WINNING TOP WALLACE!
The votes are in, and we’ve got our champ! JACK ORR slayed it with 85 likes… WAY TO GO SOUTHEAST! Nevin Sjostrom took second, and a DBP winter beanie (his choice to battle The PNW winterwith a bald head!) with 49 likes… And Caleb Chicoine of Colorado was awarded third place; we will explain this in a bit. WALLACE!
THANKS TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATED, from the many contestants who submitted edits (it was very hard to narrow down to just three!) and their supporters who voted and helped by sharing the post, and to our friends at Cascade Outfitters and Steep Creek Rescue who made it happen. CHEERS!
Jack Orr : His lines are clean, the other boaters… Not so much. WALLACE!!
With this lead in, Jack charged to the top of the TOP WALLACE heap to claim first prize in our end of year video contest on the Dirt Bag Paddlers Facebook page: some DBP stickers; croakies, coozie, and ballcap from Cascade Outfitters; and the “DIRTBAG” Throwbag from SCR!
“I came up to NOC’s Guest Appreciation Festival”, Jack says, “with Patrick Silcox and Chris Yenney from Young Harris College, and then met up with Andrew Hiltbrand from Forsyth, Georgia to paddle. The river featured in this video is the Nantahala Cascades at around 400 cfs. At this level it’s a class IV/V run. I was sporting the Liquid Logic Stomper 80 to punch through all the holes the rest of the people on the river couldn’t seem to get through.”
We asked Jack about his personal paddling philosophy. DBP: What does it mean to be a Dirtbag to you? “Being a Dirtbag takes a lot of commitment,” he told us. “You have to accept sleeping on the ground every weekend and eating a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread a week. 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.” Hahah, FACT.
DBP: What went through your head as you watched all this Wallacing unfold around you? “As I put on I knew beaterfest was about to begin. I did not however, expect the great show I got.” He laughed, “I was actually jealous as I watched Andrew Hiltbrand throw up after being body recirculated in a hole for around 30 seconds. I hoped one day I could be as much of a dirtbag beater as him.” Ouch! WALLACE.
DBP: What did you shoot the video with?”This video was just shot with the GoPro Hero 3 White edition. In my other videos I use a sony a37 and iPhone 5s in addition to my GoPro.” Jack told us a bit about the editing process. “Editing videos is one of my favorite hobbies besides kayaking. I chose the song because the Hilltop Hoods are strait up my jam. Also because I wanted it to be an upbeat video so I chose a song that had a continuous flow. It worked out in this case that I could put the clips in the order that the rapids were paddled, still have a good intro, and then get strait to the carnage that everyone loves. Then the mellow run out of the Cascades provided a good outro. I use Final Cut Pro on my Mac Book Pro to edit all my videos.”
Here’s the winning edit from Jack Orr
And more of Jack’s work:
Some footage from the first few weeks of summer:
Christmas Eve on Frogtown and The Upper Chestatee:
Nevin Sjostrom finished in Second place with 49 likes with this post: “We should have scouted better. Damn high water…”, his edit of a nasty high water Wallace on the Siletz River while out with his homies from the OCK (Oregon Coast Kayaking). He chose the DBP winter beanie along with winning croakies travel mug and a ballcap from Cascade Outfitters. We caught up with Nevin to ask him some questions about himself and that day.
“Our names are Nevin Sjostrom, Kamron Sjostrom (brothers) and Brandon Larrabee. We also go by the OCK boys. We all hail from East Lincoln County, Oregon, the perfect spot for PNW kayaking.”
The Siletz River is a class 4 run at low water, but it was flood stage during our run. I was in the white Mamba Dagger. Brandon Larrabee is in the red Mamba Dagger, and Kamron Sjostrom is in the Green Nomad Dagger.”
We asked Nevin about his paddling philosophy: “Basically just paddle the shit you don’t want to. How else are you going to get better? And do have an adventure!”
“I remember telling myself to breath and stay calm,” he says when asked about that WALLACE in the edit. “Then I decided to just reach towards the bottom of the river and pull my skirt. I remember thinking I was probably in for a rough swim.”
DBP: What did you shoot the footy with? “We shot the video with TWO GoPro hero 3’s, one on my helmet and one on Kamrons. Only two hours of editing went into the video. I wasn’t really expecting to get a whole lot of views.” When asked about the tunes, Nevin replied, “I chose the music because Lindsey Sterling is a little sexy nymph and she’s bad ass on the violin. Also, dubstep is the best choice for kayaking videos.” Good on ya, bro!
Nevin Sjostrom’s 2nd place edit, THE DAY WE ALL SWAM:
Some other edits from the OCK Boys: (be sure to check out their YouTube channel too)
SNOW YAKING:
NF ALSEA:
We had a bit of a mash-up over third place, and we’ve decided to address it once and for all. The last finalist selected was Joey Simmons, who submitted a sweet video of his beatdown at the bottom of Big Falls of the South Fork of the Payette. Joey withdrew his submission after garnering 33 likes.
After being selected as a finalist, Mr Simmons wrote: “My buddies told me after the fact that these guys weren’t the most reputable and giving paddlers a bad name at Gauley Fest last year.”
DBP replied: “Joey… We threw a party Friday night there and gave out 13 cases of beer and 75 brats; Sat’s headliner band The Kalob Griffin Band played an acoustic set for us; we gave out a bunch of free swag from Creature Craft, Steep Creek Rescue, Hyside, and the International Rafting Federation as well as our own gear; threw a wet tee shirt contest with a $200 cash prize; showed some paddling porn and entertained a couple hundred paddlers; ALL FOR FREE. Past that, we just hung out like everyone else. We even apologized to the few neighbors who didn’t appreciate us partying till midnite (we had gone around Thursday night to introduce ourselves and invite everyone), and encouraging all to RING THE BELL!!… Most of our neighbors, like Team Latestart, enjoyed the Dirtbag hospitality… We’d like to invite you to see for yourself whether or not we are dirtBALLS. Perhaps one day we can meet and you can make up your own mind about us. Haters gonna hate, and t’ings be t’ings. We don’t care, we’ll do US.”
I personally took it one step further, explaining, “The only thing I regret from Gauley Fest is getting pissed with someone comparing a wet Tshirt contest with rape, and I’ve apologized to that person whom we unintentionally offended. Past that I’m proud of hosting a good time and know that my friends and I are real down to earth people who would throw you a rope, give you a ride, buy you a beer, even feed you or give you some clothes. We did all of these things that trip for paddlers in need, most of em strangers. Perhaps one day your friends and my friends can run some shit and we’ll see where we stand.”
Mr Simmon’s reply was brief. “Sorry for opening a bag of worms there, had no idea… I just liked seeing your carnage videos all the time, but when I entered this contest and three long time friends messaged me and said similar things I didn’t know what to think… Thanks for putting on this contest I appreciate it, and hope you all have great lines in the future, and you can give my winnings to another dirtbag who really deserves them.”
Well… Guess it’s hard to reply to nameless accusations of how we “give all paddlers a bad name…” But we’ll take you at your word and wish you many safe Wallaces like the one in your edit.
Like we said earlier, there were actually six entries that we wrestled with choosing for the honor of winning these great prize packages. So without further ado we will award the THIRD PLACE FINISH TO….CALEB CHICOINE! Caleb wins a fat stack of stickers, and croakies and travel mug from Cascade Outfitters.
Caleb’s entry, entitles “HARMONY OF THE RIVER,” features his crew of teenage buddies age 15 to 19 ripping it up throughout Colorado in 2014. This cut had just missed being a finalist, and we were only too glad to give the sticker package to a true dirtbag and supporter. This kid is going to go a long way in the future!
We asked Caleb about his entry. “The Crew I was paddling with was a mix of two groups: the Gore Range Swim Team, containing paddlers Ben Hymes, Logan Jauernigg, Mac Kelsall, Max Brunette, and Carter Peel, and the other group which doesn’t have a name yet contains myself, Max Clark, Brian Alt, and Wyatt Alt. We are all paddlers from the Vail Valley in Colorado.”
“This was entirely filmed in Colorado,” he continued. “The main river, (the one with the waterfalls and slides) was the North Fork of the Crystal River. The rapids the crew ran on the NF were Devil’s Punchbowls, Cake and Icing, the Slots, and the Campsite drop. Other shots were filmed on the Colorado and Eagle Rivers. I believe that all of the Rapids in the video were class V.”
DBP: We love asking our favorite question… Tell us about your collaborators and your favorite boats. “As you could tell there were many paddlers involved in this film. Ben Hymes used a red Dagger Mamba, Logan Jauernigg used a Pyhrana Shiva, Max Brunette used a green Liquid Logic Stomper, Mac Kelsall used a Red Liquid Logic Jefe, Carter Peel used a red Dagger Nomad, Max Clark used a yellow Wavesport Diesel, Brian Alt used a Green Jackson Villain, Wyatt Alt used a red Fluid Bazooka, and I used a green Fluid Bazooka.” One heckuva lineup!
DBP: At the age of 17 you’ve just begun your journey on the path of Dirtbaggin’… What does the term mean to you? “To me,” Caleb answered, “being a dirtbag simply means enjoying life. We do things that make us happy. We live life.” True that.
DBP: We are ALL in between swims, all the more so for paddlers on the upper end of the spectrum like you. What goes through your mind when you Wallace? “When ever I wallace I think of an old EJ video where he says ‘If you flip there is trouble, if you swim there is double trouble.”
DBP: Your submission was really high class; you didn’t make the original final cut only because there wasn’t much Wallacing, hahah! Please tell us about what you shot the footy with, and a bit about the editing process. “The cameras used in this film were a Nikon d5200 and multiple gopro’s,” Caleb informed us. “The editing process on this film was very fun. My passion for film and photography began right before the 2014 paddling season. I set a goal for myself to submit a video to the Kayak Session Magazine Short Film of the Year Awards. I knew I wouldn’t make the final cut but it seemed like a fun challenge to combine my passion for boating and my passion for film into one big project.” Big goals for such a young guy!
Caleb elaborated. “After I had all of the footage I began to think of what the river means to me. I realized that the river is a majestic beast that meant to be enjoyed, but not messed with. The next step in my editing process was finding a song. This was actually one of the best parts. One of our paddlers, Max Clark (he’s only 15 by the way!), is an emerging artist in the electronic music scene. He had just released his first major remix of a song called The Unknown by M’DAX ft. Bonnie Legion. I thought his remix would perfectly fit the theme of my film. From there I just let the brain juices flow and would come home from school and immediately start working on the video. I finally submitted it to the Short Film of the Year Awards and racked up just over 17,000 views and was Kayak Session’s video of the week! This well surpassed all of my expectations.” It’s hard to not be impressed with this up and comer!
Caleb Chicoine’s 3rd Place winner, HARMONY OF THE RIVER
Here is a link to Caleb’s vimeo page with all of his current films: https://vimeo.com/downriverfilms970
Here is a link to his professional facebook page containing some of Caleb’s pictures: https://www.facebook.com/downriverfilms
And here is a link to Caleb’s Instagram: http://instagram.com/downriver_films/
We’d like to quickly recognize some of the other contestants and their outstanding edits. Without these paddlers it wouldn’t have been much of a contest. You guys just BARELY missed the cut! Thanks again, and keep charging hard!
RYAN GLADSTONE sent us “STOUTS FOR DAYS” giving props to his fellow paddlers Alex Leck, Emory Klesick, and Dylan Wood.
TRAVIS OVERSTREET, former Admin for the DBP Facebook page, entered this outstanding edit: “Great times with friends on two of my favorite rivers. Goshen Pass on the Maury River and the Infamous Russell Fork Gorge.”
SAM DICKIE juuuust missed the cut with this superb edit of his 2014 year in review. Look for his work with Honey Badger Media House!
TO END, thanks again to all involved. There is another video contest coming up VERY SOON…. Prizes are already pouring in from all over the world after folks saw how popular Top WALLACE was. So get your edit ready for a few weeks from now… And remember, someone out there isn’t gonna like you, and someone out there is gonna love you. DO YOUR THING, don’t look back, don’t give in… DO YOUR THING.