I will be honest I had never heard of a sport called Riverboarding until a guy named Josh Galt who is a pioneer of the sport contacted us after using our gloves and said he loved his gloves and they were awesome for the sport. After a year of him wearing them other Riverboarders are seeing the gloves and contacting us. Josh has sent us video and pictures of him  doing crazy things like going down 15M waterfall in South America and going through a snow cave in Japan. Recently he sent us video of him going down the Green River Narrows in Asheville, NC.. the first Riverboarder ever to do so!

First Ever River Boarder Drops Gorilla on Green River Narrows

Riverboarder Josh Galt runs Gorilla on the Green

Josh is the founder of Face Level Industries and gave away Darkfins and Thermalfins as prizes at the annual Tuck Fest at US National White Water Center in NC April 20th. We are just stoked to be hooked up with someone like Josh, he is a real amazing guy!  If you are interested in learning more about Riverboarding or teaming up with Josh and others go to their website http://facelevel.com/

Blog Maintained by Colleen Wallace Black Lagoon Products

We were stoked when a customer posted to our Facebook timeline a video link of Peter Mel wearing our Darkfin Gloves and Bootees in coverage of his big win at Mavericks Invitational 2012-2013. Here are a few video links on YouTube.  Below that are a few screen shots of him I pulled off the video.

Peter Mel Wins Mavericks

From Peter Mels youtube channel

Wearing Darkfin at Mavericks Invitational and WON!

Darkfin Fist Bump

2012 was an exciting year for us, our sales almost doubled from the previous year and mostly in part to several key products we introduced throughout 2012. Most of the products were born not from our own imaginations or ideals but those of our customers. It is very exciting to have such loyal fans of the Darkfin Gloves that they are bringing to us ideas of other products they would like to see made. Here is a running of what we introduced in 2012:

The Tan Skinfin Gloves and Bootees:  Same great glove as Darkfin, just a different color!

Skinfin Bootees

Perhaps more popular than and often more requested was a cold water glove: We worked over a year to come up with a unique rubber dipping process that would provide more layers, yet not compromise the comfort and dexterity too much. Thus came the new Thermalfin Glove.

Thermalfin concept

With the introduction of Thermalfin, the process we came up with spawned a whole new line of Heavy Duty products that are versions of the original products already introduced the past.  With that comes our Heavy Duty Black O.P.S (Omni-Pupose-Sport) Glove. The uses for this glove are so universal, but great for anyone who does work or hobbies that require their hands to be wet or cold for periods of time and where dexterity and grip are a must. Fishermen, mechanics, windsurfers, gardners to name a few are the kind of people the Black O.P.S and Black O.P.S HD are made for.

Black O.P.S HD and HD Fingerless version

For those that haven’t seen all of our products we also offer several apparel options such as our hoodies and rashguards.

Darkfin Hoodie

Darkfin Rashies

This year we already introduced one more product and are working on many more.  This is a simple silicone spray to use in easing the gloves on better, but also helps to condition the skin, prevent chaffing, and help provide protection to the gloves and bootees keeping them in better shape longer.

Darkfin Silicone Spray

To keep up with our latest products check our website ofter www.darkfingloves.com and subscribe to our mailing list. Or you can like us on www.facebook.com/darkfin or follow us at www.twitter.com/darkfingloves. You can also find us at www.pinterest.com/darkfingloves

“I recently obtained a set of the BlackOps™ tactical gloves and can honestly say that this product provides a distinct advantage when operating in between dry and wet environments. Due to my past experience as a qualified Force Protection Team Leader and ETT trainer for the U.S. Navy, I can attest to the high level of durability, dexterity and improved grip gained using this product. I frequently use your gloves when sailing as they offer a high level of protection without compromising my ability to operate equipment. In my own tests of your product on the firing range, I have found that the BlackOps™ glove does not interfere with weapon operation and would be my first choice for VBSS (Visit Board Search and Seizure) operations or maritime security forces.”

Very Sincerely,

J.D. Gillespie

Our current website has one big problem and that is we can’t add any new products to it. So with the help of Design Sensory of Knoxville, TN we are refreshing the site and adding a cms system that will allow us to introduce new products. The new site is slated to launch late November or early December just in time for Christmas shopping. For those not already familiar with our Black O.P.S (Omni.Purpose.Sport) glove for fishing, gardening, mechanical and construction work, it is one of the additions you will see. Also we will be unveiling the new Darkfin split toe bootee. It’s better than being barefoot!
How about more clothing options? Hoodies, tanks and hats! Coming soon..shorts, rashguards, and a really cool shirt that our FB friends requested (keeping it under wraps for now).
Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper unveiling if we weren’t offering discounts and sales on everything!
Check back with us soon! www.darkfingloves.com

We got a really awesome email from a guy named Tim who is a Kayaker. Here is what he wrote about Darkfin gloves in short. 

“ I was was excited to get a pair of Darkfin gloves in the mail this week and even more so to try them out at my biweekly winter whitewater kayak pool session today. I have to say, I\’m impressed with your gloves and everyone else that tried them out today was too.

we have hand rolls competitions to see who can do the most consecutive hand rolls in quick succession. Previously my best was 17, but I topped that today with 21 wearing your darkfin gloves. The difference was that I had more power on my handrolls and was able to perform them faster

A beginner kayaker with a weak handroll was nailing every single handroll wearing your gloves

I can wear darkfin gloves while I\’m using my paddle without any hindrance – in fact I had more grip than I have with my normal kayak specific gloves, and dexterity was never an issue. The fact that I can use a paddle and know that if I lose it I have the extra power of the darkfin gloves to give my handroll a boost if I need it – thats incredible.

Aside from the improvement in handrolls, I found a greater freedom to play around in my boat without a paddle. This is something that I work on anyways, but without the extra power of the darkfin gloves, you\’re limited in what you can do before you roll over.

This ability to work on skills without a paddle was a big selling point for another of the intermediate kayakers in the group – she was grinning from ear to ear the whole time she was wearing them, clearly impressed with the freedom to work on her edging skills without a paddle

Anyways, great product. It seems to sell itself once someone gets a chance to try them. ”

We thanked Tim and bribed him to send us his best shots Kayaking while wearing Darkfin Gloves and we would send him another pair free! Thanks again Tim, you just opened up a whole new market we didn’t even know we had!

Darkifn is now the excited and proud sponsor of Triathlete Jonathan Miller of Salem, North Carolina.  Check this guy out! You can visit his blog for upcoming events and info about him at http://ironinspire.blogspot.com/p/2011-race-schedule.html

Go Jonathan! Let us know how Darkfin helps you!

Jonathan Miller

Jonathan and his daughter

This guy had the longest most epic dreads at the whole show, they were down to his knees in the back

Front of the Orange County Convention Center

Quicksilver brought in Tony Hawk!

He's still got it

So we set up a booth at Surf Expo in Orlano not knowing what to expect. The size of the event was definitely not expected, with 30 aisles of booths stretching probably a 1/4 mile each for a total of almost 2ooo booths, it was pretty friggin big! For 3 days I took little breaks and wandered around to look at the other booths and still never got to see them all.  The funny part was that I thought the building we were in was the entire convention center.  It was only a quarter of the size!  I saw more dreadlocks and girls in bikinis than I normally would on a good day at the beach.  There were big companies such as Quicksilver, UGG, O’neill, and others like it, but there were a lot newbies like us too, the little guys.   We went with the mindset that this was about exposure and getting people’s reactions to Darkfin’s.  We have had tons of positive comments from our customers and was thrilled to get the same reaction at the show.  We converted some skeptics, made some good contacts, got to physically try them on people and make believers out of them.  One of our props for the show was a 55 gallon fish tank for people to be able to put the gloves on and stick their hand down in the water and feel the resitance.  Then while wearing the wet glove we had them grab the edge of the tank and feel the grip.  It’s one of those things where seeing is believing.  All in all it went well, we made some contacts with some new stores and still in the works of getting Darkfin’s carried in surf shops. 

Josh posing in the Darkfin booth

There's me, your inexperienced blogger, doing my best Darkfin pose

Roy on right, inventor and creator of Darkfin's.

The let all the newbies have a display in the front

 Jamie Sterling  pipeline pic wearing Darkfin Gloves