Here is a little 2011 highlight reel I did while procrastinating my homework this past weekend, check out what David Miller from the Matador Network posted about it:

“Included are some new scenes from this past spring’s kayak mission in Japan, as well as some of the gnarly lines nearby Shon’s local Mt. Shasta area.

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As always though, it isn’t the “adrenaline” aspect of Shon’s work that I appreciate but the overall onda of his filmmaking, the way he never lets you forget the size of terrain and that no matter what we run we’re all pretty damn small”.

Trying to kayak more in 2012 but with film school 5 days a week, I am still trying to keep my hopes up despite this temporary full on commitment. Thanks to everyone that made 2011 one of the best years ever, look forward to many more adventures in 2012.

If you are into action sports at all then you have heard of GoPro. I have had the pleasure of working with this company from almost the beginning, with 6 years as a sponsored athlete, I have watched the original GoPro Hero transform into the number 1 selling helmet camera in the world. In all honesty most of the kayakers that saw the first Hero were skeptical of its performance and design, but ohhhhh did GoPro shut them up with the release of the first 1080 HD Head Cam under $300.

Once the first HD Hero was released it quickly was seen in every extreme sport across the board, all the biggest names in surfing, motocross, skiing, mtn biking, and even kayaking wanted to get their hands on them. When I first met Nick Woodman (the creator of GoPro) back in 2006 his enthusiasm and aggressive marketing style blew me away. From the beginning I knew GoPro was going to go BIG but I had no idea they would grow so fast, especially during the extreme recession of the US economy. In the past 5 years GoPro has dominated the helmet camera market with many competitors continuously chasing the coat tails of this innovative company.

The Hero 2 is no different. This camera will set the new standard of high definition (still under $300) with the capabilities of 11 megapixel photos, 120 fps in SD, and wireless technology coming in early 2012. If you have not gotten on board yet I suggest you do, affordable, dependable, with amazing customer service, GoPro continues to be at the forefront of wearable camera technology.

Here is a short video testing new mounts up in Mt. Shasta over winter vacation. With LOW WATER in Nor Cal and being full time in film school at UC Santa Cruz, sometimes you just gotta take what you can get. Check out some low water Sims Falls laps with the new GoPro Hero 2.

If you don’t want to spend the full $299 on the Hero 2, than the Hero is still available for the low price of $239.99 and is what we used in all the filming for Slippery When Wet. Just to show that the original HD Hero is still EPIC, here is a SWW GoPro Reel featuring all GoPro Hero shots.

Big shout out to GoPro and all my sponsors that have made 2011 unforgettable, my opportunities with kayaking would be significantly limited without your support, so thank you for the resources to make all this possible. I am very grateful for everything my life and look forward to the 2012 season, hope to see you all on the water.

So life has finally mellowed out a little after a busy quarter of film school at UC Santa Cruz. I am on my way up to Mt. Shasta for the holidays and stoked to have a little time off. GoPro has been a pinnacle sponsor in the progression of Shasta Boyz and after almost of 6 years working together our relationship continues to grow. I have watched this company expand from 3 people to a multi national corporation in just a half decade. Impeccable customer service and an unbeatable product, GoPro continues to push the progression action sports videography into 2012.
GoPro asked me to put together a 100% Hero Reel from Slippery When Wet to promote the original GoPro Hero. This segment boast footage from all over the world including California, Pacific Northwest, Mexico, and relief work in Japan. If you enjoy what you see PLEASE order the film (you can order HERE) and support the project. Be sure to check out the NEW GoPro HERO 2 with not only 1080 HD filming capabilities, but 11 megapixel photos as well. BIG shout out to all the boyz involved with this project especially those featured: Ben Stookesberry, Chris Korbulic, Evan Garcia, Cody Howard, Ryan Knight, Devin Knight, and Drew Duval, there wouldn’t have been a film without yall, thanks for your contribution! More content to look forward to with a part 2 photo update from Japan dropping early Jan. 2012.

Enjoy the 100% GOPRO REEL and feel free to like, comment, and SHARE!

Feather Fest is one of my favorite events in California. This year was my 5th year straight attending this event and it was larger than ever boasting over 400+ people and racers. This event has proven a success because of the help from American Whitewater, the whole race is roadside (so its spectator friendly), and a dedicated event staff committed to throwing a solid rager. This was the first race I have attended and not brought a video camera so sorry for the lack of video this time, but FYI, it did feel amazing to just sit back and enjoy the event. If you are feeling a need to check out this section though see our video page with multiple edits from previous years.

There is always a stacked race, with some of the fastest in Cali throwing down wicked fast times. This year fellow Liquidlogic athlete Taylor Robertson took the cake AGAIN for the longboat division and SUP class, with homie Justin Patt coming in a close second with only a mild amount of puking. I don’t remember who took first for short boat but I do know that fellow Shasta Boy and good friend Chris Korbulic took second after just stepping off a plane from Brazil, like a boss. Here are some photos of the event courtesy of Callie Daniel and myself.

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Many are calling this the “Gauley Fest” of the west and it has the potential to only get bigger. With warm Cali temps, a great party, and a shweet section of river, the Feather fest is a true gem for an event in late September. Next year if you find yourself in Cali during the early fall this is one event you won’t want to miss. We had an impromptu WORLD PREMIER of Slippery When Wet at Feather Fest and received a great response from the audience. This kicked off the Slippery When Wet tour and next stop is looking like Auburn California. Keep posted to the Shasta Boyz facebook for all the details and if you haven’t got a copy of SWW yet BUY one here!!!

Thanks for all the support, look forward to seeing you in Auburn later this month!

Sh#t has been hectic in the SBP world lately. After finishing a master copy of Slippery When Wet in late July, I was barley able to get DVDs August 4th before flying to the Outdoor Retailer show on August 5th. After the epic whirl wind of making some great connections and a wicked bender with the boyz, I rallied back to Mt. Shasta to start getting ready to move down to Santa Cruz for school.

A week later I packed my life into my subie and made the night drive to the Cruz to get ready for school at UCSC. The journey down ended up being epic to say the least, concluding with a 4:00am arrival after over heating the whole way down and eventually blowing a bolt out of my radiator, sending locomotive style steam out my hood. From that point on I have been looking for a new whip and occupied with moving in, hence the lack of updates here at SBP. Here is the new whip I ended up with, she still needs racks but damn she’s got class.

More big things in the works for the rest of the year and going into 2012, starting off with the fully operational STORE section of the website. Swing on over there and pick up our NEW release Slippery When Wet, Wet Dreams, SBP Tees, and or a SBP New Ear snapback. Everyones support of this project was the only way it happened and stoked to have been able to work with so many dedicated athletes. Not sure exactly what is in the books for this season but there a couple brilliant ideas floating around including a tour of SWW still to come. While in Santa Cruz I will be coaching and helping out at the UCSC kayak club, so if you are in the Santa Cruz area hit us up and come learn how to kayak! For a more in depth look at the film making process, be sure to check out an interview I did recently for Sanuk dishing up all the dirt http://sanukfootwear.tumblr.com/post/10003150938/shon-bollock-is-slippery-when-wet.

Probably gonna be siphoned out here in SC until an epic rager for Feather fest with all da homies. Look forward to seeing you all out there and don’t forget to pick up a copy of Slippery When Wet!

So here is it the final 7th trailer to conclude the Slippery When Wet trailer phenomenon. It has been a sh#t load of work getting all these done but STOKED to be finished with them. It is getting down to the wire making the DVD cover/ menus and getting all the finishing touches on the film. In a perfect world I will have DVD’s buy early Aug but it just depends on how much can still go wrong. Moving forward, here are some screen shots from the Knight brothers trailer.

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There is a lot to say about these brothers but I will try and keep it short. These are the boyz that started the SBP movement back when I was just a little tike. Although both have full time jobs and real life ahead of them, the Knight boys always seem to find themselves surround by some of the most experienced paddlers in the world. This trailer boast footage from all over California including the 1st decent of 99 problems on South Branch, Fantasy Falls, and more action from Japan. I have grown up with these boyz, both were a huge inspiration in my own paddling career but most of all I think they embody the message that kayaking is meant to be fun so don’t take yourself too seriously. Devin and Ryan are some my favorite people to be on the water simply because their safety and desire to continue to push themselves. Alright enough from me check out da boyz for yourself.

If you missed any of the Slippery When Wet trailers, check out ALL seven here. I got a couple weeks to finish the film and then trying to get DVD’s pressed before Outdoor Retailer August 5th. Keep posted for where the DVD will be sold but one thing is for sure, you will be able to buy it right here at SBP. Thank you all for the support with this project, it has been a LOT of work but knowing everyone is stoked is well worth it. Back to the grind, more soon.

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. Life is going into overdrive for me right now trying to get everything ready for the film to go to press hopefully this month. It has been great seeing familiar faces as well as a bunch of the boys from SWW coming through to party it up for our Independence. Here is the 6th of 7 trailers featuring Cody Howard of Huckin Huge films. Check out some screen shots from the trailer.

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Be sure to catch the last Slippery When Wet trailer featuring the da homie Knight brothers. This thing will drop later this month right before the release of the film. Hope everyone has been enjoying these trailers, I think it was the only way to properly showcase each athlete. There is some amazing footage on tap and I am looking forward to everyone checking it out this summer, hopefully we get it together to do a show at OR this year but we shall see how the cookie crumbles.

Back to the cave, Happy 4th team!

I just got back from an amazing birthday weekend in Santa Cruz with my family, it was great to spend some time with those who know me best and support my passion to the fullest. All the final trailers for Slippery When Wet are almost complete and the film is starting to come together. I am trying to have everything done by mid-July but its going to be a big push as Outdoor Retailer is in the beginning of August and then I will be moving back to Santa Cruz to finish up some schooling at University California Santa Cruz. Here are some screen shots from the trailer.

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This trailer boast footage from all over the world. It will take you through the beautiful gorges of Japan, the lush island of Hawaii, and a little action from my true love, California. The actual film will display much more footage from Japan, this is just a little something to get your mouth wet.

Stay tuned for the next athlete trailer to drop, Cody Howard. His trailer will be debuting here in the next couple weeks followed by the infamous Knight brothers Devin and Ryan. Much more still to come, thanks for your patience and support of this project it has been a LOT of work but I think you will all enjoy the finished product.

So it has taken a little time to sift through all the different photos and media from the trip so there will probably be 2 Japan updates here at SBP. I am also crazy busy trying to finish Slippery When Wet and get the last 3 trailers out and live so forgive me for my lack of updates since we have been back. Let me start out by saying that Japan was not exactly what I expected, in a good way. This country contains some of the most unique white water I have seen anywhere in the world; everything from steep committed creeking to aqua blue big water. Personally I did not expect such a versatility of white water nor the amount of big drops that litter the island. When it comes down to it the white water was AMAZING but the local people of Japan were the ones that captivated my trip.

Gallery photos courtesy of Darin McQuoid.

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Before we dive into all white water some fun facts. Tokyo, Japan boasts the densest metropolitan area in the world while the surface area of Japan is only slightly smaller than that of California. The difference you ask? Well, Japan has a population of 137.5 million people while California only hosts just over 37.5 million. Since Japan is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, rock fall is real business and much different than the millions of year of glaciation displayed in California’s Sierra Nevadas. I found out early to always keep your head up, after pulling a rookie move and standing underneath my boat being roped up a cliff side. There was some rock fall that came down off my boat and luckily I missed the bulk of it but a couple small pieces caught me on the arm and it was a big wake up call to get my sh#t together.

Gallery photos courtesy of Brandy Suppi.

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There were so many highlights from this trip that its hard to narrow them down. We had a great crew that all worked together to make this trip happen, so without each of them none of this would of been possible. Our largest debt of gratitude must be given to our friend and fellow paddler Yoshihiro Takahashi for not only letting up rape and abuse his van throughout the trip, but for his tolerance and kindness of hauling around 6 Americans for 17 days. Since there will be another photo update from the second part of our Japan trip, I am going to give the quick run through of what went down at the beginning. So the trip started May 9th with a drive to LA followed by a flight to Narita, Tokyo on the 10th. The team (myself, Yoshi, Cody Howard, Darin McQuoid, Ryan Knight, Nick Calderone, and Brandy Suppi) quickly hit up the Otaki slide that Cody ran on his first trip kayaking in Japan. From there we jetted up to Minakami for a fews days boating the Tone, Takarogawa, and a little drainage ditch creek that I Pton’d my brains out on. After spending a few days in that area we headed north where Yoshi fired off the first decent of the Phoenix, a 40+ footer with a shallow landing, which he styled with pure ninja steeze.

Gallery photos courtesy of Ryan Knight.

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At this point we were very close to the zone that got hit hardest by the tsunami (just north of Sendi). With Yoshi’s help we decided it would be a good time to volunteer with the clean up efforts taking place over 100+ miles of eastern Japans coastline. This was where I felt my trip shift from just another kayaking mission to understanding the suffering caused from these recent disasters. You see the photos, you see the video, but nothing can really paint the real picture of destruction like being there in the flesh. We checked into RQ (one of the organizations sending out volunteers) and got set up for a day of cleaning up styrofoam from a oyster packing plant that got destroyed by the tsunami. We spent probably 8+ hrs breaking up styrofoam and putting it into rice bags to be utilized for insulation. Later in the day we were informed that the road we were cleaning up was on the way to the local elementary school. At the end of the day we got back to RQ and it really hit me how little we had done, a small drop in a large ocean of need. We returned our gear (boots, gloves, jackets) and outside RQ we were approached by an older Japanese woman who spoke very little english. She grabbed each one of our hands, looked us firmly in the eye and said “thank you”. It was in this moment of feeling our help was so insignificant that her reassurance and appreciation honestly touched my heart. I am not a super vulnerable guy or the most in touch with my feelings but in that moment I understood her completely. Just seeing foreigners out there volunteering was a huge gesture in her eyes, while in my mind all I could focus on was how miniscule our contribution was. It was empowering feeling that gratitude and interpreting the situation from another perspective, realizing that she saw people from around the world coming to help Japan in a time of need, even if it was for only a day. What I took away from that experience was that no matter how miniscule the donation or gesture every little bit helps Japan get closer to a fresh start. If you are in the position to donate to American Red Cross Japan, every little bit helps.

Gallery photos courtesy of Nick Calderone.

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After our little time volunteering at RQ we continued the search for waterfalls and new rivers. Our team got skunked, put in many days of driving, and eventually came out scoring one of the most pristine one day runs I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. We will leave it there for the first update on Japan but keep posted for more photos and the rest of the story very soon.

Huge shout out to all the sponsors that made this trip possible: Liquidlogic Kayaks, Sanuk, Five Ten, Go Pro, Matador Network, Astral Buoyancy, Hippy Tree, Level Six, Werner Paddles, Watershed, Snapdragon, Helmet Camera Central, FNA, Six Six One, Shasta Base Camp, and Dragon Graphics.

For the past few weeks rivers have been rising and dropping up here in Nor Cal. A gauge I always keep my eye on is the McCloud river about 25 mins outside Mt. Shasta. During the middle of last week I saw it was on the rise and tried to rally the troops. Unfortunately everyone has a life or something and can’t drop everything to come huck a perfect 50 footer, so I weighed my options. It was pretty clear the flows were going to peak thursday and I was pretty sure there wouldn’t be another chance for me to run it this year. With those facts in mind I rallied out with Callie and my father to check out the falls. When we arrived at Middle Falls thursday (April 28th) around 4:00pm it quickly felt different from my previous experience there with all the boyz a couple years ago. I looked at it from the top viewing platform and it looked like a little more than half the flow we had during the the previous record high descent in 2009. Dream flows peaked at just over 1700 cfs @ the reservoir  that morning. We walked down to the base of the falls to get a better look. From there I saw a really solid line with a great boil at the bottom and felt confident it would be good to go.

As I was getting changed I realized I forgot my Canyoneers (standard rookie sh#t) but decided to give er anyway since the flows were peaking. The only thing I had to wear were my Sanuks which were a little sketchy on the hike in but all in all much better than nothing. After getting geared up I handed my Dad a throw rope and showed him were I wanted the most moral support as I knew a throw bag wasn’t going to do much if sh#t hit the fan. As my Dad hiked down to the bottom of the falls, I set up a trip pod and got Callie dialed for photos. During the hike down above the falls, I found myself thinking about the crew from the last trip and how much I was missing that camaraderie. As I got into my kayak I gave Callie the thumbs up and she confirmed with the “safety” we were good to go. I peeled out the eddy and started stroking for the lip. Came off a little far right but was able to get a good stroke off it stomping it down to a 45.
A quick offside roll at the bottom and I paddled away from the right wall with a successful decent. The priceless look on my Dad’s face was probably what made the day but being able to fill the line I saw in my head, without the support of any other paddlers, was a big step forward for me. It was a perfect training session before our big trip to Japan going down in 7 days, plus after finally getting that waterfall off my mind I may actually be able to get some school work done. Look for the footage to be featured in my new film Slippery When Wet coming out in July. Big thanks to my Dad and Callie for providing the support needed to make this happen!

Enjoy this gallery from the day courtesy of Callie Daniel.

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Next update from the Shasta Boyz will be LIVE from Japan!!! 3 more trailer for Slippery When Wet trailers upon our return!!!