Nick Horwood
Hometown: Exeter, Devon
Where did you last paddle?
My last big trip was to Uganda at Christmas for some warm water fun, but more recently Flowerpots weir on the Exe at the mighty Pots Rodeo – throwing down in the looping machine that is the CFS.
Where will your next big boating mission take you?
I plan to spend a while in Northern Italy this Spring, it’s my favourite place to paddle. The scenery is beautiful, the food is incomparable, the coffee is sublime, and the paddling is steep, technical and clean. Mostly clean.
Do you have a favourite spot/drop/rapid/move?
The Valdolla and its cheeky Disneyland tributary are amazing both for boating and local hospitality, however the most fun rapid in the world has to be The Slide on the Lower Rauma. You basically boof a couple of metres onto the mother of all slides, nail it through through 30m or so of white mess, before flying of a big autoboof into a shallow pool, which sends you headlong into a series of meaty holes. Genius.
What paddling trip should everybody make at least once?
The one where you drop everything and bundle into the car at the last minute. You forget your spraydeck, realise you only have 6 mini doughnuts and a Tesco quiche for dinner, and discover you only have one shoe between 3 of you. Once you get over it and realise these things can be fixed with gaffer tape, you’ll meet amazing people, find new rivers, drink some kind of deviant local beverage, and humbly suck petrol out of the tank of your diesel car using a modified shower hose you found. By the end you’ll wonder why you ever thought you needed two shoes in the first place.
What advice do you have for anybody wanting to take their paddling to the next level?
Post less on internet forums, and ignore almost all of what people write on internet forums. All the coaching, reading and learning in the world will do nothing for you if you don’t go paddling. Lots. Also find good boating movies to motivate you and show you how its done. Valhalla, Wehyakin, LVM, and Sick Line 3 are the best – If you paddle like those guys you’ll be all over it.
httpv://www.youtube.com/user/palmequipment#p/a/f/2/1T6sPMRnUvM
Who are your paddling heroes?
Jens Klatt, Olaf Obsommer, Tommy Hilleke, John Grace, and Tdub, Flemming Schmidt.
Favourite piece of Palm kit of all time?
My Stikine Suit has changed the rules for cold weather paddling. Also my Gradient Shorts are probably the most used bit of kit I’ve ever owned, and still going strong. They look the business too.
Favourite type of Pie?
A hot crusty one with gravy and mash. Though to be honest I’m a quiche man, and before you say it, you’re wrong, there’s nothing effeminate about quiche.
