2010 Reel Paddling Film Festival

From an expedition following in Farley Mowat's literary footsteps to big descents in Africa to the new craze of stand up paddling, the 2010 Reel Paddling Film Festival covers a wide range of aqua subjects. If you've got an interest in paddlesports and need a little something to get you motivated for the spring paddling season, this is it. The tour will be hitting our the Boston REI next week and you can click here to see when it will be in your neck of the river.



~Kate

Ascending Aguja Guillaumet

NEMO ambassadors and climbers Camilo Lopez and Anna Pfaff recently sent us some footage of their ascent of Aguja Guillaumet in Patagonia, located above the Rio Electrico valley and south of Fitz Roy. During their trip, Camilo and Anna traversed six peaks 5,000 meters in the northern Andes. We love hearing from them -- they give us all here in the office something exciting to daydream about (especially on gloomy rainy days like today).

-Connie

Life (not as we know it)

Life, BBC’s stunning (as expected) follow up to Planet Earth, has finally made its way across the pond. This might be old news to those of you who already set your Tivo/DVR to record the show, and even older news to our British friends who get BBC1 beamed straight into their homes. But if you’re without tv or cable, you can still capture amazing snippets of the show on the website or YouTube.

The series features earth's wildlife and the amazing ways they have adapted in order to survive. Unfortunately, Life drops David Attenborough’s signature narration in preference of Oprah Winfrey. We can forgive this offense, because the images and video quality are just so stunning. But if you're a purist who wants to be guided through this cornucopia of wildlife behavior by Sir David, I would recommend waiting for the dvd to come out. The clip below is a fascinating look at the feeding habits of starfish, giant sea worms, and other assorted ocean fauna. One feeding starfish – neat; a small group of feeding starfish – pretty cool to see; thousands of swarming starfish descending on a drowned seal corpse? Horrifically amazing.

-Connie

Another day in the office

A pool of drool is slowly making its way across the office...

-Connie

Overflowing Shelves

[As promised] It is with tired arms that we announce 2010 inventory has been unloaded and stocked onto our warehouse shelves! This was our biggest shipment ever with nearly 90 skus. Bill made a quick time-lapse video by setting up a camera in the doorway as we were unloading the boxes. I think next time we will set the camera to go off a little more often, but since we've all been working out, unloading occurred in record time.



[Hint: If you are looking for Losi 3P, Meta 2P or Meta 1P, these products have already been sold out through backorders. Look for fresh product that should be arriving at our dealers now. For customers in the US, see the below map as a reference.]


View NEMO Dealer Listing in a larger map

-Suzanne

NEMO Classroom Lessons #754: Securing Your Jake's Foot

Another video from the NEMO YouTube channel. Steve has graciously narrated a step-by-step guide to securing your Jake's Foot onto your tent corner (Losi and Asashi series tents). The video shows you how to "double-back" the webbing so that the Jake's Foot is locked on.



Drop a comment if you have any questions.

-Connie

Protect Our Winters

Did you know that in 30 Days the US House of Representatives is going to make a decision that could affect everyone who loves winter sports? Last fall The House voted on the American Clean Energy and Security Act. Now the bill is caught in the Senate and has the potential of losing the ground it has gained on controlling emission trading. Passing the bill places a cap on the amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted nationally. The emission of greenhouse gasses is one of the leading causes to increased atmospheric temperatures, global warming, and reduced snowpack in the mountains.

I had a chance to catch up with one of NEMO’s Jeremy Jones about this, a subject that is very near and dear to him. As a professional snowboarder, Jeremy has had the opportunity to travel all over the globe and ride mountains most of us can only dream of. Through his travels Jones has seen changes in the mountains that have disturbed him. Jeremy has taken this fight on as a personal mission. He formed a nonprofit organization called Protect Our Winters (POW for short) to raise awareness to not only the environmental impact, but the economic and social impact warming winters has on our mountain communities. Check it out.


Please help by contacting your state senator and let them know that you support the passing of the Energy Bill. 48 Senators are undecided on the Bill. We need 30 to vote yes to make a change. There are many states that are on the fence about this decision. Many of these swing states are in mountain regions like New Hampshire, Colorado, Idaho, and Montana to name a few. Contacting your senator takes only a minute and the difference it makes can last a lifetime. Every person who contacts their senator is showing our government that we care and a vote of NO will only perpetuate loose guidelines for polluters to abuse. It is simple and here is what you need to do.

Go to the Protect Our Winters website to learn more. You can submit a letter to your state senator voicing that you are for the new Climate Change bill. You can also become a fan on Facebook.

25 years ago our winters were snowy. This week I was looking out at my brown lawn wondering what had happened to winter. My yard should be covered in a foot of snow right now. It had warmed up so much I couldn’t take my son ice skating. Then we got torrential rain. Maine and New Hampshire rivers are reaching flood levels in March! What is wrong with this picture? We should be snowboarding, skiing, or being able to choose if we go ice skating or not. I want my winter back and I don’t think I’m alone.

-John

All the Pretty Colors

We just received some new wallet samples, and the stack of them is sitting pretty on my desk right now. Our friends at Dimension-Polyant have been incredibly generous with donating their manufacturing seconds.

The wallets shown here are from their latest donations. I don't know about you, but everyone here in the office has their eye on the hot pink/electric blue combo...

-Connie

NEW 2010 Boxes

With NEMO's new 2010 product line comes a complete redesign of the boxes they come in.  After weeks of brainstorming sessions and countless hours of meticulous proofing, we have a new and unique box.  Check it out.  Here's what it took:

67 mini box mockups
3 rolls of double sided sticky tape
81 Adobe Illustrator CS4 files
1772 circles in custom map graphic (see below)

Another new feature about the new box is that it is a "full overlap" box.  This means that there is another cardboard flap folded underneath the top and bottom flaps of the box.  You can use a knife to open up the box without damaging your tent.  Don't go crazy though.

Here's a shot of the final layout of the box.  There is another, smaller version of this box for smaller tents and accessories.  With graphs and charts, we discovered 2 optimized box sizes to accommodate our 107+ products.  We will continue to ship smaller accessories or parts in poly-mailer bags and envelopes.

A closeup of the "world" printed on the inner flap.  It is stylized with circles and can be filled in any way that you like.  We might just start it off by filling in where the box's destination is.

One of our main goals for this box was to design it so people would want to keep or reuse it.  Making the box visually interesting can increase its life expectancy.  Please help the environment by reusing this box for shipping, funky lamp displays, halloween costumes, or practicing darts.  Enjoy!

~Brandon

Storm Uncovers Sunken Forest at Jenness Beach

Photo courtesy Deb Cram, dcram@seacoastonline.com.

Jenness Beach in Rye, NH, a favorite surf spot and beach adopted by NEMO for monthly clean ups, has seen a revival. Petrified tree stumps that have been covered for more than three decades, were recently uncovered by the destructive storm that hit New England in early March. The sunken forest, as it is referred to, is believed to date back to the Ice Age. If you're in the area, stop by. The stumps are not expected to be visible for long.

~Kate

Asymbol Gallery, from your chair

Via Core77, we spotted this creative collective/online gallery/print-offering company called Asymbol .

The brainchild of snowboarder Travis Rice and artist Mike Parillo, their intent is to pay tribute to the creative souls that inspire and captivate us:

We come from cultures fueled by passions: passion for expression, passion for innovation, passion for adventure, and passion for good times. Over the years, a number of talented, creative individuals have both contributed to and documented these passions. From the graphics decorating the bottoms of our favorite boards to the photos we've stared at for hours in our favorite magazines, it's the image makers who have given shape and substance to our stories. They have used paintbrushes to show us what our worlds look like on the other side of the Looking Glass and have focused their lenses on points beyond action and sport to capture the feeling of awe that can exist in a single moment in time.

With works spanning stunning black and white photography, surreal painted landscapes, trippy pop art, and an awesome 'feels-like-you're-in-gallery' vibe to the website, we'll be sure to frequently stop in.

-Connie

NEMO Classroom Lesson #78: Preventing Tent Mildew

By and far, the most common problem we see from people using tents is mildew on the tent after use. The easiest way to prevent this from happening is to immediately dry out any moisture that may have accumulated on (or inside) the tent. Even if it's not raining or snowing out, moisture can come from condensation (especially on cold nights), and leaving your tent balled up in its stuff sack is a sure way to ruin it. If you're still out on the trail, shake off any excess moisture on the fly or tent, and leave it out to dry before you pack it up. As soon as you are home, lay out your tent components to completely dry out.

If mildew has already set in, and you're reading this post to frantically try to save your tent, don't procrastinate any further! The good news is that there are a number of ways to clean the tent. The bad news is that depending on how funky things are, the damage might have already been done.

Nicole, our friendly customer service representative, recommends the following recipe to clean mildew:
1. Mix 1/2 cup Lysol in 1 gallon of hot water
2. Wash mildew areas of the tent with sponge
3. Let dry

If that doesn't seem to do the job, then try this recipe:
1. Mix 1 cup of salt, 1 cup of lemon juice, and 1 gallon of hot water
2. Wash moldy/mildewy areas of the tent with a sponge
3. Let dry

For particularly odorous mildew issues, some folks in the industry swear by McNett's Mirazyme cleaner. However, if your seam tape seems to be peeling off, it might be a no-save type situation unless your idea of fun is to apply seam grip across every inch of seam in your tent.

-Connie