Fat Cats Productions: Latest News, Travels, Photos and Videos

China

2012-01-06T19:16:00.004Z

Here are a few pics from the Litang Yalong and Yangste in Sichuan Province China

California

2010-03-29T23:11:00.002+01:00

Here is the salvaged footage of a camera that rarely worked in california last spring

Dipper Creek BC

2009-10-06T03:53:00.017+01:00

In October 09 a group six of us paddled Dipper. The creek is in the Squamish River drainage. This catchment has to be of the best in the world , containing rivers like the Ashlu , Elaho , Squamish , Tatlow , Dipper and many , many more.

Ali Marshall , Codey Howard , Ben Hawthorne , Steve Arns , AJ , Fred Norquest and One Eyed Scott made the team. We came prepared with rope , walkie talkies and ground support in case we became trapped in the canyon.

We took two days to paddle this section and it was one of the most physically demanding trips I have ever done. Huge hikes, scouts and portages, there were many unrun drops that we paddled aswell.

This is probably the most spectacular box canyon that I have ever been lucky enough to see.

Grand Canyon of the Stikine

2009-09-28T12:02:00.048+01:00

The Classic Stikine photo. Left to right, back row: Simon Tapley (Eng), Kurt Braunlich (USA), "The Death Starr" , Corey boux (Can), Left to right, front row: Steve Bartrom (NZ), Ali Marshall (Eng)

Nervously checking levels.

The set up on the long and aprehensive drive up the Stewart-Cassiar highway

"The true keepers of the Stikine"

Scouting Entry Falls. No photo, no video, no hype or talk, nothing can prepare you for that first sight of this rapid. It is huge.

Entry falls from the cliffs high on river left

Simon with his life saving device

Someone immersed in day 1

Scouting the must run, Wasson's Hole.

Below: Sequence of Ali running the left line and just missing that lethal hole. Check out the 921 BC trailer to see this hole destroying people.

Morning light on the entry to Site Z. Taken from camp 1.

A boulder fell on Corey during the dodgy portage around Site Z. He wanted Savlon for his cuts. Stevo piped up and said "No, not Savlon. What you need for that Corey is some get hard pills!" Unfortunately Corey had finished his supplies whilst filming earlier in the week.

The sketchy descent to put on below Site Z

Site Z, how long 'til the whole thing is run?

The Death Starr leads the way as Ali follows and gets swallowed at the start of day 2

Day 2 Is mainly read and run with some big suprises in there. Simon got worked in one hole for a long time. The wall is pretty much a blind rapid. It then opens up and reveals Garden of the gods. Simon avoids a second beatdown.

Calming down at Camp 2 with some treats from the East

Kurt scouts the hole that ate Chicago before the Death Starr tried to surf it.

The Death Starr washed through backwards

Scouting V Drive

Here The Death Starr goes into orbit

The run out to V Drive

Bartrom in the Tanzilla slot. The flow was around 400 Cumecs going through that gap

Relieved, tired and inspired at the take out. No wolves at the take out this time. Just a couple of cats.

A massive thanks to Typhoon for all their continued support! Thanks also to Pyranha kayaks and Palm equipment.

Small Cameras in Cali

2009-06-24T18:20:00.021+01:00

Danny arrived late for the High Sierra run off. He wasn't expecting half the team to be laid out with broken backs and bust ankles. Dinkey creek saw off some of us but the survivors took him off to Royal Gorge for his first run- No warm up!

Si runs the last of a triple drop on the second day. A beautiful no brainer.

Dan boofs above a portage on the first day

Si making the Burn fly on day 1. There were so many drops of higher calibre than this. Nobody could really remember this when we got to the end.

Waiting for the stroke. All in all a very unfair representation of a full on Cali multi day. Our cameras didn't do it justice. Heath 1 was amazing but no good shots.

Every Cali blog needs a shot of the classic Skyscraper on South Silver. Here Si drops in.

The East Kaweah is way up there on the must run list of Cali

Si sliding into a cauldron on the upper before...

The playboater let him down.

Davis cleans up Triple Step.

And Si shows another way

What looked like a must take hit was suprisingly smooth and rock free. Si tests out the theory

A cold snap meant that West Cherry dropped in to a high but doable level. We tried our luck.

Si on one of many

Dan runs the slot at the end of a long set of slides and drops. We met a couple of Germans on West Cherry: Stephan and Johans. When we decided to run this slot. They pointed at the rocks and said: "But you will smash your face!" Slightly psyched out we donned Rob's full facer and twisted away from the rock.

Si running a long meaty drop on the first day.

The last drop of the above rapid

Below the confluence with the main Cherry things felt a lot more powerful.

Rob comes out of the same rapid as above

Si rutherford running another rapid below the confluence

Dan and Si fight through the log jam where Upper Cherry runs into the lake.

Ok, so little cameras don't do Cali justice but we wll know how good it is already.

Hopefully there'll be a short film of Cali being posted here with footage of South Branch Feather, Big Kimshew and Dinkey creek being posted soon.

Mugu Karnali

2009-04-06T09:22:00.032+01:00

In March Ali Marshall , Tom Brown and Pete Scutt flew into the west of Nepal to paddle the Humla Karnali and its trib the Mugu Karnali. We didn't know much about this 30 mile lower section of the Mugu from Gamgadi to the Humla confluence. Gerry Moffat may have paddled it, a Russian Raft Team took 9 days to down it and there was an epic canyon somewhere in there?

Andy Sommer (Shiva Outdoors) , THE fixer in Nepal and top bloke organised our flights and Head Guide/Porter/Translator called Bero. Bero is a great local kayaker aswell. In this part of Nepal doing this kind of complex trip , it was massively helpful to have someone who spoke the language.

The one phrase that sticks in my mind about expedition Kayaking in Nepal is ,"Be Flexible", we were.

After road blocks, people being shot on the roads in riots, flight cancellations and our entire route being changed we finally made it to Jumla in the mountains where we could organise our porters and start our three day hike to the Mugu.

Now we didn't realise how hard this was going to be. Even though we had porters to carry our boats we still had 25kg of gear each in crappy dry bags that kill your back. On the first day when had walked from 1500m to 4100m we were all feeling a little short on breath, and after pushing the 15miles that we had planned that day we were feeling DONE IN. That night I said screw it and hired two donkeys to carry our gear cause otherwise I was going to be too broken to paddle. Two more days of slightly easier trekking and we made it to the Mugu.

Nepal was at the end of a 6 month drought which we had no idea about but we got to the river and it looked like a good flow, maybe 30 cumecs in it.

The river was quality, starting grade 3/4 and moving to 4/5. All superb boat scouting with some harder grade 5. The canyon was stunning. There was only one 100m portage in the entire 30 mile section. As we were scouting this portage Tom had this large rock fall about a foot away from his head. We looked up to find people throwing rocks at us from 500ft above. We dived into our boats and paddled for cover. As I was getting into my boat behind a boulder Tom screamed at me to stay behind the rock as the people pushed this huge landslide towards me. But I'm still alive. That put a bad taste in my mouth as I didn't expect to be visualising killing people in Nepal.

We were paddling unloaded boats and were flying way too quickly for the the porters to keep up with us, as the plan was to paddle it in two or three days. Half way down was said sod it and lets finish this. So we smashed it down to the Humla confluence in 6 hours. The only problem is that we didn't have any food or shelter. But we had money and knew the word for feed me.

We found this beautiful group of houses belonging to a family who lived a subsistence lifestyle. They kindly took us in and fed us and let us sleep in the their barn above the animals. This day was one of the most epic days of my life and an unbelievable culture shock.

After the porters finally caught us up after two long days we started the two day hike up to Lochi Karnali where the 100 miles of 4/5 Humla whitewater starts. To Simikot the normal put on to the humla was one days futher hike but there are long portages on that section so we started where we did and what followed was some of the best whitewater we have ever paddled.

Bero helping with the kayaks.

This section normally takes five days but we did it in two. Not because we wanted to rush but because we never wanted to call it a day and our group was small and fast. 50 mile days we were doing with very little flat in between the rapids. There is a 10 mile big volume grade five section which is amazing. It is rare to paddle something so steep with such volume. We did four portages on the whole 100 miles.

We didn't paddle the lower section even though it is meant to be beautiful.

All in all this is one one of the best river trips in the world and if you want an adventure then go to Nepal.

The team, Pete Scutt, Ali Marshall and Tom Brown.

Thank you very much to

Pyranha Kayaks
Dagger Palm
Typhoon
Yak
System X
Whitewater the Canoe Centre
Shiva Outdoors

PS The rivers are too good in Nepal to take photos

Everest Promo Film

2009-01-24T14:04:00.006Z

This is a film we made for Pyranha to promote their new Everest kayak.

The footage is from a recent expedition to the Thule Bheri in Nepal and

our last Greenland trip.

Hope you like it.

Ali Marshall

The River Plym

2009-01-22T20:25:00.011Z

This week me and Radical Rob headed to Dartmoor to catch some heavy rain. Dartmoor is an beautiful place, full of granite torrs and wild ponnies.

The area is full of history, littered with Bronse age settlements , Leats (water channels) to supply water to surrounding towns and these stone crosses that the monks used to cross the moor.

The Plym is one of the best grade 5 rivers in England, it rises and falls quickly after heavy rain.

The 3km section runs through a magnificent and almost spooky forest. The river is steep and boulder garden in nature.

BY Ali Marshall

I Want Mungo

2009-01-16T22:46:00.007Z

One of the rivers we'd wanted to do for a while was the upper gorges of the Hokitika and Mungo Gorge. The conditions were right, with good weather and good water levels so we flew in for the two day unsung classic.

Dan dropping into the commiting Mungo gorge.

Looking down into Mungo after the first drop

Si probing another blind corner in Mungo

Danny running the last rapid out of Mungo gorge

Si boofing one of the many great drops on the Mungo

Dan about to pull through a big hole on the Mungo

Ben snapped simultaneously above and below this tight drop

Cruising over a hole near the end of Mungo

The first amazing gorge on the Hoki

Sketchy portage: Seal launch Simon through the trees and past the undercut. Jump in and swim to the side dodging the trees. Throw the boats and paddles in, then pick up the pieces.

Simon didn't know that this easy boof landed in a gigantic eddie/sieve with no exits.

Barney styling on the Hoki.

A nice big must run rapid on the Hoki

The classic end to an amazing two day river trip - The Gates of Argonath

All Photos by the paddlers: Danny Noblett, Simon Tapley, Ben Hawthorne and Barney Young

Homathko Expedition

2009-01-09T16:13:00.007Z

This summer Tom Emerson, Corey Boux and Ricky Lambert paddled the Homathko in Northern BC.

Days upon days of white water in the BC wilderness with an boat plane pick up, made this one of the best trips they had ever completed.

Ricky enjoying what it means to be a man One of the many box canyons

The BC beauty

Best shuttle ever

By Tom Emerson

Nepal 3: The Humla Karnali

2008-12-24T11:51:00.026Z

Following a week of delays, cancellations and AWOL pilots we finally flew from Surket to Simikot high above the Humla Karnali. To all of us except John the landing felt dangerous and short, but our Alaskan bush pilot assured us it was easy.

After being ripped off at the check-in for excess baggage, the helicopter which we’d paid for miraculously turned into a chartered plane after we'd handed over the money. Porters to follow us down the river were out of the question, we could only afford their help down the put-on.

Once down to the river all which was left to pay was the entrance fee - a full day of portaging in blizzard conditions. Especially hard when we decided our 'self contained group' didn't need to follow the advice of the guide book and portaged on the opposite side to that suggested.

The following morning the sun slowly broke through the mountain mist and we had 8 days of great paddling ahead of us:

Packing up again, ready for our flight, but would we be going this time? (Photo: Max)

Whats the most kit you've ever worn when trying to board a flight. How about 2 IR suits, 1 fleece, 1 dry suit, 1 deck, 1 BA, 1 pair of trousers, 1 throwline, a 30 year old down jacket, a big red helmet, 1 peli case, a pair of river shoes, dark sunglasses, a water bottle (full) and one hell of a mo! (Photo: Dan)

Great views on the flight to Simikot (Photo: Dan)

Unloading on the airstrip at Simikot (Photo: Max)

Simikot - capital of the Humla region (Photo: Dan)

We were so glad we didn't have to carry the boats down the the river ourselves (Photo: Max)

It got pretty tough for the porters at times (Photo: Max)

Dave on the first rapid at the put-on (Photo: Max)

Tarp Time! (Photo: Max)

A view on the big portage before the weather got bad (Photo: Dan)

Salvation in the storm came from this freindly couple and their overcrowded goat shed/spare bedroom. (Photo: Dan)

Simon on the first gorge after the portage (Photo: Max)

Simon in the first Gorge (Photo: Dan)

Danny cranking the boof in the first gorge. (Photo: Max)

Rice and spicy tuna again! (Photo: Max)

What a great photo from Max Kniewasser, taken at sunset on the third day (Photo: Max)

Danny at bottom of one of the big landslide rapids (Photo: Max)

John dropping in on the promise that it will flush - it did. (Photo: Max)

Quality big water rapids on the last day of the Humla (Photos: Max)

Si avoiding being pulled into the 'mess' in the middle of the river (Photo: Max)

Dawn on the Karnali (Photo: Max)

John running Jailhouse Rock on the Karnali (Photo: Max)

Relaxing on the Karnali (Photo: Max)

No more flat water - the team at the take out (Photo: Local Nepali Man)

The judges found it hard to decide if Simon or John won the 'Mo of the Month' award (b. (Photo: Max)

Nepal 2: The Thule Bheri

2008-12-23T06:20:00.015Z

A 'secret' military flight loaded up in the cover of darkness took us to Jhupal in theDolpa region of western Nepal where we could then hike down to the river and put onto the Thule Bheri.

The river was amazing, fantastic class 4+ rapids for the first two days and then a pushy class 5/6 which tested us to our limits. The water was perhaps a bit too high for this section. The next day however reverted back to the classic whitewater we'd run on the first day.

A classic run, here are some photos:

Covert Operation (Photo: Sean)

All aboard! (Photo: Dan)

Dolpa Region from the air (Photo: Sean)

The Colonel stepped off the plane and was greeted a cup of fresh hot coffee, served by a local teaboy. It felt very regimental. (Photo: Sean)

The view down to the river (Photo:Dan)

Simon on one the great rapids (Photo: Sean)

Sean shows off his skills with the camera (Photo: Sean)

Simon's minons (Photo: Sean)

Sean on the 'slot' rapid (Photo: Colin)

Submerged in the 'slot' rapid (Photo: Sean)

Above the 'slot' rapid (Photo: Sean)

Another great rapid in the pushy gorge (Photo: Sean)

Colin really was the man about town with that fashionable yellow manbag (Photo: Sean)

Nepal 1: Pokhara

2008-12-20T06:31:00.009Z

We flew to Nepal with the aim of running the Thule Bheri and Humla Karnali in one season. But as we arrived in Nepal in October we had plenty of time to go to Pokhara and do some of the classic runs in the area. Runs we were lucky enough to do included the Madi Kola, Modi Kola, Upper Upper Kali Gandaki, Marsyandi and the Seti Kola.

This was the walk into the Madi, we climbed 1000m up to a town to stay the night, then hiked back down to the river in the morning. (Photo: Dan)

Dan staring at the rocks he is about to land on in this shallow boof (Photo: Billy)

Simon boofing over a sticky stopper (Photo: Billy)

Colin finding his way through a tough rapid on the Kali Gandaki (Photo: Sean)

Pushing through on the Kali Gandaki (Photo: Sean)

Emrys peering over another horizon line (Photo: Sean)

Dan on a pushy rapid on the Kali Gandaki (Photo: Sean)

Billy on the Kali Gandaki (Photo: Sean)

Emrys on the Marsyandi (Photo: Sean)

Simon is in there somewhere (Photo: Dan)

Another classic nepal shuttle (Photo: Dan)

Return To Greenland White Water

2008-07-06T16:34:00.061+01:00

After the success of last years White Water Kayaking Expedition a team of four Brits including Ali Marshall , Mike Scutt , Graham Milton and Si Tapley headed to the Southern point of Greenland.

With experience from the previous year we focused our efforts on one large river and its two tributaries.

This is the Pack Ice on the East Coast of Greenland way above the Arctic Circle. The ice drifts round to the the South West which brings Polar Bears that are stuck on the ice. There were 18 bears spotted within 50km from us which freaked us all out.

The ice meeting land where we landed .

With such bad sea ice from the cold winter the ferry could not take us to our nearest town to the river so we had to walk and sea kayak 100km. Sometimes the locals would help us out.

The locals dragged our boats 3km over a land bridge on their Quad bikes.

Another helpful lift

Some of the amazing scenery we hiked over (with 50kg)

Eventually after four days we made it to the town of Sletten which was at the mouth of the fjord.

Si sorting the food for the next ten days to complete our river.

A local fisherman fixing his net.

We loaded our kayaks into the first boat of the trip.

The view from where we got dropped off.

Walking up the delta of the river mouth.

Our first views of the lower Canyon. We were really gutted to find 5km of HUGE volume class 5 , 5+ and portages.

We had to relay our stuff up the hard terrain.

We thought there would be nothing to paddle until we came to the tributary called the Isortup which had 12km of class 5

This is the source of the river at the glacier.

The Team

Scouting the first rapid we ran on the river.

Graham was the only one to paddle this massive slide.

This is the confluence with the Isortoq river

We escaped on this Cod boat after a long hike and sea kayak.

This was an incredible journey and the best first descent we had ever done.

We would like to say a special thanks to Pyranha who let us all use their great Everest kayaks and also help fund the trip.

Also thanks to

Typhoon

Palm Equipment

Lyon Outdoor

White Water the Canoe Centre

Run and Jump

There will be more coverage of this trip on our new film, '60 Degrees North'

and in magazines.

Sweet lines in Italy and Switzerland

2008-05-12T18:31:00.016+01:00

Ali Marshall, Peirs Bucknell, Adam Carpenter and James Barnes hit Italy (Val Sesia) and Switzerland (Tessin) for ten days. The area has beautiful culture and scenery as well as classic clean lines.

James Barnes on the Ribo 25ft slide

Ali Marshall on the Mini California section of the Rovanna

3 shot sequence

Barnsy on the classic Egua top drop

Ali on the 20ft Upper Sorba fall

Piers on another drop on the Upper Sorba

Adam on the Ribo slide again

What Ali looks like when he's getting beaten

Look out for the next blog update for our return trip to Greenland

Thanks to

Typhoon Drysuits

Pyranha

System X

Fat Cats - New Year Special Offer

2008-01-07T19:27:00.000Z

To celebrate the New Year, we are offering a free copy of our last film Chaos Theory to anybody who buys our new Double Film DVD - The Revenge of the Fat Cats. This means: Revenge of the Fat Cats (Double Film DVD) + Chaos Theory + Free Worldwide Postage for only £19.99

You will get three films:

1) Greenland the Movie
2) The Revenge of the Fat Cats (Laos, New Zealand, British Columbia, Beatings)
3) Chaos Theory (California, Zambezi, White Nile, Chile, Ecuador, Scotland, England, Italy)

Each film has great music from British artists, quality footage of worldwide river running, creeking and freestyle from some of the best paddlers in the UK and great extras.

Revenge of the Fat Cats/Greenland Trailer

Chaos Theory Trailer

To take advantage of the offer visit http://www.fatcatsproductions.co.uk/film.htm now!

Fat Cats Film - Out Now

2007-12-01T13:01:00.000Z

The Double Film DVD - Revenge of the Fat Cats/Greenland is out now.

Revenge of the Fats features footage from BC, New Zealand, the Mekong and the all new Witness the Shitness.

Greenland documents the first whitewater kayaking expedition to this unspoilt, unexplored whitewater destination. What they found could be the start of a pilgrimage of explorative kayakers to the largest non-continental island in the world.

Plus great extras including Danny vs Si, and the first descent of the upper Oetz.

View the trailer and buy the film online at www.fatcatsproductions.co.uk.

Also available from all good kayaking shops.

Revenge of the Fat Cats Film Premier

2007-10-15T18:49:00.000+01:00

The Film Premier has been confirmed for Saturday 3rd November, at the Shap Film Festival in the Lake District.

"The latest film from the makers of Chaos Theory. These Brits have been busy with trips to Laos to explore the muti channeled drops of the Mekong, both classic and virgin whitewater of British Columbia, New Zealand and their pioneering trip to perhaps the last major unknown whitewater kayaking destination of Greenland. Expect others to follow in these footsteps. "

Please visit http://www.rainchasers.com/news/latest/films-lined-up-for-shap.html for more information on the event.

See you there!

Revenge of the Fat Cats - Out Soon

2007-10-14T17:02:00.001+01:00

We will be releasing our new film, The Revenge of the Fat Cats soon. Please visit fatcats.touchingthewater.co.uk for more information.

Greenland Whitewater Expedition

2007-08-13T21:42:00.000+01:00

Greenland Whitewater Kayaking Expedition

In July 2007 two kayakers from England set out to explore possibly the last unspoilt, unexplored whitewater destination in the world. With only images from google Earth, a loose contact with a fisherman and a willingness to immerse themselves into the wilderness, an expedition unfolded. What they found could be the start of a pilgrimage of explorative kayakers to the largest non-continental island in the world.

The incentives apart from none of the rivers ever having been paddled before, were: the oldest bedrock granite in the world, guaranteed snow/glacier melt and good gradient.

This is a photo Journal of our trip:

Flying in over East Greenland, an intimidating place

The River Quingua near Narsarsuaq

Some of the people we came across on the ferry heading north

A future kayaker perhaps? His father was loading traditional inuit kayaks on to the ferry north where the kayak championships were being held. Including disciplines like eskimo rolling and spear chucking.

We arranged to travel further north to a fjord called Bjornesund on a fishing boat called the Nardhvalen that became our second home. The owner of the boat, Jasper, was a great help to us and we owe much of the success of the trip to him.

Thanks again for everything you did, we know you'll be reading this at some point.

The 40kg of freeze dried expedition food we had sent out for the 4 missions, it didn't last long and luckily we could get more supplies

Jasper sailing away, leaving us in true wilderness, over 100 miles from any other person. This is a feeling that I can't explain and one that sometimes, when doing first descents on hard rivers you have to put to the back of your mind, but never forget.

Base camp with "Big White Line In The Sky Creek" in the background

The 3000ft hike to the top of the giant slide and the rapids above.

One of the best and cleanest slides we ran

Identical lines, identical scars from the aptly named granite rash slide

With no roads in Greenland the walk-ins were long and arduous, with poor maps and no idea of what we may find, sometimes it was hard to keep going with 60-70 kilos on your back.

After walking for 3 days we got to the source of this river, like many we did, it didn't even have a name. Here the ice cap comes down and meets this lake. Probabbly the most impressive put on we've ever done

Icebergs in the fall

A few rapids down this river lost a massive amount of gradient in one set of huge falls. We turned around seeing litle point in going on without the gradient and we were quickly running out of food. The difficulty in getting to this river and the lack of runnable rapids made the turnaround the most demoralising part of the expedition. We always knew there would be great highs and huge lows.

After walking back up the river, devistated and exhausted the sunsetting over ice cap put everything back into perspective. We realised where we were and how lucky we were to be there.

We left Bjornsumd and headed to rivers around the notorious Paamuit. A deprived town that has a very keen hobby of drinking. We arrived there after we were forced to call Jasper on the sat. phone once our tent, sleeping bags and dry clothes were blown in to the sea.

The mouth of the river where the tent blew away

An expensive and very lairy Friday night in Paamuit paid off when we met up with Talik, a member of the Danish navy who was mapping the ocean floor. He had a day off on the Saturday and offered to spend it driving us in the Danish speedboats to the next river in only 2 hours. It would have taken us two days to kayak there.

Thanks Talik

Here the Glacial melt water merges into the snow melt water of a tributary, we used to this spot to catch fish as they couldn't see the lure in the milky glacial water

This was another unamed river, very continuous in nature from the start of this impressive fall to the sea. Check out the film to see this one.

Our luck continued and after sea kayaking 30 of the 50 kms back to town we met up with some more friendly fishermen who we hitched a ride with.

The last river, probably the best and possibly the most serious, involved careful planning to be as safe as possible. To film and take still photography was impossible to do safely. Tripods helped.

A tributary of the Quordlortoq, the spray climbing up the right side of the canyon wall (looking upstream) is from a waterfall coming in from the left.

A caribou was caught swimming just below one of the hardest rapids we did "Caribou Blues"

A view from the safety of the Nardhvalen's kitchen after Jasper picked us up when the weather turned bad again, this time on the Quordlortoq

Icebergs and whales viewed from the Nardhvalen, the tied up fish were drying to be eaten later.

The team photo at the bottom of the Quordlortoq river. The falls behind had no name, no local hunter we spoke to knew of them, we dubbed them the "Gates of Quordlortoq" one of the most majestic and magnificent pieces of whitewater we had ever seen. The feeling we had, reaching this point knowing that we had survived, with only a few scrapes and bruises, the rivers of Greenland was beyond satisfaction. However, modest, there was so much we left undone, so much to go back for.

Ali Marshall and Simon Tapley

To see more of this and the rest of the trips since "The Chaos Theory" check out the new film "Revenge of the Fat Cats" soon to be released. Keep an eye out for the trailor coming in a few weeks.

Thanks to The White Water Canoe Centre, Pyrhana Kayaks and Palm Equipment.

Oregon Boofs & Boogie the Fat Dog

2007-06-10T19:26:00.000+01:00

We've just spent 5 days in Oregon, in the town of Hood River. Great place with some fun runs and lots to do off the river:

Boogie the Fat Dog

Boogie getting what he Deserves

Bubba - Sicky's Baby

Tom's Secret

The Bear on the White Salmon

Tom on the Little White Salmon

Danny on Wishbone Falls

The Bear gobbling up Spirit Falls

Danny Boofing Spirit Falls

Laos - The Place

2007-01-11T06:18:00.000Z

We found Laos not to be just about the paddling. The weather was hot, really hot, we wore cotton on the river to keep cool but still got worn out quickly. So we found ourselves chilling out more than paddling. Not a problem with freindly locals, more beer than we could drink ... with no hangovers, warm water to swim in and lots of rabies free animals:

Arriving in Vientine, the Capital of Laos

Loading up the boat ready for the relaxing ride to then Cambodian side - home of the big drops

Crusing back to the lodge for beers and food

Freindly locals from our favorite Resturant, Mama Dam the owner is in the middle, Papa Sid her huband in the yellow to the right. This guy is amazing, worth going all that way just to meet him.

Papa Sid callenged Ali to an arm wrestle, Ali won ...

... but Papa Sid easily won the limbo

A local pig who loved belly rubs

Local cats, Mr Clean and the General

Amzing sunsets every evening

Every day we would walk up a different channel and find a new rapid or waterfall, we couldn't belive how good the place was

Laos - The Paddling

2007-01-11T05:24:00.000Z

So we've just finished a trip to Lao, exploring and paddling the rapids of the Mekong on the Lao-Cambodia border. An abosulutely amazing place, we found new runnable channels each day, from water falls to huge rapids:

Teva Style on one of fun easier rapids

Ali on the Big Slide

Adam coming down the bottom of the Big Slide

Danny on one of the many waterfall channels

Tom running the biggest rapid of the trip, on the last day to show the locals what we were doing

Danny winding through a maze of low volume chutes

Ali on the waterfall Mr Clean, from the top to the bottom in one clean fall

Danny at the top of Mr Clean

Tom on the rapid closest to Cambodia

Danny on the Triple Step, probably the nicest rapid we paddled

The footage will be used for the next film - Revenge of the Fat Cats, out soon!

West Coast - The Final Two Rivers

2006-12-19T02:36:00.000Z

For a last rivers on the west coast we managed to do the Perth and the Hokitika, amazing runs in an amazing area, some of the best boating in the world!! Once again the photos arn't great - bloody cameras.

Dan with a Cheeky Grab - Upper Perth

Hokitiki Ricky - Upper Perth

Paul Maydew - Scone Creek

Colin Aitken - Upper Hokitika

Gates of Arganorth, Safely down the Hokatika - Poser!

More West Coast

2006-12-19T02:16:00.000Z

The camera's are still deleting photos of thier own will, a few survived, here they are:

Dan on Postman's, upper Kakapotahi

Barney on Airmail, upper Kakapotahi

Dan on the Waitaha

Dan on the Waitaha again

Waiting for the weak links at the top of the Crooked River

Dan on the Crooked River

Barnsey on the Crooked river

West Coast - Whitcombe

2006-12-19T01:43:00.000Z

After the cameras breaking on the Arahura, it was great to get some photos of the Whitcombe, here are some of the clearest:

A Nice clean drop in Prices Gorge

The Nomad hates being carried, its always hard work

Colliers Gorge ...

The Nevis

2006-10-22T09:44:00.000+01:00

The Nevis is described in the guidebook as one of the steepest and hardest rivers in New Zealand, so you can understand we were a little scared sleeping in the shearers quarters at the farm at the top of the Nevis gorge.

The morning came too quickly and before we knew it we were roping the boats up the gorge walls above a nasty looking drop. Tired and cold we hoped the river would not be this much of a mission all the way down. Luckily from this point on the river was amazing, tight technical drops in and around boulders with the sun driving down onto us.

I'll let the pictures say the rest:
(click on picture for bigger image)

Paddlers were:

Colin Hamilton - Yellow boat
Graham Dawson - Orange Boat and Orange Helmet
Danny Noblett - Orange boat and White Helmet
Dave Prothero - Green Boat

New Zealand

2006-10-13T01:24:00.000+01:00

Here are some photos from Queenstown, New Zealand:

Arriving in the South Island

Views from the current Residence

Views of the Shotover Valley

Dawson on the Routeburn

Danny on the Routeburn

Morris swamped on the Shotover

Danny dropping in, on the Shotover

Pushing through on the Shotover

Over 10,000 Downloads for Witness the Shitness

2006-08-06T07:29:00.000+01:00

The beatings film Witness the Shitness has now had over 10,000 downloads at broadbandsports.com, we're well chuffed about this. It just shows how popular it is to watch people get hurt.

Add to the download tally at:

http://broadbandsports.com/node/518

Or if this doesn't work, download from:

http://www.fatcatsproductions.co.uk/wts.wmv

Thanks Guys

Mighty Skook

2006-08-03T22:49:00.000+01:00

For the final paddle in BC we went to the mighty skookumchuck wave. We didn't know what the tides would be, but luckily got the two biggest tides of the year, and there were only 5 people there so no queueing! The wave was amazing, and even gave you a half an hour break where you could rest for the second session, well good.

A big thanks to Mike for letting us use his boat for filming and taking us over to one of the islands for camping. Here are some low quality screen grabs from the film as the camera we had was rubbish.

Views from the island at sunset

Classic Hi-Five

Simon

Adam

Ali

Rogers Creek

2006-07-22T20:09:00.000+01:00

After a day spent trying to sneak up the wrong side of the river, being chased by a very angry local, and threatened with being shot. We finally made it to Rogers Creek, a total classic with some of the the most beautiful waterfalls we've ever paddled.

Tom about to boof the first drop

Ali falling over the far right of the second drop (before the swim)

Danny making the hard ferry glide above the third drop

Barnsey running the falls

The big lad celebrates

Adam on the middle drop

Quick get away before our car gets shot

Site Problems

2006-07-19T01:26:00.000+01:00

Having some site problems, should be fixed soon.

Cats get their Cream

2006-07-18T19:35:00.000+01:00

Now all the guys are in BC it was time to get some classics done, here are some photos from the first week.

Ali Dropping over 45ft waterfall

Cats and Dogs can get along

Danny mega-boof

The lads scouting

Rambo Boofing

Rambo getting Rowdy

Barnsey on the Whatshan

Tom spins out doing 25k/h (?!?)

More Terrace Photos

2006-07-18T19:05:00.000+01:00

Here are some more photos from the Davis river in Terrace, we went back a second time to complete the whole section, the hike took about 3 hours but right from the top we found about 10 classic bedrock slides. This area is great, recommended to anyone, well worth the drive from Vancouver!

Danny Dropping over the big slide on Upper Williams

Tom on the top Slide

Ricky Finishing the longest slide of the day

Jolly Rogers finishing the final slide into the lake

Frog on Boat

View from the Long drive home

Terrace Creeking

2006-06-29T18:34:00.000+01:00

The first of the Fat Cats, Danny, Tom and Burt, have arived in BC fo a summer of steep creeking. Water levels are really high in Whistler so the lads decided to drive 2 days north to Terrace, a small town near Alaska, which supposedly had a huge amount of white water in a very small area. Unfortanatly Burt "Bomb Head" Burton got himself some love problems in the red neck town of Chilliwack so couldn't come. The two other members of the trip were "Pirate" Steve Rodgers (www.breadandbutter.me.uk) and NZ scumbag Hokitiki Ricky.

The Open Road

We have been here two days and so far the paddling has been excellent, there is a great paddling community with modest good, humoured boaters. Our first river was Williams Creek, a classic boulder garden run with some nice lines and drops.

Tom Boofing the first drop on Williams Creek

Canadian Sunset seen from Tent

The second day saw a much more intense river. An hour paddle across a lake to get to the other side of the valley "the grizzely maze" well known for it bears. After hike up to the river though thick bush we came to a huge slide, the rest of the river was pushy but went well.

Danny running the slide

Getting footage for the new film

We are now checking out some more runs in Terrace before going down to Vancouver to meet the rest of the lads, Ali, Adam, Rambo, Barnsey, Si and try to sort out Burt's love problems.

Come on ENGLAND on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!

Caffeine and Commitment

2006-05-25T12:37:00.000+01:00

Here's a short film by Ali Marshall, check it out if you've got some spare time.

Download here

Or view all videos in the videos section at www.fatcatsproductions.co.uk.

Snapshot - Sam Ellis

2006-05-24T22:45:00.002+01:00

Anyone who's met Sam, knows he's a Brute, maybe that's why he's so damn good at paddling. Here's some photos of him:

Meat Wave - Norway

Nile Special - Uganda

Boofing - Norway

Yellow Topo - Old School

Bitches Soul Surfing

2006-05-08T08:21:00.000+01:00

Si, Ali and Adam recently went to the Bitches for some soul surfing on the main wave.

Check out some photos here, from thamesweirproject.co.uk.

Shaun Baker Reviews Chaos Theory

2006-04-08T00:14:00.000+01:00

Well when we saw Shaun Baker down at the London Freesports festival and asked the guy to review our film we were unsure if he'd like it or not. We all know Shaun likes his paddling a bit on the crazy side, from snow boating to his latest jet kayak adventures. But guess what, he still likes good old fashioned kayak porn:

"Totally excellent DVD."

"Awesome boating and a ripping
sound track too"

"Highly Recommended"

Nice one Shaun - www.jetkayak.co.uk

Success for Fat Cats at BC Paddlesports Festival

2006-04-08T00:00:00.000+01:00

The BC paddle sports festival went down on Saturday 18th February, attracting over 300 people and showing the lastest films from the paddling world, including a 3min short film festival.

View our entries Witness the Shitness and Etive Fever on the website www.fatcatsproductions.co.uk in the Videos section.

In the end Witness the Shitness, a film by Danny Noblett won Best Creeking!

Please check out www.breadandbutter.me.uk for more information on this event and other developments from Bread and Butter Adventure media who organised the event.