Kokatat Ambassador Freya Hoffmeister brought her “Race Around Australia” tour to Arcata, CA on Tuesday 2/23. Everyone here at Kokatat was very excited to have Freya visit the factory before the event. Kokatat and Explore North Coast hosted the presentation in Eureka. We had a good turnout on a rainy weekday evening, enjoyed some food, drinks, and a great story! Take a look at Frey’s blog for more photos of the night and a factory tour.
Kokatat employee Adrien Pritchard tells us about his New Years trip down the Deschutes River.
“When the opportunity created itself for myself and 4 friends to experience the lower Deschutes River (Warm Springs to Sandy Beach, aka 52 river miles) in winter, and with the added benefit of experiencing another New Years on the water (along with a new/blue moon), we headed to Oregon! Temperatures never climbed above freezing until the last day, with winds ranging between 10-20 mph the first two days, and there was a nice mixture of snow, rain (last day), blue skies, and snow. The first morning we were greeted with 10” of new snow on the raft. First piece of gear for all on the trip was a GORE-TEX® Kokatat dry suit of course. Everyone also had the Polartec® Power Dry® liner, SurfSkin Balaclavas, Skull Caps, and Strap Caps. Proper gear on a trip like this turns what looks like (and could be) a suffer fest into something very enjoyable. Suffering can be a good thing at times, and sure it builds character, but it was an awesome experience to change between camp clothes to dry suits each day, and NEVER be cold or wet. Obviously this is not news to folks who’ve enjoyed the benefits of a dry suit, but it can seem like a fairytale to those that have done multiday trips with wearing wet cloths the whole time. Two of us had done the same trip twice before, but it was over July 4th, and we enjoyed the beauty and solitude of this winter trip much more. The clouds barely parted on New Years’ Eve, but they did thin enough for us to see the moon’s glow.”
-Adrien Pritchard
Karl Kohagen, Kokatat’s Northwest rep and Scout leader, demonstrated his river skills to the Troop to prep for whitewater rafting trips later in the year: “The largest concentration of bald eagles outside of Alaska gather along the banks of the Skagit River to feast on winter salmon runs every year during the months of December and January.
Kokatat is updating the Tributary Hydration System life jacket accessory.
We have teamed up with Nalgene® to replace our current reservoir with an improved Nalgene® Glide™ 1.5 liter reservoir, hose, and bite valve. These new upgrades will improve the performance and durability of the Tributary. One of the cool things about the new reservoir is that it has a on/off valve for the mouth piece so water won’t come out of the it during transport. I have seen a Tributary kicked across the parking lot when it’s owner discovered that most of the water in it had leaked from the mouthpiece all over his dry insulation in his gear bag! The reservoir will also attach to most filters that have a “water bottle” adaptor attachment. Here are some more key features of the new reservoir.
Glide™ 1.5 liter reservoir.
• 63mm fill spout and handle
• Nalgene® 63mm thread and seal fits most screw-on or plug adapter filtration systems and assures positive seal
• Easy access for ice, powdered drink mixes and cleaning
• Patented star shaped cap is easy to open or close, even with cold or gloved hands
• Non-rotatable, secure, low-profile handle
• Ergonomic design for easy grip and filling
• Internal spiral tether retains cap at a distance, can be easily removed and re-assembled, retracts flat on inside of spout, and does not interfere with cap removal or application
• Biaxial orientated nylon
• Stiff and rigid material allows for easy insertion of reservoir into pack
• Clear and rugged
• Will not absorb flavors or odors
Hose and bite valve.
• Polyolefin drink tube material assure taste and odor free hydration
• Crinkle-free articulated bite valve with logo
• Pivot valve for quick, one-handed on/off action
• Leak-proof, positive shut off even in the on position
If I’m playboating or rolling a bunch I won’t put more than a liter in my Tributary reservoir. More water and I’ll start to notice the weight and it may affect my balance. If I’m cranking out some miles or not worried about performing a perfect back end donkey-twist-monkey-flip-into a deck stall, I’ll fill the reservoir up all the way.The Tributary pack that the reservoir goes into will stay the same. The new Tributary hydration systems is now available to ship.
Jon Hyland, our production manager Meredith Hyland’s son, checks in from his vacation in Chile:
“Chile is amazing! Wonderful people and great whitewater has really made Chile a great experience. So far we have been able to get on a lot of rivers and waterfalls. I flew in with Chris Shehab and spent a fair amount of time buying a truck. Once we finished up buying a vehicle in Santiago we headed to Pucon to pick our kayaks up from Ian Garcia at Lakes Rivers & Oceans. I was struck by a bad bout of food poisoning our first night in Pucon, so the next day we decided to go scouting. We found the wonderful waterfall Tres Saltos and decided to go for it!
After running the sweet waterfall, we headed back into town to try and find a crew for something else. We were wandering the streets and luckily bumped into Kokatat Team Paddler Kyle Hull! Chris and I were pretty stoked to see someone from back home, (Kyle lives in Crescent City just north of Arcata) and happy to have a crew to boat with.
Once we had rounded everyone up we decided to go to the “park and huck” 25 footer near town.We had good lines all around and also had a bit of an audience. The river edge was packed on both sides with people cheering us on! It was pretty fun to have so many people around to cheer us on!
Much good boating was done the next couple of days. Eventually our journeys lead us to the perfect 70 footer on the Middle Palguin. Everything looking good besides the boil looking a little intimidating, we decided to fire her up! This beast was awesome! Some great lines and only a little carnage had the group stoked. After the rain cleared and we were getting a little bored of the same ol’ waterfalls we decided it was time for the Rio Nevados! The Nevados is a world class river with great variety. Once you get going on this run, it’s pretty much non-stop. There is great recovery area below most rapids, but usually something looming around the corner every time. Not a creek to be missed if you are in the area and have the time!
After the Nevados we were pretty happy about life. The weather was finally getting nice and sunny and our good friend JR Weir was about to fly into Santiago! Chris and I drove to pick him up, hitting the Rio Claro on the way up. We only got on one section of the amazing river on the way up, so we vowed to hit it up on the way back down. Once we picked JR up we raced back down to the Claro and ended up being able to do the Siete Tazas with him for his first run in Chile!
Once we finished up with the bottom run of the Claro (The Seven Teacups) we made camp for the night. The next day we ended up doing the 22 teacup section with some friendly Germans. This went smoothly besides me getting stuck in a steep hole and having to swim out. Once we finished up we found that our crew from Pucon had come to the Claro. This was good news due to the seriousness of the middle gorge and needing a super solid team for it. We spent the next day scouting the middle section as best we could (which was not very good at all due to the sheer basalt walls surrounding most the river).
Feeling confident we dropped into the gorge. We were all pleasantly surprised by the quality of the rapids. They were almost all clean and very steep. After about 40 minutes of being on the river we finally got to the infamous rapid.
After the main waterfall there was one more rapid, then the action let up for a bit. It quickly picked back up after a couple hundred feet below with several nice slides…
The gorge finally began to give way after the slide. We were all super happy to have had a chance to get down this amazing river!”
That’s all for now
Jon Hyland
To fallow all of Jon’s adventures go HERE.
The weather was less kind to us today – overcast and 48F – so after grabbing some pizza and soda we moved the partee indoors. We celebrated 10 year anniversaries for 4 of our production folks (Boun, May, Ronda and Sheng), as well as Michael’s (sales/marketing director). Adrien from design, whom you might’ve know from an earlier stint in customer service at 5 years joined the celebration. Thanks for the best year ever you guys!
Kokatat is one of three companies profiled by SNEWS editor Michael Hodgson in today’s edition of the popular outdoor industry trade. The article explores the benefits and reasons why an outdoor industry company would want to be ISO (International Standards Organization) certified. Kokatat recently attained the ISO 9001:2008 certificate.
Check out the article here (click ‘here’ for link).
So Kokatat has an ISO certificate? What does that mean?! Well, as ISO is the world’s largest developer and publisher of international standards, the certificate validates Kokatat’s commitment to quality product and to providing industry-leading customer satisfaction.
Following a nine-month implementation process, the British Standards Institution (BSI) conducted an intensive audit on behalf of the ISO. BSI examined all of Kokatat’s quality standards and relevant processes to determine compliance.
Here are some top-line facts about Kokatat’s ISO certificate and what it means for the company:
What’s even more unique is that Kokatat now owns an ISO certificate as an independent company with nearly 90% of their product made in the Arcata, CA headquarters. This is a rare designation for any company, but especially for an outdoor industry, independent company like ours.
Kokatat’s ISO certificate was also featured in the Times-Standard article called “A ‘Model’ Business” here (click ‘here’ for link).
The official news release on SNEWS here (click ‘here’ for link).
Kokatat sales rep Suzanne Hutchinson reports from New England.
Coastal Maine Kayak, located on the river in the quaint New England town of Kennebunkport, Maine hosted Suzanne Hutchinson, New England Kokatat sales rep, on Saturday, November 7 for an all day workshop on “Dressing for Success”. The day began with a cold start but as the sun came up, it warmed to about 55 with very little wind and the Portland Buoy was reading 48 degrees. It was perfect day to acclimate paddlers to the start of the cold water paddling season. About 20 or so eager paddlers arrived to enjoy the day. We began inside and discussed different dressing options and everyone learned how to get in AND back out of a dry suit. After suiting up, we headed out to the docks to get on the water. We paddled up river to a sandy bank where we could experiment with wet exits, rolling and just getting wet. After everyone felt comfortable, the 16 of us headed up river for a beautiful paddle with the falling leaves.
See you on the water!
Suzanne
Our annual tradition, the pot-luck/costume party/crew photo shoot brought the sun out today long enough to enjoy the extra long lunch break. Fiona & Shrek (Mary & her husband) won the price for best costume, 2nd place went to Ninja Wayne, and the nurses (Mary, Olga and Angelina) shared 3rd place with Abby (Pam).
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