BOTE Presents: A Look Back on Our Most Epic Travels

BOTE Presents: A Look Back on Our Most Epic Travels

We take the saying life is one great adventure to heart. We work hard and play hard… really hard. We travel, we explore, we learn about new cultures. The BOTE lifestyle is many things that can be hard to sum up in a single sentence, video, or product simply because it’s different for everyone.

Woman paddling an HD Aero on a river

Over the years, our BOTE Presents film series has allowed us to explore the many ways in which people live their lives. A single product or suite of specialized products may be the thread that connects us to the person initially, but at its core, the BOTE Presents film series is a compilation of human stories. They’re gritty, real, unpolished. But also inspirational and enlightening, often when you least expect it. These stories are about seeking adventure, or spending downtime with family and friends, or better yet, weaving hobbies and interests into the daily grind. The stories are simply about life and how the subjects choose to live it.

As we map out where the BOTE Presents series will take us in 2021 and beyond, we couldn’t help but look back on some of our favorite stories from years past. We found that while these stories are vastly different, they have so much in common. We’re all just trying to find our zen and carve out time to do what we love to do.

In the city, it can highlight all the stuff you’re facing in life and compound it, making things pretty stressful. Whereas getting out in nature and just experiencing the outdoors makes you realize most of that shit doesn’t matter.
- M.C. Hoffner, BOTE Presents // City and Wild

Red & Brown

Film: BOTE Presents // Red & Brown

Location: Venice, LA

Once you arrive in New Orleans, take I-23 and head south. Eventually, you’ll find yourself in Venice, LA, or what we like to call the last touch of civilization before the Mississippi River spills into the Gulf of Mexico. Venice, LA, is home to the Frenette family, their family-owned Redfish Lodge, and schools of redfish the size of football fields. In the words of BOTE Director of Photography, Sean Murphy, “if Jurassic Park and Mad Max had a love child, it would be Venice. I have never seen so much wildlife. You feel like you are part of the food chain. You feel alive.”

BOTE Presents: Red & Brown

In Beneath the Surface Podcast, Episode 22: Red & Brown, Corey and Sean catch up with Mike Frenette (a.k.a. Red) a couple of years after the initial debut of the film to see how things have changed.

Man holding a redfish up after catching it on his Rover micro skiff
Man riding his Rover micro skiff under power

San Somewhere

BOTE Presents: San Somewhere

Film: BOTE Presents // San Somewhere

Location: Oxnard, California and Scorpion Bay, San Juanico, Mexico

As Sean puts it, "Ron is a great guy so it didn't take much for us to become fast friends. I quickly learned that Ron was a bit of a celebrity, or should I say - Tillman [the dog] was the celebrity. Remember that skateboarding dog from the late 2000s? Tillman was Ron's best friend. I would shoot photos of Ron, Tillman, and his other bulldogs at the beach, skimboarding, surfing, skateboarding, you name it." Naturally, the team headed out to the West Coast to catch up with Ron and his pack.

Relive the experience with Corey, Sean, and Rob, in Beneath the Surface Podcast, Episode 4: San Somewhere.

Man and woman carrying their paddle boards to the beach on their ATVs

Get Away

BOTE Presents: Get Away

Film: BOTE Presents // Get Away

Location: The Cooper family farm

BOTE co-founders Corey and Magda, like all of us, struggle to find a balance between managing their business, investing in personal time, and guiding how their growing children experience their youngest years. When they’re not working and kids aren’t in school, the Coopers escape to their family farm. The wifi is spotty at best, an unfinished puzzle lives permanently on the coffee table, and poking a bonfire provides hours of entertainment. Beyond the obvious appeal--unplugging from this technologically saturated world for a few days--it’s about teaching their kids and reminding themselves that life is all about the simple things.

Corey in his ATV with a paddle board on top
A small town gas station
Child swinging on a rope swing

Never Again

Film: BOTE Presents // Never Again

Location: Florida Everglades

The first time we put together a motley crew of BOTE-loving adrenaline junkies to experience the great outdoors and catch it on film, the first stop had to be the Florida Everglades. Even after very little planning, countless mishaps, and what could be interpreted overall as a near-death experience, the team visits the Everglades again… but with a little more power behind them.

BOTE Presents: Never Again

Get a taste of round one in BOTE Presents // Surviving the Everglades, then try to figure out why they’d ever do it again.

Man taping his feet from blisters
Closeup of an alligator's face

My Brother

BOTE Presents: My Brother

Film: BOTE Presents // My Brother

Location: New Smyrna Bech, FL

Eric and Evan Geiselman grew up on the water. With a dad who shapes surfboards and a rockstar mom who also surfs, surfing was in their blood. So it’s no surprise that when these pro surfers aren’t traveling the world to participate in surf competitions and events, they’re at home in New Smyrna Beach, doing the things they love to do--like golfing, fishing, and playing music--together.

Eric and Evan Geiselman
Man casting a net from a Rover micro skiff
Man skateboarding

City & Wild

Film: BOTE Presents // City & Wild

Location: Nashville, TN

M.C. Hoffner is doing all the things. She works full time at a tech start-up, teaches yoga as her side hustle, and gets out as much as possible to experience the Nashville scene--honkey tonks, museums, restaurants. But the fast pace of city life can take a toll on anyone. As M.C. puts it, “the effects of being in the city and really digging in is exciting… but then, getting outside lights me up in a totally different way. It feels really good to have something make you feel really small.”

The BOTE lifestyle has more angles and facets than we can count. This is just a small snapshot of some of our favorite films from the BOTE Presents series, but it’s hardly a comprehensive list of the many ways in which people carve out their own version of the BOTE lifestyle. Whether it’s spending quality time with family, getting your daily dose of vitamin D, balancing work and play, or experiencing nature and unplugging for a while, there’s no right or wrong way to do it.

BOTE Presents: City and Wild
M.C. Hoffner
Hoffner practicing yoga on her HD Aero inflatable paddle board
Guitarist playing in front of audience

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