Seeing all those cold looking paddling pictures from England in this blog for a while I think it is time to let the spring come in! So let´s start: I was spending five awesome weeks in Corsica coaching kayaking. After having a “low water year” in 2102, the Ile of Beauty rewarded us for coming back each spring with a great amount of water this time. We got numerous runs done which haven´t been run since a while, so even after travelling to Corsica my 6th year in a row I got some little adventure feeling form tiome to time.
Back from the Mediterranean I didn´t stay home for a long time – so I got myself back on the road and headed south again. This time my destination was the beautiful Ticino and Piedmont. Arriving just after some rainy days we found super sweet waterlevels all around and the sky cleared up to bring us another five beatiful paddleing days around the Lago Maggiore.
All photos by Michael Sommerauer, River: Verzasca (SUI)
The first ladies paddle symposium to be held in North Wales was a great success, and Fran Kohn did a fantastic job of organising the event, even booking good weather!
Here’s what Fran had to say:
‘From coaching on the Scottish Ladies Paddle Symposium last year I new we had to have one South of the Border, and no-one else was going to organise one for me, so I thought I might as well do it myself!
The main aim was to have a successful event where Ladies from different disciplines could get together and be in the majority for once! I wanted to provide a space where they could network with each other, build relationships and find some more paddling partners – and get some great professional coaching at the same time!
The Ladies were amazing, there was so much laughing and smiling over the whole weekend and the ladies were so enthusiastic, inspirational and supportive of each other and the event. I cannot wait to get started on organising the next one, we will be listening to all the feedback and making it bigger and better :)’
On offer for the weekend were courses and presentations in Sea kayaking, canoeing, white water, and also rafting! Very highly regarded coaches were on hand to run the courses, which ensured everyone would take away some very valuable skills from the weekend.
Saturday morning the sun was shining and everyone was ready to meet their coaches for a fun day of paddling. With great weather but low water, Some groups visited the Dee, and some headed off to the Tryweryn.
Saturday evening there was a happy vibe when we sat down to dinner. Everyone seemed to have had a very positive day and was excited to find out what everyone had been up to.
After dinner we all got together to listen to a variety of presentations, about various aspects of paddling.
First up was Diane Lee, who explained how she had fallen in love with canoeing after a drastic career change later in life. She made it clear that you can achieve anything if you put your mind to it.
Second was Justine Curvengen, founder of Cackle TV Productions. She treated us to some clips from her videos, which were all excellent. I will certainly be sitting down to watch these! Find out more at cackletv.com.
Paula Volkmer was the third speaker, whose presentation focused on fear and being in control. She explained how some people kayak for the adrenaline rush and others enjoy the feeling of being in control. Her advice for success in whitewater paddling is to focus on the line you want to take and not the thing you are trying to avoid.
Sunday bought with it great weather again, and we were in for an enjoyable day paddling on the Dee.
This event was great to bring ladies together and find new people to paddle with! I’m sure everyone made lots of new friends and will be arranging more paddling trips with them in the future!
All round this event was a great success and I look forward to seeing lots of people again next time around!
Thanks again to Fran Kohn, and to everybody who helped out!
This month i’m going to teach you how to do the McNasty.
It’s a great move, you can start it from many different positions and setups, it’s quick to do, impressive to see and is one of the highest scoring moves.
The technique I’m going to show you here is the most commonly used one and is the one I use nearly all the time.
Step 1: Get yourself into a nice stable side surf.
Step 2: Keep your upstream knee up, hold that edge on, then push off the back face of your paddle and sweep your boat into a back surf.
Step 3: Just before you reach a backsurf, lean forwards and drop your upstream paddle blade into the water and start pulling on the green water.
It’s important not to pause too long in a backsurf or drop your edge here, keep your momentum and keep that edge held on.
Step 4: As your pulling keep looking ahead of the boats rotation. If you have the correct amount of edge you’ll start to go vertical now.
Step 5: Now you should be in a normal looping position. Push down hard on your feet for added pop, jump up and then tuck hard forwards smashing both your paddle blades off the water to push you as high as you can.
Step 6: When your body has gone all the way to the front, snappily open out your body as aggressively as you can & kick your feet out in front of you.
Step 7: Once in a front surf again, do a few quick powerful forward strokes to retain the hole.
Top tips for learning this one:
-Play around with how fast you spin the boat, how much edge you hold on and how long you pause before the loop. Find what works best for your features, boat & style.
-Make sure you spot an upstream marker like a tree or a slalom pole before you throw the loop. This will help you to keep it straight and make it more likely to score.
It’s one of my favourite moves and one of the most fun to do, good luck & get out there and try it.
Sunny spring weather, a fun whitewater course, plenty of exhibitors and exciting side activites drew around 3000 visitors to the XXL Paddelfestival last weekend, making it the biggest kayak and canoe test event in Germany so far.
Before the festival, we at Palm didn’t really know what to expect. Snow and cold winter conditions had been persistent in Germany and no one could tell whether kayakers were prepared for an early start of the season yet. Also, we have had no idea what the event area was like. The course had been built only a few years ago and is located in the, for whitewater paddlers rather remote, town of Markkleeberg just south of Leipzig (Saxony). We went anyway and were curious what would happen. With us, a large number of manufacturers came and brought their latest products along for paddlers to compare and test.
Saturday started cloudy and windy but it soon became apparent that this wouldn’t keep paddlers away. As soon as the turbines started working and the course was openend, the water basin filled up with boats of all sorts in no time. Not only whitewater enthusiasts had come all the way to Markkleeberg. We counted dozens of touring paddlers in sea kayaks, people in open canoes, inflatables and on SUPs. The scenic lake right next to the course provided the perfect testing ground for calm water experts as well as beginners.
While paddlers kept coming, the clouds finally made way for warm sunshine. Everyone was so excited about the great conditions and the large variety of products on offer, that the number of boats on the water rose to an almost worrying amount. A certain queue time to get on the conveyor belt and back to the put in had to be taken into account. This, however, could do no harm to the fun and great time that everyone had.
In the evening, spectators were spoilt with a selection of Big-O kayak movie highlights and a spectacular boater X in the darkness with floodlight illumination. Drinks and stories were shared at the bonfire party, making sure that no one went to bed early.
Sunday brought even more sunshine and, you guessed it already, more people still. In the end the organisers counted a total of 3000 visitors, making the XXL Paddelfestival the biggest canoe and kayak testival in Germany so far.
Highlight of the day was certainly the Palm Junior Trophy, where a dozen kids between 5 and 14 years competed in a fun boater X which was held in the main pool.
The contenders raced in groups of 2 to 4 and had to paddle around big red floatation bags (converted into buoyes) in order to win one of the many prizes supplied by Palm.
No one, of course, missed out and in the end there were smiling faces all-around.
A big thank you goes to the organisers, Horst Fürsattel and the KANU crew, for coming up with such a fantastic event. There will certainly be a second edition next year. So make sure you’ll mark the date in your calendar. It’s definitely worth the trip!
The Palm Spark Suit and why it’s by far my favorite piece of kit.
Just a few short months ago when Palms idea for a new performance orientated dry suit specifically aimed at Freestyle Paddlers first emerged onto the public domain, it was thought to be a huge mistake, mainly due to the lack of latex seals on the ankle and neck gaskets. However over the past winter it has proved itself to be one of the most ground-breaking pieces of kit ever sold.
Over the past few years I have unfortunately collected a reputation as a professional destroyer of kit, however I would like to point out this is not necessarily through misuse but much more to do with overuse of my kit. This is the first dry suit I have ever owned, I’ve tried several over the past few years and have never found one that allowed me enough range of movement, which is why this suit piqued my interest but I must admit I too was completely skeptical as too how this “semi” dry suit would fair.
Predominately being a freestyle kayaker I inevitably spend most of my time immersed in water and as such have always wondered why manufacturers choose to place semi dry seals on kit aimed at freestyle paddlers, I’ve used semi dry seals in the past and have always found that despite being very comfortable they are completely and utterly useless at keeping the user dry.
Which is why I was pleasantly surprised when I came to use the glide skin gaskets that Palm have used, For the first time in using a non latex I actually felt the glide skin gasket form a good seal against my neck, It proved to be truly exceptional at keeping me dry and despite being used twice a day everyday for the past 8 months it still maintains it’s elasticity. It’s far more comfortable than a latex and just as dry, the fact that it doesn’t degrade over time has made me a full convert to the glide skin revolution.
I feel the cut of Palms’ garments has improved drastically over the past year with the new range of kit. And just as with other products throughout the Palm range this suit does not disappoint. A clean cut provides a full range of movement without having excess material flapping around allowing for the most dynamic of freestyle moves to be thrown. The material is reasonably light whilst still maintaining a positive feel that re-assures you that it’s a piece of kit that will be with you for a long time. The zip is hardly noticeable and an added bonus for those that have a slight degree of flexibility, it can be zipped up and down by oneself … who needs friends ?
I haven’t spent a vast amount of time swimming in this suit but when I did I found the neoprene ankle seals to work surprisingly well, provided they where pulled further up the leg, The suit is also available with optional socks which could be worth a look at if you are going to be spending an added amount of time in the water.
Overall I couldn’t be happier with my spark suit. It’s one of the few pieces of kit that has truly stood the test of time with my paddling tendencies and my only hope is that Palm continue their trend for bright colors and add some additional color choices to the spark suit range. Cough Harlequin Cough.
The New Zealand summer has been great!! We have had awesome sunny weather the whole season, but unfortunately most of the rivers were dry.
This year my older sister took the journey oversees to see where I spend my European winter each year. Together with Mike Dawson and Kathrin Bickel we have been exploring the whole of New Zealand in prime conditions. My sister flew back in the beginning of March and since then I have been paddling a fair bit of slalom together with Katrhin and Mike.
Over Easter we raced the NZ Slalom National Champs in Kaweau. Kathrin raced slalom 6 years ago, with the NZ nationals being her last race. This made us both decided to enter and give the race our best shot ;). I had my first slalom experience in 2011 on the Kaituna river here in New Zealand and enjoyed this challenging new discipline. I haven’t been able to practice a lot of slalom since than but I have enjoyed my time in a slalom boat heaps.
The racing over the weekend was great! Both days I had pretty sweet runs, with only a couple touches and little mistakes. On Saturday I ended up in second in the Pre-Nationals and on Sunday I managed to get in third, with seven seconds behind NZ Olympic paddler Luuka Jones in first. Young Australian Kate Eckhardt became second.
Soon I’m heading off for another holiday trip to Vanuatu before the Northern Hampshire racing season starts.
What a month! 2 training weekends in one month which included snow (no change there then), the Youth and Junior Raft Race at Lee Valley, international ladies teams training together, 2 different venues, 1 flip and EVERYONE swimming!
One of the teams getting a good wash!!
The British Raft Race series were holding a Youth and Junior event at the Lee Valley one very cold weekend in February, so we joined in too to share our experience with the teams, do some coaching, and get some training in ourselves. The fab thing was that the ladies teams from Holland and Belgium joined in so we could get some race practice under real conditions and perfect our start line ‘trash talking’.
The youth races went really well, and despite the cold a great time was had by all. The results of the event were
1st place – Hertford Mariners – 937 points
2nd place – Clueless Six – 859 points
3rd place – Riverside Rafters- 844 points
4th place – Paddle Pirates – 734 points
5th place -Hereford Academy- 706 points
The Youth and Junior Teams learning Slalom, or poll dodging.
and hopefully we will have even more Youth and Junior teams turn up for the selections in May to see who will be eligible to join the senior teams in New Zealand!
Our training that weekend was mixed, mainly because, in the first session of day one we flipped. Serves us right for practicing some hard slalom moves! But the water was freezing and I’m sure we all just looked like deer caught in headlights as we floated silently down the rest of the course pretty much paralysed with cold. But to make matters worse, and because Georgie hadn’t been on the raft for that run, clearly she had to get a bit wet too! and we ended up almost flipping AGAIN but instead ditching Georgie and Bryony out of the raft!
The raft minus Georgie and Bry. The horror!
Oh dear, oh dear. Everyone is allowed a bad day right?
Our Nottingham Weekend 2 weeks later was much more successful, but no less hard. We had Coach Dave back with us who set us some awesome Slalom sessions. It is great when you finish a session achieving something that on the first run down had seemed impossible!
Coach put us through our paces on the Saturday night in a circuits session which included pressups (do-able), tricep dips (painful), running (standard), burpies (ugh!!), dragon walks (what!?), lunges and a whole host of other painful exercises ( I’m pretty sure it is his way of punishing us for making him stand in the cold and snow all day). These are the only photos we could show of that session…pretty sure you don’t want to see our sweaty horrible faces, and we certainly don’t want you to!
Phew at least you cant see our faces!!
Bry and Suze pressing up.
Lots of running, because rafting is all in the legs!!!
The weekend was awesome and after our endurance session we came away seeing how far we have come, our fitness has improved amazingly and, thanks to Nezza’s new Workout Plan, we are going to be a slick machine!!
Talking of Nezza, Its interview time!!
Nerys Blue sits Back Right of the raft and is our Welsh Wonder Woman!
Nezza you must be one of the busiest members of the team, being a teacher, a mum of 2 very cute kids, on the GBR Rafting Team and a fitness guru all at the same time. How do you fit it all in?
I must admit some weeks are pretty manic, it means training early in the morning, lunch time, straight after work or late in the evening once the little ones have gone to bed. It does help being married to Matt who is on the men’s team as motivation in our house is at an all time high so if the time of the session is not the best we will still get the sessions in. We have various cardio machines in the house and garage, pull up bars, a dip machine, fitball and weights which makes training at home easy, then we live 2 minutes away from a leisure centre and Crossfit Carmarthen which we can use free of charge. I tend to work smart and many of my sessions only last 30 minutes but they are high intensity, with about 2-3 of my sessions lasting an hour or more. Being focused and organised with kit to train early in the morning or straight after work helps prevent any time wasting.
You were on the team for a long time before you had the kids, what drew you back after that break?
I love rafting, challenges, being part of a team and being at the top end. I also enjoy training and competing.
We are all in awe of the training plans you create for us, where did you learn the knowledge of putting these training programs together?
My background of slalom racing for which I would have monthly and weekly training programmes. Speaking to lots of people about what sort of training is best for the sport of rafting. We are required to have a good endurance base but without compromising our speed for the sprint and slalom disciplines.
What is your most memorable rafting experience ?
Being picked up by the American’s men team at my first Rafting World Championships in S. Africa in 1999 – after being catapulted out of the raft in a massive stopper. Okay on a more serious note winning my first gold medal in the head to head at the 2008 Euro’s at receiving a standing ovation and a roar of clapping by all nations as we walked into the presentation tent (Men’s GB team having done the same). But if I had to pick a different one to the captain, winning our first ever medal at the Korean World Championships in 2007, disbelief as the NZ girls congratulated us for our bronze medal in the slalom, we had to go and see the result board for ourselves. It’s so difficult not to mention our best overall achievement ever at the R4 World Championships in Dutch Water Dream, finishing 3rd (1st,3rd,8th,2nd).
What is your most memorable moment with the team?
Would have to be my rafting Hen Do in Austria, was definitely an adventurous evening, followed by asking to stop the minibus on route to the Europeans the next day because I wasn’t feeling too well.
Brilliant, so what is the best thing anout being on the team?
Friendship
and finally the worst thing?
Mixing up our kit as we now have a lot the same. This is also brilliant at the same time.
Thanks Nez!
Our next weekend training is in Wales, lets hope the snow has melted by then and it is a bit warmer!!
This weekend we gathered at my home spot for the Dee River Festival in Llangollen, North Wales.
Surflines- The Palm Store - http://thepalmstore.co.uk/ joined the rest of the guys from Palm to show off our 2013 range of kit along with as many Dagger Demos as we could fit in the van.
We were incredibly fortunate that the rain Gods shone on us and brought the river up to a playful 5 meaning some sporty lines downriver and a nice little play wave at the bottom of the Mill section.
The event is all about getting as many paddlers on the water as possible, having a good time, trying out all the latest boats and generally enjoying an iconic Welsh river together.
There were many different activities and coaching clinics going on for all styles of paddler. We had creekers, freestylers, SUP’ers, rafters, open canoeists and every type of paddler in between. All enjoying the (mostly) good weather, paddling together and joining in the many clinics.
Palm’s Cheesy & G17′s Simon even turned there hand to Open Canoeing, the results however weren’t as pretty as the drysuits that kept them toasty and dry. They were last spotted swimming off towards Chester when it all went wrong at Town Falls…
We had all three sizes of Dagger’s new Jitsu playboat for people to try. Having being one of the main testers it’s a boat im passionate about. It’s great to see paddlers of all abilities hopping into them and loving how they’re paddling. It was very satisfying seeing people’s grins as they were surfing up the mighty bottom wave.
Katya & myself made the most of the good levels and had a good session in the sun in our Jitsu’s followed by a blast down the river in the Dagger Greens. Now if you ever get a chance to try one of the Green boats I highly recommend it, surprisingly whenever you get to a rapid they really come to life, great fun! You can’t help but sprint in them though
Thanks to everyone who came and said hello, if you were there check the gallery below to see if you got snapped by us
This month I’m going to show you how to Loop in shallow holes.
Being from the UK, one of the first obstacles I had to overcome was how to do the moves in shallow features. It’s an invaluable skill to have for many reasons.
Getting normal loops is relatively easy in modern short boats but many people still struggle when the holes aren’t very deep.
Ordinarily on the loop you stamp down hard, get the boat as deep as possible and then jump up with your arms to get the height and go as big as you can.
Shallow spots require a very different approach however.
Step One: In a shallow hole, you take as little speed as possible going into the seam line.
Step Two: When the nose touches the seam try and catch as small amount of water as you can whilst still getting vertical.
To do this back paddle and use your core stomach muscles to keep the boat straight as you approach the seam line and then continue these little micro strokes to maintain control whilst initiating the bow in the green water.
Step Three: Once vertical you want to effectively do a flat-water loop but in the hole. Push down as hard and snappily as you can with the back of both paddle blades.
Step Four: When you’re body is as far forwards as it can go, grab the water with the power face of your paddle blades and open your body out like the opposite of a sit up as snappily & aggressively as you can.
This will kick your feet out in front of you and push the nose of the boat back into a front surf.
Tips & Tricks
You can practice this motion on dry land by lying on your back with your legs in the air then try and kick out as hard as you can. On dry land the idea is just to get a feel of this movement.
Spending some time perfecting your flat-water loops will help you with these skills too.
When you have this shallow hole looping technique perfected, the way you finish the loop by grabbing the water and kicking out can also be applied to finishing Phonic’s and Mc’Nastys and is a very very good way of forcing the boat to keep straight, and retaining the feature. For competing this skill is invaluable as it enables you to force moves to keep straight when the pressure is on.
How the gear I use helps me…
Out with my Dad on the Washburn in my beloved Jitsu, toasty warm in my Palm Spark suit. Life is good!
What’s also going to help your freestyle progression is using the right tools for the job.
I’m very fortunate to be using what I consider the best equipment possible for what I do so I’d like to give some of the stuff I use a little shout out!
I use Dagger’s new Jitsu kayak that I was involved in the design process of, so it’s pretty much my dream boat. One of the reasons is its slicy ends. It makes it easy to initiate the nose and cut it in to the water whilst keeping a volumous poppy centre that give you that much needed lift to get big air. Having precise but short back end gives you the freedom to play in shallow features without hitting the bottom on the landings and pull stuff though quicker and easier in normal holes.
Being a very cold winter for play boating I’ve managed to paddle the whole winter through thanks to having my Palm Spark suit to wear, it’s much lighter and less restrictive than ordinary dry suits and feels a lot like wearing a top deck only much warmer with great freedom of movement!
Good luck trying this one out, and enjoy the coming spring!
As always, the beginning of March marked one of the highlights of the student paddling year, with the now legendary National Student Rodeo once again arriving in town. Held every year at Nottingham’s whitewater course, the NSR offers the chance for paddlers of all abilities to compete, paddle and party, for prizes, for honour, but most of all, for fun.
Since its early years as a relatively small freestyle kayaking competition, the event has grown and now has more of a festival feel about it, with the kayaking now accompanied by music, commentary, games, coaching, and other activities taking place throughout the weekend. Each year university canoe clubs try their best to out do each other both on and off the water, and a mention must go to Birmingham Uni this year, who all dressed as clowns for the whole weekend, as well as bringing a homemade circus tent, custom decorated kayaks, and even a candy floss machine!
The biggest crowd pleaser events are probably the Old Skool and Topo duo events, notorious for carnage, but always spectacular. The Old Skool catergory featured a selection of kayaks from history (none below 3.5m in length), with neon kit galore, and was once again dominated (3rd time now?) by Dave Burne, whose combinations of pop outs and paddle twirls had the crowd going wild.
One of my personal highlights is always the women’s novice final event, in which points are awarded primarily for crowd pleasing and originality. This year saw circus tricks, wipeouts galore, and a cheeky cider based bribe thrown to the judges mid ride.
Palm Equipment proudly support the safety team with the provision of throwbags, who once again did sterling work pulling countless paddlers and items of gear out of the course, allowing the event to run smoothly and safely for all.
At the end of the event each year, the grand prize of a custom made Dagger Kayak is awarded to the University who earn the most points overall. Below you’ll see the full line up of custom NSR Kayaks, from 2009 to the present day. Which is your favourite? Congratulations to Nottingham Uni this year, who took home the victory and the boat, a spectacular spotty clown flavoured creation.
A huge thanks to all at Leeds Uni who put in so much work to this event every year, and to every student who came along and got involved with our excellent sport!
To find out more about the event, and for a full results list visit www.nationalstudentrodeo.org.uk.
