Ross Herr Kayaking » Product Review

Self Support kayaking with the Liquidlogic Freeride; Westwater UT

admin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 04:52:59 +0000

I suppose this is long out of order from my travels this summer but I just came across an SD card with all the shots from my trip down Westwater Canyon. It’s crazy that I’ve lived only 3 hours away from this beautiful place most of my life and never took advantage and hopped on a trip until this year. It was the perfect way to wind down after the crazy excitement of the Outdoor Retailer show where we launched the new Liquidlogic Stomper and all the other great products with Legacy Paddlesports. I was pumped to meet up with my good friends from First Descents and share some sun, beers, and good times in the canyon. I mean, truly, that’s what this sport is about. As much as it feels good to push yourself, and seek challenging whitewater. It’s the times spent with your friends on the river that really makes you keep coming back for more.

Canyon entrance

We rolled up the night before launch and set up the rafts. Unfortunately, one of the groups with a raft wasn’t able to make it at the last minute so space on our two rafts was very limited. I decided I’d just roll self support style keeping more space in the rafts for the important stuff like food and beer. I moved my seat forward just a little and had plenty of space for my two watershed futa-floats, 70′ speedloader throwbag and camera gear. My bags held my sleeping bag, pad, jetboil stove, and change of clothes. The Freeride 57 still rode awesome and I was stoked to have it as we set up camp at Little Dolores and Jason, Matt, Angie, and I had an awesome surf session until the sun went down that evening.

It was an awesome trip with great friends. Here are some shots from the weekend.

Loaded up Freeride

-

Scouting Skull

Matt going for a deep line

Peta guiding smoothly

Even Brianne, a total hater of all things Brown Claw and fun was caught enjoying herself.

Camp

Freeriding

Flotilla on the flatwater cruise out… Good times

Werner Paddles, making the switch; a year in review

admin — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:49:36 +0000

So this year was the first time I changed paddles in ten years. I have stuck with my foam-filled AT2 standard for a long time and I think most people will tell you, once you get used to something it’s hard to change. With my summer plan to be on the road, and finally having a chance to get out to the California wilderness, I decided I needed to make the change to something I could feel really confident about when SHTF. Werner was the obvious choice for the strongest most reliable paddles in the industry. While the largest majority of my friends went with the straight-shaft Powerhouse, I had a friend hand me their bent-shaft Sherpa on the river one day and I was hooked. The slightly smaller blades than the Powerhouse made it a little bit more forgiving and the bent shaft is simply what I know how to use. The switch to the different style of Werner vs. AT bent shaft was no problem. By the end of the first day the Werner felt just as natural in my palm like I had been using it all along. The confidence of Werner’s continuous weave fiberglass meant I wasn’t checking my paddle for dings or cracks after every day on the river. After a full season from coast to coast I’ll never look back to my old paddles. When paddling in areas of high commitment and risk you just have to eliminate anything from your equipment that could fail you. A Werner paddle is that piece that you can hold season after season and feel good about.

Fantasy Falls

For my playboating blade I got the Double Diamond. The DD is a full carbon construction with double Dynel edging and a layer of Kevlar. The foam filled blades are the only way to go for playboating whether on a wave or in a hole. The biggest difference I noticed switching to this paddle was how light and stiff it was. The super stiff paddle made moves precise and sharp. The blade shape is smooth and perfect for fast vertical strokes.

Glenwood Wave

Finally, I also use Werner for Stand Up Paddling. The same construction that makes their creeking paddles so bomber goes into their paddles for SUP. I see countless blades from the other surf companies with blown out seams and chipped edges. I’ve got two full seasons on my fiberglass Carve. I can push off rocks, get rocked to the beach surfing and it doesn’t show a bit of wear. I suppose my point is, when you use Werner paddles, you’re more worried about picking the right line and pulling the next move. The paddles just do their job.

Big Sur

Liquidlogic Composite testing Ottawa: Garburator

admin — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:50:46 +0000

Many people got to check them out firsthand at Gauley festival and see Jordan out there tearing it up. Liquidlogic is working on a new composite playboat. It doesn’t have a name and the only mission for Shane with the boat is to keep testing till it’s perfect and figure it out after that. We had an awesome set of sessions on Garburator Wave with the level holding at -1 feet. Here are some of Shane’s shots from the sessions and the video with Jordan Poffenberger absolutely killing it.

And a couple of shots I found from round 1 testing at Glenwood Wave in June.

Middle Feather 4th of July

admin — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:26:10 +0000

Here are more photos from the Cali trip thus far. The day after getting off Big Kimshew we hustled over to Quincy, CA with our sights on some bigger water and the Middle Feather. This was an awesome way to spend our 4th of July. Even though non of us brought any fireworks there were plenty of American flag covered Budweiser cans to feel the holiday cheer. We loaded our boats full and it was a great opportunity to test out my Stomper packed up. The new outfitting makes it so easy to pack full of gear. It’s amazing how much stuff you can bring on the river. Here is most of what I brought and check out how the backband is up and out of the way.

The Middle Feather is normally a 3 day mission but with all the CO boys having to get back to their jobs by Tuesday and catch their flights Monday night we opted to crush through it a bit faster thanks to Tom Janney sort-of knowing the lines. All said and done it took us less than 24 hours to get through the canyon. Day 1 begins with a beautiful class III sight seeing mission. The crew ahead of me had a bear swim out into a rapid and check them out; a sight I’m jealous I missed. After about an hour of boogie the gradient picks up into some awesome boulder garden rapids with the most beautiful granite walls I’ve ever see on both sides for miles. Here is the main event on day 1 with Tyson and Tom showing how to thread the needle past this massive hole on both sides.

Our fearless guide Tom Janney:

Tyson Titensor close behind:

We made camp on a beach a few miles above Devils Canyon with a great view, fire pit, and even a grill which came in handy for the full rack of ribs I packed in the back of the Stomper.

Camp on day 1:

Packing in the protein for day 2:

Day 2 we all woke up early and got fired up for another day of big water class V. Again, Tom hopped in front and lead the charge. He had been on this run about 5 times before and impressively chose good lines most of the way through. There are so many rapids on this run it’s impossible to keep track. We rarely scouted or stopped in eddies. He confidently charged us through saying, “I think it’s this way…” and we would blindly follow. The holes are massive on this run and I was the first to test it’s power early in day 2. Not quite awake, maybe 5 minutes down from camp, I dropped into a big one and took my licks for a solid amount of time. Long enough for the crew to eddy out and enjoy the show but luckily I held on till it’s fury was over and it let me out still locked in to my Stomper 90. There were no swims on this trip and my eyes were open the rest of the day through. We reached the new takeout, just upstream from Milsap Bar on river left around noon and waited for our chariot to pick us up and say our goodbyes as the crew headed back to CO. It was an awesome trip and I can’t wait to get back next year. The flows for our trip were around 2,800 cfs.

Here are some more photos from day 2.

Jared Johnson charging in the morning:

Tom, rapid above the portage:

“Chunderboy would do it”:

Jake routing through Helicopter:

More coming soon, keep checking back.
SYOTR