In the beginning of March, I went on an epic trip to Chiapas, Mexico!! After a couple weeks of editing the crew pulled off a fantastic edit! – Beyond the Drop.
This trip to Mexico was amazing!! Mexico is incredible – The culture is great, the people are friendly and the rivers and surroundings are stunning!!
– Photo by Tony Czech-1
– Photo by Tony Czech-1
A 30 plus hours flight brought me in Chiapas, were I teamed up with the Teva crew and started the 7 days journey in Mexico! After an epic six hours drive we found ourselves in Aqua Azur, a cute little village at the foot of the beautiful Rio Aqua Azur! Paradise!
We had a super solid crew of boaters with Rush Sturges, Evan Garcia, Aniol & Gerd Serrasolses, Casper van Kalmthout and our local guide Rafa Ortiz rounded up with a sick media crew and Mexican driver! It has been an interesting experience being the only chick on the crew and surrounded by 13 men. Full on, but super much fun
– Photo by Tony Czech
– Photo by Tony Czech
The Azur River has 5 main drops followed shortly after each other, with the highest being a 50fter. The color and temperature of the water, makes you love kayaking at every stroke. After the run you can look back upstream from a viewing platform, which gives you the most amazing view of the river!
– Photo by Tony Czech
– Photo by Tony Czech
Off the river, the historical Maya ruins showed the level of civilization evident in the region thousand years ago, providing entertainment plus some cultural education about the live and history in Mexico.
It was great being on an other adventure living better stories!
Check out www.teva.com
On a Sunday in June, the Big Paddle came to town. It snuck up in the night, and when morning arrived it bought with it tents, gear, a huge fleet of kayaks, and an enormous pile of cardboard waiting to be transformed via imagination and parcel tape.
The idea behind the Big Paddle is that there’s nothing quite like getting out on the water powered by your own paddle, and we want to share our love of paddling with everybody. Young or old, expert or first timer – The joy is the same!
Our Big Paddle events have something to offer for everybody, whether you’re having your first ever go in a kayak or canoe, or you want expert coaching from the most experienced paddlers in the business, and everything in between. Here are some pictures from yesterday’s fun!
The Harlequin Paddler was rescued once again in the Throwline challenge.
Expert advice and coaching was in abundance form the Palm Team.
And some paddlers couldn’t find the water to paddle on, but made the best of it all the same with the Ergo Challenge.
Afternoon came around, and various cunning creations lined up for comedy and catastrophe in the Cardboard Canoe race, which this time around saw flying robots….
… a traditional welsh coracle ….
… prizes for the winners …
… and a swim for the losers, including team paddler Chris who spectacularly failed to navigate the course in Charlotte’s Pirate Ship.
All in all we had a great time, and met a few of the next generation of paddlers, who seem hooked already!
The final date of the 2013 Big Paddle Tour is coming up next weekend at Teesside Whitewater course, so come along and join the fun! We’ve got everything to take first timers out on the water as well, so if you know anybody who might like to come and have a go at paddling, bring them along too!
More information can be found at www.thebigpaddle.com, and you can also find us on facebook – search for the Big Paddle!
The Lunar Orbit is another of my favourite moves. It looks quite complicated but actually it’s much more simple than you might think.
It’s just a Stern Squirt into the bow end of a cartwheel. You start it from a front surf/ blast in a hole. You can even practice the motion of stern squirting into cartwheels on flatwater to get a feel for the move before trying it in a hole.
Step One:
Lift your bow up onto the green water so that you’re sitting in a front surf. You lift the bow using a big sweep stroke and place the nose of your boat slightly pointing in the direction you plan to rotate.
Step Two:
As soon as you reach the front surf, drop your upstream knee so that your edging upstream (catching the water on your tail), at the same time as this tense your core & look around in the direction you’ll rotate and using the back of your blade pry the boat into a stern squirt.
Step Three:
Now your boat will have gone vertical and started to rotate around that prying blade. To keep it in control have a marker directly upstream of you and keep looking ahead of the boats rotation ready to spot that marker just before you slam the bow down again.
Step Four:
Having spotted your upstream marker, switch your pry stroke into a push stroke, keep your weight forwards and aggressively as you can push the bow under the water.
Finishing the move:
After this last end you can either do a big back stroke to make sure you retain in flushy features or in more retentive spots you can continue into more cartwheels or other moves as this move links very well.
Main points to remember:
- Make sure you set your angle & edge correctly on the initiation.
-Keep your core tensed and use your pry to stop yourself from just catching an edge and falling over upstream.
-Look ahead of the boats rotation ready to spot that marker.
-Play around with how far back & forwards you lean during the move to get it fine-tuned.
Our journey to Lienz in Austria had quite an urgent start. We’d been training in Plattling, Germany. There is free camping all along the riverbank in the nature reserve there, the water level was high but not too bad but in the night whilst we’d been sleeping the level had risen dramatically as storms across Germany had thrown down heavy rain.
We awoke to find the bridge off the big island where we were parked completely covered with water, at this point it was only slightly too high to drive the van through. Normally police & officials come when a flood is coming to warn all campers to leave before they open the dam upstream. This time however even they got caught unawares as the whole construction site for building a new bridge, cranes, containers, sand, wood, and portable toilets were all flooded and being washed away.
We were fine and since we had our kayaks we could get most of our stuff to the side but the van looked a bit doomed if the levels rose. Anyway it took a few hours for rescuers to arrive and with the level now nearly a meter deep over the bridge two huge trucks came to lift us out and rescue our little van. We made it (obviously) after a very exciting morning and thought that now would be a good time to head to the mountains of Lienz. As the news showed the week after, it was a good move as Germany had the biggest floods of this century!
Lienz is a beautiful mountain town in the Dolomites popular for cyclists, hikers, climbers & kayakers. It’s also been the site of numerous European competitions, this year they were holding a smaller event but it would still attract quite a few international paddlers coming to compete.
The hole used to be quite sticky but over the winter it looks as if the rocks have shifted creating a challenging flushy wavey hole. It’s difficult to do full rides here but moves go very big. It’s also very good training for Worlds here I think.
The competition started on the river Drau amidst glorious sunshine, with a jam session format for prelims and normal rides for finals.
In the womens final girls did better than I expected given the challenging nature of the hole and all got big loops and some other moves too, Nina Csonkova was 1st, Katya was 2nd and Lucie Horka was 3rd.
Katya with the biggest loop I’ve ever seen!
In the mens I was really fired up and have been treating all comps as warm ups for worlds so I was really wanting to give my best. So I did I won with 300 or 400 points difference, the first win for my new Carbon Dagger Jitsu! 2nd was Martin Koll from Germany who’d had very sick moves in prelims and 3rd was GBR’s Matt Cooke a very good friend who came out of retirement for the competition! It was great to paddle with Matt again in competition, as he was one of the paddlers I really looked up to when I was younger and who helped me loads in my progression as a freestyler.
Thomas Zimmerman the organiser & owner of the La Ola shop here really knows how to put on a good event. Even though it was a small rodeo, we had everything you could wish for. Sun, good friends, big moves, good prize money, free camping, free dinner & drinks all evening, it really made it one of the most fun events to be at. Organisers of World’s should copy this
The locals also showed us one other spectacle as many of them had climbed up all the nearby mountains to light fire beacons of crosses and Christian symbols in memory of the Austrian war with France from years ago which coincided with the prizegiving party so it all added to the great experience!
My new Carbon Jitsu is really flying, now I’ve got it all outfitted and am getting used to it, it’s just getting better and better, I couldn’t be happier with how it’s turned out, we’ll be finishing off the promo video for it in the next few weeks so keep a look out!
Video from my training & competition: http://youtu.be/uDO6JEzn_Wg
The English Rafting Committee are committed to growing the sport of Raft Racing, and over the years the social races put together to include and encourage people within the sport have been growing in popularity. Last years’ race in Llandysul was a great example of the British Raft Race Series, but more recently in May we had a Rafting Extravaganza in Matlock, Derby on the River Derwent. Development within our sport is really important to us, we want people to love Raft Racing as much as we do, and better teams who race frequently in the UK will only improve the standard of racing and ensure this great sport grows and continues!
The GB Women showing full commitment to their Slalom
The Junior Team putting some effort in!!
There were 9 Teams racing over the weekend all of whom brought support crews and groupies! It was a fantastic social event with loads of networking, swapping of training ideas and general sweaty rafting
Officially it was the Youth and Junior selection weekend to decide the young teams eligible to go to New Zealand, but everyone wanted the chance to race and we really love seeing the development of our sport, so we got together and put on an event. After all who is going to carry the baton once we are all too old?!!!
Being in time is really important! – so is smiling at the camera Rosie!!!
Yes this is what it looks like…we got beaten at the head to head…none of our chimps were happy with THAT race!!!
The Red Rose Girls line up for the slalom moves.
Team Oarsome are so good they only need 4 people and a dog!!!
GB Rafting, The Next Generation?
We held a full event over the 2 days and also gave teams time for training. Deb Cook and Hoopla from the ERC also did a spot of coaching here and there. Highlights of the weekend included en-mass warm ups in the sunshine led by GB Women’s very own Miss Rosie Cripps, Bracket the rafting dog and some Kick Ass racing!
Is it a Yoga convention?
Yes, this actually was part of the warm up. Inspired.
Thankfully Health and Safety were taking the day off :)
The girl who was making it all possible, the more we stretched, ROSIE CRIPPS!
Bracket the rafting dog…reducing everyone to wobbly knees, very very cute.
Well Done to the Youth and the Junior Teams who showed their skills and are now eligible to go to New Zealand!!
The GB Juniors Team. Well done Boys.
Well done to the GB Youth Team!
But a HUGE THANKYOU must go to Hoopla and Deb for putting so much time and effort into organising the event, becasue without their commitment these things just woudn’t go ahead. As usual there were no photos of Deb…I think she is camera shy, but here is a stunning one of Hoops. Model agencies contact the email address below.
Hoopla doing Blue Steel?
And Palm, you have excelled yourselves with the gear this year. The new Palm FX Bouyancy Aid is amazing and we can’t wait to represent at The World Champs 2013!!!
Thanks Palm!! We look so smart we just can’t stop smiling!
And a teaser for the next blog coming very soon from our Training Camp in the Alps…
SUNSHINE!!!
If you want to get a team together and join in please contact Deb Cook at britishraftracing@rocketmail.com
This winter I made my annual pilgrimage to Africa to surf some of the biggest and best waves in the world.
As always I had an awesome time and you can see some of the footage from my trip in the FX promo video below. Unfortunately in my infinite wisdom in deciding to save my money and not buy anti malarial tablets, I unfortunately caught Malaria, collapsed and broke my hand. This weigh laid me a bit with my progression in kayaking as I couldn’t get out on the water or train properly, So with thanks from a friend I cut short my trip to Africa and flew back to the Uk to get fixed up
It was a pretty miserable time, England was covered in snow, I couldn’t paddle due to my hand and selection was fast approaching.
Anyway long story short, my hand healed, selection was postponed, I made the team in the first available position and will be competing at the World championships later this year.
Selection is always a hard time for me as I have to back of on performing combos and focus on strict run plans. Luckily this only fuels my desire to create new moves afterwards, here’s a couple of moves I’ve been working on.
The GoPro Mountain Games are the nation’s largest celebration of mountain sport, lifestyle and music featuring top professional and amateur athletes from around the world. The environmentally-friendly adventure sporting event hosts approximately 3,500 outdoor athletes, along with an estimated 45,000 spectators.
Yesterday the GoPro games kicked off with the Bud Light Lime Steep Creek up in Redcliff. We had a beautiful day with sunshine and juicy water levels. The race format was different than previous years as an extra run was added. All the racers have two runs and only the top 3 women and top 5 men made it through to the finals for a final run.
At 10am the chicks started the race, with me being the very first racer on the course. We had a great high flow, which made the steep course even more full on. I had a couple of little mistakes in my first run, but made it safe to the finish. Despite spinning around at the top flat part of the course I had an awesome second run, dialing in my lines and scored the fastest women’s run of the day, 1.58.91.
Usually this is the final result of the race, but this year we were half way and had one more final lap to go. Nathalie was off first and had a solid run, not making many mistakes. One of the most solid chicks paddlers around Adriene Levknecht, had an unlucky run as she got pushed off line and was surfing a hole for quite a while.
In the men’s Mike Dawson managed to pick up another back-to-back win in, winning the Mountain Games for the 4th time. His fiercest competition Dane Jackson had a very unlucky first run taking a swim at, leap of faith, the bottom drop of the course. Bryan Kirk and Nick Troutman finished up the top 3.
- Photo’s by James Dawson
For complete result, click here (pdf). For more information on the GoPro Mountain Games go to www.gopromountaingames.com.
Last weekend I went to the North West of Russia to region called Kareliya, next to border with Finland. One of the best russian playspots is located here in the little rural villige of Tivdia. The region itself is beautiful, few people, untouched nature, clean rivers, lakes, waterfalls, white nights.
This is last years perfect flow – Tivdia wave at it’s best.
Photo: Mikhail Burov
Cows and dogs run free in the village, bears and wolfs run free in forests. Locals are friendly and offer you fresh milk, cheese, fish and banya(russian sauna). You can camp free wherever you like or rent a room in local wooden houses for 3-4euro/night. I love this feeling of peace and freedom you get here – far from big roads, cities, internet and shops. If you want to get some taste of russia but not ready to go deep (all the way to Caucasian mountains, Altai or Baykal regions) this is the place to go – you can even drive on your own car from europe (100km from Finland).
Photo: Артур Лепманис
Photo: Геннадий Соколов
Photo: Артур Лепманис
The wave itself is natural, so water levels are unpredictable, they depend on amount of snowmelt and speed of melting in spring. But for the whole of May and June you’re almost guaranteed to find something to surf.
Sometimes, when all conditions come together it can be an epic green wave with just the right amount of foam on top. There are eddies from both sides as well, to use right one you need a rope.
Russian freestylers come hunting the water every year, coming from 1st May till end of June on weekends and for a few weeks from all of western Russia (Moscow is 1100km away) and even further. For the last 2 years kayakers from Finland have been coming too.
This time the level was a little bit lower then perfect, but still provided a decent wave! The weather made up for the water. It was sunny 19 hours a day and in other 5 hours it was a beautiful sunset/sunrise (you get white nights here so sun never goes completely).
Foam pile was big, so you could do some hole moves. But wave tricks still worked. High speed and occasional pulse keep you on edge.
Competition this year was very interesting, i can proudly say – level of russian paddlers rising with each season. Organisers did a very good job providing very pleasant atmosphere, live music (band came and played for us in the middle of nowhere), a few less serious disciplines and party competitions, no entry fee and even prize money – first time as far as i remember russian freestyle competitions!
In fact organisation was so good, they were running earlier for the womens finals and i almost missed my rides as i was still changing as a result finished only 3rd after winning prelims. Will be smarter next time.
I very recommend this event for European paddlers to visit. You will see the other world, different parties, experience russian banya, food&nature, and of course people and relationships here not like in Europe too. Cheap flights now going to St. Petersburg (500km away) or Moscow, where you can jump in someones kayak bus or car. I will answer your questions about visa, it’s easy enough.
At the moment I am finished with all my selection events and going deep in to training for the Worlds with intention to participate in as many competition before US as possible.
Katya
Photo: Mikhail Burov
Photo: Mikhail Burov
Photo: Геннадий Соколов
Photo: Геннадий Соколов
Photo: Геннадий Соколов
Photo: Grigory Ergin
Photo: Артур Лепманис
Photo: Mikhail Burov
Photo: Mikhail Burov
Photo: Mikhail Burov
Photo: Геннадий Соколов
Photo: Геннадий Соколов
Photo: Геннадий Соколов
Ancient Russian device for boiling water. Called Samovar, still very useful in 21st Century
I just completed an epic voyage from New Zealand to Norway. Epic because between Jordie and myself we had 1 kayak, 1 mountain bike, 3 BIG bags, 2 backpacks, and 2 longboards… Imagine flying with all of that! Just to make the journey a bit more interesting we brought an additional kayak from New Zealand to drop off in Coloma for a friend, had a ten day stopover in California, and a 2 day stopover in London where we had to haul our excessive amount of gear from Heathrow to Gatwick then get on another plane to Bergen, Norway, catch a bus from the airport to Bergen city centre (which was difficult because the first few bus drivers refused to take a kayak onboard). We were then were picked up by the awesome crew from Voss Rafting and driven to Voss. Phewph! Big ups to all the amazing people who helped us out along the way, especially Sara who drove through London traffic for about 3 hours to pick us up and drive us to Gatwick airport!!!
Anyway, amongst all the chaos, I managed to get in one day of sliding down California granite. Heres some photos.
Jamie and I on Autobahn. The one rule of this rapid is no scouting.
California playground
Blue angel from the top of the teacups all the way through to the bottom of Skyscraper, yeboi!
Christy taking on Plastic Surgery
Boof boof slide
When in Rome, do as the Romans do, when in California… Drive a big truck!
The first date of the Palm Big Paddle tour is getting closer, and we’ve got a real treat, in the form of FREE (that’s right!) workshops and clinics from some of the UK’s finest coaches and most talented paddlers. Click here to find out more about the event, and to guarantee your space on a workshop by booking ahead. Check out the Activities here:
Dr Chris’s Kayaking Clinic
Reach for the sky!
Do you want some expert individual advice on your paddling? Some tips and technique specific to your needs?
Available only at the Big Paddle events, Level 5 coach Chris Eastabrook is offering free 1 on 1 clinics to analyse your paddling, and give you the advice you need to improve. Book now to avoid disappointment!
Bushcraft skills from Voyageur Coaching
Learn how to live off the land
This is a bushcraft skills course form Jules Burnard at Voyageur Coaching. Expect expert instruction on some of the forgotten and more traditional skills of shelter building, fire lighting, and cooking on open fires, together with the safe use and care of various tools used.
Beyond the basics – Progress your paddling!
It’s all smiles at Flow Free Coaching!
Have you got the hang of the basics? Or maybe you’re stuck in a paddling rut? Level 5 Coach Lowri Davies will give you the solid grounding and advice you need to progress your paddling further, whether you want to up your game to whitewater, or simply gain the confidence to explore the waterways of the UK at your own pace.
Sea Kayak Essentials with Olly Sanders
Man of the Sea Olly Sanders
There is no way to experience the beauty and wildlife of the UK’s coast quite like taking a sea kayak. Level 5 coach Olly Sanders is on hand to give you the skills, technique, and advice you need to get out and explore the coast.
As well as these amazing opportunities for free coaching, there will be tours, games, and of course the Cardboard Canoe Race.
