Whitewater Grand Prix!

The  2012 Whitewater Grand Prix has come to an end this week in Chile. A massively huge thanks to Patrick Camblin for his inspiring and ambitious dream and pulling together this fantastic event together with Emily Meredith!! Also shot on the media crew, who did a fantastic job capturing the epicness! In last shot to the most amazing bus driver Carlos, we could not have a Grand Prix without him!

STAGE 1
The White Water Grand Prix started with an epicly epic first stage on the Rio Gol Gol, 300km south of Pucon. A rain front covered the valley and gave the river a juicy flow! The race course was a 4 to 5 minutes course with 6 main drops followed closely after each other, including a 20-footer closely after the start and ending at Princessa another sick 20-foot waterfall.

The day before the race the river came up heaps and the consequences of massing up your lines were getting bigger! Everybody had two race runs spread over two days. After the first stage Mike Dawson (NZL) and Nouria Newman (FRA) came out on top and in the lead for the 2012 White Water Grand Pirx!

Videos of stage 1!

STAGE 2
The second stage of the Whitewater Grand Prix was held on an intense course on the Rio Puesco. The rain was still poring down and provided juicy flows in the whole area. This intimidating and technical course challenged all of the competitors and provided a tight race.

At the end of the day Eric Deguil (FRA) managed to get the top spot, closely followed by Evan Garcia (USA) and Todd Wells (USA). In the chicks Nouria Newmann (FRA) crushed it again in her second run, taking her second win in the WWGP.  I (Martina Wegman) placed second and Katrina van Wijk (CAN) in third.

Videos of stage 2!

STAGE 3
River Levels have risen like crazy and the original giant slalom course planned for race 3 was no longer an option. The stage 3 site was set for the Rio Nevados. This is one of the most epic creeks around. Super clean slides drops and boogie water. The course included a sick 15 foot drop into a rowdy slide with a narrow must make slot at the bottom for a fast line.

Team Liquid Logic paddler Isaac Levinson (USA) ended up styling the stout course and taking first place ahead of Dane Jackson (USA) with Frenchman Eric Deguil coming in 3rd place. The women were crushing it. Nouria Newman posted a super fast time coming in 1st. I got in 2nd with Katrina Van Wijk in 3rd.

Video of stage 3!

STAGE 4
The second to last and last stage of the Whitewater Grand Prix were held on the Fualeufu deep in Patagonia. Both stages where totally different than the previous but equally as epic! Stage four and five were held on a pushy and unpredictable roller-coaster ride down the minefield of massive waves and huge holes.

Stage four was an exciting boater cross down the infamous Meso y Menos rapid on burly big blue whitewater! The field was stout and the boatercross was definitely a hard race to win! In the end the men final was packed with the current 5 overall leaders of Eric Deguil, Todd Wells, Isaac Levinson, Evan Garcia & Youngster Dane Jackson. It was Dane Jackson who took the win and became a hot contender for winning the 2012 Grand Prix. The chicks’ race was also on fire, with tight lines and tight racing. In the end it was Katrina Van Wijk who took the win, with me in second and Nouria Newmann in third place, but still on the leading score board.

Video of stage 4!

STAGE 5

Tiredness and soar bodies definitely hit some of the competitors after the 4 stages, but couldn’t dampen the spirit as people were super fired up for the last race, stage 5! On an overcast Friday the 2012 Whitewater Grand Prix came to an end in tight to the wire enduro race on a massively high Futaleufu River.

The general mood was amping as each paddler knew where they stood and who they had to beat to move up places before the race. This set the scene of a hugely competitive race with numerous mini battles taking place throughout the pack.

Dane Jackson dominated his way to the finish line to not only claim stage 5 but also to be crowned as the Whitewater Grand Prix Champion for the 2nd consecutive time. Eric Deguil fought hard with Evan Garcia to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively in the race & overall in the standings. Isaac Levinson & Todd Wells rounded out the top 5.

In the women French flyer Nouria Newman showed why she had won 3 out of the previous 4 stages and fought hard for this stage title and the overall.

Check out www.whitewatergrandprix.com for the video of stage 5 and the latest news about the WWGP. Also check out www.facebook.com/whitewatergrandprix for tons of amazing shots and updates!

Youth Freestyle Development Weekend

With the Youth freestyle series officaly over for the year, We where able to look at the results and pick out some of the most promising youngsters to join us on a weekend of coaching in Nottingham.

We had planned to take the kids on the white water course but unfortunately a freak band of rain forced the course to close over the weekend … luckily however we had an alternate venue to use in the form of Newark Wier.

Newark is a completely unique wave and unlike anything the youth freestylers had surfed before, With a long steep ramp dropping down onto a shallow ledge, it creates an almost completely green wave that is really fast but also quite shallow.

The kids learnt a lot and we had a great time coaching them, I am thoroughly looking forward to seeing them progress over the coming years.

See you on the water,

Bren

 

All photos by Mike Mcpeak

 

The All New Stikine And Torrent Immersion Suits!

Hello All!

We’re excited to introduce you to our brand new Stikine and Torrent Surface Immersion Suits!

After several years of work and refinement, we’re really pleased to bring the new suits to market, as they’re filled with exciting new innovation and features.

Check out the video below for more details and an overview of the suits, which will be arriving in shops in January!

 

Stikine and Torrent

 

Happy Paddling, and stay posted for updates from our Team Paddlers, several of whom are in Chile for a sunny South American Christmas!

Home Internationals & British Open

The Home Internationals were held from Monday the 29^th of October to Thursday the 1^st of November. Then on the 3^rd and 4^th of November the British Open was on. Both these events were held in Pembrokeshire.

Monday morning I caught a lift with someone else who was on the England Team and travelled up to Wales. We got into Tenby which was just outside Manorbier, where we were staying and we did a bit of shopping before heading up to Manorbier beach to see what the conditions were like. It was pretty flat so we then retraced our steps and went to the youth hostel where all the teams were staying and the boat check-in was being held. We got our boats checked in and then went in and got comfortable in our rooms. In the evening it was decided who was going to surf when and I was chosen for a heat in the Mens IC class and for the Junior HP. After a very nice and very filling pizza we had a good night’s sleep before getting up and getting to Freshwater West for 8:00.

I had a good day, getting 2^nd places in both my heats and everybody else also did well so that by the end of the day we were in the lead by about 10 points. This was great as it left us a bit of a margin for the second round. The next day we all headed out to the beach and it was decided that we would move to Manorbier beach but when we got there it was decided that the comp. would be postponed to the following day as the surf was massive and the wind was vey high. Everybody went out for a free surf and got some nice waves, I got an air but unfortunately I didn’t land it – but it felt great! It was hard work so I was glad that they had decided not to run the comp.

Most of us then went back to the youth hostel and had a rest. Some went back to the beach later on as the wind had dropped and apparently had a great time. Almost everybody went out to the cinema that evening to see the new James Bond but a few of us decided to go for a surf. It had dropped off quite a bit but there was still a nice wave and as there was only 4 of us out there it was great. We surfed till after dark and then as I was surfing in on my last wave I made a big mistake. It was so dark that I couldn’t really see how close I was to the beach and the waves were breaking right onto it. I took my last wave and thought that it was going brilliantly and I was just preparing to go for the lip when I realized that there was no water in front of me! I went up with the lip and landed on my face on the beach. Apparently it was hilarious to watch from the beach. Thankfully I wasn’t really hurt and nothing was broken. Just had a bruised lip and a couple of slightly loose teeth!

We went back to the youth hostel and had some dinner. Then the program for the next day was put up on the notice board and I was in the Junior IC class and it was being held at Manorbier beach again which was great as it was only a couple of minutes drive from where we were staying.

When we got down there the next day there was quite a nice wave coming through. All the HP heats were on first so I was on later on in the day. I did a bit of judging and watched until it was time to get down for my heat. The conditions were very interesting but I had a couple of nice waves and got a second place. We all had good results that day and we gained another ten points on Northern Ireland who were in 2^nd place meaning we won the Home Internationals with an advantage of 20 points! The prize giving was that evening where everyone got a small trophy and was followed by a Halloween party. It was fun watching some of the Halloween games as well as seeing all the different fancy dresses!

The next day was supposed to be a rest day but because of the forecast and because of the number of people who had entered in the British Open it was decided it wouldn’t be and that we would go straight into the competition.

I was entered in the Junior IC and HP. The Junior HP semi was on fairly early and I didn’t have a good heat. I just didn’t seem to get things right and couldn’t catch any nice waves. I came 3^rd which wasn’t quite good enough as I needed either a 1^st or a 2^nd to get through to the final.

I had a bit of a break before I was on again this time in the Junior IC semi. I did better this time and got a 2^nd place meaning I was through to the final which I was really pleased about. Shortly afterwards I had to go out for the Junior HP B final and I got 2^nd place in it which meant that I came 6^th overall in the Junior HP. Then I had a couple of heats break before going into the Junior IC final. I didn’t feel that I had done brilliantly but I was fairly happy with what I had done – we weren’t going to find out the results until the next evening (Saturday). There were several people who hadn’t yet arrived so they couldn’t do all the heats. We retired to the Youth Hostel and had a shower and a rest, before going out for a team meal in the evening, kindly paid for by Surf Kayak Skills. The next day I wasn’t going to be surfing so I hung around watching the surfing and occasionally helping out with the judging. The Mens IC class and the Masters HP class and the Lady’s HP class were finished that day and we had the prize giving for them and the 2 Junior classes that had been run the day before. that evening. Then after that we had an auction of items that had been donated to raise funds to help get the Welsh Team to the Worlds next year in Australia. We then retired for the night as we had to be at the beach fairly early the next day. We also had to remove all our kit from the Youth Hostel before we left.

The next day started as a rather wet day but with some nice surf. I went out before the heats started to try a new boat and that was my undoing as I bought it several hours later! The final heats were run and we had the prize giving at the beach. I then transferred both my boats and all my kit to someone else’s van for the drive home. It took us about 6 – 7 hours to get back but it wasn’t too bad. We all had a great weekend and it was great to have participated in the Home Internationals and of course to get a 4^th place in the Junior IC and a 6^th place in the Junior HP.

 

                                                                                 JTG

 

A Successful Rolling Clinic at Plas Y Brenin

 

As a new designer here at Palm and relatively new to kayaking, and after getting pretty fed up of getting wet and cold from swimming far too much, Paul (our marketing manager) thought it would be a good idea to send me off to Plas Y Brenin for a 2 days rolling clinic

I arrived at Plas y Brenin on Friday 7^th December in the evening. I was welcomed by the friendly reception staff and shown to my room with a welcoming, cosy, bed after a long drive up from Bristol. In the morning I met my follow students, John, Andrew, Rodger, Branwen, and our coach Chris, and off we went to the pool all keen to get on and start rolling. First Chris showed us how to rescue each other which proved very necessary!

 

We started by doing some hip flicks off the edge of the pool and some of the guys jumped straight into attempting their rolls having been able to roll successfully in the past.

After doing my hip flicks effectively off the edge of the pool, Chris came over with my paddle. I was pretty nervous at first so the plan was I would go over and Chris would guide my paddle once then on the second time I would do my hip flick and come back up. To my amazement this worked! So after a few more of these I then started using a paddle float and doing it on my own.

To begin with it wasn’t going too well but Brenwan was very patient and become a pro at rescuing me! Then I started to get the hang of it, which was a massive relief.

Next we all went off for some well deserved soup at the bar. Taking advantage of the lovely setting I went off for a wander around the lake and to call my Dad to tell him the exciting news!

After dinner the session continued to go well with people doing successful rolls with and without the paddle floats. After a while Chris suggested we should have a break from rolling and have some fun with Andrew’s sea kayak. So we all had a go at doing some self-rescues. Some proved more successful than others, which was amusing and a welcome break from rolling.

 That evening we all went off to watch some videos Chris had taken of us during the day. This proved very useful as we could all pick out the areas where we needed to makes adjustments to our technique.

The next morning we were all feeling a bit achy and tired therefore as a result the morning wasn’t so successful… Until Chris came in with tea and biscuits, which put a smiles on everyone’s face! After the little break things started going much more smoothly and I managed to do many successful rolls without the aid of the paddle float. So off we went to lunch again with a big smile on my face!

The afternoon went just as well and I came away very happy with my progress and confident I can continue to improved with the technique we were taught. I think the others would also agree they came away happy all having being able to do successful rolls.We all dried off and had a de-brief with Chris. We said our goodbyes and all set off on our long drives home.

 

Overall it was a fantastic weekend at Plas y Brenin, I was very impressed with the facilities and coaching. Everyone was looked after very well and I would recommend this course to anyone who wants to master the art of rolling!

So a big thanks to all the staff and Chris our coach! And I hope all my fellow course students continue to improve their roll and I hope to see you out on the water!

Click on the link below to check out the video!

Alison

Rolling at PYB

 

 

Kayaking Mexico – A Mini Guide

Mexico: A place famed for its white sunny beaches, ancient Mayan ruins and steep creeks! This guide is aimed as a helpful information pack, which I hope might make planning your trip a little easier.

When to come: We arrived on the 10th of October and left on the 13th of November, before this is the rainy season and following this is a drier period. It seems like October/November is a popular time of year, as there were plenty of other kayakers.

Over the time we were their we saw fairly low water levels, it only really rained twice, but their was still plenty to paddle.

How to get here: After much research on flights it was decided we would fly with Virgin as they take kayaks for free. The negative side of this plan was that they only fly into Cancun, which is a 3 day drive up to Tlapacoyan (where the bulk of kayaking is)

It must be said that Virgin were great to fly with and very helpful with the kayaks.

It cost us roughly £700 for direct flights from the UK. If you fly into Mexico City its only a 5 hour drive to Tlapacoyan.

Currency: The Mexican Peso. In 2012 it was 20 Peso’s to £1. This definitely made the British Pound feel like a strong currency.

Language: Everyone speaks Spanish, and only a few speak English. But speaking fluent Spanish is not essential, as we proved! It always seems to work out somehow or another.

Living expenses: We traveled around allot, and found that living expenses varied quite a bit. In general if you are in a city it willbe more expensive than in a smaller town. On average I probably spent about £7 a day on food and £4 on accommodation.

Accommodation: In big cites such as Cancun you can expect to pay about £20 – £30 for a three person room, however when you get into smaller towns prices drop to more like £10 – £15 for a three person room.

In Tlapacoyan we stayed with Aventurec, who are a family run raft company with accommodation set amongst their beautiful sight. They have three different options: camping, a bunk style hostel and several different size Cabanas. We hired one of their larger Cabanas which slept 9 of us (£3 per night per person, amazing value). They can provide awesome breakfasts and dinners for a reasonable price. They are able to provide transport from and too the river, as well a hiring out a modern fleet of boats – this makes it possible to fly into Mexico city without boats or having to hire a car and Aventurec can provide the rest – http://www.aventurec.com/

Food: Tacos, Tacos and more Tacos! Possibly not as you imagine. The Mexican taco’s back home in the UK are a bit of a lie! In reality when you order Tacos you usually get 5 small taco wraps, usually fried often with a kebab type meat on top, finished with some chopped vegetables and chili sauce. These definitely became our stable, some of us loved them, others, myself included were not so fussed. One of my favorites was the BBQ chicken experience – you see a few of these about and its all about finding the right one! When by the sea, make sure you try some fresh fish, you will often see the Fishermen brining in a healthy haul each morning.

Beer: Of course this is an important substance on any kayaking holiday, expect to pay 10 -15 Peso’s (50p – 80p) per bottle.

Getting Around: We hired two cars to get about in, which worked out as £1350 per car for 5 weeks. The cars we had were Dodge Journeys, a very comfortable 2 wheel drive SUV. These did the job very well, they were capable of taking 5 people, with all our kit and kayaks. A 4 by 4 is not really necessary but some of the put in & take out roads can be interesting!

Before leaving people had told me that driving around Mexico was dangerous, we did not really find this to be the case. There is a well developed road system across Mexico. For the longer drives I would recommend using the toll roads, these tend to be in good condition and allow you to comfortably drive at 70MPH. They do charge, but I think they are worth while and are definitely safer to drive on. The free roads (Libre) do the job around towns, and for getting to places which do not have a toll road. Beware of the speed bumps, they jump out of nowhere and will send you and your mates through the roof!

Police: Its worth knowing a little about the ‘Long arm of the Law’ In 5 weeks we were stopped countless times by different road blocks (set up to stop drug trafficking) Have your passport, drivers license, rental documents and passenger passports to hand. They may ask to check around the car, this usually did not take long. Some are serviced by army personnel and others by police, the army tended to be less corrupt and more friendly, but have bigger guns! We ended up paying three bribes; one because the Police were being naughty, one because I was being naughty (I ran a red) and the other because we were in Mexico City with the wrong type of number plate.

Hospitals: No trip seems to be complete without a visit to the hospital, on this trip we had to deal with a broken back. The hospital care seemed OK, but nothing to advanced. We also had a trip to the dentist with a broken tooth, he did he a good job fixing it for a tenth of the UK price – Any fillings get them done out here!

Night Life: The classic tourist nightlife is in Cancun, as for the rest of Mexico, its how you find it and what you make of it. Locals always seemed friendly towards us, even when walking about some of the dingier parts of town.

Rivers: The following is not intended to be a river guide, just some helpful information on the rivers that we paddled. Many of the following rivers are quite steep and technical, and as such are filled with horizon lines, Mexico has its fair share of clean drops and slides, but also its fair share of the bad and ugly, so don’t be lazy, get out and scout!

 

Tlapacoyan area

Filobobos ruins section (class 2 – 3+): A good off the plane warm up run. This section takes you down cliff lined jungle on fun boulder garden rapids. It is used as one of the local raft runs. For added perks there is a Mayan temple hidden within this section, although I must confess we never found it

Rio Alseseca Is one of the main rivers in Tlapacoyan, here are a few different sections:

Road side section (class 4 – 4+): A classic creek. Bed rock fun that just keeps giving in a pool drop style. This is a great run for most abilities, everything here can be scouted with ease, and portaged if necessary. The first third of the run is filled with fun drops and slides which will bring you down to S-Bend, the main event. S-bend is an impressively long, steep slide (portage left if you don’t fancy it) Some ways after this you will go under a small concrete bridge, which is a possible take out. Other wise carry on down to the main road bridge and take out on the left.

Big Banana section (Class 4 – 5): Wow. This run is a definite step up from roadside and it holds some amazing white water. This is a run not to be taken lightly, the put in is hard to find and it can take quite some time to paddle your way down the river on your first time (it took us 6 hours) so best to find someone to show you the way. In this section you will find some classic drops such as Silencio (40 foot boof), Meat locker (a double drop affair) and many other fun drops. Towards the end of the run you find your self in the Pesmar section, and then take out at the road bridge before Tomata one.

Pesmar section (class 3-4): A shorter but fun section. From Tomata falls carry on driving up the hill for roughly 2km, on a tight left hand bend you will see a turn off for a camp ground. Drive down here and put on for a shorter section back to the main road bridge. The main event in here is a fun double drop.

Tomata 1 (20m Water fall): Its big, and scary, but its flat above and flat bellow! There are two lines one on river left, and one that is right of centre. When we were there I opted for the right of center line, which has a harder lip, but bigger boil. The important thing to realize is that Tomata 2 lurks just bellow! Once you have run it, paddle the next small drop, and take out immediately in the small pool on river right. From here traverse along the river bank for 30 meters or so (in a downstream direction), then climb out, and pull the boats up with throw bags afterwards.

Upper Jalacingo (class 4-5): Another jungle filled event. It has a few magical drops such as Bukaki, which is a steep, twisting slide straight into a 20 footer it looks like nothing else! The rest of the run is a mix with the good, bad and ugly, so don’t be to surprised when you are walking yet another rapid! Again this is the kind of run which would be sped up massively with someone knowing the lines, and showing you where to portage. There is a longer portage near the beginning of the river around a nasty 50 footer. Its also worth noting that the put in and take out tracks are quite steep and bumpy.

North of Tlapacoyan

Cascada Micos (Class fun?): The Rio Micos is a playground for kayaks. Located a few miles west of Ciudad Valles is the rafting company called ‘Aldea Huasteca’. They have several beautiful Cabanas located at the get off for the Micos. Accommodation worked out at about £6 per person per night. Its a brilliant clean camp, surrounded by mountains with nice facilities.

The Rio Micos has an intriguing geography to it, Its formed by episodic deposition of Calcite which comes from the high mineral content in the water. The accumulation of these  minerals over the steep gradient of the river bed forms dams, which form water falls for us to paddle on. The Calcite in the water is also responsible for the funky blue colour of the water.

To find the put-in, drive from the camp ground on river right for approximately 3 – 4 km. You will come to a lay by with locked metal gates. Walk down from here to find a large bore water pipe, follow the steps down to a big pool below a 70 foot water fall.

The Micos is a completely different kayaking experience and is the very definition of ‘Pool drop’ Each pool is separated by a river wide horizon line, simply pull up to a shallower part of the lip, peer over the edge, and spot your line, brilliant! The main event is a very clean 30 foot fall on the right, or a slide into a 20 foot drop on the left. We lapped this one 10 times in one run.

Salta(class 3 – 4): The Salta is the upper section to the Micos. Put in on the small road bridge over the Dam canal, be careful of the first small drop – a fast shoot with a cave on the right. Following this is a fun 15 footer. The rest of the river is filled with shallow ledge drops, which reminded me of a garden water feature. Take out river left above the very large cascade, you can get a beer in the bar that over looks it.

Río Santa María: We paddled the section above the Cascada de Tamul. I would not recommend it to anyone, there are many long flat sections which link the gorges and they are filled with horrendous Sieves – Don’t do it!

South of Tlapacoyan 

Agua azul:  We had seen some amazing photos published in Kayak session showing off vivid blue water dropping over waterfalls. As it was on our way back to Cancun we thought  we might stop in. The Agua azul, is located in the state of Chiapas, 60km from Palenque. When we arrived we were not particularly inspired by what we found – heaps of low volume falls and slides, most of which were a no go. Instead we spent our time swimming in the pools. Perhaps with more time and energy you might find the goods?!

The Oro: The Rio Oro is a rare beast, crystal blue water carves it’s way down through glorious dark basalt gorges, pool drop rapids await at each corner until she finally gives way to the much warmer Gulf Of Mexico.

You need to drive to the small village of Punta Roca Partida, ask for a man named El Flaco. This sounds mad, but its what we did and it worked! On arrival we found El Flaco, who hooked us up with accommodation, food and showed us the put on to the river! To put in you have to walk for about an hour across various farmers fields, so you will need his help. Once on the river you will paddle a few fun class 3’s that lead you down into a couple of meaty pour overs. Its worth setting up safety here as they can hold boats.

Follow the river down to a big horizon, here you will find a sweet looking 30 footer – we had an epic here, one of our group broke his back, which resulted in a 6 hour rescue. The lesson learned, don’t boof this one! If you decided to run this first fall you will be locked into the gorge, the only easy way out of here is to run the next 30 footer, which has a delicious rolling lip. If you don’t fancy these you can portage river right, and walk down to the bottom of the second drop.

From here follow the river down through easier water to where it meets the sea, enjoy surf, beer and food!

Summary: Mexico as a kayaking location lends itself more to the advance paddler, with plenty of harder runs, and relatively few easy sections. So if your looking for a place to kayak countless waterfalls and steep slides in an exotic setting, this is a definite contender.

Hope this helps – Jake

4 days in Chile: 4 medals, 7 Teacups & 22 Saltos

Less than 24 hours after landing in Chile, I was racing head-to-head on the Rio Nuble as part of Nuble Fest. Not quite how expected to be taking my first strokes in the country… in fact it had been quite a strange 24 hours. After a long flight I arrived in Temuco, only to find my boat and bag had inconsiderately not made the plane changes I had. I was met at the airport by a motley crew of paddlers, only one of whom I sort of knew and taken many hours north for a festival I´d never heard of.

My airport pick-up

Without my bag I had no camping gear, but miraculously the airline sent a driver up after us and my gear was delivered to me in the field we were making camp in for Nuble Fest 5 hours north of the airport! Good work TAM.

After a day of racing both in kayaks and rafts, there was a presentation party in the town square with dreadlocked rappers and old men with guitars. In state of jetlagged confusion I was presented with some medals, a bottle of wine and a giant cheque. Not a bad first day!

The next day we loaded up and hauled ass to the Rio Claro where we spent a couple of days paddling the beautiful clean waterfalls known as the 7 Teacups and 22 Saltos. The river was low, but this is a very cool place. Stunning tight canyons filled with a kayakers theme park of slides and drops.

Aside from the kayaking, we saw some cool wildlife… not least this “little” fella…

Soon it was time to head to Pucon, but I´m told no Chilean adventure is complete without some vehicle mishaps. On our 5 hour drive we broke down 4 times within the first 30 minutes (3 times within 500 metres!), the rough dirt road and heavy load having taken its toll on our suspension and tyres.

A couple of hours later another tyre started to warp and we were forced to chase around a random town trying to find somewhere to buy and fit a new one at gone 8pm. After several failed attempts we found a tyre in a big hardware store and a bloke with a roadside shack to fit it as the sun set.

We finally made it to Pucon at 4.30am… Quite the epic journey! So we´re now in Pucon and many more adventures have already been had. But now I should get off the internet and go paddling…

More photos can be found in my Flickr Album

First Impressions of the New Torrent Suit.

I’ve been paddling in the Spark suit since heading out to Italy in May and have been surprised by how good it is.  I was therefore, really excited to be able to get my hands on the new Torrent suit a few weeks ago.

I’ve been running white water safety and rescue courses virtually none stop since getting hold of this sample suit and it’s stood up to my demands of the job incredibly well.

I’ve remained completely dry whilst jumping in and out of stoppers and lying in the water pretending to be injured for prolonged periods of time.

The material shows no signs of wear despite having been dragged over rocks, bushes and gravel (still pretending to be injured in the scenarios), so I think it’s going to be really durable.

I’ve noticed the new sock design is making it easier to put on my shoes and feels less bulky once on, which is a sweet improvement too.

The safety courses also have a paddling element and once on the water, the cut of the suit, the positioning and flexibility of the zip are the most notable improvements from the last generation of Torrent suits.  If you try one on in the shops, you’ll notice the freedom.

I also hear it will be available at your local dealer come the start of December, good news given the cold weather and heavy rain that is due!