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
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!
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).
Kokatat's contribution to Pastels
Last weekend Kokatat participated in Pastels on the the Plaza, a local fundraiser for the North Coast Children’s Services. The event takes place on the Arcata Plaza and is the largest art event on the north coast of California. Businesses sponsor a piece of the sidewalk around the square to create their pastel art on. Kokatat’s very own Barbara Schrieber and Mary Padula created our entry this year. Check out the Pastels on the plaza website http://www.ncsheadstart.org/pastels.htm to see more pastels and some video of the event.
Historically the rains come quickly after Pastels on the Plaza washing all the art away and bring the water levels up on the coastal drainages!
The quarterly Kokatat pizza party was all about these folks, whose combined work time at Kokatat is 80 years! Bryon, Daeng and Dominga celebrated their 5 year anniversaries, while Robin and Ricardo scored their 10th. Kheua marked her 15th year, while lead designer Penny beat them all, having put in 30 years dedicated to making Kokatat the best watersports wear company in the world.
Welcome to the official Kokatat blog! This site will serve as an extension of our offiicial website, Kokatat.com, and will be your source for news from our sponsored athletes, expeditions, product information, videos, and more. Check back often and leave comments and suggestions if you feel inclined!
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