Our most recent training weekend was in Nottingham once again, clearly we can’t get enough of the smell of sewerage at 8 o’clock in the morning, or the suspicious brown things floating next to our raft! This weekend we were lucky enough to have all 8 of the squad present this time as we were finalising positions for the team going to New Zealand, and, as usual, Coach Dave had a hard weekend lined up for us (but an even harder task of managing 8 ladies in 6 positions all weekend!).
Saturday started early with an endurance set lasting about 3 hours! If you were one of the ‘lucky’ 2 people not in a paddling seat for a rep. then you either had to do the plank, sit-ups or dips in the middle of the raft until it was your turn to swap.
The girls get their mean faces on!!
Saturday afternoon had us doing Sprint and H2H practice. We set up 2 boats of 4 Ladies and raced each other across the lake. Amusingly as soon as we all realised there was an element of competition we were fighting tooth and nail, its lucky we didn’t snap any paddles because it got pretty vicious!! Amazingly no matter which pairing was in which boat we were always neck and neck. Fantastic!!
Head to head quite literally!!
Usually a 2 session day is where we leave it but Dave had organised us a Slalom session as well. So we protein-shook it up and got on the white water and fought to make our gates! ‘NO TOUCHES’ were our instructions, but since we were all moving around the raft to sit in different positions, this wasn’t always achieved and it made for some amusing lines! That evening we all got to hang out with Olympic Gold medalist Etienne Stott ( it helps that he is the boyfriend of one of Georgie our very own WAG on the squad) and Rosie just couldn’t help herself!
Rosie wearing Etienne's medal. I think she is a bit confused about which sport he won it in though...
We are so proud of our paddlesports medalists! Well done boys! Anyone else think Rosie looks a bit jealous here?
Although Saturday was a three session day, Sunday was the day of pain! We did our 6 monthly fitness tests to see how our individual training is paying off. Susie and Rosie won the bleep test (that’s right we did a bleep test – flash backs of Secondary School anyone?), Fran won the Push Ups just beating Nezza by one push up to 55 in a row! Deb won the sit and reach, and we all won the satisfaction of having improved on pretty much everything we had done 6 months previously (except I’m pretty sure someone’s arms were shorter than the time before – Bizarre!).
Nothing like a great view to keep you going!
The Harvard Step test. Being in time isn't just limited to the raft!!
So with all that over we were free to start getting ready for our next race which is in Llandysul in November. Its an Open event so if you can get a team of 6 together check out the website and enter.http://www.britishraftteam.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=45:llandysul-raft-race-2012&catid=4:british-raft-race-series&Itemid=7 . Not only will you get to battle it out against Team GB , it is also going to be brilliant fun with lots of races, prizes and of course the PARRRRTTTTTYYYYY!! Although obviously none of us will be drinking because it isn’t allowed in our diet plan (hah yeah right!!).
The Cornish Open was being held at Godrevy. The day dawned cold yet fairly dry. There were rain clouds on the horizon but thankfully for the whole day it didn’t rain. There was a strong breeze blowing which wasn’t very nice. The surf was looking fairly big and powerful and looked like it had potential to be nice.
After the briefing we took the judging equipment down to the cliff and everyone who was in the first heat got changed. I was entered in the Junior Long, Junior Short and Open Long. My first heat was to be the Junior Long combined with a heat of the Open Long. The tide had gone right out and there was what looked like a quite strong current going along the beach so when one launched it took one quickly down the beach to the reef at the end!
After warming up and getting on the water I found out that the paddle out was just as hard as it had looked from the beach. When the heat started I took one wave in and then I couldn’t get out back again and I realized that I had better get an inside wave as ones best two waves out of ten are scored. I then managed to get out back just as the red flag went up signalling the end of the heat. I then had my best wave of the heat coming in. I came third which meant that I went through to the Open Long reps.
I had most of the day to wait for the Junior Short final so I had something to eat and watched all the other heats. There were some nice waves taken and as the tide came up the surf got a bit better. Finally the time for the Junior Short final arrived. I chose a place to launch as since the tide was now really high there was practically no beach, just lots of rocks! I had to wait for the right time and then jump into my boat quickly. The paddle out wasn’t too bad, I got back out and waited for the heat to begin. When it started I had one wave in. It wasn’t too bad and I was confident that I could do well in the heat and then while paddling out I found myself in the wrong place as a big wave came right at me. I decided to turn and run rather than take it on the head. It was a disaster, everything went wrong and I had to come out and I found myself swimming pretty far from the beach. Then Jack Barker, one of the other juniors in the heat, came over and gave me a tow in until I could touch the bottom with my feet and as the lifeguard paddled out on his board I waded/swam to the beach. I got my paddle and boat as quickly as possible intending to get out again and score at least one more wave but then found that all my foot rests had been washed out so sadly I had to sit out the rest of the heat.
I was on again in the next heat. This was the Open Long reps and I didn’t do very well as I was pretty tired out from my beating/swim. So afterwards I went and got changed and came back to the beach to watch and help judge the remaining heats. Then everything was taken back to the car park and everything was made ready for the prize giving. I came 2nd in the Junior Long and 3rd in the Junior Short. Well done to Glen Scott who won the Junior Short and for becoming the new England Junior Short Boat Champion and to Jack Bark who won the Junior Long and the Open Long becoming the new England Junior and Mens Long Boat Champion. Jon Mount came 2nd in the Open Short claiming the Mens England Short Boat Championship title and Gary Adcock is now the England Masters Long and Short Boat Champion with Clare Eatock claiming the England Ladies Championship title.
The Final Competition for the year is the British Open which is on the 3rd and 4th of November but before that is the Home Internationals in Wales which starts next week. Until then goodbye!
Indeed they may be a notorious as soap dodging, daytime television watching scroungers, but student canoe clubs make up perhaps the most active and adventurous paddling community in the UK. The annual Student Safety Symposium took place last weekend at the beautiful Plas Y Brenin National Mountain Centre in Snowdonia, and as an ex student paddler myself, I was keen to join in the fun and get involved with the new batch…
The SSS has been running every autumn for many years now, and offers any student canoe clubs the opportunity to come along and receive heavily discounted training on how to go paddling safely, have lots of fun, and generally get a new generation involved in our excellent sport.
Saturday morning kicks off with some truly exciting lectures on the legal aspects of running a club, but once the nitty gritty of keeping people safe, not crashing minibuses, and not getting sued has been covered, it’s straight on to the water for practical advice on running trips, coaching beginners, and a bit of personal development too…
Saturday evening saw some rope based action in the form of the Palm Olympic Throwbag University Challenge. The event is designed to test speed and accuracy of deployment in arange of situations, and was hard fought, with only one student allowed to enter per university. Crowds of spectators cheered on their brave throwbag heroes, with Aberystwyth eventually coming out on top.
Sunday morning saw more glorious sunshine, and with the Tryweryn river releasing, it was an opportunity to work on whitewater skills and coaching. An excellent day was had by all, mastering eddying techniques, and thinking about tactics for coaching and guiding in a river environment.
All in all the BCU SSS is a great event, and it’s really exciting to see a new generation of student paddlers taking over their clubs and sharing the love of all things paddling.
I’ll leave you with one final thought, courtesy of Plas Y Brenin’s Pete Catterall (paraphrased):
‘Nobody’s good at safety and rescue, if you’re doing enough of one, then the other probably isn’t happening.’
An interesting thought, and perhaps one we all need to consider from time to time…
Palm’s Katya and myself are offering two Freestyle clinics: an Intro to Playboating and an Intermediate/ Advanced Clinic on the beautiful river Dart during this years River Source festival organised by Simon Westgarth.
Come paddle with us and let us help you take your playboating to the next level.
Following an impressive night in the Roy Bridge Hotel, we hovered in the car park and discussed an expedition so grand in scale that none of us would be able to afford it. Despite this minor detail, flights were booked and in a heartbeat we sat in Heathrow departure lounge, wondering how a small chicken pie can cost four pounds. We bought those pies because the only alternative was crisps.
Arriving first in India we swiftly made our way to Pakistan, “a country which has recently been famous for funding terrorism and poor women’s rights.” (Dermot Bryan Robinson, BSc). Despite these observations proving to be more or less accurate, we found that the Pakistani people are unbelievably welcoming, kind and hospitable; not in a Lonely Planet “oh, the people are just amazing here, they make such amazing little baskets” type of way; they had a genuine interest in our visit and did their best to help us access the rivers in which, as they would so enthusiastically explain, so many of their close friends and relatives had drowned.
Filled with neither anger nor hatred for the West. Just confused.
Following the chronic insomnia ‘taster session’ that is the journey from Gilgit to Ladakh, we immediately ascended to over 4000m and began a 6 day descent of the Tsarap Chu/Zanskar; the much loved ‘Grand Canyon of Asia’. Not to detract from this classic multiday trip, we would recommend that you avoid any and all of the overly detailed walkthroughs which build expectations so great that this river could never satisfy.
So, here’s an alternative guide:
It’s a river; starts near Sarchu, finishes at Nimu. It’ll take 5 or 6 days. Lovely scenery. Gets up to good grade 4. Watch out for the portages/chunkier rapids as you would on any river. Do the Shyok as well.
I can't recommend the Shyok enough
Heading down to Uttarakhand, we were lucky enough to catch true gent and walking guidebook Shalabh as he awoke from kayaking hibernation. With the energy that one accumulates during three months off the river, he immediately set us to work ticking off his ever growing hit list for the area. Despite having only just opened the doors of his relaxation/kayak resort to the public, he honorably sacked it off and found time to join us on first descents of the east and west ‘forks’ of the Nayar; a river which will surely one day achieve Upper Dart-like ‘classic’ status.
Shalabh, disappointed that his youngest has thus far only shown an interest in freeclimbing
Weeks of relentless travel were beginning to take their toll and realising that we hadn’t touched a ‘champion’ in months (let alone a “cher-champion’), we made a slight detour to Goa, sans-boats, to recharge the batteries. Intending to stay for a minimum of 7 nights, we managed to ruin ourselves in a respectable three. We booked flights to the east and departed soon after, uncomfortable with our newfound lightweightedness.
The 'Champion' (centre) : a global sensation
A series of coincidences led us to our current destination, Meghalaya. The wettest region on earth (if you don’t count the sea), it is a wonder that kayakers who are constantly complaining about the lack of rain haven’t thought of having a look before. Often described as the ‘Scotland of the East’, the granite bed creeks surrounding Shillong, Meghalaya’s capital, are much like anything you’d find along the A82. Well, maybe not the thick-leafed jungle, but you have to use your imagination.
Zorba in his Packraft: Apparently, they don't burst (Dan Rea-Dickins)
Through Shalabh, we were put into contact with Zorba Laloo, who following a number of full descent expeditions of the Ganges and Brahmaputra has brought his passion for the water back to Meghalaya. Finding that the local rivers were a bit too boney to navigate in “conventional craft”, he stumbled upon Packrafts; think beach-dinghy meets tank. Since then, he’s been paddling the unexplored rivers of the area, many of which are documented on his blog (http://riverandforest.wordpress.com/). With help from Zorba and Google Earth, we began to explore the almost infinite number of rivers and creeks which wind, fall, fall and fall their way into Bangladesh……
…which brings me up to the here and now. You may have noticed that this blog has a slightly retrospective feel. Well, that’s because I’m calling it a day. If I have learned nothing else during the last few months (which is entirely possible), it is that too much of a good thing is not always a good thing. I will be returning next week, intact and with a cheeky grin on my face to join AUCC as they descend on Teifi tour. God help the citizens of Llandusyl.
If you’ve gotten this far, I’d like to thank you very much for sticking with me. It really means a lot. Look at me, I’m welling up.
Most of you have probably seen ‘kayak kiss’ the viral video that shot Palm Team paddler Ben Brown into the main stream and onto TV screens during major sports events like the US Super Bowl.
The success of that was in no small (excuse the pun) part down to Go-Pro cameras and Ben is a master of making the sorts of videos that the rest of us aspire to with our wobbly and grainy footage. It also has something to do with the sort of water he paddles being that bit more impressive than most of us manage.
We’ll Go-Pro have stepped up again this week, launching their new Hero3: Black Edition, and guess who is one of the lucky athletes featured in the promo – Mr. Ben Brown!
The narrative is a bit of ’a day in the life’ kind of affair, with kayaking featuring along side other sports like freediving, surfing, skiing and more. The previous Go-Pro High Definition camera was cool but wow, to say a camera quite literally sings and dances is quite true of this new model – slow motion, amazing angles, great definition, bright and light: It looks amazing.
Anyway, enough of an advert, we are just super stoked to see our man Ben in there, representing kayaking and cutting it up amongst the likes of Kelly Slater and Aaron Chase. Keep firing it up the Waikato warrior!
Early October held the fifth edition of the annual Adidas Sickline World Championship! Despite flooding the week before the water level was perfect during the race. The race kicked of on Friday with a brutal qualifier round with the 150 athletes culled to just 48 men and 3 chicks after two runs of the 75 sec qualifier course. This created tight racing with favorites and 2011 medalist Michelle Ramazza being knocked out.
Photo by M. Arnu
The Sickline race uses a unique format not found in any other kayak event. After the qualifier there is a heat-to-heat on time, with the fastest racing the slowest, using the international ladder system. This cuts the field down to the top 15 for the super final Down the class V Wellerbrucke rapids.
Photo by M. Arnu
Photo by J. Klatt
The men final were super excited to watch. It is amazing Sam Sutton took the top spot three times in a row! And it was nice to see Dejan on the podium this year, as he just missing the podium by a spot for the last three years. Mike was the last one coming down in the finals and as he came down it looked like he got it, until he made a mistake at the bottom, screwing it up at the Champions killer, but still making it in third place.
Photos by M. Arnu
Photo by M. Arnu
For the first year there was a chicks final, with the top 3 chicks charging down the Wellerbrucke! I was super stoked we finally had this change and was keen to go hard. The whole week I have been paddling the top of the Wellerbrucke section, which leads in to the race section. The top section is super nice whitewater but really full-on. After a couple of laps I felt super confident running the top and the race section. I never screw up my lines and out of all my runs I never had a surf in ‘Champions Killer -1’, the new hole in the race course. (which I guess was pretty rare this year). I wasn’t nerves or scared for my race as my lines had been sweet and I was confident running the section. I have no clue what happened in my race, but basically everything went wrong!!
Photo by J. Klatt
Photo by M. Arnu
Photo by M. Arnu
I was definitely a bit guttered after my race for a few sec… but in the end of the day it is just another race ;-). I had such a great week lapping the upper Wellerbrucke section with the boys and had a great time in Oetz. I’m also more motivated to come back and try again next year! Hopefully with better lines during the race :-).
What an amazing few days at the 2012 Rocroi NRPF river festival in the heart of the Spanish/ Catlonian Pyrenees.
With a logistical twist of fate, the Palm/ Dagger Bus got left in the UK due to a ferry strike in Santander and quick change to an aeroplane with the magic new Jitsu as luggage.
This year was again magically orchestrated by Lluis Rabenada the well-known kayaker, event organiser and good guy to be around. The festival has the ethos of a big kayak jam with paddlers from more than 15 different nations attending. The guaranteed water releases from the dam ensured the stunning sections of the Palleresa river flowed at a great level. It’s a great destination, with the river running at class 1-3+ and so many moves for all types and levels of boater.
On the Saturday everybody seemed stoked after the clinics that were organised for folks looking to learn some new tips and tricks from the Pro teams paddlers and industry coaches such as Eric and Dane Jackson, Nick Troutman, Mikael Sarasola, Quim Fontane Maso, Jerome Gaudine to name a few. I was lucky to paddle with some of the 14 to 17 year old Catelonian young guns from the same club as Team Daggers Aniol Serrassoles and his brother Gerd. It’s obvious there is something magic in the drinking water up in that valley and we’ll definitely be seeing a lot more from those kids in the kayak media over the years. They are brilliant! We looked at running the river quickly and safely with some creek style freestyle moves thrown in. We also checked out the benefits of having a good rope, BA and equipment that feel minimal and light so you can move well and with the maximum back up. The guys were definitely impressed with the new and current additions to the Palm Equipment Range.
The big talk at the event was the arrival of the new 5.9 Dagger Jitsu freestyle boat. Suffice to say everyone who paddled the boat was raving about it. I was stoked to hear this as it has been a few years since dagger have brought out a new freestyle boat and it’s great to see them jumping to the top of the queue again from the feed back of the paddlers.
In the evening times there were films and amazing local Catalan food along with the big party :-D.in which we managed to crowd surf no less that 4 world freestyle champions and a bunch of the wild Scottish lads wearing kilts.. Move of the night went to Eric “Ej” Jackson for wining an €1100 ski pass in the raffle and making a present of it to an 11year old local girl that paddled on his clinic.
There was an improvised Kayak slide put together down the bank at the festival site that proved to be a high octane affair and some car crash TV ensuing. Whiplash isn’t normally an injury associated with Kayaking!
The NRPF is a perfect end of season chance to paddle with friends in a beautiful place, get some good culture, good vibes and have some great laughs. Well done and thanks to Lluis and his team at Rocroi for putting on a great show and a big thanks to Dagger and Palm Equipment for supporting the event and sending me over. Don’t miss out on next years dates from the 25th – 29th September 2013.
As Arnold Schwarzenegger said in that documentary, The Terminator; “I’ll be back”.
Originally there was a competition scheduled for the 8th and 9th of September but unfortunately it had to be cancelled because the organizer was unable to get permission to run it. Someone thought that it would be nice for everybody to still come down and have a day of surfing together on the 8th and calling it September Surfacular.. I’m not sure who named it! It was also decided that the England Team coaching day would run on the 9th so that everyone who was on the Team could come down and have a weekend of surfing if they wanted to. As I have qualified for the Team this year I would be taking part in the Team training so I went up to Bude where it was being held for the whole weekend, camping overnight. I was desperately hoping for some nice weather and good surf as I didn’t really want to be camping in the rain and good surf is always nice.
Coming up to the weekend the weather forecast was looking good, really nice on the Saturday and getting a bit colder on the Sunday. But most importantly it wasn’t going to rain! The surf forecast wasn’t so good, quite small on the Saturday but to pick up during the night to be a couple of feet on Sunday.
The day before (Friday) it was decided by the organizers that they would move the social surf to Northcott Mouth instead of Black Rock because the surf was so small. It was a good job that they did as when we got there Saturday morning there was only a very small wave. It was high tide so most of us decided to give it a couple of hours before venturing out and as it was a really nice, hot day, hung out in the car park chatting while a couple of more venturesome surfers decided to risk the dumping surf, and the rocks that were only revealed when the waves drew back, to try and get some waves.
On the Saturday social surf there was also going to be a best wave competition but this was postponed till the Sunday as the surf was so small. The surf got a bit better as the tide went out and when I decided to go for a surf the sets were a couple of feet and although they were only short rides and one had to work hard to keep on them it was great to be out on the water with fellow surfers. After several hours of surfing I came in for lunch and the tide was fairly far out and the surf had dropped off. I had certainly gone out at the right time. After lunch I decided not to out again but sat on the beach and watched several other people surfing. Then about mid afternoon I decided to leave and have a look around Bude before finding a campsite to stay in for the night. There was a meal organized in a local Inn for anyone who wanted to go so we went and chatted to several people and then retired for an early night in preparation for the training the next day.
The weather on Sunday wasn’t as nice, a bit cloudier and it looked like it might rain before the day was out. We all met up at Black Rock car park and then had the best wave competition for a couple of hours and then everyone selected for the England Team met up and and had a talk before walking down to beach and getting on the water.
The coaching was really good. It was only the second coaching session I have ever had in surfing, it gave me several things to think about and to put into practice. The surf was a reasonable size and the weather wasn’t too bad, it was a nice day to be out.
Overall it was a great weekend, nice to meet up with everybody and go surfing with them, living so far south means that most of the time I don’t get to see them except when competitions are on.
Next Competition is a local one for me so not too far to drive!
