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
happy paddling,
Pringle
Sunshine, 3 Gates, Big Air & Good Friends – Hurley Classic 2012
When I first started competing the ‘Hurley Rodeo’ was the UK’s biggest event, drawing in paddlers from all across Europe for an aerial frenzy on the Thames.
In recent years the event has been on a much lower scale, largely due to poor levels, but this year Jacko from KayakoJacko went all out to bring the festival feel back and turn it back into the booming event it once was. With the boom that’s going on in freestyle right now it seems perfect timing to relaunch the event in this manner.
Jacko definitely didn’t disappoint! We had perfect levels, good weather and over 120 paddlers attending including all the big names: Peter & Nina Csonka, Mathieu Dumoulin, Quim & Nuria Fontane, UK’s Bren Orton & myself and Katya.
So we had World Champions, World Cup Champions, European Champions, Rider of the Year winners, National Champions & past Champions all gathered to do battle on one of the UK’s most iconic spots. Jacko had a treat lined up for us.
A very international eddy queue
Cheesy came down and put up the Palm & Dagger tent to show off the new kit and the Dagger Jitsu. We had all 3 sizes for people to try. They definitely fly here on Hurley!
First up was the final of the British League event. Your best two out of three 45 second rides gave you your final score. I had some great rides getting KY’s, Loops, AirScrews and Panams and thought I might have the win but as it turned out I ended up in 3rd place behind local favourite Alan Ward in 2nd and World Cup winner Peter Csonka taking the win. In the ladies Emily wall took the British title with Nina Csonkova taking the overall Win.
1st place to Peter Csonka
Saturday afternoon gave us a steep ramp into the Boatercross. Carnage ensued throughout but keeping the speed up and avoiding the crashes David Bain sprinted his way to the win.
Sunday was what the weekend was all about really, going big with our friends without the pressure of timed rides. It was a jam session format of 15 minutes and then a superfinals of ICF rules for the top 5. Unfortunately I was a bit too determined to get my KY and wasted too much time and finished way down the list but those who got the right tactic of going big but making sure to cram all their moves into their session came out on top.
Mathieu Dumoulin from France fighting hard into 2nd in the final
Palm’s Seppi going high – Exactly what the Classic is all about!
Palm’s Bren Orton went huge in the prelims and got everyone raving when he got his place in the senior mens final (he’s still a Junior), UK Champion Sam Anderson made it too then we had Quim, Mathieu, and Peter all there. The finals were a great display of the various styles but eventually Peters consistency edged ahead of Mathieu’s fluidity to take the Win, with Quim in 3rd. In the womens Nina Csonkova took the win again with Flea in 2nd place.
Full Classic Results: https://www.thamescanoes.com/classic/results.xls
We had a great time! A big thanks to Jacko and his team for putting it together!
Pringle
p.s. Thanks to Núria Fontané Masó and Peter Issacs for the additional photos.
With so many new and updated products to show off this last week, it’s hard to choose our favourites but with a camera shoved in their face, the people behind Palm Equipment did eventually manage to pick out their favourites.
Watch the video below to see what we liked the best and meet the people who make up Palm…
For those who haven’t seen the last few updates on our Facebook Page the rest of our product videos can be seen here or in the earlier blog postings:
Bye for now,
Pringle
During Paddle Expo, their were two clear favourites from Palm. The brand new FX PFD and the updated Fuse cag.
I used the Fuse as my cag of choice all last year. It looks stunning and for me I need a cag that’ll keep me dry, but also be lightweight, comfy and give me the best possible freedom of movement. That is the Fuse exactly.
This year Palm have updated the colours to the Aqua/ Lime and Aqua/Sherbet.
What I missed though was a PFD that would match the looks and performance of the Cag. Even the whole industry has lacked any really good looking progressive play/ freeride PFD’s for a long while.
Now that’s finally fixed with the updated FX. Available in Lime, Aqua and Red.
Covered with the same outer layer as the cags it just jumps out at you. You can choose the colours now to make it blend in as if your not wearing anything or stand out like a neon billboard (more my style
Function-wise it’s cut beautifully for freedom of movement, and a close fit for aggressive WW paddling. It has nice comfy soft foam to mould to your shape, quick easy adjustment straps and enough flotation to feel comfortable if you do end up in the water.
I literally can’t wait to get my hands on the Aqua/ Pink FX pfd…
Above Video: Cheesy gives us the details of the Beauties!
Palm's Designer Barney Caulfield shows his creation
Available in 3 colours: Aqua, Lime and for those who prefer the classics Red
Fuse available in Aqua/Sherbet and Aqua/Lime
For next season I picked the Aqua/ Lime for myself
The FX in Aqua/Pink is pretty much my dream PFD. Actually it's the best looking kit I've ever seen.
People were crowding around and taking photos of the FX all the time, it really was the winner of the show.
Now you can have everything matching.
