Hello All!
Myself and some of the Palm crew have just returned from a fantastic weekend at Simon Westgarth’s Gene 17 Adventure Paddlers weekend on the river Dart.
I’m sure the rest of the team will update on the events of the weekend soon, but I couldn’t resist getting in there first to tell you about the most fun thing I have done for ages!!
I’m not even really sure how it came about, but I’m sure it was something to do with the combination of my own withdrawal symptoms from rafting in Costa Rica and a team of adventurers freshly returned from the jungles of Indonesian Papua. The result was a fair band of pirates (Pete Wood, Chris Easterbrook, Dave Fairweather and myself) at the put in to Dart Meet with one borrowed raft and a broken pump. Without even trying we somehow managed to get some friendly paddlers to help fix the pump and inflate the whole raft such was their desire to watch us descend the river, and no doubt provide them with hours of guaranteed entertainment! On the 50m walk to the put in we picked up two more heroic, but, as became apparent later on, rather disobedient crew members. They went by the names Luke Farrington and Tim Burne and had spotted the fun a mile away, immediately ditching their kayaks to join in!
I’m not sure what happened to the kayak race down the mad mile that was roughly planned for 2.30pm (did we hijack it?!) but we ended up being lead down the section by Simon Westgarth and being surrounded flotilla of around 40 curious kayakers, who I’m certain were hanging around to see a pin, a flip or a swim.
For some reason I decided that where the raft was going was my responsibility and turned into a surprisingly bossy assertive guide. But with such a dream team there was no way we could fail! We all turned into children again, the whole experience was a fantastic emotional rollercoaster of adrenaline, uncontrollable laughter, whoops and shrieks as we whirled down the river over holes and ledges. Wicked rumours were flying around the kayak flotilla that there were expressions of pure terror etched into the faces of those in the front of the raft on the precarious lip of Euthanasia and Surprise Surprise, however we all know that rumours are never true…
We managed to descend the whole river successfully, with only a few pins and swims. The aforementioned Tim Burne soon became the most unintentionally disobedient crew member by perfecting the art of tumbling from the raft disconcertingly slowly, and in such a way that we still just couldn’t seem to grab him in time.
Luckily pictures of the fun, courtesy of photographer Kev Winsor (who can be found at Paddle Photos on facebook) were taken, so enjoy. Check out the awesome splat at Lovers Leap – they boys were very happy with that! I hope it inspires you to try rafting – just because it is so ridiculously fun!
Cheers and thanks to all.
Rosie
Rosie Cripps, our girl in the jungle, sent through this little round up from the World Rafting Championships in Costa Rica. The Palm sponsored GB ladies got fifth overall, a result they know only to well having manged it twice before. It sounds like the racing has been tough and the challenges of getting to and from the river even tougher – read on!
World Rafting Championships, Pacuare River Costa Rica, 2011
Sorry for the delay in posting updates on the competition – internet has been hard to get to and we became seperated from the person with the photographs!
The first day of competition went really well with us taking home a silver medal in the sprint discipline. This put us into a good place for the next days racing, giving us lane choice for the head to head. Our first race was against the home nation, Costa Rica which was a bit of a crowd pleaser! We got fast off the start and stayed ahead all the way to the finish with a good lead. Our time wasn’t fast enough however to give us lane choice against our old rivals Canada. In the last world championships we beat them to win gold however this time without lane choice we had to fight harder out of the eddy and ended up coming out just behind them, overtaking was tough and we were on their tail the whole way down. I think it was one of the best battles as the noise from the crowd was overwhelming! Well done to Canada for beating us, and to Japanese ladies for taking the win. After an exhauting day of racing we all hiked out from the river in the dark, for over an hour up a steep muddy trail. Tractors were the only vehicles capable of making their way halfway down the trail to pick up the ill and wounded, due to an intense tropical downpour.
Slalom was the next days challenge – and the Costa Rican’s certainly know how to set a tough one. The course was the hardest any of us had seen, and with limited time to scout everyone’s first run involved a bit of trial and error. There were some spectacular flips, especially from the Columbian mens team who finished an incredible run with a flip through the last gate. Unfortunately the course favoured those who strategically missed some gates due to its difficulty – not ususally the way we roll! However it was great to see all of the teams so challenged, and we were all fully exhausted by the end of 2 runs. We came in 7th out of 19 ladies teams. This was followed by another mud entrenched hike out of the river to the buses waiting high above the river. In case we weren’t tired enough, the evenings entertainment consisted of being chased around a rodeo ring by a variety of small energetic bulls! For those brave enough to take on the challenge a few horns were received to various limbs, the rest of us stayed well behind the bars and watched the chaos ensue.
Endurance was the final race of the competition. There had been a rolling debate as to how long it should be, with opinion divided between one hour 30 minutes vs a 40 minute stretch. In the end the finish line was moved to make an hour long race along one of the most spectacular sections of canyon in Costa Rica. Massive boulder gardens provided an awesome opportunity for us to overtake the USA, in one of the most daring moves of the day, mid class 4+rapid we battled for the central line through a boulder pinch and boofed a big hole whilst USA were fighting for the right line. We had a super fast exit from the hole and came out in the lead, just metres in front of them. We gained more and more ground from them over the next 30 minutes and finished 5th, only 12 seconds from the medal place over an hour long race. One of the most surreal moments of the endurance came as we rounded a corner deep in the jungle clad gorge and a helicopter swooped round in front of us with a couple of camera men hanging out of the doors rambo style, only 10 metres of so off the water. Amazing!
The final party was completely insane. There was more bull riding, this time with anyone and everyone having a free for all riding this massive muscled bull with huge horns bucking and bronking around the ring. Then Chino, one of the safety kayakers would appear on his Appaloosa stallion galloping into the ring (making Rosie and Georgie weak at the knees!) to lasoo the bull and return him to the pen for the next willling victim. Only in Costa Rica!
Overall the competition was very well organised, especially in such a remote location with very difficult logistics. The section of river they used was stunning, its setting deep in the jungle and incredible whitewater gave us all an experience we would never forget. The entertainment was second to none and atmosphere throughout the competition was brilliant. One of the best things about the whole operation was the way the safety was organised. Each day a team of over 20 safety kayakers and rafts set off to the river, set up pully systems, throw lines and safety boats to keep us safe. They all knew the river well, covered all of the danger spots and rescued numerous swimmers. They worked tirelessly all day, and still gave us a smile and cheer everytime we made a good line (or bad one!). Thankyou safety kayakers (we love you!) and to all of those who helped make the event possible. Pura Vida. We will be back.
To keep up-to date with rafting around the world take a look at the International rafting web site here.
