Beneath the Surface artwork

Beneath the Surface

76 episodes - English - Latest episode: 3 months ago - ★★★★★ - 18 ratings

BOTE Founder Corey Cooper and Photographer Sean Murphy get candid about the inner workings of the business, wild outdoor adventures, and stories behind the people and places that inspire them. It's real, it's gritty, and it's definitely unfiltered. Buckle up, because with Sean and Corey behind the mic it's always a wild ride.

Entrepreneurship Business paddle boards paddle boarding paddleboarding kayaking kayaks outdoor recreation building a brand product development adventure
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Episodes

What Never Was

September 17, 2020 04:00 - 29 minutes - 20.4 MB

Welcome to the 24th installment of the Beneath The Surface Podcast.  Sometimes things just don’t come to fruition. Even with the best intentions, some projects just don’t see the light of day. In this episode, Corey and Sean discuss one such project: the creation of the Rover (OG) / Wake SUP board and the video shoot surrounding it. Shot with Billy Rossini and friends in North Carolina, this was one for the books.  About five years ago, Billy came to Corey with an idea for a wake surf padd...

The Compound

September 10, 2020 04:00 - 19 minutes - 13.1 MB

Aaaand they’re back for another wild and crazy episode of the Beneath the Surface Podcast. In the 23rd installment,  Beneath the Surface Podcast: The Compound, Corey and Sean take us on a journey from Los Angeles, CA, to Fort Walton Beach, FL.  The stories take us through the course of Sean’s career spanning 26 years, from a punk rock photographer in the 1990’s to his work with BOTE in the present day. Sure, on the surface that sounds like a good time, but there’s more. In this episode they...

Red & Brown

September 02, 2020 22:00 - 49 minutes - 33.8 MB

Welcome to the 22nd installment of the Beneath the Surface podcast, brought to you by lots of caffeine. In this week’s episode, Sean and Corey go behind the scenes of a National ADDY award-winning film Red & Brown, with one of the stars of the film, Mike Frenette, a.k.a. Red. In Beneath the Surface: Red & Brown, the guys get real about the impacts of the pandemic on the outdoor industry; what makes Venice, LA, a unique place to visit and live; and the common thread that connects each of the...

Keys Reloaded

August 27, 2020 04:00 - 25 minutes - 17.4 MB

Welcome to episode 21 of the Beneath the Surface Podcast. In this episode, join Corey and Sean as they revisit trips to the Florida Keys which happens to be one of their all-time favorite places.  In Beneath the Surface Podcast: Keys Reloaded, the guys reflect on the site where BOTE first launched and found out how badass one of their favorite products truly was, the Rover Micro Skiff. Making your mark on the world, voyaging into far off places, and embarking on journeys designed to discove...

Bug Slinger™

August 20, 2020 04:00 - 32 minutes - 22.1 MB

In the 20th installment of the Beneath the Surface Podcast, Corey and Sean have a conversation with Rob McAbee, BOTE Creative Director and Founder of Bug Slinger™️ fly fishing gear. Rob started Bug Slinger in 2007, right around the time Corey and Magda founded BOTE. As the BOTE and Bug Slinger™️ brands grew within the outdoor industry, it was inevitable that the paddle board fishing-focused company would collide with the fly fishing apparel brand and produce epic collaborations for years to ...

Western Flow

August 13, 2020 04:00 - 25 minutes - 17.8 MB

Sean and Rob relive the ordeal that was paddling the Green River, filling Corey in on all the details. From rapids and wind to broken rods and flipped boards, this shoot was a trip for the record books.

A Western Flow

August 13, 2020 04:00 - 25 minutes - 17.8 MB

In episode 19 of the Beneath the Surface Podcast, BOTE Creative Director, Rob McAbee, is in the studio with Corey and Sean to give us the dirt on the creation of their 2016 video, A Western Flow.   When Rob gets the idea to float down Utah’s Green River for three days with a motley crew consisting of Sean, two off-the-grid extreme adventurers, and a few other characters,--all in the pursuit of showcasing the versatility and durability of BOTE’s inflatable paddle boards--things don’t quite g...

Grambler: Out for Delivery

August 08, 2020 04:00 - 37 minutes - 26 MB

In this episode, Corey and Sean team up with BOTE Creative Director Rob McAbee to talk about the first ever “BOTE Presents” trip. It was a product launch for The Grambler—a board that Rob envisioned as being a surf style board that wasn’t necessarily performance-based, but that would surf more like a longboard.  Sure enough, that’s what the Grambler became. A board forged in Florida, yet with a chilled out vibe similar to Northern California. In other words, “East Coast Style Meets West Coa...

The Grambler

August 08, 2020 04:00 - 37 minutes - 26 MB

"East coast style meets west coast soul." Sean and Corey bring Rob McAbee onto the podcast to talk about the history behind BOTE's original surfing paddle board, the Grambler. 

LONO Tarpon

July 30, 2020 04:00 - 28 minutes - 19.8 MB

A lot of people think making pretty pictures is easy. In this episode, the 17th installment of the Beneath the Surface podcast, Corey and Sean set out to prove this theory wildly incorrect. To do so, they unveil the story behind the product launch of the LONO—BOTE’s revolutionary inflatable fishing kayak.  The backstory all has to do with a fish. The tarpon, to be exact. A long silver prehistoric-looking beast that Sean has a long complicated love affair with. The tarpon is Sean’s Moby Dick...

Behind the Scenes: Devils of the Deep

July 23, 2020 04:00 - 34 minutes - 23.9 MB

Welcome back to the Beneath the Surface Podcast. Hot off the mic is episode 16, going behind the scenes of BOTE Presents // Devils of the Deep: The Red Assassin. The film is centered around Cash McGuinnes, a ridiculous fictional character played by BOTE’s very own Sean Murphy. The short film is a spoof of all spoofs, inspired by River Monsters and taking place in the Florida Panhandle. Ever since his dad saved him from being eaten by a 300 lb. catfish when he was three, Cash McGuiness has b...

Florida Paddle Destinations

July 09, 2020 17:00 - 25 minutes - 17.6 MB

In general, the Beneath the Surface podcast is often about boards, boats, and boatloads of memories. But what good is a paddle board without a place to paddle it? In this episode, Corey and Sean give us a hearty rundown of some of their favorite places to go paddling in Florida. Broken down by types of waterways—from springs and rivers, to bays and bayous—and also broken down by types of paddlers—from hard-charging sadists to chilled out recreationalists, this list is a bona fide primer on ...

Outdoor Resurgence

July 09, 2020 04:00 - 19 minutes - 13.5 MB

In episode 14, Corey and Sean sit down to reflect on the past few months. In particular, how COVID 19 and the lockdown have affected them personally, the impact it has had on the business at BOTE, and the ripple effect that they have seen across the entire outdoor industry through first-hand accounts and stories shared with them from friends in the industry.  In short, the outdoor industry seems to be thriving. With the absence of sports, limitations on travel, gyms across the country shutt...

Operation Phoenix

July 02, 2020 04:00 - 38 minutes - 26.2 MB

Episode 13 of the Beneath the Surface Podcast is one that’ll pull at your heartstrings while making you want to take on the world as Corey and Sean talk about one of their biggest projects ever, Operation Phoenix. Bringing Josh Collins into the studio virtually, Corey and Sean take a walk down memory lane when BOTE got on board to support Josh in his long distance paddle boarding mission in 2015.  After an extensive military career and many traumatic brain injuries, Josh found himself at a ...

Division No. 18

June 25, 2020 04:00 - 27 minutes - 19 MB

Corey and Sean are back again with episode 12 of the Beneath the Surface Podcast: Division No. 18. In this episode, we travel back in time to a trip dreamt up by BOTE Creative Director, Rob McAbee, as he and several members of the BOTE family venture off-the-grid. They are headed to a place known only as Division No. 18, but to most fishermen it’s known as one of the best places on earth to fish for Northern Pike and Rob and the crew were looking to be the first people to ever fish this area...

DADs

June 18, 2020 04:00 - 25 minutes - 17.7 MB

Welcome back to the Beneath the Surface podcast. In this episode, Corey and Sean wax lyrical about fatherhood. Both are fathers of three (though Corey is a father to four if you count BOTE). Both are also businessmen and dedicated men of their craft. In this episode, they talk about that balance. They relive some of their best moments as working fathers, including some of the more infamous times they brought their kids to work. As always, there are some heartfelt moments and some hilarious...

URAL

June 11, 2020 04:00 - 25 minutes - 17.4 MB

Next up on the Beneath the Surface Podcast, Corey and Sean welcome DarkRoom Guru, Pete Buzzelli, into the studio for their eighth episode: Ural.   It’s safe to say everyone at BOTE has a special tie to the beach, but they also have another common thread that feeds their need for adrenaline, and that’s motorcycles.  There’s always been motorcycle surf racks, allowing surfers to transport the traditional surfboard to the beach via bike. In 2017, Corey got the idea to create a motorcycle SUP r...

Taloa

June 04, 2020 04:00 - 27 minutes - 18.7 MB

Corey and Sean are back for the ninth installment of the Beneath the Surface Podcast. The guys sit down with Chris Taloa, a native Hawaiian with a familiar face--you may recognize him from movies like Snakes on a Plane, Blue Crush, and Into the Blue--who embodies the BOTE lifestyle. In Beneath the Surface Podcast: Taloa, get to know one of our favorite people and the most badass inflatable paddle board in the BOTE line up in the process. From growing up surfing daily to becoming a Hollywood...

The Darkroom

May 28, 2020 04:00 - 30 minutes - 21 MB

In this episode, Corey and Sean welcome their first guest on the show, as they join forces with their legendary pal Pete Buzelli (or “Simple Pete” as Sean calls him) to talk about one of BOTE’s most iconic differentiators: the BOTE DarkRoom. More than just a space to make paddle boards, the DarkRoom quickly became a project with a purpose; a safe space to fail fast and fail often, yet also make a lot of magic happen; a place to churn out cutting edge paddle board technology on their own term...

BOTE House Belize

May 21, 2020 04:00 - 31 minutes - 21.3 MB

Coming at you direct from the middle of nowhere to the center of everywhere, it’s the Beneath the Surface Podcast with BOTE CEO and Co-Founder, Corey Cooper, along with world-renowned photographer and BOTE Director of Photography, Sean Murphy. In this week's episode, Sean and Corey tell tall tales of their first trip to Belize, meeting Jeff Speigel owner of Cayo Frances Fly & Farm, and how the BOTE House Belize came to be. Remember the days when people could travel freely without having to ...

Gatorproof

May 14, 2020 04:00 - 27 minutes - 18.7 MB

Corey and Sean are back again with the sixth installment of the Beneath the Surface Podcast: Gatorproof. In this episode, they rehash what they describe as “the best shoot” of their lives. Back in 2016, to promote the launch of BOTE’s KULA Cooler, the guys teamed up with some friends (and some heroes) to make a mockumentary product launch video at an alligator farm in South Florida. The whole thing turned out to be one helluva good—even if totally absurd—time. Back then, many of the major c...

Better Half

May 07, 2020 04:00 - 31 minutes - 21.9 MB

In the fifth installment of the Beneath the Surface Podcast, Corey and Sean bring Corey’s more sensible half, Chief Operations Officer and BOTE Co-Founder, Magda Cooper, into the studio. Wife to Corey, mother to their three children, and the female founder to the BOTE brand, we dive deep with Magda to find out how she manages the juggling act while keeping her sweet demeanor… just kidding, she’s actually the first one to drop f%!#* in the podcast (don’t worry, it’s bleeped). Like all startu...

San Somewhere

April 30, 2020 04:00 - 15 minutes - 10.5 MB

Corey and Sean are back at it again with the fourth installation of the Beneath the Surface Podcast: San Somewhere. When Sean approaches Corey in 2019 with a video narrative of paddle board surfing dogs down in Mexico, Corey responds the only way one should: “Sounds rad to me, man.” And Sean was off. In this podcast episode, Corey and Sean take you behind the camera of their 2019 video, San Somewhere. It’s crazy how fate works for Sean Murphy. From surfing at Silver Strand in Oxnard, Califo...

Rover: Not Your Average Micro Skiff

April 15, 2020 20:00 - 16 minutes - 11.4 MB

In the third installment of the Beneath the Surface Podcast, Sean and Corey discuss the inspiration behind the Rover. It’s a micro skiff. It’s a paddle board with a motor. It’s the Rover. In Beneath the Surface: Rover, Not Your Average Micro Skiff, Sean interviews Corey about the identity of the Rover. From the initial CAD renderings and testing the very first prototype in the Gulf of Mexico, to winning Product of the Year and Best in Show at iCAST in 2016, the Rover is the first of its ki...

Everglades: Without a Plan

April 15, 2020 13:00 - 33 minutes - 23 MB

Corey and Sean are back together for the second installment of the Beneath the Surface podcast, The Everglades: Without a Plan. This time, they talk us through the craziest SUP camping and long distance paddle adventure of a lifetime. Over the course of what should have taken five or six days, they paddled 100 miles from Everglades City to Flamingo in just four days. This podcast episode is not for the faint of heart. The guys discuss the animal that is their dear friend Clint, along with r...

Pilot: A Glimpse Into the Beginning of a Brand

April 08, 2020 14:00 - 24 minutes - 17 MB

Coming at you direct from the middle of nowhere to the center of everywhere, it’s the Beneath the Surface Podcast with BOTE CEO and Co-Founder, Corey Cooper, along with world-renowned photographer and BOTE Director of Photography, Sean Murphy. In the pilot episode, Corey and Sean take a walk down memory lane, taking you behind the scenes to introduce you to names, places, and inspiration behind the BOTE brand. “We say it all the time. We design cool shit, for us.” - Corey Cooper, BOTE CEO a...