February 20
The Whiskeyjack family is growing.
Steve Magnuson has returned to Minnesota after some time out west. Steve spent his college years up in Ely at Vermillion College where his passion for the outdoors and paddling grew (I suspect he went up there to major in fishing...). Steve's a former cabinet maker and trim carpenter. He's got amazing attention to detail and is super creative. He's really helped to make our canoe paddles even sweeter. His work is so nice that I'm willing to put up with his smart *ss jokes all day long.

Also on the crew is Matt Goodman. Matt is back in Duluth after 4 years working as a canoe guide up the Gunflint Trail. Matt was hobbyist canoe paddle maker and he brought in some of his work a few weeks back when we were hiring. His canoe paddles were great and we are psyched that he decided to give up his amateur status and come to work for us.

Matt and Steve clamping a shaft for a Whiskey Jill canoe paddle.


Barb wrapping a Whiskey Bender canoe paddle that is headed up to Piragis in Ely, MN

February 13
Lake Superior has frozen over into a perfectly smooth sheet of ice. This is something that rarely happens so we grabbed our skates and headed out onto the Big Lake for some hockey and to check in on the ice fishermen. Lake trout are being taken in about 120 feet of water. A large village of ice houses has sprouted up a quarter mile offshore.

It was awesome skating between the houses slapping the puck around.


Mike S. ready for action.

Mike on his cell making sure his life insurance is up to date just in case
we hit a patch of open water.


I couldn't find my gloves so I was sporting these sweet bright yellow work gloves.

January 13
We just returned from a ski trip to Winter Park, Colorado. The skiing was amazing due to the massive snow that Colorado has been hit with lately. It seems that every trip that Barb and I take turns into something EPIC. This trip was no exception. Hours before we were to arrive, a massive avalanche hit the Berthoud Pass which leads to Winter Park. Several cars were swept off the road but miraculously no one was seriously injured.

After road crews finally got the pass open again, our shuttle was cleared to make our way to Winter Park. That's when the wind storm hit. Gusts reaching 115 MPH (the equivalent of a category 3 hurricane) swept through the canyons surrounding the resort. It was a white knuckle drive the entire way. One bus was swept off the road (again no injuries) but luckily we arrived at the lodge unscathed -but a little freaked out.

After that it was all good. As if on cue, the weather cleared and we had several days of perfect weather to ski in.


Barb working on her tan...


Dan getting ready to "shred some corduroy" (cool ski lingo)



December 16
We had a huge Christmas rush but finally the last of the holiday canoe paddles have shipped. We had tons of phone calls and emails from all over the country (and even one from Australia...) Christmas can be exhausting for us but its totally worth it.

Now we can finally come up for some air and get outside. Today Barb, Joey and I headed into the Superior National forest to find a Christmas tree. It was a gorgeous winter day with crisp, cold air. As we were walking the trail, we could hear a pack of wolves howling in the distance.

Jo and Dan looking for the perfect tree.


Jo listening to the howling wolves.




November 29
A canoe paddle for Shaquille O'Neal?
We've sold several custom order 76" - 84" Whiskey Benders to the West Coast lately. Stand up surfing is a growing sport and our paddles are a perect fit. It inspired us to launch our newest paddle model, the Whiskey Tall Boy


Click here to learn more about stand up surfing

November 14
Barb's cousin Olaf is in town visiting from Munich, Germany. He stopped by the shop and put our canoe paddles through a series of rigorous strength tests (such as trying to break one over his knee...)

I was much relieved that the paddles held up against his stringent German engineering standards.

Olaf holding a Whiskey Rebellion canoe paddle.
"Sehr gutes Paddel!!!"

November 5, 2006
Smart people like Whiskeyjacks. Steve R. of Berkeley Lake, GA had a Whiskey River canoe paddle personalized to celebrate his daughter-in-law's graduation from Harvard.

October 31, 2006
Repeat customers was the theme for October. There's no better compliment than to have people love our canoe paddles enough to purchase more.

John R. of Blue Hill, ME, Rodney D. of Monroe, LA and Will W. of Ann Arbor, MI were among customers who came back for seconds this month. Will W. is one of the few people out there who has a cooler job than I do. He's a Mig 17 pilot. Click here to check out his site.

October 12
My friend Mike and I headed over to Western Minnesota for some duck and grouse hunting with a large group. We stayed at an awesome duck camp on Round Lake. The Round Lake Duck Camp is owned by the Fritz family of Detroit Lakes, MN and EVERY square inch of the interior is filled with photos and memorabilia from over 30 years of hunting and fishing adventures. I could stand for hours just looking at the walls.

The group posing outside the RLDC

October 1
We are famous (at least in Minnesota). Our segment aired today and the phone is ringing like crazy. Holy smokes.

September 26
Drove down to Madison, Wisconsin today to meet with Darren Bush, co-owner of Rutabaga Paddlesports. Darren has been an incredible help to me as I grow my company and design new canoe paddles. I am extremely grateful for his guidance. All of the folks at Rutabaga are first class people and their knowledge of paddling is unparalleled. If you have any canoe or kayak related needs give them a call. http://www.rutabaga.com

September 21
This morning we met Aaron Achtenburg of Minnesota Bound to film some more scenes for our upcoming TV appearance. We paddled the gorgeous St. Louis River just outside of Duluth. This area is some of the most beautiful water in all of Minnesota (especially within Jay Cooke State Park) and the Walleye fishing is tremendous.

September 14
Joey is back in Pre-school and Barb is back at the gallery. We've settled into our fall routines.

I've spent the last 10 days designing several new canoe paddle models. The Whiskey River and Whiskey Rebellion are the results of the hard work. I'm especially excited about adding some more straight shaft canoe paddles to the line up. I started out building mostly bent shaft paddles and have received lots of questions about why I don't sell more straight shaft models.