I've never had a new year's resolution. Though, over the past couple years I believe I have resolved to read more books. Never have been much of a reader. Then out of nowhere, maybe last year sometime, I had a spark of interest. Maybe it has something to do with reading the right books, interesting ones, that you want to read, instead of having school reading assignments shoved down your throat. To this day I still have anxiety over school, and it's been twelve years since I've attended college. Attended mind you, not completed. The point of the matter is that I have read two books in particular this year that really, honestly, truly inspired me.
First, HAWK, occupation: skateboarder, by Tony Hawk

Second, THE MUTT, how to skateboard and not kill yourself, by Rodney Mullen

Growing up as a skater, I've been a fan of these two fellas for years and have seen their progression on videos and magazines all along. In 1987 and '89 I even had the pleasure of meeting Rodney Mullen who was an incredibly kind and humble person.

Everyone knows who Tony Hawk is and every skater, at least, knows who Rodney Mullen is. Anyone can see skateboarding on tv these days and make the obvious observation that skaters (at least the guys seen on tv) are coordinated, talented and daring individuals. And I think that most people (non-skaters) can appreciate the talents of skateboarders. Though not everyone can appreciate and respect what skating has done for other alternative sports such as snowboarding, skiing, surfing and lo and behold, KAYAKING! That's right, kayaking, just like other "extreme sports" in many ways follows in the footsteps of skating. For example, did you think that the blunt was a kayaking move? Well, yeah it is, but it was a skating trick long before. The shove-it, also a skateboard trick, and a much harder one than the kayaking version I might add. I think Bob McDonough invented the kayak version of the McTwist in the early nineties, well after Mike McGill invented the McTwist on a skateboard. And shamefully, the McNasty, which is not a skateboard trick at all, but the name is obviously biting on the McTwist. I think this is by far the coolest trick of the lot in a kayak but the McGayest name. One of the more simple tricks that is the foundation of most all skate tricks and, whether you realize or not, is also the foundation of most kayak tricks, the OLLIE.
I learned to ollie on my skateboard long before I kayaked. I never imagined I would do apply it to a water sport. My friend Chris Miller took this photo of me skating this summer in Salida CO doing an ollie backside 180 heel flip.

The physics of the kayak ollie are the same as that of a skateboard ollie and you may thank Mr Rodney Mullen for discovering the flat ground ollie on a skateboard in the late 1970s. It's hard to believe, but true, that kayaking tricks which are done today trace back to a 1970s, Floridian, teenage skater, experimenting with tricks in his garage. Simply put, an ollie is a quick slap down on the tail of a board or boat followed by a forward weight shift, causing lift and AIR. Like in skating, most every trick in kayaking (not including cartwheel style tricks) is initiated with an ollie. You ollie into blunts, back blunts, panams, helixes, mcnastys, and sometimes loops.
Below is a video of skateboard ollies and kayak ollies. Watch how the board ollies compared to the boat. It's doing the same thing to achieve air. The nose pops up then the weight of the rider shifts forward to bring up the tail.


The ollie thing is quite a tangent from my original point but shows how much skating has influenced kayaking. To get back to the books, I would highly recommend these two reads to any kayaker, especially those who aspire to be better, to compete, to go pro, to enjoy their sport, to push the limits, to have fun! There's not much more inspiring to me than the fact that Tony Hawk, in his mid-30s, landed his first 900 spin, a trick he had been trying for thirteen years. That's enough to make someone go crazy. Thirteen freakin' years. HAWK is inspring in so many ways aside from the 900 story.

THE MUTT, by Rodney Mullen, talks about his upbringing and the struggles of being able to do what he loved most, skating, despite objections from his somewhat autocratic father. He describes his methods of learning and inventing moves by himself and becoming the best in the world. As well, he humbly describes the fortune of being sponsored at a very young age and eventually becoming one of skateboarding's leading professionals, both as an athlete and a business person.

Both of these books really hit home for me, one, because I can relate as a skater, and two, I draw a parallel between their experiences and my own as industry professionals. I hope kayaking can one day have the successes that skateboarding has had in recent years. For sure it has shared the struggles that the skateboarding industry had during the '80s and '90s.

HAWK and The MUTT are available at most books stores and online.

Happy new year.

Spencer Cooke & Mason

Effort Inc.

I skipped out on the December twenty-turd blog post so here's one on the twenty-sexth.

Happy holidays to everyone. First, I wanted to thank Colin Kemp in Reno NV for hosting what was probably the last Enter The Donkey premiere. Sounds like they had a big boater holiday party with lots of food and friends. Colin said there were four or five screens with ETD and some other kayaking films.



Recently I launched the first of a new series of online kayaking videos by Effort.tv - Mion Footwear will be the presenting sponsor of these videos from now on. Mion is a new shoe company that is completely committed to making footwear for the amphibious athlete and doing it in the most environmentally friendly way as possible. Check them out at www.MionFootwear.com . Meanwhile, here's the first video presented by Mion...
click here to see Lower Elk video!


December 1st was a great day! I made a really fun trip down the Toxaway River with some great friends, including long time paddling buddy, Brad Kee. Click Kee's picture below to check out a bunch of photos from our day on the creek.


If you looked through the Toxaway photo gallery there is a photo of Chris Gragtmans filming Dylan Bruce at Minigizer rapid. I was tooling around with the photo and came up with this design for a possible t-shirt. I wonder what people would think of this? The green would be the t-shirt color and the screen would be black/white/grey.


This summer I shot some video of a crazy looking beetle running across my driveway. I put it up on my youtube channel, which is youtube.com/kayakvideo Enjoy, it's pretty funny.


Lastly, in an effort to keep folks up to date with the goings on of the Riot kayak team we have put up a google calendar that can be accessed through the Riot Blog , in the links section on the side. We've listed events, team members who will be present, and links to those event's web sites.

That's enough. Have a happy Yule. Eat a yule log if you have one. Heck, throw one in the fireplace or if you get the urge drop a yule log. Sometimes you have to.

I got this email from someone named Saad Khadri who allegedly thinks I'm his "Dear" and who has also created some incredible combo words like "knowsomebody." I never knew you could do that and get away with it. Anyway, I was amused. Letter below...

Dear,

This letter might surprise you because we have not met neither in person nor by correspondence. But I believe it is one day that you get to knowsomebody either in physical or through correspondence.
Linville Gorge is fun. Caleb and Jeb think so.


I am Saad Khadri I have a proposal to make, that might be of interest to you. I am in possession of a large sum of money (US$18,000,000.00)Eighteen Million USDollars)The money was inherited from my late father who was the Chairman of the Sierra Leone Gold and diamond Mining Corporation during the Sierra Leonian War when Major Johnny Paul Koromah was the country's president.
Babel Tower is the first rapid. It's fun.


The money is of no criminal origin as it was largely realized from black market sale of alluvial gold dust during the war.The money has been deposited in a Bank here in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast).I now want to transfer this money abroad and invest it in profitable ventures,as the time is now ripe for such move.
This one has a nasty undercut on both sides. Most of the rapids out there do.

WHAT I ASK YOU TO DO:

1.Firstly to assist me to transfer this money to any stable country abroad.2.To assist me invest the money in profitable ventures in your country or any other suitable country where you have good connections.3 To help re-locate to the suggested country.4 To manage the money in a profitable manner preferably a joint venture deal with your company.
Cave Rapid has the most vertical drop of any rapid out there and is probably the easiest rapid on the Linville.

For your assistance you will get 25% of the total amount Upon your reques I will give you further details of the plans and tell you more about my self but you must treat as highly confidential for my security.
Then there's a ton of other rapids out there. Here are a couple.


Regards.
Saad Khadri
Buy an Effort t-shirt for your very special someone this holiday.

Here's a December Turd for you. Happy holidays.

Recently I was going through some old photos and came across these, from my first real whitewater paddling trip. This is summer of 1993 at the Nantahala.

My parents got me this Dagger canoe as a high school graduation present. I had originally wanted the boat to fish out of on the New River. Little did I know how much fun it was going to be just to paddle it.

In the photo below, from left to right is Chris Copenhaver, myself and my father, Johnny. Chris sold the boat to my folks in addition to introducing me to several creeks and rivers when I first started. He was also a teacher and coach at my high school, which is how I got to know him. What an incredible guy to whom I owe many thanks.

My Dad had always talked about canoe racing on the Nantahala. In 1975 he and his friend Jimmy Cottrell were the Southeastern US canoe champions. The race was held on the Nanty and they won in an 18'6" Moore, fiberglass canoe. Before 1993 whitewater paddling, canoeing and the mighty Nantahala were all legendary, ficticious even, to me (though I had seen photos). This particular photo was taken during the Southeastern Nationals in July of 1975. They were to compete in the Nationals in mid-August but my birth intervened. Sorry Daddy!

Chris, my Dad and I headed down to the Nantahala for an intro to whitewater weekend. My Dad smoked a cigar the whole way down the river. We flipped two or three times and swam but he never lost the cigar. Now that's commitment. Notice how cozy and agreeable that horse collar pfd looks on him. It's as if he's right back in 1975.

Chris paddled one of the hottest kayaks out at the time, Dagger Response, milk jug color.

After some coaching from Chris, my Dad and I finally figured out how to front surf that 16' canoe.

Of course, Lesser Wesser falls was the big hoorah at the end. We went right through, no problem.

I even learned how to side surf that day. What a bizarre concept at the time.

My Dad and I were amazed at these "pop-up" things Chris was able to do in the falls.

Thanks so much to my Father and Chris for the best paddling trip of my life. Notice the gloves, important for canoeing the Nanty in the summertime.


Yesterday I paddled the Toxaway with some of my best friends. As my Dad noted recently, It is truly amazing how far the sport has come in 13 years.




Later,

Spencer Cooke, Effort.tv

November Turdieth! Actually, today is Black November Turdieth, the biggest shopping day of the year!

Nah, in reality, today is "moron of the year day." I got all your votes and the results are in!
Regis and Kelly's stupid asses won! Congrats to them on being crowned morons.

It was a toss up between them and George Bush but Regis and Kelly have actually said more stupid, superficial, moronic things... so they won. What does this have to do with anything at all? I have no idea. All I know is that those numbnut, a-holes don't deserve their own tv show, and neither does George Bush. Actually Gorge Bush could probably have a pretty funny tv show, like a huntin' or oil drillin' show. Or it could be like a reality show where George Bush travels cross country in an RV with a completely incompatible co-star, like... like... ahhh... It would have to be someone who was of another ethnicity, preferably gay, perhaps Hindu, vegan and female. I'm not sure who that would be but it would be one heck of a good show fo sho. Maybe when they got across country, to Texas of course, George could show her how to drill some erl, real proper like. Then they could go out and celebrate with a steak dinner at Western Sizzlin'. The end.

Next song!

Today's regular programming has been cancelled and will never be shown again.

The real reason I'm writing is this... I have a new Effort Inc T-Shirt for sale featuring Go Left rapid from the Green River Narrows. The words at the top read Paddle Video Photo, which is exatly what is going on in the photo. It's a photo of me filming Brian Miller paddling. Here's what it looks like:

Click Here to visit the Effort.tv web store where you can purchase the shirt.

The T-Shirt design relates the business and workings of Effort Inc and was inspired by the below photo sequence, which has a story, more photos and video to go along with it. That is all in a previous blog post .


Good day,

Spencer Cooke, Effort.tv

November twentyturd - Today is Effort.tv's annual photo issue. Please enjoy some of my favorite photos from the past year.

Click the image below to visit the '05-'06 Photo Annual


Enter The Donkey is to have its Southwestern premiere in Nevada on December 9th.

Hosted by good buddy Colin Kemp, of Jackson Kayak, at the Patagonia distribution center
6-11 PM and it's a pot luck dinner, byob (for infants that means bring your own breast milk)
For questions please contact colin@jacksonkayak.com
Thanks Colin!

NEWS from h2o audio - Two new products: On 12/01 they will start shipping the waterproof housing for the 2nd generation iPod Nano as well as a new, less expensive Nano housing, the Outdoor Series.
Click the logo to visit h2o audio's web site

Here is the all new h2o audio Outdoor Series iPod Nano housing. It very easily fits both the 1st and 2nd generation iPod Nanos. The retail price on this little jewel is $39.95, available at your finer outdoor shopping venues such as Diamond Brand Outdoors, Great Outdoor Provision Company, NOC and more.


Some key points to know about the h2o audio Outdoor Series iPod Nano housing:
1) It is a rugged case that includes belt clip and sport armband for $ 39.99 MSRP
2) Fits BOTH nano models (1st and 2nd gen.)
3) For outdoor enthusiasts who are not necessarily looking to use their iPod in the water, but want to take it into the elements, this is the product for them.
4) The Outdoor Series housing is not meant for in-water use like the h2o audio series, waterproof housings. Instead it is more of a light duty housing, suitable for backpacking, camping, cycling, running or everyday iPod use. We'll call it element resistant rather than waterproof or water resistant.
5) The Outdoor Series housing does have the patented Commander™ Scroll Wheel function, allowing its user to control every function of the iPod from the outside of the case.

6) To install your iPod Nano into the housing simply slide the locking mechanisms on the sides of the case into the upward, open position. Lift the easy to open lid.


7) If using a 1st gen iPod Nano you will lift and remove the plastic shim provided in the case. If using a 2nd gen iPod Nano, which is thinner, leave the plastic shim in place. Then, lay the ipod face up in the case.


8) Then close the case making sure the silicone seal is in place and that it is free of debris. Take a look at the bottom of the housing. You will see two silicone caps, one for the iPod Dock connector or charger and one for a headphone jack.


9) Upon opening these caps you will see that you are unable to allow liquid or debris to make contact with these areas while the iPod is exposed, though the remainder of the iPod is still fully protected. You may connect your charger, dock connector and/or headphone jack.


10) Begin charging and/or listening to your iPod while it is in the Outdoor Series housing. You may close either one of the silicone caps while using the other if you like.


11) The Outdoor Series housing comes with a belt clip allowing the housing to be attached almost anywhere. It also comes with a neoprene, sport armband.


12) The Outdoor Series housing fits nicely to an aftermarket, bicycle, handlebar mount.


As far as paddling goes, I definitely wouldn't paddle with this housing, but I think the Outdoor Series housing has an application for paddlers. That application is hiking. There are plenty of rivers where you have to hike for quite sometime, either to or from the water, where a shock and element resistant housing would be great but you don't really need the waterproof, submersible housing. Here in the Southeast the Linville, Toxaway, Raven Fork, Big Creek and Horsepasture are just a few examples of runs that have hikes long enough to listen to your iPod.
Click the logo to visit h2o audio's web site

Coming on November Turdieth is the Panama Surf Kayak Adventure with Drew Hayes and Ray Cotton. It should be really funny and entertaining.

Happy Turkey Sack,

Spencer Cooke, Effort Inc.