Thanks again man!  These are a few photos from three rides I took today in between coaching. Nothing wrong with that kayak thats for sure!

Thanks,

Tino Specht

Team Bliss-Stick

Michael,

What can I say. Last Thursday and Saturday was awesome. T-ville was at a perfect play level, and the weather was great. I went out and brought the Specialist and the RAD 185 and paddled like crazy and stuck people in boats!

I have sent some pics of Chris Reid in the Specialist and Dave Wilcox in the 185.Tthere is also a pic of my sister, Emma, in the Specialist. No pics of me because no one would get out of the water to take pics! Great weekend. Off to the Hudson River white water derby this weekend.

Thanks,

Jake

Hey Michael,

The first annual Bliss-stick 20 Creeks in 20 Days Tour has officially ended and it ended with a bang. The Hoosic River releases the 3rd Wednesday in April and is starts and ends with a series of drops fifty yards from the put-in. I was stoked to see some familiar names on the sign-in sheet when I arrived. Some of my buddies, Paul and Danny, from Riot were there and at the falls doing some scouting when I got to them. They had never been there before so I threw some pointers their way, checked out the middle falls—which no one has run, except for the beaver who bombed it while we were checking it out—and then I had to go. It’s a big drop and I didn’t want to look too long, so I got in my boat and had a good line. Center Stage Falls is a 3 stage drop that falls a total of 65 ft. The entrance is not all that easy and you have very little time to make any corrections before you launce off the 35 footer. Once you land it's time to set up for the final 15 footer which is easier than it looks and super fun for those who put in below the big boy. You’ll see in the photos I was a bit left, which is fine but a little bouncy.

The Post Star, the local newspaper for Warren, Washington, and Saratoga Counties, sent a photographer and reporter with me to shoot some footage of the Hoosic and interview me about the tour. Check out poststar.com for pics, video and the article. There will also be an article about the tour in this Sundays edition.They also will be posting other pics and some helmet-cam shots from the later part of the tour.

I’m taking a couple days off and then I’ll be at the Saratoga Summer Expo doing a kids and freestyle clinic at the pool. If you’re in town please stop on by! Saratoga is a great place to be on a sunny day and the expo keeps getting better every year.

Here are some pics of Center Stage Falls on the Hoosic. Big Thanks to everyone who helped make the 20 Creeks Tour a huge success.

Jason LaSelva

Team Bliss-stick USA

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

Junior Men

1. DANE JACKSON 416

2. QUILLAN SYNDER 110

3. ERIC BARTI 83

4. WILL RUDISILL 70

5. MATTI HILL 10

20 Creeks Tour Update!

Hey Michael,

The 20 Creeks Tour has been a huge success. Water levels and weather have been perfect. It’s hard to believe that when this started, at the beginning of April, we would have 60+ degree weather everyday in the northeast. I’ve also had the opportunity to meet and paddle with a bunch of new boaters interested in Bliss-stick Kayaks and checking out some new creeks they may have looked at before, but never have paddled. There are very few things better in our sport than seeing the look on someone’s face after they have just styled a drop or difficult rapid for the first time.

This tour has also given me a chance to revisit some great runs up by the Canadian border like the Great Chazy and the Chateaugay—the best creek no one knows about! So far I’ve managed to hit up the East and West Branches of the Ausable, the Mettawee, the Poultney, the Bouquet, the Branch, the Big Branch (a true Vermont Classic), the New Haven, Mill Creek, Sprite Creek, the Chazy, the Chateauguay, Margaritaville on the Saranac, and some great waves as well! Please take advantage of American Whitewater, keep an eye on these gauges, and get on these creeks.

I quickly want to thank everyone who took days off from work, help get photos, and joined me for this tour. I will have another update in a few days after I wrap up the tour. The final day will be at the Hoosic release this Wednesday. I hope to see a bunch of people there…remember this is only a once-a-year release!

Here are a few pics. There will be a bunch more coming. I am working on a go-pro preview of these creeks.

Team Bliss-stick USA

Jason LaSelva

Hi Michael,

Just wanted to send these along for you to see. This is Josh Gieb in the grey Smoothy. Chuck in the blue Smoothy. Zack in the Rad. Chris in the Rev. The Kennebec is treating us well up here!!!!

We had great representation at this event and a huge thanks go out to both of these athletes for participating, as well to all people and sponsors that made it possible. Lots of sunshine and smiling faces in the crowd. Tricks ranged from Air Wheels, McNasty's, Felixes and Loops. Even though the 'buzz' was that the feature was a tough one to figure out, these guys made it look easy. Check out the pictures below!

RESULTS

Check out our latest write up in Men's Journal

Hey Michael,

Paddling is going well up here in Maine. Record warm temps and rain. Here are some pics from Madison(Chuck,Ryan and Alex) and the Atlantic Ocean. My friend Pete is on the SUP board he built for this test run.

Take care, Adam

Hey Greyson!!! Thanks so much for the boat! It´s incredible to paddle, and quite possibly one of my most cherished possessions right now. So much so that I´m bringing it to Spain. Which is good, because the northern part of Spain got a lot of snow this winter.. which makes for some amazing paddling this spring.

Anyway, I´m going to send some pics of the boat in action. Again.. sweet boat! And most of these were taken on the Alsaseca on one of the only sunny days in about 10 years, or something crazy like that.

Hope that you´re doing well and that you´re getting some time on a river!

Ok, take care, and talk to you soon,

Emily

Hey Michael- Today I began the Bliss-stick 20 Creeks in 20 Days Tour, but this morning I had to sneak out to a little play-spot a few minutes from my apartment. This feature is in for about 7 months out of the year and is one of the best spots to bring paddlers of any level. It has a HUGE eddy; about 100 yards long, and the water is deep—so no worries about getting banged up if there is a swim. I also wanted to talk about the 20 Creeks Tour. The purpose of this tour is to take full advantage of what Spring in the northeast offers to kayakers and to spread the word about Bliss-stick Designs and the great kayaks they are making. I also want to highlight a bunch of super fun, and lesser known creeks around here, and allow anybody joining me to demo and paddle a Bliss-stick kayak. I will, at all times, have a Mystic, Scud, Rad 185, and a Smoothy.

Enjoy the pics. This feature is in quite often and the AW Hudson gauge at Spier Falls should be between 8500 and 14000cfs.

Michael,

The rain is going off out here in New England. The Boating has been epic.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of heading up to VT for the New Haven creek race. The New Haven river, "The Ledges" is a sweet run about 2 miles long. It has a continous wicked sweet boulder garden with ledge drops and a cleen 15+ footer known as toaster right in the middle of the run.

I got up there on Saturday morning to run the time trials and it was a balmy 17 degrees outside. At 9 am when all of the paddlers got in the water there was slushy ice floating in the eddies and the exposed river rocks were covered in ice. I had never run the river before and I dint realy have time to check out the run so I just got in my Mystic and went to the start. When it was my time to go I couldn't feel my fingers and there was a nice layer of ice that had formed over my skirt and PFD. GO!!! And away I went...

I finished my time trials lap with good time and what I thought were great lines considering I ran everything blind. My time was 9:32. And when every one was done with their first lap I was sitting in second place. I went back up to do my second lap for time trials but this time I had to do it in my C1 so I could race that also. My C1 run was allot of fun. I finally got around to outfitting the mystic for C1, I had been having so much fun creeking the Scud I never got around to the mystic.

The Mystic was fast. My C1 time was 10:02. And at the end of the time trials runs I was first in the C1(all though I was the only C1er) and 7th in k1.

After time trials they took the top 16 of the 30+ competitors and put them in to heats of 4 for the boater cross. The Boater cross was a little shorter that the time trials section but you still got all of the good drops and ended with Toaster (the 15 footer).

The water had started to warm up and the river was rising and making it better for paddlers. I was in the second heat. When it was my time to go, we all jostled for position and took off at the bell. I was in the lead from the start, It was a close race for about half the course. I kept looking over my shoulder to see how much space I had, they were all pretty close and then I looked over again and there was no one, from what I found out at the end was the paddler that was in second pinned on a rock and was hit by the third paddler resulting in a swim. I moved on to the finals.

The finals were fun. Bliss-Stick had an impressive showing, with 3 of the 4 boats in the final heat. It was 2 Mystics, a Huka and a Riot Magnum all going for the title of "King of the Ledges". At the start it was tight, we all snuck our way through the boulder gardens one by one. I was in the lead after the first rapid and felt like I knew the river well enough to stay in charge, and then I looked to my left and the 2 local paddlers took a line that had come in with the rising water and just like that I was in third. I stayed in third until Toaste, there I boofed but landed off and rolled up backwards with the guy in fourth right next to me. I went In to a dead sprint but couldn't pull it off, I was fourth.

The standing were like this.

Finals:

1st Place - Scott Gilbert - King of the Ledges - Bliss-Stick Huka

2nd Place - Will - Bliss-Stick Mystic

3rd Place - Colby - Riot Magnum

4th Place - Dan Burke - Bliss-Stick Mystic

Fastest Qualifiers:

1) Simone Orlandi 8:10

2) Damon Bungard 8:30

3) Hugh Pritchard 8:33

4) Scott Gibert 8:53

Long Boat Champion- Hugh Pritchard

C-1 Champion - Dan Burke - Bliss-Stick Mystic

Golden Goldfish (best/worst swim) - Sherm

Iron Man (Long Boat/Short Boat 5 race laps) - Ben Schott

Dan Burke Team Bliss-Stick USA