Aghast that facebook is not allowed and struggling with internet speed Rosie has sent us this great post from China, read on…
We have arrived in China!
Flown over on an all expenses paid trip by the local Chinese government, Suzie and I have arrived in Zixi County in Eastern China to represent GBR in the Dajue Mountain Natural Water International Rafting Competition 2012.
'What the river looks like in the tourist catalogue'
We actually felt pretty lucky to arrive in one piece as it seems drivers in China are all boy racers – and there was a lot of water on the road! It’s been raining since we got here – first days training was today so we were bussed up high into the mountains with the other international teams – Czech, Hungary, Netherlands, Australia, Switzerland, New Zealand and America.
And the river was like nothing any of us (despite rafting and kayaking all over the world) had ever seen! In Suzie Jackson’s words ‘I love China! Big river pimped up with maaaasive slides! Safety = bedraggled man in poncho with bamboo stick. I Love CHINA!’
'Raft coral at the top of the river'
'Those that didn't make it...'
Early night tonight for race day tomorrow – and who knows what that might bring, with the mini two person rafts nigh impossible to keep straight down huge 10m slides, spinning out of control at every opportunity!
'We Love Rafting In China!'
Exciting! Will be posting up how we get on very soon.
As we crossed the border into Pakistan, we stumbled upon a small shop with a refrigerator. The temperature was around 40 degrees Celsius and the sun shone proudly in a cloudless midsummer sky. The plan was to hire a car to take our equipment to the bus station in Lahore from which we could catch the 30 hour bus to Gilgit. Instead, we decided to sack it off for a couple of hours and have a Fanta. This encounter has set the pace for the rest of the trip.
In fact, our little expedition seems to have merged perfectly with the Pakistani way of life; a lifestyle punctuated by regular tea breaks, naps and obscure public holidays. Why this morning, I spent half an hour in a mobile phone shop drinking a whole pint glass full of juice that tasted like Parma Violets. Imagine if you didn’t like Parma Violets! That would be awful. Luckily, I do like Parma Violets.
A cloud that looked a bit like an elephant with wings.
And then there’s the rivers: From raging silt stained torrents to crystal blue glacial streams, almost all have been thoughtfully located next to a road. ‘But surely there must be hundreds of undiscovered classics just seconds off the beaten track?’, you may ask. Well until they build a road next to it, I’ll be in the pool drinking my Fanta.
With love from Pakistan,
James
Here’s a few photos of the trip so far. We’ve found a huge range of whitewater and there is still so much more to be done.
After the Europeans was finished we visited the lake one last time to play on the diving boards and then went off to Slovenia for a little holiday with my parents and a Whitewater Safety and Rescue course with Palm’s Tom Parker on the Soca River.
It turned out to be of the most beautiful places we’ve been to: steep mountains, clean air, crystal clear rivers and lakes that you can drink, tasty fruits from Italy and very steep roads for our not too powerful van
We would like to live there actually if we could find any decent playspot in the area…Please tell us if you know of any.
The river itself was pretty low but we managed to paddle most of it and the beauty made up for the portages; i’ve never paddled anywhere so beautiful, but then I do paddle in Nottingham most of the time…;-) Here you can see many big Trouts swimming under you and the colour of the river is an unreal blue!
Katya found the Slovenian language is very similar to Russian, so she could read and understand some of it, often laughing at how it sounded to her like very old country folk Russian.
Now we’re back in the UK, my beloved Nottingham course is flooded so we’ll sort our Van and then look for some different dirty playspots
Over the couple of days leading up to the Gower Madness surf competition the weather and surf weren’t looking very nice but on the Thursday before, it was decided that it would run. It was planned that the comp site would be at Rhossilli beach and we would all meet at the car park on the top of the cliffs.
We travelled up to the Gower on Friday afternoon in fairly good weather but it was very windy. When we got there, 5/6 hours later, the sun had come out and it was a lovely evening. After setting up the tents we went for a walk along the coast to the competition site. The surf looked really big and horrible, the wind was blowing onshore and just making it a big mess.
After an early night and a good sleep we got up in the morning to find that the wind had dropped as the forecast had predicted but it was still pretty strong. We drove to the comp site and the waves looked a lot smaller than the day before but still not very nice. When everybody had arrived we had a brief and we all started to carry our boats down the cliff. It is a long walk down and I had to do it a couple of times as I had two boats and my kit as well.
The first heats on were the Men’s Open Short and my heats weren’t on till later on in the afternoon. I helped judge a couple of heats and sat around and watched until it was time to get on the water. My first heat was the Junior Short final. The tide had gone out a fair way by now so we had quite a walk to the waters edge. This was my second competition in my new boat and I hadn’t got fully comfortable in it yet so I wasn’t sure how well I was going to do. I had some nice waves, though, and I really appreciated how fast it was compared to my old one! At the end of the heat, which was 15 minutes long, I had no idea of how well I had done. I felt I’d had a couple of good waves but compared to everybody else, I had no idea.
My next heat was the Junior Long final and it was decided that the top two would go through to the Men’s Open Long semi-final but I had quite awhile to wait before I was on again. I helped judge again and then I stood on the beach taking advantage of the break to have a bite to eat and a drink. Then I was on again and I thought I hadn’t done too badly. I have never felt that the long boat is my strong point but I was happy with what I had done. I carried my boat all the way back up the beach as I thought I probably wasn’t in the top two only to find out a couple of minutes later that I was! So, in a couple of heats time, I would have to carry my boat all the way to the water again for the semi-final of the Men’s Long and the tide had gone out a long way!
I didn’t do so well in the Men’s Long semi and I came 4th, which wasn’t good enough to get me into the final.
It was time to get changed and start taking my boats up to the car park. By the time I had got halfway up the cliff path it felt like my arms were dropping off! After several rest stops to change my grip I got to the top and got all my kit in the car and my boats on the roof rack.
There was quite a wait for the prize giving, as everybody had to get up the cliff and get changed. Finally though, the time came to find out how well I had done. I came 2nd in the Junior Long and 1st in the Junior Short, which was great and made the trek up and down the cliff really worth it!
We decided that we would travel back home that day, as we didn’t really want to pay another lot of camping fees so we packed up and left. The journey back was really horrible. It was raining very heavily and the wind got up a bit as well so we were glad that we hadn’t stayed another night in the tents!
I’m really pleased with my results, a few weeks before the comp I was wondering if it was worth going all the way up to Wales but in the end it was definitely worth it!
Shortly after getting back from the european championships in Lienz,Austria, I got the chance to head to lee valley and take part in an event to celebrate the arrival of the Olympic flame at the official site for the london 2012 slalom event.
Lee Valley is host to by far one of the best white water courses I have ever paddled, long and continuous with some fairly large drops for a white water course, there is an abundant amount of play features however rescently the course has been fine tuned to fit the slalomists needs and the play features weren’t quite dialled in to what they could be, but were still great fun.
We were paired up and assigned a feature to play in, myself and Dan Chamlet spent most of our time in the hole under the bridge, whilst Josh Wedgwood and Sam Stephenson went to the bottom of the course where a fairly powerfull and sticky hole forms with a small green wave just behind it, We had a great time, with no pressure, as our only instructions where to have fun and look happy. Some big moves were pulled, lots of wipe outs where had, from hitting the bottom of the course and stalling out on loops and some downriver moves where hit along the way, it seemed to go down fairly well with the crowd .
We where mainly filling in the gaps whilst the Gb raft team carrying the Olympic flame made their way back up to the top of the course, Despite valiant efforts by Zack Franklin and the raft team to keep the torch dry, the continuous Lee valley white water course took it’s toll and eventually extinguished the flame, Luckily someone had foresaw that this was quite a likely scenario and a back up flame was nearby to relight it.
The torch then continued on to Newport carried by Jamie Oliver,
Finals day started from Junior Girls. 1st place was almost guaranteed to go to Nuria Fontane from Spain and it did. Scoring about 200 points in every round of the competition she was always well ahead of the others. 2nd and 3rd place went to German girls Lisa Hasselwander and Jana Gross who managed to throw loops in the last rides.
Next was Junior Boys. Bren had so far won every round with James Benns always on his heels. Just as we were expecting GB’s James Benns made sure Bren wouldn’t get his title too easily. In the first ride James scored 660 points, setting a very high standard for the winning ride. Bren managed to put together a very good ride and just went ahead of James by 1.667points! Such a close fight they both deserved to win. However Bren became Junior Mens European Champion, James Benns got a Silver medal and Sam Stephenson got a well-deserved Bronze. All 3 medals went to the GB team.
In C1 Lukas Cervinka from Czech got the Gold, with Philip Hitzigrath of Germany in Silver and Aitor Goikoetxea of Spain in Bronze.
Women’s finals went smoothly with no surprises, Marlene of France was going bigger than anyone on her loops and space godzillas and reclaimed her European title with almost the same score as two years ago (about 300), Silver went to Nina Csonkova of Slovakia and Bronze to Maria Lindgren from Sweden.
Last in the day was the Mens Final, and this one didn’t go along with anyones predictions First to go in the final was GB’s James Weight who scored so far the highest ride of the competition in the previous rounds. His style is very interesting to watch – going big on all his moves, throwing backloop to mcnasty combos. Many was betting on him. This time though he didn’t manage to put all this together unfortunately and came away with 4th place.
Second to go was Joaquim Fontane from Spain, I didn’t see his run but after the commentator announced a huge score of 1170 the highest of the competition I knew it would take a magic ride to beat this.
Third to go was Sebastian Devred from France, the most consistent competitor of the event, he put together a very good rides but lacked the spark to get him in first but did get the Silver Medal.
Peter Csonka who had been fighting with his injury all week, still looked very capable of winning here. He so far had been paddling very well even through his pain but on the final day his injury seemed to get worse and he just wasn’t in a good enough physical shape to fight for the medal coming in fifth.
Having heard Joaquims sensational score I actually felt no pressure, I had to go all out to stand any chance of beating him so it was very enjoyable to try my hardest. Unfortunately I didn’t get enough magic in my rides to get Gold so fell a little short getting the Bronze Medal 30 points behind Sebastian.
This meant of course that Joaquim Fontane from Spain last Europeans Junior Champion in his first senior year became the Mens European Champion bringing the second Gold medal of the event to Spain!
It was the toughest final I ever competed in actually and despite not winning was one of the most fun to be a part of. The standard of the Europeans raised a lot since 2 years ago and its no longer a fight between me, Peter and Mathieu anymore its 5,6 or 7 paddlers who are all capable of winning. It does look like a real sport now, you have to be on top of your technical, mental and physical shape and have some magic going on in your ride to win now.
For me its a good enough result to be happy with but sh*t enough to get me motivated for taking my kayaking on a new level.
A great results for GB as a team, a big well done especially to Bren and the Junior boys!
The day started with the Men’s K1 Quarter Finals, cutting the field to 10 with three 45-second rides, best 2 counting.
The water was dirty from yesterday night’s thunderstorms but the level seemed to be lower making the feature tougher and harder work to get the moves in.
In the Quarters, everyone was expecting higher scores as we had one ride to throw away but in the end it was lower scores than yesterday, with paddlers getting to grips with the harder level.
The GBR team did very good with all 3 making the top 10, GB’s James Weight in 1st. He is consistently performing on a top level this event. He is the only paddler managing to hit any combo/ trophy moves (the back loop to mcnasty).
I got 5th with mediocre rides I wasn’t quite happy with my paddling so went away to the nearby lake to pull myself together to bring out my best for the semi finals later.
It is a very hot beautiful sunny weather here, but this also means the paddlers are boiling in their gear in the waiting eddy (water is still quite cold here, so many wearing long cags despite the sun).
Next up was the Junior Men’s Semi Final, cutting from 10 to the top 5 who go through to the Final tomorrow. Many boys were struggling with the lower water level.
Palm’s Bren Orton managed to put it together in his 2nd run to get 1st again with GB’s James Benns again on his heals in 2nd. The other GB paddler Sam Stephenson claimed 3rd to get his place to the finals too.
Bren has a very good chance here for the final and has been regularly hitting rides that would place him in the men’s final so I wish him good luck for the fight for the title tomorrow. James Benns the other very talented GB Junior who is very capable of doing a winning ride will probably be the only one who can be an equal competitor for Bren.
Women’s Semi Finals was next with a few surprises. The reigning World Champion GB’s Claire O’Hara unfortunately had a hard time with the lower level and finished 7th, missing the finals. Frenchie Marlene Devillez (reigning European Champion) looks like she’s going to keep her title this year with another 1st going into the finals. Palm’s Anne Huebner unfortunately also missed the final. What is good however is some new faces making the final, Norwegians Tora Heggem and Kari Olnes who just turned senior this year.
Then it was back on the water for me in the Men’s Semi Finals. Competing the second time in the same day in this hole was tough for all of us but actually the standard of rides did go up.
I finally got two rides I was happy with and came 1st with 930 points in my best ride. Just behind me by 14 points was reigning European Champion Peter Csonka, my most usual challenger who I very enjoy to paddle with and against.
He has been suffering quite a bad injury and almost didn’t practice at all in an effort to try and get healed up before the event. Through the pain however he is doing a very tough rides to beat.
3rd was Sebastian Devred from France with a very consistent rides as he usually does.
4th went to Spanish reigning Junior European Champion Joaquim Fontane. Who is performing in his first senior year at a very good level.
The last place in the finals went to GB’s James Weight who seemed to take a break from his high scoring domination to save himself for tomorrow
I think it will be one of the hardest finals I’ve ever been in, with scores similar to Worlds so far but on a much harder feature. I’m looking forward to trying to bring out my best against such good competition
Pringle
P.S. Results in the Gallery below (bit backwards order so check the corner to see whether its for Semi’s or Quarters…:-)
Day 2 of the european championships saw the senior men and junior ladies stepping up for their first rides of the event.
The junior ladies was typically closely fought and some impressive rides were thrown down by the girls in this powerful hole. Jen Mcgally and Kim Aldred from Gbr both made it through to the next round of the competition and Nuria fontanne messo from spain managed to put some fear in the junior boys with some huge space godzillas.
During the mens prelims tensions are always high, with both rides counting there is little room for error, a mistake here will cost you dearly and could potentially stop you from advancing to the next round.
Palms James Bebbington managed to lay down some great rides and secure his place in the next round along with the other members of the Gbr senior team, James Weight, Andy Brinkley and Alan Ward – unfortunately Gav Barker, who has been battling an injury for the past few days did not quite make the cut,
The cut for the senior men is filled with some of the top paddlers in the world and it’s going to make for an awesome few days spectating.
Unfortunately due to problems with the internet here, I can’t upload todays pictures, but will make sure I get them up tomorrow after my rides
With alpine adventures under way and expedition season fast approaching, this months Coaching Dispatches looks at big waves.
Photo: Tim Burne | Location: Sweden
Posture is the key to everything, without it we would capsize. When dealing with big waves upper and lower body separation becomes even more important. As the boat rides up and over the wave we must be ready to let the boat pitch upwards and keep our centre of gravity over the front of the boat.
When riding through a long wave train, our vision might be limited, we might only be able to see on top of the peaks. If we then want to change the way we are facing to change river position, we must think tactically about when this can effectively be done. In tight smaller wave trains, we might not be able to turn effectively in the trough of the waves because of the resistant from the peaks around us. We can’t push the boat through a wall of water. On big tall waves we might not want to travel up the wave facing sideways, in order to maintain posture and boat speed for anything unexpected behind the wave.
Posture is Key. Photo: Adam D | Paddler: Matt Tidy | Location: Nepal
As we see a big wave approaching, the obvious reaction is to hit the power and charge. We get that shot of adrenaline, tense up (effecting posture) and stop thinking about our strokes. As you get more used to this environment you’ll find you generally need less speed than you think and you’ll then find you have more control.
Remember you can’t take a big stroke off the top of a wave because there isn’t much water about. Two common mistakes I see regularly, is to take a stroke at the peak and the last half of the stroke just fires through the air or reaching behind a wave. In both cases we are not anticipating the change in water level through the waves. Slow, even powered strokes. This is a great time to play with changing blade pressure.
Nick applies even blade pressure as he rides over a wave in Switzerland.
Don't forget to turn around and play on those waves! Photo: Tim Burne
Chris Eastabrook Coaching offers bespoke personal coaching covering a range of skills and mental preparation designed around your white water kayaking goals.
The European Championships 2012 opened yesterday in Lienz, Austria. They held a Opening Ceremony in a 14th century Castle (museum) with free drinks, speeches and a drum performance (just using 2 kayaks).
Lienz is the only place in the World where they would let kayakers into a museum with as many free drinks as they want
Today the competition started from OC1, Junior Men, Womens and C1 Prelims.
The level is a bit different to what people are used to, so its proving quite challenging. (and it’s a pretty tough feature to begin with But the beautiful surroundings, hot sun, mountains, lakes, swimming pools make up for the harshness of the feature.
Junior Mens was dominated by the British team getting the first four places (see results below in photos). Palm Paddler Bren Orton put himself in 1st position a long way ahead with over a 1000 points, getting a first ride that would likely see him in a similar place in the mens.
Womens current European Champion Marlene from France is currently in first place followed by Claire O’Hara from GB. Palms Anne Huebner got through to the semi finals and Katya finished 11th just missing the cut.
C1 prelims were won by GB’s Adam Ramadan ahead of the current European Champions Lukas Cervinka from Czech.
So far you can definitely say that Team GB have dominating the competition, especially taking into account the results in OC1 & Squirt Boats.
Tomorrow the most exciting part coming (hopefully with a K1 men where I’ll get to compete to make the cut to the top 20.
First to go in the final was GB’s James Weight who scored so far the highest ride of the competition in the previous rounds. His style is very interesting to watch – going big on all his moves, throwing backloop to mcnasty combos. Many was betting on him. This time though he didn’t manage to put all this together unfortunately and came away with 4th place.
I wasn’t quite happy with my paddling so went away to the nearby lake to pull myself together to bring out my best for the semi finals later.
