A big weekend coming up for WW warriors here in the UK.
Sarting on Friday night team paddler Chris Eastabrook will be at CIWW in Cardiff explaining why, amoungst other things, Palm Gradient boots are so popular in Papua New Guinea. He kicks off at 8pm, but don’t forget the course is on the monthly 12 cumec release, so worth a bit of freeride action beforehand.
Further South West at about the same time, the one and only Big O, Olaf Obsommer will be opening this years Gene 17 Adventure Paddlers Weekender. This years show is a refreshing step away from the all action format covered so widely in WW kayaking. Instead it highlights how Olafs skill as a camerman, editor and veretan kayak adventuere have developed to recognise that whilst the purpose is kayaking, the desinations afforded by this means of travel are sublime in themselves.
Oh, and needless to say, there will be some boating. Water is falling from the skies and we will be bringing as many new Dagger Mamba’s as we can squeeze into the van with team paddlers Rosie cripps, Finn Burrows, Nick Horwood and Lowri Davies on hand to give you the lowdown. For those wanting to check kit we’ll have the sample Spark suit, Luna ladies PfD and of course prizes for the Saturday night raffle.
Wherever and whatever your paddling this weekend – have a cracker!
Artificial Whitewater courses are growing in number and popularity, offering paddling groups a community hub, somewhere to paddle when there’s no natural flows and for those who wish to train, consistency in conditions.
Eastern Europe has long been the envy of those elsewhere, with courses offering testing conditions and playing no small part in the competitive excellence that comes from these nations. But it’s not only the conditions created that have been interesting, the methods used have been innovative too like the tyre solution found at Troja in Prague.
But now, technology is moving on and developments introduced at new courses like the Lee Valley Olympic venue are being added to some Eastern European sites. The Rapid Blocs (which are made here at our Clevedon HQ) have recently been put in at the Troja course in Prague and under the guidance of course designer Vojtech Bares they have been testing the systems adjustability to great effect to get the feature they want.
We’ll keep you posted on more spots where Rapid Blocs are being added and for regular updates check out the facebook page.
For those who don’t know Olly, he is a long time Palm paddler, but more than that he is a highly regarded sea coach, guide and expedition paddler…. as well as being a formidable mountaineer!
In other words when it comes to big trips and big adventures he knows what’s what.
From the trailer and the roll call of names he’s got involved it doesn’t look like you will have to look much further for something to inspire and also guide you in your schemes and plans.
He’s locked down editing at the moment, so hopefully it won’t be long before we can all get a copy in our hands.
There is lot of plastic out there from 20 plus years of kayaks and canoes being made this way. Luckily the properties of the polyethylene material give it a massive lifespan, but at some point boats get written off or folk will want to retire their craft and so the question pops up – what then?
Our Dagger Europe kayaks have made some small inroads with the Fiesta model, the first 100% post production waste re-cycled kayak; but that’s just the tip of the ice berg.
We were recently approached by Engineering graduate and Waste management Consultant Beth Ripper who is study kayak lifespans and she’s just sent out her findings. Read all about it here.
Rosie Cripps, our girl in the jungle, sent through this little round up from the World Rafting Championships in Costa Rica. The Palm sponsored GB ladies got fifth overall, a result they know only to well having manged it twice before. It sounds like the racing has been tough and the challenges of getting to and from the river even tougher – read on!
World Rafting Championships, Pacuare River Costa Rica, 2011
Sorry for the delay in posting updates on the competition – internet has been hard to get to and we became seperated from the person with the photographs!
The first day of competition went really well with us taking home a silver medal in the sprint discipline. This put us into a good place for the next days racing, giving us lane choice for the head to head. Our first race was against the home nation, Costa Rica which was a bit of a crowd pleaser! We got fast off the start and stayed ahead all the way to the finish with a good lead. Our time wasn’t fast enough however to give us lane choice against our old rivals Canada. In the last world championships we beat them to win gold however this time without lane choice we had to fight harder out of the eddy and ended up coming out just behind them, overtaking was tough and we were on their tail the whole way down. I think it was one of the best battles as the noise from the crowd was overwhelming! Well done to Canada for beating us, and to Japanese ladies for taking the win. After an exhauting day of racing we all hiked out from the river in the dark, for over an hour up a steep muddy trail. Tractors were the only vehicles capable of making their way halfway down the trail to pick up the ill and wounded, due to an intense tropical downpour.
Slalom was the next days challenge – and the Costa Rican’s certainly know how to set a tough one. The course was the hardest any of us had seen, and with limited time to scout everyone’s first run involved a bit of trial and error. There were some spectacular flips, especially from the Columbian mens team who finished an incredible run with a flip through the last gate. Unfortunately the course favoured those who strategically missed some gates due to its difficulty – not ususally the way we roll! However it was great to see all of the teams so challenged, and we were all fully exhausted by the end of 2 runs. We came in 7th out of 19 ladies teams. This was followed by another mud entrenched hike out of the river to the buses waiting high above the river. In case we weren’t tired enough, the evenings entertainment consisted of being chased around a rodeo ring by a variety of small energetic bulls! For those brave enough to take on the challenge a few horns were received to various limbs, the rest of us stayed well behind the bars and watched the chaos ensue.
Endurance was the final race of the competition. There had been a rolling debate as to how long it should be, with opinion divided between one hour 30 minutes vs a 40 minute stretch. In the end the finish line was moved to make an hour long race along one of the most spectacular sections of canyon in Costa Rica. Massive boulder gardens provided an awesome opportunity for us to overtake the USA, in one of the most daring moves of the day, mid class 4+rapid we battled for the central line through a boulder pinch and boofed a big hole whilst USA were fighting for the right line. We had a super fast exit from the hole and came out in the lead, just metres in front of them. We gained more and more ground from them over the next 30 minutes and finished 5th, only 12 seconds from the medal place over an hour long race. One of the most surreal moments of the endurance came as we rounded a corner deep in the jungle clad gorge and a helicopter swooped round in front of us with a couple of camera men hanging out of the doors rambo style, only 10 metres of so off the water. Amazing!
The final party was completely insane. There was more bull riding, this time with anyone and everyone having a free for all riding this massive muscled bull with huge horns bucking and bronking around the ring. Then Chino, one of the safety kayakers would appear on his Appaloosa stallion galloping into the ring (making Rosie and Georgie weak at the knees!) to lasoo the bull and return him to the pen for the next willling victim. Only in Costa Rica!
Overall the competition was very well organised, especially in such a remote location with very difficult logistics. The section of river they used was stunning, its setting deep in the jungle and incredible whitewater gave us all an experience we would never forget. The entertainment was second to none and atmosphere throughout the competition was brilliant. One of the best things about the whole operation was the way the safety was organised. Each day a team of over 20 safety kayakers and rafts set off to the river, set up pully systems, throw lines and safety boats to keep us safe. They all knew the river well, covered all of the danger spots and rescued numerous swimmers. They worked tirelessly all day, and still gave us a smile and cheer everytime we made a good line (or bad one!). Thankyou safety kayakers (we love you!) and to all of those who helped make the event possible. Pura Vida. We will be back.
To keep up-to date with rafting around the world take a look at the International rafting web site here.
Just had a mail from north of the border to say that new kayak movie goodness Sneaky Freeky Creeky is ready to order.
It’s been a while since the Scottish boys have combined together footage of their considerable adventures and Dave Biggin has come up trumps again, highlighting through the highlands and beyond why Scotland really is a world class whitewater venue…. if theres water!
Here’s a sweet little trailer, but if you want to get the full show and be inspired to paddle in Scotland get along to www.wheresthewater.com and get yourself a copy.
Our illustrious graphic designer, web guru and ever grinning colleague Tim Trew is up and away to pastures new.
Tim and his girlfriend Kate are taking their legendary cake and bread making skills to the other side of the world and are going to run a cafe in New Zealand. But its not just any cafe, oh no! They’ve managed to land right on their paddles, bagging the ‘Falls cafe’ right by McLaren falls – entry point for none other than the world famous Wairoa river.
So its good bye and good luck from all of us here at Palm and hello, or ‘how about an extra slice of cake’ from any of you lucky enough to be nearby.
But don’t worry, he’s promised to make us jealous with some blogs and you never know he may throw in a recipe or two as well!
CanoeKayak UK magazine are hosting an industry awards this year and amoungst the categories, there is a public vote for ’The most innovative product of the year’.
Generally at Palm, we like to let the product do the work and the paddlers do the talking, telling us about the adventures had using Palm gear. But we really think we have made some genuine breakthroughs recently, so would be honoured if you’d show your support and cast a vote.
You can pick any product and vote but here at Palm HQ the shortlist of three favourates came down to:
1. The Extrem PFD – like the Kiakoura it has tremendous fit, but the entry system, utility features and safety performance make this the top of our list.
2. The Atom Jacket – although all the new jackets share the superb new cut and performance, this model has all the bells and whistles.
3. The Kiakoura PFD – for the introduction of the flex formed foam concept.
No matter whether you vote, we think it would be fun for you to tell us on Facebook what your favourite Palm products of all time are – as an incentive the best story or image as supporting evidence will win a a Hoodie!
We are part way through our first Canoe Village event of the year and word of our success has spread, as yesterday we were visited by Royalty!
Arriving in style - our royal visitor
Whilst being shown around, the Countess of Wessex made a bee-line for the Canoe Village stand to see why it is one of the most popular features at the show and how the collabiration between manufacturers and govening bodies is helping to grow participation in the sport and enjoyment of the outdoors.
Meeting our on water organiser - Rob from Globe 360
She was amazed to learn how we’d broken records for the fifth year runnning by getting over six hundred, mostly new, participants on the water on the first day alone , although a shoulder injury prevented her from taking to the water herself. She also took time to look over the different types of boats taking a particularl shine to the Wilderness Tapon 120 Angler and of course the show stopping Mad River Duck Hunter.
The Tarpon 120 proved popular
The event continues today and tomorrow and the Canoe Village will then be moving onto the South of England Show next week and the the CLA Game Fair in July.
Now in its third year, the big demo day brings together a wide range of manufacturers and paddlers and we will be showing Dagger, Wilderness Systems, mad River Canoe, Islander sit-on-top kayaks plus the new Infinity inflatable kayaks – in fact as many boats as we can fit onto the trailers!
Kicking off at 10am the event runs to 5pm and the shop will be open to six for you to get any goodies you want. So if you’ve not seen any of the new Palm range up close yet this is your chance.
