Immersion Research 2010

The week of 9/8-9/13 saw the annual pilgrimage to the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic EORA Regional Trade show . On the drive up, I made a pit stop in Brooklyn and went to this awesome joint call Black Betty. If you are in Brooklyn, stop in, it is in the Williamsburg neighborhood.

This year’s show was in Sturbridge, MA, which ended up being an ideal location, with good proximity to major airports, interstates and its central location. The bonus was that the hotel/conference center that we were in also had some lake frontage where the retailers and sales reps could demo all of the new boats. One evening, after an amazing round of extreme walking with Jimmy Blakeney, our new sales representative for New England, along with Impex and Riot Kayaks, and Yonton Mehler, of Astral fame, we decided to go for a quick cruise around the lake in some sweet Impex glass.

After a successful show, Jimmy and I went on a little sales and dealer visit tour. First stop was Rhode Island, where we visited with the fine folks at The Kayak Centre, and then it was on to Osprey Sea Kayak, a great outfitter just across the RI border in Westport, MA. Sam and Carl were kind enough to lend us a couple of boats, and Jimmy and I headed out for a late afternoon paddle. We got lucky and even scored a few surfs at a break called “Town Point”. It is amazing the waves that you can surf in an 18 foot glass boat.

After the paddle, Sam cooked up some spicy enchiladas, and Mike Simpson, an old friend, cooked up the idea for a moonlight paddle off of Sakonnet Point, RI. Mike and I headed out past the light house, through some islands, and we landed on West Island. West Island, aside from having 30-40 foot exposed cliffs on the eastern edge, also host the ruins of an early 20th century hunting camp that was destroyed by a hurricane many moons ago. This was an amazing paddle, and I must admit to being a bit tired after about 4 hours of sea kayaking in one evening.

Ruins on West Island under the moonlight

West Island Cliffs with Portugal way off in the background!

The next morning, we headed up the Cape, and after a few more visits in the Cape/Southern MA (Goose Hummock and Billington Sea Kayak), I headed up to Zoar in Northern MA to catch a Dryway release on the Deerfield River. Greg from Zoar, being the magnanimous manager he is, allowed Corey to leave the shop to show me the good lines on the Dryway. Corey isn’t even old enough to drive, but he has some skills in a boat. Corey also helped me out with some testing of our prototype materials for the future! It was my first time on the Dryway, and it is one busy and exciting stretch of whitewater.

Corey in the middle of Dragon's Tooth

Corey exiting Dragon's Tooth

I pulled through the drive home, about 9 hours, with no energy drinks, and I was feeling pretty good about that, but I was feeling a bit sore from all of the driving and paddling. I was planning on rest day on Sunday, but I got a call that there was some wakeboarding to be done on Yough Lake, just a few hundred yards away from IR. It had been a few years, but I got right up and even managed to land a few airs, but every time I went big, I ate it pretty hard! After I had thoroughly purged my sinuses, my girlfriend Jess gave it a whirl and on her fourth try, was up and giving ‘er. All in a week’s work!

Brad airing it out on Yough Lake