As I was able to spend my fourth winter in a row in Chile it was my first trip where I was guiding customers through this beautiful country on the west coast of South America.
Daniel on the last drop of the lower palguin
First destination of our journey was Pucon where we did some warm up paddling on the surrounding rivers. Ellies B&B offered a lovely ambience with the view on the Volcano Villarica to relax after the long trip to get there.
Peter in the “volcano drop” of the Trancura
In the first few days the group got a taste of some big volume rapids on the Trancura, they mastered the difficulty of running their first waterfalls on the Palguin and they got in touch with some remoteness of the Chilean wilderness on the Maichin.
the highest drop of the upper Plaguin, photo: Michael Sommerauer
After Christmas, which would have been described as a summer garden barbecue party in Europe, we started to travel south. With a stopover at the Rio Fuy where the group improved their waterfalls skills our next main destination was the Rio Futaleufu, which is called one of worlds finest kayak destinations for a good reason.
upper Fuy, photo: Michael Sommerauer
Driving down south took us a whole day and leaded us through pleasant fjords using three ferries as well as down the Carretera Austral and through the “Parque Pumalin” – a gorgeous nature park in the Chaiten region. Unluckily the typical Patagonian constant rain didn´t spare us but once arrived at the Cara del Indio camp we considered ourselves fortune by claiming the last free Cabana that evening.
pole position on the ferry
After a good sleep we started to have our first real big volume paddling day down the Bridge to El Macal section on the next morning. As we barely find any comparable whitewater back home I observed some hectic paddling till we reached the take out. So we decided that another day of warm up paddling down the same section would be necessary till everyone got familiar with that kind of exploding waves and whirlpools and felt ready to venture through the canyon and down the complete 46 kilometer long whitewater section of the Futaleufu, just in time for closing paddeling on New Year´s Eve. Tired but happy to collect the “golden medal” of the Futa we rewarded ourselves with an original Chilean “Asado” – a whole lamb grilled for several hours by the owner of our Camp.
Almut in her great Palm gear and Dagger Mamba at the put in for the Rio Azul, photo: Fabian Krummreich
So the group started off their paddling year 2014 by getting more and more comfortable on the extraordinary whitewater of the Futa day-by-day. Due to the continuous rain even the Azul came a little bit up and became an enjoyable run. So relaxing in the traditional Hot-Tub high up on the cliff over the Futa was the last missing thing of the Futa-experience which got ticked off the list before we had to loac up the truck to start our journey back up north again.
the boys having fun in the mud tub of the Termas Amarillo, photo: Fabian Krummreich
On the way our plan was to paddle the Michimahuida, which offers an entire day on the river filled with numerous rapids and scenic waterfalls coming in from the glacier on the sides in the remote Patagonian wilderness. Unfortunately the river was running a little bit to high for us on that day so we took out after the first few kilometres just where the road leaves the river and spent the rest of the day in the nearby “Termas Amarillo”. While half of the group kept relaxing in the nice and clear naturally hot water of the Termas few others felt more pleased resting in the natural mud pool. In the end of the day the sun finally managed to burn all those clouds of the seven five days away and brought us a beautiful last evening on our wild camp on the beach close to Chaiten.
last wild camping spot on the beach close to Chaiten, photo: Fabian Krummreich
Back in Pucon we spent our last few days on the more and more drying Rios Fuy, Trancura and Palguin and tried to absorb as much sun as we could before we had to fly back to winter in the cold and dark Europe.
Almut boofs one of the nicest drops of the lower Palguin
Chile is and stays on of the best places on earth to escape Europeans winter season for all paddlers who enjoy paddling class IV whitewater. One can find everything paddlers heart desires – from steep volcano rock built low volume creeks to excellent big volume whitewater. As one of the safest South American countries Chile fascinates with its clean and clear rivers, tasty food, dry and warm climate and tons of breathtaking landscape.
Almut following me down the upper Plaguin, photo: Paul Meylahn
Yes, I know World Championships were months ago, apologies but I feel its worth mentioning some things, especially now that I have had plenty of time to reflect on the experience as a whole. I have not represented Ireland in any other sports before so this was a unique and really cool experience for me. I believe in the old proverb that pictures (with captions :)) tell a thousand words. So after you scroll through my favourite photos that summarise our trip maybe you’ll be ready to read some more ramblings about what the World Championships are really about and who made it all possible for us. (Photos predominantly by David O’Sullivan and Barry Loughnane)
I started my trip at my home away from home, RiverRun Rafting in the Ottawa Valley
Clay, Coach Dave and Flo-Dog made fantastic travel buddies for the long journey south
Although I did have a favourite…
Highways cut through the stunning scenery of North Carolina, not what we were expecting from south-eastern USA
Arriving at the NOC and deciding to take the cheap option a little way off the beaten track…
Fun times! food always tastes better from an open fire!
Team mates begin to arrive and the local culture is sampled…
Very well sampled…
Oh wait we did lots of training too :)
Shane Little KJM loving his new Palm gear! Coach Dave was always on hand to give us video feedback during our training sessions. Legend!
Patriotism for the flag grew stronger as the competition day advanced
We found ways to relax in the days before the competition, it wasn’t hard in paradise!
Opening Ceremony was a blast! The whole town of Bryson turned out to see us march!
We even had a team mascot! Team GB and Palm paddler Bren Orton
Training was heating up and we kept each other focused on hitting the rides we had visualized in our heads
Competition day, there was a real togetherness within this group and you could feel that everybody on the team even though they were your competitors, wanted you to do really well. We supported each other shamelessly
Staying focused for my rides
The Dagger Jitsu dishing me out some nice air
Happy with my rides and pointing to the stand where my team mates were cheering, their support helped me greatly. (Photo by Pringle)
My rides at world championships earned me 37th position which I was pretty content with for my first major competition but being at worlds also showed me the standard of the top athletes, even to break into the top 20 would take an incredible amount of commitment and training. I hope I can continue to push on in the right direction. However more important then the competition for me was the people I was there with. There was definitely no team that spent as much time together as a group helping each other and having the ‘craic’ then the Irish team, we are all great friends and that was what made it such a great experience for all of us. We also got on great with many members of the other international teams and I know personally I made about 10 promises to visit people in different countries to go and paddle with them soon! That is for me what the world championships are all about.
I would firstly like to thank my parents who went along with what they didn’t understand in me for a long time, their support was the reason I was able to compete in NOC this year. Now they know more and are beginning to understand why I love paddling as much as I do. After that Roger McClure our team manager did an unreal job organising and keeping us all in line with a smile on his face, definitely one of the lads! Shane Cronin, owner of progressive distribution helped me a lot in getting me kitted out with Palm equipment, Dagger kayaks and AT paddles, this top of the range equipment has definitely brought my paddling up a level. Snowy Robertson and Chris Gragtmans from Dagger kayaks who are legends of the highest order. Lastly but not least I would like to thank the Irish Freestyle committee and Canoeing Ireland whose financial support was definitely needed and very much appreciated. Freestyle kayaking is on the up in Ireland this will be shown by the fierce competition for places on the European Championships team this year.
Since being back in Ireland I have taken up residence in the University of Limerick which is a great base to keep paddling and progressing. I’m also ecstatic that our plans to keep the Irish Whitewater Race League going for a second year have come to fruition. With the first of 6 races kicking off at the unmissable New Years paddler festival in Kerry, its a great time to be a kayaker in Ireland.
GalwayFest 2014 is also on the weekend of the 1st and 2nd of March. It emerged as the aftermath of too much talking by myself and Barry Loughnane in a pub in the small town of Buncrana in 2011 and is now an event going from strength to strength, we are hoping to accommodate more then the 110 racers we had last year when we bring it back for its 3rd year on the trot.
Poster from GalwayFest 2013
Anyways I’ll leave you with a couple of preview edits of our first two scheduled races for the Irish Whitewater Race League 2014.
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.
It’s now just 14 days away until the 2013 Freestyle Kayak World Championships kicks off in Nantahala, USA.
We’ve been at NOC the rafting base/ comp site for the last week now and it’s good to see all the faces old & new showing up and getting the hang of the hole.
It’s like a rainforest here, it’s rained consistently everyday! The upside is that it’s quite warm and the area is lush with forests so it’s very scenic all around us but it does make it hard to get our new thermals dry
The hole is quite tricky for some moves, but everything goes and because of the challenging nature it’s fun trying to figure out all your moves here.
It feels quite fresh and exciting this year, all the companies have new boats to show off and the number of paddlers ripping is higher than ever. It really feels like freestyle’s booming again.
Speaking of standard it’s quite impressive how much Women’s and even Junior women’s have come on in the last two years. It’s not unusual to see junior girls throwing Mc’nasties or Phonic’s and now it’s many senior women regularly throwing the big moves, I think there scores will be much closer to the men’s than we’ve ever seen. Even open canoeists are throwing mc’nasties and lunars!
In the men’s it’s going to be the battle royale, there are European Champions, WW GP winners, World Cup winners, multiple former World Champs and many new comers all fighting it out to get there best rides ready, it’s a very open competition so far, I predict the winning ride is going to be quite an insane ride & score.
Team Palm members that are here so far are myself, Katya & Bren. Personally I’m very happy with how I’m getting used to the hole, rides are going great but I still need to get some consistency in my Lunars & Tricky Whu’s to give me the extra jump up to stand a chance of winning but there is plenty of time for me to put the finishing touches to my ride. Bren fresh back from creeking all summer has got back into playboating without any struggle by the looks of it, he’s looking powerful as ever and has been getting some rides that could get him a medal already. Katya has had a great year of competition so far, and straight away has been doing rides that will let her go far, she’s just been working on getting her mc’nasty and phonics consistent which would give her a winning ride, she actually got one ride today that I don’t think is beatable
So to wrap my blog up here are my current tips on who else is looking good:
Dane Jackson, it’s no surprise but he’s really throwing some very nice moves and rides and he’s almost certainly going to be on the podium.
Peter Csonka I haven’t seen too many full rides of him yet as I think he’s mostly getting all his moves dialled in but he won here last year and of the full comp rides I’ve seen him go for they’d be tough to beat, he’s also in my eyes the best competitior in freestyle, no one steps it up like he does under pressure.
For women’s – Claire O’Hara is looking strong, but not all of her main competition arrived yet, it’s also nice to see quite a few new girls coming up and paddling well. Japanese girls very impressed us with their progress from last year, some American girls like Adrienne learned new moves, and many strong paddlers from Europe. So I think in the women’s it will be a tough fight as well.
So back to training for us we’ll have an update up again soon as more faces arrive and team training’s get started, this would be the time to pick our favourites and let you know how we’re looking!
This last weekend the Plattling Eurocup Freestyle took place under some extremely stormy skies. Ever changing water levels and tough conditions meant lots of ups, downs, success’s and upsets for the competitors.
All together this made for an exciting and fun event to be a part of.
Myself I was one of very few plastic boats competing in a sea of Carbon, so it really goes to show how good the Jitsu is that I ended up in 3rd place, ironically 1st was also won in a plastic boat by the new German Champion Paul Meylahn.
In the womens Palm’s Katya (my wife paddled really well to take 3rd spot also. Not much separated the top 5 paddlers in either mens, or womens, due to the tough water level. However GB’s Claire O’hara came out in 1st of the ladies.
Palm’s Anne Hübner was doing really well earlier in the comp, even winning Semi’s with an impressive score but just fell short in the finals.
Below are my day to day updates for more on how the event unfolded.
Friday Prelims:
Mens & Womens Prelims are all done. Weather has made for some challenging high & changing levels meaning a few upsets and surprises.Both me & Katya survived to reach Semi’s. I had a horrible first ride then a good 2nd one that saved me.My Dagger Jitsu was the only plastic boat to make the top 10…:-) Tomasz Czaplicki had great rides to place 1st in Mens, Nina Csonkova placed 1st in Womens.
Saturday Semi Finals:
It’s been long day here, rain, rain and more rain, hard water levels but girls kayaked very good…. Palm’s Katya Kulkova made Finals in 4th with a good score of 353, Palm’s Anne Hübner got an impressive 1st with 450, GB’s Claire O’hara also made it in 2nd with 390.
In mens we seemed to struggle more than girls Scores were lower than prelims, the best one was GB’s James Weight in 1st with 626, 2nd Ryan Liquorish with 610 and me in 3rd with 550. Bartosz Czauderna got 4th and Paul Meylahn 5th.
Many paddlers were very close to making the cut, there wasn’t much between us really, feel very lucky to be in the final with such inconsistant levels.
Sunday Finals:
The Plattling Eurocup is all over. incredibly tough water levels today made for a very tough final.
Mens was desevedly won with a great ride for the level of 600 points by Paul Meylahn from Germany, 2nd was Bartosz Czauderna 3rd was me Less than 100 points (one move) separated the top 3.
Womens was won by GB’s Claire O’hara with 276, 2nd was Nina Csonkova with 206, and 3rd my lovely wife Katya Kulkova with 190, all paddled very well considering the difficulty of the hole at this level.German paddlers did very well winning all but 2 categories…
Congrats all winners and those who came close and a big thanks to all the organisers!
What’s up next?
Now though it’s back to training hard, and luckily for me just after the event finished my secret weapon arrived from Dagger….a Carbon Jitsu!!! No more competing in plastic now. I love the Jitsu shape and have been amazed how well the plastic version has paddled. Last night I took my Carbon one for it’s first spin.
It’s the best kayak I’ve ever used by a long way, I think it’s going to be winning a lot of medals this year, it;s simply incredible. Stand by for a little teaser and promo over the next month
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 last year Dagger have been developing their new Playboat the Jitsu.
The project’s aim was to put Dagger back on top at the forefront of freestyle with a high performance, incredibly precise, super loose and fast playboat that would go big, feel great and stay true to Dagger’s roots.
Snowy Dagger’s designer exceeded all my expectations…A kayak I’m proud to have been involved in creating.
This time last year I got to try the first prototype just before Kanumesse at Plattling, it looked really promising but had a lot of work still needed.
Myself along with Rush Sturges, Ben Marr, Andrew Holcombe and Chris Gragtsmans were all involved in giving Snowy our ideas. Then we tested the prototypes ruthlessly and gave our feedback from our experiences on waves and holes all over the world.
I ended up using it in the World Cup series just gone and even with a broken collar bone I still came 7th…so I’m really looking forward to fighting to retain my title at next years Worlds when I’m fit again, trained up and in a boat I feel I can really excel in.
So what do I like about it? Its slicy and precise, so you have loads of control over what the boat does, and you can predict how it will react. It initiates very easily and with much greater control than most of the current playboats. It’s fast and loose, actually one of the fastest boatsI’ve ever paddled, which means you can get it higher in the air and surf much greener waves than you could in other boats. The release off a wave is awesome, and with the volume pocket in the centre it pops really big in a hole too. Pretty much it’s turned out to be a dream playboat for me, it feels incredible to paddle and I’m really enthused by how it’s turned out.
Here’s the video from paddle expo with me and Snowy going over the boat and it’s features along with some actual footage of it in action:
What makes it so great?
A super fast hull, with a great release edge and flared side walls to shoot down the wave and launch.
Sharp precise edges for release, perfect control, precision and predictability.
Contrary to the belief of round dull edges meaning forgiveness a sharp edge on the boat means you can predict exactly how and when the boat will react to certain movements and situations, you just need to spend a few hours paddling it to learn the hull and then your off.
Centralised volume with slicy ends for big pop, smooth initiation and balanced cartwheel based moves in a hole. Being relatively narrow also means it’s much easier to get over the edge to drive it where you want.
It weighs just 14kg. Less weight means more air and less stress on your body. It also has the hull stiffener welded in which means no slippage from the outfitting and an super stiff hull. This means whatever energy you put into a move comes out = more air and faster rotations.
New Contour Ergo outfitting makes it a 2minute job to get the boat setup perfectly with no glue or tools necessary.
Raise the seat with the included foam that just slides under the liner.
Quickly unclip the hip pads insert the required amount of foam shims and clip back in.
Get in ratchet the back band up and you’re ready to go!
You can move the seat one handed whilst still sat in it!
Raise your legs up to hold yourself into the boat with the new innovation from Dagger the ratchet leg lifter. Simple and incredibly effective.
Want to see more: Here is Rush’s Clip of the prototypes in action:
The 5.9, the mid size will be available shortly with the small and large size coming out a little later. So go have a try when they come in, I think you guys are going to love them.
Paddle Expo is not all about showing new products and all the business stuff.
It’s also a place to meet, catch up with old friends, make some new ones, socialise and make plans for the new season.
Palm paddler Dave Carroll gives you a taste of the spirit of the show on a high 5 marathon run around the stands…
Tonight the show organisers threw a big beautiful dinner and party for everyone with an unstoppable flow of German beer, wine and juices for every taste. Live music and kayak movies accompanied the party.
As it usually happens free food and drinks attracts kayakers from all over and somehow we met some familiar faces who definitely weren’t around in show time and came especially for the dinner
Get a glimpse of the fancy food and some famous faces below:-
Day 2, another busy day on the Palm/ Dagger stand here at Paddle Expo.
All day has been a flow of people, new kit, shiny boats and delicious sandwiches – Perfect!
On the topic of new gear Barney Shows the new Suits and Dry Pants below:
Barney Caulfield – Palm Designer shows us the NEW Palm Immersion Suits the Stikine & Torrent suit along with some of the new Dry Pant range…Ion for Men, Maya for Women and Neon lightweight play pants.
Now we’re looking forwards to the organisers’ party – Drinks, band and a fancy dinner.
Paddle Expo 2012 finally opened it’s doors today to many visitors from all around the world.
It was very busy the whole day on the Palm & Dagger stand, people couldn’t wait to see our new products, colours and boats and we couldn’t wait to present it and tell everyone all about their features and qualities.
Later in the evening we had our stand party with free food, wine and beer and good crowds to enjoy together.
On the big screen the other side of the show Kayak Session put on a film showing of the new Congo movie by Steve Fisher, the best kayak movie I’ve ever seen. Starring athlete Benny Marr flew in specially for this occasion to present the film! Congo Movie Info
Check out the videos so far:
Fresh for 2013 Palm has a whole NEW Layering system. Seppi Strohmeier, Palms Product Coordinator shows us what they’ve been working on…
Palm/ Dagger paddler Dave Carroll gives us a look at the brand NEW Core 4 Thermal one piece suits – Tsangpo Mens suit and Trisuli Womens suit…
Here Seppi talks us through the new Blaze Neoprene Pants, lots of features that set them apart. Similar ideas and features used in all the new Neoflex & Neoprene line so lots of great ways to keep warm this Winter.
Have a look at the photos of the day below: Featuring some of our new products. Our dear customers,visitors and friends. Our beloved staff. The stand party and a glimpse of what went on today…
Less than 100 points (one move) separated the top 3.
