Maine Bliss-Stick Agent Adam Swett managing air traffic control on the home town river!! Adam is in the red/white Smoothy and Josh is in the licorice colored Smoothy.

Thanks Adam!

bliss-stick.us

Good Morning Michael,

That is my bud Josh Geib from down in Portland Maine. He got that boat last fall when I got mine. He air's it out well.

Our friend Chuck from S. Maine also picked one up too so we are looking forward to getting all three on a big wave soon. Both Chuck and Josh are avid paddlers going way out of the way just to get out at any time.Chuck, Geib's and myself are all larger paddler's w/ a weight range of 190 to 240+!

And by the way, the people who demo the Smoothy's really like them a lot.

This was sent to us from Bliss-Stick Agent Garrett Boop.

Michael and Norm-

We got some rain here in PA! Here is a update from our session on Monday night....

Chasing Rain

Hope all is well in NZ and NC.

Garrett

Tickets are available at Knitting Factory.

There will be 4 really amazing bands be coming to play some tunes after the show.

The bands:

Bellamy Rose

Cap Gun Suicide

IQEQ

The James Thomas Revolution

If you're in the Boise area, you can make it. It should be one heck of a good time.

Here is an account of the two's travels to China with pictures and video:

Back in December Tino Specht and myself decided to hop on a plane to China with our kayaks in tow. The game plan: make it to the Salween River outside of Gongshan, China in search of big waves, and bigger rapids.

Few obstacles seemed to stand in our way once we made it to the New York City airport, all we had to do was catch the plane to Beijing,then a 38 hour train ride to Kunming, the capital of the Yunnan Province, and then figure out the chinese bus system to get north to Gongshan.

Luck seemed to be on our side, and shortly after we got off the train in Kunming we picked up our boats and were on a 17 hour overnight bus by the afternoon. We rolled into the town Fugong by late morning the next day, and again we managed to get on the bus to Gongshan within 10 minutes of arrival to Fugong.

Happy to be on our way to the base town for the trip spirits were high as we followed the Salween north towards Tibet. Catching glances of possible waves worth surfing kept us entertained for the short 4 hours from Fugong to Gongshan, with our faces glued to the windows we motored on.

We settled in for the night in our small hotel room excited to paddle the next day.We managed to grab a ride in a truck to go and scout out a few waves we saw the day before, and decided to camp at a wave discovered last year and deemed the “flying dragon.” It looked great from the road so we ferried our gear across the river and got ready to surf.

As I dropped down onto the wave I began to realize that the foam pile was a bit larger than it appeared from up on the road. After surfing the giant hole a few more times to confirm in my head that it truly was a hole to get beat down in rather than a wave to catch air on we got out of our boats and set up camp for the night. The next morning we waited for the sun to reach the bottom of the gorge than began to get gear back across the river to head upstream in search of more waves and some big rapids.

We opted to stay in the town for the night and head north the following days to explore the canyon upstream of Gongshan. With the convenient shuttle option of catching a ride north and paddling back to town it made life easy and allowed us some great days on the river enjoying the waves we found and the big water between.

With the locals constantly cheering as we paddled past and good white water we felt very fortunate to be able to experience the canyons for another year. With many many good waves to surf and great big water the Salween is non stop fun, however, like most rivers in China it is threatened.

The government has plans to build 13 dams on the river to help control the water, and generate power for the growing Chinese cities. Sadly we risk losing these gorgeous lands rich with culture as the land supports many different ethnic minorities, and supports one of the most bio-diverse regions in the world. As we left the river on our last day we bid farewell to the small town of Gongshan.

Many people watched as we tied our boats on top of the public bus, reminding us of how fortunate we are to be able to experience these places from our kayaks before the are possibly lost in the effort to harness energy for our growing planet.

Sam Fullbright

Two of Colorado's Bliss-Stick's agents, Mike Hagadorn and Kevin Driscoll sent us this video of them firing up a wilderness section from the Rio Grande Res. to Vallecito Res. Mike is in the red helmet and Kevin is in the blue one. Look like they know how to have some fun around the Durango area with their Mystic's!

Make sure to check out more action on Kevin's You Tube Page.

Thanks for sharing.

We are pleased to announce that Jason LaSelva will be joining the US Bliss-Stick Team. Jason brings a lot to the table and is planning his spring trips as we speak.

He plans to to do an epic northeast creek trip: The Bliss-Stick 20 Creeks in 20 Days Tour (New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Quebec City, and Maine) and hopes for a first descent on a waterfall that he has been eyeing for some time. Video and pictures will follow soon.

Meet Jason:

Hello everyone:

After 4 very happy years paddling for, promoting, selling, and teaching with Riot Kayaks, I am excited to say I am joining Bliss-Stick Kayaks and their US kayak team. This is a great opportunity to work with a quality company and with quality paddlers that are focused on designing and producing some of the best kayaks available. Since my first experience in the RAD almost 5 years ago, I have always admired the style, performance, design, fit, and feel of Bliss-Stick’s kayaks. I cannot wait to get paddling in my new Mystic, Smoothie, and Scud (the most fun creeker I have ever paddled).

I am located in upstate New York and am the manager and head instructor for the Sacandaga Outdoor Center. I will be available for demos, paddling clinics, sales, and if you just simply want to explore some of the great water the northeast has to offer.

Thank you Bliss-Stick, Mike, and Norm

Jason LaSelva

Here is a list of events and competitions I’ll be attending in 2009.

The Saratoga Spring/Summer Expo

The Wells River Rumble

The Hoosic Release

The West River Festival

The Mettawee Race (This is still in development)

SOC Demo Day

The Lachine Rodeo

The Potomac Race

Beaverfest

Moosefest

Here are a few more pictures of Jason doing what he does best... running Centerstage Falls on the Hoosic; one of the best kept secrets in NY and only has one scheduled release date per year.