The Hammer Factor

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…and here we are hammer factor # 38 ‘Zinke Wins, Real Paddling Porn And Verus Kayaks’.

Sho notez Dec 15th 2017

INTROS:

Well, in the halcyon days before the allegations of impropriety and sexual misconduct cascade in from a dozen ex LVM and amongstit interns (#NoTouchies), we celebrate yet another episode of The Hammer Factor- episode 34 (?) “We’re Huge In Japan”.

Weld is back from overseas, and finds that the boys left the place in a mess. The carpet is covered in smashed cheetohs and empty beer cans, and it looks like Shane Benedict has crashed on the sofa with no signs of leaving. Some smartass has made a crude crayon drawing on the wall of two male stick-figures “in flagrante” on an SUP.

Nonetheless, we push forward. On today’s show we’re going to talk with Josh Pecaric from Verus Kayaks, which if you are not aware, is a whitewater kayak startup based in Richmond VA. From the looks of things, Verus makes just about everything that Jackson does, and a couple things they don’t, without the fun of actually having a Jackson involved. We’ll get to the bottom of how he got started, where he thinks the industry is going, and most importantly, why on earth he decided this was a good idea.

But first, we must catch up a little.

Cue Chopins Funeral March, its time for Louis “Low Point” Geltman to get us up to speed on the state of affairs on the political front. I suppose the big news is the developments on bears ears/ staircase-escallante. A good starting point on this is WAPO’s article on Patagonia suing the Trump admin:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2017/12/12/patagonia-is-suing-the- president-and-drawing-ire-from-republicans-in-congress/?utm_term=.15e8075d04e6

The HNRC, to their credit, issued a zinger, tho, claiming that Patagonia is attempting to “sell more products to wealthy elitist urban dwellers from New York to San Francisco”. Later, Zinke himself said on Fox News that Patagonia is a “ ‘special interest’ that makes its products in China” and that the company “should focus on how to bring manufacturing back into the country instead of lying to the public about losing federal land.” Burn on you, Yvonne.

Anything else this week?

On a lighter note, here’s some viewer mail, or, more accurately, Topics that Will Not Die

We understand that coming to grips with the truth- despite years of misinformation from Big Paddle- wont be easy, so I suppose we’re shouldn’t be surprised that many listeners are struggling with the 60 degree offset. Max Posner and Tyler Houck in particular wrote in and mentioned Jim Snyder’s article on a 40 offset, and that perhaps we should have him on. First of all, if you need to transition to a real paddle with a 40 offest first, thats fine. Second, Weld has talked with Jim about this and asked him if he wanted to come on the show, so that is a possibility.

Bobby ‘Zone Dogg” Miller also wrote in, mentioning that he is a “close gripper”, and has had “success” with it. Well, I think its a triumph that Bobby has done what he has in paddlesports despite what many would consider to be a crippling, hideous handicap. #RealHeros.

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Previously Louis mentioned his disdain for sickline’s self-appointed moniker of “World Championships”. I was wondering what Louis thinks the world championships of extreme racing should look like. Should it be a series, a rotating course, a whole new event, or does race have the gravitas to permanently be the stage for world championships? Or is a worlds for creek racing even possible to do right, or even a good idea?

This subject was also raised by Andifer F:

You guys have ranted a few times about how the Sickline cannot be considered a ‘World Championship’ because it’s the same class IV rapid every year the same time of year. Since kayaking is a seasonal sport, would you guys think for something to be the world kayak championship should it be the same time of year and different sections of Whitewater or varying times of year at different sections of Whitewater? And if this were hypothetically a fiver year rotation, what five sections should be raced on and what time of year would each race occur whether it be the same time or different seasons.

Jon Crain pointed out an article by Men’s Health that PornHub is now sponsoring an “Extreme sports team”:

https://www.menshealth.com/guy-wisdom/pornhub-sponsored-extreme-sports-pro-team

He writes:

Will BDP be the first whitewater team sponsed by pornhub? Seems that Asheville and Hood River would be buzzing about this opportunity.

I’ll point out that right off the bat, Men’s Health refers to this kind of activity as the “wide, wild, whacky world of extreme sports sponsorship”, which kinda says it all. Is this really the kind of branding “opportunities” our sport needs? But the article does make some points about the financial wasteland of extreme sports when compared to other team sports.

We also heard from George Younger at Dope Kayaks. Me mentioned them (him) 2 shows ago, and he wrote us to fill us in a little bit:

So I’ll try to give you a little background of who we are… DOPE Kayaks are an online kayak shop. I got the idea for the business whilst safety kayaking in Ladakh. Things are pretty tough at 4000m altitude so when we are not on the river we spend most of the days sleeping, eating rice or watching movies. So my body’s pretty broken, super tired and I’m thinking I want to be on the river but I can’t keep going like this. The last few days I’m watching the gangsta rap trilogy, Notorious B.I.G., 50 Cent, N.W.A., and that’s when the idea hits me. I can’t sell dope, but maybe I can sell kayaks… DOPE Kayaks. Emails start pinging out, the process gets going, I quit safety kayaking at the rafting company and catch the bus to Nepal for some feel good boating again. The bus from Ladakh to Nepal is long, 3 and a half days and I share the journey with a Nepali trekking group heading home. I make friends with the guy I’m sat next to for 3 days and we meet again a few weeks later in Kathmandu. He’s a Buddhist monk right, and very highly regarded. The better I get to know him and see the work he’s doing, the more I think I’ve

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Hey Hammer Factor,

Finally done with finals, so I have a chance to ask this question (which may have been covered in previous shows, but I have not had the chance to listen to every episode).

I recently got into an interesting discussion with a much better paddler than myself who has been kayaking for probably close to 20 years. Both of us are from Idaho originally, but now living in Oregon/Washington. What that means is that we’ve both made the transition from “Idaho big water” to “PNW creeking”. Well, he has at least. I’m still working on it — basically re-learning how to kayak on this completely different style of whitewater. While running shuttle, we talked about how paddlers from Idaho routinely come out to the Gorge and get humbled by the demanding creeking conditions. On the other hand, paddlers from the Gorge come out to Idaho and just absolutely crush it on big water, and particularly, the North Fork. Simply put, their skills easily transfer to our environment, while our skills do not.

With all that said, I have two questions for you guys:

1) Why is it that creeking skills transfer to big-water, but not vice-versa?

2) Is the style of paddling found in the Gorge the best place to hone your paddling skills for all styles of whitewater? Is there anywhere (i.e. Norway?) that might mold even better paddlers?

Thanks for putting on a great show! I really liked the discussion on “style” in episode 19, and the roundtable discussion on environmental impacts of gear somewhere around episode 23.

Cheers,

Lastly, our “design a Hammer Factor t-shirt’ contest is going along as expected. We have 1 (One) entry from Eliza Carver. To repeat, IR will give away a free dry top to anyone who can design us a good shirt design.

We had some other VW that we didn’t have time for, but I think we’ll keep on the docket- for one Corey Lilly wrote in asking about the “Kayaking Films Era VS Kayaking Social Media Era”, which given our connection to LVM is interesting. LVM in and of itself is interesting..perhaps grace and weld could have a 30 minute argument on this subject. Also- we’re still sitting on Kevin Kennedy’s Yellowstone email. Thoughts?

OK. On to the special guest.

Some background- Ben Szurek wrote us a couple of weeks ago, mentioning that we should get Verus kayaks on the show, which to be honest, I had not heard of. Which is kinda sad and surprising, but also made it a great topic for the program. It got us thinking about the fact that there are people out there, for better or worse, still starting new kayak companies.

[Interview]

Lets start wrapping things up

Coming Soon- the Ladies Show! ha ha. Also more from the ABRG. We know you loved him, but we also know that he represented a new low for audio quality on the HF. I’m pushing for a “best and worst” of 2017. We also have some exciting guests lining up.

And then RANTS AND RAVES bitches….

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…and here we are hammer factor 37 ‘The Freestyle Edition’.

Introductions.

Weld is still overseas, Geltman and Grace are pulling in Shane Benedict as a guest host for the ‘freestyle episode’. Geltman have you ever entered a freestyle comp? Grace? Exactly this is why Shane Benedict is here to lead us through the history of freestyle as he has witnessed as a competitor and judge. Shane will set the record straight on everything from the first ‘rodeo’ world championship on the Ocoee in 1993 all they way through to the 2017 World Championship in Argentina.

1993 world championship on ocoee: https://vimeo.com/246255317

2017 world championship in argentina: https://www.facebook.com/zenitpat/videos/1812215765464856/

Sponsor

Louis Segment

OPINION: Trump’s Attack on Public Lands Just Got Personal

Viewer Mail

——Andrew Palim from facebook- Previously Louis mentioned his disdain for sickline’s self-appointed moniker of “World Championships”. I was wondering what Louis thinks the world championships of extreme racing should look like. Should it be a series, a rotating course, a whole new event, or does race have the gravitas to permanently be the stage for world championships? Or is a worlds for creek racing even possible to do right, or even a good idea? Thanks in an advance for your answer.

——Nick M – from email – Hi Hammer Factor! I am an avid ww paddler hailing from the Cheat, Tygurt, and Yough areas. I am currently working a soul crushing job as an engineer (although my family approval rate is much higher then when I was a dirtbag paddler haha) and I really have a passion for paddling and for above all attempting to create media of still photography and videography. I would really like to make a move into working in the outdoor industry creating films. My passion lies with creating a film of kayaking akin to “A view from a blue moon”, “thats is thats all”, or “The art of Flight”. My question to you all, especially John Grace as I have heard on the podcast that you run a media company, is how is the best way to go about this? I dont have any formal training in this relm as I spent my college days studying about circuits and how magic electrons flow through differnt material. Is going to a film school worth my time? Do I need formal training to land one of these jobs? I would really prefer to land a job and learn on the job as I am great hands learner, motivated adventurer and there is no challenge I have found yet I was not willing to undertake.

Shout out to John Weld for the amazing gear you and Kara make and to the fact that while I was in Morgantown I could pick up gear from your front porch!

Also I greatly enjoy the podcast and all of the knowledge I am learning from it about the paddling industry and all of the outdoor preservation info that Lewis dispenses at the biginning of each podcast.

Thanks for your time and as always peace and good lines,

Nick

——Jason Jacoby – via youtube. Yo fellas. Great show, even with the interference. Bought a shirt and stoked to see it’s a collectors item. In Chile they throw the Brown Claw on the Maipo for years and it’s called the upside down brown claw for years, because of the equator crossing. It sort of like the description of cupping the balls. Well with all that ramble, will there ever be a brown claw incorporated in the Hammer Factor logo on the next collectors edition shirt?

Let’s Talk Freestyle

Before we patch the world champion in we’d like to set the story straight on freestyle competitions, there history and place in the sport. Shane competed in the ’93, ’97, 2001, worlds and was head judge for 1999, and 2003. Shane do tell. Who was hooking up with who and did you ever get lucky at one of these comps?????

Athlete/Celebrity Interview (questions below feel free to add or subtract due to time, flow etc)

– Introduce Quim

– What did I not mention in your intro that we may not know about you, anything to add?

Rants and Raves

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…and here we are hammer factor 36 ‘live from china’. introductions.

– louis: how are you? louis is on the mend? how long until you’re back on the water?

weld: how are you, in Taiwan ehh? how does it work over there?? lets get into it after the top of show sponsor.

first things first, we gotta pay homage to the corporate overlords, Grace messed this up on round 1. our top of the show sponsor.

“Now a huge shout out to our top of the show sponsor, Canoe and Kayak. C and K has been leading the paddlesports media hustle for 45 years, reaching an unprecedented audience of nearly a half million people. With in-depth articles like the one detailing the fall of the Grand Canyon Escalade project, which I will link to in the show notes, there is no more compelling way to get your paddlesports beta than C and K. Check em out at canoekayak.com”

https://www.canoekayak.com/news/the-fall-of-the-grand-canyon-escalade/

personally it would be cool, to on day 3 of your trip head up the tram, play some poker, stumble back to the boat and head on down river, but hey to each his own.

weld fill us in on how it works over there at the IR factory.

past guest, chris gragletsmans writes in: “Hi Gents,

I wanted to write in about one thing today- I totally understand the environmental despair of the current administration, but had an idea for Louis. I thought it might be powerful to provide one specific and actionable environmental advocacy task per week/episode.

For example- Hammer Factor listeners are charged to write this specific representative at this specific email address/physical address regarding this specific issue.

I think that might spin things more towards the positive and allow me and other listeners to feel like we are making a small difference.

Just an idea but figured I would pass it on. Congrats on the first sponsor and keep killing it with the show! Chris”

Louis You’re Up #eif

BOOOM SHAKE THE ROOM – we got a mid show sponsor. https://calleva.org/

“Join Calleva in Mexico for week long whitewater kayaking trips.

· Come down and see whats beyond the imaginary “big beautiful wall”

· Lead by Tom McEwan whom has been exploring Mexico for 30 years. He is supported by one of our other instructors like Dagger Team member Bobby Miller, Liquidlogic team member Steve-O, and Tom’s nephew, ladies man, and Waka bro Eric Hanson.

· Explore jungles, deep canyons, legendary waterfalls

· Trips on class II to IV+ rivers

· Most trips are based at the Mexican run eco-resort Aventurec know for it’s great food, orange groves, and proximity to the best whitewater in Mexico.

· Come for the waterfalls, stay for the tacos

· Check out the website at Calleva (C-A-L-L-E-V-A) dot Org”

weld you used to do some trips down in mexico with tom mcewan? gentle camping type trips?

Viewer mail before we get into our celebrity guest, Brendan Wells, fresh off the mighty Indus River.

——coming at us from his iPhone: Josh Helton writes in: I heard the discussion on the latest episode, with Dave Fusilli, about whether or not demshitz and the brown claw are still popular or relevant and I just wanted to let you guys and Dave Fusilli know that the brown claw is still inspiring us Intermediate paddlers. My group, inspired by the brown claw, has recently started doing an inverted brown claw which we call “the ball grab”.

Josh Helton

wtf is he talking about, weld these are your people, what say you?

——coming in from Colorado: Hey,

Thanks!

Hattie Johnson, PLA

racer series thoughts anyone? i like the idea of it but struggle with the reality of it

——coming in from the Pacific North west: Paul Heffernan I recently starting listening to the podcast, I love it. In one of the recent episodes you mentioned you had sent out an example of Grace’s (?) 8 week race training program. Has that already been sent out? If so can you make it accessible to someone like me who was a little late in the game to getting on the newsletter?

i can work on this now that it is the off season

——paddle offset!!!!! 0 degree or 30 degree???? Nathan Woodward shares a link from professor paddle. “http://www.professorpaddle.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=15879

It has more to do with body mechanics… Hold a paddle (or broom) like you are taking a forward stroke on your right side (with the shaft close to vertical). Hold the shaft tightly with your right hand and switch to a forward stroke on your left side (with paddle close to vertical). Notice the angle of your top blade in relation to your boat. It will be about 30-35 degrees away from being perpendicular to the boat… That’s your paddle offset. It’s a side effect of having a control hand.

You can also use a zero degree offset and just not use a control hand, switching your grasp between hands on each stroke. Zero degree has some advantages in playboating, where your boat is tumbling in all directions, and it’s easier for the off-side roll, but 30 is preferable for most river running and creeking. There are lots of variables including arm length, shoulder width, posture, how vertical your paddle is in the water, etc, but it usually comes out to about 30-35 degrees, give or take. A few degrees off one way or another is not going to make a difference.

They used to do 90 degrees for racing because the top blade cuts through the wind as you move it forward for the next stroke, but it’s hell on your wrist. 45 degrees was just less offset than 90, so better, but not ideal. Some people still use 45 because that was the standard for a long time and people got used to it. If you are used to one offset and pick up a different one, it’s going to feel weird, but give it a few days and it will feel completely normal.

Short answer: for playboating, get a zero or 30 offset depending on your preference; for creeking and river running, get a 30.

Hope that helps clear things up a bit for you.

this is the last time we are going to discuss paddle off set…until next episode. will it ever end is my question?

Now Special Guest Brendan Wells!!!

Rants and Raves

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Holy Moly, its time to waste another hour and 15 minutes with the hammer factor crew.

Introductions, and lets catch up!

First, HF growth is exploding. Thank you everyone for listening. Grace is now being stopped in grocery stores and the kids clothing section of Goodwill. Are autographs next? Groupies? Are Graces kids going to get chiggers from the used pajamas? Are we ready for a live Hammer Factor? If you have a great kayaking event and want the hammer factor crew to show up and broadcast live, let us know, along with the airline and hotel you will be booking for us.

On to, as Cecil Addams calls them, “the Teaming Millions”. Opinions are like assholes- and kayakers have 3 of them.

About 50 people were chomping at the bit to let us know that AW has already created a ‘infinite’ rating system like the one we described. But you’d only know this if you were a complete nerd that actually read the AW web page past the river gauges. And isn’t this typical liberal government overreach? AW rating rapids?! rapid ratings- LIKE GAUGES- should be left up to the states. If California wants to have “trigger alerts” on their gauge page and measure rapids in number of species endangered, then so be it, but don’t hoist that pansy ass shit on the authentic patriots of west virginia. We gauge river levels on the number of toxic containment tanks that were breached during the storm. MAGA.

Personally my threshold is consequences for a swim. Class IV = banged up swim. Class V = banged up from a swim, potential for getting really beat up or killed if it’s bad.

Samuel Haywood also wrote us an email about river ratings:

Weld is considering starting a kickstarter to get “yeasted” beyond the prototype stage. If it funds, he will bring the term yeasted to every paddler in the country, except Evan Garcia, who will be deported.

I think organizers of the sickline has done quite impressive job and impact of the whitewater paddling on a global/commercial scale is bigger than any other event in the world. Quality of atheletes highest too. I dont like the rules, I dont like restrictions on boat lenghts, and composite/plastic, I dont like banning the braap etc… But it is Olafs race. If you dont like it, dont do it. Or even better. Please make better event and I will race there.

Geltman- how do respond to this? Or are you just going to roll over and take it like a puddle of bitch? Weld is delighted that he had nothing to do with this, for once.

NEXT UP: LOUIS GELTMAN STARTS TO POLISH UP THE RESUME

Baring that scenario, we could discuss HR 3990. SNORE.

ON TO THE GUEST PARADE.

First up, the Green River Race Round Table, with the usual cast of clowns.

Geltman and Weld patiently bite their tongue jealous because neither of them can be at this year’s Green Race. Since this is a somewhat family-friendly show, and the legal dept is constantly warning us about slander suits, 40% of the commentary will be bleeped out.

The Guest List will include the likes of:

Next, We have MR. Sturges back for a recap of the CREWZ contest,

Which, by every measure, was a complete flop. We received ONE (1) submission from the Quebec crew, which by default should make them the best crew in the world. Nonetheless, If Rush would entertain this sillyness, he can also take a quick look at these other “crewz” to make it a real contest:

Wrapping up with a few odds and ends:

Ladies episode recording next week. Gonna be stellar.

AND OF COURSE, R and R!!!

see ya after the green race