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