 1996 & 2008) placed second once (1998), and third twice (2000 & 2006). During all those years he did not win he lost to another Shred Ready team member; Al Gregory in '98 & 2000; Pat Keller & Andrew Holcomb 2006.

Of the 20 fastest times our team members hold 16 of them! Who can forget Andrew Holcomb's 4:27 and Pat Kellers 4:28 blazing fast runs in 2007.

Our lady team members are among the best as well; Robin Betz fastest woman on the green! Adriene Levknect the 2008 champ.

And we have not even mentioned the short boats yet or the Iron Man competition.
That is quite a streak and legacy. We at Shred Ready are very proud of our association we these athletes and those who help organize this home grown effort in the mountain of North Carolina each November.

This year our athletes faired no worse:
in the Long Boat: Pat Keller was first, Chris Gragtmans was second and Andrew Holcomb was 5th.

In the short boat competition Chris Gragtmans was second and Andrew Holcomb was 3rd.

In the Iron Man (best long boat and short boat times) Chris Gragtmans won and Andrew Holcomb was third.
In the Women's Competition Adiene Levknecht won the womens division!
Way to go team!

For all the results and any information on the Green River and the Green Narrows Race check out Boating Beta

New Custom Graphic now avalaible

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Klaus Van Der Sherburne) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:30:00 +0000

Crystal Gustin a designer and artist extraordinaire from Asheville has just submitted this new "humming bird" graphic for your custom helmet. Dig it. She is working on another one I have not seen yet. She drew this one up for the cornflower blue vixens. If you have not heard yet check out Shred Ready's Custom Helmet Art

Smooth as "Butter"?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Klaus Van Der Sherburne) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:05:00 +0000

In His First SR Custom Lid and charging for a bid to the "show"

Butter on the Podium at the 2008 Olympic Trials.

Its always fun to add a grom to the ranks of the "pros"!. Especially when its an athlete that com petites in your favorite past time of slalom kayaking. It bring that sort of November nostalgic feelings of warmth and goodness; Peanut Butter and Tomato soup when it cold out side?, Chicken Noodle Soup for the soul? Man I am getting to old! its nice to see and help people reach for their goals. And it delights me to announce the addition of Eric Hurd to the SR crew of outstanding athletes.

I first met Eric when he was three feet tall and 50 pounds wet. His dad would ring me up and I would try and make some cool custom graphic helmet for his son to wear when racing slalom in the "cadet" class in kayak. See the cool helmet in the first pic? His kayak style is smooth, hence his nickname "Butter". Since then Eric has progressed to one of the best competitive kayakers in the United States taking a podium spot on this years Olympic Trails. Check out his awesome Olympic Trails; I just watched it my only thought was "damn" that looked fast. Looks like he laid down one hell of a run.

Time has passed, Eric has grown up and this year is expanding his fortee to extreme creek racing and recently competed in his first Green Race! We hope he will continue the tradtion of SR athletes dominating the Green!

2008 Green Race, Da Monkey

Eric works and trains at the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, NC. He also designs helmets and knows a thing or two about composites; its seems it was a good fit between Shred Ready and Eric. Welcome aboard Butter!

So here is Eric's bio. If you see him on the river or at the whitewater park in Charlotte give him a high five and some Chicken Soup.

Nickname: Butter

Name: Eric Hurd

Birthday: 05-19-1986

Hometown: Woodstock, Georgia

Current Residence and Home: Gastonia, North Carolina

Favorite Shred Ready helmet and color: Shensu for competition/racing, color carbon. Tdub for creeking, in carbon with topo graphic in-layed.

Sponsors: Shred Ready, Mitchell Paddles, Sweet Composites.

Website/ Links to Video/Photos: www.erichurdkayak.com

Email: erichurdkayak@hotmail.com

Describe the time you were most glad that you were wearing your helmet: Every time I am on the water especially when I am shredding up a slalom course and take a gate pole to the head.

What person do you respect the most? Who is your hero? My Dad, My Dad is my hero because he has taught me the real meaning of life from a very early age.

Who on the Shred Ready team do you most admire and why? Everyone, we are all amazing at what we do, I respect all of you guys.

What movies/books/comics/TV shows, etc are you into right now? I love to sit down with a book when I can find the time. Generally read the news paper every morning. I don’t really watch TV but I love the News, Discovery Cannel, any thing involving the Planet.

What are you listening to these days? I listen to just about everything, but a few of my favorites are Widespread Panic, Xavier Rudd, Bob Dylan, the Doors, Against Me, Cat Empire, MMW, STS9, Blood Kin, and David Byrne

What was the best concert you attended? Which ever one I was at last!

What are some things that motivate you? Competition, rainstorms and designing new composite equipment.

What sports do you enjoy watching or participating in besides your main sport? Running, Downhill Mountain biking, Ski/Snowboarding.

What’s the most fun you’ve ever had while participating in your sport? Crossing the finish line at any race or World Championships knowing you just threw down an unbeatable time.

What’s the best trip you’ve ever been on? Probably my first European JR world cup tour back in 1999.

What goals are you working towards right now? I am currently training at the US National Whitewater Center full time, goal this winter is to achieve higher focus and mental preparation for race day. Also working in my shop designing my new slalom boat I will be racing for the 2009 season.

When people look at your life, how would you like to be remembered? I would like to be remembered as honest, and that my life resembles my work ethic, Give It Your All.

What do you view as your biggest accomplishment?

2^nd place in the 2008 Pan American Games, prior to the Olympic Games this year.

What advice do you have for other people coming up in your sport? Stick with it; paddle hard and this sport will take you to the top. It has taught me all I know.

One sentence that describes your life: swift like the river.

Duran Duran, Tear for Fears, Hall and Oates, or Cindy Lauper? Why? Hall and Oates, because they were 80’s rock stars.

Why are athlete bios always so lame? Because we would rather spend our time out on the water training and shredding it up, But I still don’t think they are lame.

Rodrigo, runs da shite whit Ian G

noreply@blogger.com (Dr. Klaus Van Der Sherburne) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:17:00 +0000

It appears some Shred Ready dudes are down in Pucon hitting it hard!

Rodrigo writes in about a recent First D.

Hello there Shred Ready Team Here is Rodrigo from Chile.

After looking this water fall for a long time and looking also for

the perfect water level, here is, one of the most biggers water fall that

my home town Pucon have.

The Panqui River is a very easy class IV river, but whit a very big portage at the middle of the run.

Last year I was looking whit my dude C. Korbulic (SR Team) and we dont find the perfect water level.

This year The Garcias Brother here and we start to paddle like 1 week ago, so we come back to the Panqui and all was perfect, I was so happy when Ian (SR Team) say: I love this water fall, lets runner.

After the incr
edible help of Jared Seiler making safe from the bottom Ian and I fire Up the new big Water fall...

here isthe awesome photos , Enjoy....

I love to have my Shred Ready Helmet whit me when I want to go Big...

Well, we go to continue looking for more biggers stuff...

Peace and see you in Pucon....

Rodrigo.....

T-Ville in CT

noreply@blogger.com (Elaine Campbell) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 21:38:00 +0000

It’s been pretty dry in VT for over a week and we needed to get out and paddle. We decided to head south to the Farmington River in Tariffville, CT. It wasn’t too cold out for a November day which made for a great afternoon of boating. T-Ville is a small play hole but really fun. You can do pretty much every hole move there you just have to be careful not to flush or crack your boat on the bottom when trying to loop. If you are ever in the area it’s a great place to get some boating in. You can check out the info on the river run and play spot on American Whitewater.

I hope we can get some more boating in before winter hits. We got a taste of winter last week and paddled in the snow on the West Branch of the Deerfield in my hometown Readsboro, VT. Well it’s back to splitting wood and watching football.

Photo: Jeff Campbell

Photo: Elaine Campbell

Photo: Jeff Campbell

Till next time,
Elaine Campbell

Moose Fest 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Elaine Campbell) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:04:00 +0000

Another Moose Fest has come and gone which usually means it’s all most time to put away the kayak and get your snowboard or skis ready for winter. The Fest starts Friday night at Slickers Pub in Old Forge, NY which is a great time. You have to be careful not to party too hard.

I paddled the Lower Moose on Saturday with Jeff my husband and some friends. The Lower Moose is a class III/IV section. The Lower offers Beautiful scenery and some really fun drops. After we paddled we ate at an awesome restaurant in Old Forge. This year was a little different there was no event at the usual festival site. The party continued at Slickers Pub Saturday night. Sunday I paddled the Bottom Moose which is the class V section of the Moose River. I paddled with my brother Mark and some friends on the Bottom Moose. The Bottom always offers great scenery, great drops, and some good entertainment of paddlers making really good lines or really bad lines. We saw some carnage on Sunday, for sure! It was a great weekend of paddling and socializing with friends. I’m excited for next year’s Moose Fest!

We are home in Readsboro, VT and getting ready for winter. We have been spending lots of time splitting wood. Hopefully we’ll get some rain soon to get some paddling in before it’s too cold.

Enjoy the photos!

Eddy above Fowlersville Falls

Photo by: Mark Trahan

Fowlersville Falls

Photo by: Mark Trahan

Bottom of the Falls

Photo by: Mark Trahan

The Funnel

Photo by: Mark Trahan

Portage on the Bottom Moose

Photo by: Mark Trahan

Till next time,

Elaine Campbell