New Reel Water Website Launches!

April brought some exciting news for Pacific Horizons and some new developments for the next film we are working on...Eastern Horizons. Here are the updates...

Pacific Horizons:
I just got home from the East Coast Canoe and Kayak Festival in Charleston, SC where I presented Pacific Horizons to an energetic audience on the Friday night of the festival. It was a lot of fun! Most of the shows I have done to date have been on the west coast and I think us west coasters are a little numb to how beautiful of a place we live in! Many of the wildlife and clear water shots had a bigger impact on the audience out east than at home. I received great news as well last week that Pacific Horizons won "Best Adventure Film" in the Waterwalker Film Festival and made the Telluride Mountain Film Festival road tour. I'm glad everyone is enjoying it!

Reel Water Website:
I'm pleased to announce that we have launched a new website...

www.reelwaterproductions.com

This will be the source of all future information of what we are up to. You will see that there are a few blogs to check out. Pacific Horizons is still going to exist in it's current state as well as the be available from the Reel Water website. Take a minute and check things out. We will keep adding and building the site over the next couple months! Huge thanks to Derrick Mayoleth at Kayak Quixotica for helping me build and design this site. I'm really happy with how it came out and I'm excited to keep adding to it.

Eastern Horizons:
Lise-Anne and I have been busy working on planning the next film most of the winter. We will be leaving May 15th for Newfoundland, which will kick off 2 plus months of filming on the East Coast. Our goal is to comprehensively document the different geographic regions of the east coast from Florida to Labrador. We will be making a few seperate trips to the east during 2008 and you can follow the filming of Eastern Horizons HERE!

Pacific Horizons Wins "Best Sea Kayaking Film" in 2008 Reel Paddling Film Festival

Spring is now fast approaching and Pacific Horizons continues to keep inspiring both paddlers and film festival judges! The Reel Paddling Film Festival choose Pacific Horizons as the "best sea kayaking film" this year. That means the film festival cut, which includes Dubside and the big wave tidal race surfing at Skooks and Okisollo, will be traveling around the world through 2008 as a key film in their world tour festival. We are also pleased to announce that Pacific Horizons was a finalist at Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival and the other film film we entered in VIMFF, 49 Megawatts, won "best environmental film"! The Dubside segment of Pacific Horizons has been very popular with the ocean film festivals, seeing air time at both the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival and the Alaska Ocean Film Festival. And while the festivals are helping us get the word out on the film, we will also be live in the flesh at Canoecopia March 7-9 in Madison, WI and at the East Coast Canoe and Kayak Festival April 18-20 in Charleston, SC sharing stories and chapters from Pacific Horizons.

Lise-Anne and I have been out winter paddling here in Squamish some and we are gearing up for the next film which will focus on the East Coast of North America! Hope everyone is gearing up for another great year of paddling!

This shot is of some granite cliffs just beyond the mouth of the mouth of the Squamish River and minutes from our house.

The Grand Finale!

After a very successful trip down to California, I was really excited about the coming home to Squamish and doing the final premiere for the winter. While not a "sea kayaking crowd" per say, Squamish is home to adventures of all sorts and most importantly some of my best friends. I had been thinking for some time that it would be really fun to do a combined show withCURRENT SWELL. These guys are incredible musicians and put on a great live show. Everything started to line up when they agreed to come to Squamish on January 12th and we lined up Squamish's best venue...The Howe Sound Brew Pub.

Introducing Pacific Horizons to a full house at the Brew Pub!

photo by Justine Curgenven

The place was packed...the manager informed us we hit capacity of 125 about 15 minutes before the show and that they could not let anyone else in!

photo by Justine Curgenven

This was a super special night for Lise-Anne and I. Not only did all our local friends rally out, but several friends even came from far away including Justine, Shawna, and Leon. Plus we had a killer live band to rock out to after the film. Thanks to everyone who made it out!

Shawna, Leon, Lise-Anne, and I getting down to Current Swell

photo by Justine Curgenven

These guys are getting big and 2008 will be their year! Thanks Current Swell...you guys blew Squamish away.

Photo by Nick Sopczak RAW SPECTRA PHOTOGRAPHY


Photo by Nick Sopczak RAW SPECTRA PHOTOGRAPHY

From right to left...
Chris Petersen - Drums
Davers Lang - Rhythm Guitar/Harmonica/Vocals
Scott Stanton - Lead Guitar/Lap Slide/Vocals
Louie Sadava - Bass/Vocals


Lise-Anne put some serious time in calling friends, family, and rallying Squamish. I love this beautiful woman!


I hope everyone is enjoying their Pacifc Horizons DVD's. We have some more shows coming in the Spring and we are busy gearing up for our next film.

The Feedback is Pouring In and We are Off to California!

I'm just getting home now from the launch of the DVD here in the Pacific Northwest and already packing my bags to head down to California for a few premieres in Sacremento and the Bay Area. The Northwest tour began with the show at the MISSION THEATRE in downtown Portland. Thanks to the tremendous publicity efforts by ALDER CREEK we managed to sell out the vintage theatre with 304 people. I even had to deal with 20-30 people who were not allowed in because we had reached maximum capacity 15 minutes before the film was due to start! Portland was followed by standing room only events at SRK, Orcas Island, and ECOMARINE We had a great time and a big thanks goes out to all the hosts and sponsors of these events. It became clear by the end of the tour that Paul Kuthe's impressive big wave surfing gets the crowd going every night!


photo by Steve Rogers

As the premiere tour was kicking off in Portland, DVD's were moving through the postal system in search of eager kayakers all around the world. It has been awesome to come home to some many great comments in the Inbox. Here are a few...

The interesting thing about PH is it’s enjoyably mellow, west coast feel. You’ll want to put your feet up and enjoy a nice latte or maybe a choice micro-brew when you watch this one. You get the impression you could easily hang out with anyone on the DVD without feeling like you would’nt be welcomed. In some ways this is the best part of a DVD like this. Pacific Horizons invites the viewer to join in on some fun adventures with folks that quickly feel like friends. A pleasant break from the testosterone driven ego fests that are often part of many sports videos. Even with the rockin aspects of long boat surfing, sea kayaking as always takes on a unique, natural feel. Pacific Horizons is not only suitable and inspirational for any skill level paddler, but will also be enjoyable for the rest of the family as well.

-from DERRICK MAYOLETH'S REVIEW on KAYAK QUIXOTICA

First, let me say that your movie is outstanding! I'm a middle-aged east coast paddler, but the DVD makes me want to load up my kayak and head to the Northwest. You and your crew certainly captured the true essence of sea kayaking with wonderful videography and over-the-top locations. Many thanks for doing it right.

-from Robert Buford of the CHESAPEAKE PADDLERS ASSOCIATION

Bravo! Very well done. The shots were magnificent, the musical score was great (even for us AARP card-carrying paddlers), and the paddlers are awesome.

-from Linc Clay in Tallahasse, Flordia

So off to California for three more shows....

PENGUIN PADDLERS REDDING
Thursday December 13th 7 PM
3530 Railroad Ave
Redding, CA
(530) 244-3355

PENGUIN PADDLERS ROCKLIN
Saturday December 15th 7 PM
4381 Granite Drive
Rocklin, CA
(916) 624-7722

CALIFORNIA CANOE AND KAYAK
Monday December 17th 6:30
Oakland Retail Shop
409 Water Street
Jack London Square
Oakland, CA
(510) 893-7833

Pacific Horizons Premiere in Montreal, Quebec

Just as Lise-Anne and I hit the road for the Northwest DVD release and premiere tour, there will be a screening of Pacific Horizons in LA's hometown of Montreal on November 28th. CLICK HERE for more details, as space will be limited. Charles will have copies of the DVD on hand for sale!

DVD RELEASE AND FALL PREMIERE TOUR

Pacific Horizons has been completed and everyone's first peak at the DVD is just a few weeks away. 60 minutes of stunning images and great sea kayaking, plus a bunch of extras including a purely surfing segment, director's cut, and Justine Curgenven's teaser from her trip around Haida Gwaii with Shawna and Leon of BBB. I think eveyone is going to enjoy it and I'm sure it will inspire many! Here is what the cover looks like....the DVD label will be a suprise.



We have also locked in the dates for the northwest premiere tour. These events are going to be a lot of fun and an opportunity for those of you local to get out and get the very first DVD's available. We'll have some swag to give away and are looking forward to getting everyone out talking kayaking!

The West Coast Premiere/Portland
Hosted by ALDER CREEK CANOE AND KAYAK
Thursday November 29th 7:30PM
Mission Theatre
1624 NW Glissan
Portland, OR
Free Entry!

Seattle Premiere
Hosted by SEATTLE RAFT AND KAYAK
Friday November 30th 7:30PM
Seattle Raft and Kayak
7777 62nd Ave NE Building 11
Seattle, WA
Free Entry!

Vancouver Premiere
Hosted by ECOMARINE
Tuesday December 4th 7:30PM
Ecomarine
Granville Island
Vancouver, BC
Free Entry!

We will also be doing a showing in Olympia, on Orcas Island, and Bellingham. Those dates will be posted shortly.

We are going to Banff!

I just received the notice that Pacific Horizons was chosen as a finalist for the 2007 BANFF MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL! Lise-Anne and I will be travelling to Alberta to present the film on the big screen Saturday November 3 and then it will play again in a smaller theater on Nov 4th. Banff is considered one of the most prestigious adventure film festivals in the world and has been a dream of mine for the past couple years. Needless to say we are excited to be a part of this years event and also have a shot at making the 2007 BANFF WORLD TOUR! This will kick off a series of premieres on the west coast and the release of the DVD. We will be posting information on the November release of the DVD and when and where it will be available here soon, as well as a complete list of West coast premiere dates.

Editing Away!

Well after arriving home safely from Peru, I have been working hard on editing Pacific Horizons every day. Well except a few days spent kayaking Tatlow Creek and a weekend with Lise-Anne and 13 others on the Clendenning River! Hardest part of working for yourself in the kayaking industry is not getting too distracted by going kayaking. Really though...we are moving full steam ahead on Pacifc Horizons and it is looking great. Here are some of the technical details of where things are at and what you can expect over the next couple months...

1. On September 15th we will be showing the world the first glimpse of Pacific Horizons at West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium The film festival edit is complete and that is what will be showing at Port Townsend.

2. The complete DVD will be available November 15th online and at your local retail store. We will have a complete list of retailers and distributors up on the site here soon.

3. We are just starting to put togther a West Coast film tour that will stretch from BC to California in November. If you are a retailer intersted in hosting a showing of the video and we have not contacted you, please contact us!

Stay tuned for more details!