The annual Adventure Paddlers Weekend on the Dart provides Team Palm with an ideal time for a get-together. It’s wonderful to get the chance to all meet up, go for a paddle and have a couple of glasses of wine together.
Palm also brought along all of their exciting new gear. I was eager to see the new ladies gear after helping in the development process. I can’t wait to get out in the new buoyancy aid and cag – they are so comfy!
Janette modelling the new gear: rigid with excitement.
Big up to Simon Westgarth for organising APWE and massive thanks to Palm for great team support and providing us with lovely accommodation!
See you on the water,
Lowri
(photo: Sally Montgomery)
The European Freestyle Championships recently took place in Lienz, Austria. The hole was bouncy, flushy and very hard to find the retentive spot for any loop-type moves – so much so that the majority of ladies (including myself) and many men scored 0 points in at least 1 prelim ride! Thankfully, just one air loop (from both rides) for the ladies was enough to obtain a position in the semis, and by finals my rides had become more consistent. 
(photo: Jamie Austen)
The ladies were generally sticking 2 – 3 moves maximum and due to the nature of the hole most of us saved the low-scoring moves till last going straight in for the loops. Air loops and helixes were the easiest reasonable scoring moves to be consistent with, yes helixes in holes do look rubbish, but for some reason they are worth 100 points… so, why not?! These 2 moves helped me to obtain 3rd place, another international medal for my collection 
Marlene Devillez (FRA) had an awesome ride in the finals with an entry end linked into a huge air loop and another air loop later in the ride giving her a winning 300 point score.
(Photo: Sam Ward)
The men were sticking bigger moves more easily than the ladies, though it was hard to link moves. James (pringle) Bebbington (GBR) had been leading throughout each round scoring more and more each time, with huge McNasties and textbook aerial phonix monkeys. But Peter Csonka (SLO) had his best ride at the right time in the finals edging ahead of Pringle to give him the Gold medal. The GB paddlers did well with 5 float boat medals and 3 (unofficial) squirt boat medals (see www.gbfreestylekayak.com for more details of the British results). Full event results can be found at http://www.euro-lienz.com/
The cardboard boat race drew in the biggest crowds of the event (mainly because it had briefly stopped raining during that time – but also because the general public had a rough idea of what they were trying to do!). 
Team GB (above) did well, the craft stayed intact and upright right to the end of the course (as did 50% of the team!).
The selection for this years Great British Freestyle kayak team was three events held over the past two months. The first two were held up at Nottingham, at the Holme Pierrepoint white water course. The third was held at Hurley. These events, for anyone that doesn’t know, were to select the British team for this years Europeans that are being held in Austria.
The first event was held at Twin Waves, the new feature below the inlet gate. In training before the event, I had been confident on the wave and was able to stick spins and shuvits both ways consistently. However, they had changed the feature just before the event, making it a lot stickier and harder to paddle. Both the senior and junior men did amazingly on it, with Pringle scoring 1100 points in one ride! It was a lot harder for the junior and senior women. Most of the junior women spent most of their runs getting stuck in the bouncy bit of the hole. This definitely wasn’t my best event and I came joint 3rd.
Lowri styling it in the hole
The second event, also at HPP, was on the new feature Tardis. I had never properly paddled it until a few weeks before the event. I trained hard on it and was, again, feeling confident, as with Twin Waves – the feature was ‘tweaked’ before the competition, this time using a picture of the hole in Austria to try and simulate the actual competition.
It was freezing cold on the competition day. I was even colder because I’d, cleverly, left my skullcap and shoes at home. I paddled my best and came 2nd, with Gabby Bates getting 1st. The cold water was obviously discouraging any swimmers. Even the OC1’s managed to stay in their boats!
Aiming for the Hole Gate at Hurley (c) Matt Rodgers
The third and final selection event was held at my favourite place, Hurley. Since it had only come in the week before selections, no one had managed to get much practice. The feature was on a flushy two gates, both of which were a strange sort of hole. As there were only three junior girls competing at this event, we were on and off the cold water quickly. The judging was very harsh (they’d say strict!) with two of my spins not scoring. In the end I came first in this event, which I was very pleased with.
This means I’ve come second overall in selections and will be going to the Europeans this summer as part of team GB!
The full team listing can be found here:
http://www.ukfreestyle.com/articles.php?id=405
That’s all for now. A massive well done to everyone who made the team. I’ll now be taking a quick break from freestyle over winter to do a bit of river running, before coming back to train for the Europeans when it gets warmer.
See you on the river
Tasha
When I was 15 I ran the top drop on the Gamlan (at very low levels). 10 years later, I was lucky enough to find good water levels and sunshine on the same day; so donned my shiny kit to run the river with nostalgic memories of Topos and Schlegels.
The gear has changed, but the line’s still the same…
Recent photo by Chris Eastabrook. Old photo by someone in York Canoe Club (I can’t remember who exactly!).
It’s raining again now… see you on the water!
Lowri
Well as you all know a couple of weeks ago I was on the Keener program in Canada so I just thought that I would do a quick round up of what I got up to there.
Where I was staying, “Keenerville”, was right by the side of the Ottawa river with Phils hole and McCoys wave about a 2 minute paddle away. When I first got there it was night time so I didn’t realise how close to the river the site was. When I realised I was thrilled and went straight out for a paddle. I even got peer pressured in to swimming Phils.
Every day we would get on the water at around half 10 and be given the choice to either run the Middle or the Main channels. Both of them had great features on. The middle had Angels Kiss, Butterfly (two of my new favourite waves) and Upper and Lower no name. The main had Buseater (which sadly wasn’t in when I was there) and Wikiki. Most days I ran the Middle channel but on the days that I ran the Main I really liked Wikiki wave and Collosseum.
As well as all the great paddling we did there we also got trained in Swift Water Rescue and First Aid. We took a day off to do our SRT training where we learnt about log jams (something that never really happens in the UK but happens lots in America and Canada), how to get out of a foot entrapment and practiced a lot with throwlines. We did our First Aid training two nights after paddling and one Saturday. In this we learnt CPR and how to care for injuries such as 2nd degree burns and broken bones. The funniest bit here was when we had to fix our “injuries” with whatever we could find lying around. I ended up with my hand covered in neon orange duct tape for a broken finger and one of the boys had both his legs tied together for a dislocated knee.
Everyone in Canada was so nice and it was great having such great coaches there everyday to help me with my tricks. I can now roundhouse and handroll and my flatwater cartwheel has come on really well. Probably the best thing was that everyone was having fun just being on the water. I definately want to go back next year now its just a matter of getting mum and dad to fund it.
Here are a couple of pictures
Tasha
Me running Phils
Me on Upper no name
All of the Keeners
It’s been a while since I’ve posted on here, for which I must apologise. It’s been a busy summer of paddling! I spent most of the past 3 months in Norway where I have been doing a mixture of creeking, extreme races, coaching for Gene17, playboating and freestyle competitions. I have been a little better at updating my own blog, so for more on that stuff, check out www.lowridavies.co.uk.
Right now I have made it to Switzerland, ready for the Freestyle Kayaking World Championships 2009. Official training starts on the wave tomorrow (hoepfully – if the spectator stand ever finishes construction!). Competitors from over 30 countries have been arriving for the past few days and search out waves for last minute training.
Here’s a few pics from my recent training:
Donkey Flippin” on Skjak Wave, Norway. Pic: Will Eldred
Sneaky practice at Sierre Wave, Switzerland, without the queues. Pic: Emily Wall
Clean blunts at Skjak Wave, Norway. Pic: Tom Laws
Dave Bainbridge going large at Bremgarten, Switzerland. Pic: Lowri Davies
Switzerland: it’s very pretty here. (Islay Crosby styling the clean spin at Bremgarten). Pic: Lowri Davies
If you would like to keep up to date on what is happening here at the Worlds, keep an eye on the official website at http://www.icf-thun2009.ch and the finals will even be streamed live on Freecaster (www.freecaster.tv) on Sep 6th. If you are at a loose end over the week of 1st-6th, please come and support us! Thun is a beautiful town set in dramatic snow capped mountains and there will be plenty to do and see here throughout the event, not just the kayaking… and of course the parties will be legendary. Flights can be found pretty cheap and the public transport this end is really easy.
So wish myself, Flea Jarvie and the rest of the Palm Team competing here luck and we’ll do our best to keep you all up to date on the latest news n gossip!
Happy Paddling.
Lowri
Hi, Tasha here
As I wrote a few weeks ago, I’m writing this from the Ottawa river in Canada – I’ll give you a full update when I’m back home and I can put in some pics, but just to give you a taste of a week on the Keener programme:
So this Monday we had to do speeches. I did what my experience of being a girl keener’s been like. This was great as we got to choose the subjects that we wanted instead of being given something boring to do.
On Tuesday we went on a river trip to the Gatuneau river (which meant getting up at quarter to six!). I only got one surf on high tension because I was a bit freaked out by it, but I got to take some great pictures of all the other Keeners getting great tricks in it.
Sadly, my backs been really hurting this past week which meant I missed out on race Wednesday but I was back on the river today for Big Water Beat down Thursday. I didn’t get trashed anywhere though some others definately got worked in one hole for a while! Then tonight some people got to repell of the tower at WT, the rest of us are doing it next week. We also had great fun climbing the wall there.
I’ve got one more week left, apart from the climbing I have to pass my first aid and CPR and also I want to work on my roundhouses and maybe blunts.
Pics to come soon!
Tasha
x
Hey it’s Tasha
This summer, tomorrow in fact, I’m off to Canada to become a Keener at Ottawa Kayak school! For those of you who don’t know, this is a really great teen kayaking school on all the BIG waves on the ottawa river and it’s focused on teenagers really wanting to improve their paddling. As the website says it “combines old school values with new school boating”.
For three weeks I’ll be paddling with some of the best coaches and learning loads more tricks. I’m really going to use this opportunity to learn new tricks and improve on the ones I can already do. I’m especially looking forward to paddling all the big waves such as Buseater.
Not only that I’ll also have training for swift water rescue and safety, which is always useful as a paddler.
I’ll be posting on the Palm blog to keep everyone updated about my adventures in Canada
Speak to you soon
Tasha
Last week I was elected Aberystwyth University’s Sports Person of the Year, a great honour which makes me extremely proud. Usually all the awards go to traditional field sports but this year myself and the canoe club dominated:
- I won Sports Person of the Year : This is awarded to the individual who has excelled in their chosen field of sport and has enhanced the reputation of sport in Aberystwyth”
- I was nominated for the Gwyn Evans Shield : Awarded in memory of a former PE lecturer and club coach, the award recognises personal dedication, commitment and commendable sporting attitude towards achievement in sport
- I was awarded one of 18 College Colours (an award I also received last year) : Awarded for long service & loyalty to a club and/or university sport in general and/ or outstanding performance
- On top of all of that, the Canoe Club also won Most Improved Club, which fills me with just as much pride as the personal awards, my friends and I have put in so much time and effort over the last five years to make the club as inclusive, fun and active as possible. (We also won the “Spirit of PGL Award” at the National Student Rodeo this year)
More information on the Awards can be found on the Aberystwyth Guild Website.
I am awaiting official photos from the evening, but as my housemate is a photographer he took the above photo to make sure I have at least one nice one! Thanks to Rob Clark for the photo.
I hope you have exciting summers planned, I know I do… Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland for the World Freestyle Championships then to finish off I am heading to Tibet for an expedition exploring two previously unpaddled tributaries of the mighty Tsangpo.
Over the summer, both on my travels and at home, I will be doing loads of coaching, including a Kids Camp and several Ladies Specific FlowFree courses. Oh and in July I’ll be donning a mortar board to graduate from my Masters Degree. Happy days…
See you on the water,
Lowri Davies
Palm/Dagger Europe are once again involved in sponsoring the Youth Freestyle series for 2009. The first event at Llangollen took place under bright sunshine and blue skies, unfortunately this also meant extremely low water levels with very few places to get any verticality for the freestyle competition.
The organisers made the most of the features that were available though and chose a number of places for the river workshops, one of which included a ‘throwline workshop’.
The freestyle competition in the afternoon took place in 2 different features and a whole variety of moves were seen from all abilities and all age groups. Extra points were awarded in the ‘middle stopper’ for those who let go of their paddles on one side and caught them again on the other.
Dagger is sponsoring the 2009 downriver races which follow on from the freestyle competition. The first of the Dagger Downriver series kicked off with great entertainment for both the paddlers and the onlookers as some heats involved a variety of different starts (including one heat of under 18s having to complete a flatwater loop before racing downstream) and many paddlers made it to the bottom of the river either ‘deckless’ or ‘paddleless’.
One of the 15 and under river-running heats who were lucky enough to finish the race in their boats with both a deck and a paddle!
The winners of the heats of the Dagger Downriver were then put head to head in a ‘throwline competition’ and the most accurate thrower took the race win.
As always, huge numbers of spot prizes were handed out to those that showed the greatest enthusiasm or best entertainment for the spectators and there were both medals and prizes for the winners of each category. The next event takes place at the Nene on 14th June – check www.youthfreestyle.co.uk for details.
