This last two weeks I joined up with Adventurer Richard Matheson Harphram to explore Morocco by bike, taking in as much of the country as we could in our two-week stay.
I know this is a kayaking blog and this was a cycling trip but growing up kayaking everyday has given me a big love of two things: Adventure & Pushing myself. Trying something new like this was a chance to push myself onwards and get myself in the right frame of mind and physical shape for the Kayak season ahead.
Our final route was from Marrakech over Col du Tichka to Ouarzazate, then onto Merzouga. We hopped on a bus to skip the long boring Desert road taking us back to Ouarzazate. Then back on bikes over Col du Tichka again, across and up the Ourika Valley and finally back to Marrakech. See our loop here: Our Route
For the trip Palm supplied me with dry-bags to keep all my important stuff safe & intact as you can see on the front of my bike below & the very useful Tsangpo one piece thermal suit to keep me warm at night!
Personal Highlights
Climbing up the 2260m Col du Tichka pass, (60 miles of very steep climbing): It was so hard work on our 40kg+ laden bikes, but at the same time the way you seemed to get higher & higher without really noticing and the feeling of satisfaction once at the top made the previous 60 miles of slogging worthwhile.
Cycling 96.5miles on day 5 and realising my legs could keep going on and on, I felt super human that day.
The first “hardest” day, going towards the turnaround point of Merzouga (where the Sand Dunes are), darkness falling, no town in sight, and a ferocious head wind for the last 30 mile. Realising you just need to grit your teeth together and keep pedalling.
Cycling back over Col du Tichka, we were cheered on by thousands of French students taking part in a Renault 4 rally as we climbed to the din of honking of horns, shouts of ‘bon courage’ and ‘respect’ then after we celebrated again at the summit we found this camp spot almost at the summit. I walked up to the ridge to see what was on the other side and the view just dropped away a sheer 1000ft or more to the empty valley below. I felt so alive & in touch with the world peering out into the wind.
The second “hardest” day, after camping at the paradise camp spot mentioned above. During the night we got nailed by heavy wind all night then in the morning we awoke to find snow, sleet and hail. Nothing we could do other than cycle lower down until it warmed up, we had all the clothes we had with us on, but our hands in little cycle mitts and my knees in skimpy cycle shorts were in bits as the hail & snow slashed them on the way down. When we found the cafe and warmed up a bit it was one of the fondest moments of the trip as Rich sobbed about his Chilblains and I huddled with my knees tucked up under my coat drinking mint tea.
Seeing a country by bike I really appreciated the distances between the landmarks, noticed all the details, how friendly the locals were & the way personalities changed region by region and also the sheer variety of different landscapes here was unreal. Spectacular was a word I said far too much on this trip:-)
Hospitality: One of the best bits was our second to last day. We were cycling along and loads of amazing metal sculptures caught my attention. The artist Abdullah (sorry if I spelt your name wrong) invited us to stay at his. So we cycled on, uphill another 15 miles then freewheeled all the way back to his gallery where he shoved us and our bikes into his van and took us to his home. We spent the night getting recounted many stories from his fascinating life. From trekking through the jungle to get into Burkina Faso to evade the border check to his 7 month project of revamping a old VW surf bus shell to a pristine model and many hilarious Arab jokes. In the morning he took us to the local market and bought us breakfast before sending us on our way back to Marrakech!
Off-Road trails: We actually did have a great time riding down some of the trails just off the road. The bikes came into their own off the road, even if they were an absolute bitch slogging along on the tarmac
Camels: They are such a good creatures, watching them eat with their funky gurns and expressions is like watching a great comedy, i loved socialising with them.
Desert: I’ve never seen such beautiful sunrises or such a surreal landscape. (Or more frustrating cycling).
People we met: So many intriguing people we met along the way.
Wild Camping: We stayed in some magnificent spots! Sleeping out under the stars, in often remote spots, lying next to the ground often felt me better than when we were in Hotels, (apart from the lack of shower). You sleep so good outside.
Overall the trip pushed me harder than I expected, threw up experiences I never anticipated, showed me a new culture and a amazing country and I got to really push myself. Together with Rich I feel like we saw & did an incredible amount in only 13 days.
Realisations/ Lessons Learnt
After slogging hard for a few hours when you stop & eat just a simple Orange, Mango or an Avocado, it tastes sensational. All your senses are enhanced when your working hard.
Simple things like sitting down for a few moments or sleeping in a real bed for a night sometimes feel exquisite.
When you think you can go no more, just stay in the moment, you can always do one more push as it turns out. Everything passes.
When everything goes tits up, laugh about it. Everything fixes itself sooner or later.
I really felt sometimes like my body was singing, you can push so much harder than you thought you could when your really in tune.
Intuition: Always listen what your heart tells you, it is never wrong. Particularly when I didn’t follow rich on the trail that led to him getting 15 punctures in one go
All hard exercise is a purifier, you feel so good, clean & happy when your work hard with your body. I will keep this up for sure. Life is dull & blunt when you don’t physically push yourself.
Finish! Going Home!
Joke of the trip
From Abdullah the Scupltor/ Artist, translated from Arabic:
An old man is writing to his son in prison, “Son you know how I love growing tomatoes, but now i’m getting old I’m not sure I can dig the field well enough this year to plant any, I wish you weren’t in prison, I hope you get out soon so that we can have our beautiful fresh tomatoes every year…”
The son writes back “Dad, shhh, don’t dig the field up that’s where I buried all the bodies…”
The next day the field is thoroughly dug up and ploughed by a group of Police searching for bodies after a tip-off from the Prison Guards…;-)
We had originally aimed to cover 1000miles, however we’d taken ‘Fat Bikes” with massive tires in the hope we’d be able to ride on the Sand and hadn’t taken into account the weight or resistance of these bikes. So our 1000miles soon got turned into a shorter loop on 525miles giving us time to see more and spend more time off-road.
Our final route was from Marrakech over Col du Tichka to Ouarzazate, then onto Merzouga. We hopped on a bus to skip the long boring Desert road taking us back to Ouarzazate. Then back on bikes over Col du Tichka again, across and up the Ourika Valley and finally back to Marrakech. Our Route
Thanks to my personal sponsors:
Palm Equipment, Teva Shoes, Dagger Kayaks & AT paddles along with Salsa for the loan bike for the trip.
Spring has officially arrived, and the first weekend of March is kicking off with paddling events around the UK, and prizes galore!
Spring is Here!
In the Midlands – The national Student Rodeo is taking place at the white watercourse in Nottingham – never anything but lively, the one of a kind circus themed Dagger MX is the main prize amongst the rest of the shenanigans…
In the North West – The Manchester Canoes new mega store is opening – you could win a Dagger Mamba just by showing up!
visit www.manchester-canoes-and-kayaks.co.uk/ for more information.
Manchester Canoes Megastore Opening Weekend
- In the South West , the AS Watersports Big Winter Finale is happening at the River Dart Country Park. With paddling, a super slide , a big party and the chance to win a Spark suit, the event will help raise money for local good causes.
The Big Winter Finale
It’s great to see exciting new events popping up already, and we’re looking forward to seeing lots of you at these events, and out on the water as the weather gets warmer!
My predetermined winter boating destination for the past 3 years. A chance to kayak on some of the best white water in the world, forget about the stress of competitions and live cheaply and happily ad mist happy locals and passionate freestylers.
This trip I was able to polish of some of the wave tricks i’ve been working on, run all of the rapids on the river, catch up with some old friends and as is always the way on the Nile, Make some new friends.
Due to tight funds, I elected to stay in the village with a couple of friends, Martin Koll, Tom Dunphy and Paul Lydon where awesome company and it was a pleasure to boat every day with them, however my favourite person by far was a Russian dude called Vanya, who took life really lightly, entertained us numerous times with broken english and hand gestures and was generally an awesome guy to hang round with.
Life in the village is perfection for me, wake up early, go paddle club wave, come back chill and then head out to Special. The days just melt away and blend into one. The concept of time doesn’t exist, if the waves where in it was time to boat and if not, then it was time to relax.
I had a great time but I think now it’s time to move on from Uganda and find a new destination for big water freestyle paddling, rumours of monsoon boating in Nepal and countries such as Venezuela/China are exiting me and I hope I can get my stuff together this year and take a trip out to see what I can find.
Unfortunately due to a bad case of Malaria and a broken hand I wasn’t able to get enough footage to make a full length video but I will hopefully post up a short collection of the moves we captured on camera over the next few days.
Today is officially the last day of summer in New Zealand despite continued sunshine and with days averaging 25 degrees and it has been one of the best summers I can remember so this is a quick recap of some of the highlights.
Working hard or hardly working? This is what I do for a job but usually it’s hard to call it work. Hanging out on the river with your mates and terrifying tourists doesn’t feel like work most days, definitely beats sitting behind a desk. Having a boss who gives you time off to go to extreme races and doesn’t mind if you mysteriously disappear for the winter months is just an added bonus.
New Zealand has a pretty awesome race season with a series of fun races and events. The race season kicked off with a brand new event called the Okere Enduro which was the brain child of Ben Robson. This race follows a similar format to a mountain bike enduro race with teams of 3 one of whom must be female. There was also an option for individual entry if you couldn’t find yourself a team. For the race course you had to paddle down the river, then carry your boat up to a trailer which was shuttling kayaks back to the top, then you had to run up a track back to the starting point and tag your team mate in roughly a 3km loop. The race was run over 6 hours and the aim was to complete as many laps as possible. The winning team (Luuka Jones, Tim Pickering & Pete Lodge) completed 24 laps and the top guy (Jamie Sutton) 21 laps and top girl (Kylie LB) 19 laps pretty amazing effort from all involved especially the volunteers and organisers who made sure everything ran smoothly.
Sophie Hoskins (Third), Luuka Jones (Second), and Toni George (First) in the progressive boater X
The Okere Enduro was followed by the Xmas@Kaituna event which happens every year on the last Saturday before Christmas. This year we had a time trial race down the whole river followed by a progressive boater X over 5 sections of the river then a freestyle ‘expression session’ where everyone just had some fun in the Kaituna hole. The main attraction of the day for a lot of people is the pool toy float where everyone grabs a pool toy from the warehouse then swims down the river holding onto it. I find it takes the ‘this is not a flotation device’ disclaimer to a whole new level.
The next event was the Andy Duff Memorial Race. Race format is a mass start, categories are Short Boat, Long Boat, Duo, Sledge/Swim, Raft. Trophies are given out for first place in each category and a bonus trophy for the best carnage of the day. The winners of the latter category were the crew in the upside down raft in the above photo.
Above Luuka and I battle it out in the Semi Final
The most recent race was the Wairoa Extreme Race, a time trial race down the top grade 4 section of the Wairoa which seeds people for head to head knock out races down a short grade 5 section known as the waterfall and rollercoaster. I ended my 3 year winning streak to lose to Lou Urwin in the final an Kenny Mutton got his own back on Jamie Sutton for beating him last year by knocking him out in the semi’s then cruised past Tyler Fox to win the final.
What do canoes and milk bottles have to do with Raft Racing? That is what we asked ourselves when we saw what Coach Dave had in mind for us for our February training weekend!!
GB Womens Raft Racing and Canoeing Team!!
We met up on Saturday morning near the Dwyryd river with a fleet of canoes! We were all slightly worried that Coach’s time away from us had made him forget what it was we actually did, but all became clear as we raced each other up and down a stretch of the river. The canoes provided good endurance “cross training” and the opportunity to perfect our communication, steering and balance skills. But they aren’t called ‘divorce boats’ for nothing. Fran and Suzie, who were often paired up and sit in the middle seats of the raft along with Georgie, do not like to lose, and they are usually pretty inseparable off the water. But in a few of the races in the canoes they had a sense of humour failure because they didn’t come first. This made it all the more funny for everyone else!
Thankfully marriage counceling wasn’t necessary in the end.
No we are not checking for lice…this is us energising ourselves to get ready to go back out into the cold! Thanks Plas Dol Y Moch for letting us use your Yurt and log burner!!
Session number 2 was an intense session of sprint/endurance sets. Each length that we did we had to throw another milk bottle (tied on with rope) overboard to increase the resistance. Although it was a tough session everyone really enjoyed it – despite the pain! Either we are becoming sick or Coach Dave must be getting through to us.
Our biggest joy of the weekend came that evening when Rosie handed out our first instalment of new kit from Palm. The Jackets certainly brightened up our day (and everyone else who looked at us), and we were really excited to go out and put the dry pants through their paces!
WE LOVE YOU PALM!!
Amazing! Palm 1 Yoga 0. The new dry pants are such a fantastic cut they took Rosie’s amazing warm ups without any problem!
Day 2 was a simpler but no less difficult day. We did 2 runs from Horse Shoe Falls to Trevor on the Dee at Endurance pace. We had great water levels (but sadly not the sun and 30C heat we were hoping for – well it is North Wales!) and great morale. The previous evening the ‘non-Northys’ got a massage from Diane at The Body Garage who is our Team Sports Physio/Amazing person! So they were still in a state of bliss when we got started and, well, the North Wales girls are just made of sterner stuff :). And on that bombshell…
We won Town Falls!!
… Over the course of the next few months (7 to be precise) we are going to be doing a feature on each person on the Team, and where better to start than Back Left, with our Captain!
Bryony Devoy.
Bryony Devoy, El Capitan!
Bryony, you are the Captain of this lovely team, what are the good things and bad things about the role?
I really enjoy the challenges of being a captain. Bringing together the best team for the different disciplines and events holds different challenges – logistical, emotional and physical. I enjoy identifying different strengths within the individuals in the team and trying to bring out the best in our squad. It can be a little tough especially if difficult choices have to be made, but we are all so close now that the girls understand and can see the reasoning when it happens. But at the end of the day it is hugely satisfying to head up a strong, positive successful team. There is no feeling like it crossing that finish line knowing that all the months and years of lead up and preparation has allowed you to put in your best possible performance.
We see what gruelling things you guys do for team weekends (milkbottles, really?), but how do you keep fit for rafting during the month?
Anything and everything- biking, swimming, hockey, running, football…. I am really enjoying getting to know the hills of the peak district with the local Ashbourne running club, they are an excellent motivator on those dark February nights. Apart from that I have a core work out provided by our uber fit and inspiring coach Dave Brown, and as an event approaches I do a mix of strength and power work outs at my local gym.
That sounds intense, what are you all aiming for?
I have two main aims for the team one fairly short term one much longer. The short term aim is for an overall medal in the next world championships in New Zealand in November 2013. I feel that the team is coming of age, we have a core of members now who have been in their positions for a good number of years. With some newer talent settling into their seats on the boat the squad is looking better than ever. We are very lucky to have Coach Dave Brown of Acwaterra putting us though our paces, designing training weekends that wring every last bit of effort from us. This combination of experience, fresh enthusiasm and considered coaching could make all the difference in the forthcoming worlds.
The second aim has always been for me to have a happy positive squad. I think that if you have the right attitude in the boat then you can achieve great things. None of us are paid for what we do and the best way to make people feel motivated and valued is by creating that atmosphere. I’ve always hoped that by the time I retire from captaincy and from racing that there will be a solid crew to take the legacy of what Deb Cook and Lawrence Harris created with raft club in 2005. That in the world championships for rafting in years to come there will always be a British representation.
So if you aren’t paid for this how do you find funding everything yourselves?
In two short words very difficult! Travelling for training weekends probably costs the most over the year, closely followed by the expense of travelling to competitions, along with entry fees etc. We have in the past run some fund raising days (see www.britishraftteam.co.uk) but they have tended to be more about raising the profile of the sport and providing racing for the growing rafting community rather than funding our team. We have tried extreme measures in the past to raise money, one example was putting the ladies team on Ebay, but sadly we didn’t get any bids!! But we are eternally grateful to our kit sponsor Palm equipment, who provide us with our amazing kit, most recently providing us with excellent new winter paddling gear, keeping us safe and warm for our chilly winter training.
What is your most memorable rafting experience?
A self support rafting trip on the Colorado River down the Grand Canyon. Spectacular scenery, great company and amazing white water.
What is your memorable moment with the team?
Winning double gold with the men’s team at the Europeans in Austria 2008 for head to head, and receiving a spontaneous standing ovation from the rest of the competitors involved in the event.
So what are the best and worst things about being in an all girls team?
The best thing is definitely the laughs, support and encouragement that we give each other. It is competing with a group of your best mates. And the worst thing is having one shower/mirror between seven of you whilst trying to get prettied up for an opening ceremony!!
Well there you are. Next time you will be hearing from Nezza our super motivated on board MACHINE!
This winter was my third in a row I managed to travel with my kayak through one of the most beautiful countries in the world – Chile. I only had a window of four weeks this time but nevertheless I still got to see new rivers and got some of the best classics done.
Having little trouble getting our rental car our little group of four Germans with “Los tres hermanos” Motz and me made it out of Santiago late on the first evening and headed straight to the Teno valley. Coming from cold and nasty Europe we got Chile at its best with beautiful sunshine and a warm summer temperature. So we started our paddling trip with one of the brown coloured classics, the Teno, before we headed further south.
Skipping the well-known and beautiful but this season way to dry Rio Claro we continued to the Laja valley where we met with two other friends. Having up to then only four boats for six people we were laping the only two kilometre long run for a while before we continued our journey down south to the kayak El Dorado Pucon.
Due to the heavy and sustained rain in the week before our arrival we got very lucky with the water levels in the region. So after getting our missing boats we picked the classics in that area, like the Palguin, the Trancura, the Nevados and the Maichin before we left to continue our road trip further down south.
Next stop was the Rio Fuy. The river was way too high for the upper part, what we first realized when we already found ourselves running quite big water. So later on the lower part of the river was way more fun and it gave us a little foretaste of our next main destination – the Futaleufu. But first we had to spent New Years Eve somewhere. As this trip came out as a typical road trip we spent it somewhere on the road, camping at one of the beautiful lakesides at Lago Panguipulli.
Our next two days we took two ferries and drove all the way down to Chaiten and a little further to the Rio Michimahuida. In my opinion the Michimahuida is one of the most worthwhile rivers in Chile. It offers a full day on the river packed with big boulder garden style rapids in deep remote canyons and wilderness as well as an incredible view on the volcano Michimahuida right at the put in. There are hundreds of waterfalls coming in from the sides. After more than 30 kilometers of finest whitewater the river opens up for some open riverbed paddling before it meets the road again at the take out. After that great day on the river we finally made our way down to the Futaleufu.
Coming back to this beautiful river after one year felt like coming home. We stayed there for a couple days paddling alternating the Puente to El Macal section and the whole 44 kilometre long complete run. After three days, there was some rain coming, which didn’t seem to stop for a while. The river came up really high and its colour turned from blue to brown. As we wanted to go further south anyways we decided that it was time for us to leave.
One and a half days and 700 kilometres later we arrived at the Rio Baker. For me it was the third year down at the giant river. Teaming up with another group we spend three days paddling through the big volume canyons of the Baker. Good to see this powerful giant still flowing free through Chileans Patagonia. Little sad to leave that gorgeous place we started our trip back north. And yes – its possible to make it from the Baker to the Futa in one day…
We had a few days left to enjoy Futaleufus crystal blue first class whitewater and later on the Pucon kayaking lifestyle and holiday gift shopping before we finally made our way back to Santiago.
Photos by Stefan Motz, Thomas Motz, Nini Bondhus and Anne Huebner
A few Palm Team Paddlers visited Chile this Christmas, so I’ve tried to keep this concise and insightful.
Viewers of the classic video magazine series LVM will be familiar with the ‘Tommy’s top ten concept, in which Eponymous whitewater hero Tommy Hilleke would enlighten the viewer his top 10 ‘Tips for survival in Norway’, or ‘Rivers of western North Carolina’. Either way, I’ve decided to shamelessly steal this concept, now called Nick’s Nine Notes-to-self, kicking off with what I have learned from my recent trip to Chile.
1. Dogs have better manners than US customs.
In Chile, the dogs are your friends. There are many street dogs in Chile’s towns, who are, as far as I can tell employed by the government to escort you safely home from the pub. Wonderful.
2. The Rio Palguin – Worth the flight alone?
There are some rivers which for the whitewater paddler are simply exceptional, and can make a trip worthwhile all by themselves. For me, the defining river of Chile was the Palguin. Spectacular waterfalls and rapids located deep in a stunning Basalt canyon, with crystal clear turquoise water. From clean, low consequence class 4, to freeride moves galore, to class 5 moves, and BIG waterfalls. No matter how many times you have seen the pictures and videos, it is even better once you’re there.
3. Empanadas – find recipe…
Like a cornish pasty, but made from pizza dough instead of pastry (read 50% less grease), usually with an olive and half a boiled egg thrown in. perfect fuel for hungry paddlers, and an absolute winner on a rainy day. Available
4. River running – Giant wave trains are not to be sniffed at…
Although the majority of pictures/videos you’ll see from Chile are of big waterfalls and technical creeks, Chile also boasts some of the biggest, bounciest, and most fun class 3-5 river running anywhere. Due to slightly epic rain-fed water levels, some of the most fun days we had were spent paddling super high water class 3-4. From kickflips galore to waves to surf on the fly, don’t make the mistake of thinking bouncy class 2-3 is only for beginners!
5. Patagonia – ‘They do move in herds!’
Perhaps surprisingly, one of the absolute highlights of the trip for me was the epically drive south through Patagonia. Our route took in 3 ferries, and many hours of untouched rainforest with snow capped, mountains, ominously smouldering volcanoes overshadowing towns buried in ash, Jurassic Park-esque foliage, and cascading waterfalls. To cap it off, in the middle of it all is the incomparable Rio Futalefu, famed for huge volume, blue water, and a stunning line up of class 2-5 whitewater to leave you grinning for weeks. There are few places in the world I have felt so constantly in awe of everything.
6.Volcanoes – spectacular, if unnerving…
They’re brilliant, and spectacular, and there are loads of them. The Rio Turbio even flows down a (now cold thankfully) lava channel. Watch out – they are mostly a bit active, and it’s quite unsettling eating a steak whilst grey smoke belches ominously from the nearest hill…
A shameless plug here, but I’ve used my Maverick G5s throughout the autumn, and in Chile, and they’re still going strong. Powerful blades, solid shaft, and a good weight, what more could you want from a paddle for £130?
8. 23 metres, it turns out, is really big.
Since the dawn of Bomb Flow TV, and the ever impressive work of a new generation of waterfall experts, 20+ metre waterfalls might not seem that much of a big deal anymore. One particular waterfall, the middle Palguin has seen a huge number of descents in recent years, but standing at 23m, of uninterrupted freefall, no number of videos or photos can prepare you for how big this looks from standing on the lip. 23m is really, really big. Arguably more terrifying than the waterfall itself however are the Indiana Jones style bridge with most of its planks missing, and the choice of ‘burly as hell’ entrance drop or ‘sketchy as you like’ seal launch just above the lip. Despite what videos suggest, well over 50% of paddlers swim at the base of this fall. The day we went it was high water, and I wanted to keep my bow up to avoid the standard deck implosion + beating in the base. Coming off a little too flat, I threw my paddle, and managed to get my bow down to 45 degrees, making for a super soft almost head dry landing right next to my paddles. Lovely job.
9. 3 weeks is probably not enough…
What with other commitments, my Chilean adventure had to be crammed into a non stop 3 week mission. I managed to get some true classics in, but the to-do list remains significant, and I’ll definately be heading back at some point. No matter what your preferred paddling style, Chile has more than you could wish for. As vagabond poet F.Burrows so eloquently put it: Go there, do the things, have the times.
Chile is a place I’d wanted to go since I’d watched VHS videos of the Futa and Claro when I was 15 years old. It really didn’t disappoint. The country is beautiful, the rivers are varied and the waterfalls clean. There’s literally a lifetime of paddling and exploring to be had there and I’m sure I’ll go back. If you’ve never been, then add it to your list. You won’t be disappointed.
After an amazing 2 months out there, I came home with bits and bobs of footage from my GoPro; so I made a little video (oh OK, RootDown did most of the editing). It doesn’t show even half of the cool stuff I was fortunate enough to paddle, see or experience out there, but hopefully it’s a little taster and a bit of fun. I hope you like it…
Here’s a few photos from my time there… again, I don’t feel they show the full story of my trip, but take a look and enjoy! There’s more on my Flickr.
Over the coming 11 months we are going to be training hard, rafting harder and eating as much protein as is humanly possible! All to get to the World Championships in New Zealand and hopefully glory on the podium. We are going to share this journey with you and tell you, bit by bit, a little more about us, who we are and why we love this great sport so much.
January Training:
On a weekend forecast for really bad snow, wind and generally rubbish winter weather, we were all a little hesitant to make the journey to Cardiff, but with Coach Dave’s words echoing in our ears “Champions are made in the winter” we took some “man-up juice” and went for it.
On your marks…get set…
Our first session on Saturday was an endurance session; how many laps we could do of the course in 90mins!
The great guys at Cardiff are always really welcoming and the boaters always let us pass (probably scared of getting run over!) and the warm showers at the end certainly make it all that bit easier to get going.
“I don’t know if you heard, but we’ve done over 1000!”
Session number two was a whole different story. The wind had picked up, as had the rain. This time we were completing pyramids of 100m lengths, attempting to work on technique, but with the wind making it 10 times harder it became a will power session. We all felt battered and pretty miserable, but it was character building and will only help us when it comes to going the distance in the endurance event.
Day two was a new, bright and windless day, with our first session in the morning working in our pairings on power balance and technique (without the wind YIPPEE) and secondly a repeat of day one: session one in the afternoon, aiming to beat our lap number from the previous day!! But the glamorous twist to this day was that we had our very own photographer come down from Sport Wales Magazine! Its hard to have a good camera face though when you are gurning through the effort!
Pair work. Rafts are harder to move with just 2 of you!
Making sure your pairing is right is vital for full power and performance.
Can you spot the camera? Say Cheeeeese!!
Our next training weekend is up in “the North” (of Wales) so bring it on Bala! During the month we will be doing as much personal training as we can and the girls who live in North Wales will be lucky enough to be able to get out on a raft together during the week come rain, shine or more likely snow.
It feels kind of strange writing a kayak review in the middle of a snow-white Bovec, but if there’s a good time to spend it on a computer, it is on lazy winter evenings. I spent most days of 2012 in a kayak, working on the river throughout the summer season and kayaking great whitewater in what turned out to be an epic autumn in Slovenia in terms of water levels.
My 2012 kayaking season has been largely affected by a transition from Pyranha Burn to the new dagger Mamba. I am very picky when it comes to kayaks and I am not easily persuaded. I paddled an old Mamba 8.5 from time to time and I really liked the control it offered on the water. But I never liked how it performed on the rocks. The old Mamba is mainly a river-runner. It is a great learning tool for beginners and a very safe bet for paddlers that don’t like being surprised by the boat. But it just couldn’t compare to the more hybrid-like Burn, when it came to creeking.
That is why I wasn’t instantly persuaded by the idea of switching to the new Mamba, which was presented to me in the springtime – even though it was a new model that needed to be “outed”. When it comes to extreme kayaking, I go for whatever I feel best and safest in, even if it isn’t in the best interest of my sponsors. I am glad that they understand that but in any case I still couldn’t wait to try out the new Mamba. Trying out different kayaks is kind of a hobby for me, as it makes me feel like a little child with a new toy. Most contemporary models come in different sizes as well, which just multiplies the experience.
At that moment Soča valley’s biggest kayak test center, Alpin Action, only had a Mamba 8.1 test boat. But I was quite sure that it was a right size for me, as I normally couldn’t resist the playfulness of smaller models compared to more conservative character of bigger ones. I tested the boat at a fairly low water level at Katarakt section of Soča River, which offers some nice rocky boofs on a mostly “watery” course. Mamba 8.1 surprised me in every way. The first thing I noticed was that the boat lost its ship-like character of being able to go straight without any “urge” for turning until you commanded it to. In fact it felt like a firecracker under my bum. I used to paddle slalom and I love the boats that can spin fast, but this boat exceeded all my expectations. I could hardly keep up to it. I could almost say I got outmanoeuvred by the boat. I wanted to own one, just for the challenge of taming it, but I could only get one boat and 8.1 size felt too small for my 75 kg, for serious extreme kayaking. What mattered to me the most was that its hull was much rounder than that of the old model and it gave me great control on the rocks. I had some problems in the past for not paddling the big enough volume boat in extreme whitewater, but the amazing performance of Mamba 8.1 gave me confidence to do a risky decision. I did something unthinkable for myself and just ordered an 8.6 version without trying it.
My first impression when I was unwrapping the boat was: “oh my god, it’s huge.” I felt a little bit sick, because I was really worried that it was too big for me. I’m only 174 cm high and I had some experience in the past with not being able to properly control the boats that were too big for me. I still think I look a bit funny when I sit in it, but how I feel in it is another tale. For the first few months I used it mostly for work at a very low water Soča. I had been taking photos of rafting and I needed to overtake the rafts a few times on their descent. Mamba felt like it was made for the job as it is fast and offers an amazing amount of space for my camera gear. I also learned it is a little less bouncy as the 8.1 version, which I expected from the bigger size. Nevertheless I was amazed by the fact that, even though it is a super big kayak, I was able to spin it very easily and fully control it. I couldn’t wait to try it on harder water.
In the next few months I got a chance to try it in super big volume, low volume creeks, steep big water situations and so on. To start with the sum up: I love the boat and never felt so secure doing extreme whitewater as I do in Mamba 8.6. When I first tried it in big volume, I was amazed by how on top of everything it felt and by how easily I could change direction, even though it is slightly harder to keep it on a straight track as it is the old Mamba. But unlike the old Mamba, this one can comfortably be used as a creeker: It has a very nicely rounded hull, which I feel confident to take to the steeper rocky rapids. The good features also include stability, easiness to lean it and roll. It is also really easy to boof, while it tends to land soft and accelerate on the landings.
I can’t say I don’t miss a bit of a playful character which smaller boats can offer. I honestly believe that a size gap between 8.1 and 8.6 is too big and I would like something in between to do those play-creeking runs on easier rivers and to also be able to use the same boat in serious conditions. But that would probably be a compromise for me, because there is currently no other boat than Mamba 8.6, that I would rather take to a hard paddling expedition. I can confidently stuff it full of heavy equipment, sit myself in and I can hardly notice any change in the way this kayak handles. Dagger is introducing a new outfitting kit in 2013 and I can hardly wait to try it out – especially those extra inches you can slip under the seat. Great job Dagger!
Here’s a video of Extreme kayakin in the Soča valley that I recently made . In the first part of the video I paddle the new Mamba 8.6 at a Katarakt section of Soča River. I believe it is quite evident in the video, that the boats handles like a charm, stays on top of features and accelerates effortlessly.
