An Amazing few days for one of the main events of the Irish kayaking calendar @ the 2013 Crana Canoe Weekend in Buncrana up in Lovely North West Donegal, run by Adrian Harkin and his lightning sharp crew@ justkayak.ie.
There was something for everybody, and there was no shortage of smiles and laughter as everybody brought great inspiration and good vibes to the days. The venue is ideal as it’s guaranteed dam released water for these two days of the year and all happens within close proximity of each other so great for spectators also.
We were there running coaching clinics and to have the craic and join in the events. The mighty “Palm Throw Bag Olympics “ were in full swing where folks have to run through a wild throw bag assault course and winners being awarded the big prizes.
There was the first Irish rafting race with teams being drawn in from all different disciplines to go for gold.
The First Dagger Dash took place. A Le-Mans style running mass start around a course and then a 1km blitz down a whitewater course. Folks trying to gain advantage by not snapping their decks on in the maddness at the put in were awarded a slow sinking to the bottom mid course.
An incredible event for juniors with all classes catered for with slalom, down river, boater X, freestyle and coaching clinics, all held on the easier pieces of water at the venue.
River rescue clinics and intermediate and advanced white water coaching clinics were being run throughout the two days covering everything and anything.
The Main event is the Boater X. It is run on the Sunday. The course is about 800m long, starting out with a flat section sprint in to a few rapids and as the river squeezes it slingshots you into the mighty “ Claw”. A double drop rapid with various lines all with various outcomes. Needles to say, great spectating and some competitors left with permanent side partings and their buoyancy aids on backwards at the finish line.This years winners were Slalom King, Cieran Heurteau, just back from a top 15 result in the Sickline world championship.The ladies crown was taken by Laura Griffin showing the stylish lines in her Dagger Mamba.
A full list of results for all the events can be found @www.cranakayakevents.com
A really fun event,with great people, good laughs and some great racing. It was really magic to see so many juniors out there charging. Big thanks to everybody getting involved and bringing all the positive energy to the clinics and races, to Adrian and crew@justkayak.ie for running such a smooth event and looking after everybody so well and thanks to Shane @progressive distribution for taking care of the troops and having all the toys at hand! It was great to be there with the Palm/ Dagger crew, looking forward to next year already. All info on http://www.cranakayakevents.com Put it in your calendar for next year.
Well it certainly has been an epic summer down here in NZ.
After lots of working behind the scenes with Red Bull and Tourism NZ I was able to finally put into action a trip I had been dreaming about for a long time. For the past 10 years I have been fortunate enough to follow my passion for kayaking around the world exploring some of the best whitewater this planet has to offer. I thought it was finally time to bring some of the amazing friends I have made through the sport down to my home turf and explore the very best that NZ has to offer. So in February Rush Sturges, Rafa Ortiz and camera man Matt Baker flew down to NZ to join myself and fellow kiwi paddler Jared Meehan and embark on an epic adventure.
Meeting in Auckland we loaded up a 6 berth RV and headed off on a 35 day, 8000km road trip through both the North and South Islands of NZ to see what we could find. We were set up to chase weather patterns, good flows and we weren’t afraid to put serious driving kilometers under us to put ourselves in the right places to find the water we were looking for. This plan certainly paid off and we were fortunate enough to get on some amazing rivers right throughout the country.
From L to R Jared Meehan, Ben Brown, Rafa Ortiz and Rush Sturges somewhere in the South Island.
We spent a couple of weeks in the creeking paradise of Hokitika on the West Coast of the South Island using the traditional kiwi shuttle vehicle of the helicopter to access the remote creeks on offer here
The team loading the Heli to fly into the 2 day Mungo Hokitika River. A highlight of the trip.
Flying into the Kokatahi River
Putting the Atom Top and AMP PFD through its paces.
Dropping into another dark and ominous gorge on the West Coast
Committing but breathtakingly beautiful. The Mungo/Hokitika River is as good as it gets for multi day paddling in NZ.
The infamous 'Carnage Gorge' on the Kokatahi River.
Exiting 'The Gates of Argonath' at the conclusion of the Hokitika River
The creeking on the West Coast exceeded our very high expectations and some of the footage we got was incredible. The Atom Drytop along with the Sidewinder Pant combo performed amazingly well keeping me dry and comfortable yet remaining comfortable during some of the very arduous portages and hike-ins that we subjected ourselves to. The Mungo/Hokitika two day trip was a highlight of our time on the Coast and I was very impressed by both the weight and functionality of the Palm waterproof storage bags I used.
Before long a low pressure system from the deep south slammed into the Coast sending all the levels sky high and grounding the helicopters. We teamed up with a few of the local chargers and sampled several of the amazing flood runs the Coast also offers.
Hunting the Flow after some heavy rain on the West Coast
Lemming style flood boating on one of the local boys secret gems...
We then headed further south to explore some of South Otagos high volume runs. Fortunately for us the rain followed and we had a rare summer descent of the Nevis River, easily one of the finest hard runs in the country, before spending a few days on the classic big water test piece – Nevis Bluff.
The final move in 'Freight Train', my favorite rapid on the Nevis River
Getting a unique Heli filming angle of Nevis Bluff
Pretty stoked at the bottom of Nevis Bluff!
After over a month in the South Island we spent our last week on the Central Plateau of the North Island where we discovered a couple of rarely run waterfalls which was a great bonus in country not renowned for its tall drops.
Finding a hidden waterfall in the North Island was an awesome treat.
The Flow Hunters trip was an amazing adventure that I was sad to come to the end of. I got explore my home country with a group of amazing paddlers and friends and we had a trip that I will remember for a long time. The footage will feature in a TV show scheduled for a June release but until then you will have to settle for the teaser below. The edit has been a huge task but taking the time to sift through the huge amount of footage has reaffirmed to me what a great journey it was and what an incredible kayaking destination NZ is. Get down here soon!
River festivals are always fun and last week’s 2011 Noguera Palleresa River festival was no exception.
Well I am very pleased to report that on returning to Sort In the Cataluna Pyrenees for the first time in 10 years since 2001 when the world freestyle championships were there, and they decided to provide in gratis alcohol and food to a bunch of “ enthusiastic” kayakers, the place still has every bit of magic beauty and craziness that it did all those years ago. The man, the myth the legend Lluis Rabaneda and his team at RocRoi.com put together another amazing event in the form of the “ Noguera Pallaresa River Festival” 2011.
With Lluis behind the magic, a van loaded with the brand new Dagger Mamba test boats, throw in some sunshine, great water levels guaranteed by the dam, new friends and old, a big party, amazing locals, both paddlers and civilians, we have a winning combination. It was the perfect end to the summer paddling season.
The NPRF 2011 attracted kayakers from The UK, Ireland, Finland, Argentina, Norway, France, Canada, America, Spain, Germany, just to name a few! The festival was very inclusive for all abilities and ages and set on the Palleresa River that has really nice class 2/3 rapids over different sections with some of the most stunning scenery that I have seen in a kayak.
Over the course of the festval there was a bunch of clinics organised for folks to go on and the river is a great coaching venue. I was involved with the Safety and Rescue clinic and had a blast with the mixed crew we had on the session. There were loads of other clinics run. Eric “EJ” Jackson was doing the freestyle clinics with the kids and adults. Raphael Thiebaut the photo master was doing a photo Clinic for kayak photographers. Next year the lads should do a party clinic on the back of their performance on the dance floor during the Saturday night festivities. A memory that will stay with me for a while is EJ saying to the Mayor of Sort whilst dragging him unwillingly to the dance floor, “ have you ever tried slam dancing??!” Ej also received a special award for the 10 year anniversary since he won the worlds in Sort.
There was a “ Le Mans” style mass race down the class2/3 section from Llavorsi to Rialp, just upstream of Sort. The race was great fun with some charging hard at the front and others just taking their time and enjoying the ride down to the finish line about 8 km away.
As I was there with the toy chest filled with a bunch of the all new Dagger Mambas along with other models I was pleased to hear such positive feedback about the boats from the test pilots. People were really fired up on how dynamic the new boats were. It’s always good to see smiling faces.
It was great to see such a range of people and abilities at an event like this. It appeared as though everybody was catered for. I will definitely be gunning to hit the fesival next year. Well done again to Lluis and his very capable and friendly team @rocroi.com Cheers for the good times. That’s what kayaking is all about, can’t wait to see what’s in store for next time. Thanks to the Palm/Dagger guys for supporting such a nice event.
Last Saturday was the Youth Freestyle event on the Washburn River in Yorkshire. Check out the video above that me and Palms Junior star Bren Orton filmed and edited together to see what it was all about.
Its a great series of events for young paddlers of all abilities with the main aim of getting on the water having fun, getting top quality coaching and then doing some fun competitions. I’ve been at 3 YF events now and they have all been great days out showcasing an amazing array of talented young paddlers coming up in the Uk kayak scene. It looks to me like the future of British kayaking is in a very healthy condition.
Hi all. We’re back in the UK and work has begun on the film we’re making of this summer’s Norwegian Odyssey.
It’s called Vaniljesaus (Pronounced Vanilla Jesus), and will be released online here on the Palm Blog within the next few weeks. For now here’s a sneak peek….
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing have chosen the Palm Atom Jacket for use in their training period in the run up to the Volvo Ocean Race starting late October. Currently training in Cascais, Portugal this video shows some of the extreme environments in which our equipment has to perform.
We’ve had an epic trip involving Lemmings, stitches, hiking, driving, and of course, lots of paddling!
We’ve enjoyed first descents in the Baieraaga, Tverraaga, and Graataaga (the rivers up north are called aaga, not elva), and lots more!
The above photo is of Jasper Polak on the first descent of a big slide on the Tverraaga.
We camped for several nights on the shores of lake Krutvatn:
This year was a lemming year; every 3-4 years the population explodes leading to mass panic and bizarre confrontational behaviour from the lemming population. This means regular hilarious standoffs with a brown furry ball the size of a hamster.
One of the highlights of the Hattfjelldal (Hat-mountain-valley) area of Norway was the Upper Susna, with its classic pool drop fun.
It features one of the most fun drops in the world, the Dusj boof (shower boof) which involves boofing and disappearing completely into a white curtain. here Hugh Graham prepares to take a rinsing…
After a few days in Hattfjelldal we headed further north to Beiardalen in search of new adventures and first descents…
First up was a river called the Graataaga, which involved a beautiful clean, bouldery class 3 – 4 gorge, a perfect warm up.
After some further scouting, and a couple of projects to save for higher/lower water, Hugh and Jasper stumbled across an absolute gem, in the form of the Tverraaga. This involved a steep hike in the baking sunshine, but we were rewarded with a steep continuous selection of amazingly fun slides, boofs, and a picturesque swimming pool at the takeout!
A super clean, fast slide – I claimed 1st run on this baby.
A bouncy number – some carnage on this one, but nothing major!
My run of the big slide!
Catching some air off a kicker half way down. This one is pretty fast!
Finn Burrows at the exit of a tight gorge:
Stay posted for more pictures to come soon! There will also be a mini movie with footage of all of our adventures!
Big thanks to the team, which was Finn Burrows, Hugh Graham, Jasper Polak, Tom Parker, Sarah Nash, Yours Truly (and shuttle bunies/chefs Em and Tebb).
I have been in California for the past six weeks enjoying one of the craziest seasons in history. A record snowpack has meant a super long and late run-off and the paddling has been nothing short of amazing! We have hit most of the classics from The South Feather to West Cherry as well as a few of the lesser known drops hidden away in the Sierras. I have been rolling with the posse’ from River Roots and Bomb Flow and the content we have collected is epic!
For the duration of the mission I have been wearing the new Atom dry top and Stikine thermal ‘bunny suit’ along with the now trusted Amp vest and the performance has been spectacular. The new breathable fabric on the Atom performs super well in and out of the water and is really comfortable to paddle in. It keeps the cold, snow melt water out but lets your skin breath when hiking on the exposed granite here in Cali. I can’t recommend this top enough, it is easily the best dry top I have ever used.
Anyway, here are a few pics from the travels – more to come!
On a mission!
BB
Line up the 50 footer, lose the paddle, close eyes & hold on!
HIGH speed testing on Tenaya Creek.
The intimidating Heath Springs 2 on the Royal Gorge of the American.
Get some coaching from top coaching providers including Palm’s Lowri Davies. Whether you want to gain confidence on grade 3/4, perfect your playboating, or simply fancy a guided trip of the scenic lower Tryweryn, these guys will be able to help you out. Sign up when you arrive.
Race in the PALM 8-BALL! This is full contact paddling. Think head-to-head boaterX mixed with Robot Wars. The aim? Get to the bottom of the section first and avoid being taken out by one of many inflatable kayakers in your path…. (Exact time to be confirmed although probably Saturday afternoon)
Leave your car at the takeout and take advantage of free shuttles throughout the weekend. Leaving you with more time on the water! Ace.
Outfit your boat. Do you struggle getting the fit of your Dagger kayak just right? Come see us and we’ll help you pad it out to perfection!
Discover Palm’s 2011 range. We’ll have experts on hand to talk you through the range and our design process.
Bring your bikeand take part in the multisport challenge.
Sounds good! How much is it?
Tickets are £25 and on sale now! Call the centre on 01678 521 083 or pop in to reception to book. Please advise of any dietary requirments at time of booking.
As with last year there will be shuttles from the lower river, camping at Bala Mill on Friday and Saturday night, evening entertainment and meals provided on Friday and Saturday night.
I’m convinced, now show me some shots of last year’s 8-Ball Carnage!
I thought you’d never ask. Here you go.
This all sounds a bit advanced to me, is there anywhere I can go to try paddling for the first time?
Don’t forget, we’re also in the East Midlands this weekend at the Midsummer Great Escape in Belvoir Castle. The perfect opportunity to get on the water for the first time…
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