The Hurricane Riders | A Sea Kayaking Sensation
Short Introduction
We’ve hit the decade mark for the final video produced by THR and it’s a bit nostalgic to go back and watch through their videos.
To celebrate the THR crew and a rich culture they’ve helped create, I interviewed members like Rowan Gloag, Kate Hives, Reg Lake, and Nic Castro along with several others from the global sea kayak community. These Q&A’s are compiled together with a list of my personal favorite videos throughout the years with commentary by THR members.
“The Hurricane Riders are a family of Long Boat paddlers who are committed to representing Ocean Kayaking in a safe and exciting manner. THR are experience paddlers with the common goal; to support and challenge other team members to increase their ability to safely paddle in our diverse and demanding west coast. We paddle in rough water, tidal currents, wind and surf. We teach, guide, manage & run rental and retail facilities in beautiful Deep Cove British Columbia. The idea of The Hurricane Riders was conceived in Vancouver in 2007. This group was formed out of our love for the sport, culture and paddling community.” - Rowan Gloag, 2010
LR: Rowan Gloag, Chris Wilson, James Dunderdale, and Marty Perry.
When first discovering THR, they were a source of inspiration and validation for how I approached paddling on the East coast. Despite the vast differences in the surf spots - with THR being based on Vancouver Island and myself on Tybee Island, Georgia - we were living the same sea kayaking surf hound lifestyle. And when I would go home after a hot day working in the shop at Savannah Canoe and Kayak, watching those guys introduce techniques and concepts in such cool ways really help motivate me to get out, copy and practice what I saw them doing out in some of the most insane conditions. Even if it was small surf or flat conditions with little to no current. I owe a lot of credit to my development by watching and emulating the moves of that entire group of paddlers.
“Sea kayaking is about a lot of time about the journey. Typically on a day paddle, what we were doing with a sea kayak was more like whitewater kayak park and play. There’s a lot of variety to park and play. Staying in that one zone and honing skills, you can push your skills so dramatically in such a small amount of time with that kind of focus. Cause when you’re touring it’s lovely, and a wonderful way to enjoy the ocean, lake, or river but your skills are not going to progress as much.” - Rowan Gloag
Whirlpool Bars
Throughout the 2010’s they shaped the paddling culture and approach to sea kayaking in ways that still resonate in tangible ways today. Take Whirlpool Bars, for example. Sections of deck line encased in rubber tubing and sometimes webbing, create a system of handles around the deck. They’re meant to be easier to handle than just a thin 3/16” deckline, especially when you have the tug of a whirlpool at your heels after a nasty swim at Skooks. And now at any given gathering in 2024 with my local paddling club, more than half of the kayaks are sporting this clever system. It’s a great idea, looks rad, and for paddling in cold turbulent conditions, it makes one feel just a little safer knowing all the additional handles that wrap around the deck. I don’t think any one group or person can be credited with the idea of whirlpool bars, but THR certainly help introduce it to the masses and sea paddling culture.
Whirlpool Bars on an NDK Latitude
We made a smart move on those and made a difference to kayaking. Whirlpool bars are a cool one. It’s so hard to hold a kayak when someone is trying to get back in, especially if you’re a rookie and then if you’re not a rookie then you’re probably doing it in challenging conditions. It’s just a cheap thing, a little bit of plastic tube slid over the deck line. We did well by the community on that one. - Rowan Gloag
Hurricane Riders Q&A
Rowan Gloag
Photo: Kate Hives
Who’s idea was it to start THR?
“James Dunderdale. He’s like the center point of THR, but the more quiet leader of the group. That’s why you never really saw him in the videos, I mean you would see him paddling, but not really directly addressing the camera. I told him about doing this and he said to let him know how it goes. We still work on the ocean together 5 days a week and were still doing this radical and fun things together. We still have that drive for exilleration and adrenaline. We were out at 3:45am the other day receiving a tow, way out in the dark in the waves in a boat, with head lamps, ya know, it feels very very THR. In fact we have THR stickers on our hardhats. THR was/is important to our lives and were some great experiences there, but there’s some great and wonderful experiences happening now too.”
What were your creative inspirations?
“We all grew up with a skateboard and mountain bike background and that’s where we drew our inspiration from. Cause you couldn’t really draw your inspirations from sea kayaking, at that time with the type of imagery we wanted. There we’re lots of phenomenally inspirational sea paddlers and really strong influences on the paddling side of things, but as far as the imagery goes it felt older and it didn’t fit with our dope smoking, rap listening crew going to surf a wave together, and slapping stickers on the sides our kayaks, it just didn’t feel like it fit. And truth is, I have to take some responsibility because I did all the editing and music. So really the video styling was from me and there wasn’t really a discussion on how it would look and sound at the time. I just would make the edits look cool to get my friends excited and to do another trip. In the later years we started making more target videos based around trips, but not at first.”
What did you watch to inspire your paddling?
“This Is The Sea, Justine’s videos, esspessially all those tidal race segments all in the UK. Brian’s videos called Pacific Horizons and Eastern Horizons, some segments of Oki and maybe even Skooks, at the time I think Paul Kuthe was there too. But we didn’t really like sit around and watch those cause they didn’t quite hit the mark for us, I like them for watching technique and stuff, especially this guy named Albert Keller. He grew up in the area near the Okisolo wave and just. a phenomonal sea and whitewater paddler, so we watched a lot of his footage. There just wasn’t a lot of footage to watch.”
What’s your favorite THR video?
“The Push is my for sure favorite. The trip, the people, the scenery. Marty edited it, so you can tell it’s of a different style which I really like. For me, Push 3 is probably my favorite of them all, they’re all just slightly different.”
“I also really liked the first one, it was a combination of raw video and pictures.”
What were the stand out times for you?
“It was a pivotal point in our skills and film making having Reg around at that time in the start. Reg came in at a time when we were really stumbling. We were really just trying to learn, still very green when it comes to Skookumchuck. a few people were kinda like surfing the wave a little bit, but weren’t really surfing it that well and were not communicating to each other how to surf it. But once Reg came around, he showed us how to better control the wave without using so much strength and more finesse. It really started the conversation of like, “Do you see what Reg is doing? Maybe we can try that” and it really helped us as a group to share more. Reg is such a good paddler, it’s just mind blowing. He just knows the millimeter of the eddy line that he needs to be on. Just perfect how he touches and works with the water. Everyone was just aggressively trying to power through it, and everything he did was so much finesse while yet being a powerhouse. A fantastic paddler and humble man. I don’t think he understands the significance of what he did for us and what he did for sea kayaking along with lot of whitewater kayaking as well.”
How did someone become a Hurricane Rider?
“THR was invite only. The first 6 of us just happened to be on a Skooks trip together, there were 10 of us total on the trip but original group were the first 6 to raise their hands when we decided to do this THR thing. The others were like “that sounds lame, I don’t want a part of it” they were maybe not wrong, who knows! And after we started adding more people, we would meet as a group to decide. It was somewhat paddling experience, but mostly it was about friendship. It was just our friends that we were paddling with at the time. I don’t know how many members THR grew to by the end, but I would say 10 or 12.”
Looking back now, would you do anything different?
“I wish I did more of those instructional style videos. A lot more sea kayak how-to videos on YouTube, solo rescue stuff and things like that for people to still be learning from it and the community would probably be a touch safer as a result. I definitely wish I would have done more of those. I was at a time when I thought that instruction should be done with a paid instructor in a “controlled” class room and you shouldn’t be learn online how to do it. But the truth is, they both work fine.”
Can you share more about the Romany ‘Chopped’?
“See that’s the thing that happens when you have passion, you just start doing stupid things like cutting apart a perfectly good kayaks. Haha! Like, “We can make this better” I don’t know if we made it better or way worse, but it didn’t matter because we were living in that exciting time. The Romany belonged to Costain, he was onboard to try something and I remember kayaking in it and it was awesome, but I don’t think we should have cut it apart. The NDK kayaks are very nice and perfectly good designs.”
Were there paddle-safety concerns from the community about THR?
“At the same time while doing THR, I was working my way up to be a high certified instructor and I took it very serious. I loved teaching kayaking and I loved having an almost unblemished safety record. It was really important to me to offer really stong courses and I put a lot of effort in to them. You can kind of see it that in THR because, even though we were doing all the radical things, we had all the safety equipment. You can see radios on, you can see the spare paddles, and all the legit safety gear. We took the safety side of it very seriously, because you have to practice what you preach. You can’t only be a super safety focused instructor, you have to be a safety focused paddler as well. What we were doing may have been considered unsafe or dangerous, but that’s only because those people were using their own skills to define our potential outcome even though we had a different skill base.”
Do you still sea kayak?
“Not currently, I’ve always in my life got super in to something and then done it for a while and kind of navigated away form it. I was super in to mountain biking, climbing and mountaineering.. I sort of sucked all the juice out of it that I could, experienced it to the fullest, loved and then sort of moved on. It’s sort of my personality but I also messed up two veribrte in my back as a result from all the hard hits from the years and lifting thing that were too heavy. I have a bad back and to just sit in a kayak again and rotate the spine, it’s just not something I’m keen to do. But I have an off road motor cycle and fishing boat, new passions now. I love kayaking, but I’m just not doing it right now. I’m sure I’ll surf shook again and try to get another Sterling Kayak again.”
When talking about his various Serling kayaks and where they’ve ended up..
“Spencer Jones now owns my old Reflection and the stuff that he’s paddling, Wooh! I was and still way too nervous to paddle some of that stuff. He’s quite an athlete.”
Kate Hives
Photo: Contain Leonard
How did you first meet the group?
“It was Rowan Gloag who invited me to a THR gathering in Tofino at Chesterman’s Beach. I was so stoked! I think I had met a few of the guys at Skookumchuck before but as a team… this was it. Ground zero of STOKE! I met Rowan when we worked together with Outward Bound and on this occasion, they had all rented a big house on the beach. The waves were great, lots of excitement was built there and I was so stoked to paddle with Kim Hannalua – THR’s first female member.”
Were there any specific prerequisite to be official?
“An, official Hurricane Rider??? Ya, it felt so good! We were a team of inspired paddlers who really just wanted to have fun on the water, in a fringe (and sometimes hilarious) sport. We pushed each other to be better, all while keeping each other safe. There is nothing like the feeling of having met your people. I’m not sure about pre-requisites, I seem to remember Marti standing at Skook with a whiteboard and marker, but that may have been for something else. I guess being able to keep up in big water, big waves and be stoked to see someone else getting better were all common traits that THR embodied. The excitement was infectious and the culture that we held together meant that we were able to share that excitement in such a pure way.”
Your most memorable times with the crew?
“There was a day where we were staying in Tofino, all headed out to Wickaninish Beach to check out the swell. The air was damp and the morning mist was just rising off the driftwood. Music was pumping and we were primed for a good time. There was dancing and booty shaking and then we looked at the swell. It was perfect - overhead – a big left break off the south end of the beach with a sweet rip returning you back to the takeoff spot! Dreamy! I caught some big waves that day in my Reflection and oh man I took a few in the face too!”
“I remember one where I pop up after a fair few window-shades and one pogie was up my arm, the other in my mouth and my radio was flailing out of my vest! It was a big hit and I just paddled out for more. Sometimes I remember the biggest waves I have surfed, but I certainly remember the biggest wipeouts! I also have some really fond memories of a few rainy weekends huddled by the fire in a warm cabin after days paddling Skook with Reg, Costain and Rowan. There were always amazing stories and it is easier to get suited up in the rain to get wet at the wave with a few other brave boater.”
What trip or feature pushed your skills as a paddler the most while with THR?
“I want to tell you it was a day at Skook running 16kn… but honestly some of the best things I learned came from small days, messing around with the crew in small rock gardening projects or smaller waves, seeing what we could do in these controlled situations. I learned a lot about boat placement on a wave from this… and then when we tested it all out on a bigger feature like Skookumchuck, that is when the big aha moments happened! It also payed off when we competed at places like Hobuck Beach and I was able to beat all the boys in the Sea Kayak Surf category. Toot toot!”
Which is your favorite THR video?
“My favourite THR Video is probably the Push 1. Marty’s film style is wonderful and it features some good rides from all of us.
Coming in a close second would be King of the Beach, which was about the culture and commitment of the team.”
Have you notice any changes in sea kayaking since your THR days?
“Heck yes! I now have 2 kids under 5 and am trying to figure out how to find time to shower. Haha! THR helped me gain the confidence in rough water to paddle some of the biggest water I have ever paddled. It rocketed me into a journey of travel and coaching around the world and gave me permission to get super stoked about my sport. Those days with THR are what dreams are made of and I am grateful for every moment on the water with those rascals!”
Igniting Global stoke
From around the world and certainly across North America, THR were easily the most exciting and inspirational rough stuff paddling media during their time. I had a few paddlers from all over give me their impression of THR and how they’ve been influenced by the group.
Laura Zulliger, California - ACA L5 Coastal Kayaking Instructor
“When I moved to San Francisco in my early 20s, I remember going sea kayak surfing for the first time (overconfident in an L4 instructor certification course at Half Moon Bay). I had learned how to sea kayak surf on Tybee Island in my teens working as a guide for Sea Kayak Georgia and fancied myself a decent sea kayak surfer. Whoa, I'll never forget that surf day of the L4 getting rocked really hard by pounding, long-period surf working me from all which-a-ways: frontways, backways, upside down. I salvaged my hectic performance and still managed to pass the course by attempting to pull off everything as intentional ("mmmhhmm, I totally meant to surf backwards all the way onto the sand..."). After being truly humbled by this experience, I realized I had a lot more to learn (like a lot of experiences in my early 20s). This was around the time my friend, Kelly Henry, showed me the Hurricane Riders. Kate immediately stuck out as a huge inspiration in these videos.”
“In the HR series of surfing videos, you had frothing, cold and chaotic surf and then a sole woman just charging with intention and having so much fun doing it. Later to learn that she also is a talented coach and competitor just furthered the inspiration. It takes a lot not just to be the only woman doing something like that but also to just let go and have fun and not get in your head about it. That was empowering! One day I hope to get the chance to surf with her. ”
Melkart Rangers, Spain - Sea Kayaking Club
“They’re a mythical group! We’ve watched and learned a lot from them. We would paddle in the sea and if the surf caught us we tried to just get through it, but after seeing them we went from surviving the surf to enjoying it. And it’s quite an experience.”
Jesper Kromann-Andersen, Denmark - Current Designs Sea Kayaks Designer
“The Hurricane Riders has been an inspiration to me through their films and replacement of corn pipe with a helmet throwing themselves into hairy conditions and showing that seakayaking is the way to explore the rough seas and coast line. More body less boat is the way to enter the realm of mother nature’s immense powerful swirling waters. By venturing into the unknown, free from dogma taking fate in your own hands and pursue the inclination for freedom and expression.
Edd Bjorke, Norway - Edge Sea Kayaks Founder & Designer
“I live on the Norwegian west coast, where we have fantastic conditions for surfing and rockhopping - a paradise for sea paddling which is my biggest passion, so it was natural for me to search on online and look for relevant knowledge and inspiration there. And that's where I found The Hurricane Riders, who were truly taking sea kayaking to new heights. They started a new movement among paddlers all over the world.”
“THR ultimately inspired me to develop a completely new type of kayak that is tailored to the exact conditions that Hurricane Ridders paddled in - a type of kayak that I was missing in the market and that I myself needed. Based on this, the Edge kayak was founded, to be able to offer equipment that is truly suited for the purpose. - Why ride a bus when you can drive a sports car?”
Paige May, Minnesota - ACA L5 Coastal Kayaking Instructor
“As a young sea kayak guide with the desire to always progress my skills and push my own limits, I found a lot of inspiration in what I saw as I watched everything I could find of The Hurricane Riders. The way they all pushed themselves and each other in big conditions and incredibly dynamic water, but were still really laid back and always having fun and laughing about stuff really resonated with me. It turned me into someone who was really determined to get a long boat into places you wouldn't expect to see a long boat, surfing waves that no one would expect you to surf with a sea kayak. An example being the Sheepscott Narrows reversing falls in Maine. everything I heard about it was that it's a whitewater kayak spot, and that you can't surf it in a sea kayak. I took that as a challenge and made it happen in my CD Karla LV. Another spot is the Dam Drop wave at the Charles City whitewater park in Iowa. In more recent years, with a small crew of close friends, I have started trying to seek out and pioneer new rough water play spots up and down the Minnesota North shore of Lake Superior. Some spots like Gull Rock, where we can say with a fair amount of certainty that no one else has ever surfed a sea kayak before us...or the tiderace-esque feature at the mouth of the Beaver River with decent spring runnoff flow and incoming NE wind/waves.”
Scott Morse, New Hampshire - Sea Kayak Enthusiast
“About 10 or so years ago when I first started playing in the surf in my long boat of course I took to YouTube to see if anyone else was doing the same and putting some footage on there. There wasn’t much that I could find since the age of algorithms hadn’t force fed us yet and sea kayak surfing is such a niche aspect in the paddling world. But then I found the Hurricane Riders. This was exactly what I was looking for and then some! Probably some of the best videography that I’ve seen in action sports. Combining the natural beauty of their native area, the group camaraderie, the music soundtracks that I personally jam out to, and of course what the ocean and current gives them and what they do with it. A fun loving group of friends that shared a common interest and pushed each other to new levels. It was clear to me and after binging on all the footage, I myself had decided to push myself harder out on the water and test my boundaries. Still to this day watching the videos of them surfing the “skook” blows my mind! Anyways,I’m thankful for what they shared with the rest of us. They set the bar on those waves and created more kayak surfers in their wake!”
Sea Paddling Culture
THR were more than just a group of kayakers producing videos and content akin to skate culture. They were introducing new concepts and approaches to the sport that leant it self to become more exciting and accessible. Sort of forming this “urban” style of sea kayaking that’s been honed on challenging conditions. That could either be in a local rapid in the heart of a city or figuring out how to seal launch oneself in the most bombastic way possible. It’s a different since of adventure, where you’re actively trying to see what can be done in a 13-17’ long sea kayak.
Rowan Gloag - “We wanted to have a competition to bring about just a higher level of skill. Just the same as a surf competition, and we would see what we could do. We were inspired by Hobuck Hodown is probably the truth of it, because we went to Hobuck and had a great time and we thought, “we should do Hobuck at Skook.” And so we invited a bunch of people and had a Skook competition as it were. That was a very fun experience. Working with Canoe and Kayak Magazine and the people filming for them that at the time. The weather wasn’t great but the footage they captured was phenomenal. They brought structure, they talked about a shot list of things they wanted and a direction on which way they wanted it to go. All the chart work and pre meeting and videos after that, it was all their idea. They asked for props and directed us on how the conversation would go and filmed it like a small commercial video. We were a different story, something else that they could write about other than the newest greatest paddle leash or self rescuing techniques, ha!”
Skooks Classified
In 2013, THR hosted a series of head-to-head competitions between members of the crew. Going as far as making it a spectator sport in ways unheard-of before in the sea kayaking world.
Nic Castro - “I didn’t go to Skook until pretty much the last year I was paddling a lot with them, and that’s when the Skooks Classified happened. Essentially Rowan was a driving force behind that, like he really wanted to do it and invited a number of new paddlers that we knew were awesome. We said “Just come to Skook, it’s running a bit faster than what we usually do and were just going to get working and see what happens”
Check out the event posters!
next gen Q&A
Spencer Jones
Spencer is known for his extreme approach to tiderace surfing and pushing the speed limits by going out during the largest tides of the year for “Big Skook”.
What was your first impression of THR videos?
“I was impressed by these local guys and girls paddling at such a high level. They were doing moves in sea kayaks that I had never seen. I was lucky to catch the tail end of THR in action and get to kayak with Rowan and Marty. If I need motivation to rough water kayak I rewatch old THR vids.”
Did you ever take a class or guide a trip with The THR members?
“Marty Perry and Rowan Gloag both were kayak instructors to me. I learned a lot of things from those guys. Rowan coached my Paddle Canada Level 1 Instructor course. Back then my mind was racing at a mile a minute and I was an anxious fellow, I still am but not as much. I ended up dropping out of that because I didn’t think I was built for the kayak instructing world. It was Rowan that assured me each instructor has their own style and let me know I have the skills to become a great kayak instructor. This gave me the confidence to get back in the game and start to get my Paddle Canada certifications.”
“Marty and I were coworkers for a few years when he instructed at Deep Cove Kayak. Marty is a hilarious, captivating and highly skilled kayaker and outdoor educator. During my time working with him we guided many tours and went on some overnight trips in Say Nuth Khaw Yum provincial park. After buying my heavily used ex rental Grand Illusion, Marty was kind enough to teach me how to work with fibreglass. We removed the skeg and patched some soft spots. I use these skills regularly to this day. Thanks Marty!”
Which is your favorite video?
“My favourite video is THE HURRICANE RIDERS: AN INTRODUCTION. I only had to watch that video one time to realize that I had been put on a side quest and big Skook was the goal. Watching Pawel Szopa on video surfing the green face of big Skook at 16.7 knots, bouncing up and down on that massive standing wave, looked exhilarating yet terrifying. In that video Pawel gets knocked off the right side of the wave an gets picked up and dropped a couple times by a wave called tubesteak. He disappears for a moment underwater then pops up. This is one of the many hazards of Big Skook.
“I also really love “The Push” series of beach break surfing video’s. They’re really well put together and feature some amazing sea kayak surfing content. The snow launch and dock launch videos have inspired some shenanigans amongst my team.”
Can you explain what a “Big Skook” is?
“Big Skook” is when the currents at Skookumchuck Narrows exceed 14.5 knots of speed resulting in an extremely fast and large glassy green wave with class 5 whitewater features all around. Behind the wave lies many other standing waves, whirlpools and violent eddy lines that threaten to separate a paddler from their boat. This is the scary part about surfing big Skook. I’ve almost swam at 16 knots due to the recirculating waves but luckily I’ve always stayed in my kayak. Like Pawel says in the video, “it’s a degree of focus that you rarely get to and you really have to be on the ball for it”.”
You’re using Rowan’s old Sterling’s Kayak in that video?
“I honestly love that kayak (Rowan’s old Reflection) because of the construction, it’s heavily reinforced carbon and kevlar. One of the strongest if not the strongest most solid build out of Sterling Kayaks. I now have another Reflection (Constain’s old one with the surf fins) and I generally use that one because it’s a few pounds lighter and easier to throw around.”
“I’ll be bringing the THR reflection down to the Hobuck Hoedown this year.”
Did THR videos influence your impression of sea kayaking?
“The THR videos have shown us that rough water kayaking can be very cool and rewarding. Comradery and exhilaration, these are 2 things humans crave and THR did a good job of showcasing that kayak surfing with a purpose provide these meaningful moments. There have always been kayak surfing videos out there but the stoke, coordination we see in the THR videos is unmatched and I doubt another sea kayaking team will be able to rival their content.”
“Being a kayaking instructor at Deep Cove Kayak is the place to be if you want to get to a high level of sea kayaking skill. There is such a culture around hardcore kayaking and skill development and THR was the start of all that. The instructors there at DCK are awesome. The THR videos have inspired us and showed us what we need to do, but it was my boss Mike Gill that really stuck around and ignited my stoke for the sport. Teaching me many skills I have today. Mike is a dedicated kayak coach (Paddle Canada Level 3 instructor and Instructor Trainer) and has been paddling with me from the start of my guiding/ instructing journey 10 years ago. Mike is the leader of the Deep Cove Kayak school and for good reason. He brought me up to skook about 7 or 8 times before I was actually able to stay on the wave in my kayak. Thanks for all you do/ have done Mike!”
Sterling’s Kayaks
Photo: Kate Hives
The Hurricane Riders played an enormous role in the hard, nitty-gritty R&D portion of Sterlings Kayaks Reflection and Progression models. Befriending legend designer Reg Lake, composites guru Sterling Donaldson, and gelcoat artist Jim Teshera, this impromptu group popularized some of the most recognizable and iconic sea kayaks still today.
Hurricane Riders Talk Sterling’s Kayaks
Rowan Gloag - “To experience it with Sterling and Reg. You know when you go out and experience something like that, you might not know how good it is when it’s over, but I knew how special that time was in the moment. I knew how exciting it was, I was totally caught up and busting with passion for paddling and for that whole experience of THR.”
Kate Hives - “I also have to say that when I jumped into a Sterling Kayak, my skills rocketed! It was amazing to be a recipient of this design revolution in sea kayaks!! Combining white water design with Sea kayak speed and was a gamechanger!! I am in the market for a boat in Australia right now and although there are some great local designs, there is nothing like the Reflection!!!”
Nic Castro - “Rowan and THR was excited about the Reflection in the same way that I felt about the Delphin when it first came out. Because all of a sudden we were looking at all the things we wanted to do on the wave and you just really couldn’t before. That was a bit of a revolution for us.”
Reg Lake - “I was going up to Skook to film Warren cause he had an Illusion, he was doing amazing things with that. I had been filming him quite a bit and of course I had to take a kayak up there to paddle down to the wave so I finally took the prototype Reflection down there on a trip. The first time I showed up with it, Rowan looked at it says, “dude you’re reading my mind”, he really liked it.”
Rowan Gloag - “Reg came in at a time when we were hungry for a new kayak and new design, we didn’t know it then. You know when you see something and it speaks to you and you just know it makes sense. When I saw the Reflection that’s what it was like.” -
Nic Castro - “When Reg came into the picture, he was bringing all that knowledge about boating, both technically and the building side of it and he really got going with Rowan. It’s kind of funny to say now, but to me before the Delphin arrived, because it was released little bit before the Reflection, there wasn’t really anything made to “play” in. The performance, how solid the kayak feels when getting worked in pretty much any condition and the fact that you could actually control the direction well, it was like, wow and clearly the Reflection is a game changer. I think all kayaks made for technical paddling are now making it easier to become a good paddler and that’s how any developing industry moves forward.”
Rowan Gloag - “We were at Skooks at the right time with the Reflection and Sterling was supportive of me and gave me a kayak to use for the year and painted it up. I’ve paddled a lot of kayaks and there’s a lot of good in a lot of kayaks, but for me, Sterlings were at another level, not perfect by any stretch, but they were at another level from a performance and comfort for me.”
VIdeo TIMELINE
Check out how The Hurricane Riders crew evolved over the years with film making and paddling skills. Below is a chronological timeline I’ve compiled of significant edits starting with the earliest videos in 2008 to the final release in 2016.
Rowan Gloag - “We always wanted to make videos to watch before going out paddling, to get stoked about kayak. No matter about what you’re doing, paddling on the bay or fishing, just as long as you're stoked.”
“It was a lot of fun with friends and the excitement of just doing a fun sport together. Making some films, getting better at paddling, and you know, experiencing challenges together. It didn’t really feel like in the moment that something cool was happening. I don’t know what that was besides our videos, but it felt like it, we felt like we were part of something important. You know, not on a global issues scale but within the sport of kayaking, the little niche of sea kayaking. We felt like we were doing something positive and something important for the community we’re apart of.”
Reg Lake - “For the filming (of the prototype Reflection) I bought a high definition GoPro and we’d look at that in the cabin after a session. They (THR) immediately went out and got those because their stuff was not quite as clear at that time. They had some fun stuff going on with the logos, the stickers, the name and stuff. They didn’t take themselves too seriously, just kinda shrugging it.”
2008
Sweet Spots
The first edit released by THR remains a noteworthy milestone in the history of film editing for sea kayaking. Back in 2008 and even throughout the early 2010s, stumbling upon content of this caliber on the internet felt like discovering a hidden treasure.
2009
The Hurricane Riders: Sea Kayaking
About 6 months after their debut edit, this complete round up of footage from 2008 was released as a complete video and remains as one of their most viewed video on YouTube.
Sea Kayak Snow Launch
Urban sea kayaking at its finest. A short demonstration of sea kayak Winter launching techniques!
These guys were given this kayak by Necky kayaks at the time to be “tested”.
2010
The Tour
THR features Skookumchuck in many videos, but in this one they break down the rapids, the hazards, and their personal experiences paddling and making the grueling paddle back to the starting point eddy.
“It can be a scary tour to take, I mean it’s pretty mundane if you’re a whitewater paddler but at the flows that we were surfing it at… it’s a different story. You get these long surfs and eventually you’re at four hours of surfing, easy to say the most tired I’ve ever been was from paddling and teaching at Skooks.” - Rowan Gloag, CAN
The Push
4 part mini series of the crew getting out in the smack all around Vancouver Island. These are definitely some of the most treasured videos by the group. When asked about their favorite THR Videos, Rowan’s top pick is The Push 3 and Kate’s The Push 1.
The ReUp
Cinematic and moody. This is a short and sweet feature of Contain Leonard out in the surf.
“The ReUp is a 18 minute full length film that I presented while at Lumpy Waters Symposium.” - Rowan Gloag
2011
THR Urban
A short introduction of the members during 2011. Produced by Marty Perry of THR and released by WhiteSea Mag, which is no long in publication.
Trick Tips: Cut Back
A standout instructional video for even today! Rowan Gloag breaks down that iconic down wave move, the cut back. This one was also produced by Marty and WhiteSea Mag.
The Bendo
This is an THR produced educational video that unfortunately never saw a part two. Nic Castro give us a breakdown of an advance foam pile/hole trick coined “The Bendo”.
2014
Sterling’s Kayaks
This is a glimpse back to the origins of what is now called Sterling Kayaks. It’s charming to see Sterling walk Ro through the processes and talking about his passion for building kayaks. But What stands out to me is Sterling’s pride in personalized “old fashion” service that he and Marsha were known for. This was also at a time when the hype for a Sterling kayak was beginning to take off into the stratosphere in the sea kayaking world and much of it is because of The Hurricane Riders.
Reg Lake - “The Reflection was always in demand when I was out there. Like I said, I was filming, so they would use it all the time. Rowan eventually perfected the back-surf because of the symmetrical design. The thing performed better than I thought it would as far as maneuverability. And I always think it take 3 generations of a boat to perfect it. The nose would go in a bit early on, so we had to raise the nose 2 inches. So essentially the wave (skook) designed the boat. We gave the water what it wanted for that particular wave.”
The company is now under new ownership and named Sterling Kayaks. Jim Teshera who is seen in the video and the artist behind the iconic gelcoat work is still with the new company and now overseeing the production.
King of the Beach
The crew goes out for a big surf adventure and end up making the best of it in some smaller sized surf on the rocks and plenty of downtime on the beach.
One Day at JR
This is a classic show up with your homies and surf some waves at the local spot. James Manke receives a nice debut feature in this one too!
About the Author
B. Fontenot: Editor in Chief
A passionate sea paddler with over a decades worth of paddling experiences that range across the East and West Coast as well as The Great Lakes.