Kokatat continues their support of the HTTD series for a third season!
Kokatat has stepped up to the plate for their third season with the World Kayak HTTD series. Kokatat is known for their amazing quality dry gear. They are an awesome group of paddlers located in northern California who have a true passion for the sport. Look for some seekers headed to a throwdown event near you. There are some exciting announcements coming from Kokatat for our Championship event at NOC later this fall. Make sure to support this great company by checking out their gear at your local retailer.
Later ; Colin
Immersion Research is back in 2012!
IR is a fantastic family run and owned company that has been supporting the World Kayak HTTD series since the very first season. The 2012 season is no different. Amonge other things, IR is know for super dry skirts and the best customer service in the industry. I must say that my Dry Deck is one of my most favorite pieces of gear that I personally own. Make sure you visit their site at www.immersionresearch.com for a look at some great product as well as some great stories and laughs.
Later ; Colin
Stonyboater Paddle Wax signs on for a second season as a HTTD partner!
I am excited to announce that Stonyboater Paddle Wax has stepped up to the pate to sponsor the World Kayak Hometown Throwdown series for a second year. Last season a number of you got the opportunity to experience a kung fu grip on your paddle of choice, courtesy of Jason Rigby. Not only is Jason the owner of Stonyboater Paddle Wax, but he is also the Western PA World Kayak Ambassador. As the WK ambassador he is coming on strong this season. He is piloting our new Creek Race component to the event series. He even managed to get some great media coverage of his last event. Check it out here in his region http://regions.worldkayak.com/confluence-ohiopyle/. Make sure you check out the Stonyboater Paddle Wax website at www.stonyboater.com
Later ; Colin
September’s winner of the WK get registered contest is……………
David Goodwin.
Thanks to everyone who got registered and supported WK this throwdown season. Look for more cool contests and river events to come next season. We will finish off this season with two great events at Gauley Festival. Our first timers event will be in full effect and we will have a great throwdown on the lower Gauley that will be video judged at the Chaco booth during the festival. Make sure you sing up to participate for this event, that has the richest prize purse of the season.
Later ; Colin
July’s winner of a JK 2010 star is…………………………….
Samantha Collins from Atlanta, GA is our second winner of a Jackson Kayak star. We are drawing a winner each month for the next two months from the pool of folks that have registered to be tracked in the WK Hometown Throwdown series. It only costs $10 to get ranked and you can look at it as a super inexpensive opportunity to win a free boat! Sign up at www.worldkayakblogs.com/throwdown/get-ranked/ to make sure you are in the running for the remaining two boats this summer.
Later ; Colin
World Kayak and Partners Announce the 2011 Blogging Contest Series
Each year our sponsoring partners come to our paddling communities with more and more reasons to keep us stoked about paddling. As a result our sport has shown more growth than ever before… OIA shows Whitewater Kayaking as the third fastest growing outdoors sport in America! It is because of the generousity and support of our partners that enables us to encourage participation in a growing number of communities across the globe… for this, we say THANK YOU!
Just when we think things cannot get any better, our amazing partners notch it up once again! This time with a series of prizes encouraging our community spirit on the web! World Kayak believes that showing the outside world our personalities is key to successful growth. The “I wanna paddle with them” factor is very important as a draw to our lifestyle. Blog posts and stories on the web tend to lend to this kind of attraction. World Kayak and its partners (Kokatat, Immersion Research, Chaco, Shred Ready, Mountain Khakis, Jackson Kayak, Smith Optics and Astral Bouyancy have set up a series of fun ‘story posting’ contests aimed at getting our amazing lifestyle out there for all to see! From laughing about some of our ‘unique paddling fashion’ to our weirdest helmets, to swims and giving them glimpses of our take out parties and those who have inspired us along the way in our c0mmunities this contest series will show the expanse of our fun, free and unique culture.
Join us, post up a story for each of our contests or just one… get your friends involved… most of all… show the non-paddling folks JUST how much fun we have!
OIA Participation Report Lists Whitewater Kayaking in top 3 for Participation!
One happy moment for me this year was ripping the cover off of the annual OIA Report on Participation to see Whitewater Kayaking in 3rd place behind Adventure Racing and Hiking as the top sports in 2008-2009 with an average participation increase of 10.2% over the last report… and #1 in size of leap it has taken.
I say Kudos to all who strive each day to get your friends out and paddling!
It is this very report that comes out showing numbers that seemingly were stagnant over the past decade prompting the doomsday crowd to the forefront calling for the end of the world… I’ll say now what I said then… BLA BLA BLA… You know who you are… For all those who took those previous numbers and actually did something about it… High Five! Job well done! I’m happy to report that World Kayak sees many more positive people out there and hope that keeps comin’… 2012 numbers will show even bigger numbers… hopefully knocking that adventure racing crowd into the rivers!
Growth in any sport is all about community activity, fun and spreading the good word. Cheers to all our ambassadors and their peeps in each region for doing just that! Keep having fun and let us know how we can help!
World Kayak at 2010 Symposium
The World Kayak crew and a good many of their sponsors will be attending the 2010 Whitewater Symposium October 7 th through 10th at NOC. We welcome all to attend as this will not only be a great place to collect after a year of hard work, but a great place to learn. There are presentations, workshops and a TON of onwater stuff for everyone… paddler and industry professional alike. Please join myself (James), Colin Kemp and Lee Hart amongst some of our industry’s great characters…
2010 Whitewater Symposium – “The Next Rapid Evolution”
The 2010 Whitewater Symposium is coming to the Nantahala Outdoor Center in Bryson City, NC October 8-10. Like past Symposiums, this 7th version of the event seeks to advance the sport of whitewater paddling by bringing together key players from all aspects of the whitewater spectrum including clubs, instruction, recreation, manufacturing, competition, retail, adventure travel, and stewardship .
It’s a truly unique opportunity for paddlers and industry leaders alike to exchange ideas about trends in programs, promotion, equipment, and technique. For the benefit of the paddling public and club members in particular, the 2010 Symposium will provide an all-inclusive package of on-water instruction, dry-land seminars, film presentations, and roundtable discussions targeting many more of the “in-demand” topics most noted by past participants,
We’ve listened to attendee feedback over the years, from which we’ve created a fresh new series of topics addressing some of the more common themes of interest to our audiences. New to the Symposium this year is a dedicated 3-track session schedule that aims to emphasize specific topics in the areas of whitewater oriented business, program development, and paddler enthusiasm.
The Business Track will include presentations by astute market leaders like Andy Zimmerman from Legacy, and Darren Bush, whose company Rutabaga is the largest paddle sports retailer in North America. Discussions will incorporate perspectives on topics like “How to boost sales”, “Effective Marketing”, and “Connecting with Customers”. If you make your living in the paddlesports industry, you won’t want to miss the broad range of forward thinking discussions in the house.
The Development Track is geared towards educational programs, instruction, and club activities. These sessions will center around the most innovative thinking being applied to everything from equipment design, to program building and approaches to teaching, training and paddling technique. Key Speaker Chris Fanning, along with a plethora of acclaimed instructors like Anna LeVesque and swiftwater rescue guru Mike Mather, bring their years of experience to interactive presentations of important topics. This is an unparalleled opportunity to be part of the conversation, as many of today’s top ambassadors of paddlesports weigh in on a whitewater vision for the future.
The Paddler Track will be a chance to connect with some of the hottest personalities in paddlesports and learn about the most cutting edge whitewater pursuits happening around the world. Participate in on-water clinics with the likes of freestyle champion Eric Jackson and Olympic gold medalist Joe Jacobi. Get up to speed on specifics like paddling performance, running creeks, improving your mental game, river safety, whitewater film making, and playboating skills … and find out how many of today’s most successful paddlers are striving to make a difference through programs you might find yourself wanting to explore further.
Whether you’re looking to improve your on-water skills, boat with world class paddlers, connect with other whitewater enthusiasts and business leaders, grow your business, market your product, or learn about service project opportunities, this year’s Whitewater Symposium offers something for everyone through a dynamically diverse program held over a single weekend at one of the world’s premier whitewater destinations …. Hope to see you there! For more program, schedule, and registration information, check out http://WWSymposium.com
New Kayakeducation.com Scholarships for schools, clubs and instructors
Thanks to the generocity of our sponsors, we will be waiving the first year’s educator fees for access to our Welcome Center/educator portal and benefits. For the first 200 kayak schools, clubs or instructors, access will be free for the duration of 2010 at kayakeducation.com. To apply simply go to http://letsgopaddling.com/welcome-centers/become-a-welcome-center-2/welcome-center-application/ and fill out the form in detail. World Kayak will be responding to each applicant directly.
World Kayak’s kayakeducation.com was built to support a global conversation and exchange between educators, aimed at helping EVERY educator have a resource for cutting edge teaching tools and techniques. This system is part social network for educator exchange, part instructional support tool and part marketing tool. Schools, clubs and instructors can read tips, video instructional videos, post up recommendations, join forums all in the name of supporting their teaching. These tools also allow them to post upcoming classes and contact information. This will then be posted to World Kayak’s regional portal (regions.worldkayak.com) and to its blogging and community portals www.worldkayakblogs.com … exposing their regional classes to the tens of thousands of visitors monthly throughout the seasons.
