Need funding? Apply for a Paddle Nation Project Grant

Outdoor Nation has announced that it is accepting applications from individuals between the ages of 18 and 28, or 501c3 non-profit organizations, for The Paddle Nation Project, a grant program that aims to connect young Americans with their waterways through recreational paddling. Outdoor Nation is an initiative of The Outdoor Foundation®, a 501c3 non-profit organization established by Outdoor Industry Association® to inspire and grow future generations of outdoor enthusiasts. The grants are made possible by support and funding from the Outdoor Industry Association Paddle Advisory Council (PAC). PAC is a coalition of top paddlesports manufacturers, retailers, and stakeholders dedicated to advancing and growing participation in paddlesports.  (MTI Adventurewear is a member of PAC)

The Paddle Nation Project will award 10 grants of up to $2,500 each to youth-developed, pioneering projects and initiatives that will result in increased paddling participation. Outdoor Nation will select projects that reinforce the idea that recreational paddling is one of the most accessible and impactful ways to introduce young Americans to the outdoors. In addition to cash awards, Outdoor Nation will also provide technical support and guidance to grant recipients. “We believe that sometimes the smallest awards make the largest differences, particularly among youth,” said Chris Fanning, executive director of The Outdoor Foundation. “With these paddle grants, we hope to empower an upcoming generation to engage with the outdoors through all types of paddling, such as stand up, whitewater, kayaking, canoeing, and more.” Outdoor Nation is committed to increasing and expanding youth participation in outdoor recreation thorough entertainment, education, engagement, and action in order to cultivate a healthier, more active generation. During the past year, Outdoor Nation has awarded more than $250,000 to youth for projects that reconnect young people with nature.

Paddle grant applications are due February 15, 2012. SO ACT NOW! The Outdoor Foundation will announce the winners on March 9, 2012. Projects must begin in Winter/Spring 2012 and be completed by July 1, 2012. For more information about the paddle grants or to submit an application, visit outdoornation.org/grants.

Cold Water Boot Camp Video – watching this could save your life!

The 2nd most common reason people say that they don’t wear a life jacket is because they consider themselves a good swimmer. If that is you, take a look at this. COLD WATER BOOT CAMP is a pretty powerful video showing how a GOOD SWIMMER could quickly be overcome in cold water. It is NO SHAME to wear a life jacket!

Working on 2012

DIO F SPECJAVA hang tagWorking on some new hang tags to grace our NEW products for 2012, and we reached out to our REAL LIFE paddlers for images that showed them with their favorite MTI jacket. So, here’s some of our new Hang Tag SUPER MODELS!

DIO F Spec – Mr. Nathan Raycroft of Anger’s Nook Guided Kayak Fishing of Swansboro, NC

JAVA – Ms. Paige Totman, super star TEVA shoe rep in the North East and retired water ski diva.

PFDiva SE – Ms. Whitney Bush, Recent College Grad and Rutabaga Water Diva Guide from Madison, Wisconsin. Good luck in Italy next year, girl!

MOXIE – Ms. Kara Whittaker of Seattle WA. Wife, Mom, super cool chick. Say no more…

JOURNEY SE – Mr. Mike Cichanowski,urber-paddler and founder/President of Wenonah Canoe & Current Designs, Wenonah, MN.

So… want to be an MTI hang tag model someday too?!?!

POST YOUR PADDLING IMAGES TO THE MTI FACEBOOK SITE!

Getting ready for OUTDOOR RETAILER 2011

It’s all go at MTI central as our sales, marketing, and design team get ready for our biggest trade show of the year: OUTDOOR RETAILER. We’ll be debuting the 2012 MTI Collection to our dealer partners, the press, and the product reviewers.

JEFF MULLER and GORDON COLBY have been busy this past year, bringing 10 new models to the MTI line for 2012!
* SUP
* Whitewater
* Professional
* Kids
*Kayak Fishing
* Women Specific
* Versatile Recreational    * and even a new color for the underDOG

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE AT THE OPEN AIR DEMO & IN THE HALL! BOOTH #34061

got PFD? got swag?

So I’m chewing on a new slogan to print on t-shirts for this summer’s Outdoor Retailer show. What do you think of:

Live. Love. Life [jackets]

PRO LIFE [jackets]

I love life [jackets]

The meaning of life [jackets]

Life [jacket] is Good

This swag won’t float me.

MTI Sales Reps

A little about our MTI sales reps:
We have one in-house sales rep, EMILY DEWIRE, five regional sales reps, and one tech rep. The tech rep, DAVID BLANDING, is brand new – just started working for us this month! David will help wave the MTI flag at events and help with staff training in the SE. He will support Emily’s in-house sales work for the region. Emily handles sales for all states that do not have a regional independent sales rep. Sitting just opposite from me at MTI head quarters in Plympton, MA, Emily worked for EMS as a manager and new store opener for 10 years before taking a break to become a mom. She joined our team ONE YEAR AGO this month.

[Happy Anniversary, Em! We love having you as part of our team!]

Our regional sales rep are:

NEIL TOTMAN for New England, New York, and New Jersey… if it has “NEW” in the front, NEIL covers it! Neil is also the EMOTION KAYAK rep, and often hits the road with his lovely and charming wife, PAIGE. She’s one of the TOP sales rep for TEVA footwear. So between the two of them, they are a SUPER SALES TEAM! We love them – and not JUST because they make a GREAT cocktail at the end of the day. But because they love what they do, and have fun doing it… a lot like us.

CRAIG RICHTER and his sales partner GREG DIDRIKSEN handle the WEST COAST from Washington to California, plus Montana, Idaho, and Nevada. Craig has worked longer for MTI than anyone – even longer than me and Gordon (9 years) and Lisa Chandler (accounts payable, 11 years and still counting!). Which means he’s worked for MTI since flotation was invented. OK… maybe not that long, but I bet it must feel like it for him! Thank goodness he has Greg to help him cover that HUGE territory! Greg is an adventure-hound. He loves sky diving, whitewater kayaking, and overseas travel. He and his wife Kristiana just got back from an AWESOME trip to the NEPAL! [yes.. we are very jealous here, Greg...but thanks for posting the cool pics on facebook as you were traveling!]

CHRIS SIME is our sales rep for a few key accounts like West Marine and Academy. Chris is based in Minnesota, and works for Takashina USA – the former owners of MTI. So we know Chris from TKUSA days. It’s nice to still be “on the same team.”

Last but not least, our man in the great state of TEXAS is TOM JESTER. Tom is the NATIVE KAYAK rep, and also handles Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. So he puts on a few miles covering his territory. But they are used to that in his neck of the woods! Tom’s been selling for MTI since 2005. He and his wife Debbie live north of Houston in the Hill Country of Texas. Their ranch is on 500 feet of the headwaters of the Guadalupe River – with excellent Kayak fly fishing on their doorstep. A nice place to come home to after a long sales trip.

So if you meet one of our reps in the field, please be nice to them for me, OK? They are neat individuals, hard working, and dedicated to Paddlesports. We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without them!

Lili
Chief PFDiva

Are you serious about KAYAK FISHING?

When our product designer, Jeff Muller, asked me what we could do to improve the features of our F-SPEC OUTFITTING as found on the Solaris F-SPEC and the PFDiva F-SPEC, my first response was….”hummm, I gotta think about that a bit, sunshine.”  After all, I am NOT a fishing expert. Although I did grow up on Pewaukee Lake in SE Wisconsin, where just off our pier near Beach Park Circle droves of fishermen would float around in search of the famous monster MUSKIE (or is that MUSKY?).  And my Dad, John Koch, and my brother Johnny AKA “the Iceman”, are big catch and release fly fishermen (from Wis to Alaska , to the Gunnison River in Colorado)…growing up with fishermen AROUND you does not make you an expert. What we need is the feedback and expert advice of real users.  We need REAL REELERS here!

And so to facebook and our professional fishing-folk friends we turn.

GIVE US YOUR BEST IDEAS HERE or on www.facebook.com/water.planet.

We THANK YOU for your input. YOU help us build a better mouse-trap. Or is that FISH-TRAP?

Lili Colby

Cheif PFDiva

 

New PFDiva F-SPEC for customer at Jersey Paddler's PADDLEFEST 2010

 

 

 

 

The 2011 paddling season has started.

Shipments are going out the warehouse doors everyday now.  Which makes us here at MTI very very happy! Each cardboard box with the MTI logo on the side contains up to 8 brand new life jackets that have recently arrived from our factories, either from Shanghai in China or Hanoi in Vietnam. Both are very modern facilities, staffed by well paid skilled sewers. The factories are owned and operated by the Takashina Life Preservers Company, our former parent company.

MTI is now independently owned by Lili and Gordon Colby, a paddlesports industry  couple who have managed the company for the Takashina family  for almost a decade. They met when they worked together in Vermont at Mad River Canoe.  He was the Voyageur brand manager…she was customer service…and learning to paddle a Mad River tandem whitewater canoe on the Deerfield River in the far north-west corner of Massachusetts was the beginning of their paddlesports adventure together.  Owning a life jacket company today just makes sense. You should have seen how many times they dumped that Mad River Synergy while they were learning! “RIVER RIGHT…NO! I MEAN YOUR OTHER RIGHT!”  If you have ever paddled tandem with your partner, you know what I’m talking about…

Any how, back to those LOVELY boxes heading out of our warehouse via UPS and on pallets with different common carriers! EACH shipment out the door means that MTI gets product out to their beloved dealers, who then sell them to paddlers everywhere across the United States.

We love our dealers at MTI… really we do!

Paddle Safe, friends. Please wear your PFD. We hope you will make it an MTI.

Lili

Chief PFDiva

It’s offical! The new MTI BLOG

Happy birthday, MTI BLOG….we look forward to many conversations and discussions about paddling and boating safety in the future.

Let’s start if off, eh? QUESTION: what is it about a life jacket that LOOKS the MOST geeky?