The life and good times

D1NZ Round 2 Pukekohe

2011-11-28T23:14:00.000-08:00

Hey how's it every one! D1NZ Round 2 happened over the weekend and what a crazy few days it was. I got out on the track Friday morning, did 3 average runs then got told off for being over the track's 95db noise limit... along with about 20 other cars. That meant I spent the rest of the day trying to shut the car up, while still keeping some horsepower to get around the track.

After welding a new pipe on the muffler I'd had enough and went out on the track and it was all good. I didn't get told off, and laid down some really soild runs while following Gaz Whiter to get my entry speed right.

Saturday morning was looking like it was going to be a great day, with clear skies and the wind up meaning the homos with their noise meter couldnt get good readings and wouldn't be on track for the day. But it all changed when the screw out of the throttle butterfly came out and went through the motor.

It must have gotten stuck under the valve and caused the rocker to pop off. I fixed that then it still wouldn't run right, pulled the sparkplug out and oh sh*t that was all messed up from the screw bouncing around in the head! Turns out that tiny screw bouncing around had messed up #4 piston and spark plug, such a crazy little thing to happen! I fixed it and went out and did 1 qualifying run. It was ok but I wasnt super happy with it, but didn't want to do any more runs in case I messed up the motor for battles. As it turns out my run was good enough 7th place in qualifying - so pretty stoked for straight out of the gate!

Stopping for lunch, the pits opened up to the fans and it was great! I had so many people of all ages coming up and saying hello, wanting posters, having a sit in the car and just wanting photos of me and the car. I signed and gave away 100 posters and ran out about half way through the pit walk! Really stoked with the fan base the car and my driving is attracting this season.

Promo girls hhhmmmmm what can i say, WOW!!!

Into the top 16! After our top 16 parade lap and burnout, it was into the first battles. I went up against Mark Burling in his new S15. After the 1st ran the car started missing again really bad, by this stage in the day I was so over the stupid motor so just kept driving it. My chase run with Mark was pretty crap as the car was struggling to stay on boost running on 3 cylinders but lucky we got a re-run and i just went for it, making it through to the top 8. I was up against Darren Benjamin (who was #1 qualifier), he led 1st and I made a big mistake around the sweeper and the motor died and didnt want to run any more... I got it started and couldn't carry on the way the beaten motor was going so returned to the pits and Darren went through to the top 4 and went on to 3rd place over all - CONGRATULATIONS Darren - pleased the new Rookies in the D1 this year are showing a lot of people how it's done!

What a weekend! I ended up placing 6th on the day, not too bad after doing four runs on 3 cylinders. Lucky I managed to keep it on the pipe and on the track, stoked with the outcome after all that went on over the weekend!

Cant wait for round 3 Taupo I love that track!!!!

A huge thanks to Ryan Sun at Luxury Sports, Alcotane Racing Fuels, Adens Trye Shop, Sinco Customs, Rachael at Catapult Creative, Shred Motorsport, WAL Engineering - without you guys I couldn't do what I do, so thanks a lot!!

NZ drift nats 2011

2011-10-03T02:13:00.000-07:00

Had a great day at the NZ Drift Nationals at hampton downs yesterday, qualified in 7th and ended up in 6th over all beating steve sole and tuxx and losing to mad mike and carl ruiterman in very close battles! thanks a lot to shred motorsport, luxury sports, Alcotane, sinco customs

Motox in Taupo

2011-05-30T00:30:00.000-07:00

Had a good day yesterday racing at taupo mx track, myself phil and dan walker drove up from Otaki saturday.

phill lined up in the open all in race

phill looking styly

its along day waiting for your race to come around and lucky i had a couch that i was taking home

phill jumping the start finish line with mt ruapehu in th background

dan battling it out for 4th place

I won our 2nd race which i was very stoked about and keen to get in to racing a bit more over the winter

dan on the left and me on the right getting ready for the last race, it went well for me for the first few laps getting a good start and getting out in front but made a few small mistakes and 2nd place closed the gap and came up the inside on a corner and took me out and i got stuck under my bike for long enough that every one past me so it was time to have sum fun doing jumps. dan ended up 4th in this race.

Wainui movie

2011-05-03T02:33:00.000-07:00

check out video fromt the wainui last week

drifting out, kayaking in

2011-04-26T03:08:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Greg Thomas for these photos from the other day

Me firing up the 60foot and ben brown loving it at the bottom

The first rapids a bouncy line and you can go deep if you get the bounce wronge at the bottom

Trying to get the nose down on the 30, i think ryan was leaning forward as well trying to help me out

This is one of the bigest drops with a few critical moves, a few of the boys tryed it backwards.

the last big 1

Hey howzit, Im sitting here in bed writing this with my head lamp on with no power in the house after the days storm and its so awsome cos of the sick days boating. I cant take too long writing this as my computer is going flat so enjoy the few pics

After a crap weekend of drifting the mighty rain came down the country leaving me with dreams all night of going to the Wainui and running the beast of a 65footer that ryan lucus had 1st descented about 8 months ago.

After a few phone calls around to see what the haps was a crew gathered at the tuna store and headed out.

The put in looked like a sweet flow and it was perfect!

ryan fired up after the 1st few drops

This is a sweet slide into a 10footer, most of the drops dont look super clean but all go apart from 1 that is to narrow.

the 30footer has to be the most similar rapid to spirit falls on the Little White in Oregan you could ever get

Greg Thomas had a little swim on the river right in here, when i baged him out he was very blue and very F@#ked

And 7 of us fired up the 60footer, every ones lines were sweet, the 60 is so perfect love it best days boating in along time.

Kiwis learning to fly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010/2011 d1nz season over

2011-04-24T02:59:00.000-07:00

Well after a crazy weekend at hampton down i am now the runner up in the d1nz rookies for the season, I tryed so had to win the championship for the season but it just wasnt ment to be after qualifying 1st i pushed it to hard at the end of the judged section and spun which put me in to the wall. After sum great help from others in the pits got the car straightend out enough to drive and put in 2 ok runs to make it to the top 8.
top 8 battles saw me up against carlos walter a good freind of mine.

We ended up doing 3 reruns as we both made big mistakes which seemed to be more our cars giving up for the season with my clutch slipping and his hand brake not working, in the end i made it through to the top 4.

Up against darren in the big 2jz powered c35, i made a huge mistake on my lead run spinning giving him the 10-0 advantage and he did a good chase run which gave him the win.

That put me in the battle for 3rd and 4th with Nico Reid who was only 10 points ahead of me in the championship . "Who even wins this battle will win the overall" i heard them say over the mic, I drove my poor beat up car as hard as it would go but with a slipping clutch, flat front tyre and powersteering that only worked sumtimes it wasnt enough and the judges gave Nico 3rd and the championship win.

Its been 1 hell of a season i cant really beleave its over. A massive thanks to every one that helped me out this season
Repco Rotorua
Shred motorsport
Garage H
Sinco customs
Adens tyres
Rachael
Dan
Mum
Matt
and everybody else thanks you all so much

Waiouru tussock buster trail ride

2011-03-26T02:39:00.000-07:00

What a amazing day riding 140km around some of the most scenic tracks ive ever been on with a great bunch of mates. This was the 13th year the tussock buster was run and it was just a great well run event.

Friday things kicked off at 1pm for just a few short 45km laps to learn how to ride again, after only the first 5 minutes found out that i really needed my goggles because the dust was just crazy but lucky for me we couldnt see and took the wronge turn and were back in the car park after only 10minutes of riding. so grab the goggles and off again.

Dan having a rest and taking in the view on friday

We had a sweet set up for camping with shanes hourse truck having all the gears in it. we had a few beers after riding on friday and im pretty sure that out of about a 1000 people in the camp ground we were the lasy ones to get to sleep and got told off by security for being to loud.

We had a great little team, Phill mulet shane danny dan tam and me. this was only about 25 km into the huge 90km loop on saturday, we took lots of warm cloths as the dark clouds to the north didnt look good.

Phill having a few issues on the biggest hill of the ride but it made for a good laugh!

Me and Dan had a few close calls each going down the tank tracks in top gear wide open trying not to hit our feet on the edge of the ruts, i did clip my foot once and thought it was all over but managed to hold it together and keep it pinned.

The rain clouds rolling in

The A team less mulet as he had a little spill and riped the radiator off his bike so we left him to make his own way home.

As the rain set in the tracks turned to mud and it was like trying to ride on ice, but the high ridge and beautiful beech tree forest made up for it.

Thanks every one for a sick few days riding and see you all there next time !

New Zealand Drift Film - How We Do - D1NZ Round 5 2011

2011-03-17T00:34:00.000-07:00

Check this video out from the last round of drifting it is amazing, really shows how it all works and is just super sick!!! none of me but cool

d1nz round 5 follow up

2011-03-17T00:07:00.000-07:00

"Brad Lauder also will be looking at a move up to D1NZ next season with his impressive season in D1Rookie - some sure stars coming up for the future of NZ drifting." from d1nz website

Rookie Top 8 finishers:

1	- Nico Reid
2	- Dave Steedman
3	- Bradley Lauder
4	- Brandon Rogerson
5	- Mark Burling
6	- Karl Sturmfels
7	- Darren Benjamin
8	- Phil Otene

Ive been getting some great exposure on big websites around the net, check out this link for write up from d1nz website D1NZ CLICK HERE

D1NZ round 5

2011-03-13T01:30:00.000-08:00

After leaving hoki on Wednesday i drove back to picton jumped on the ferry, with a good sailing got back to otaki about 11pm. After a good nights sleep got up early and started driving back to Rotorua i got in around 1pm packed up the car and headed for Auckland. so after 2 days of driving me and rach got to the camp ground on the bombays.

Friday morning was going good with beautiful blue sky and the fastest corner for drifting in the world ready to be attacked by some 60 drivers. The corner really plays with your head as you need to be doing at least 180km to get around with good angle, i did afew good runs but when i got into the pits got told off for my car being to loud along with half of the feild. I strugled through the day by trying to kill the noise becouse everytime i tryed to quieten it i lost a huge amount of power which made it hard to drift the section. I got it sorted and had a few good qualifing runs which put me in 4th place for qualifing.

The top 16 battle went well i didnt push to hard so i didnt make any mistakes and was through to the next day for the top 8.

Simon from garage h wanted me to take him for a ride at the end of the day but as we left the pits changed 1 gear then the engine started to mis fire BUGGER!! after trying to find out what it was we had to pack up and get out of the track so headed down to E H motors and pulled the rocker cover off to find 2 smashed rockers BUGGER BUGGER! I fished all the broken bits out and Carl Ruitiman got me some spare rockers and thanks to Josh Coote (Aussie) for the motivation to fix it as i was very tyred and wasnt really felling it.

Getting it all back together i gad a little misshap by braking a bolt off for the camshaft bearing cap, a bid thanks to E H motors for helping me and i got it out and all back together.

Saturday was another beaut day and got some good practice runs in. Top 8 battles went well taking out Carl Sturmfles, to make top 4 but after a rerun lost so battled Brendon Rogerson for 3rd and 4th and had 2 good runs taking him out for 3rd place which i was super stoked about after a huge effort to get there and the troubles on friday.

The last 3 weekends ive made the podium 3 different times at 3 of New Zealands biggest

extreme sports events!

2nd round 4 D1NZ rookies

2nd 2011 bullerfest Boater X

3rd round 5 D1NZ rookies

So big thanks to all those people who help me out in getting here!!!!

The busy life!

2011-03-13T00:37:00.000-08:00

What a crazy few weeks its been, On the 6th me and ryan lucas drove down to the buller fest in Murchison for a weekend of racing and drinking, and that we did. The boater x is one of the biggest feilds in the country with more then 70 mens competitors, after a long day we had the final set and ready to go with myself Sam Sutton Mike Dawson and another young slalom paddler.It was a great race with me hot on mikes tail but couldnt make a pass and Mike ended up taking the win with myself in 2nd and sam 3rd.

After a few good nights of partying and a sweet day hucking off Mururia Falls it was time to head to the wild west coast to do somw heli boating with Bruce Dando and his awsome little hughs 300 chopper.

Monday we went up the Kokatahi river for a sick days boating on one of my top 3 runs ive done in the world.

Photo. mike dawson. Paddler Wills marton

The river had changed alot after alot of flooding this year which opened up rapids like this sick drop, but
also changed rapids for the worst the couldnt be paddled any more

I flew up with Isaac the American, Fabian the Argentinean, Sam, Ryan, Wills and mike. Making a pretty stout team. The action started pretty early on, with Ryan missing a boof and getting beat down in one of the numerous holes. I bagged him out to the side. Next up was Fabian getting slotted into a little seive... Super dodge. I pulled him out with some help from the U.S. The last of the action saw Isaac getting stuck in a little surprise hole before getting bagged by Sam and pulled out. No swims, but a bit of action.

Photo mike dawson

Day 2 was a chill day up the hoki river with a massive crew of 12 paddlers which dose take a bit longer but everyone had a sick day with the 2 girls on the trip lou jull and martina doing awsome and sticking there lines.

after a good night sleep in the back of the trusty van with my room mate Ryan i headed off back to the north island for round 5 of the D1NZ in Auckland.

round 4 vid

2011-03-02T04:56:00.000-08:00

D1NZ round 4 Taupo video I put together.

d1nz website photos

2011-02-28T22:05:00.000-08:00

Heres afew photos and comments from the d1nz web site after round 4 over the weekend

This is from the d1nz website:

"Over the course of the day the Top 16 kicked of with some sure stand outs. Alu Nathan borrowed Graeme Mutch’s car (dad) to really stomp his mark on the track picking up a well deserved 4^th place, local Pukekohe resident Brandon Rogerson picked up the pace in his 180sx and pushed to claim 3^rd spot for his first podium in D1Rookie, The 2 to beat currently in the Rookie Championship battled it out with Bradley lauder narrowly missing out and giving young gun Nico Reid top podium spot – watch out for these 2 they will be some future stars in NZ drifting."

D1NZ round 4 Taupo

2011-02-27T23:45:00.000-08:00

Hey, after a very stressfull month trying to get the car all back together for round 4 a 2nd place was pretty well earnt! After a long morning on friday trying to repair a blowen intercooler pipe for qualifying i was a bit nervous that it was going to do it again but still ended up qualifying 2nd behind Nico reid who i also ended up lossing to in the final.

drift car upgrades

2011-02-13T00:09:00.000-08:00

hey all, I know its been awhile since I last put sumthing up here but ive been a little busy out in the shed!! after round 3 i new my motor was alittle sad after around 4 years of beating on it drifting. so pulled it out and found 1 piston had nipped up abit from getting to hot, so a little freshen up was in order, with the cost of the after market parts being around the same as the nissan oem parts i went out and found a few top of the line parts to get a little more out of the motor!

my motor now has a set of acl race bearings, arp rod bolts, cp forged pstion in the botom end and up top a cometic head gasget, kelford cams "ultimite drift cams" along with a set of heavyier valve springs. Hanging of the side now is the beautiful Sinco Customs manifold with a lager holset turbo, for now just cos i had it in the shed and looks cool as! but next week will be geting a gt37 masterpower turbo

As the motor was now out of the car and had sum time i cut out the old front wheel arches and made these sexy big tubs that now allows me to run as bigger wheel and as much lock as i like with no rubbing. so with that done i took out the cross member cut the steering rack mounts off and moved the rack forward about 15mm which gave me around 5 degress more look after taking the grinder to the steering lock stops.

I cant really beleve it myself how good the engine bay looks now, and very staunch with that big turbo hanging off the side!! stay tuned for the end results!!! i cant wait to drive this thing now. hopfully ill get about half as much power again out of it

Matt's BMX video from Wellington

2010-12-20T22:07:00.000-08:00

My brother Matt (hes the one in the blue singlet riding) and a few of his friends shot this video a few weeks ago for a Vans video comp. They ended up coming away winning first prize in the video competition.
check it out SUNDAY/WELLINGTON video

d1nz Mt Smart Auckland - Round 3

2010-12-20T22:00:00.000-08:00

Round 3 of the D1NZ went down this weekend at Mt Smart Stadium... and the rain kept on coming! There were a lot of pretty big crashes into the concrete barriers on the Friday practice and D1NZ rookie qualifying - I kept it off the barriers and ended up qualifying in 7th spot which was pretty good as I wasn't pushing too hard after seeing the damages being caused to a lot of other cars! Made it through to the top 8 with some consistent battles and ended up 5th after losing to Alu who had a very good chase run. I was super stoked with the weekend, didn't damage the car at all and got some good points on the board.. pity about the rain though! Now I have a few repairs to do am am gonna try get some more power out of the car before the next round (end of Feb).

kaituna summer days video

2010-12-11T20:37:00.000-08:00

hey all me and ryan took the go pro down the river a few weeks back and shot this sweet little vid so check it out

check out the kaituna video here

powercruise photos

2010-12-04T15:12:00.000-08:00

Powercruise is a very cool weekend and anyone with a cool car should get there next year

the drift demo and competition was alot of fun but sunday didnt really go that well as the party and walk home that night before took it out of me.

thanks a lot to nick from garage h for the photos over the weekend, the cruising sessions are the perfect way to get out on the track for two days of fun and games with your mates

speed hunters pictures

2010-12-04T14:25:00.000-08:00

hey all, ive been getting exposure in some pretty big web sites and publications lately, have a look at this one from the speedhunters web site which is one of the most viewed car culture sites.

check out the article here from speed hunters

All so a very good write up from octane culture from round 2 of the d1nz, there is a sweet photo of me labled as ( repco s14 )

check othe the artical here from octane culture

sinco customs

2010-11-29T02:06:00.000-08:00

I'd like to say a big thanks to SINCO CUSTOMS who I'm very proud to say have sorted me out with one of their works of art, a sr20det exhaust manifold. One look at this manifold and you go wow, but really spending time to look at the workmanship that has gone into it and you truly understand just how good these guys are at what they do and that they are the best out there! So stay tuned for the up dates for the power upgrade coming soon. Check out their web site SINCO CUSTOMS

D1nz round 2 manfeild

2010-11-29T01:35:00.000-08:00

First of all I'd like to thank the GARAGE H boys Nick and homo opps i mean Simon for all the help and fun times over the weekend!!! Cheers boys and everyone else for helping me out.
I ended the weekend in 4th place with some pretty crazy driving along the way but fully stoked on that, big ups to all the rookies drivers for stepping it up and putting on 1 hell of a show and showing every 1 that we can drive just as well as the D1 drivers, but with our whole cars worth maybe as much as their wheels!

keep posted for the full up date and pics

nz drift video

2010-11-29T01:28:00.000-08:00

Hey I put together this little video of the NZ Drift Nats at Hampton Downs
check it out NZ Drift video

powercriuse taupo

2010-11-05T17:45:00.000-07:00

Powercriuse Taupo is the next event on the calender come along and check it out, its fast becoming one of the biggest events in Australasia. http://www.powercriuse.com/

D1NZ 2010 ROUND 1 CHRISTCHURCH

2010-11-05T16:17:00.000-07:00

After weeks of preping the car trying to save enough coin and many sleepless night worrying if the poor old van would make it towing my car all the way to powerbuilt tools raceway, it was time to leave.

Me and rach left rotorua early morning to get to Otaki to pick up tyres and change them over before the earll start thursday to get the 8 30 ferry, Dan and Giz turned up at about 6am and in true fashion i was still in bed, and trying to turn around on the lawn got stuck and had to tow the van off the lawn. so the trip got off to a great start!

The ferry ride was good with alot of other guys on the same ferry the girls were sick of us talking about cars already. the drive to Christchurch went well, and drove through a pretty cool snow storm just south of kaikoura.

My main man Dan Walker doing all the hard work for me,

The days drifting didnt really go as planed, I qualified in 8th place. as you have 5 runs and the average of those five runs is where you end up, i did 4 runs that were all exactly the same and had smoth lines but i think i miss counted and thought i had done 5 so went a little harder as i was getting alittle board and tryed to hook 4th coming out of the 1sr coner but missed the gear and stright lined so put my average way down.

dan wanted his own car to drive so knock to geather this little beauty between runs!

The 1st run of the top 16 battles didnt really go to plan eather, i was leading 1st run and went out with my be alittle to much confidence and didnt warm the tyres up enough came in to the 1st coner with good angle but just as i went to get on the power the front wheels started to lose grip and sledged the front causeing me to go off line straighten and hand the win over to the other guy, in the chase i was all over him whand he made a mistake but in the judges eyes wasnt enough to win, so that was the end of that, and good learning expereance if anything!

we had a sweet trip driving back north and kaikoura area is so beautiful with the snow right behind the town

the van made the trip no worrys at all, so till next time keep charging

NAC drift nats

2010-10-11T02:11:00.000-07:00

After a quality days drifting at Hampton Down for the Nac NZ Drift Nationals last weekend, I've been busy in the shed with the sounds cranking building a new tyre rack for my trailer and trying to make my car go faster but really its probably not going to, so I just have to drive it like I stole it until I get sum more money to spend on it!

I'm so stoked with my 6th place finish against some of NZ's best last weekend just really showing my self that I can drive with the skill level of the best guys just that with half the horse power its hard to keep up - now the count is on for the first round of the D1NZ Drifting Nationals, which is in Christchurch this Labour weekend. Me, Rach Dan and Giz are looking forward to packing up the trusty van and road tripping it down South for a long weekend of tyre shredding action!

I'm happy to announce a new sponsor I've picked up today for my Drifting - REPCO Rotorua. Thanks a lot REPCO, your support means a lot and will go a long way this season.

Here are a selection of photos from Hampton Downs - the first of so many great days drifting to come this season.. yea boy!

NAC NZ Drift Nationals Hampton Downs

2010-10-05T17:26:00.000-07:00

hey all had a sick day drifting at hampton downs on sunday, check out a video of me winning my way into 6th place against the best in the country

Watch the video here Nac NZ Drift Nationals

more photos and video to come soon

night shots

2010-09-09T03:38:00.000-07:00

there was a beautiful full moon out the other night so i had to go take some photos around the golf course at home.

took this last 1 looking up the back from home in otaki, after getting home from the states

Tryna pay the bills, and go drifting

2010-09-08T02:59:00.000-07:00

Yes well back at home and back to the 8 to 5 working day, but what keeps me going through the cold rainy Rotorua days strangely enough is the thought getting home and doing some more work on my car, the reason behind that is I get to spend the weekends away all summer driving this poor old car as hard and fast as I possibly can!

I love the life style and enjoyment that cames from the time spent away kayaking and wouldn't trade it for anything, but for me the rush from kayaking big rapids and water falls is out done a lot of the time by the feeling of taking this car sideways around a track faster then most people have ever been in a car, the sound of the engine screaming its head off on the rev limiter, tyres burning up as they slide across the track and looking out the side window at a concrete wall getting closer and closer as you try to scrape the rear bumper along it just to make the people watching go wow!

I dont think most people will ever understand what it is like to control a car in this way and I hope that they never do, other wise there will be so many people doing it I'll never get a space to get on the track!!

Any way Ive been trying to tidy up my poor beat up car and give it a fresh coat of paint and pretty much rebuild it so it works again, it costs a lot of time and money to do all this plus get to the track buy tyres, gas, tyres gas and um more tyres so if theres any one out there thats got some spare cash lying around let me know and I might be able to take you for a ride in exchange!

Time to go home

2010-07-25T12:56:00.000-07:00

Well its been 1 of the best tirps ive had away kayaking ever.
Starting off by running Metlako falls the 1st day kayaking, to having a 2nd and 3rd in races in Colorado, Dinky Creek which is my new favourite river and walking my sorry arse to the top of Graceland Slide and flying to the bottom, all the other amazing times paddling, hanging out with Rach in the big brown van and just spending time with all the crazy cool people on this 3 month long epic trip... thanks to all of you and I can't wait to do it all over again next time!

A big thanks to Bliss-stick for the boat
                         Nut case helmets
                         The family
                         Rachael
                         Evan Garcia for showing us the way
                         Chris Pyle for helping us out so much

Now I can't wait to get home and take over the drifting world with my crazy new idea for my car!

Watch this space
peace and keep charging in what ever you do!!!

Upper Cherry

2010-07-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

It was time for Upper Cherry, over the years I've heard a lot about this river and seen crazy photos of it from Sam Sutton getting stuck in the pot hole on Cherry Bomb, pics of boys walking in to the put-in in a foot of snow, stories of " kiwi in a pocket ", but I think for us this time the stories of 40 people walking in the day we were going too, and the put-in slide having a metre of water flowing down it has to be 1 of the tallest tales I've heard in a long time!

Getting to Groveland late at night and walking for an hour then camping was always our plan, but we didn't walk that night as the stories put us off... Thankfully for us we had EG the killer who was going in there rain hail or shine, he started packing his gear that night at the trail head and said " I'm waking my arse up at 4am and hiking my tired arse up to the put-in", so we hit the sack.

The hike in is about 12 miles and isn't too bad a walk, until the sun gets over the hill at about 8 30am,

The snow on the trail stays around for a long time and provides for some amazing high country lakes and meadows as the brutal sun hasn't had time to dry it out like the lower elevation

YEA BOY!!!! made it to the last little down hill to the put-in after a good 5 hours walking with about 40kg of boat on my back!! From the lookout is also one of the most amazing views, with all the huge granite domes capped with the last little bit of snow.

most of the 1st day's paddling is all low angle slides in the most amazing wide open granite vally I think most kayakers have ever seen

Cherry Bomb, it's just sick! Huge slabs of granite have fallen into this tight gorge and the water is damed up and flows around the side if it causing this amazing little slide with a ledge at the bottom for a perfect kicker..

We ran Cherry Bomb the 1st day then walked back up the second day and did it again, and as for the stories of it being super high and 40 people... it was low and there were 8 people in there the first night!

Cherry Bomb, just a sick place! Big thanks to the girls who hiked across the sheer granite face to the 'media ledge' to take photos of us running Cherry Bomb!

EG the killa loving life at the end of Cherry Bomb gorge

I don't think I've ever seen any video or photos of Kiwi in a Pocket, but had definately heard a lot about it and most of us on the trip wanted to fire this thing up. Getting there, it looked a lot better then I had imagined, Evan hadn't run it before and he fired it up 1st and cleaned the line, I was already half way to my boat before he got to the bottom of the rapid and fired it of with a stella line. Brendon wanted a piece of the action and headed for his boat and styled it to. No kiwis in the pocket this year!

I splashed out at Walmart one day and got a $12 fishing pole and it paid off with this monster of a fish out of the pool at the camp site, I have to say that this was the biggest fish I saw pulled in and most of the locals would keep fish half this size!

The tea cups after Cherry Bomb Gorge is one of the funnest set of rapids I've ever paddled, and provided our 15 or so kiwis a great place to try and land on each other as we boofed off the drops

We had trains like this going all day, everyone had so much fun and just couldn't stop walking up for another go

Moro rock

2010-07-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

Moro rock is a huge piece of granite over looking Sequoia National Park, we went looking for bears cos Brendon hadn't seen any, and as we were leaving the sun started going down. We ran to the top of the rock for one of the most amazing afternoons of the trip. Enjoy...

Tunnel Log - a fallen Giant Sequoia tree that's been cut out and the road put through it. This tree could be up to 3000 years old! The sign said 8 feet clearance - we were exactly 8 feet high coz it just scraped the top of the boats!

East Kaweah round 2

2010-07-21T09:20:00.000-07:00

Paddling down the bottom of the West Cherry, the Upper Cherry still looked really high so we headed back to Three rivers to hang out till the river level came down.

The East Kaweah had came down a bit too which was a lot more fun round two, being able to run Triple Drop

More crazy go pro shots

Triple drop is the sickest boof into the top off the right, then get your nose up for the next two holes

EG the killer stoked on running Triple Drop!

Its really crazy how many photos I've got in the middle of some big rapids of me playing with my eyes trying to get my contacts in my eyes so I can see where I'm going, and a lot of the time I just cant freaking see where I'm going! but oh well makes things more interesting!

West Cherry

2010-07-14T19:19:00.000-07:00

I dont think I will ever be able to find my way to the put-in to West Cherry by myself, nor want to. The long gravel logging road takes left and right turns at random all over the place, but with Evan as our guide with his crazy memory we made it... only to have to set up camp with a million sandflies!

Rach enjoying the camp fire before the long walk the next day

The fire was about the only place other than the tent to get relief from the bugs

It's crazy how fast the world spins, this was only about 5 minute exposure.

3 hours with this big heavy boat sux!!!

getting to this point = great nearly there!

launching the beast of a slide = priceless

Graceland slide had only been run by 6 other people before I got my chance, Evan Garcia fired it up for his second go and it was just amazing. I hit a flake rock after the pothole and had a little roll but got my sh*t together and made it to the bottom with a smile on my face.

on the home straight.

update to continue................

East Kaweah

2010-07-14T18:05:00.000-07:00

After getting off dinky we drove south to Three Rivers and camped out for the night before getting on East Kaweah. Looking at the flows the night before, we knew it was going to be high, as we found out with Sam and Toni both needing to do their booty beers that night - there were a few sticky holes!

Double Drop was super fun with a nice little slide into boofing the hole in the bottom

We did walk a few rapids due to the high water, so getting cooled off before and after the walking in the 35degree heat was key

I pulled a few crazy horses off the smaller drop that the go pro missed, but did get sum sweet after shots

Jamie having a great time

the go pro camera gets crazy shots!

movie

2010-07-14T16:51:00.000-07:00

I put together a little video of the last few weeks paddling, check it out! I've also been a bit slack on the updates but we have paddled East Kaweah, Hospital Rock, West Cherry (which had a crazy long freakn walk!) but Evan, myself, and Brendon ran Graceland Slide which was sick!!!!
stay posted for the updates

Dinky Creek

2010-07-04T20:45:00.000-07:00

Photos by Toni George

Me running "the thing" which was sooo sick!

We are just sitting in Fresno outside pizza hut using the net after one of my new all time Favourite runs. Dinky Creek is just full of clean sick rapids.

Stay tuned for the whole update!!

peace out

Royal Gorge

2010-07-01T23:18:00.000-07:00

I was very excited after getting back from Colorado to find out Royal Gorge was going, so Evan, myself, Will, Drew, Toni, and Sam got all our over night gear and headed to the put-in of the 3 day paddle.

It starts off a bit manky but soon cleans up to some real cool clean rapids, then just as we started getting used to our super heavy boats the river drops into Heath Springs Gorge.

Drew droping Heath One. Its a sweet 35 footer, but 50meters after it is Heath Two. I landed pretty hard off Heath One and broke my paddle which Iwas prety pissed about, but the Werner split I got to use was sick.

This is the last little mini gorge about 100metres above Rattle Snake camp site, and a really fun drop to run!

We got down to Rattle Snake and fired it up that night before setting up camp. Its a pretty crazy ferry to get to the middle of the river in order to miss the ledge halfway down the falls, but the boil does push you back to the left as you drop off the lip. I had a sweet line and our whole crew ran it sweet. Big ups to Toni George for firing it up and styling it!

Rattle Snake camp site is sick, with a nice big camp fire already set up no sand flies and listening to Rattle Snake Falls thumping away all night in the back ground, its just amazing.

I found this little bugger hiding on the track on one of the portages on day 3.

Day two's sick little 25 footer. Evan was on fire and ran everything, Heath Two, Scotts Drop and Wabena. He styled the top of Scotts Drop but was unlucky and got ejected at the bottom after hitting a ledge. Drew ran it too and knocked all his front teeth out at the bottom and had to paddle the 25miles out from 12.30pm.

FIBARK festival

2010-06-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

This year marks the 62nd anniversay of FIBArk, the nation's oldest whitewater festival and Salida's signature event. Since 1949, every June during the Spring snow runoff, Salida has hosted FIBArk, "First in Boating on the Arkansas."

Located in Salida's historic downtown, Riverside Park is the center of FIBArk activity and entertainment. Food, arts and crafts, and industry vendors are available, as well as a beer tent, a carnival, and a state-of-the art amphitheater for this year's extraordinary musical line-up.
HEAD TO http://www.fibark.net/ and check it out

My 1st run down the river was the time trial where I was getting the feel for the pushy water and figuring how to get around the big hole

The set up for the race was heats of 3 people the 1st round then heats of 4. the1st heat was pretty fun, Tod got out in front off the start as he had pick for starting position, but he picked a slower line to miss the hole which gave us time to get beside him and we all ended going past the big hole together, which gave the crowd something to cheer about.

Its pretty hard to paddle with a boat on eather side of you but I used some good old kiwi style racing skills to push my way past and win the heat

2nd heat, Brian Kirk got out in front from the start and I was in second. Just chilling out and not trying to push too hard on the big puchy water I find is the way to go, just picking your line and keeping the boat moving. It paid off this time as I saw Brian going over the wave in front of me straight into the big hole. Thanks Brian for handing me the win in the semi final!

The final was set and ready to go bar 1, as he took a run up the side of the river to get warm before we could start. There was a freezing wind blowing all day and walking the mile up to the put-in each time really took it out of you at 8000feet. I had a bad start in the final getting tangled with the other guy that was in the middle. Pushing hard to catch up didn't really pay off, but I did nearly jump clean over Graeme Seiler's boat here above the hole and into the finish line eady! I was happy coming in 3rd for the 1st time paddling the river. And thanks to the three swimmers out of the big hole for providing the entertainment!

I don't like little short boats so decided to do bit of freestyle in something I feel more comfortable in...

As well the creek race there's a slalom, freestyle, downriver, and hooligan race

The hooligan race is awesome, with boats made of anything and everything. This guy was the stand-out for me, simple but effective, a bike with 2 floats on each side and the back wheel when paddling gave it alot of momentum and he made it the whole way through the hole! 10 points!!

Doing sweet jumps

2010-06-20T22:01:00.000-07:00

After camping out for the night after paddling OBJ we stoped in Gunnison and found these dirt jumps.

Rach is getting her photography skills down!

A few more days riding and I'll have to start getting some backys down again!

OH BE JOYFUL

2010-06-20T21:47:00.000-07:00

I had a sweet day doing laps on OBJ with Dane jackson and a few boys that were hanging out in Salida, its a sweet little run.

The 1st little drop, it was pretty low but everything still went with a little scraping

The second drop which is the biggest on the run,

Theres a few little slides like this on the run which would be cool with heaps of water!

The valley is just beautiful, snow-capped hills and icy cold clear whitewater

Lyons outdoor games

2010-06-12T13:52:00.000-07:00

Leaving Glenwood Springs, Rach and I drove East to Lyons for the Outdoor Games. Hanging out for a few days in the nice hot sun playboating and paddling the river was awesome.

Today was the creek race and it poured with rain all night. With only a few leaks through the van roof, we headed up the flooded river. This has to be one of the gnarliest race courses I've been on, making Homestake Creek, Vail, look like a walk in the park. 5 1/2 minutes of Colorado mank mixed with hand freezing temperatures makes it one tough race. Tao and I had spent the last few days paddling the creek and it paid off for the both of us, with Tao winning and me coming second.

Also, in bigger news I got a sweet new ride from the bike shop in Lyons. It's a GT Ruckus UF and it's so much fun!

This afternoon we have the team Boater X, then the slalom and down river race tomorrow.

Heres a few pics from the week

2010-06-08T17:32:00.000-07:00

2010 Teva mountain games

2010-06-08T17:14:00.000-07:00

The Teva Mountain Games in Vail would have to be the best week of action sports I've been to, and with bands, stalls with all the free stuff you can carry, and different events on the whole week there's a lot to take in.

The week starts off with the steep creek race on Homestake Creek.

Then for us kayakers the long boat time trial on Saturday is the next event. With no one bringing any long boats with them, we spent all morrning asking the locals if we could use their old dancers, old wavesports and anything that might be faster then a creek boat. I used an old wavesport boat that seemed really good sitting in it for 1 minute on the bank, but after about 5minutes into the 16minute race it felt like I had no legs or feet which made things a little hard to paddle! I pushed on through and ended up 10th, which seemed an ok time for the boat I was paddling.

In the meat of Homestake creek, go upside down and loose your face on the rocks

trying to hit these little slot lines at 11000 feet really is hard work

this is the cleanest drop on the course and still has a few rocks in the bottom

I ended up 12th over all which I was a little disapointed with, I had a good 1st run until the bottom, where I got stuck on top of a rock and plugged the last drop, which lost a few seconds. I was in 15th and knew I wasnt going to win anything, so for my second run I just wanted to have a clean run, I have a great deal of trouble in the altitude getting air in so just took it easy and stuck a good clean run but it was a bit slow.

my 1st run was 202, and 2nd run 158 seconds.

Big ups to Sam for winning after his swim a few days before, sams 1st run 150 and 2nd 152. Go boy!

The guys in the slope style were ripping, they make our paddling

look lame!!!

Our massive house we stayed in was sick! Every body had a great time even though it was a little hard to sleep at times with the party going early into the morning.. but thanks every one for a great time!!

KIWIS RULE!

Steam boat springs race

2010-06-08T16:37:00.000-07:00

After leaving las vegas we headed to colorado for the big races, our 1st stop was steamboat springs.

the hold a great little event here every year that consists of a freestyle and time trial creek race.

me ripping it up in the freestyle, coming in an amazing 3rd to last.

may be i should get in a play boat more then once a year

As we pulled up the the river for the creek race we came across these two young moose hanging out eating some trees, they didnt seem to bothered by us and just wandered past the cars and off into the bush. they are very big animals

the water in this little creek has to be the coldest ive ever paddled in, half way through the race i couldnt grab my paddle with my fingers. i was pretty stoked on my 2nd place.

trainer for the homestake creek race in vail, this is a very nasty little creek and will hurt you very fast if ur not on ur game

$$$$$$$$Las Vegas$$$$$$$$

2010-05-29T16:33:00.000-07:00

Las Vegas what can i say? crazy massive flash money!

This place realy is out in the middle of the desert but the moment u drove off the freeway you have no idea where u are, cos u could be any where in the world the amount of different thing there

We wanted to make our mark on the strip straight away so with the biggest heap of brown american muscle we checked in to the 5 star Bellagio Hotel and parked it smack bang in the middle for about 30minutes

Our style was true Las Vegas with our $7 hats and $20 jakets and a couple of pretty girls we hit town.

In true style of course, champagne and a 40foot long limo!!

Our ride!

WOW bright lights everywhere! the veiw from the top of the Palms

Then the drive shaft fell off! sort of

2010-05-29T16:08:00.000-07:00

So we pulled into the super target about half way for LA to Las Vegas and broke out the hammer and had to change the UJ on the drove shaft that was falling apart and in about 20 mins we got back on the road

Driving takes alot out of u on those 30mile straights across the desert

We spent another night camped out in the desert but it dose provided a good place to take sick night shots.

Hollywood!!!!!

2010-05-29T15:57:00.000-07:00

God Bless America?

This flag had to be about 5 or 6 metres long. We are standing on Venice Beach peir which i think is the spot that the old Venice Beach board walk was which is where the dog town and z boys thing started

How about that for a bit of arty photography

Now we got up to Hollywood after being at the beach. We drove down Santa Monica Blvd and found this lovely lady standing on the red carpet outside a ice cream shop, dont ask me why but she was. Her names Sophie Turner (we think) and is an ozzy super model. Now im selling this photo for 10 grand to any magazines who are interested, seeing as we spoke to a few photographers who take photos like this for a living

I came across this young lady on Hollywood Blvd, i think she is a kiwi super model!

Rach and I in the Hollywood hills

Diriving To Vail

2010-05-29T15:35:00.000-07:00

So we left the colder weather that cali had been putting on for us and headed south down the coast towards LA in search of hot weather and the Hollywood strip.

Along the way Rach has bought a new 7D Canon camera, this was my 1st photo taken on it of sum beautiful girl I found on the side of the road.

Now as for this 1 I think he belongs to the same family as the mammals below

The coast is covered in huge colonies of seals which are very loud and always keen to pose for a photo

We camped out at the beach 1 night and had a good paddle in the surf the next morning at Cayucas Beach.

Over nighter

2010-05-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

After leaving the feather river we headed back south to Yosemite national park to paddle the Merced river. Its an amazing part of the counrty with towering granite rock faces and deep valleys full of cool white water. We got on the river at about luch time and headed off, it was a new experience trying to paddle a boat with so much gear in it. A few of the boys really making things look hard spending alot of time upside down.

This Photo is thanks to Candace who walked way down into the river bed on the south branch of the feather.

Hot weather cold water and beautiful senery, what more could you want!

Sam getting down in front of 1 very cool slide that had a massive hole in the bottom

We set up a very cool camp sit but it was pretty cold and had a few spits of ran so we had to snugle together under the tarp to keep warm and dry

Nate Gracia styling 1 of the sweetest moves on day 2

We decided to get a hotel room to let lose for a night and get out of sleeping in the van

The long drive south

2010-05-17T22:07:00.000-07:00

After the trip to Hood river we started to head south with Evan to check out a pretty burly water fall Koosah falls, Evan fired it off and styled it. Us kiwi boys opted out as we pretty much sux at water falls and Evan is the god and he was scared!! So then drove down to the south branch of the Feather river,

The veiw of Mt Hood was just amazing on the drive with the beautiful sunny day, still with alot of snow around and the sun making all the river very cold

We camped out at the put in to the Fearther and set up a little fire. I spent alot of the time walking around looking for bears, snakes, couger or what ever wildlife that might be around but I didnt see any thing which might be a good thing.

Sam boofing one of the many sweet little 20 footer drops, this run was just 1 of those perfect days boating warm weather sick river good group of the boys.

Ryan on another sweet boof to boof

Day 2 was the lower section of the south branch, with a 1 1/2 hour walk in and the ran setting in half way through the walk made for 1 of the crazyest days boating

The classics

2010-05-14T14:20:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday was just one sweet day doing the classic runs around hood river. We stayed in a very nice hotel that had a swimming pool and hot tube an hour out of Portland which was great to just relax after a few big hits on the body the last few days, then got up and headed to the put in of the Little white salmon. Sam was feeling alot beter and was stoked to be coming boating. After that meet up with EG and LJ and headed for the White salmon.

Our sweet van looking good

The crew for the days boating Sam, LJ, Mike, EG, Rodrigo Me, Ryan

EG boofing big brother, it was a pretty high flow and i made a little trip into the cave but it was super chill and just paddled out

Our cheerleading team looking good in front of the fire.

Sam pluging BZ falls this thing has a 50/50 hole in the bottom u eather make it or swim he made it through i didnt! I pluged it but came up on the wrong side of the river and went back in so decided to make like a salmon and swin my ass out of there! It was pretty funny and in true Sam style yelling "SWIM YOU F#$KING PUSSY" the whole time. All good an i was happy as Ryan had just brought new bootys that i could drink my beer from!

We have just been hanging out in Hood river for the day letting the bodys recover a bit and the girls go shopping. This afternoon we are driving back south, bound for Cali with Evan and Candice to check out a few more water falls .

Looking for water falls

2010-05-13T00:23:00.000-07:00

Today is Ryans birthday so we sat down on the net this morning and had a good look for big water falls that might be going off. As there is 73 water falls up the Columbia river gorge there was alot to look at, we found a few sweet ones so set off to check them out.

This is Bridal Veil falls, the bottom drop is sweet to go but we wanted to check out a few other better drops and the top will be ago at higher water but a massive hit at the bottom, i think we will be back here one day

Rach and me

Sam getting up close and personal as im checking out the line on money drop as its been named which is on Rock creek, the heart rate was pretty high as Todd Wells broke his back here about 5 weeks earlier.

This has to be the sickest place in the world! Staring down the tube from the lip of a good 55footer.

I had a beautiful line an pluged it perfect which i was stoked on as theres a big shute leading up to the lip which gives you heaps of speed.

Ryan ready for impact, he had a pretty sweet line but did manage to break his 2nd paddle in as many days. Happy birthday bro!!!!!

Ryan and I stoked on the run, another 2 kiwis learning to fly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lauder bros drifting video

2010-05-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

With a lot of spare time between paddling ive been making a few videos of me and my brother drifting
check it out Lauder bros drifting video

Eagle creek vid

2010-05-12T10:51:00.000-07:00

hey heres a little video i made of the eagle creek run, check it out
click here Eagle creek video

Day 2 usa

2010-05-11T17:21:00.001-07:00

A bum sleeping and a cop working, just another day in America

Last nigth we set up our massive bed in the back of the van, consisting of 2 queen size blow up beds and about 8 sleeping bags all 5 of us climbed in sam, kat 1 side me, rach the other and ryan between the 2 boys to protect the girls. After a good nights sleep we got woken by the ranger telling us theres no over night camping and why didnt we have any plates on our van, he was cool about it all and enjoyed our story and a check of my licence left us to keep sleeping.

With sam still having a pretty sore eye myself, ryan, ian and tyler did a run of the little white salmon, the water was super cold as i think most of its snow melt. Tyler had a new under water camera housing so he was out of his boat swimming around with it, so keep an eye out for his shots.

Me coming off the lip at spirit, i gave it a little to much on the boof an landed a bit flat but the free fall feels super sick

Ryan lucus running spirit having a good line but this is the last time you'll see his paddle cos he broke it on the landing. Another sick day in Hood river

USA WE ARE HERE

2010-05-10T18:05:00.001-07:00

Well i dont know how to explain the 1st 3 days in the usa, just amazing, day 1 pick up da rental car from da air port drive down to the geto in san jose and pick up our sweet van

I gotto take 4 strokes in my new mystic then stright over punch bowl falls, this is about 500meters above metlako falls

Hang out in san fran for day 2 then i drove all night the get to hood river met up with Tyler bradt and Ian who pointed us in the direction of metlako falls. Id have to say me and ryan had the best day kayaking of our lives running metlako falls 80 foot of pure fun, sam my think it was sweet in a few days but hes got a bit of a sore head after he punched him self in the face on landing the beast, me and ryan had sick lines, so check it out

ryan droping it, full style

me 2 3rds down u can c my paddle but im in the water fall, what a sick day wasnt that big of a hit

our sick v8 dodge ram van in san fran

Rarotonga

2010-05-07T14:59:00.001-07:00

For my brother Matts 21st the family went to rarotonga for a week of fun in the sun it was an amazing week filled with skids on our sweet rental GN125 and drinking cocktails by the beach.

The weather wasnt the best with alot of rain but it was still hot an made things more fun for riding the bikes around

One morning rach wanted to do a lap of the island and i think we had a cock tail at nearly every resort on the island,

I ran over the cross island track witn the hope of finding a water fall or sumthing able to kayak after all the ran but the catchment just isnt big enough for any chance of enough water.

my sweet rental rig

me, tammie, rach, beky,mum, matt

Im leaving on a jet plane

2010-05-07T14:40:00.000-07:00

Its that time of year again for the annual pilgrimage to the Bliss-stick factory to collect

my sweet new whip, a beautiful orange mystic. Thanks Charles, Coke and Andy

We are heading off to the air port this afternoon flying to San Fran before buying a nice big v8 dodgeram van and heading for hood river and the little white river

A bit of shameless self promotion with some sweet stickers thanks

to the guys at http://www.salisburysigns.co.nz/

coast trip 2010

2010-04-11T00:25:00.000-07:00

once again me rach and the to ugly ducklings ( ryan hunt & ryan lucus) head from rotorua for the buller fest 2010. We had a sweet trip down doing sum sick gainers off a bridge we found in picton then into lake rotoiti at the head of the buller river.

bradley

ryan lucus

buller fest was once again an amazing weekend of racing and partying, i got conned into going in a raft team for the nz raft team trials consisting of a time trial slalom and nasty 45minute head to head down a very low water run of the upper buller, we did end up winning which made all the hard work worth while.

The head to head boater x is always a really cool day with lots of people watching and partying the day away, i was really looking forward to defending my title as winner the last 2 years running but after a very long day came out 3rd after battling Sam for the lead and passing him then getting pushed onto the rock he and johan got past me but still stoked and a cool days racing.

Leaving the buller gorge and heading for the west coast is always a cool drive thinking of the sweet heli rides thanks to Bruce Dando and deep valleys filled with beautiful clear white water.

Hanging out in otaki

2010-02-15T01:00:00.001-08:00

Me dan and harley went up to gundys to for the night last weekend, we packed up dans new as suzuki and harley rode my bike an headed for the hills but we didnt get far before the first damages. Harley was trying to pull wheels up the paddock on the way an fliped the bike and broke the mud gaurd which was pretty funny an he was ok. dans suzuki is a work of art with the starter not really working and both front brake pads falling out it was a mean funny trip.

saturday morrning going up mt thompsonwhat a poser,

the boys and jess, "at the boiler"

1 of the most amazing sunsets ive ever seen, gundys hut front step. kapiti island and the top of the south island in the back ground
Harley making dessert and dan sleeping

Wairoa race 2010

2010-02-15T00:33:00.000-08:00

Well what a sweet weekend, finaly i came away with a win at he wairoa extreme race, it was a super sick day with johann organising it this year the time trial and head to head run on the same day, it ran suer smooth and had heaps of time through out the day. there was sum really good races this a few upsets by the younger guys who are looking really good these days and just smooth lines by the OGs jared kenny and john, but some how i held it together and never put a foot rong all day and made some money!!!! stoked!!

me and jared final

tryna keep the nose up

rota nats 2010

2010-02-15T00:17:00.000-08:00

once again dan troy and nath came up an stayed the weekend of the rotary nats in auckland, the weather wasnt that great but we still got a few runs down the strip and just had an awsome time hanging out,me and dan

yoda, dan ,troy, and fellow racer

new year

2010-02-15T00:01:00.000-08:00

me and rach had a really cool trip up the coromandal after new years heres a few photos

it was really windy

2009-10-03T16:06:00.000-07:00

Rach has been trying to teach me how to use photoshop and i made this sweet photo!!

2009-10-01T18:13:00.000-07:00

Well what a week its been boken backs an backflips

last friday ryan pete and my self week to check out a new creek flowing off the kaimais that a few of the boys have been trying to get on for awhile now an all the rain we had made it a great flow for our 1st D, we had a really good trip down for about an hour with some sick little drops and slids untill we came to a huge horizen line, thinking that i would just be a fast walk around with our boats untill closer inspection the massive slide really looked like a go so i walked up an jumped in my boat for the 1st D, i came off the lip little to right an hit a rock realy hard with my nose which started to spin me an theres no way i was going down the second half sideways so just kept spining an ran the last bit backwards which turned out really good.

ryan was up next with a line at the top that looked that same as mine but unlucky skiped off a ledge an landed real flat with a rock right under his arse an broke his back on impact, he came out of the rest of the slide sweet but was in huge pain at the bottom.

After leaving him in his boat for a while because we had no idea if its was broken or how badly finaly got him out an lay him down then i started the long walk out for help, after a long wait for rescue services trying to figure out how they wanted to get him out, an it being to dark for the choper to long line him out we straped him to a strecher an slowly 1 foot at a time pulled him up the 150meter slipery bank to where the farmer had his tractor an tralier to take him out to the ambo.
now hes all good, got a big brace on an can walk around sweet an take pictures of me doing these sweet backflips!!!

GET WELL SOON RYAN!!!!!!!!!good work phil!!!

And today ive been trying to hurt myself to doing some backflips so me an ryan can hang out an do nathing for the next few months but it didnt happen so i think ill have to go out an find a job, DAM!!!!!!

geting ready for the hits

this parts sceary
an this is more sceary
an this is the holy f@#k point
now time to stick it
trying to spot the landing
yeah boy an ride away, soooo stoked!!!!

2009-08-14T22:26:00.000-07:00

back flip time!!!!

Well the last few weeks since ive been home from europe ive been hanging out with ryan lucas alot as hes broken his hand an ive got no job so we just a couple of bums doing cool shit, we got sum wood made a ramp an started tryna flip. i was getting half the rotation the 1st day but as the lake was cold as cos its the middle of winter gave up, put sum more gear on today an started throwing again, but as i was nearly getting it hit the water real hard with the side of my head an think i mite of blowen my ear drum, so got my motox helmet taped up my ear an carryed on which all payed off an i got it sused, have a look!!!!!!!!!

the long trip home!!

2009-08-14T22:06:00.000-07:00

i hate airoplanes!!!!!

shanghai our 24 hour stop over on the way, it was a crazy city
dan had to sleep in here cos the bed wasnt big enough
the only crash we had the whole trip an i wasnt even driving was in a chinese taxi
tip #1 .....the best way to get served at a flash restaurant when u only have 12euros in coins is in a wheel chair!!!!!

leaving france 4 spain

2009-08-14T21:55:00.001-07:00

beautiful france

the boarder crossings have real tight security if ur car dosnt fit through here u cant go into spain

the redbull x fighters is 1 amazing night!!!!! get better Sincs!!!!!

the southern coast of spain is amazing im gona go live there 1 day

spain an france what a place

2009-08-14T21:25:00.000-07:00

hey well after leaving prague we camped out a night in the woods which was a sweet caming spot with a box of beers good music an lack of clothing, the next morning we drove dylan to the airport in frankfurt stayed there the night an started the amazing trip across france to Paris an down to spain to watch the redbull x fighters in the plaza de toros de las ventas,

best camping spot ever

along the way we found this big tower, it wasnt really that cool!!

but the la mans race track was sick, home of raceings gre

atest 24 hour race

diesel power!!!!

stolen gear in prague

2009-07-09T06:51:00.000-07:00

hey me dan an dylan are in prague an after a pretty cool night on a pub crawl woke up this morning to find some great fuuuccking arse hole has broken in to our car an taken both of my bags which had all my cloths laptop passport some off my paddling gear so not really sure what we going to do cos there isnt an embessy in cezck but we mite drive to the paris an try sort sum shit out there as there is one there an its on the way where we want to go.
or stuff it i just wont get a passport an stay in europe, thatll be sweet

pics

2009-06-30T11:01:00.000-07:00

hers sum of dylans photos from the week

jamie hit a little rock in a water fall!! itl weld up no worrys
sams boat was also on fire an we had to put it out for him!!! he was super stoked with us
me dan an dylans sweet camping spot in voss with 1 of the best veiws ever
167km down the highway with no feet an no hands thats how we roll
the bottom of the tegdalan

norway

2009-06-30T10:40:00.000-07:00

we have had a prety sick time, the races have sucked but the paddling an partying have been amazing, when we got here we meet up with Ian Garcia who we have been chilling with for the last week! we also got on the tegdalan at a sweet flow and me an sam ran notadrop which has only been run by kiwis sucsesfully, its got a nasty little lead in with a 30 foot water fall the the bottom but half of the water lands on rocks so u have to stick ur line or ull die!
heres a few pics from the last few weeks

me filming on the merkdal

we spent a bit of time playing in the snow

the big slide on the tegdalan
this car had a fire in itdouble drop on the tegdalan was fuking amazing, super clean boof in to a nice 45er off the bottom, we had a few mixed lines from sum of the other boys

devils slide

2009-06-19T14:58:00.001-07:00

well after the race which was fun but i sucked in an landed on my head off a 10meter water fall, me sam an kat drove up another vally to check out devils slide which i have seen alot of pics of but dosnt realy show what its going to be like in the eddie looking down this thing, an sam said it was higher then last year when he was there, we both had sweet lines an it was an amazing day

hanging at an amazing little lake in italy

devils slide

the longest drive ever

2009-06-19T14:50:00.000-07:00

hey picked up dan an dylan on tuesday an we have been driving through europe on our way to norway for sum sick boating we made a few stops on the way the 1st being augsburg where i took dan for his 1st kayak lession of the trip which was prety funny, the 2nd stop being Amsterdam where no man is safe alone!!!

dylan in the sex musem

the boys having a beer

just hanging out

2009-06-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

heres a few pics from the last few days, josh lou and tyler got here yesterday which is sweet to catch up with them. 2 days ago we drove to Denver to pick up Mike dawson, he had a bit of a spill yesterday on Homestake smashing his face on a rock, he was ok with just a bit of a bleeding nose

me at homestake
Glenwood canyon
sam

the boys josh sam tyler mike hanging out side our motel in vail

Yule creek!!! hell yeah

2009-06-02T17:22:00.000-07:00

hey yesterday we went up to yule creek bombed the shit, had anamzing day.

this is the 2nd of the 2 big slides which drops into the pool an then off another 30footer, the 1st 1 is a tricky little 30footer into a pool then off a big slide with a big right turn in it, this

me on the water fall after the second slide, if u look hard half way down the water fall rush sturges is going down backwards. mean as day
this is the slide after the 30footer

these last 2 are just sum lead in stuff above the big slides

sam on the 2nd big slide

Vail traning

2009-05-27T20:08:00.000-07:00

Just so all of u at home dont feel like ur getting riped off in the cold winter
yep thats snow and it was snowing yesterday driving to vail,

hey we have been doing a bit of traning this morning on Home stake creek where the teva games race is held, honza lasko met us there and came paddling. its a super tricky little barsted with rocks in the botom of most of the drops and at about 8000 feet 10 paddle stokes and u r realy feeling like u are going to die!!!
Home stake creek

then this afternoon we drove to glenwood spring where the US freestyle team trials are next weekend so every ones here traning, we have just been hanging out and sorted out to go paddle yule creek tomorrow which is pretty sick.

sweet well we are at BK at the moment and my burger is ready so gota go eat. god bless america for its wireless every where.

Hi from Steamboat Colorado

2009-05-24T14:06:00.000-07:00

hey
we are really good we just hanging out with nicky kelly , we meet up with her yesterday just randomly on the drive.
Stevie and sam hanging out

we got a rental car then next morning after talking to u and spent the day just driving around checking the place out. we are in steamboat colorado at the moment where there is a race and a rodeo tomorrow which we just found out about when we meet up with nicky.
the mean rental car

Last night was prtty funny we found a bit of shealter in a park in the middle of town as it was raining, we brought air beds yesterday at walmart so we pumped them up an went to sleep but about 3am we started getting real wet which was real strange but it was the sprinklers had turnd on and just spraying stright on to us, but i found a rock and put in on it, but we were still pretty wet. Sam got the most wet and with his $5 sleeping bag from walmart which wasnt keeping him very warm anymore bailed to the car to sleep and a skype call to Kat carying about being cold and wet.
i just carryed on sleeping as i was sooooo fu#king tyed.

our first paddle was on the river which the race is on, its just 1 huge long rapid prety much for an hour but only realy class 4 stuff, but me and sam were both pretty shaterd and freaking cold.

sweet we gona paddle on the race course again an try learn it a bit more.

2009 MISSION UNDER WAY!!

2009-05-23T01:48:00.000-07:00

HEY well the mission is at a bit of a stand still at the moment as me and samuel sutton are siting on our sore arsses in denvor airport waiting till 6 30 am for the rental car shop to open.

We had a pretty good flight here on air nz but when checking our boats in to fly to denvor from LAX had to pay $100us for each boat to get them on the plane to then the plane was delayed for about 45mins which sux just sitting in the plane on the runway not going any where.

2009 TRIP

2009-04-14T03:14:00.000-07:00

Just been sorting out my trip around the world paddling this winter, looks like im gona leave nz on the 22nd may head to colorado for sum boating then head to the teva mountain games in vail from the 4th to 7th june.

after leaving there do a crazy 2 day mission traviling to val sesia italy for the teva extreme games starting the 10th june. catch up with mr mike dawson where we will dominate the world before heading to voss noway, for some extreme partying and a little bit of racing from the 21st til 28th june paddle in norway for a week then back to frankfurt fly back to the states to race the gorge games 17th to 20th july, before returning home for my 24th birthday on the 29th july, now thats shit is PH phat. i cant wait

4 AND ROTARY NATS MANFEILD

2009-03-24T23:58:00.000-07:00

Went to the 4 and rota nats at manfeild on the weekend had a gud day but found out what to much traction in the rear is like to drift with no hp, u dont drift just drive around. any way heres a vid from a battle with steve sole. and u beta check this out >watch

heres a few photos from the day

matt carlos and my car looking pimp before a day thrashing

on the gas round the s's

car pics

2009-03-18T03:10:00.000-07:00

hey just been working on my car a bit sorting a few things out an making it look mean for the 4 and rotary nats this weekend, and kenny came down and took sum pics for me.

bullerfest 09

2009-03-11T00:13:00.000-07:00

After a long drive down from vegas and a good night's sleep, it was boater cross time with a huge field of over 100 paddlers. It was looking to be a long day, after some amazing racing and good fun had by all, the final for the mens was set to begin with Tyler Fox, Sam Sutton, Johann Roozenburg, and myself. I had a sick race and came out the winner for the second year running. Stoked!!! All thanks to paddling a sick Mac 1.

After the weekend of partying we headed to the coast for 4 days of sick heli kayaking thanks to bruce dandos an his mean 300c choper. the 1st day we split into two groups the hard cores and the pussys, us hard outs (me sam mike and johann) went up the kokatai which was f#$kn high and mean pushy, since it was johanns 1st trip to the coast he was peaking out at times but we had a sick day!!!

Then to the citron race on the kawerau river where the big pushy water was going to be a little harder to get sweet lines on and the killer hangover setting in we got under way.

With some early upsets of sam sutton and dylan getting knocked out i was upagainst mike dawson in the semi, it was time for my A game which was a bit of a mission seeing as id been out partying untill 4 that morning, and i won stoked again but didnt know who was going to be in the final untill jamie sutton and johann had raced, jamie had a sick run beating johann and making it to the final with me, and due to some very average paddling by me jamie took the win and all the glory an girls!!! so thanks alot guys for the awsome boats dominating the racing world at the moment

2009-02-11T18:50:00.000-08:00

a few weeks ago dan and nath came up from otaki to stay, heading for the 2009 4 and rotary nats in auckland,

after a crazy night on the beers at lava bar in rotorua and a late start due to not much sleep we got the cars on the trailer and headed for Meremere.

arriving around 7 with securaty searching all through the van an the car for beers which were hiden well away so the couldnt find them we got in and set up camp. I was a little worryed about scrutinaring as i didnt have a warrent or rego but the organiser had said it would be fine, but as normal the drag racing homos were out saying i couldnt race as its a dangeres track dispite the car having a manz spec rollcage and log book which allows me to drift around coners at over 170kph. with alot of waiting for some one to say i could race i got the ok and its time for skids

stil vokda nz drift grand final

2008-11-24T01:32:00.000-08:00

well what a weekend it was, with barely any practice due to huge disorganisation from the organisers and trying to push it to hard to qualify ending with a spin in every run ment time to pack it up watch sum carnage and go home,

heres a few photos

hamish marsdons very damaged car after hitting the wall,

this i what every 1 cums to the drifting to watch!!!!! girls!!!!!!

random 2008 photos

2008-10-18T22:45:00.001-07:00

after an amazing trip to norway we headed to the good old U S of A to find sum hot weather cheap beer and sick rivers, after a week of hanging out in Coloma working on the tan an picking honza up from the airport we did the all night driving mission to Hood River Oregon for the gorge games. Waking early in the morning after a bad sleep on the side of the road we headed into town but sam didnt fill up with gas an we ran out, so with help from the freindly locals to the gas station we got into town. Later that day we hit up the Little White Salmon which is 1 of the sweetest runs ever, but i came off second best on Spirit Falls with one huge black eye the day before the race. Raceing in the head to head was a little hard only being able to see out of 1 eye but i cant complain with 3rd
Tao Berman 2nd, Sam Sutton 1st, Bradley Lauder 3rd

sum sick photos from this year spirit falls teams race mike dawson, sam sutton, bradley lauder and 2nd place yea boy!!

NZ Drift round 4

2008-10-14T00:30:00.000-07:00

On the 11 october i headed down to Taupo with tom and his girl freind for the 4th round of the still vodka nz drift series and dan had been waiting there for a few hours after a long night on the beers and a big drive to taupo with all my tyres for sunday. we checked in to our motel and headed into town for tea after a good feed at breakers. After a good night sleep it was time to get mc ds and head for the track, with all the paper work out of the way and 1st practice ready to start i was getting a bit nerves cos i hadnt driven my car for at least 4 months.
Every thing went well and i couldnt beleave how easy an nice the car was to drive with the new set up.

2nd practice was good but i was trying to push it abit harder and changing my line and had a few spins but all good.

qualifying, i just went out to try and be consistant which i was with 3 good clean runs 78.1, 79, 81, with no real mistakes but wasnt really going hard enough. but all good an had so much!!!!

then got to go out for a thrash at the end an scare the hell out of rach, she loved it!!!!!

Drifting in rotorua

2008-08-07T17:10:00.000-07:00

me drifting up mount ngongotaho in rotorua just after getting my car all finished
click link s14 drift

Going big in Norway

2008-08-07T17:01:00.000-07:00

After a cold start to the NZ winter id had enough so booked a flight to Oslo Norway to catch up with Sam Sutton. The lake to lake slide just one of the many sweet drops we paddled in one of the best trips ever!! voss lake front

me josh and sam trying to sleep
teams race day
summer skiing in norway

#1

2008-08-07T16:42:00.000-07:00

hey just made my blog, check it out
Me sam and josh spent a month in norway kayaking some of the most amazing white water in the world around the beautiful town of voss. Half way through our trip we raced in the voss extream week time trial and head to head kayak races with the kiwi boys dominating it , mike dawson 1st in the time trial, mike 1st sam 2nd me 3rd in the head to head.

Norway

2008-08-07T16:34:00.000-07:00

After the start of a very cold winter in New Zealand i was over it so booked a flight to Oslo Norway to meet up with Sam Sutton and Josh Neilson, the 1st day started out early after driving all night from oslo to voss with a run down the brandseth, sick run!!! I was very happy a few weeks later at the VOSS EXTREME RACE on the brandseth river with 12th in the time trial and 3rd in the head to head even though i had partially dislocated my shoulder 6 days earlier an hadnt paddled untill the day of the race.