Tag Archives: skye nacel

Mocean365 Adventure Team and Achiva Native Energy

4 May

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Press release

May 6, 2013

The Mocean365 Adventure Team is pleased to announce a new partnership with Achiva Native Energy.   Achiva will be supplying the team with their unique products that were created to be as simple and effective as possible.
Mocean365 Adventure Team founder Skye Nacel says, ” This was a natural choice to work with Achiva.  The products are simple and cut to the chase which is what we all need to help us with all of our respective projects. “

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One member of the squad, Jane Coffey, will be a competitor in the upcoming Death Race in Pittsfield, VT which is considered one of the hardest in the world and will be a real test for a product.  Three of her teammates have competed in the race before and can vouch for that (Will Castle, Megan Walsh and Nacel, a 2x competitor). “I will be participating in the Peak 50 Mile trail race and then the Spartan Death Race 3 weeks later. I look forward to using Achiva products to help fuel my intense endurance endeavors!” says Coffey. You can check out more about Jane and her inspiring work here.

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Megan Walsh, co-team manager, nutrition consultant and herbalist, is more than elated to find a company with a goal of “optimizing energy and nutrient intake in the simplest way possible.  “Why add more filler and fancy ingredients when less is always more.  Achiva Native Energy combines pure ingredients that have a long standing reputation for being nutrient dense, easily absorbed and highly effective.  What more can you ask for!”   Meg is super stoked to put these products to the test in her daily adventures as well as physically demanding endeavors that she loves to tackle, and reap the benefits. See more about Meg here.

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The Mocean365 Movement Adventure Team is helping promote the ideals of positive physical movement and adventure lifestyle culture globally. Members were selected based upon their level of commitment to the world of outdoor adventure and being as well rounded as possible. They range from Pro Mountain Bikers to die hard recreational athletes and even one member, Quinn Campbell, who is just entering high school. Nacel says, “We don’t just go out and look for the athletes going the biggest or baddest. Instead we look for folks that also are involved in stewardship, teaching and mentoring and volunteering and promoting the positive attributes of human powered movement and adventure. Having a great attitude and elevating others are of equal importance to race results, age or status. He adds, “I believe in each member of this team and what they stand for and the impact they are making within their respective communities.

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Tori Berstrom from Achiva said this about the partnership. “Achiva Energy loves Mocean365′s vision of supporting active lifestyles 365 days a year.  We feel our chia and coconut water products facilitate the “cleaner, healthier and more active” lifestyle we are all striving for.  We love to support communities that aspire to make the world a better place.  Welcome to our tribe and we are excited about being part of yours.”

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As a very generous offer, Achiva is offering a 10% product discount to any of you whom are reading the press release. Great opportunity to try some amazing food with native roots that help you be your best. Enter 33mocean365 promo code for your discount and please spread the word about Achiva. Go to their website here

The Mocean365 Team is also supported by DriSuit Technologies, Mocean Mate’ Energy Tea and Vermont Peanut Butter and is looking to selectively add more companies to help support their work. Companies receive feedback, cross promotion and exposure and a testing platform in outdoor sports and endeavors ranging from cold water surfing to obstacle racing, trail building, slack lining, mountain biking, snow sports and more. Contact Skye at mocean365@gmail.com if you are interested in seeing how your company can get involved.

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New Mocean365 video, Meg and Skye play in the park.

12 Nov

Today we headed out into the park nearby, brought some goodies like our Gibbon Slackline and our home made Turkish Bags and found some really fun terrain to get a Mocean session in. We always look for movement sessions that challenge us in many ways. Today we did some climbing, throwing, crawling, jumping, balancing, running, throwing and more all outdoors and while having way too much fun.

This style of movement really helps prepare us for the rigors of our lives whether we are winter surfing, working in the trades, building trails or like Meg the other day-night, working a 16 hour shift as an RN. We need to be prepared for anything and “being tired” just doesn’t cut it.

A bunch of people stopped and asked us what we are doing as they often do. We usually just reply, “having fun moving around outside” or something like that. But we always try and encourage people that they too CAN DO IT and don’t need a gym or a trainer or fancy equipment.

We got a few shots today and put together a video for you to check out. Hope you enjoy and always remember, YOU CAN DO IT!

peace

skye and meg

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In the fog

22 Oct

Surfing has brought me so much. From humble beginnings growing up in a mill town and not even knowing people surfed in New England, to eventually dedicating much of my life to it. I started later than most die-hards so have had to make up for lost time. This has meant complete immersion and I tackle the pursuit with complete dedication. Nothing else gets me up at 4 am and has me driving for hours through snow and ice storms. Its led me across border crossings at night in Central America. It has led me to countries and introduced me to cultures I never expected to do more than read about in a book. It has led me to the most beautiful corners of the earth on a wing and a prayer and 5 bucks in my pocket and often less.

Many of the surf sessions happen as almost a bonus compared to what you sacrificed to there in the first place. Hiking over mountains to surf in solitude with a couple friends at a powerful river mouth with just a few seals as our companions. Surfing in driving rain, ice, snow. Surfing over coral, ledge, volcanic rock. Being pounded to the bottom and held down to the point of drowning, only to be released and barely escape, gasping, exhausted but very alive.

I’ve surfed naked and surfed at night a nd once much to the chagrin of my friends, did both at once. I’ve been caught in shipping channels frantically paddling against 5 knot plus currents with a freighter bearing down on me. I’ve slept under coconuts trees which are statistically more dangerous than sharks, which i’ve surfed with right under neath me clear as day in Panama among other places.

What I’m most proud of has been the exploration and quest and dedication to surfing in solitude away from the ever growing crowds. In some swells after epic drives just to get to the coast, I’ve then surfed 10 different spots in 3 days. It seems the norm for me now to have to work extra hard to get there like last year when i packed my chainsaw in the van and cut a full size downed tree that was blocking the highway during tropical storm Irene.(the police actually said I could?!)

This past Saturday was no different. Meg and i headed out in the wee hours to drive for 3 hours trying stay awake and get the coast to meet up with a friend. The whole coast was shrouded in DEEP fog to the point of extremely limited visibility. The waves were short period wind swell which meant you had to duck dive over and over and over on the way out. The waves were breaking everywhere, no rhyme or reason it seemed during the t and first session. Poor Meg fought and fought and was pounded back to beach hundreds of yards from where she began. As I was out there with our friend, I wished for her safety as the fog blocked me from seeing anything.

After warming up and taking a breather, we headed out once again and the fog just became even thicker even though now it was well into the afternoon. Usually the fog lifts as the sun rises but not this day. I surfed one right that put me right over the rocks near the cliff and I could see my buddy Mike for a minute, still inside fighting to get out. He never did make it out so it was just me out there for sometime. Alone in the North Atlantic, pondering the 40 year journey  of my life so far. From not even knowing surfing existed to being completely surrounded my Mother Ocean, feeling for her mood and asking her for permission to play. What a gift it was along with so many prior. And in the grand scheme of things, it really means nothing. Their are no paychecks or glory or personal recognition for such dedication. When I pass along into the next journey, few of my friends or family will ever understand or be able to comprehend what it was like for me. I can only hope that they may find or  feel what is like to give in to your passion so completely, if only for a brief lifetime.

The journey continues..Their are new storms brewing and trips planned that are merely a dream now but with hard work and dedication, can become a reality. There are new cultures to explore and more harrowing escapes(I hope). More waves and more boards to explore and new friends that come along with the journey. I will soon teach my nephew and a select few as well possibly who display a dedication or even appreciation to our great Mother and want to protect her and only borrow a few foggy waves.

 

Pics shot by Megan Walsh.

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Tiny Homes book review by Skye is up on KorduroyTV.

4 Oct

Really stoked on sending some writing and content over to the crew at KorduroyTV.  These guys are amazing and I’m honored to have some work chosen to publish on there.

We feel pretty strongly about tiny homes living and culture. Why? Well, it just makes sense in so many ways. We really just need shelter and space to sleep especially if we are driven to be outside so much right? Simplifying our lives is key to overall happiness in my opinion and also is very practical on so many levels including financially. Tiny homes could encompass homes, small structures like tree houses, buses, boats and a myriad of other options that have a small footprint by design.

Check out the book review of “Tiny Homes” by Lloyd Kahn up there now and really you should get a copy of the book. The author, Lloyd Kahn wrote the seminal book “Shelter” back in 73′ that ushered in an era of smaller is better in regards to living and off the grid before it “was cool”.

(A special thanks goes to my editor, Linda Meier for making sense of my mumble jumble)

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The Vermonster Obstacle Challenge goes off!

30 Aug

We were stoked to build and design a course for the Vermonster Challenge, a 2 day fitness and movement festival held for the first time this August 25-26 in Berlin Vt.The event was held in The FitPark at The Confluence/Green Mountain Crossfit, a facility where I lead some outdoor programming and Meg does nutritional counseling out of. I had built some pump tracks for them at both this location and the previous one and had helped build some movement elements in The FitPark so was pretty stoked when they accepted my idea to have a obstacle race there.

Put in some really cool elements and really focused on making the course flow. We logged out lots of the materials from the owners of the facilities land and used many reclaimed materials as well and worked with a first year event kind of budget. Judging from the response, it was a success. I took a little video the morning of the event then Meg got some video during a couple of the heats while I emceed the festivities. Here is a video we put together for you to check out if you get a chance. Not quite The Spartan Race but we plan on making it bigger and better next year.

Just wanted to thank all of the great volunteers, sponsors and vendors and competitors that made this a great event as well, MAHALOS!!!

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Get those feet naked!

4 Jul

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So by now you’ve heard of the barefoot or minimalist shoe trend right. The seminal book Born To Run, put barefooting back in the mainstream after a few hundred year hiatus. Everyone rushed out to buy the latest footwear that promised a “barefoot experience” and “the next best thing to being barefoot” and other jargon.
Many(most) quickly realized that their evolutionary forefathers were onto something as they glided their way into new found freedom from chronic knee or back pain. The Vibram Five Finger shot to the top of the charts and quickly developed an endless array of models. Most all other running shoe companies quickly followed suit including mega corporations like Nike who were ironically called out pretty heavily by the author of Born to Run in the book in 2008.
Now every article on barefoot/minimalist footwear seems to be telling of the pitfalls of switching over. And Vibram is now the center of a lawsuit for misrepresenting claims.
Here are a couple of thoughts..

1.What happened to actually barefooting? I mean the act of being unshod. You know, not wearing shoes or 5 fingers or Minimuses or any other “foot condom” to quote the infamous Barefoot Sensei, Mick Dodge. Wearing flip flops or rubber clogs do not count. They are all a step in the right direction(pun intended)
Does anyone actually go barefoot? Or should it be renamed the “Minimalist Shoe Movement”? Once again the condom is a good analogy. Yes your still having fun and doing the act but you are missing out on some serious sensations there chief.

2. Why is the focus always on running without shoes? Very few people(self included) truly know how to run properly with shoes on so running without them does not fix some inherent issues. Unless you have perfect technique, you have a better chance than a snowboarder of becoming injured. Why? Running is hard on the body! So you don’t have to run(and probably shouldn’t) to reap the positive benefits of taking off your shoes. Walk, trek, play, train etc. In a progessive and incremental way barefoot.
I dont wear shoes to convenience stores, banks, on hikes, while riding bikes sometimes, playing frisbee, leading camps, driving cars, while I’m training myself and others in a professional setting among numerous others. I’ve even run chainsaws and used porta potties barefoot, neither of which are ideal or of OSHA standards but life is an adventure ya know what I mean?
The simple act of being barefoot is an experience not to be missed and with some common sense and some time spent in the saddle, very good for you.
So this is not an anti minimalist shoe rant. I’m in fact a firm believer in them and wear them regularly( mostly for legal reasons or in places where humans can’t cleanup after themselves)
They are a great, next best thing. But nothing and I mean nothing beats getting them feet naked. You’ll be glad you did!
Stay tuned for future writeups explaining ways to do it safely and incrementally and where and when to NOT go naked.
Dig in, feel the dirt, the ground, the earth, before its no longer safe to!

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