Immersion Research 2009

What is a Cumec?

rloughney — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:12:55 +0000

New Zealand and Australia have their own dedicated kayaking magazine called ‘Cumec‘ which is the colloquial slang for cubic meters of water per second [Roger's note. 1 cumec equals 35.314666721 cfs. This is important to know when paddling abroad!]. We’ve been running the magazine now for almost three years and it is going from strength to strength. Each issue is focused on New Zealand and Australian paddlers and their adventures at home or abroad.

The latest issue is about to be released in the 2nd week of July. Inside Nikki Kelly fills us in on the 2009 Colorado Freestyle Circuit, we catch up with Zak Shaw for our feature interview, and Keith Riley spills the beans on a hearty kiwi adventure on the Whitcombe River. We’ve also focussed on ‘River Safety and Rescue’ and we share ten lessons learnt from the river, so hopefully you don’t have to learn the hard way.

Cumec is another example of a grassroots kayaking business that fills a gap in the industry. We’re proud to focus our business on our own personal passion, and are grateful for the support of businesses like IR’s Australian distributor Kayak4Play and IR’s NZ distributor Paddler Zone.

- Antz Longman, editor Cumec Magazine

When searching for a great paddling adventure, be sure to check out the awesome paddling destinations, as well as a myriad of amazing things to see and do in NZ and ‘Oz’.

For more info, check out Cumec online at www.cumecmagazine.com

Grand Regata del Rio Nazos July 10-12th

rloughney — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 08:43:23 +0000

Join the Los Caminos del Rio crew for the caravan down from McAllen, TX for the 46th Annual Grand Regata del Rio Nazos, Mexico’s largest paddling festival. The crew is meeting July 8th in McAllen for the drive to Rodeo, Durango, MX. 200 Pesos ($16) gets you a shot at 300 grams of gold, an adventure, food, camping and 148 km of a pristine desert river. That is one heck of a deal.

For more info, visit www.loscaminos.org or www.mcallen.org

Demshitz in Pandoras Box Video

dfusilli — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:00:46 +0000

Here’s some vid from the Pandoras Box on the Animas river which served up one of the best days of paddling yet!
Keep checking back for updates from Demshitz as we move north into Montana this week followed by a few weeks in Washington State. We will be premiering our movie Demshitz The Movie everywhere we go and offering FREE kayak demos and clinics.

Here is our schedule of Demshitz Premieres and Clinics!

June

26th Northern Lights Bozeman Montana

27th Silvermoon Kalispell Montana

July

2nd Strongwater Missoula Montana

4th Leavenworth Mountain Sports Leavenworth Washington

8th Werner Paddles Sultan Washington

11th Aquasports Redmond Washington

18th Black River Festival Watertown New York

24th Alder Creek Portland Oregon

26th Kayak Shed Hood River Washington

August

1st Ouachita Outdoor Outfitters Hot Springs Arkansas

Stride Paddle Boards in the house

John Weld — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:21:36 +0000

Luke Hopkins from Stride stand up paddleboards was here for the past two days working on some accessories for his line of inflatable boards. Specifically, he was using our machines and our warehouse full of webbing, buckles, bungees and other R&D items to design a front and rear deck cargo strap-down system. None of us here at IR has tried this new sport that seems to be gaining in popularity, so Kara and I headed up to the lake with our two kids to try it out. My first impressions:

Super easy to jump on and start paddling right away. You feel like you are walking out on to the water.
People on the bank stare at you when you are on using one of these.
They’re a lot faster than I expected. Luke said the models we were paddling were the slowest boats he has, and they were still a good deal faster than the the fastest whitewater boat.
Great for kids. My 4 year old couldn’t wait to try it.
I really wanted to get them out in waves or surf or even take one down the loop, but we didn’t have time.

Luke says he’s going to come back and leave one here for us to play with, and I’ll be sure to get it out to the river and take some more pics.

Africa Revolutions Tour Trailer

rloughney — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:16:15 +0000

Check out the trailer to Africa Revolutions, a new film by Rush Sturges and Tyler Bradt. The video can be purchased at River Roots. I must admit that this video looks awesome, and I am one of the biggest kayaking video skeptics around. Part of my job is watching them, so that may make me an expert on this sort of thing!

In association with the Sun Catchers Project, here is the trailer:

2ND GORGE OF LIME CREEK CO

dfusilli — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:40:06 +0000

The last week Nicole, Jared, Myself and many more have been livin it up in Durango Colorado. We arrived on Tuesday and headed straight to Bakers box. A committing gorge with a stout hike in and a very very angry land owner. The next day our good buddy Kevin Driscoll lead us up into the 2nd gorge of Lime creek. A pretty stout hike to a another committing gorge with 5 great drops. The tallest of the five called Viagra, about a 25 footer. So we make a little video for all yinz to see out there. Now I know they look like fun drops, but you must remember it was about an hour and a half hike into demshitz so bring some hyrup to drink.

Southeast Highschool Punks Invade CO

rloughney — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:03:01 +0000

Check out Mason Robinson and crew on their road trip to Colorado.

CKS’s Earl Richmond SUPing at his hometown break

John Weld — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:18:19 +0000

The wave might not be that much, but it does make me think that there might be something to this SUP business…

Will Lyons at the Teva Mt. Games, Part one

John Weld — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:09:54 +0000

John Grace, the head honcho of LVM signed up his sidekick Will for every event at the Teva Mt Games… here’s how John put it on LVM’s site dedicated to Mt. Games coverage- thegnar.lvmvideo.com :

When deciding the best way to cover the Teva Mountain Games in Vail we knew we had to somehow convey the ‘full experience’ of the games. With a list of events including kayaking, climbing, biking, fishing and many others we had our hands full. After much thought we decided the only way to really get it was to do it…so we signed Will Lyons up. Follow along as we cover the games and document one persons experience participating in as many disciplines as possible. Enjoy the first video of the series and check back because this could get interesting.

Keep checking back at http://thegnar.lvmvideo.com/ for updates

Kayaking Goes Fortune 500

rloughney — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:19:54 +0000

Ten Mile Creek Kayak is in its second year as a seasonal shop in Summit County, Colorado, on the banks of Ten Mile Creek. Matti Wade is the owner, and earlier this year, there was a contest sponsored by Ford Motor Company on how the Ford Transit could enhance your business. Matti was one of 4 winners of a fully customized Ford Transit. In addition to sporting this new pimped out ride, this commercial will air nationally! Good on ya as they say somewhere.