I have now been using Palm’s Luna PFD for about a year and after some rigorous product testing on and around many different rivers, countries, and scenarios I feel like I have put it through enough to have a good idea of its performance. I work predominantly as a raft guide, safety/photo kayaker, and kayak instructor as well as kayaking for fun and get in a race here and there when I can. I spend a lot of time wearing a PFD so it’s pretty important for me to have one that is both comfortable and functional.
Enjoying the slides on the Ula River in Sjoa
The Luna PFD gives you good freedom of movement which makes it great to race in…
Bit of carnage, upside down raft, no worries the Luna PFD will float you back to the surface
Good for raft guiding
Even if you’re guiding backwards
Doesn’t ride up when your swimming making it a great PFD to go for a swim in
Unrestricting for kayaking allowing you to get your boof on
Also room enough to get a good tuck on if you’re running bigger drops
Even if you want to dress up in a Santa suit and run down the river the Luna PFD wont let you down!
So in conclusion, I love the Luna PFD, it is by far the best PFD I’ve ever owned (previous PFD’s include Hydraulics River Pro, Stohlquist Descent and Palm AMP vest which I also liked a lot). I was impressed by how well it fits to your body shape, it feels like it hugs you when you’re swimming which none of my previous PFD’s have done very well. I like the mesh inner ‘boob hold in’ thingys which are great for preventing you accidentally flashing people when you bomb off a drop only wearing a bikini cause its so nice and warm. The front pocket is roomy enough to easily fit your basic rescue kit (sling, 3 carabiners, 2 prusik cords, knife, chocolate bar) while also being compact enough that it doesn’t make it difficult to get back on your upside down raft if you’ve flipped.
Also finally and most importantly it has awesome buoyancy. I spend a lot of time swimming, mostly for fun on the Kaituna river because we like to swim down the grade 3 section when its warm, good fitness and also good practice for rescues. The Luna is great for river swimming in that it doesn’t ride up or restrict your movement but it floats you very well. I also had one involuntary swim in Norway where I got a big beat down in a rather small but very sticky hole and after fighting it for a good few minutes I decided it wasn’t letting go, pulled tab, and popped up in time to make quite an epic swim to catch a small eddy before being swept over a big ledge hole. I was very pleased with the PFD’s performance in this situation because it floated me quickly to the surface allowing me to make the eddy in time. Thanks Palm for putting in the hard yards and designing an awesome women’s PFD!!!
Yes, I know World Championships were months ago, apologies but I feel its worth mentioning some things, especially now that I have had plenty of time to reflect on the experience as a whole. I have not represented Ireland in any other sports before so this was a unique and really cool experience for me. I believe in the old proverb that pictures (with captions :)) tell a thousand words. So after you scroll through my favourite photos that summarise our trip maybe you’ll be ready to read some more ramblings about what the World Championships are really about and who made it all possible for us. (Photos predominantly by David O’Sullivan and Barry Loughnane)
I started my trip at my home away from home, RiverRun Rafting in the Ottawa Valley
Clay, Coach Dave and Flo-Dog made fantastic travel buddies for the long journey south
Although I did have a favourite…
Highways cut through the stunning scenery of North Carolina, not what we were expecting from south-eastern USA
Arriving at the NOC and deciding to take the cheap option a little way off the beaten track…
Fun times! food always tastes better from an open fire!
Team mates begin to arrive and the local culture is sampled…
Very well sampled…
Oh wait we did lots of training too :)
Shane Little KJM loving his new Palm gear! Coach Dave was always on hand to give us video feedback during our training sessions. Legend!
Patriotism for the flag grew stronger as the competition day advanced
We found ways to relax in the days before the competition, it wasn’t hard in paradise!
Opening Ceremony was a blast! The whole town of Bryson turned out to see us march!
We even had a team mascot! Team GB and Palm paddler Bren Orton
Training was heating up and we kept each other focused on hitting the rides we had visualized in our heads
Competition day, there was a real togetherness within this group and you could feel that everybody on the team even though they were your competitors, wanted you to do really well. We supported each other shamelessly
Staying focused for my rides
The Dagger Jitsu dishing me out some nice air
Happy with my rides and pointing to the stand where my team mates were cheering, their support helped me greatly. (Photo by Pringle)
My rides at world championships earned me 37th position which I was pretty content with for my first major competition but being at worlds also showed me the standard of the top athletes, even to break into the top 20 would take an incredible amount of commitment and training. I hope I can continue to push on in the right direction. However more important then the competition for me was the people I was there with. There was definitely no team that spent as much time together as a group helping each other and having the ‘craic’ then the Irish team, we are all great friends and that was what made it such a great experience for all of us. We also got on great with many members of the other international teams and I know personally I made about 10 promises to visit people in different countries to go and paddle with them soon! That is for me what the world championships are all about.
I would firstly like to thank my parents who went along with what they didn’t understand in me for a long time, their support was the reason I was able to compete in NOC this year. Now they know more and are beginning to understand why I love paddling as much as I do. After that Roger McClure our team manager did an unreal job organising and keeping us all in line with a smile on his face, definitely one of the lads! Shane Cronin, owner of progressive distribution helped me a lot in getting me kitted out with Palm equipment, Dagger kayaks and AT paddles, this top of the range equipment has definitely brought my paddling up a level. Snowy Robertson and Chris Gragtmans from Dagger kayaks who are legends of the highest order. Lastly but not least I would like to thank the Irish Freestyle committee and Canoeing Ireland whose financial support was definitely needed and very much appreciated. Freestyle kayaking is on the up in Ireland this will be shown by the fierce competition for places on the European Championships team this year.
Since being back in Ireland I have taken up residence in the University of Limerick which is a great base to keep paddling and progressing. I’m also ecstatic that our plans to keep the Irish Whitewater Race League going for a second year have come to fruition. With the first of 6 races kicking off at the unmissable New Years paddler festival in Kerry, its a great time to be a kayaker in Ireland.
GalwayFest 2014 is also on the weekend of the 1st and 2nd of March. It emerged as the aftermath of too much talking by myself and Barry Loughnane in a pub in the small town of Buncrana in 2011 and is now an event going from strength to strength, we are hoping to accommodate more then the 110 racers we had last year when we bring it back for its 3rd year on the trot.
Poster from GalwayFest 2013
Anyways I’ll leave you with a couple of preview edits of our first two scheduled races for the Irish Whitewater Race League 2014.
I’ve been living in Nottingham this last month or so getting ready for GB team selection. It’s a paradise for hole kayaking and a perfect place to learn, develop & innovate.
This is the video we made exploring what’s possible there & my approach to freestyle. How to enjoy it and succeed.
A glorious Autumn morning welcomed 140 competitors to Hurley
The Hurley Classic has been running for 24 years now, it’s one of freestyle’s most iconic events held in europe and best of all it’s held on a feature worthy of it’s reputation.
Hurley itself is a dynamic wave/ hole where all moves are possible, not always that easy to land but spectacular definitely. Jacko the event organiser has put a lot of work in this last few years to grow the event getting more and more top paddlers from around the World to come over and see if they can steal the classic crown from the locals!
This time Jacko excelled himself with nearly all of europe’s top paddlers coming over and even Stephen Wright from America.
The main idea is to unite the Uk paddling community with the rest of the ww community from around the World for an exciting, fun end of season showdown on an exciting feature to see who can provide the best spectacle.
This year we had quite a few events going on such as the Saturday GB team selection & night time super final, the epic boatercross, the Palm pin up photo contest and of course the main event the Classic on the Sunday. Jacko even threw a delicious banquet in the massive heated tent by the wave for all the competitors!
GB Selection
The saturday was for most people a warm up comp for the Sunday classic, but for the few who are trying to make the team to compete at the Europeans it was serious Because it’s a selection event for a hole contest, we were restricted during the heats to only use the hole gate which made for a very very tricky contest.
Best of the Brits was Palm/ Gb’s Alan Ward who battled his way to 3rd place in an extremely tough final showing the best of what the Thames Valley can produce. 2nd went to my Dagger team mate Tomasz Czaplicki and 1st with incredible rides was the french powerhouse Sebastian Devred with a incredible last ride !
Alan Ward
Tomasz Czaplicki – Poland
Sebastian Devred – France
In the women’s frances slalom superstar Nouria Newman won the super-final showing amazing adaptability and Palm’s Katya came in 4th.
This years boatercross was amped up a notch with an even bigger & steeper launch ramp followed by paddling around a marked out course across the flow of the wave whilst Rob Harris shot at you with a water canon then back again around the other buoy before a sprint to the finish all the while the two kayakers in body armour called ”8 Ballers” tried to stop you in your tracks.
In the men’s Palm’s Alan Ward added another great performance to steal the win ahead of Austria’s Marcel Bloder and Slovakia’s Peter Csonka after 5 gruelling rounds.
In the women’s there were no surprises as France’s Nouria Newman easily sailed to victory! ahead of Palm’s Anne Hübner, & Gb’s Paula Volkmer (not 100% on the womens 2nd & 3rd, so please correct me if i’m wrong.)
Nouria with her 1st place boater cross £!
Classic
In the classic you get 20 minutes with 10 people getting as many rides as they can. The aim is to do as many different moves as possible. The top 5 go though to a final with the full 3 gates open (it was on 2 for the rest of the weekend) to get 3 45 second rides with your best one counting to decide the winner.
GB’s top performers were Palm’s star performer Alan Ward who just missed the final in 6th followed by Doug Cooper and Palm’s Bren Orton.
For the super-final the lock keeper opened up the weir to give us a perfect retentive 3 gates which let us really see what some of the World’s best could do. It was very close as everyone had amazing rides but in the end Stephen Wright of the USA took the win with moves i’ve never seen stuck before on Hurley (pistol flips on demand), 2nd went to Spain’s Euro champ Quim Fontane Maso and 3rd to Frances Mathieu Dumoulin.
Quim Fontane Maso – Catalonia
Alan Ward – GB
Sebastian Devred – France
Mathieu Dumoulin – France
Event winner Stephen Wright – USA
Men’s Classic Podoum: Stephen 1st, Quim 2nd, Mathieu 3rd
In the women’s GB’s Claire O’hara had the ride of her life to take the win ahead of Slovakia’s NIna Csonkova in 2nd and Frances Marlene Devillez in 3rd.
A big thank you must go to Jacko and all the volunteers who organised and ran the event, it was a true showcase of the top of our sport uniting all ages, sexes and abilities in a common love of kayaking! It was amazing having so much talent come over to the UK just for one event and I think everyone left feeling that it was a fun trip. Next year is the 25th edition so it’ll be a big one so you’d better get preparing for it
Event organiser Jacko closing the classic.
Palm’s Anne Hübner gives us her thoughts on the Classic:
Palm’s Anne Hübner’s impressions
It was my first time going to England for a kayak event. Usually before a kayak trip everybody is jealous but not this time. I got told about the bad and cold weather I will find in the UK and so on. And finally everybody was right – the weather during the event was cold and grey and the wave was only on two gates which wasn’t my favourite. Anyway, friday offered a beautiful sunny autumn-day and I got an awesome session on friday on three gates which was already worth to fly over. Great to see so much enthusiasm for Freestyle Kayaking in the UK and thanks to everybody who helped to make the Hurley Classic such a great event!”
Alan Ward
A few words from Local hero, Palm’s Alan Ward:
The SAS Hurley Classic was an incredible event with competitors coming from all over the world to invade a quiet and unsuspecting rural village in Berkshire at the weekend. Every year the organisers (Jacko and friends) step the competition up a notch, which included an incredible 8 ball boaterX competition, a huge heated marquee and the biggest banquet to date.
Most of the top ten men and women in the world competed over the weekend for the coveted title of SAS Hurley Classic Champion and the show did not disappoint with two floodlit finals and breathtaking heats all weekend on a variety of different gate set ups.
It’s one of the oldest competitions in freestyle kayaking and next year celebrates its 25th year, so with our help may the SAS Hurley Classic grow and grow!
Many thanks to Jacko and the team,
See you next year,
Pringle
See if you can find yourself in our photo dump below
I just put together a short video of our trip to Iceland. We did not film much at all!
But here is a little edit with all our useable shots put into something…
This months coaching dispatches will looks at eddy turns coming from the flow into calmer water.
We want to ensure that we can perform a wide eddy turn to get ourselves across a thick eddy line, to get ourselves safely at the bank and to not block the entrance to the eddy for the next person. Your friends won’t take too kindly to you being in the way at that must make eddy above the portage! In a nut shell I think there are 3 key things to bear in mind.
We must think ahead and plan. Our history of travel or momentum must be towards the eddy (blue line) and not downstream, hence traveling laterally across the river into the eddy (green line). This will prevent bouncing off the eddy line and carrying on down river (red line). The sketch below shows this history of travel.
As we cross the eddy line we need to ensure the boat is not knocked off line by the eddy line whilst keeping the kayak as flat as possible. Edging the boat now will only encourage the boat to turn super fast and spin on the spot and not penetrate into the eddy. There is also a difference between holding the kayak on line and performing a sweep stroke at the end line which again encourages the boat to spin on the eddy line.
As the boat starts to turn upstream, a forward paddle stroke on the inside of the turn will lengthen the turn further and give you support. You can follow this stroke on into a stern squeeze to control the end of the turn.
Good posture throughout is key, as the strength for your forward strokes, balance during the turbulence of the eddy line and your control of the stern squeeze comes from your core. Practice and varied environments is needed for robust skills but these ideas are a pathway to perfect eddy turns.
Our final training weekend before we all fly out to New Zealand was epic. As always it started with (for some) a horrible drive early in the morning, this time to get to the National White Water Course in Nottingham. We were also lucky enough to have Coach Dave back with us again after his enforced absence by work. We rocked up, put our game faces on and got warmed up for out first session of the weekend – a sprint session in our sprint formation. Many of us had been ill in the past month so we were a little concerned that this would have a negative effect on our performance. We needn’t have worried.
One of our favorites: Happy Cat Angry Cat. Only works if you make the noises
Keanu Reeves looks really cool when he does this…we don’t quite pull it off.
Flat Water Warm ups are important too.
The training we have been doing really showed up as we managed to knock a big lump of seconds off our time compared to earlier in the year. The raft looked and felt strong and the ladies flew down the course.
Everyone is so in time.
Guns out!!
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!
After the main part of the session was over we had a go at practicing what we would do if we snap a paddle during a run. Last year in Lipno at the R6 Euro Champs we were amazed at one of the men’s team who snapped a paddle but recovered their spare and only missed one stroke!! So we had a go! This sort of thing is really important for a team to practice. If we know what is going to happen we wont panic and we will have a better chance of not letting it damage our race. After a go on the water we had a go on dry land!
See the paddle tied in the back, Just in case…
I think all this training has made the girls go a bit crazy…they don’t even realise they arn’t on the water…Awkward!! – Bry goes for the switch.
We then had a stop for feeding time and then onto Slalom. Dave, Nerys and Bry set us a problem solving session. Problem was it was a tough problem and we took a long time to solve it! Slalom is a discipline that has such an impact. It can be really positive, but it can, if you let it, lead to frustration and negativity. But we are a close knit team and despite some lows we always manage to find the positive and come away feeling good about a session. This session was tough on our brains but we conquered it, solved the problems and nailed the run.
Walking and talking the course. Thinking about the problem we need to solve.
Doing everything we can to make the boat go where we want.
Finishing on a high and a pep talk by Coach Dave.
We ended the day in the most brilliant way we could. We had decided to do a flat water endurance from Nottingham down river to HPP. Except just as we got the raft on the water, the heavens opened. And I mean they OPENED! Along with the rain came a HUGE thunder and lightning storm. This made it so exciting for us racing down the river, but I’m sure poor Coach Dave was having other thoughts as he ran alongside us on the river bank!! I’m sure he doesn’t realise what he signed up to sometimes! But the Raft felt incredible, strong and one big unit. We were all pretty broken at the end. A good sign that we gave it our all.
Proud to represent Great Britain.
We went back for a yummy dinner and chat with Etienne-Olympic-God-Stott about tapering and planning our training week in NZ. Then we all went to bed. Cream Crackered.
It was a bright and early get up the next morning for some more Slalom. This time it was a race course session with 12 gates – 4 upstream gates and 8 downstream gates. We had some good runs and it was a positive session.
Making big moves requires alot of effort – Nezza hanging out the raft!
All eyes on the next gate.
Boofing to keep the nose up so we don’t get full of water and slowed down.
Why can’t Nottingham HPP have an escalator?!!!
Slalom is a real lesson in team work. Each person has a different ‘eye’ on the course so everyone has to come to some agreement of how we want to make a certain move. But the main thing is having full commitment to moving yourself around the poles. This can result in some interesting acrobatics some times!!
Punting off the side/rocks is not illegal. It can give you just the push you need
Getting around a pole means moving around the raft. Also being on the upstream side in a hole means to need to move your bum as well, otherwise EVERYONE gets wet!
Team talks. Having 7 people with 7 different ideas can be tricky, but it is important to listen to everyone and then come up with a plan.
This is why we have to do so much core strength work!!
Driving out of a move with speed.
Bry asked us all to go and get a watch and Nezza came back wit ha matching one to Bry! I think their partnership has now reached a telepathic level!!
Our second and final session of the weekend was Head to Head. And lucky enough for us the lovely GBR Masters Men’s team were on hand! We did 4 H2H races with an upstream pole to go around (to give them a fighting chance ) in the middle of the course. We beat them on 3 of the 4 runs (they did some ‘illegal maneouvering’ on the 4th) and they won the 4th. It was fantastic. Nothing like a bit of a battle to get everyone fired up!
Hill Sprints warm up…not sure how Nezza can smile :)
H2H Starts with a held start, then it is fastest wins.
It leads to some awesome battles…technically you are meant to be looking for ‘future water’ but often your future water happens to be the other teams boat/paddle/hand…
The one time the Masters got ahead of us…they look pretty angry. Well they were beaten by Women 3 times!! :)
The breakout round a pole in the middle of the course made it even more exciting!
The boys must have decided the pole wasn’t worth the effort :D
DONT LET THEM GET AWAY!
It’s alright, we didn’t :D
And that was it.
We are going to have the biggest contingent ever at this years World’s. The Senior Men and Women (that’s us), the Master’s Team, the Youth team and the Junior Team. It is going to be unbelievably exciting!
The next time we see each other all together will be for The 2013 World Rafting Chapionships in New Zealand. As a team we have never been fitter, stronger or hungrier than we are now to bring you all home some gold. Keep an eye on our Facebook Page GB Womens Raft Team or the Palm Facebook page for updates. WISH US LUCK!!
A MASSIVE thankyou must go to Palm for helping us get to this point. Without their support we wouldn’t look half as good as we do. They really are inspirational when it comes to promoting women in sport. Also thanks to our other sponsors 9Bar, Teva and Bamboo Clothing and Capita.
And another HUGE thankyou must go to our Partners, Husbands, Boyfriends, Children and families for all the support and encouragement. We won’t let you down.
This summer I spend a great week in Iceland with the 3 most bad ass chicks! We had a perfect team, with Mariann Saether being the sickest team leader, the legendary waterfall hucker Shannon Carroll, rowdy Katrina van Wijk and me.
Photo by Juris Vaskovski
I flew in on Friday night and got picked up by Katrina. The next morning we met up with our crazy French Film crew and took the 1 up north to Godafoss – a 12m waterfall over a width of 30 meters.
Photo by Juris Vaskovski
Katrina stomping Godafoss
Mariann on the left line on Godafoss
After a 5hr+ car drive we were fired up to get on the water and to ran our first Icelandic waterfall. We got a bit slowed down by our film crew, setting up the camera in between the high number of tourists. On my second run I broke my paddle and ended up with two massive carbon splinters, which went all the way through the tip of my finger. The ladies hit the fun right line, keeping the middle line for the next day.
Photo by Juris Vaskovski
Photo by Mariann Shaether
After an amazing sleep we geared up again for our second session on the Godafoss waterfall. Once the frenchies had enough footage we continued down the river were another rowdy rapid/waterfall was.
Photo by Juris Vaskovski
In the evening Mariann took us to secret hot pools, which was incredible!!
Photo by Mariann Shaether
On the third day Mariann and Shannon hit up a rowdy drop with a crazy lip on the entrance!
Mariann going first
After the third day the frenchies left and we continued our road trip around Iceland. Our next stop was Aldeyjarfoss, a perfect but very powerful waterfall! We had heard a lot of stories of people getting hurt by just the impact off this waterfall, with an injury count of 3/5. Shannon was super fired up to give it a go. Unfortunately we were running out of time and Shannon had to let it go and come back next year!
Beautiful Aldeyjarfoss!!
Great camp
Unfortunately the water was super low on the east coast of the island, leaving us unable to paddle the sick river runs around! On our way we met up with a super friendly local family giving us the latest updates about the rivers.
Photo by Juris Vaskovski
Iceland is beautiful it is real bare, there is still lots of snow and the massive glaciers are incredible! We stopped on the south coast to paddle between the massive icebergs, which was a lot sketchier then we thought.
Photo by Mariann Shaether
We have done a lot of sightseeing and watched so many waterfalls! Unfortunately most of them had not enough water, which forces us to come back to Iceland next year! We also experienced the geo-thermal activity by visiting an impressive geyser, mud pools and enjoying the hot springs!
Enjoying the geo-thermal activity
Crazy gyser
On our second last day we headed up to Thief Falls, which was low but good to go. Mariann and Shannon hit up the left line ending up with two swims and a broken paddle. Katrina and I took the middle line. It was crazy how many flies there were that day! Almost unbearable!
Mariann running the middle line on Thief Falls
…
Thiefs Falls
Iceland has been serving up some goods in our kayaks! Stoked to be paddling with these rad chicks!
You may have already seen the video released of our London training weekend. If you haven’t here it is thrown in for good measure : thanks to Moss for this!
We had a full on weekend with our now usual 6 training sessions! We definitely are ramping it up for the lead into the worlds. Saturday started early and fairly warm (for a change) but still pretty bleary eyed! It was Slalom Saturday and on the big powerful LV water it wasn’t only our muscles that hurt at the end, slalom is a brain drainer!
We were so lucky on the Saturday to have GBR Mens Team Paddlers Matt Blue and Pas Blackwell giving us feedback and coaching tips. It always makes such a different when you have someone on the bank watching. Also we were being filmed, so best camera faces ladies!!
Giving ourselves 2 more sessions on slalom over the day we worked on big sweeping moves and tight technical courses. All the gates were ‘live’ and so we were throwing ourselves around the boat to get away from them.
Nezza working her way around the pole!
We all headed to the Family Cook House in the evening for a DELICIOUS dinner and also some Strictly Come Dancing! Sunday morning was a very early get up…but once again we had the sunshine!! Matt Blue of Blue Paddle Fame was our coach for the Sunday. He is an inspiring tour de force!
The first session he had planned for us was a technique session in our R2s. Once gain he and Paz gave us some awesome tips and advice on how to balance our power, have the best stroke possible and Matt was even so committed he was in the water with us!!
But then Matt added another dimension to resistance training!!!
Matt was adding resistance. I think he just wanted to coll down a bit.
Getting to the other side of the lake is much easier if you walk Matt!
Our middle session was another Slalom session set by Matt making big moves and using the river and the water. Even we get a bit nervous making big crosses. One false move can cause us to flip which means we would be out of that race! Scary stuff. But Matt got us confidently high crossing and surfing so now BRING IT ON NZ!!
Here we are working the waves! HIGH SIDE!
Going for a surf…this training is such hard work
There is a raft in there I promise you.
Do we have to write everything down now, so we stop talking so much ?!
Driving through those waves.
We barely had time to breath between our second and third session (entirely our fault) which was all about river safety. It is an unfortunate fact that we need these skills as this is an extreme sport and often in a race it is only us who are going to help ourselves! So Matt had us swimming the course, making eddies, throwing throwlines to each other (Fran threw a corker right into Georgies face!! ooopss!!!). We also had to flip and re-flip the raft (something we hope never happens in a race as that essentially means you are out!) AND THEN Matt had a flat water make-or-break session to finish off with. And we thought Coach Dave was mean!
A huddle of rafters?
Do NOT lose your paddle!
Nez- Dammit I’ve been spotted! I was going to make a run for it then!
Flat water training is very important for fitness.
The weekend ended on a high!! We felt so strong and together, but we got the kick up the bum that we needed from Matt. Rest and recovery is essential and quality is important. Since that weekend most of the team has been wiped out with a cold!! Time to down the Vitmamin C and get back on it!
But now for our final interview of this racing season: Last but by all means not least, is Deb Cook. Longest serving member of the team and front left goddess:
How long have you been raft racing and what has kept you dedicated for so long?
I have been racing since 1998 when I went out to the first ever World Championships Race in Costa Rica. It was also a Camel Challenge race and the first time they had gone somewhere other than the Zambezi River. I had such an amazing time, met so many great people and just enjoyed being on the river in a team so much. I love the competitions, but also the whole thing of being part of a team and working so hard together to achieve what we do makes it really hard to give it all up! Every year I think that this will be the last time, the last competition, the last event, but then I keep on going. We are really lucky to have such a great team where we all get on and have a lot of fun racing and training together, but also loads of experience and skill in the boat, so it just seems to keep getting better – it’s hard to stop!!
How did you get into Raft Racing in the first place, there must be a good story here?
Well, back in the day when it was the Camel White Water Challenge, nations used to be invited to send teams and a group of girls got put together from paddlers in the UK and represented GB. When I was working as a raft guide at Holme Pierrepont, I heard about this and wanted to know how come they were the British team. I wanted to be the British team! So I organised a British selection event and got a team together and challenged them. We trained really hard and raced against them, but we lost!! But I then ended up working a season abroad with one of their team members, and another one of their team had dropped out so they were looking for a new member and invited me to join them. So, I did! The other girls I raced with understood and knew I had just been in the right place at the right time! So that is how I got started, and then that original team stopped racing and I took on the mission, formed a new team and here we are!
Where would you like to see the sport of Raft Racing go in the UK. How do you see it developing?
In the past few years we have started to run our own raft race events, which has been a huge amount of work, but a massive amount of fun. We have had such great support from people coming along and taking part, as well as really generous hosts and sponsors that help make the events great. The paddling community have really enjoyed coming and doing something different, as well as complete newcomers to the water who have now started their own teams! Next year we have four events planned, as well as an Alpine training camp, which is really exciting. The BCU have awarded us some funding to buy more equipment to make these events even better and help more people access sport, so things are developing and the arrival of of youth and junior teams means that the sport is becoming more sustainable and feels like it has a real future. Hopefully we can keep building on our success at home and Internationally and create something that more people want to get involved with, and that will attract more sponsorship so we can ensure we remain a force to be reckoned with as a nation!
You have competed in so many different sports. What is it about competing that you love so much?
I have always enjoyed competing as a team, I find it much more motivating knowing that your team mates are relying on you to do your absolute best. It is an amazing feeling when you get a good result and everyone is buzzing because they know they have given it their all.
It makes getting off the sofa and going for a run or a training session easier, as you know there a six other girls out there having to do the same! I love the competitions and the buzz of the events, sitting on the start line and getting ready to paddle as hard as you can and put all that training to good use! I love pushing yourself to the limit and it is always amazing what you can do when the element of competition comes in! Suddenly there is just that bit more in the tank!
How has the GB Womens Raft Team changed over the years?
In many ways we haven’t changed that much, we have managed to keep a team that is really close and we are all really good friends. I have definitely made life long friends that I will always keep in touch with and have adventures with. We have always managed to maintain the fun and enjoyment, but I guess the main difference over the years has been the level of training and dedication. We have always been dedicated, but the level of commitment to the team now is incredible. Everyone trains so hard, not just at the weekends that we meet up at, but also every day of the week in between. Having a coach has made a huge difference to us as a team, and when there is someone willing to give up their time and energy just to make you better a as team, it definitely makes you more committed and determined to be the best you can be.
Most memorable rafting experience?
There are so many, it is hard to choose! Team GB won double gold (men’s and women’s team both got the gold) in the Head to Head in Austria, and then again the next year in Bosnia. It really felt like we were finally getting recognised as teams to look out for which felt amazing. We walked into the marquee for prize giving in Austria and all the teams stood up as we entered and gave us a standing ovation – this was amazing as some of the best teams on the world are based in Europe, and there they were cheering us! In Bosnia when we won the double gold, we were interviewed live on tv, featured in the national newspapers and everyone wanted to shake our hands, have their photo taken with us and generally just be a part of us! Incredible! So many more memories that will last forever, but it is always just such a proud feeling to be walking in the parade at the opening ceremonies to these events, wearing our kit and flying the flag, representing your country! Most memorable moment with the team?
It’s difficult to say, as the team has constantly changed and evolved. However, the team as we are now going into this World Champs feels stronger and fitter than anytime before and I am really proud of how we have all stepped up to the mission. Last year we went to the European Champs in Czech Republic, and for two of the girls it was their first competition, yet we had our most consistent results ever! We got to the bottom of the downriver endurance and had raced the best race ever, sweet lines, well paced and held off the Belgians who were on our tail all the way down the river. Although we didn’t get a medal (we came 4th), it felt like it didn’t matter because we knew we had raced the best race we could, and that is a great feeling!
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.
Because it’s a selection event for a hole contest, we were restricted during the heats to only use the hole gate which made for a very very tricky contest.
) in the middle of the course. We beat them on 3 of the 4 runs (they did some ‘illegal maneouvering’ on the 4th) and they won the 4th. It was fantastic. Nothing like a bit of a battle to get everyone fired up!
