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.
Seasoned outdoor BBC presenter Kate Humble will be picking up a paddle, donning some Palm kit and jumping in a Mad River Canoe at our first demo event of the season this weekend.
The Springwatch and Lambing Live adventure girl will be at Surf-Lines, Llanberis on Saturday, May 14th at 11.30am leading a kayak and canoe flotilla across the beautiful waters of Llyn Padarn to officially open the Surf-Lines Adventure Gym.
The ever resourceful team at Surf-Lines have spotted a new concept that works in the same way as a standard gym. You can sign up for monthly memberships and then make use of thier extensive range of outdoor equipment and demo boats.
Take your pick from their rowing skull, or one of the stand-up paddleboards, Wilderness Systems and Dagger kayaks, Mad River Canoes or Islander sit-on tops. There will also be wild swimming sessions, as well as regular coaching clinics for those wanting to improve any of their other adventure sports skills.
Staff from Palm will be on site at the demo on Saturday to advise on choice of boat, equipment set-up and showcasing products from the new Palm apparel line. We’ll also be brining along the new Infinity Inflatable kayaks for trial.
For more on the demo event and Surf-Lines Adventure Gym check the web site.
The first ever Cardiff International Whitewater Safety & Rescue Symposium took place yesterday at Cardiff International Whitewater course. As headline sponsor, Palm brought along team paddler and rescue professional Dave Carroll to share his massive knowledge on safety and rescue practice (and infectious humour!).
With over 50 participants the day was a huge success and is sure to grow to be a regular fixture. If you haven’t made it down to Cardiff Whitewater yet it’s well worth a visit. With 250 metres of more less continuous whitewater it’s an ideal alpine training ground. Many thanks to all of the CIWW staff and coaches for putting on the event and organising such fantastic weather.
It’s hard to explain just how much I ache at this moment, but I’m sure many of you reading this are still feeling the full effects of this year’s NSR, be it from the copious amounts of partying or the water quality…
So continuing on the theme in the post below – here’s our video wrap up of the weekend:
We’ve just got back from the National Student Rodeo – what a weekend it was! Over 800 paddlers from university clubs all over the county travelled to the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham, UK for probably the biggest (and definitely one of the most fun) events on the European boating calendar.
The Topo Duo Final
But what makes it so brilliant?
1. Enthusiasm
I’ve never seen so many paddlers loving boating as much as I did this weekend. More a festival than a competition, the NSR is all about getting as many people on the water as possible. It’s not about being the best. It’s about grinning inanely whilst powerflipping, epic ‘King of the Wave’ competitions, or standing up in your boat and blowing kisses at the judges. It’s about swimming, grinning and coming back for more.
Old Skool Queen Niamh
2. Carnage
Oh the carnage…. From the inflatable sofa-cross (geddit?) to the now infamous Duo final the carnage at NSR this year will take a lot of beating. Check out the shots and video below if you don’t believe me.
3. Organisation.
The event is meticulously organised. To get 800 paddlers down the course in one weekend is amazing. For it to all run on time is incredible. And when you consider that the NSR is entirely run by volunteers (from Leeds University and River Legacy) it’s mind blowing. Here’s some of the 90 paddlers Leeds Uni brought with them. Well done guys.
Event organisers Leeds Uni
Ex and Ex-ex Rodeo Bosses Andy and Luke judging the final
4. The party.
Students know how to party and the NSR party is always epic. The beach theme provided plenty of inspiration for some brilliant fancy dress. In fact we were so impressed by the quality of the outfits we’ve decided to give a prize to the best dressed. If you were there and fancy your chances just post a picture of yourself at the party to the Palm Facebook Page. We’ll judge them on Friday and send the winner a free Kinetic or Lara WW jacket. Too easy!
4. The Prizes. Nottingham University were eventual winners of the competition and took away our Dagger Axiom with custom NSR graphics.
Nottingham University collecting their prize
Massive massive thanks to Jethro, Nic and the rest of Leeds University Canoe Club for organising a brilliant event. See you there next year!
Win a Free Palm Whitewater Jacket!
Got a spare 2 minutes?
Post a photo of yourself at the NSR party to the Palm Facebook Page.
We’ll judge the best Fancy dress
We’ll choose a winner on Friday and send you a jacket in the post.
Last week we supported Desperate Measures with the Canoe and Kayak Pool at the Boat & Caravan Show and Cardiff International White Water with the CIWW Pool at the Outdoor Leisure Show – both held at the NEC Birmingham.
30,000 people visited the Shows, both of the Pools were busy throughout with much fun had by all who ventured onto the water. CIWW gave over 600 people a taster of kayaking during the three days of the Outdoor Leisure Show in addition to having a fun and interactive display.
Better late than never, seems apt. After many technical difficulties I’ve finally managed to get this little edit rendered and done.
2010′s Adventure Paddler’s Weekend was another awesome one. Despite the lack of water and ultra cold weather, a large crowd turned up, watched some amazing videos, paddled and of course, rocked out to Paul ‘Cheesy’ Robertson’s classic club anthems.
The low levels and cold weather equalled a couple of interesting morning after runs in the Dagger Green, which was the boat of choice for me after being talked into it by Nick Horwood. Despite my initial fears of getting stuck halfway down Euthanasia and vertically pinned in Surprise Surprise, the Green Boat turned out to be perfect for the hangover run down a super low upper Dart. Sitting high and bombing over everything is fun!
Most of the party footage was WAY too dark, so all of the dance antics were filmed after the lights came on, when only the most hardcore remained.
After filming so much the previous evening, little GoPro HD was low on juice – unfortunately running out of battery half way down our first run. Nevertheless I’m really happy with how the videos come out – so without further delay…
Happy New Year guys – More Wintery videos coming soon…
