Team Palm’s Ben Brown in GoPro “Kayak Kiss” TV Commercial
This is a TV commercial featuring Ben Brown that has been airing on ESPN during this past weekends Live X Games coverage.
Pretty crazy exposure for Ben and the sport. Nice one Ben.
Heavy rain warnings, flooded paddocks, windscreen wipers on full noise & big water butterflies… Now we play!
It’s the weather report every kayaker waits for, and every non kayaker dreads…. A Heavy Rain Warning. Earlier this week, the remnants of a slow moving easterly cyclone and a cold and wet front roaring up from the Southern Ocean collided over the North Island of New Zealand. This was bad news for Easter holiday makers but it was good news for us. As per normal when heavy rain is approaching the cell phone lit up, plans were hatched and a restless night ensued…. The rain arrived as predicted and it was game on. Our destination for the day, The Wainui River…
I had been itching to get on the Wainui after missing the first descent several years earlier due to food poisoning that I picked up the previous night from drinking a large number of dodgy beers… Or something like that! Since then there has been a number of descents and the reports filtering back have been all good! Stories of epic slides and big drops were more than enough to wet the appetite…. Finally, on Tuesday, it was my turn!
- Only a kayaker knows the feeling! The moment we live for…. rolling off the lip of the big one.
- Inside the beast… About 50 feet into the freefall and preparing for impact!
- Tucking in and hanging on….
- This drop in the middle of the Wainui is about as good as they come… Who says kiwis can’t fly.
- Pretty stoked, and a little dazed and confused!
- Watching Simon take his run.
- Jamie taking flight.
- Big old air boof on little brother.
- Airing it out on little brother.
- The other end of a 30 foot boof… This would explain the stiff neck!
- Simon styling it!
- One epic slide after another…
- Letting gravity do the work on another rowdy Wainui slide.
- STOKED!
Check out the video from the day below!
Cheers,
Ben: www.benbrown.co.nz
The end of summer ain’t so bad….
The West Coast of New Zealands South Island is world renown for its steep creeks. During the Southern Hemispheres summer months the West Coast ranks amongst the worlds premier paddling destinations. What is lesser known is that the North Island also has some world-class creeking hidden amongst her rolling hills….
During the Autumn in New Zealand, South Westerly Low Pressure systems tear up from Antarctica bringing with them strong winds and heavy rain. Whilst this weather is not really conducive to many outdoor activities it does grab my attention because with this rain comes the possibility of some of my local creeks starting to flow…
The rains have been battering New Zealand over the past few weeks and with the Northern Hemisphere adventures rapidly approaching I was pretty eager to get amongst my local runs for one last time before heading North.
Here are a few shots for you to check out from my backyard…
Ben Brown – www.benbrown.co.nz
- Heavy Rain Warning for the North Island…. Game on!
- Just down the road and in my opinion one of the best runs in the country.
- Pausing to take it all in. Not a bad part of the world.
- Drive North and there are some hidden gems!
- The Bay of Plenty living up to its name.
- Holding on for the ride…
- and coming out in one piece!
- NZ might not be famous for her big drops, but look hard enough and you’ll find them.
