The #WhiteWinterWhiteWater video contest held the last ten days of January was absolutely what one would expect: entertaining, with epic runs, gorgeous shots, and killer music highlighting big boy rapids and drops. Everyone was a winner!
Andy Lockey came in First Place with a killer edit of a winter paddling trip down the PNW classic, Tumwater Canyon. The editing was top rank by far, and he ran away with the vote.
Andy’s edit:
Martin Kowalski of Ottawa, Canada entered a sick winter kayaking edit with a hilarious song that came in second. “I’m not your average 17 years old, I am a whitewater kayaker: playboater, creeker and fisherman. Some of my favorite places to paddle: Blanche riviere (Thurso, Quebec), Ottawa River, Rouge River (Quebec). Favorite Play spots: Champlain Bridge, Big Joe, White Dog Wave (Quebec). Playboat: Jackson rockstar small. Creek boat: Nomad 8.1.”
“Whitewater kayaking has taken over my life, most of the time all I ever think about is what drop or river I’m gonna run next or what wave I’m going to surf. There is not one thing I do not enjoy about kayaking, because even thought it might be a crappy day and its cold and your gear is wet, it all makes for an epic day because the river’s running and you’re going kayaking with your best buds!”
Martin’s edit:
BadNews BoatSquad’s Joey Tee entered a Doanes Falls winter descent on Lawrence Brook in Massachusetts. “We are just a bunch of average joes looking for some average hoes (and flows).”
These Northeasterners make it look SICK! The edit came in third.
BAD NEWS BOAT SQUAD EDIT:
We asked all three finalists about their editing and an explanation of what winter paddling is all about.
DBP: Tell us about you and your crew, and what possesses you to boat in the winter.
ANDY: My name’s Andy, people call me Full Face. The other two guys pushing the mini-me rubber are Neils and Bryan. I was living in the Northeast during that winter so just the sight of open water was enough to get me psyched to paddle in 15 degree temps. Neils is always stoked to paddle so he was easily convinced, and I’m pretty sure Bryan was talked into it.
MARTIN: I have been kayaking for a little over 3 years. My uncle introduced me to whitewater kayaking and ever since that day I have been addicted. Shorty after learning the basics of kayaking, I met Jean- Nicolas Cyr (known as Johnny Dirtbag). He introduced me into my current paddling crew, CJ Richard W, Cregg J, Trev, Kieran, a bunch of cool down-to-earth dudes who love to paddle. Paddling in the winter is always an adventure even though its cold, because you are still out on the water having a good time. Another reason why I enjoy winter boating is because you always end up with wicked photos/videos.
BNBS: We are a bunch of fun loving goofballs who are mostly skiers and snowboarders; that and living up here make us pretty resistant to the cold, and the other fact that it never seems to rain when its warm, mostly because summer only lasts a few weeks up here (or so it seems).
DBP: What’s your favorite winter run?
ANDY: Definitely Tumwater Canyon on the Wenatchee River in Washington. It runs all year and is consistent all winter with anything from Class III to V at your frozen fingertips. What the video shows is about as frozen as it gets. A few ice shelf undercuts and lots of ice boofs, but all pretty manageable.
MARTIN: Hogs Back Falls is one of my favorite runs in the winter. The scenery is amazing with all the icy undercuts. But my favored place to paddle in the winter would be sewer wave, a local wave in Ottawa.
BNBS: Our favorite winter run is probably the Winnipesaukee River in NH mainly because it never really freezes, and for some reason it seems to be fairly easy to find folks boating during the winter.
DBP: Tell about the day in the edit you submitted, and what your boat was.
ANDY: I had been living in Quebec, but flew back to Washington to see family and friends and of course get on the river. I managed to get a Wavesport Diesel from a buddy who wasn’t paddling and “borrowed” some gear from my old college rental shop. Originally I was planning to just solo some of Tumwater if no one else was up for it but, like I said, Neils is always stoked, although Neils wasn’t a hard shell guy at the time, so he convinced Bryan to R2 with him in the Hyside Mini-Me. The Wenatchee was running just under 1000 cfs so Tumwater was low technical class 4 ish for the section we did. Good thing the mini-me is only 9 feet long.
MARTIN: There were multiple days in my edit, one of which was my first time running Hogs Back Falls, a local drop in Ottawa. Another day was MACKFEST, a paddling event in Marmora On, were I paddled the upper Black River. The last place I paddled in my edit was the Petite Nation River. The boat I was using was a Dagger Nomad 8.1.
BNBS: Our video was filmed on Doanes Falls. It was a halfway warm day and the river was fairly open as far as creeking went; it was the closest thing this open on that particular day. There is a bit of an access issue with this location – actually the whole story is lined with enough bull shit to make and interesting piece on its own. I was in a Prijon Hercules.
DBP: Music is everything. When you made the edit, why did you choose the song, what is it and what artist?
ANDY: Music is everything! I emphasize that in all my edits and try to be as original and eclectic as possible with my choices. For this instance I think I heard the song, Amplive Remix of The Submarines 1940, on a music blog or something. It has a good beat and the bell melody sounds wintery or icy to me if that makes sense.
MARTIN: I chose OUT FOR A RIP! by b. richmond because I felt like this song was very Canadian and represented every time I went paddling “OUT FOR A RIP!”
BNBS: Breaking The Law by Judas Priest. I chose that song mainly because of the lyrics – not only a great song on its own, but most of it could be said about this run and those who know see it.
DBP: What did you film with?
ANDY: Filmed dirt bag fashion with the cheapest hd dslr setup known to mankind, a used hacked Panasonic GH1 with old Canon FD lenses. Topped off with two not so dirt bag GoPro Hero2’s.
MARTIN: I filmed with a GoPro Hero 2
BNBS: GoPro MK1 Hero
DBP: What is your personal boating philosophy? What drives you to push the extremes?
ANDY: First and foremost I always wear a full face. Creeking, playboating, eating, drinking, sleeping and so on. Beyond that boating should be fun, whether its flat water or class five. I love to take beginners out in the flats or easy whitewater for their first experiences just as much as I like to make tight, difficult, and committing moves on the stouts. What drives me to push myself is that feeling you get above a drop as you peel out of that last eddy. Sitting in that eddy my mind is running wild, I breathe loudly, talk to myself, make weird noises, ask if the red light is blinking. But when I take that committing stroke downstream it all goes away, my mind instantly clicks into a heightened state of awareness and becomes fully focused to the task at hand and nothing else, known as Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory or the zone from that psych 101 class. I get this feeling during other sports and activities too like skiing, climbing, or auto racing but nothing quite matches up to the experience on the river. It’s that closer connection with nature, being one with the river, going with the flow blah blah hippy adventure of solitude while sharing it with close friends that I trust with my life kind of thing that can simply be summed up as fun. Thats what keeps me paddling.
MARTIN: My boating philosophy is to constantly have a good time. Even when it’s a cold day I try and always see the bright side of things, you’re out kayaking with some of your best buds. One element of boating that drives me would have to be the adrenaline rush I get when I’m about to go over the lip of a drop, or when I stomp a huge boof.
BNBS: As far as a personal boating philosophy goes, “if bikers are 1%’ers we must be the .00001%,” and “We are not just good we are good enough,” sums it up.
The three prize packages were fat. We gave away swag from our friends at Wallace Brewing (of course!), Cascade Outfitters, LiquidLogic, Airborn Kayaking, LifeProof, and others, as well as the full mix of DBP Gear, topped off with a hand made custom throwbag. But there were some other great edits well worth mentioning who received DBP boat decals for playing as well.
Trent McCrerey of Boulder, Colorado entered a sick edit with the following words: “So I guess the big question is, why the fuck would you go paddle in 20 degree temperatures and low flows, haha! The obvious reason is – To take a rad photo and post it on Facebook right?! Haha. Although I can’t completely deny that aspect, for me I did it because spending a day freezing my arse off on the river is better than spending a day not on the river at all. I had a full anterior hip replacement done in August and gravitational pull to the river was stronger than ever. Despite ice and hightened consequences… I had to break in the new hardware. I called up the SBRC crew and we made our way up to Gore Canyon on the Colorado River. The anticipation was real. I had no idea how my hip would react to kayaking, and swimming was not an option. Ben Hymes, Paul Raymond and I put on and entered the winter wonderland. The views throughout the canyon were next level. Fortunately for me my hip felt great and the lines were clean!”
A photo of Trent in full facemask WALLACE mode paddling Gore.
Trent’s edit
Etienne Beland sent us an edit at the deadline that wowed us. This kid has an amazing story behind the great boating – he lost his thumb last year in an off-river accident. “I created a Athlete account so maybe I can get some help to make more kayaking edits. With my no thumb presently, I have planned some good projects this years with a buddy. After a summer of kayaking all around Québec, I’m going to Équateur for 2-3 month then sending back to Calgary to work and paddle with friends.” This kid has a huge drive, setting up his own paddle to overcome his disability, and NOT GIVING IN. Watch for an interview when Spring hits and the Ottawa gets ripping.
Etienne’s edit:
Martin Dormaier of Team Action Force of Germany fired up an IK edit cold enough to freeze anyone’s cajones! “OK so here’s the short bio.
Name: Martin
Age: 23
From: Munich, Germany
Job: Raftguide and lazy College student.” Def Dirtbag!!
Martin’s edit:
Ryan Strong submitted an entry that just missed the cut. “I’m a Colorado transplant from Wisconsin. 2015 will mark my 3rd season as a paddler. I am one of the founding members of the HWDAMF. (Hard working dumb ass mother fuckers). Check out our video series on Vimeo, lots of quality go pro footage on classic moderate runs from both the Midwest and Colorado.” Follow Ryan on Instagram @jungledog.
A few edits from HWDAMF
Upper Midwest:
The Numbers in CO:
WALLACE :
Jack Orr came back with a winter edit from the snowy Tellico fresh off winning the TOP WALLACE contest on New Years Day! “Being a Dirtbag takes a lot of commitment. You have to accept eating a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread. You have to be willing to blow off class or work whenever because it rained the day before. It’s more than meets the eye to people that don’t refer to themselves as dirtbags. It is actually a lot of work.”
Jack’s edit:
Caleb Chicoine is another winner from TOP WALLACE, and this kid is one of our favorite videologists out there! Working under the banner of Downriver Films, he submitted a winning piece of EPICNESS, and then demurely passed on being a finalist, saying with real class, “Haha give it to someone else, spread the LOVE! Anything to help out fellow dirtbags!” But this link is DEFINITELY worth watching. Remember this kid, he’s only 16 and GOING PLACES.
Caleb’s link:
THANKS TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATED, VOTED, CONTRIBUTED PRIZES, AND MADE #WHITEWINTER A SUCCESS! ENJOY THE FRUITS!!