What a great year we’ve had at Palm. So many highlights that have been covered here on the blog, on facebook and just generally gathered from being out about about on the water.
With 2012 almost upon us, we already have a load of trips, adventures and other exciting activities planned by team members, plus requests for events to attend and of course lots of new gear on its way…..can’t wait!
But for now, no matter where you are or what you are doing, we wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year.
It’s wet, cold and a strong freezing wind is blowing the raft off course – again.
It’s our 584th hour of training this year, and despite the mechanical repetitive drills and boat still veering off to the right it feels good. Spending this much time in a boat with 5 other determined and competitive girls puts you in some stressful situations but has great rewards when it all comes together.
On our 12th and final training session of the year we are focussing on maximising the efficiency of the blade and torso rotation, key skills for kayaking that you can directly transfer to whitewater rafting. With two sessions a day; two hours on flat water and two hours on whitewater with 10 minute off the water warm ups it’s an intense day. With no coach at present we spend time providing constructive criticism to each other on the flat, trying to create a balanced boat where everyone moves in symmetry with perfect vertical paddle shafts, matching torso rotation and sinking the blade to the same degree.
Timing is key to maintaining momentum and making moves on powerful water, and with two new squad members in the boat we spent a significant portion of the weekend working on synchronising all paddlers.
Over the next year we will be working on this and other skills, using video feedback and intense coaching in the hope that it might just give us that extra edge. In this game every second counts, and minute adjustments to the boat can make that difference between a medal placing, or nothing.
We’ll be bringing you updates from our training weekends over the next year as we prepare for the European Championships to be held on the River Vltava, in Czech Republic. We’ll be bringing you training tips and showing you what lengths we go to in order to stay fit and healthy and build up our fitness – it’s a real challenge! Follow our monthly blog to see how we’re getting on.
I know the gear can stand up to it – whether I can or not remains to be seen!
Vaniljesaus – A Norwegian Odyssey, taking you from the rivers of Valdal, North to Hattfjelldal, and even inside the Arctic Circle in search of adventures by kayak.
Last weekend was full of exciting antics in Dartmoor, Devon, and I took a break from working in Oxford and made my way down. Two days of paddling, filming and partying (sometimes at the same time, no word of a lie) all summed up in this short little video I’ve put together.
Big thanks to Hugh Graham for his mad filming skills throughout the weekend, DJ Fromage who’s deck maneuvers made the party and to Simon of Gene 17 for hosting such a great weekend event.
I’m going back to work now, but at the end of the month I’ve got to catch a flight to Chile, which should be a real hassle.
Yesterday a small team of us went on a mission to get this boat out of the Mawddach. It was pretty well wedged!
Two pig-rigs and a snapped rope later (not a Palm line a hasten to add)… we got it! It’s a bit warped and bent, the whole back end was full of rocks and the airbags were shredded – but all things considered I think if faired quite well!
To find out how we did it and see more photos and video, check out the FlowFree blog.
Myself and some of the Palm crew have just returned from a fantastic weekend at Simon Westgarth’s Gene 17 Adventure Paddlers weekend on the river Dart.
I’m sure the rest of the team will update on the events of the weekend soon, but I couldn’t resist getting in there first to tell you about the most fun thing I have done for ages!!
I’m not even really sure how it came about, but I’m sure it was something to do with the combination of my own withdrawal symptoms from rafting in Costa Rica and a team of adventurers freshly returned from the jungles of Indonesian Papua. The result was a fair band of pirates (Pete Wood, Chris Easterbrook, Dave Fairweather and myself) at the put in to Dart Meet with one borrowed raft and a broken pump. Without even trying we somehow managed to get some friendly paddlers to help fix the pump and inflate the whole raft such was their desire to watch us descend the river, and no doubt provide them with hours of guaranteed entertainment! On the 50m walk to the put in we picked up two more heroic, but, as became apparent later on, rather disobedient crew members. They went by the names Luke Farrington and Tim Burne and had spotted the fun a mile away, immediately ditching their kayaks to join in!
I’m not sure what happened to the kayak race down the mad mile that was roughly planned for 2.30pm (did we hijack it?!) but we ended up being lead down the section by Simon Westgarth and being surrounded flotilla of around 40 curious kayakers, who I’m certain were hanging around to see a pin, a flip or a swim.
For some reason I decided that where the raft was going was my responsibility and turned into a surprisingly bossy assertive guide. But with such a dream team there was no way we could fail! We all turned into children again, the whole experience was a fantastic emotional rollercoaster of adrenaline, uncontrollable laughter, whoops and shrieks as we whirled down the river over holes and ledges. Wicked rumours were flying around the kayak flotilla that there were expressions of pure terror etched into the faces of those in the front of the raft on the precarious lip of Euthanasia and Surprise Surprise, however we all know that rumours are never true…
We managed to descend the whole river successfully, with only a few pins and swims. The aforementioned Tim Burne soon became the most unintentionally disobedient crew member by perfecting the art of tumbling from the raft disconcertingly slowly, and in such a way that we still just couldn’t seem to grab him in time.
Luckily pictures of the fun, courtesy of photographer Kev Winsor (who can be found at Paddle Photos on facebook) were taken, so enjoy. Check out the awesome splat at Lovers Leap – they boys were very happy with that! I hope it inspires you to try rafting – just because it is so ridiculously fun!
A big weekend coming up for WW warriors here in the UK.
Sarting on Friday night team paddler Chris Eastabrook will be at CIWW in Cardiff explaining why, amoungst other things, Palm Gradient boots are so popular in Papua New Guinea. He kicks off at 8pm, but don’t forget the course is on the monthly 12 cumec release, so worth a bit of freeride action beforehand.
Further South West at about the same time, the one and only Big O, Olaf Obsommer will be opening this years Gene 17 Adventure Paddlers Weekender. This years show is a refreshing step away from the all action format covered so widely in WW kayaking. Instead it highlights how Olafs skill as a camerman, editor and veretan kayak adventuere have developed to recognise that whilst the purpose is kayaking, the desinations afforded by this means of travel are sublime in themselves.
Oh, and needless to say, there will be some boating. Water is falling from the skies and we will be bringing as many new Dagger Mamba’s as we can squeeze into the van with team paddlers Rosie cripps, Finn Burrows, Nick Horwood and Lowri Davies on hand to give you the lowdown. For those wanting to check kit we’ll have the sample Spark suit, Luna ladies PfD and of course prizes for the Saturday night raffle.
Wherever and whatever your paddling this weekend – have a cracker!
