The British Raft Race series came to Mid Wales for Remembrance Weekend. It was a weekend of rafting, partying and meeting loads of fab new people, and old friends, and enjoying this awesome sport together. It was a truely international affair this year as we had the First Ladies Irish Rafting Team come over to race as well, and 20 teams of varying degrees of experience hoping to win the coveted Llandysul slate medals.
A beautiful start to a thrilling weekend.
What makes this race series so ‘Oarsome’ is that it is an open event for anyone who wants to have a go! There are Mens teams, Mixed Teams and of course Womens teams. But with most never having rafted before, the first thing we did on the morning of the first day was give people a few tips on how to raft, and we couldn’t resist giving them a demo
Our demo run of the sprint, guns out!!
There were so many people taking part it felt like we were at a major competition in Europe!! And not wanting to let an opportunity for training pass us by, we treated it like one too – except obviously for the partying, and fancy dress, and getting a bit too tipsy and the horrible horrible hangover on the Sunday just in time for our endurance race…
20 teams of 6 people = ALOT of fun to be had, and the sun was shining!!
The races completed were a Time Trial around the lake followed by the Head to Head on the SLalom course, Slalom on the River Teifi course and Endurance, also on the river. The pressure was on though when we had to do the Slalom demo…you really don’t want to mess it up when everyone is watching…
Pole dodging on the slalom course
As we go in for the upstream gate check out Suze eye-balling the poles!! Go Girls!!
…but we didn’t, PHEW!
Team P.A.L.M (Party Animals Loving Mojitos) pulling out the stops!!
We came first overall in the Women’s teams but were really inspired by all the other teams who took part and gave it their all, especially if it was their first time! It was a really chilly weekend but you wouldn’t have guessed from all the smiling and warmth that people were showing.
It was an Oarsome weekend, with Oarsome company doing an Oarsome sport!! A HUGE thanks to all who helped organise it and also to all who took part. And a HUGE thanks to Palm, I think we were the warmest and driest team on the river.
The next open race of the series is in London on the 15th and 16th December. Come along and get involved!!!
We got a slate medal!! WOOP WOOP!! and we were lucky enough to be joined by Macy a member of our youth development squad!
First of all I owe Palm a big thank you for taking me into the team and helping me survive one more year as a white water kayaker. I have a really hard-work year behind me as I believe I have kayaked on average 1 to 2 times per day every day this year. Unfortunately mostly for work but still kayaking is a huge part of my life and I could not handle the costs of the gear overuse without the support of Palm and Dagger Europe. I do have to admit that even if I kayak on a certain level, I mostly kayak in a basic level gear, such as Vortex jackets, because they offer me the most freedom of movement and a refreshing feeling of lightness. I really don’t enjoy paddling in thick and heavy gear during the hotter days. Also for this reason, the one piece of gear that I appreciated the most this year was the Spark immersion suit.
Anyone that has tried paddling in a dry suit knows that it is a piece of gear that can replace numerous jackets, neoprene pieces and under layers. Dry suits are easy to dress, comfortable to wear and fast to dry. There are a lot of variations of kayak dry suits out there, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. A spark suit is an extreme case of a lightweight dry suit. The material is a thin 3-layer fabric, which is quite unusual for a dry suit. But the truth is that most of our paddling consists of shorter trips in less than extreme weather conditions. I can imagine that I would prefer a thicker, warmer and more abrasion resistant suit for a multi day trip somewhere cold but for anything other than that I prefer the feeling of freedom. I have never felt anything else but excitement in up to a few hour creeking missions and during the long hours of work and multi times dressing up and undressing the same suit and under layer on the colder and rainy days. And now that the autumn weather hit Europe I simply can’t imagine going paddling with anything else.
Next to the soft fabric the two most notable things about it are the flexible T-zip, which is kind of becoming a standard for all the kayaking dry suits, and its neoprene neck and ankle gaskets (now that it’s colder I prefer the socks version). Especially the neck gaskets seemed to have been accepted with mixed responses. Nobody likes the way latex feels on the neck too much. A big advantage of Spark suit gasket is that it will never stick to your skin, it is not as nearly uncomfortable to dress up and undress as the latex and it will last longer. I also haven’t noticed any difference in how much water leaks through the gasket. There is one problem though. Unlike latex you cannot cut the neoprene gasket and make it fit you. I am fortunate that my Spark fits my neck really well. I prefer it a lot compared to latex but I can imagine a frustration of a big neck kayaker not being able to do anything to make it fit.
To conclude, I can’t recommend the Spark suit enough to an average kayaker. It is an excellent piece of equipment for a great price. As written, that comes with the warning. Try it out first to see if the neck gasket fits you well. If it isn’t too tight you’re free to buy your new favourite piece of gear.
A lot has happened in the last months so here’s a taste of it: Some photos from the Adidas Sickline race and Učja creek, which is one of the best continuous class 5 (and more) technical creeks you can paddle and it is just 5 min away from my home. Thanks to Tony Demarco and Ryan Vekins for some photos. GoPro photo stream was made at Učja creek.
Here’s also a video of our trip to Switzerland this spring that was made by my friend Andrej Bijuklič . I was testing the Spark for the first time in some of the clips. I haven’t had the Dagger Mamba “speedboat” here yet so you’ll fiond me paddling the blue Burn.
Halloween is my birthday. Yes, I’m a witch! And what better way to celebrate than a quick mission to Scotland with about 45 friends / friends-of-friends?
With only a few days to spare (and one of them spent in A&E after an unfortunate, comedy-yet-totally-sober incident with a Giant Jenga set) we bagged only a few runs but I still managed to add a tick to my list with a lovely run down the Kiachnish.
But what trip to the Fort William area would be complete without the obligatory Etive day? There’s a reason this river is such a classic…
Matt Bostock… but wezzit? Answers on a postcard…
Hammer on Triple 2.
It was fantastic to catch up with so many old paddling buddies. That’s what makes paddling great really isn’t it? Your mates. So cheers to mine who helped me celebrate my birthday with a good mix of boating, float shenanigans and fancy dress! And rightfully took the mick for my Jenga brick incident…
Last weekend, similarly to Pringle, I spent my time at the Hurley Classic helping out at the Palm/Dagger stand and shooting a little photo and video. If you’d like to read about the weekend and for some more photos check out Pringle’s blog post: http://79.170.40.166/palmequipmenteurope.com/blogs/ww/hurley-classic-extravaganza/
Or if you’d like to watch a video, without further a due, my video wrap up of the Hurley Classic:
Sunshine, 3 Gates, Big Air & Good Friends – Hurley Classic 2012
When I first started competing the ‘Hurley Rodeo’ was the UK’s biggest event, drawing in paddlers from all across Europe for an aerial frenzy on the Thames.
In recent years the event has been on a much lower scale, largely due to poor levels, but this year Jacko from KayakoJacko went all out to bring the festival feel back and turn it back into the booming event it once was. With the boom that’s going on in freestyle right now it seems perfect timing to relaunch the event in this manner.
Jacko definitely didn’t disappoint! We had perfect levels, good weather and over 120 paddlers attending including all the big names: Peter & Nina Csonka, Mathieu Dumoulin, Quim & Nuria Fontane, UK’s Bren Orton & myself and Katya.
So we had World Champions, World Cup Champions, European Champions, Rider of the Year winners, National Champions & past Champions all gathered to do battle on one of the UK’s most iconic spots. Jacko had a treat lined up for us.
A very international eddy queue
Cheesy came down and put up the Palm & Dagger tent to show off the new kit and the Dagger Jitsu. We had all 3 sizes for people to try. They definitely fly here on Hurley!
First up was the final of the British League event. Your best two out of three 45 second rides gave you your final score. I had some great rides getting KY’s, Loops, AirScrews and Panams and thought I might have the win but as it turned out I ended up in 3rd place behind local favourite Alan Ward in 2nd and World Cup winner Peter Csonka taking the win. In the ladies Emily wall took the British title with Nina Csonkova taking the overall Win.
1st place to Peter Csonka
Saturday afternoon gave us a steep ramp into the Boatercross. Carnage ensued throughout but keeping the speed up and avoiding the crashes David Bain sprinted his way to the win.
Sunday was what the weekend was all about really, going big with our friends without the pressure of timed rides. It was a jam session format of 15 minutes and then a superfinals of ICF rules for the top 5. Unfortunately I was a bit too determined to get my KY and wasted too much time and finished way down the list but those who got the right tactic of going big but making sure to cram all their moves into their session came out on top.
Mathieu Dumoulin from France fighting hard into 2nd in the final
Palm’s Seppi going high – Exactly what the Classic is all about!
Palm’s Bren Orton went huge in the prelims and got everyone raving when he got his place in the senior mens final (he’s still a Junior), UK Champion Sam Anderson made it too then we had Quim, Mathieu, and Peter all there. The finals were a great display of the various styles but eventually Peters consistency edged ahead of Mathieu’s fluidity to take the Win, with Quim in 3rd. In the womens Nina Csonkova took the win again with Flea in 2nd place.
A little while ago I arrived home with a tan, a severely infected cut and some new friends on Facebook – every boy’s dream.
There’s no better place than Uganda to brush off the cobwebs from a long summer of working in the UK in preparation for the upcoming winter season! I spent five weeks of sessioning big waves, big rapids and playing Frisbee golf with a great bunch of people – what more could you want.
A nice cold soda after a day on the river.
We did a little filming while we were out there, so here’s a short video wrap up.
I’ve got a couple more weeks in the UK and I’ll be heading the Hurley Classic next weekend for some Thames freestyle action, the Gene 17 adventure paddlers weekend and then flying out to Chile for six weeks of waterfalling!
Just ran a course for Danish canoe union for the new EPP L5 Sea roughly equivalent to BCU 5 star Lots of good conditions and a 5 day course allowed us to play in a lot of races ,A good rescue and tows day at Point Lynas , the new Palm Ocean tow was up against a variety of North water tows and performed well in pretty windy and challenging conditions and a good day at skerries
As winter draws in, kayakers from across the UK gather in the North East on the banks of the River Tyne to dance, socialise and paddle.
And with so many kayakers in one place, Rowie & I took a load of demo boats and examples of shinny new Palm kit to show off!
The event has a simple and effective format.
Friday, friends arrive in drips and drabs from far flung parts of England, Scotland & Wales and arrive in the pub to catch up.
Saturday, paddle the Tyne Gorge. With over 800 paddlers spread across the length of the river, you are constantly bumping into friendly faces and looking out for each other. Great fun. With the Palm/Dagger stand at the take out to the river, which is also the campsite, we were on hand all afternoon to chat about the new Stikine and Torrent drysuits and FX PFDs. The stand hosted stubbies and stories in the early evening, giving people the opportunity to share their expedition stories, hear some of ours and plan their next.
The Stand at 8am
Later, it’s the party. After warming up and having some food it’s off to the local sports hall. The Ceilidh band lead the evenings activities in song and dance. With each tune, the steps are explained and away you go.
Sunday, the aftermath. The combination of a second night of cold camping and too much drinking gives a slow start to sunday morning. Some people head for another lap of the Tyne, others off to the steeper River Tess and the rest hang out in the field moaning about the cold, drinking tea and such.
Planning
Thanks to the organisers for a great event and Hexham town for the fireworks and hosting us!
Katya after her first session in the small Prototype
This Friday, Saturday & Sunday, we’ll have all three sizes of the Jitsu prototypes available to try at the Rivers Source event on the Dart.
Here is a little unedited selection of clips from Katya in the Small (Green) and me in the Medium (Blue) Prototype at a few UK playspots:
and a bit more on the boat:
Both of us have been loving using the boats and they seem to go down great with everyone trying them, so heres your chance to have a play in one this weekend.
Also myself & Katya are running freestyle clinics to learn the skills to go with the boat too which you can book onto at: http://gene17.com/riverssource/
Matt Bostock… but wezzit? Answers on a postcard…
Hammer on Triple 2.
