Pintail XL details

this is a photo of the new Pintail XL with the base model Performance set up that starts at $799
it also comes with bow and stern grab loops
this is the first boat I unwrapped from the container. It weighs 31 lbs


here you will notice that it comes with the new roto molded performance seat, bow and stern foam pillars




here you will notice that the seat back comes up to start providing a little bit of support. some people will glue foam onto this spot to create a testarossa style race seat, while others will buy a back band to install.

here are closeups of the stock bow and stern grabloops that are included with the basic performance Pintail XL for $799

all of the photos above are of the standard basic peforma set up of the

DragoRossi Pintail XL $799 at 100waves.com

reviews

specs

some fun

perfect length

review

interesting


below are some of the options that can be bought for the Pintail XL



a simple backband kit can be bought to add to your peforma system

you can also buy the freestyle/riverrunner foot sled for great adjustable foot comfort (or you can just add minicell foam to the bow)



here is the adjustable foot sled installed

here is the backband installed



you can also buy the side grabloops. they make great tie down and attachment points, as well as an easy way to grab the boat on the side of the river, and easy carrying handles.


and of course you can install a drainplug. Some people prefer a drainplug, while others prefer not to have one. The choice is yours.

Below are some images of the Pintail vs. the Pintail XL.
The Pintail XL is in orange. You will notice the higher knee/cockpit area, and a bit more foot room. The stern is a touch larger as well.




here is a quick and dirty cut and paste overlay comparing the two boats. I cut out the red (standard) Pintail, made it gray, and pasted it over the white sillouette of the Pintail XL. The small images don't quite do it justice. It's much different in person. But at least here you get an idea of where the increase in volume/room is on the Pintail XL.



"regular" Pintail in red on the left and Pintail XL on the right in orange. Here is the best shot I have, to date, of the size difference between these two boats.

Critical Mass details

This green boat is the standard basic Performa outfitted Critical Mass for $799


you get triple safe stern grabloop system already installed


the hatch cover is rivetted down to the stern of the boat. There is solid plastic underneath it because the stern access area is not cut out. Double plastic. And, it looks cool


bow grabloops is included and installed with the $799 price.

this photo should give you a good idea of how much stern access there is behind that high back seat.



here's the Performa seat, and you can see the bow foam pillar.

all this in the green

DragoRossi Critical Mass $799 at 100Waves.com

reviews

specs

Toxaway

first impressions

comparison

more

imagine

more

imagine


below you can see some of the options that can be bought and added to the Performa boats.


Add the side grabloops that provide three more attachement points each. Choose to add a drainplug. If you get really ambitious you could remove the hatch cover, cut out the hatch, and create easy access to the stern.


Here you can add a safety ring just in front of the cockpit for an extra attachment point.


Add a bulkhead and a bowring.

the big boat with the little boats has landed

I got a phone call yesterday, and arranged the trucking today. The container of DragoRossi boats has docked in the U.S. at Port Newark. The truck is scheduled to bring the container to Clarke Outdoors on Thursday afternoon. All the pre-orders will be filled and shipped out for domestic delivery on Monday. All following orders will be shipped as they are received.

http://www.100waves.com

my first web pages

So that I could have a web development project as a motivator to learn some html I made this page (errr 4 pages actually) and developed the entire thing right on the control panel.


dragorossi page
(here's a small photo of your new boat, Rob)



wave prints
I finally go these framed up and available for sale



kayaker prints


tell me what you think

thuggin' it on the "one" with the gangster

so i haven't been paddling much and we just got dumped on down here.
thursday sean sais,"i'll see you monday.".
i'm like yeah right i'll be there tomorrow morning. well after rain all day thursday and with it continueing on through the night, sure enough sean got a txt. msg. friday morning saying, "see you monday.".
team jah had decided toxaway. running late of course. it's par for us. i met up with billy #1 and billy #2 at mr. petes (famous bp at the airport exit in asheville). on the road after some complaining about being late and what not, we get the call there's a visual of -1/2".
SHIT!!!
that's big. oh yeah i haven't paddled in over a month. the toxaway is bigger then big, faster then fast, and scarrier then bush (ok maybe not). the toxaway is every rapid you've watched a video of and said oh shit, except on crack. happy group of seven with one first timer. the put in slide which runs a couple hundred yards and drops close to a 100' woke him up.
with quite a bit of busy class V for a while we get to pungi stick, named aptly for the dead tree that sits head high right behind the hole at the bottom. the hole that you will hopefully be punching as you fly down the 80 yard 5' wide slide that will be hurtling you at mach 3. pungi stick is the first really, really, really big rapid. this means that they just start to get bigger.
drew and brian took the river right portage for energizer while the rest of us humped it up to the ridge to get around the first of a few disgusting prtages. as we're finishing our portage drew's already hiked back up to run it again. (which he said later he was kinda rgeretting at the time.)
no one took to forty forty that day but there was a little tak and the water was good. that first forty is so good to bad about he second.
after the portage to landbridge we made our assesment. damn it's big, you can paddle of the bridge! drew and johny ky wanted to route though wintergreen right below. i dropped in first and hit the first curler and stood the critical mass completely vertical on the stern going up and over the backside of a diagonal at least 10' high. felt my stern catch rock and my bow was back down in front of me and for the next 8 seconds i say nothing but white untill i was in the eddy below. watching johny lauch of the bridge as drew was coming through teh first curler and watching them white out and reapear was incredibly sureal. taking lead right behind drew as came by we proceeded to drop right into wintergreen. we just dropped over 200' in less then 200 yards.
with just a little more mank and some more portages there was nothing left but the 5 mile hike out.
corran i have a hard time get wet now with the critical mass but i went completely under in the first hole at the bottom of feeding trough. popped up upright below the hole. hell yeah.
sorry no video.
what's that saturday morning 9am enca/canldler crackerbarrel (another famous asheville boating exit)? on our way to the ravens fork, the "one"! there isn't a river more powerful, scarry, and peaceful and yeah it's just the one. thank you emanuel for letting us share this wonder.
another hike, yeah that's the raven's fork for ya. mile and a half hike in to lord of the rings. one of the most beautiful put ins anywhere. with a new boat i've paddle once for five minutes on a pond. oh yeah second day paddling in a month in a half.
we got to anaconda and billy #1 just routes it. damn fine line. with drew, heath, and billy #2 dropping in i took the dry line finding the first drop to low for my liking. but some of those guys had some nice lines in there.
a little nervous about the next drop just an awkward wall boof into a slide that fades off into a huge undercut wall. hey i've hardly paddled this boat and the enterance is funky. the gagster got me through the hole nicely. all of us having been on the rf a few times were routeing into stuff pretty quickly. as i pass c1 chris at the enterance to jedi training and tell him you may want to scout this one, i proceed to drop right into a beautiful wingover entrance to the top the hole above the slide and proceed to throw a few cartwheels before surging out the right to the atomic elbo crusher line. still intact though.
chris wasn't so fortunate. he ended up in the hole and swam out. we had an awesome rescue. with drew and billy out on rver left, heath and i had the left side coverd to get chris and all his gear out, including his shoe that got sucked off. no one manned up for the big boy but we all had plenty of looks and there were a few who were really tempted.
i had the best line i've ever had at mike tysons and despite his reputation in the ring he couldn't ko chris even though he tried mighty hard. i got down to caveman first and got some good video of the double drop above it and the cave boof itself (possibly one of the best boofs ever) just make sure you don't end up in the cave.
sorry video will be up later i left the camera at drew's house.
and all i have to say to all you shit talkers about runnin' the shit that weren't out there runnin' the shit today for high water green, "you all is bunch of lazy good for nothing kayakers!".
adam

My Brother's Business

my brother has been a personal trainer for a few years now. He was helpful when I ran out of the physical therapy sessions allowed by my insurance company last winter, and helped me get my shoulder stronger.

www.rmbsupps.healthy2000.com

He has a web site for his side business that sells vitamins and supplements. It's a bit heavy on the body builder stuff, but the multi vitamins and things like that are there at a good price (I like the vitamin B. good for energy and I hear it helps metabolize fat and is good for your liver)

www.rmbsupps.healthy2000.com

anyway, just thought I'd mention it, knowing how health-concious some boaters are

You're soooooo cool

doing cartwheels in a pool

making all the whitewater women drool

and your friends look the fool

I can't think of anything else that rhymes with pool

dude, you rock! Get guitar hero!

Road Trip Shirt

I was driving down interstate 81 last week (probably the interstate in the U.S. that has the most whitewater within 50 of any given exit for the longest stretch) and I realized that I spend about 36,000 miles each year driving around in my van for mostly boating purposes. There were years, when I was in sales, that I drove more, but the average seems to be 36,000 miles.



Click here for more

I was inspired to remake the DragoRossi logo in honor of all the driving that I (and many other kayakers) do every year. I figure that it's a cool way to make an otherwise boring activity (driving) fun. I ordered one up myself so that I can wear the shirt next time I go on a long road trip.

...and something for the ladies...

2007 WW Courses & Parks Conference

https://nt1.adventuresports.com/canoe/WhitewaterCoursesandParks/news.htm

This informative conference will answer many questions that people have about ww parks. You'll see many of the existing and developing projects around the U.S. represented there. And, you'll meet many like-minded whitewater enthusiasts who are making an effort to answer the environmental question about ww parks.

Pollution Sucks

http://kayaksurfers.com/index.php?option=com_joomlaboard&Itemid=26&func=view&id=3812&catid=2

Click on the link and take a close look at the photos towards the bottom of the page. It's totally sad that we still have to deal with garbage washing up on the beach like this.

New Tshirts

>Men's Tshirt


Women's Tshirt

Creek boat safety ring (bulkhead)

Standard with the Elite outfitting, the bowring replaces a foam pillar in creekboats for added safety and foot room. Some people are retrofitting this plastic ring into older models,and I'm sure some will add it to the boats they get with the Performance outfitting.

This view of the inside shows the position of the two screws on the side of the ring that hold it in place. Also seen is the overlap of the bowriing and the seat that, when combined with the two plastic bars under the seat (indicated by the rivets) help keep the hull rigid where it really needs to be.


Just a photo to show the position of the bow ring screws in relation to the seat screws (for those who are doing a retrofit)
the screw in the deck is usually a long one that helps secure the foam pillar. With the addition of a bow ring, the foam pillar is not necesssary, so you need to put a new, shorter screw in the hole to fill it up. Some people just squeeze a bunch of silicone in there, but I think the best solution is a combination of the short screw and silicone.

My Television Debut

I remember this. Never thought I'd see a one of these in my lifetime.

At the very end of the footage, the last time the camera pans the audience, you'll see a fan in a red NJ Devils clapping, with a woman waving her hands over her head (in black) and I'm standing right next to her in a sweatshirt and baseball hat, next to my brother on the end of the isle. (at 5 sec. left on the timer)

4 seats, 2 outfitting systems by DragoRossi

The newest system is the "Performance" outfitting.
It is a rotomolded adjustable bucket seat. The idea is that it is simple. Backband, thigh hooks, foot sled can be added on when/if you want it. Use DragoRossi parts or whatever you can get your hands on.

http://www.2imagine.net/blogger2007/performance1.html

Here are some photos of all the options you can get on the "Performance" system. Start with JUST THE SEAT, then you can add (ala carte) the thigh hooks, backband, footsled if you'd like.

http://www.2imagine.net/blogger2007/performance2.html

and some more photos of the outfitting in a boat.

http://www.2imagine.net/blogger2007/performance3.html

The continuously evolving "Elite" outfitting is what people have grown used to from DragoRossi. It comes in three seat sizes (large, medium, race/testarossa) which includes a ratchet adjusted backband, adjustable foot sled, proprietary thigh hook system, hull stiffening bars, cool seat pad, lots of prestige (pure H.A.C.K.S. style)

you can go almost to the bottom of the page on this link to see the three "Elite" seats side by side before they have all the extras on them. That should give you a good feel for the size difference

http://totalwhitewaterfun.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_archive.html

Here is an ad that has the "Elite" system all laid out in an easy way to see.

http://www.highnmighty.co.uk/images/seats/Dec%20ad3.jpg

and here are some photos from the guys at High N Mighty that show the three different "Elite" seats side by side in the same boat.

http://www.highnmighty.co.uk/DragoSeats.htm

http://www.2imagine.net/blogger2007/performance3.html

O, Dragon..... video found

it's been a mystery. some people have it. others don't, more people want it, but the secret was closely guarded.

Hey, I found it. Here it is. It's a free download! Quicktime format.
(I wonder how long before it ends up on YouTube, Google Video, Broadband Sports...)

http://www.dragorossi.com/news.asp

Infants can be taught to swim?

http://www.infantswim.com/home.html

Insane creeking (Norway I think)

I first saw this on Corran Addison's blog at www.2imagine.net and was amazed at the whitewater, especially the double drop waterfall, and got excited all over again when I found it on YouTube. I think someone put it up on broadband sports or google video, but YouTube seems to work best for my browser.

Enjoy

strike3

so a few years ago i was able to surf the finicky strike3 wave on the housatonic. hidden under water a very inauspicious spot on the river is an area of dead water (we think) that creates the most amazing park and play pressure wave in all of new england. hands down. when the rivers is at certain levels, certain very high levels, usually only for a day or two at the most.
this wave forms between two large eddies with maybe a small branch or two to get in the way but nothing else. this wave surges from about 8 foot to close to 12 foot tall. with speeds close to that of garborator on the ottawa. both shoulders are well defined with the surfers left extending out a little further than the surfers right which is a nice tight and steep shouder.
we at the river house called everyone we know when it came in. yet no one showed up except a few local boaters who now of the spot.




hope for big water and start looking. one day maybe you will find it at the right level and get your surf on.

adam

i know tim and scott have been there.

Factory Custom

Have it your way

options

order the outfitting combination that fits you the way you prefer it to fit

Lozer.com

there's the LozerCup.com this coming spring and summer

and there's already a Lozer.com website

so it' got me thinking and I made up a quick screen for printing on tshirts as an easy way to tag old crappy tshirts that need something new on them that would get me psyched about wearing them again

Whitewater Tshirts

Men's
Women's
Children's

Riverstone

Riverstone

is local paddler, Dan Greenbaum's, wife's on-line store
check it out. you might find something for you or your significant other

and kayaking is dangerous?

judge for youself
if this is more dangerous than kayaking

Surf Session Video Report

This is up for a limited time so check it out before Sven takes it down.

http://pioneerpictures.com/surf/RISK/2006_vid/RISK-Session-2006.mov

it was a very fun session. You can see my helmet cam footage from the same day on youtube here

Truely custom outfitting!

http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=79&

just did the first experiment with this stuff and it works wonderfully so far. Only 15 minutes to fully expanded size so that means it only took me 20 minutes to customize hip pads and knee pads to a perfect fit.

Great thing about this is that it's custom every time to whatever shape you happen to be.

new england brooking

so i just got a new macbook for christmas and this video shit is pretty darn fun. so the long process of going through many tapes from years past and comming up with something tangible has begun. this is the unfinished first chapter of what will be my north east compilation. the video contains rapids and footage taken from hubbard brook in ct., umpachenee falls in ma., and bash bish creek ny. with a few different friends.



any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
adam

toxaway test run

River: Toxaway Boat: DragoRossi Critical Mass Paddler: Adam Bixby Here is a quick video from Adam, a New England paddler who has migrated to South Carolina. He was becoming a terrific paddler while in the north and has continued to learn and grow since moving south.

check out his MySpace page
HERE

New Year's Eve party at T'ville

A large part of the fun at T'ville is just hanging out with friends.
at levels like this there are many conversations going on in the eddy as people wait for their turn to play
and play they will...
of course the main focus is the hole, and everyone cheering each other on
it's just a good place to hang out for an afternoon
Adam Bixby was back in the area to visit family and friends
you'd never guess that he's been mostly creek boating for the past year



how's BOB doing?!?

this guy is proving what some of us have always known: you don't need a small boat to have fun. you just need to get in the water and play
Jeff looks like he's feeling pretty good
Selby likes to throw left so it's hard to get a good photo of him. but at least he's having a good time.