Well after our most excellent time in the Czech Republic for our Euro Champs Coach Dave said we were allowed 2 weeks to do whatever we liked!! In our meeting just before we drove home we all pretty much agreed that we would not change much, keep training and generally carry on as before despite what he said…that lasted all of 5 minute. Our drive there had been full of healthy food high in protein and vegetable matter, the return journey was the complete opposite. Fran managed to get through a good few bags of Haribo, Bry and Alli tucked into Pizza and the whole Pope Mobile Crew had fish and chips on the ferry on the way back. We had a lovely couple of weeks off but were all soon chomping at the bit to get back on it and into training.
Fun at CT
Our training weekend was moved to Wales at the last minute due to a pesky little freestyle event being held in Nottingham! But thanks to the great guys at the Canolfan Tryweryn we had a brilliant day on the Saturday easing ourselves back in. Coach Dave got us doing fun things down the river (mainly spinning around alot and making a nuisance of ourselves), good thing too as it took most of us the morning to remember exactly how to do it all!
Just keep spinning, just keep spinning, spinning, spinning, spinning.
Day two was back to business though. An early bird session on the lake at Llyn Padarn kicked us all into gear, with the raft feeling powerful and in tune. We did lots of swapping sides so we don’t end up too wonky and it felt great to be doing hard sessions which made us work.
We then went over to Coach Daves house for a champion breakfast of Bacon, eggs and beans and poured over video footage of our techniques. After we all became sufficiently neurotic about that Dave said we were heading over to Plas Menai for a Gym session. Its amazing having a coach who is a fitness instructor as well…
Suzie "If I don't make eye contact no one will ever know that Nerys is hiding in my HUGE trousers"
Nez, The Machine
I SEE PRIDE! I SEE POWER!
R'n'B going for in sync reverse crunches.
We all had a great weekend, Bring on October. As Coach Dave says someone else says “Champions are made in the winter”.
With so many new and updated products to show off this last week, it’s hard to choose our favourites but with a camera shoved in their face, the people behind Palm Equipment did eventually manage to pick out their favourites.
Watch the video below to see what we liked the best and meet the people who make up Palm…
For those who haven’t seen the last few updates on our Facebook Page the rest of our product videos can be seen here or in the earlier blog postings:
So let me get this right, your flying out to the far north of Canada to take part in one of the worlds toughest canoe races, paddling 450 miles, day and night, with little food or rest, with a team of Rugby coaches who aren’t paddlers, that you’ve only met once before and have never paddled together as a team?
Yep, sure am!
Your mad, tapped, insane or simply stupid!
That along with a few other niceties or rather obscenities were the usual comments I received from people when I told them the challenge I was about to embark on.
We were on our way to take part in this years Yukon River Quest, Race to the Midnight Sun which you can find out more about by reading THIS previous blog article.
The team awaiting departure
Finally we arrived in Whitehorse, Yukon after a twelve hour flight delay, a night in a hotel at Vancouver airport and plenty of eating and drinking! The view from the aircraft window on its way in was stunning, flying over snow capped mountains and as we drew closer flying along the mighty Yukon itself.
As we were now a day late in arriving we set to work quickly identifying our boat at the local outfitters, Kanoe People and making any needed alterations or repairs to it. One thing thing in particular that did take some time and effort was the construction of some sort of spray deck in case we encountered choppy conditions during the Lake Laberge crossing or more likely to prevent swamping whilst negotiating Five Finger Rapids. Quite a daunting task producing a spray deck for a 30 ft Voyageur Canoe, never the less the team addressed it and were justifiably proud of their work. Meanwhile others busied themselves about town getting last minute bits of kit we needed and of course food and drink for the race. The Super stores in Whitehorse were quite interesting with everything from shower gel and toilet roll at one end of the store to bear decoys, semi automatic rifles and ammunition at the other end! Tesco you still have some way to go to match this !!
Team busy prepping our boat
The spray deck under construction, quite a task
Chatting to one of the locals
In between all the hustle and bustle of the race prep was also the opportunity to take our boats and paddles for a test drive. This came in the form of a few little trips in the local area. During these we practiced a number of scenarios including man overboard, should I slip off the boat leaving them without a steersman. I was hoping we wouldn’t need this for real as I ended up spending quite some time floating around as the boat and crew disappeared into the distance before making some valiant efforts to regain control and steer themselves in my direction! Another drill that was rehearsed lots was that of changing paddling sides. Might sound easy but when you have a boat full of rather large rugby boys moving around in a canoe at the same time then it’s bound to end in tears unless you have a plan. On one such occasion we were lucky to see the first of many bald eagles on our trip, on its nest with its young. The novelty of numerous eagle sightings soon faded for some.
One of the many Eagles we saw
All forward...ramming speed !!
Another important task was that of sorting out our food for the journey. Some of the team visited the local stores and others set about preparing some meals. During one such occasion members from the other team had taken over the support vehicle and turned it into some form of soup kitchen. We had all opted to source our own snacks etc and I had chosen various nuts, raisons, chocolate and jelly sweets together with some fruit and energy bars, all of which were hung from a thwart in front of me in plastic tubs. These tubs were provided or rather acquired courtesy of our hotel, where they were meant to be used for ice from the ice machine. Incidentally they made great on board toilets!
One of the luxury on board toilets !
Team 1 & 2 with our boat and the Yukon behind
Team 2 A fine body of men
Time was soon upon us and it was the day before race day. Briefs had to be attended and the first of many kit checks took place. After having had our team details, entry form and insurance checked we acquired a number of ink stamps on my arm entitling us to a River Quest Race pack.
Having some of our kit checked by race officials
This contained among other things a YRQ-shirt, our race bibs with our all important team number printed on them and a couple of stickers for our boat. We were to be team 27. After we had all signed every bib on both the back and front it was off for an official team photo proudly wearing both our t-shirt and bib as requested by the officials. One half of this bib has to be returned either on completion or if you withdraw from the race as a way of accounting for everyone.
Signing the back & front of each bib
Pre-race photo wearing our signed bibs and YRQ shirts
That night it felt a bit like the last supper as we sat together as a team and ate a hearty meal. Then with race day looming the following morning it was off to bed to dream of the events to come, knowing that this would be our last chance for sleep for over 25 hours!
Race day
Our boat and our team had to be ready at the launch point for another kit check at 0730. At this point our official team mascot was added to our boat, which looked remarkably like the character Wilson from the film Castaway staring Tom Hanks.
Wilson !
Other Voyageur Canoes in our class
Teams 1 & 2 making some last minute tweaks
Once this was out of the way then it was off for some breakfast and a chill before the 1200 start.
Racers all started to converge from around 1100 at the start area. All the teams were announced and introduced, lots of good luck wishes exchanged and photos under the official start line taken. 4,3,2…1 the air horn sounded and we were off. We now had 14 hours to reach the end of the Lake, 35 hours to get to Carmacks, and 84 hours to get to Dawson. For some this truly was to become the year long day!
All teams jogged or walked their way down to their boats before launching, remembering that this was only 400m of 450 miles! The turn out by the locals was quite surprising with lots of cheers, whoops, whistles and shouts of “Yukon”and camera action.
That was it we were on our way, next stop the old Coal mine camping ground at Carmacks which would be around 210 miles later and would hopefully take us about 24 hours. Conditions were the best they had seen in years with good weather and high river levels. After a couple of hours we seemed to loose all the hustle and bustle and settled down to a steady rhythm and just the odd couple of boats around us as we entered the start of Lake Laberege and passed the first of 5 check points before Carmacks. These CP’s are all manned and act as safety to give help when needed and also to record the times of racers before sending them on via sat phones to the Comms centre were they are updated and posted on the race website.
Typical of the Yukon scenery
As well as these CP’s there are also a number of Safety Monitoring points or MP’s on route, which again are manned, they quite often have fires burning and hot drinks,for racers to warm up. There was to be 3 of these MP’s between us and Carmacks which proved very useful.
This view of the backs of my teams heads was something I was to get used to over the next 24 hours
The crossing of the lake took us around 8 hours in excellent conditions meaning we arrived at CP3 Lower Laberge at around 2215 well ahead of the cut off time of 0200. As the temperature was quickly dropping with the sun low in the sky we made the decision to change from daytime light weight clothing into thermals, topped off with our brilliant Palm Aegean cags and Viper pants. Great combination, lots of room inside with freedom of movement and easy to get on and off quickly. After a quick warm up by the fire for a couple of the team and some food it was time to get paddling again.
CP3
The temperature continued to drop as we paddled on down the section knows as The 30 Mile River. By now the light was fading but as the name says its the “Race to the midnight sun” and sure enough at midnight we were presented with a stunning sky.
The midnight sun
Our next point of interest was MP2 Lower 30 Mile which is around 40km after leaving the lake. The names of the locations we passed made me smile with such things as “Gold diggers point, Klondike Bend, Fish Eddy and Shipyard Island” The scenery by now was very much the same with little if any change from steep banks and pine trees. I was eagerly awaiting us passing the spot where the Teslin River would join us and hopefully give us a bit of a helping hand. The Teslin came and went with no apparent noticeable difference, the temperature dropped more, and we were reminded by a passing paddler “that coldest time yet to come would be around 0500”! Cosmic I thought, I cant wait for it!
Still very cold but the sun was on its way up as we paddled on
By the time we reached MP3 just down stream of where the Big Salmon River joined us, it was definitely daylight and still a tad cool. So we took the decision to stop here and spend sometime re-warming in front of the fire as a number of the crew were starting to feel the effects of cold together with a lack of food and sleep. It was here that Team 1 who were by now ahead of us had also stopped and gave first aid to a fellow racer who was suffering badly from exhaustion and hypothermia. We had been warned by officials at the race briefs that “hypothermia accounts for more than half of all crews that fail to finish, and that on cold years more than 50% of racers will suffer from hypothermia”.
A member of team 1 giving first aid to a fellow racer at MP3
We set off once again and paddled our way down the river. For what seemed like an eternity at one point we paddled through what remained of a huge forest which had been burnt to the ground, it really was mind numbing. By being at the stern of the boat and having to concentrate on steering and keeping an eye on the navigation kept me more than occupied and definitely gave me a focus helping to pass the time, prevent boredom and ultimately the potential to fall asleep. As for wild life well we didn’t really see much aside from the odd eagle, however during the journey back to Whitehorse by vehicle there were moose, wolves and bears to name but a few. Apparently they use the highways just like us to get around.
At around 0900 after having been paddling for over 21 hours and a short distance after the Little Salmon joined form the right, we eventually passed our last check point before Carmacks. From here we knew had around a further 4-6 hours of paddling until will reached the sanctuary of Carmacks where we would have a compulsory 7 hour stop. A chance for a hot shower, some food and a well earn’t sleep before tackling the remainder of our Yukon Quest.
This last couple of hours leading up to our arrival at Carmacks proved to be a real challenge. Some of the team were now really starting to suffer and hallucinations had taken over with sightings of giant beetles, knights in armor, chimpanzees and goblins all on the river bank along side. On a number of occasions crew members even nodded of whilst still paddling. I was unaware of exactly how severe the situation had become, but I did know that I had to get the canoe and its crew safely to Carmacks.
The journey seemed to take for ever, as we turned a corner only to find yet another corner loomed ahead. With an hour or so to go I got out our sat phone and made a call to our support crew at Carmacks. I made a point of letting them know we where not far and that hot food was the order of the day for all of us as soon as we arrived. However un-be-known to my team was the fact that my signal had cut out after only 20 seconds and that I had decided to keep talking pretending to have communications so as not to unsettle them any further. Another memorable occasion was when a team member stated that “I’m sure we’ve been past this before, are you sure were going the right way?” I must say for moment he even cast doubt in mind and could have caused a mutiny. I did have a moment when I feared I may have been thrown over board.
As we neared Carmacks the map and our race briefs clearly mentioned an overhead cable across the river which is approximately 2km from the campsite, and after which you are advised to keep far right so as to avoid missing the pontoon. After announcing in a very calm manner that we now had only a very short distance to the landing it again seemed to take an age. Moral was high with the thought of food and rest but to my horror as we turned yet another corner I was greeted with what I thought was another overhead cable! My heart sank as I reluctantly announced I had made a navigation error and in fact we still had 2 km to go, not a good feeling to have! But all to soon it became apparent that I was right the first time as the Old Coal mine camping ground rapidly approached. Officials were waiting our arrival and barking incoherent instructions at us. At around 1500 with a loud thud, a big wobble and after more than 27 hours of paddling we finally arrived at Carmacks.
The landing stage at Carmacks
Lots of busy people during their 7 hour stop at Carmacks
Our next problem was getting out of the boat as we were all somewhat wobbly form our adventure. As officials helped us from the boat it became apparent the toll it had taken on us. We all took some time to compose ourselves and get our thoughts whilst support crew and officials busied themselves helping those that needed it and giving us all a good check over.
A few minutes later some race officials called us together and announced that on the grounds of safety we were being “scratched”! Scratched is the YRQ term for being withdrawn. We were all deeply upset but fully understood the reasons behind their decision.
This really had felt like a year long day….
Alone and empty she had served us well but now the race for us was over
After some food and a hot shower and as we de-rigged our canoe team 1 surfaced from their slumber, had some breakfast, reloaded their boat and set off on the next phase of their adventure. Around 30 hours later they triumphantly crossed the finish line at Dawson in a time of 54 hours. A very well deserved congratulations to Team 1 for completing such a grueling event.
Team 1 leaving Carmacks on route for Dawson
The river now quiet and empty after the last boats have left
I am glad to say that we are all now back to fitness and going about life as normal. Not forgetting our overall aim of doing this challenge was to raise money for our chosen charity Help for Heroes, and I believe to date both teams together managed to meet their target and raise £100,000
Q: Did I enjoy it? A: Yes a fantastic experience
Q: Would I do it again? A: Next years race beckons to me and Im already looking at flights etc. After all I cant leave an unfinished chapter in my life. Bring on Yukon River Quest 2013!
A big thank you to my enduring companions on this trip, who were Toby Booth, Justin Bishop, Neil Hatley, Gavin Cleave and Tony Cilia and to Davis St John Claire who had the thankless task of being our support crew. Thanks also Interserve for making it happen.
Lastly a special thanks goes out to Palm Equipment, Desperate Measures, Rab and Outdoor Active for their help and support throughout.
Hasta la vista…. I’ll be back !!
See you on the water…
Jules
Bespoke Canoe Coaching, Guiding, Safety & Rescue training and BCU awards
Last weekend Lyon became a center of atmosphere as kayakers from around Europe journeyed to challenge the French for a €1000 big air title. A Big Ramp was build at the Confluence of the Saone and Rhone River in downtown Lyon.
The 10 meter long ramp caused some serious air and a couple of concentrated faces too. Sliding down goes so fast, the ramp is high, super steep and give you so much speed! The impact on your body landing from this high on the water can be enormous. A couple dented boats from smashing into the water and some soar backs for sure! Nothing to bad or serious though! To soften the landing, the organization blows air the surface, giving us a big air bubble to land in.
In the end it was Casper who won the show with a massive backflip! French Mathieu Coldobella was unlucky in the finals as he was charging super hard in the prelims, being the only one able to consistently make double airscrews. Canadian Ben Marr ended up in third and won his share of the 1000 euro price money.
The event was held in conjunction with a 10km race trough the city of Lyon on Sunday morning with over 1000 of paddlers showing up at the start of the race. A good vibe and tons of spectators makes this an amazing place to keep kayaking in the eyes of the public.
Why sea kayaking: This trip was my very first time in a sea kayak. So why? This spring my boyfriend came up with the idea of doing a sea kayaking trip to the Ionian Sea in Greece so I simply thought: Lets give it a try!
Logistics: We took the car to Venice. Due to the fact that taking the car to Greece would have been quite expensive we decided to leave the car in Venice and went on the ferry to Igoumenitsa as Pedestrians. We were allowed to take the kayaks as bikes for free. In Igoumenitsa we started paddling. Every three days we went shopping in one of those picturesque coastal hamlets to fill up our water and food reserves. We slept wherever we found a nice place along the coast. Thirteen days and 470 km later we reached the town Patras from where we took the ferry back to Venice.
Itinerary: We started paddling in Igoumenitsa were we went southwards along the west coast. Once we reached the island Lefkas we continued paddling southwards along the west coast and from the southern tip we jumped to the next island Kefalonia. Again we paddled down south along the west coast and again from the southern tip we jumped to the Ionian island Zakinthos. From the northern tip of Zakinthos we paddled almost all around the island starting down the west coast and from the southern tip northwards along the east cost almost back to the town Zakinthos. From there we jumped to Peloponnese and continued along the coast to Patras.
Conclusion: During the trip we have seen endless empty beaches, deserted bays and crystal clear water with all colours of blue, flying fishes, a giant turtle and few of the most beautiful sunsets. But we did not only get to know the beauty of sea kayaking. We also had a few days with strong wind. On that one day we paddled southwards the west coast of Zakinthos there were quite big waves – I think, the biggest waves I have ever paddled, which was very impressive. Luckily we had the waves coming from the back and so we got pushed forward about 50 km almost without any effort – except for my nerves.
Now, after the trip, I am very happy that I tried it and I am sure I will do it again – maybe once a year – ?
Thanks to Palm Equipment for getting us the Dagger Exodus boats and Kober Paddles for the touring blades!
The youth freestyle series finale took place this weekend at the white water course in nottingham,
Nearly 100 junior paddlers turn’t up to take part, The weather even cooperated with us at this event and a combination of sun, friends and great freestyle spots made for an awesome day for the junior boaters.
During Paddle Expo, their were two clear favourites from Palm. The brand new FX PFD and the updated Fuse cag.
I used the Fuse as my cag of choice all last year. It looks stunning and for me I need a cag that’ll keep me dry, but also be lightweight, comfy and give me the best possible freedom of movement. That is the Fuse exactly.
This year Palm have updated the colours to the Aqua/ Lime and Aqua/Sherbet.
What I missed though was a PFD that would match the looks and performance of the Cag. Even the whole industry has lacked any really good looking progressive play/ freeride PFD’s for a long while.
Now that’s finally fixed with the updated FX. Available in Lime, Aqua and Red.
Covered with the same outer layer as the cags it just jumps out at you. You can choose the colours now to make it blend in as if your not wearing anything or stand out like a neon billboard (more my style
Function-wise it’s cut beautifully for freedom of movement, and a close fit for aggressive WW paddling. It has nice comfy soft foam to mould to your shape, quick easy adjustment straps and enough flotation to feel comfortable if you do end up in the water.
I literally can’t wait to get my hands on the Aqua/ Pink FX pfd…
Above Video: Cheesy gives us the details of the Beauties!
Palm's Designer Barney Caulfield shows his creation
Available in 3 colours: Aqua, Lime and for those who prefer the classics Red
Fuse available in Aqua/Sherbet and Aqua/Lime
For next season I picked the Aqua/ Lime for myself
The FX in Aqua/Pink is pretty much my dream PFD. Actually it's the best looking kit I've ever seen.
People were crowding around and taking photos of the FX all the time, it really was the winner of the show.
This last year Dagger have been developing their new Playboat the Jitsu.
The project’s aim was to put Dagger back on top at the forefront of freestyle with a high performance, incredibly precise, super loose and fast playboat that would go big, feel great and stay true to Dagger’s roots.
Snowy Dagger’s designer exceeded all my expectations…A kayak I’m proud to have been involved in creating.
This time last year I got to try the first prototype just before Kanumesse at Plattling, it looked really promising but had a lot of work still needed.
Myself along with Rush Sturges, Ben Marr, Andrew Holcombe and Chris Gragtsmans were all involved in giving Snowy our ideas. Then we tested the prototypes ruthlessly and gave our feedback from our experiences on waves and holes all over the world.
I ended up using it in the World Cup series just gone and even with a broken collar bone I still came 7th…so I’m really looking forward to fighting to retain my title at next years Worlds when I’m fit again, trained up and in a boat I feel I can really excel in.
So what do I like about it? Its slicy and precise, so you have loads of control over what the boat does, and you can predict how it will react. It initiates very easily and with much greater control than most of the current playboats. It’s fast and loose, actually one of the fastest boatsI’ve ever paddled, which means you can get it higher in the air and surf much greener waves than you could in other boats. The release off a wave is awesome, and with the volume pocket in the centre it pops really big in a hole too. Pretty much it’s turned out to be a dream playboat for me, it feels incredible to paddle and I’m really enthused by how it’s turned out.
Here’s the video from paddle expo with me and Snowy going over the boat and it’s features along with some actual footage of it in action:
What makes it so great?
A super fast hull, with a great release edge and flared side walls to shoot down the wave and launch.
Sharp precise edges for release, perfect control, precision and predictability.
Contrary to the belief of round dull edges meaning forgiveness a sharp edge on the boat means you can predict exactly how and when the boat will react to certain movements and situations, you just need to spend a few hours paddling it to learn the hull and then your off.
Centralised volume with slicy ends for big pop, smooth initiation and balanced cartwheel based moves in a hole. Being relatively narrow also means it’s much easier to get over the edge to drive it where you want.
It weighs just 14kg. Less weight means more air and less stress on your body. It also has the hull stiffener welded in which means no slippage from the outfitting and an super stiff hull. This means whatever energy you put into a move comes out = more air and faster rotations.
New Contour Ergo outfitting makes it a 2minute job to get the boat setup perfectly with no glue or tools necessary.
Raise the seat with the included foam that just slides under the liner.
Quickly unclip the hip pads insert the required amount of foam shims and clip back in.
Get in ratchet the back band up and you’re ready to go!
You can move the seat one handed whilst still sat in it!
Raise your legs up to hold yourself into the boat with the new innovation from Dagger the ratchet leg lifter. Simple and incredibly effective.
Want to see more: Here is Rush’s Clip of the prototypes in action:
The 5.9, the mid size will be available shortly with the small and large size coming out a little later. So go have a try when they come in, I think you guys are going to love them.
Paddle Expo is not all about showing new products and all the business stuff.
It’s also a place to meet, catch up with old friends, make some new ones, socialise and make plans for the new season.
Palm paddler Dave Carroll gives you a taste of the spirit of the show on a high 5 marathon run around the stands…
Tonight the show organisers threw a big beautiful dinner and party for everyone with an unstoppable flow of German beer, wine and juices for every taste. Live music and kayak movies accompanied the party.
As it usually happens free food and drinks attracts kayakers from all over and somehow we met some familiar faces who definitely weren’t around in show time and came especially for the dinner
Get a glimpse of the fancy food and some famous faces below:-
Day 2, another busy day on the Palm/ Dagger stand here at Paddle Expo.
All day has been a flow of people, new kit, shiny boats and delicious sandwiches – Perfect!
On the topic of new gear Barney Shows the new Suits and Dry Pants below:
Barney Caulfield – Palm Designer shows us the NEW Palm Immersion Suits the Stikine & Torrent suit along with some of the new Dry Pant range…Ion for Men, Maya for Women and Neon lightweight play pants.
Now we’re looking forwards to the organisers’ party – Drinks, band and a fancy dinner.
