TeamRiverRunnerPDX with a Fleet of Bullets

Last fall Team River Runner participated in the Clackamas River Cleanup with a fleet of Bullets.  They had this great photo to send in.  The group’s leader, Shane Conrad, wrote in:

Just wanted to say thanks for letting Team River Runner PDX borrow your extra raft to participate in the Clackamas Clean Up. It was a great event that allowed us to get about 10 wounded veterans and team them up with about 14 kids from Job Corps and participate in a worthy community service project. This also allowed us to partake in the 9/11 United We Paddle event that Team River Runner National encouraged people across the United States to get on the water and paddle in remembrance of those who lost their lives on September 11th. Portland came in #2 in the entire country with 118 people signed up! There were a lot of smiles and great times on the water that day. Just wanted to express our gratitude. Thanks for always offering to help!

Always glad to support our veterans!  If you run into these folks on the river, give them a shout out: it’s a great program for a great cause.  Keep up the great work, TRR-PDX!

If you’re ever in Mongolia, give Mongolia River Adventures a call. Pat Phillips and his Mongolian partner Bulgaa run Bullets down multiple rivers including the Selenge Gol, Suman Gol, Ag Su, Kharatas Gol, Khovd Gol, Turgan Gol and more. It’s the frontier of river exploration in Mongolia and Bullet is excited to be a partner and support the dream. Most shipping companies wouldn’t attempt to send a boat to Mongolia, but Bullet worked with MRA and got a custom built Bullet there ahead of schedule. Keep an eye our for it in their promotional video.

Bullet’s line of fine lookin’ 2012 boats is here, along with Bullet’s first series of 12′, 14′, and 16′ cats. With multiple color and outfitting options to choose from, each boat is hand built to your specs. The 2012 series builds on the strong 2011 design and has slight tweaks to drain-hole locations and valve placement. Also new are the optional 2012 CPS Thwarts. See the 2011 Video for general specs and the 2012 CPS thwart video for information on the 2012 CPS Upgrade. Music credit: MF.

–  Take note! December 15 Deadline for Spring Delivery Orders of Custom Boats  –

Introducing the Bullet Cat - Cat14 Shown

We’ve been listening to those emails, and today we’re proud to release the Bullet Cat.  Introducing our 12′, 14′, and 16′ cats: streamlined and stable, big and small.  With tube diameters of 21″, 22″, and 23″ respectively, you’ll feel buoyant support combined with agile handling in all models.  Each Bullet Cat tube comes with four 2″ D-rings on its inner and outer face, eight total, meaning you have plenty of points to strap your frame to.  With three handles per tube, you and your river crew have ample places to grab and move the cat at put-in or take-out.  Standard Leafield C-7 valves ensure quick and painless inflation, while a new 33% thicker material means you have more cushion to deal with abrasions and wear.  Each tube is double-layered with 1.2 mm PVC skids, giving you an added layer of security on technical or bony runs.

In keeping with its philosophy of fair, affordable pricing for outstanding products, Bullet has set introductory 2012 Cat pricing at $1249, $1449, and $1649 for 12′, 14′, and 16′ models.

Give us a call or send us an email if you are interested in stock on hand- limited to yellow, green, and orange 14′ models- or add a custom boat of any size to our next consolidated shipment!

A New Last Descents Bullet 16

This summer, the Chinese-American partnership Last Descents River Expeditions chose Bullet for their new 16′ boats.  Last Descents was started by Travis Winn, a native Oregonian with a history on the Grand Canyon.  It is a cross-cultural partnership that advocates protecting rivers and connecting people to them.  Last Descents has grown to build partnerships with representatives from the Chinese government, science, and conservation sectors, and is translating this into meaningful progress protecting some of the world’s outstanding river canyons.  The new 16′ Bullet pictured above came in under budget and ahead of schedule, shipped to Last Descents’ doorstep complete with custom Last Descents logo’ing.

The New Bullet 12 SL has not appeared on in the Widescreen Boat Browser… yet.  But it’s been through a year of product testing and development.  Our goal was to create a slimmer version of our Bullet 12 ST.

The ST is a fat 6’11″ wide, 12′ boat with four tube chambers for similarly fat 20″ tubes.  The buoyancy and shape of the ST means you can load it up with gear for a multi-day, or drop larger waterfalls.  The ultrafast-draining floor design means you spend a minimum amount of time waiting for water to drain after a big splash or a big drop!

The SL was designed for smaller crews, lower volume rivers, and narrower, more technical runs.  It’s a blast on the water; fast, agile, and fine lookin’ too.  While they were designed for lower volume rivers, our photos show you can still take a crew of 4 youth down through Class III Hospital Bar on California’s South Fork American and have a great time!  There’s nothing that makes us happier than seeing people having fun in a Bullet.  To learn more about our custom-colored SLs, or any of our boats, feel free to contact any of our Colorado, California, Oregon, or Montana Reps.

Greetings from Europe, where we’re checking out rivers from Spain to the Balkans. There is excellent whitewater scattered all over this continent and great people to share it with. Enjoy the Euro-remix of a trip down Washington’s Upper Wind River, a class III/IV section of the upper wind only 45 minutes from downtown Portland, OR. The run has three class IV rapids, and plenty of fun class III to keep things interesting.  This run was a low water, about 600 cfs.  Keep in mind that it can become much more demanding at higher flows.  A writeup can be found at Oregon Kayaking.

Bullet Running Left at Lava Falls

Click on the picture above for a great shot of a Bullet 16 running left on high-water Lava! This is a high-water season on the Colorado River through Grand Canyon, with flows regularly above 20,000 cfs. Flows this high make for huge days at Hance, Hermit, Lava, and Horn Creek … not to mention Granite, House Rock, etc. etc. etc.  Can you guess the location of the picture below?

In Hole, Got Munched, Bullet no Flip!

The Grand Canyon is undoubtedly THE must-do multi-day run in north-America; too Grand to summarize in one small writeup.  Learn about it, research it, join a trip, row baggage, and organize your own private trip.  Whatever you do, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience that can’t be forgotten.

Wherever you are, happy boating!

The Breitenbush is one of the northwest’s classic Class IV runs in a beautiful, tight gorge outside of Salem, OR.  Somewhere in between the pizzazz of PROKAPs and the Japanese Pop video above, you can catch glimpses of the Breitenbush’s stunning blue water and excellent rapids. Flow in the video is about 600 cfs.

The action starts off relatively quickly after about a mile with two drops called “The Slot” and “The Notch”.  We couldn’t keep them straight and ended up calling them both “The Slotch”.  A few more 4′-6′ ledges ensue, followed by a mellowed out portion in the mid-section.  Even the mellow section is pretty continuous, though; keeping you own your toes.  There is an option for a steep take-out near the bridge, before the final class IV rapids.

After passing the bridge, there are three solid class IV rapids that are a lot of fun for experienced boaters.  Intermediate boaters may find it intimidating, and it’s always recommended to go with someone who’s seen it before.  And don’t head there without a copy of Soggy Sneakers and Paddling Oregon.

The run ends with a quick paddle out across a reservoir- beautiful blue-green water.  What a fun day!  More pictures and writeups at Oregon Kayaking.