Welcome to Effort.tv news on October Turdieth,

Who said this news had to be about kayaking. That's boring. New topic. Tomorrow is Halloween, therefore I recommend two horror moives to rent for this event:

1) "Shaun of the Dead" Released in 2004

I could watch this movie time and time again and not get sick of it. It is very British and very funny. Imagine a downright kneeslapping, heehawwing "Dawn of The Dead" and this is it. You may even recognize two of the most popular cast members from "The Office" (British version), Dawn and Tim.
Here's a link to the official UK "Shaun of the Dead" site. It has a hilarious video game you can play where you throw vinyl records at zombies, like in the movie. I played this thing for like 15 minutes before I got tired of it. Actually I didn't get tired of it. Currently I don't own a copy of this movie but I plan to.

2) "Army of Darkness" Released in 1992, starring Bruce Campbell

I couldn't really find any good sites about Army of Darkness but here's one that has a bunch of stuff about all the Evil Dead movies, which Army of Darkness is one of. geocities.com/evildeadpage
I do own this movie on VHS and when it came out on DVD I bought that too. Needless to say I've seen it a handful of times. My wife is not too fond of this flick but believe me it's completely and totally hilarious and rondiculous. You just can't get sick of it. Bruce Campbell plays the character, Ash, who is an S-Mart (like Kmart) employee who gets sucked into this medieval dimension where the "Deadites" are taking over. He uses his modern smarts, and smartassness, to defeat the Deadites and win the respect of the common folk.

I know I said two movies but I just thought of another one.
3) "Bubba Ho-Tep" Released in 2002, also starring Bruce Campbell, of Evil Dead/Army of Darkness fame.

In this movie Bruce plays the part of Elvis Presley, old and decrepit and in a nursing home. Nobody believes that he is actually Elvis. The "horror" part of this movie is a mummy that invades the nursing home. It's pretty funny. I own this DVD as well and am particularly keen on it, not because it is really funny and Bruce Campbell plays a great role, but because two great friends of mine were involved in the making of this film. One of my best and dearest friends, who I've known since elementary school, Avery Taylor, was a picture model in the film. That means that he is in a photograph in the film. Another friend, Danny Vecchione, who I met in high school and went to art school with at VCU in Richmond VA, was the production designer on this film. That means he designed the set. Originally I bought the DVD just to support my friends and was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed the movie.
The official web site is bubbahotep.com

All this horror movie talks brings us full circle, back to kayaking. Why? Because the sequel to "Enter The Donkey"...

Released in 2006 by Effort Inc, Catalyst Media and Deadman Productions might bear the title, "Night of the Living Donkeys." Right now it's just something we're tossing around the office but maybe, just maybe we'll call it that. We will need some zombies to fly out of the water at the bottom of rapids and at play spots. We're trying to work out that minor detail.

Speaking of horror videos, I have updated the video gallery archives on Effort.tv. Somehow I forgot to do that for the past five months but it's all there now. Here's the page effort.tv/videogallerykayakarchives.htm including a brand new video I just put up on the Linville Gorge.


Further, Effort.tv will be featuring a Panama surf kayaking trip with Ray Cotton and Drew Hayes later in November. Ray and Drew left two days ago for a twelve day surf adventure. The surf report was excellent and they took Effort Inc's video camera and telephoto lens. They'll be doing a full blog report like we did about our
Ecuador surf trips, complete with photos, video and without a doubt, moronic behavior.

See you on the turd of November,

Spencer Cooke, Effort.tv

ps. Here's my Halloween costume. I'm dressed as Chubbs from Happy Gilmore. Pictured at the end of my fingers is Travis McDowell (co-star of Enter The Donkey. You might notice him licking something.),who is dressed as a librarian.

October twenty-turd News

The Mustache contest was featured in Paddler Magazine's Kayak Magazine this summer. Way to go Steve Althaus!

Oddly though, Effort.tv was not credited with any of it. Haha! To see all the work that Effort.tv did not do on this event please visit the Mustache Link!

On a similar note Eugene Buchanan, formerly of Paddler Magazine, has resigned and started his own publication to be released in Spring '07 called Paddling Life. It is to be a bi-monthly magazine and they are doing a bi-annual Whitewater Life. Here's the link to their site. Paddling Life


I added a new dealer profile for Old Town Outfitters. They are based in Rock Hill, SC, close to Charlotte, NC. Rock Hill is like if you're heading from Charlotte towards Carowinds. Basically Old Town Outfitters is like Carowinds but more fun. Here's the link to their profile Old Town Outfitters and a photo of some of the dudes who work there.


Recently I traveled to Georgia on a sales trip. Not too many signs make me pull over and take a picture but this one did. Now that is a place that I would not go to have my eyes checked. Nothing more needs to be said.


Afterwards we had birthday cake and Yonton gave me a high-five.

The END.

Green River Video Project Completed - $10,000 donated to the Green River Access Fund

It's that special time of year! No, not Halloween, not Christmas, not Flag Day! Green Race Day is rapidly approaching and love is in the air! With all the excitement abound I figured it would be cool to share something special.

Click HERE to watch the video.

Here are the three of us, Mr Greenhagen, Brian and myself, working on our first day of shooting, just below Go Left.

photo courtesty of Abhay Patel

This spring, a long time paddling friend of mine, Brian Miller, called me up with an exciting proposition, to get paid for filming him on the Green River Narrows for a couple days. He didn't have to twist my arm much to say the least. Only after Brian explained the full scope of the project did I truly feel like this was a job that meant more than just paddling and filming, two things I do all the time. A recent article in Canoe & Kayak details the project and features comments from Brian MIller. To preface that article I wanted to briefly explain the project. Zimmer, Inc is the largest orthopedic device company in the world. They were looking for exciting, compelling, whitewater video footage with which to metaphorically relate the sales of their products. They used comparisons of all classes of whitewater with orthopedic sales to produce a motivational video for their employees worldwide. The video features none other than former C1 and OC1 National and World Champion, Brian Miller. Brian is a real ham in front of the camera and he's smooth like butter on the water, making him the perfect man for this job. Through Brian's connections in his profession as a Pharmaceutical Rep he was able to connect the three of us, Zimmer, himself and myself, to execute this project. An outdoor lover himself, Mr. Richard Greenhagen from Zimmer, was so inspried by our precious paddling resourse that he compassionately donated $10,000 to the Green River Access Fund in memory of Daniel DeLaVergne.
Click here to read the full article at Canoe & Kayak .

We express gratitude to our great pal, Ray Cotton, for carrying my still camera down the river and shooting some shots for us. As well, Brian's friend, Abhay Patel, hiked into the Narrows with Mr Richard Greenhagen and took photos. Thanks again and again to Mr Greenhagen himself for the generous donation to the Green River fund. I am very proud and honored to have been involved in such a meaningful project. It's not often that I get such an opportunity.

I'm filming atop the rock as Brian Goes Left.

Photo taken by Ray Cotton

Regarding the video: What you will download here is not the actual video produced by Zimmer, Inc, which was the purpose of this project to begin with. This is simply a highlight reel of all the filming we did in three full days on the water. Footage includes helmet-cam and every other angle we could get of those Green River rapids we all love so much. In an effort to give a realistic portrayal of the paddling that actually went on, the video shows the good lines and the crashes, including a crash of mine at Nutcracker. Oops. If you know the Green you will see that the rapids are edited in order, top to bottom. Please enjoy the video and make sure to thank and support the companies who supported this project: Liquidlogic, Astral, Aquabound, IR, Outdoor Sports Marketing and Shred Ready.

To read the full article about this project go to

They have posted some nice comments from Brian and more facts about the video shoot.

Meanwhile, take a look at some more photos from our work on the river. Photos were taken by Ray Cotton and Abhay Patel.

Filming Brian at Zwick's Back Ender.

Photo taken by Ray Cotton

Meet Mr. Richard Greenhagen, loving his experience down in the narrows.

Photo courtesy Abhay Patel

Mr Greenhagen meets us at the bottom of Scream Machine. He was blown away by the awe-inspiring sights of the gorge and size of the rapids.


Photos courtesy Abhay Patel

Brian ran Go Left & Die perfectly three out of four times. Here was one of the beautiful runs where he lays out on a cross bow stroke as he lines up for the slot. The first shot of that sequence reminds me of a bottom turn in the surf. Absolutely beautiful body position and boat control.





Here Brian flies like a bird off Gorilla.

Photo courtesy Abhay Patel

Click HERE to watch the video.

To read the full article about this project go to


See you out there,

Spencer Cooke, Effort.tv

Today is October Turdteenth. Thirteenth if you don't speak Irish. It's a special day. Why, you might ask. Because... two of my very good friends, who you may also know, are having a birthday today and I thought they deserved some humiliation.

Rion Smith and Don Hege ladies and gents. Happy Birthday to both you guys!

Don Hege, the guy who really got me going in the paddle sport business. I owe a lot to him. These days Don works at Great Outdoor Provision Co. in Winston Salem NC. When I first met Don he owned a shop in Winston called Whitewater Destinations, where I first learned about Riot Kayaks. Whitewater Destinations was my first sponsor, back in 1997, and consequently they were the first Riot Kayaks dealer in the US. Don gave me a Riot Hammer and told me to spread the word about Riot and his shop. Well, Don ended up hooking me up with Riot and I became their sales rep in the Southeast. A few years later Don sold his shop to Great Outdoor Provision and here we are now. If you ever get a chance to meet Don you should feel priveleged to do so. He is to me one of the true icons of paddle sports. If you know him the way I do you know what I mean.

Here is a recent photo of Don hanging out at GOPC.

This is a photo of me in my first Riot Hammer, given to me by Don. Watauga Falls, high water, 1997.

Same boat again. My first Green Race, Gorilla, November, 1997. I got 11th place out of around 30 racers. I didn't even know the lines. I must have zig-zagged all the way down the river. Haha!


Rion Smith is one of my best friends in the universe. He is important to me in so many ways, always as a friend and in business. Rion started as a paddle sports sales rep around the same time I did. We met in October, 1997 at the Wind-N-Sea Wave Blast, mine and his first surf kayaking competition. Neither of us has ever grown tired of kayak surfing. In fact that's what we love to do together best.

In 2000 Rion hired me as a sales rep in his rep group, Outdoor Sports Marketing, where I worked for two years. If I had to be employeed by someone and not run my own business, I could not imagine a better work situation. Rion is the best boss you could imagine. In those two years Rion allowed me to co-start my own business with Daniel DeLaVergne, which became Penstock Productions. So in many ways Rion enabled the startup of Penstock and LVM by allowing me the time and freedom during my employment at OSM. I could ramble on and on about how great this guy is, but that's a little history of our relationship. Rion truly is my brother from another mother. I should also mention that this was Rion's turdyturd birthday.

Here is Rion chillin in a hammock on our Ecuador surf trip last winter.


I'm outta here. Hopefully I'll be talking to you on the twentyturd. I have some good stuff to post here at that time.

Spencer Cooke, Effort.tv

Surf Kayaker, Charles Salters sizes up the shore break at Cape Hatteras before his semi-finals heat in the 2006 US National Surf Kayaking Championships.


September was a great month for me. I spent most of it traveling throughout my sales rep territory to visit retail stores. This time of year is always a busy road time for paddle sport reps. Preseason orders are normally due by the end of Sept, so everyone scrambles about like cockroaches trying to gobble up all the bread crumbs. My fall travels this year started with a welcome stop at Cape Hatteras, NC where the 2006 National Surf Kayaking Championships were under way. I was excited to come away with a National Title in the International Class.

Dave Johnston, from Santa Cruz CA, is always a contender in HP and IC. He did walk away with the HP National Title but I was able to edge him out in the IC finals. He took second, Joey Hall 3rd, Ross Fulcher 4th. Dave was in the first semi-finals heat of the day and pretty much set the standard for what was going to have to be done to win in head high beach break. Lip moves into six inches of water. Some boats were broken. Here is Dave slashing the lip on one of his rides.

Dave is shown here popping a floater in the HP class.


In case you have had no formal introduction or education regarding surf kayaking, there are two separate divisions of competition, International Class (IC) and High Performance (HP). Compared to stand up or board surfing, basically IC is long board and HP is short board but in kayaking there is little or no difference in the way the boat/board is surfed. You can see on the video that the long boats are able to throw radical moves just like the shorties. So I won the IC class at nationals. I compete in both but just happened to do best in IC at this event. My chosen craft is HP. I have a 6'8" boat, the Charger, that I normally surf. The IC boats are 10'. Most play boaters would never imagine that you could throw a helix or a huge blunt in a 10 foot boat, but with the IC boats it is quite possible. Both boats are equally fun and challenging in their own ways. Anyway, I hope that fills you in a little better if you were unaware.

Russ Buskirk paddles out through shore break in the IC class.

If you haven't already had a chance to see the highlight video from the Nationals, here it is again.
See the 2006 Nationals VIDEO Quicktime Format

After Nationals I hightailed it up to the DC area for some more retail store visits. Good buddy, Joey Hall, went with me and it was great having his company. Being on the road can get so boring when you're alone. After DC we spent a day up on the New Jersey Coast with another pal of ours, Drew Hayes. He showed us his local surf break where we were lucky to get a couple nice sessions before heading back south.
These were a couple shots Joey took of me in NJ.


Joey and I headed to Richmond VA afterwards for a Riot demo day with Appomattox River Co. Blog post to come at the Riot blog soon.

I haven't mentioned throughout all this that my vehicle has been out of commission. My very good man, Rion Smith, loaned me his truck for a month to do all my necessary road time. After returning that to him I thought I was getting my truck back but the repair had been delayed. Mike Byer Auto and Truck Repair is where I have my vehicle worked on in Asheville NC. I highly recommend these folks for auto work. They are honest, straight shooters and they do excellent, thorough work, which is way more than I can say for some other auto establishments in town. Anway, since my truck is not repaired yet, the good folks at Mike Byer loaned me, well, their loaner. The loaner is a Nissan Sentra with quite possibly the best personalized plates I've ever come across, no pun intended. It reads MBATR2, which obviously means Mike Byer Auto and Truck Repair... or does it? You can allow your imagination to do the rest on this one. I absolutely had to have my picture taken with this beauty. Thanks Mike Byer!


Come back here and visit soon. I have a big blog post to put up regarding a Green River fund raiser that Brian Miller and I did this summer. Lots of photos, words and video will be included.

Later,

Spencer Cooke, Effort.tv

Welcome!

All the Effort.tv news has been moved over to this blog. This will be easier to update and is certainly better for archiving all the old posts. I have consolidated all the news since the site launch as well as a couple significant blog posts from last year's Ecuador surf kayaking trips, etc... Dig through the archives if you want to see about those trips.

As I mentioned in the last post I truly do want to do my site updates on the turds. Meaning the turd, turdteenth, twentyturd and turdieth. Maybe even the turdyfirst. With that in mind, I just may not be able to wait for the turd on some of these posts, so you could be surprised to find updates here that are not on the turds. After all, you shouldn't force your turds... they should come naturally.

Sometimes I think I kid around too much. Then later on when I need you to take me seriously you may just think I'm joking. Okay, from now on I'm being totally serious.

Maybe.

Spencer Cooke, Effort.tv