[unsponsored]

The Interview with Ben Brown as part of the Unsponsored 2011 Q&A series is now online Unsponsored – UK Kayaking | Kayaking, canoeing and rafting

 

[Shitouta]

You guys should interview some unsponsored kayakers....

 

[unsponsored]

Not a bad idea. Any thoughts on who would be suitable, any weekend warriors that spring to mind?

 

[Shitouta]

Idaho kayakers Ryan Casey, Fred Coriell, Brian Ward, James Byrd, the Mclaren bros etc. are some of the best big water paddlers anywhere, in my humble opinion, and fly very far under the radar. I have a lot of respect for their talent on the water their humility off the water. However, it seems like most paddling areas have some badass world class athletes who are largely unknown outside of their local paddling scene because they don't go-pro everything they do and spray it all over the internet.

 

[Kyle K]

How about Rob McKibben in the Seattle area? He was the first kayaker to run Sunset Falls, a year or two prior to Tyler Bradt. He is in his mid to late 40's and lives to paddle pretty much every day. He's one of the locals the visiting pros paddle with to find the goods when they're in the area. Although he paddles a creek boat often enough he can be found running hard stuff in his delapidated and very worn Kingpin 6.2, throwing pretty sick tricks along the way. He's the epitome of a core boater.

 

[craporadon]

Idaho kayakers Ryan Casey, Fred Coriell, Brian Ward, James Byrd, the Mclaren bros etc. are some of the best big water paddlers anywhere, in my humble opinion, and fly very far under the radar. I have a lot of respect for their talent on the water their humility off the water. However, it seems like most paddling areas have some badass world class athletes who are largely unknown outside of their local paddling scene because they don't go-pro everything they do and spray it all over the internet.

Truth

 

[stillwaterpaddler]

I vote for Wyoming's Ed Conning

 

[caspermike]

ive seen plenty of videos of them idaho boys they are good boaters for sure and and really far from under the radar, most people just have to get out of their clichs to find some good people boaters other than what they see. most times what they see in their groups they wont see in others..luckily my intake of kayak movies is far above that of a normal individual there for taking in more knowledge

my list of people I've meet and would like to interview would be,

Carson King(the infamous Snug from snuggrass creek) that crazy creek in hucking huge was first d'd by my good buddy, solo.

David Schroeder and Barry B., Montana legends

Jason Schutz, Matt Wilson, and Nick Turner for some old school adventure storys legends

id talk to Kevin Colburn, the dude who helps out with American Whitewater so much, always see articles and info from this rad dude,

Ian Foley from colrado is good shit he got that bailey fest going.

sometimes its not about running the biggest shit, its just about being that dude who runs it for a long time; Ed Conning from cody kicks major ass.

i would also interview Kyle McCutchen, hes been there done that and good shit and ask about the new bible and make sure they have central wyo well represented! cause we hear its the new new

Austin Rathman would be good one to interview as well as tyler allen. ask tyler if Dan photoshopped that picture of running the right side of niagra or if he actually is immortal...

Teague Manley if you want a little world class kayak acedemy veiw on life which would be pretty much pure stoke

a good interview would probably be John Sutter from Jackson aswell smart kid and can throw down with the rest of them.

Josh Heise, Joe Keck, Leif Anderson, Evan Stafford, Austin Woody would all be great people too. leif has a good way with words. Austin has a good way with new runs..

Chase Nobles is a new up and comer, been boating for a minimal time and fire's the shit up. ask him where testicals come from.

ad also interview craporadon and shitouta why they like being shits? do they Brown, are they Brown and Whats it mean to them..

thats the Caspermike interveiw of others..

and ask Natalie if she boofed on anybody lately because i swear she does it on purpose...

 

[[email protected]]

Interview forrest, that guy is sick

 

[doublet]

Some good names in this thread. McKibben takes the cake for sure--one of the more memorable dudes I've ever paddled with. T Bradt said Sunset was scarier than Palouse and I don't doubt it. Pretty rad that Rob ran it two years earlier to minimal fanfare. I'd be willing to bet that McKibben's descent of Sunset was in a cracked boat that he bought second hand and a dry-top with more aquaseal than Gore-tex in it.

I had the pleasure of watching shitouta notch one of the more significant achievements in the world of kayaking and he didn't seem to give a damn whether anyone knew about it or not.

It's a pretty cool aspect of the sport that a lot of really impressive stuff happens and it doesn't necessarily get blown up all over the internet.

Nothing against those who post up about their adventures. I'm an avid watcher of kayak porn and appreciate the entertainment. Hell, if I fired sunset I'd have a PR firm on retainer and I'd be wearing six Go-pros. On the other hand I do like knowing that most kayaking media aren't really clued in to a lot of the most impressive things going down in the sport.

 

[crowdaroundum]

Rob m embodies what true love for the river is all about. When he ran sunset it was on his Lunch break while framing a house in index. I spent 10 days paddling with him in in Seattle. His energy is contagious and devotion to the to the sport is in the same spirit of our dear friend Damon Miller. Although I'm not big on ethics, I wish we could watch go pro footage of Rob doing what he does everyday in his tattered drysuit, and waterlogged trailer rather than watching Rush taking a piss on the stikine.
Matt w

 

[FLOWTORCH]

Rob M. is somebody we could all learn from. Talk to that man.

Great guy and great boater.

 

[ski_kayak365]

Thanks Mike.

 

[leif]

I would put in another vote for some of the Durango paddlers (shitouta a.k.a. Ben, the Klema brothers, etc), as well as Xavier Engle. Xavier is sponsored by Fluid so he wouldn't quite fit this unsponsored criterion, but he still flies pretty low but has some major skills.

Hell, since this is basically turning into a shoutout to all the paddlers that I know that are better than me, let me also suggest:
Will Parham from Idaho
Alex J Wolfgram from Auburn California - the most interesting person that I know. I once filmed a day in the life of Alex Wolfgram to try to make a documentary about him, but it quickly became apparent that the footage was so incredible that we would need to produce a 25 hour movie for just that one day, and I gave up the project.
Dave Ernst from Germany
Jakub Nemec from, well, I guess he lives in colorado right now? Or maybe the Czech republic.

You know what? Those other names are good paddlers and all, but Alex Wolfgram is the man to talk to. PM me and I can give you his phone number.

 

[craporadon]

Caspermike, don't you live in Montana? Craporadon is what Montucky folks call Coloradons, Crowdaroundem is also a Montana expression for Coloradons.

Used in a sentence:
"We showed up at Big Timber and there were a bunch of Craporadons there, but they were cool".

Or

"We showed up at Big Timber and it was a Crowdaroundem fest but they were cool".

 

[ducksrus]

I have more hair than Ben..interview me

 

[Manleypaddles]

INTERVIEW MIKE PERRY!!! The dude goes off in a kayak and loves paddling more than anyone in the world! He's out on the water regardless of weather and will do anything to boat everyday. Mike is a seriously sick creekboater that can go huge in a playboat, and the best part is, hes about as modest as it gets. If you want a quality interview from a true souldboater hit up mike, the dudes rad