Swiftwater Rescue Conference

Als Mitte des Jahres die Einladung von der ACA (American Canoe Association) zur ersten Swiftwater Rescue Conference ins Haus flatterte, war ich nur mäßig interessiert. Ist ja auch nicht gerade um die Ecke und ich hatte bereits einen Trip geplant. Als ich dann aber die Presenter-Liste durchging, sind mir fast die Augen ausgefallen. Kaum einer der Referenten stand nicht in meinem Buchregal. Es waren fast alle versammelt die in den 80er und den 90er Jahren maßgeblich an der Entwicklung der ersten Wildwasser-Rettungstechniken mitgewirkt hatten. Ergänzt durch einige hochrangige Vertreter der jüngeren Garde. Angemeldet waren Slim Ray, Charly Wallbridge, Les Bechtel, Palm Dillon, Sam Fowlkes plus Mike Mather, Jim Coffey, Walter Felton und Justin Padgett . Unterstützt von einer Truppe altgedienter und weniger altgedienter Instructor-Trainern, die international weniger bekannt sind, in den USA aber durchaus Kultstatus besitzen.
Der Entschluss stand schnell fest, der Flug ebenfalls schnell gebucht und ab ging’s nach North Carolina in die Appalachen. Nicht weit von den Nantahala Falls entfernt, dem Austragungsort der diesjährigen Freestyle WM.

Das die Organisatoren um Sam Fowlkes den Tuckaseegee als Konferenz-Ort ausgesucht haben war naheliegend. Kaum irgendwo in den Staaten ist die Dichte an Paddlern und Instructoren so hoch. Witzigerweise wohnen am Ufer des Tuck’ auf einer Halbinsel in einer Flussbiegung ausschließlich aktive Paddler , allesamt ACA Veteranen, allen voran Sam mit exquisiten Schulungsmöglichkeiten auf dem eigenen Grundstück. DoubleTrop und SlingShot sind die wohlklingenden Namen der Rapids.

Ziemlich cool war der ausgestellte Simulations-Tank. Mit mehreren Einsätzen, vom Strainer über das Wehr bis hin zur Steinfromation, konnte sehr realitätsnah simuliert werden.

Alles in allem eine sehr hochkarätige Veranstaltung mit extrem hohem Niveau. Klassisch Amerikanisch natürlich mit Bankett am Samstag. Charlie Wallbridge war der KeynoteSpeaker und hat ziemlich aus dem Nähkästchen geplaudert. Am Freitag gab’s ne Presenterparty zu der ich als einziger Europäer und Vertreter der ACA Europe auch eingeladen war. Da verraten wir keine Detail
Im Übrigen wurden auch immer wieder die Rolle der Europäer, allen voran Horst Fürsattel und der AKC, betont.

Crana Canoe Weekend

Head games: Leading from the inside

 Pushing your self to paddle harder rivers and rapids is not always easy. Before you make that decision to put on, there are so many different pressures and questions; Will I make all the necessary moves? Am I ready for this? Where will that water push me? Why do I even want to paddle this? Is that stopper flushing enough? Will I get hurt? What if I go over?

Most of the time when I’m confronted with a harder rapid, these kind of questions start to race through my head. To be honest I would be worried if they didn’t. After all, fear is mainly formed by the unknown or negative past experiences. To paddle a rapid well I find my mind needs to be 100% clear, focused and committed. But with all those questions whizzing around, it can be hard to achieve.

Somewhere between scouting that rapid, and dropping in I usually manage to settle the nerves and get myself into that clear state of mind. Over the past few years, I have developed a technique that helps me to do this. So I thought I would share & discuss it, in the hope that it may be useful to others. It’s very possible its something you already do, if this is the case perhaps this article will draw some attention to the skill, and help you develop it.

To get us started the skill I’m going to be talking about is commonly known as visualization; put in simple terms, imagining. Think back to a rapid that you have paddled multiple times. I’m guessing the more times you paddle it, the better you get at it (excluding the odd unlucky mess up) There are many reason we usually paddle stuff better after a few attempts but in essence the main reasons are because we start to get a feeling for what the water is going to do to us and when we need to place our strokes to get us down in good style. Provided you can agree with the above sentence, you will hopefully kind of agree with the next one. If we can get good enough at visualizing our selves paddling a rapid, then we have effectively paddled it, and have therefore already practiced it. So when we ‘actually’ paddle said rapid, we should be better off than if we had not visualized it.

An exercise for you; Imagine you are at the top of one of the more challenging rapids you have ever undertaken. You have scouted the rapid, safety is all set up and your boat is waiting at the top, now it’s all up to you. Can you imagine yourself paddling the line? If so, how vividly? Is your image in colour? Are you imagining your self in first person or third person? Can you make out every single move? Are you styling the line or do you see yourself messing up? Can you hear the water? Is it in real time, slow motion or fast forward? Can you sense what it feels like?

If you can answer some of these questions then you already possess the skill’s to visualize. Which I’m fairly sure everyone can do to some extent or another? However like all skills, they can be improved with good practice.

 

Unwrapping the skill of visualizing our selves paddle a rapid also expose’s other skills which we need to master. One of which is reading the terrain (white water/rapids). If we cant read the terrain, then we are not going to be able to work out where we need to go and if we cant do that, then we cant visualize our route through the rapid. If your new to white water, try to ask better paddlers about rapids, find out about the different features and how the river works. Reading the river is a skill and I think we can always improve it throughout our kayaking careers.

Once you are able to read the terrain and pick a path, you need to have a good idea of how you are going to get your boat to follow that route. Here is where we need to understand both the tactics (e.g lateral momentum etc) and the hard skills (e.g paddle waggling, edging etc) of white water kayaking.

With these two major components in place we are free to see the best route though a rapid, and know how to command the boat to follow that path. From that point on successful visualization becomes a lot easier. The reason it becomes successful visualization is because we are now creating an image of what should in theory be a positive out come e.g we style the rapid because we have picked a good line and rehearsed the correct moves.

I think it’s important to point out that picking a line, is not the same as actually imagining your self paddle it.

Going back to that first exercise, you can hopefully see that there is a sliding scale of creating an imaginary event. At the simplest end we might just be able to see ourselves from a third person point of view, but the images is hazzy and we cant work out how every move might look. And at the other end, we can create an image so intense it feels real.

My theory is that the more realistic an image (or perhaps brain video?) We can create, the more useful it’s going to be to us.

Second Exercise: Look at the photos bellow of the same rapid. Your challenge is to pick a line, and then to see if you can visualize yourself paddle it. Can you create these pictures into a brain video of yourself paddling the rapid?

If you can, it’s probably because you have paddled a similar rapid before. If you have never paddled anything like this, then it may be very difficult to picture. The reason behind this is because of Engrams.

When learning a new paddle stroke, our motion is often inaccurate and jerky. This is because all of our muscles are having to be monitored through various kinesthetic sensors that are then analyzed by the brain, which in turn sends signals back to our muscles. If we continue to try to learn that stroke, our brain starts to write an Engram. This is a file stored by our brain, with an instruction manual on how to do that movement. Not only is it an instructional file on how to do that skill, it is also an effective short cut which allows us to reproduce the skill with a lot less effort. With an Engram in place our brain in no longer having to monitor thousands of conscious signals, which allows it to concentrate on other things.

To put this in context, the larger the range of rapids we paddle, the bigger the selection of engrams available to us. When we arrive at a rapid that looks/feels similar to something we have done in the past, our brain is able to access old engrams and use it to help us. Hence the masters of visualization will be the people who are very experienced in their sport. They will have an engram for almost any situation, so like a jig saw puzzle they’re able to put the pieces together to create an image for every part of the rapid. Whereas a less experience paddler may be able to look at a rapid, visualize breaking in, paddling over the waves, but then get stuck when it comes to getting over/around the final stopper, this is because they have never been over a drop and as such do not know how it looks or feels. But the more experienced paddler would have an engram for that drop and as such would be able to picture it and know how to apply the skill.

So the type of Visualization we have talked about so far is all aimed at creating a vision of yourself paddling a chosen rapid. This is very useful for learning where to go, and what moves to put in. In fact it has been shown by research (scanners) that by visualizing a task, your brain is firing all same signals as if it were when doing the actual task.

For the purpose of this article I would like to call this ‘factual visualization’. You are trying to create what will hopefully become an event. You are using the visualization technique to help you perform better.

To a large extent ‘Factual Visualization’ will only help us control our anxieties if we believe that in doing it, it will make our upcoming performance better. There is also one other type of Visualization technique that I would like to talk about. For the sake of the article I will call it ‘Motivational Visualization’ this is where we perhaps need to boost our confidence and get ourselves all fired up and ready to go. How to go about this? Well, I think its simple, picture some of the more positive moments you have had down challenging white water in the past. Remind your self of what you have done in the past, and how capable you are of doing it. It will be most useful if you can picture a similar style of rapid. But if not, don’t worry, just keep the positive flow’s coming, picture your self as strong and capable and ready to style!

Think of a game of tennis, so much of it is mental, when one player gets on a high the other may be on a low. Now think about how there performances differ. All we are trying to create with Motivational Visualization is the mind set of the winning tennis player.

Some top tips for practicing:

The great thing about visualization is that it can be practiced in most day to day tasks. Try simple exercises like putting an object on the floor (such as a ball) then stand back a few meters, visualize picking up the object, then shut your eyes and see if you can do it.

Like all new skills in kayaking, try it out on terrain you already feel quite confident in before trying it out on bigger rapids.

Try closing your eyes, to help you focus.

Use your hand to draw the shape of your chosen line, this could be a helpful prop and allow you to learn the line in a learning style perhaps more suited to you.

Do some air paddling. It may look a little odd, but by practicing the sequence of stroke’s on the river bank you will start to build up an idea as to how it should feel. To do this in the most effective way visualize your route down the rapid whilst doing the strokes.

The next time your out on the river, have a go at visualizing some lines (factual visualization), as well as conjuring up some strong positive images (Motivational visualization). Once you can see yourself getting all the way down, and hitting every move, see if you feel calmer. If you cant see it or you can only see your self not making the line, then perhaps your not ready for that rapid?

I hope its been a helpful read, its mainly my own thoughts on the matter, combined with some previous reading on the subject.

Cheers,

Jake

No smoke without fire – the Big Paddle Llanberis lights up!

By nine thirty in the morning a small grassy hollow had been transformed to a travelling canoeists camp and a fire pit was under construction. The scene was perfect, the sun was out, the water was clear and crystal and the Mad River canoes pulled up with tarpaulin shelters creating some shade. Jules Burnard of Voyageur coaching was ready for the days activities and all around him other Palm Team coaches prepared their equipment for the wide range of workshops they were running.

The shore line of Llyn Padarn soon became a multi-coloured mass of kayaks, canoes, sit-on-tops and inflatables as families, friends and clubs all took to the water in the demo boats from Palm. With the lads from Plas-y-Brenin on hand to give a few pointers to those who’d not been paddling before, the Big Paddle Llanberis was quickly in full swing.

Outside the Palm Store the Paddle Plugs, Canoe Wales and Llanberris Mountain Rescue teams were busy setting some times on the Ergo Challenge and then challenging others to beat them. Surprise surprise one of the raft guides from Canolfan Tryweryn took home the best time over a two hundred metre dash.

Back down by the waterside, near lunch time, paddlers were taking a rest from trying boats or coming back from sessions. Marshmallows were being roasted on the Bushcraft fire but for those wanting something a little more hearty, Tŷ Newydd Organics were cooking up a some tasty treats. The Harlequin paddler took his turn sitting in his boat raising his hands for help and trying to catch the ropes from the Throwline Challenge contestants.

The sun was now brilliant in the sky and as groups headed back out for sea kayak workshops with Olly Sanders or skills sessions with Chris Eastabrook and Lowri Davies. The strange mountain of cardboard that had been built began to move as construction began for the grand cardboard canoe race.

By mid afternoon the armada of boats were cleared from the inlet, and marker buoys were set out. A motley crew of home made kayaks and canoes lined up for the finale. With names like Undersea Voyageur, Fragility and Sea Serpent the racers lined up for a Le Mans start. Three .. Two … One … Go – off they went into the water. Sitting, kneeling and in some cases swimming straight away the home spun boats set off. Pit crews and fans cheered them on and the racing was fierce until the boats still afloat finally touched the shoreline again and winners were crowned.

And then it was over, as happy paddlers headed up to the shop to take advantage of the sale and say their goodbyes the site quietened down. The trailers of boats were loaded up and the bushcraft fire dwindled and was put out. The Big Paddle Tour stop number one was over.

If you like the sound of this, then please join us next time  http://thebigpaddle.com/thames-shepperton/

If you were there, thank you, why not share – https://www.facebook.com/TheBigPaddle?ref=hl

Scottish Canoe Symposium 2012

The Canoe Symposium moves around the UK on a tri-annual basis and this year it was Scotland’s turn to host the array of canoeists that come to these events.

I was one of the organising team and responsible for ensuring that we had a good selection of coaches and workshops to keep everyone happy and engaged.

This ranged from sailing sessions to rolling to guided trips as well as some paddling making. Everyone was please with their activities and extra sessions were available on demand.

Evening time involved some beer and presentations on trips at home and abroad. Paddlers were inspired and chat ranged onto future trips and expeditions. Still leaving time for some beer and the whiskey seemed to go down a treat as well.

This event also some time for Jules and I to get out wearing the new Kaikoura BA. With a slightly improved cut and some new additions for us it looks like we have another bit of great kit to aid us on our trips. More detailed review to follow once I have had a few trips out in it.

Look forward to next years event in North Wales.

 

 

Our favourite NEW products…

With so many new and updated products to show off this last week, it’s hard to choose our favourites but with a camera shoved in their face, the people behind Palm Equipment did eventually manage to pick out their favourites.

Watch the video below to see what we liked the best and meet the people who make up Palm…

For those who haven’t seen the last few updates on our Facebook Page the rest of our product videos can be seen here or in the earlier blog postings:

Bye for now,

Pringle

The Year Long Day

So let me get this right, your flying out to the far north of Canada to take part in one of the worlds toughest canoe races, paddling 450 miles, day and night, with little food or rest, with a team of Rugby coaches who aren’t paddlers, that you’ve only met once before and have never paddled together as a team?

Yep, sure am!

Your mad, tapped, insane or simply stupid!

That along with a few other niceties or rather obscenities were the usual comments I received from people when I told them the challenge I was about to embark on.

We were on our way to take part in this years Yukon River Quest, Race to the Midnight Sun which you can find out more about by reading THIS  previous blog article.

Finally we arrived in Whitehorse, Yukon after a twelve hour flight delay, a night in a hotel at Vancouver airport and plenty of eating and drinking! The view from the aircraft window on its way in was stunning, flying over snow capped mountains and as we drew closer flying along the mighty Yukon itself.

As we were now a day late in arriving we set to work quickly identifying our boat at the local outfitters, Kanoe People and making any needed alterations or repairs to it. One thing thing in particular that did take some time and effort was the construction of some sort of spray deck in case we encountered choppy conditions during the Lake Laberge crossing or more likely to prevent swamping whilst negotiating Five Finger Rapids. Quite a daunting task producing a spray deck for a 30 ft Voyageur Canoe, never the less the team addressed it and were justifiably proud of their work. Meanwhile others busied themselves about town getting last minute bits of kit we needed and of course food and drink for the race. The Super stores in Whitehorse were quite interesting with everything from shower gel and toilet roll at one end of the store to bear decoys, semi automatic rifles and ammunition at the other end! Tesco you still have some way to go to match this !!

In between all the hustle and bustle of the race prep was also the opportunity to take our boats and paddles for a test drive. This came in the form of a few little trips in the local area. During these we practiced a number of scenarios including man overboard, should I slip off the boat leaving them without a steersman. I was hoping we wouldn’t need this for real as I ended up spending quite some time floating around as the boat and crew disappeared into the distance before making some valiant efforts to regain control and steer themselves in my direction! Another drill that was rehearsed lots was that of changing paddling sides. Might sound easy but when you have a boat full of rather large rugby boys moving around in a canoe at the same time then it’s bound to end in tears unless you have a plan. On one such occasion we were lucky to see the first of many bald eagles on our trip, on its nest with its young. The novelty of numerous eagle sightings soon faded for some.

Another important task was that of sorting out our food for the journey. Some of the team visited the local stores and others set about preparing some meals. During one such occasion members from the other team had taken over the support vehicle and turned it into some form of soup kitchen. We had all opted to source our own snacks etc and I had chosen various nuts, raisons, chocolate and jelly sweets together with some fruit and energy bars, all of which were hung from a thwart in front of me in plastic tubs. These tubs were provided or rather acquired courtesy of our hotel, where they were meant to be used for ice from the ice machine. Incidentally they made great on board toilets!

Time was soon upon us and it was the day before race day. Briefs had to be attended and the first of many kit checks took place. After having had our team details, entry form and insurance checked we acquired a number of ink stamps on my arm entitling us to a River Quest Race pack.

This contained among other things a YRQ-shirt, our race bibs with our all important team number printed on them and a couple of stickers for our boat. We were to be team 27. After we had all signed every bib on both the back and front it was off for an official team photo proudly wearing both our t-shirt and bib as requested by the officials. One half of this bib has to be returned either on completion or if you withdraw from the race as a way of accounting for everyone.

That night it felt a bit like the last supper as we sat together as a team and ate a hearty meal. Then with race day looming the following morning it was off to bed to dream of the events to come, knowing that this would be our last chance for sleep for over 25 hours!

Race day

Our boat and our team had to be ready at the launch point for another kit check at 0730. At this point our official team mascot was added to our boat, which looked remarkably like the character Wilson from the film Castaway staring Tom Hanks.

Once this was out of the way then it was off for some breakfast and a chill before the 1200 start.

Racers all started to converge from around 1100 at the start area. All the teams were announced and introduced, lots of good luck wishes exchanged and photos under the official start line taken. 4,3,2…1 the air horn sounded and we were off. We now had 14 hours to reach the end of the Lake, 35 hours to get to Carmacks, and 84 hours to get to Dawson. For some this truly was to become the year long day!

 

All teams jogged or walked their way down to their boats before launching, remembering that this was only 400m of 450 miles! The turn out by the locals was quite surprising with lots of cheers, whoops, whistles and shouts of “Yukon”and camera action.

That was it we were on our way, next stop the old Coal mine camping ground at Carmacks which would be around 210 miles later and would hopefully take us about 24 hours. Conditions were the best they had seen in years with good weather and high river levels. After a couple of hours we seemed to loose all the hustle and bustle and settled down to a steady rhythm and just the odd couple of boats around us as we entered the start of Lake Laberege and passed the first of 5 check points before Carmacks. These CP’s are all manned and act as safety to give help when needed and also to record the times of racers before sending them on via sat phones to the Comms centre were they are updated and posted on the race website.

As well as these CP’s there are also a number of Safety Monitoring points or MP’s on route, which again are manned, they quite often have fires burning and hot drinks,for racers to warm up. There was to be 3 of these MP’s between us and Carmacks which proved very useful.

The crossing of the lake took us around 8 hours in excellent conditions meaning we arrived at CP3 Lower Laberge at around 2215 well ahead of the cut off time of 0200. As the temperature was quickly dropping with the sun low in the sky we made the decision to change from daytime light weight clothing into thermals, topped off with our brilliant Palm Aegean cags and Viper pants. Great combination, lots of room inside with freedom of movement and easy to get on and off quickly. After a quick warm up by the fire for a couple of the team and some food it was time to get paddling again.

The temperature continued to drop as we paddled on down the section knows as The 30 Mile River. By now the light was fading but as the name says its the “Race to the midnight sun” and sure enough at midnight we were presented with a stunning sky.

Our next point of interest was MP2 Lower 30 Mile which is around 40km after leaving the lake. The names of the locations we passed made me smile with such things as “Gold diggers point, Klondike Bend, Fish Eddy and Shipyard Island” The scenery by now was very much the same with little if any change from steep banks and pine trees. I was eagerly awaiting us passing the spot where the Teslin River would join us and hopefully give us a bit of a helping hand. The Teslin came and went with no apparent noticeable difference, the temperature dropped more, and we were reminded by a passing paddler “that coldest time yet to come would be around 0500”! Cosmic I thought, I cant wait for it!

By the time we reached MP3 just down stream of where the Big Salmon River joined us, it was definitely daylight and still a tad cool. So we took the decision to stop here and spend sometime re-warming in front of the fire as a number of the crew were starting to feel the effects of cold together with a lack of food and sleep. It was here that Team 1 who were by now ahead of us had also stopped and gave first aid to a fellow racer who was suffering badly from exhaustion and hypothermia. We had been warned by officials at the race briefs that “hypothermia accounts for more than half of all crews that fail to finish, and that on cold years more than 50% of racers will suffer from hypothermia”.

We set off once again and paddled our way down the river. For what seemed like an eternity at one point we paddled through what remained of a huge forest which had been burnt to the ground, it really was mind numbing. By being at the stern of the boat and having to concentrate on steering and keeping an eye on the navigation kept me more than occupied and definitely gave me a focus helping to pass the time, prevent boredom and ultimately the potential to fall asleep. As for wild life well we didn’t really see much aside from the odd eagle, however during the journey back to Whitehorse by vehicle there were moose, wolves and bears to name but a few. Apparently they use the highways just like us to get around.

 

At around 0900 after having been paddling for over 21 hours and a short distance after the Little Salmon joined form the right, we eventually passed our last check point before Carmacks. From here we knew had around a further 4-6 hours of paddling until will reached the sanctuary of Carmacks where we would have a compulsory 7 hour stop. A chance for a hot shower, some food and a well earn’t sleep before tackling the remainder of our Yukon Quest.

 

This last couple of hours leading up to our arrival at Carmacks proved to be a real challenge. Some of the team were now really starting to suffer and hallucinations had taken over with sightings of giant beetles, knights in armor, chimpanzees and goblins all on the river bank along side. On a number of occasions crew members even nodded of whilst still paddling. I was unaware of exactly how severe the situation had become, but I did know that I had to get the canoe and its crew safely to Carmacks.

The journey seemed to take for ever, as we turned a corner only to find yet another corner loomed ahead. With an hour or so to go I got out our sat phone and made a call to our support crew at Carmacks. I made a point of letting them know we where not far and that hot food was the order of the day for all of us as soon as we arrived. However un-be-known to my team was the fact that my signal had cut out after only 20 seconds and that I had decided to keep talking pretending to have communications so as not to unsettle them any further. Another memorable occasion was when a team member stated that “I’m sure we’ve been past this before, are you sure were going the right way?” I must say for moment he even cast doubt in mind and could have caused a mutiny. I did have a moment when I feared I may have been thrown over board.

As we neared Carmacks the map and our race briefs clearly mentioned an overhead cable across the river which is approximately 2km from the campsite, and after which you are advised to keep far right so as to avoid missing the pontoon. After announcing in a very calm manner that we now had only a very short distance to the landing it again seemed to take an age. Moral was high with the thought of food and rest but to my horror as we turned yet another corner I was greeted with what I thought was another overhead cable! My heart sank as I reluctantly announced I had made a navigation error and in fact we still had 2 km to go, not a good feeling to have! But all to soon it became apparent that I was right the first time as the Old Coal mine camping ground rapidly approached. Officials were waiting our arrival and barking incoherent instructions at us. At around 1500 with a loud thud, a big wobble and after more than 27 hours of paddling we finally arrived at Carmacks.

Our next problem was getting out of the boat as we were all somewhat wobbly form our adventure. As officials helped us from the boat it became apparent the toll it had taken on us. We all took some time to compose ourselves and get our thoughts whilst support crew and officials busied themselves helping those that needed it and giving us all a good check over.

A few minutes later some race officials called us together and announced that on the grounds of safety we were being “scratched”! Scratched is the YRQ term for being withdrawn. We were all deeply upset but fully understood the reasons behind their decision.

This really had felt like a year long day….

 

After some food and a hot shower and as we de-rigged our canoe team 1 surfaced from their slumber, had some breakfast, reloaded their boat and set off on the next phase of their adventure. Around 30 hours later they triumphantly crossed the finish line at Dawson in a time of 54 hours. A very well deserved congratulations to Team 1 for completing such a grueling event.

I am glad to say that we are all now back to fitness and going about life as normal. Not forgetting our overall aim of doing this challenge was to raise money for our chosen charity Help for Heroes, and I believe to date both teams together managed to meet their target and raise £100,000

Q: Did I enjoy it?
A: Yes a fantastic experience

Q: Would I do it again?
A: Next years race beckons to me and Im already looking at flights etc. After all I cant leave an unfinished chapter in my life. Bring on Yukon River Quest 2013!

A big thank you to my enduring companions on this trip, who were Toby Booth, Justin Bishop, Neil Hatley, Gavin Cleave and Tony Cilia and to Davis St John Claire who had the thankless task of being our support crew. Thanks also Interserve for making it happen.

Lastly a special thanks goes out to Palm Equipment, Desperate Measures, Rab and Outdoor Active for their help and support throughout.

Hasta la vista…. I’ll be back !!

See you on the water…

Jules

Bespoke Canoe Coaching, Guiding, Safety & Rescue training and BCU awards

www.voyageur-coaching.co.uk

Paddle Expo 2012 – 50 New Products…

This morning PaddleExpo 2012 opens here in the beautiful german city of Nuremberg.

This year we have 50 items of new or updated kit to show to the world over the next 3 days!

Today was our last day of set up, so below you can catch a glimpse of some of the gear and boats we have lined up…

Throughout the exhibition we’ll be uploading videos, photos and blogs so everyone can see and find out more about what will be coming to stores near you soon.

I personally have seen quite a few new things I’ve set my eyes on

Check back soon for more!

Pringle

Photo/ Videos by Pringle & Katya – RiverZoo.com

 

Sunset over Sionascaig

Finally as the sun was setting and after more than nine and a half hours of paddling, poling, portaging, grunting and groaning, and enduring everything from bright sunshine to wind and rain I was treated to my first glimpse of my planned destination. That location was Sionascaig, a beautifully wild and remote loch in the far north of the Scottish highlands surrounded by some spectacular mountains.

I had been wanting to explore this area for a while after having spent some time researching it and pouring over maps thinking how interesting the area looked. When planning I’m always looking at how I can link up watersheds or how I can extend previous trips. Being that I’m not a particularly sociable beast and that I enjoy my own company, plus I really like the challenges presented by solo expedition paddling, I felt that this trip would lend its self well to this style of expedition. Careful consideration should be given to any solo ventures remembering the associated hazards, especially should something go wrong. I always leave details of my intended route with a friend together with details of what to do if they don’t hear from me at certain times. As a safety system I carry a GPS tracking device which allows people to track me but also has a built in message service allowing me to check in and let the world know I’m ok, plus alert the emergency services should I really need them. As best I can I make sure Im self sufficient and that Im not going to be putting anyone else at risk.

Sionascaig is a part of a series of lochs in the Inverpolly National Nature Reserve which lies to the North of Ullapool in the Scottish highlands. It is part of a system which includes Cam Loch, Loch Veyatie, Fionn Loch and Loch Sionascaig. The skyline to the  north is dominated by  the peaks of Suilven and Canisp whilst to the south are Cul Mor, Cul Beag and the classic ridge of Stac Polly.

You can view the area and my route in Google Maps HERE

As I left Dingwall the sun was shining with blue skies, however as I headed north the cloud thickened and the inevitable wind and rain started! I passed the track leading down to the fish farm on Loch Veyatie and found a small pull in off the road with good access to a tributary flowing into Cam Loch, loaded my boat and launched. I had chosen my Mad River Explorer 15 as my boat. I love this as my expeditioning boat. With its shallow “V” hull it tracks well and is equally at home on moving and open water.

I spent a couple of hours exploring Cam Loch before heading to the South West corner in search of a waterfall leading to Loch Veyatie and the first of many portages on this trip.I was quite taken a back when I turned a corner in the narrowing loch, as the the water a short distance in front of me disappeared out of view! For some unknown reason I had been expecting the waterfall to be flowing towards me rather than away and into Veyatie.

The waterfall itself is quite spectacular and the short portage around it rather interesting as it drops 12m in a very short distance. Portage complete and with my boat loaded Loch Veyatie was now stretching away northwards for 7km to my front.

After some 5 km of paddling a large bay opens up on the western shore. This marks the point at which there is a portage between the Lochs Veyatie and Sionascaig and as this was the portage I intended to use on my return I thought I would check it out, and also take the opportunity for a break and some lunch.

By this time the rain and wind had subsided and was replaced with sunshine which was an invite for the legendary Scottish midges to make an appearance. They don’t normally bug me but on this occasion as there was no other option available, they feasted on me! I carry a head net in my PFD for just such an occasion which I normally put on just before landing and for short periods. I also carry a full midge jacket which I then put on for longer periods once settled.

A few km’s later the Loch becomes a river and I was now being overshadowed by the  classic peaks of Suilven. This gave me the opportunity to engage in a spot of downstream poling, which was a great way to stretch my legs. Not that this would be a problem soon with another portage looming. Some distance later after picking my way through the twists and turns,  the flow slows and you find yourself in the calmer waters of Fionn Loch.

I was now  looking for a bay on the west side where the water leaves the loch and heads downhill heading for the Falls of Kirkaig. At this point I needed to leave the Loch and try and find a portage route across to Sionascaig.

 

 This wasn’t to be an easy portage, with over 2 km of rough ground to cover and no chance of a trolley being used. I like to keep the legs short whilst portaging, sticking to 100m at a time, and always carrying my kit first and then returning for my boat. This then allows me to vary my route and select the best option for when Im carrying my boat. Several times I managed to loose either my boat or kit and on one occasion both whilst walking back and forth. Eventually I found myself looking down the final 500m of the remaining portage that would take me into Sionascaig, accompanied by some spectacular sunsets over the surrounding mountains.

It felt good to have water under my boat again as I paddled a couple of km around to  Boat Bay. After searching around a bit for a good bivy site, I eventually set my tarp up for the night in a sheltered spot opposite Boat Bay, sorted some food and went to bed tired but happy. Luckily I had taken a hooped bivy bag with me, which saved me from a night of misery courtesy of the midges.

Next day after a late start I spent the day exploring Sionascaig further before finding a new bivy spot very close to the start of the portage trail back over to Loch Veyatie.  As I settled down for the night the weather was turning with the wind building and  light but steady rain.

I could hear the weather worsening as it whipped and lashed at my tarp making sleeping a challenge. This continued throughout the night until at around 0430 a huge squall flattened my tarp!  Luckily because of the way my tarp was set with my boat along the back edge it didn’t take off and disappear. I crawled out into the pouring rain and wind and surveyed the situation. As it was nearly light I decided to quickly pack and retreat to Loch Veyatie via the  previously mentioned portage route.

Kit packed I set off with my familiar routine of kit first and then boat, again with the legs kept to around 100 m. It was hard going as there was no real path just a wet, tussock strewn 2 km of slog, all slightly up hill and then there was few hundred metres descent down to the water in a sheltered bay. I was quite tired and hungry at this point so stopped for breakfast before continuing.

 

As luck would have it the rain had eased and the wind was blowing down the Loch in the direction I was heading. I quickly rigged my solo sail, sat back and enjoyed the swift journey down the Loch to the fish farm I had passed previously.

Unfortunately there was no vehicle access down from the road to the farm, so I set off on foot back to my car, moved it to the gate at the top of the track and returned to my boat with a portage trolley. With my boat strapped on I set off on the last part of my journey back to my car before heading back to Dinngwall.

I thoroughly enjoyed the trip, despite the bad weather that woke me and cut my trip short. There is lots of scope to extend this trip and include a few more lochs. I could easily have spent more time exploring Sionascaig, in fact I would very much like to head back there soon and maybe even take in one of the surrounding peaks or ridges. A beautiful place with stunning views and well worth a trip. Go and see for your self.

Meanwhile here is a little collection of memories from my trip. Hope you enjoy it

Music by Dan-O at DanoSongs.com

Happy paddling and see you on the water…..

Jules

Bespoke Canoe Coaching, Guiding, Safety & Rescue training and BCU awards

www.voyageur-coaching.co.uk

Coaching Dispatch – Trim

Wether your paddling on open, or moving water, having a good understanding of and being able to apply the principles of trim are fundamental to being an effective open boat paddler.

One way to think about trim is as a footprint that is created in the water by the boat, or the amount of boat in contact with the water and the shape that is created in the water by the boat. The size, shape and depth of this footprint can be changed by both your position and that of any kit in the boat, both of which can have a dramatic effect on performance.

Usually when things aren’t quite working as they should be, or paddling seems like hard work then I encourage people to revisit their trim and adjust it accordingly as a first priority.

Think trim, trim, trim and trim again!

You can develop your understanding of trim especially in relation to wind with a few simple exercises. Firstly find a safe area of open water with a steady wind blowing. Then use extremes of trim by moving your position to either all the way forward to the bow or back to the stern and take note of the effect this has in relation to which end of your boat points into wind. Once this is confirmed try paddling around into, down and across the wind.

TOP TIP: You can help your awareness of wind and its effect in relation to trim with the use of a few quick and simple visual aids. Drop a couple of balls into the bottom of your boat and watch where they settle in your boat. More towards the bow or stern? Use a simple tell-tale flag on the bow of your boat to determine a definite wind direction and now relate this to the direction your boat faces with your given trim.

Very soon you will become aware that although these extremes of trim work they can effect your overall stability, control and ability to paddle effectively. So lets look look at changing our trim with more subtlety. After all Im sure you will agree that you really don’t wont to be getting up and moving around in your boat too much in windy conditions i.e. the middle of a lake or Loch risking a capsize!

So rather than making big changes to our trim by moving, lets look at being more subtle by moving our kit/bags. A good way to experiment with this is with the use of some dry bags full of water.

25 Litres drybag is a good starting point (you may need more) and will result in up to 25 Kg of weight. When placed right at the bow or stern this can can have quite a dramatic effect. View someone else in a boat using the bags full of water to see the effect or have someone photograph you in your boat. Pay particular attention to the where the bow stem or stern curls and under the boat and how much much if any of a gap is produced.

Now imagine your boat is sat in the center of a clock face with the wind coming from a12:00 direction. By using subtle movements of the bag/s, and then fine tuning with small movements of yourself (leaning forward/backward or simply moving slightly ) try and get your boat to point to the various numbers/hours on the clock face, and naturally stay there without much effort from yourself.

Next time your out try and achieve the same effects with your kit bag or simply carry a spare drybag that you can fill with water and use to adjust your trim.

Hopefully with this new found knowledge you can get your boat to naturally point in your desired direction of travel and life will be somewhat easier! It makes sense that if your boat is already pointing in your desired direction of travel, paddling will be a lot easier and there will be no need for wasted energy trying to fight with any wind.

Remember think trim, trim, trim and trim again

In my next coaching dispatch I will give some ideas on how to use trim when paddling in windy conditions on open water, along with a few other strategies for coping with wind.

This along with more of my coaching articles will soon be available for download as PDF’s and in ibook format

Big thankyou to Andy Morgan for giving his time and helping with the photos and filming

See you on the water……

Jules

Bespoke Canoe Coaching, Guiding, Safety & Rescue training and BCU awards

www.voyageur-coaching.co.uk