yasmin lawsuit

Sunday 17 January 2010

Pyranha Molan. My beyond the Hype review.........

Today I managed to get some time in the new Pyranha Molan. Before I start this review I should point out that the boat I paddled was a pre-production version, and had shrunk a bit out of the mold so it was a tad smaller.


I paddled the boat at Shepperton weir, it was on a nine gate wave, which wasn’t the greatest level but gave me a good chance to see how the boat surfed, how loose it was, speed on the wave and the boats ability to accelerate.


The first thing I noticed when sitting in the boat was that it was a touch narrower than my current JK Allstar (07-09 model). I liked this, it puts your body into a better position to throw the boat around. The Molan was also a bit shorter than my boat, however this seems to be a common theme in the latest playboats and definetly makes a difference in speeding up the boat mid-air. By that I mean the shorter tail travels through the air quicker making tricks easier to stick. The Molan is a large amount of volume in both the bow and stern, although I didn’t get a chance to try it on a hole it should loop massive.


Once I got on the wave the boat felt great, noticeably looser than my boat and much easier to throw around. The Molan great acceleration I was impressed at the amount of speed that could be generated on such a small wave.


Outfitting wise Pyranha’s Connect 30 outfitting seemed comfortable and durable, with plenty of scope to kit it out to your exact requirements with the selection of foam provided.

My only criticism would be that that the stern was a little catchy however I imagine on a full sized version this wouldn’t be such a problem. Also the slightly narrower hull did feel unforgiving in whilst paddling through the Shepperton boils and surgey eddylines.

In the lead up to this boats release alot of different things were said, one of the things I heard the most was "Its just an Allstar with different stickers". Well I can say first hand that is not the case, the new Allstar has a number of differences. The new Allstar is shorter, has a different seating position and has a different shaped hull.


Overall I would say I quite like this boat. So there you have it, get out and give one a go.

Photos by Pete Scutt

Friday 15 January 2010

Cold days and Slalom nights..........

The last week temperatures have frequently been zero degrees, and each day time I would often have to put on more and more layers. Luckily this was not the case at night time, when I would often end up quite sweaty. But Why? you ask. Well the simple answer is I'm back in Slalom training, in the last few days we have been doing technique work, fitness and endurance training and also having a good good bit of fun along the way. Here's some pic's I took last night.



Joel Crossland, rippin it on the wave



Pete doing the same



Going round the gates



Committing to the cross









Last but not least I should hopefully be testing the New Pyranha Molan on the weekend, here is a pic to wet your appetite. Stay tuned for a report.....





Monday 11 January 2010

Winter Paddling......Sunbury/Hurley

Although I've not paddled for the most part of last week, yesterday I braved the cold to get some playboating in. Heres how it all went down.



Saturday: Pete and I decide that we should go for a paddle. I rumage round to find some more thermals and a set of pogies. Saturday afternoon, we decide to go to Sunbury weir, just before lunchtime. Saturday night, Pete looks at the weather forecast and refuses to go if it snows. Sunday morning, we go to Sunbury. The car park was frozen and we had to walk through three inches of snow to get to the water.

When we got to the weir we found a a big steep hole and ice everywhere. After I had had a few quick goes we got off. Pete decided he'd had enough and went home. I went on to Hurley where I had probably the coldest two and a half hours of my life, on an almost perfect water level.




Icicles cover the weir



Me in the Pit of the Hole



Having another go




Not a bad way to spend the day. If your going paddling be sure to wrap up warm and be safe.

Saturday 9 January 2010

The Bold, The Cold and the Brave.....

The cold snap over the last week has resulted in the Lake at WWTCC being extremely frozen, a few days ago we gingerly tested the thickness in a controlled, scientific manor. By making Pete go first. Seeing that he didn't die straight away we grabbed some boats and jumped on.

Although there was a tiny tiny risk that falling through the ice would result in a swift death that didn't deter us. Here some pics:

Testing the water (albeit not far from the edge)

Sliding around

Getting adventurous

Although we had great fun this could be EXTREMELY DANGEROUS please be VERY CAREFUL if you try this, and don't try it alone.

Stay safe and stay warm .




Thursday 7 January 2010

Too cold to paddle..........

With winter firmly setting in causing traffic chaos around the UK, I have finally conceeded that it is too cold to paddle. There is a good few inches of snow on the ground and our lake at work is very much frozen. I managed to take a grab a couple of photos.



A Swan Lake








Some Cold Canoes




A very frozen Lake







The Lake looks like it might get thick enough to walk on soon so stay tuned for that soon. Meanwhile why not pop in to WhiteWater: The canoe centre (www.wwtcc.com) and grab yourself a winter bargain in the sale.

Hopefully back on the water soon.

Tuesday 5 January 2010

Pimp my kayak. And how to make you seat/thruster happy again....

The weather at the moment is currently SUPER cold and although i've braved it a few times, I wasn't out long enough to take many pics. Me and Pete had a brief slalom this morning but the lake lake at WWTCC is very frozen so we might have a few days off till it warms up.


I recently bought an SLR camera, but haven't really been able to take it boating with me, as I was too worried about loosing, because it would be between my legs. Today I solved that by Pimping my kayak, Westwood stylee.



I have attached a peice of webbing through the central colum to clip my Peli case to, so stay tuned for some boating pics in the near future.


In other news My Jackson kayak happy Seat/Thruster combo has been rather unhappy lately. What had happened was the valve had worked itself loose thereby letting all of the air out. Heres how to fix it.




Simply take some Stormsure (available here: http://www.whitewaterthecanoecentre.co.uk/shop/product.php?productid=104&cat=13&page=1) and apply a few thick coats around the seal (make sure you don't stick the thing together). Et Viola Your seat/thruster is happy again.



Me. braving the Sepperton Cold a few days ago. Photo by Mike Scutt


If you do go paddling make sure you wrap up warm and enjoy.