Joe O' Paddles

   It has been just over a week now since the devasting earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, followed by the growing nuclear crisis. One thing is clear, Japan is in crisis and needs assistance from us all. Not just from goverenments but from people all over the globe.

    We have been talking with the people from Qajaq Japan and we want to do what we can to help in some small way. What we have come up with is this. Eiichi Ito is creating a set of decals for us with a logo representing Qajaq Japan and is sending them over to us. Once we have them, we will be building up a limited number of our Joe O' Paddles, Rolling Sticks etc, complete with the new Qajaq Japan decals on them, which will then be posted to our website, one at a time, for sale.

Here is a preview of the decals Eiichi is making up right now...

   Profits from these paddles will then be forwarded on to the Japanese Red Cross via Qajaq Japan. There will be a very limited number of these made avaialble but we will do what we can to help. What we really hope for, is that other builders of Greenland paddles or related gear throughout the world will follow suit and do something similar in an effort to help raise funds for disaster assistance in Japan.

   You may also go direct to the Qajaq Japan page and use the link provided there to make your own donation. Every bit helps. Let's all stand up and help our friends in their time of need.

   We will have the first paddle posted for sale within a couple of days of receiving the new decals.

   Thank you all for taking the time to read this.

Sincerely...Joe & Diane

   As the days get longer in northwestern Ontario and Spring draws near, we anxiously await the melting of the ice and the opening of our local water ways, Lake Superior most of all. Just a matter of a few short weeks now and our rivers and lakes will again be wide open, ready for us to do what we love the most, both canoeing and kayaking. This year will also see a strong growth in SUP in the region I am sure. Last year, we brought in some of the great boards from Surftech and have been bringing our demo model of the Blacktip over to some of the weekly pool sessions we do through the club we run, https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=74649089911" target="_blank">Superior Kayak & Canoe Club.

The SUPs have proven to be very popular with everybody who has tried them and i think they are set to take off in the region this season.

  Another SUP project we have in the works involves our friends from WoodSurfboard Supply down in California..In the coming days you will find a section on our website dedicated to promoting and selling their fine line of kits for building your own wood-strip SUPs and Surfboards! We just received our frist kit last week with which we will be building up the first of our demo boards, this one the "Malco", designed by my long time friend Malcolm Schweizer of Schweizer Surfboards from the Virgin Islands. I'm very excited to build this board and can barely wait to paddle it! It will be the first of several custom boards that I will be building this season. And of course, the kits for the do-it-yourselfer will also be available from us shortly!

    These beautiful wood-strip boards should go nicely with our new line of hybrid SUP paddles coming out soon featuring carbon fiber shafts, molded carbon fiber grips and a laminated wood blade covered in fiberglass & epoxy.

   The Pool sessions have been a blast for everyone coming out, not just for the SUPs but also for the rolling practices we have been doing, particularly the Greenland Style of rolling whih we heavily promote, especicially since bringing in 5-time gold medalist from the Greenland Kayaking Championships, Helen Wilson from Arcata California three times between August and January alone.

Helen Wilson in our front yard, making a snowman. Darby dog in the background checking things out.

Diane Hogan doing the Balance Brace at our most recent session.

Our good friend Sean Smith, AKA Fat Paddler, from Australia at our rolling clinics with Helen wilson back in January.

  Another long time friend, Seth Wotten. Seth is another Cross Canada solo canoeist and has an awesome site from his 3-year solo canoe trip across Canada 

   After one of our sessions, Diane and i played around with a bit of video footage and put together a little video clip, all tongue in cheek and just for fun. You can check it out here on our on Youtube

   As you can see, we have been having a lot of fun at the pool all winter long! But pool sessions are just part of the fun. We have also been snowshoe events on a regular basis and having a blast with this as well. Next snowshoe outing is this Thursday night, followed by rolling practice on Sunday.

   In addition to playing in the pool and out on the snow, things have been very busy in the "Work Department". Our sales of custom built Greenland Paddles has kept us hopping all winter long with order shipping out throughout north america to places as far away as California, British columba, Yellowknife Northwest territores etc. Wholesale orders have been going off to places such as Iceland, Austria, Australia etc. And we are working on an order now for Italy as well as some paddles for none other than three members of theTsunami Rangers!

  Now if that were not enough, we also have decided to expand our little operations somewhat and start developing more of an online store. Recently we have been receiving our first orders of stock for the new venture, bringing in items such as Princeton Tec hedlmaps, Brunton camp stoves, Backcountry snowshoes, some new lightweight dry bags, waterproof daypacks, a selection of gear from Level Six and much, much more! Check back soon for a Blog entry on some of the new gear we are bringing in. It is an exciting time for us and our small, family run operation. Lots of work but somehow, it does not feel like work. I guess we are just enjoying it all far too much. 

Cheers... Joe O' & Diane

For those of you whom are Facebook users, we started a new contest a few days ago on our new Facebook Page for "Joe O'Paddles". 

The contest winner gets their choice of "This Is The Sea 4 "or "This Is Canoeing". Both are truly amazing DVD's ()both being a 2 disk set) by award winning film maker Justine Curgenven.

To enter the contest, simply "Like" our new Facebook Page, click on "Events" and post your response to the question for the contest.

The question posted is as follows:

Hi Folks

We are trying to build our NEW Facebook site so why not hold another contest to get more people interested in the exciting things that are going on at Joe O' Paddles.

This month we are giving away ONE of two great DVD sets. "This Is Canoeing" or "This Is The Sea 4". Both are 2 disc DVD sets by Justine Curgenven. (retail value $30.00 ).

To enter the contest you need to "LIKE" our page and then tell us which sport you enjoy the most (kayaking vs. canoeing) and why you think so. If you like both equally...well, we get that, so tell us why both are GREAT!

The contest winner will be chosen randomly. We'll figure out some crazy and fun way of doing this...and the winner will be able to choose one of the two DVD's. Shipping will be provided up to a $15.00 fee...additional fees for overseas may apply.

Good luck to everyone and we can't wait to hear why you love your sport/hobby/passion so much.

Contest runs until 11:30 PM Eastern Time, Saturday March 5th, 2011.

Here are the Trailers for the two DVDs featured in the contestHere are the Trailers for the 2 DVDs.

Trailer for "This is the Sea 4" DVD... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlzXqsVErXs

Trailer for "This is Canoeing" DVD... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsRxkut1Bds&feature=player_embedded

Joe, Diane and Darby.

Contest runs until 11:30 PM Saturday March 5th and the winner will be selected by random draw the following day.

To find our Facebook Page, go onto your Facebook and search for "Joe O' Paddles"...  for some reason, we cannot post the direct link at this time.

Cheers... Joe O'

We have just started a new contest on our Facebook Page for "Joe O' Paddles"  for all of our Facebook friends (anyone can join the Group Page).

Click on the photo, answer the question and you will be entered to win. Draw ends at midnight Eastern Time Friday November 12th, 2010. Winner will be drawn on the following Saturday and announced on the Facebook Page as well as on our website.

Cheers...Joe

   Plenty going on here these days (as usual). Registration just opened up a few days ago for the Yukon River Quest. "The Race to the Midnight Sun" and early reports say that about 15 boats are already entered in this the longest annual kayak & canoe race in the world, stretching 740 kilometers from Whitehorse to Dawson City in Canada's Yukon Territory. Right now I'm debating on which class to enter, solo canoe or solo kayak...decisions, decisions. Good thing is, there is no wrong choice in this one!

   Coming up in the next few days will be an announcement of a sale on many of our in stock sea kayaks and numerous accessories. Time to make some space and get ready for the 2011 shipments of sea kayaks and related gear. Also coming out soon should be the first prototypes for my carbon fiber Norsaqs and T-Sticks. The first carbon fiber Greenland Paddles should be coming out soon as well, hopefully before Christmas but we can not guarantee that just yet.

   On November 27th and 28th, we are happy to be bringing in Helen Wilson once again for a series of Rolling Clinics and Slideshows. Click HERE for more information. 

   One of the new lines of sea kayaks we are bringing in for 2011 is Atlantis Kayaks , hand built on Vancouver Island in British Columbia Canada. Shown below is the Spartan which I'm quite excited about!

   In other Paddle News, we are now shipping paddles to a new distributer in Iceland and will be supplying a brand new paddling shop in California as well. Details coming soon. Our paddles are also available in British Columbia Canada, in the U.K., throughout Scandinavia and direct by contacting me using the "Contact Us" button on the right side of our website.

See our Dealer Page for more information.

   More news coming soon including details on our newest sponsored paddler!

Cheers...Joe O'

SUP...the fasting growing thing in all of paddlesports!

Our first SUP boards will be arriving here in Thunder Bay this Fall.

hek out this great clip on You Tube for an overview of what SUP paddling is all about.

Cheers... Joe 

   Mission accomplished!

   At 8:22 Pm Saturday evening, Sept. 04th, 2010, exactly 16 days, 12 hours and 14 minutes after launching my kayak in Nanaimo BC on Vancouver Island, I returned to the same location and reclaimed the speed record from British paddler Sean Morley. And yes, this entire trip was done with a pair of my hand crafted Greenland Paddles, proving that the GP's are indeed very efficient for long distance cruising and can set, and maintain, a very good pace. I would not have even tried this expedition with any other type of kayak paddle, the GP is what made it so easy on my body and allowed such full recovery overnight throughout the full journey.

   The entire expedition went by in a blur and I'm still trying to sort through my thoughts and memories from the entire event. I leave today to travel eastwards once again and during the trip (by Via Rail for a relaxing way to end the journey), i'll work on the photos and on doing a bit of a trip report which will be posted on the website and blog next week sometime.

   Hope to also have a small slideshow ready by the following weekend for my friends back home as well as, later on, a few slideshow presentations back in BC.

   A HUGE thank you to the many, many people who helped make this happen and to those who encouraged me along the way. Far too many people to list here but a few of the folks at the top of the list include Diane Hogan, Helen Wilson, Chris Hudema, Dawna & Rolf, my parents back home, Robin & Karen Thacker of Atlantis Kayaks, Nigel Dennis of Seakayakinguk, Tahe Marine kayaks, Kokatat, John Kimantis & Wavelength Magazine/ Wildcoast Publishing, Speedstroke Gym, Kayakpro and many, many more. Also, a very LARGE thank you to my friend Sean Morley who raised the bar so high in 2008 that I just had to come back and take another shot at this thing. Thanks Sean, you rock buddy!

   For now, you can view the posts from throughout the expedition that my better half, Diane added to the website here: Vancouver Island 2010

   What's in the future? Too early to tell but... after swearing off another speed run around the island last week, I must say that the temptation is still strong to do it again, for speed, but in a different manner. Time will tell but here is a hint at what may be to come in 2011....

   More coming in a week or so once comfortably back home.

Cheers.. Joe O'

It is finally time to get on the water and start the expedition around Vancouver Island to reclaim the speed record. After having to postpone it by a year last summer due to not being able tokeep up with orders for my paddles as I expanded the little home grown business, I thought I'd be on the water in June for this expedition. 

But as the season approached, I was again overwhelmed with orders and had to once again postpone, this time though only for a couple of months.

I finally arrived back on Vancouver Island Monday afternoon and am now ready to get out on the water and take a quick little trip around the island.

The goal for this nearly 1200 kilometer trip is just 16 days!

You can follow my progress by clicking the link for my SPOT Mesenger on the Vancouver Island 2010 Expedition page.

Eventually we will post full results, a day to day journal, Google Maps, photos etc...once I'm back home again.

I'd love to write more but I'm exhausted as it is and need some sleep before launching in roughly 8 hours time.

Full report coming in just over two weeks!!

Cheers...Joe O'

   Well, just under one month to go before launching the expedition to reclaim the speed record for circumnavigating BC Canada's Vancouver Island.

   The goal for the roughly 1150 kilometer trip is 16 days.

   Just booked my ticket today to British Columbia and I'm aiming for a launch sometime in the third week of August. Time to get to work and finish up the food lists, gear list etc and pick up the new Spot Messenger and a new VHF Marine Radio in the next few days.

   Going to be a good time for sure, I can hardly wait to get out there and have a little fun!!

   Just recently, the 24-Hour World Record for kayaking(moving water) was raised even higher. 

Andy Cora, paddling an Epic V12 surfski raised the bar to just over 439 kilometers, paddling his way down the Yukon River, located in Canada's Yukon Territory. A  very impressive feat indeed. This breaks the 6 year old mark set by adventure racing legend Ian Adamson.

Click HERE for the full report, as written by Jeremy Rogers.

Beating this one will be a tall task indeed!

Congratulations Andy, job well done.

Cheers...Joe O'