Seth's Kayak blog

Brand New Website and Blog

2011-01-23T02:06:00.000-08:00

Today is the Launch of my brand new website, it contains pictures, videos and my new blog.

http://www.sethashworth.co.uk/Seth_Ashworth/Blog/Blog.html

Regular blog updates will be found there rather than here in the future

Enjoy it.

Still on my Christmas hols............well its tough being a student isn't it!!!

2011-01-17T14:50:00.000-08:00

So it is now the third week of January and I'm just coming to the end of my christmas holidays. When I first came home I was worried as there was snow everywhere and no water, but just before new years eve a big thaw came in, rain began to fall and the Thames valley came up in true style. Hurley sessions early in the morning, sweet levels, great fun slalom sessions on shepperton, hours of time wasted getting changed in the sunbury car park to find its not running, usual winter stuff.

Each day of the holidays is pretty simple for me, out of bed, breakfast, uni work, (sometimes go to the gym), kayaking, sleep. Every day.

We even got away for a quick creeking trip this sunday just gone, with great levels in South Wales, a quick blast on the Mellte and a fair amount of tree portages on the Ned Fecchan.

Heres a couple of pics from Dale mears (The good pic), and Pete Scutt (the grainy one)

Hurley (when it dropped off for a while)

Just after firing the BIG DOG of the big drop on the Mellte

See you on the river

Santa visits Shepperton

2010-12-23T11:55:00.000-08:00

So I've been home from Uni for around a week now, during a normal winter this would mean lots and lots of regular but cold playboating. But this winter has been unusually cold, dry and snowy meaning that the usual local spots are still running on summer levels, the only difference being the temperatures often being below freezing!!

Anyway I'm making the best of it and doing my best to get a bit fitter in a slalom boat, today just before my regular session Santa popped along for a paddle, of course I lent him my kit and off he went.

Stay warm and have a good Christmas holiday

little videos

2010-11-08T01:36:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks have been pretty crazy, lots of driving and a fair bit of paddling to boot. I've been working on a short video project since about august, here it is. Enjoy and safe boating

If the Video looks off watch it on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BGjinxpp4U

Bo Selecta: GB Freestyle Kayak Team selections

2010-10-25T12:21:00.000-07:00

The weekend just gone saw the Nottingham play host to Great Britain Freestyle kayak team selections. Across the course of two days competitions were held on two different features on the course, the 'Twin Waves' and the 'Tardis'. Saturday also saw the one and only squirt boat team selection.

I've spent the whole summer training for squirt boat selection and was really fired up for the competition. So when saturday morning came I knew there were only a few hours left to prepare. Months of training all came down to to this, three sixty second rides with the best two counting. The scoring system for squirt is fairly complicated, basically each competitor is scored based on their flatwater tricks, added to their style scored then multiplied by downtime score (Which is the amount of time the whole boat is under water, greater points awarded if the whole head and body go underwater) Anyway six men rocked up to give it a go with three places on the Team up for grabs as James Reeves won the last world-Championship he was pre-selected so didn't attend. That left myself, Jamie Austin, Paul King, Josh Gosling, Ben Aldred and fresh out of squirt retirement Chris Evans to duke it out for the three team slots.

the nervous waiting between rides

I had three fairly consistent rides although I did feel like I was along way off my best it time for a nervous wait while the scores were added up. I filled the time by trying to get warm, dry, getting out of the horrible weather and helping out on the commentary. Finally the scores were, 2nd place. I was in, a place on the GB Freestyle team for the Plattling World championships 2011.

Later that day I was competing again in my float boat on the 'Twin Waves', out of three rides I had one very average ride, one rubbish ride and then ten seconds into ride number three my deck popped. I have literally never been so annoyed at a competition. Anyway Saturday evening, and I had good reason to celebrate I hit the town with Matty Nichols and Adam Ramadan.

Godzilla on the Tardis

When Sunday came I was feeling a little worse for wear but it was super sunny so I pushed on and by the end of the day it was time for my rides in the 'Tardis' one of the courses smaller, more flushy features. So I managed one average ride, one rubbish ride and one really rubbish ride. Overall I wasn't that impressed with my own performance, but to be perfectly honest I wasn't expecting any better as I hadn't really put the time or the training in like I had in my squirt boating.

A great weekend was had by all and well done to all who competed. On the top end it was great to see big rides from James Weight, Sam Anderson, Matty Nichols, Pringle and many others. Also a big thanks to all of the UK Freestyle committee for organising all of the events this season.

Photos by Dave Wortley

Pyranananananananananananana Fest

2010-10-19T04:11:00.000-07:00

I've just got back from a wild weekend at Canolfan Tryweryn which was playing host to the third annual Pyranha Fest. For those of you not in the know PFest is a Pyranha organised event where a massive fleet of demo boats get brought down to Tryweryn for people to try over the weekend. There are organised coaching courses by some of Pyranha's top coaches and a whole bunch of fun competitions. In the evening there is a hog roast, short talks about recent trips, previewing of an up and coming paddling film (Means of Production 2) and of course a party.

For me this event really kicked off on friday as I arrived in Runcorn to help load up a fleet of vans with demo boats, tents, bean bags, merchandise and other general paddling paraphernalia. Once we were all loaded up and had a cup of tea we set off for Wales. Arriving in Bala we had enough time to sample the limited edition Angry fish ale before hitting the hay.

A cloudy start at Bala Lake.

Unluckily for me I had been delegated to work at Bala lake on saturday morning with almost the complete range of touring boats, open canoes and sea kayaks. The morning ended up being fairly quiet although I did do a short coaching session for a gentlemen who wanted one.

Then we loaded up the van and headed over to the river I arrived just in time to miss the rodeo (gutted) but in time for the Boater-X race. The race was scheduled to take place from the top of graveyard to the NRA bridge (thats a long way for those who don't know). Heats had 6 people in and mine was not without incident. Straight from the word go I got into a tussle with boring James Bradley who promptly pulled my spraydeck off. I managed to get it back on and over take him but could only finish 4th in my heat not enough to go through to the semi final. In the end Tom 'sickline' Wakeling came in first, David 'Spaghetti arms' Bain came second and Pete 'The Scud' Scutt came third.

A boater-X clash once my deck was back on

After a short rest a mellow surf session on Cafe wave turned into a 15 minute game of King of the Wave, luckily no-ne was injured.

Cleaning up in the Varun

Chillin out

Once all was said and done we packed the vans and headed back to the Glan Lyn, for an evening of talks, videos, hog and beer. Not to mention the odd informal breakdance off.

Throwing the Varun around

Sunday was a more chilled day with some paddling, relaxing and resting. At the end of the day we packed the Van and headed back to the factory.

A fun weekend was had by all and a big thanks should be said to all who were involed in the planning and implementation of the weekend.

Photos By Leanne Atlee

Brit champs: Nottingham

2010-10-04T07:20:00.000-07:00

The sun was shone brightly on saturday for another in the series of the British Freestyle championships series. This event was a special one for me as it was scheduled to be the only event to decide the British Squirt boat championship.

The day started in the standard format, registration a good deal of standing about and then eventually the competition kicking off. The squirt comp was first for me at 2 o'clock, this was my first Squirt comp and needless to say I was nervous. My feelings weren't really helped when I learned it would be in the Pyramid Pool, which is notoriously shallow a long way into the pool and the one which I usually do worse in whilst practicing. At the right time I got changed, got on the water and did my warm up. and by the time the competition came I felt focused and ready to go.

My rides went well and a bit of sunshine certainly helped. After all 10 male competitors had had their rides the scores were totted up, I was happy coming in 4th place.

After a quick change of clothes it was time for me to do my k1 runs, although my runs went to plan I was still a long way off top place. Thats hardly surprising though as Pringle scored over 1600 points in one ride! My final result was 14th out of 18.

That evening saw the usually consumption of food and beer, but also brought a lot of rain. The course was already fairly brown on saturday and the evening rains pushed it over the edge, and forced the course to be closed on sunday. Unfortunately this meant no finals to watch and no body boarding event or boater cross.

Anyway despite the rain it was a great event and I look forward to the last few of the year.

See you on the water

Photos by Dale Mears.

Scotland: There and back again (and then once more)

2010-09-26T16:11:00.000-07:00

So Ive not been back to Uni for long which means it must be time for the yearly pilgrimage to Scotland for the Wet West Paddle Fest. Last year I found someone to travel up with but this year preparations were a bit more last minute. Luckily the Team Pyranha van was to the rescue giving me a ride up to Scotland if I could get myself to Runcorn. Easy peasy. Plans were made, I arrived at Pyranha a bit early, hung out for a bit until I eventually found out that Tim Burne had left without me, Shocker! So after some hurried phone calls I made my way north to Preston where I linked up with Tim and headed north.

Although I was slightly ill over the course of the weekend we returned home on sunday evening having made some great new friends.

The following wednesday I made my way To runcorn again, this time the plan was to link up with the boys, Pete Scutt, Graham Milton and Tom Wakeling. We left late in the evening and picked up the final member of the crew, Si Tapley on route. Our goal, Etive River race.

We drove through torrential rain all evening and spirits were HIGH, the vans chat nav was firmly tuned into high water options for the week. We swung by Falloch on the way up and were disappointed to find it extremely low. We continued to the Etive, arrived at 4Am and slept.

When we awoke we checked out the Etive and were less than inspired by the water levels, we went and drank tea for a while and then opted to smash down the Etive and then travel to one of the tributaries down stream. Si Tapley opted out of paddling an took the role of photographer with some great results.

We squeezed out a couple of low water runs on Friday but concentrated on rest for Saturdays race. When the day came the river had dropped off even more prompting organiser James Flemming to call a mandatory portage on one of the rapids. Once the day was done Team Pyranha had made a strong impact taking many of the top places, Barnsey and me placed 7th in the sponsored team category.

Overall a great time, heres a few pics by Si Tapley. See you on the water.

Chillin when the day is done.

Pre-weekend Creeking in August.

2010-08-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

So last monday it started raining and it didn't really stop, at all. Tuesday night I got a hurried Facebook message about a Thursday trip to South Wales. After pleading with my boss to get the day off I made some phone calls, our one day trip had now been extended to two days and was set to include a days surfing, swell predictions were 10ft, SWEET!

So Wednesday night we hurriedly packed our stuff in the rain, it took around three and a half hours of driving through heavy rain to reach our destination, the take out for the Afon Mellte, which I was reliably informed was one of the finest whitewater runs in all of the UK. When we awoke the following morning it was only spitting so after checking the levels of another river (The Tawe) which was too low we headed to the Mellte Put on.

The run starts with a sweet drop (pictured above) and the runs on into another bigger drop which we sessioned for a while. It also featured a highlight of the day when Stu Morris (An extremely experienced kayaker) took his first swim for 18 years. After that the run is a series of fantastic S bends, bouncy wave trains and fun slides.

I can safely say the Mellte lived up to expectations, now it was on to the beach, specifically St. Justinians, Home of the Bitches. When we got to the beach we were greeted with about three inch waves, great. Off we popped to another beach, with equally poor waves, so we decided to take a stroll on the beach for the evening and hope the surf was better in the morning. After spending an evening formulating a plan for the next day we decided that getting up at 3AM for the Bitches wasn't really an option, so If the surf was rubbish again we would take our creek boats and go for some coastal exploring.

Typically the morning brought no surf and so we mounted up and went for a lovely bit of Sea exploring in the sunshine. After all that the long trip home got me back in time for the weekend, sweet.

So remember, make time for those last minute trips. They are so worth it.

See you on the river. Peace.

Secret Squirting.

2010-07-28T12:22:00.000-07:00

Since about mid-june i've procured a squirt boat and have been practicing in secret, but lately in a quest to improve myself i've had to ask for help and advice from a range of other squirters. I've come to the point where the cat is pretty much out of the bag so heres a few pics of me at Chertsey with the regular tuesday club boys, anyway thats all for now.

catch ya later.

Going for downtime

coming up

Tuesday club

Rodeo Weekender: The PeakUK summer sausage sizzle rodeo

2010-07-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

So this weekend just gone saw the first PeakUK sausage summer sizzle rodeo. Te event was held at HPP, Nottingham and saw over 45 competitors across three categories competing against each other.

The aim of the event was to bring fun back into freestyle kayaking as in last few years freestyleing has become a bit serious. Extra points in this competition were awarded being able to maintain a sidesurf and for doing a 180.

LoooooooooooooooP

The heats for this competition went on in bib number order with heats of nine people with men, women, juniors and c1 all up against each. I did well to place a solid 8th of 16 senior men, however since there were only two c1's they were competing in the same category as the other senior k1 men, therefore my overall standings in senior k1 mens would have been 6 out of 14 which I thought was very respectable.

Space Godzilla

Saturday evening saw fun and ball games outside the Peak shop including volleyball and rounders (which some people took a little too seriously)

Me commentating the day

Sunday saw a top five final across three categories, mens, womens and juniors. Bren Orton smashed the junior competition to win, Jenny Chrimes scored an impressive McNasty to win the Ladies category and Matty Nichols smashed the mens competition out of the water with a range of Phonics Monkeys, McNasties and Space Godzillas.

Overall I would say PeakUK organised a wicked weekend and I hope we can get more events like this happening in the future.

WhiteWater: The Canoe Centre Open day

2010-06-21T14:10:00.000-07:00

So recent times has seen a quick drop off in water levels here in the Thames Valley area, sadly that mean no rushing to Hurley straight after work, on the plus side it does mean plenty of slalom fitness training has been happening instead.

The weekend just gone saw the long awaited return of a WWTCC open day. For those not in the know this is where the shop is specially opened on a sunday, filled with manufacturers who have all bought there range of demo boats for people to come and try.

Obviously a big event needs a big party and at the shop they know how to throw one, a live band cold beers made it a great success. All in all a great day, stay tuned for more updates soon.

As ever the pfooooonell was out in force by the end.

Photos from Amanda Kenn and Holly Reichal

May maddness

2010-05-28T09:23:00.000-07:00

So May is nearing a close and this month has seen me as busy as ever. Starting off with a 10 day spell in Nottingham paddling and raft guiding every day in preparation for an upcoming slalom double event at HPP.

Training was going really well but a boozey night out in Nottingham the night before the race threatened my chances. Luckily I managed to get there in time and layed down a time which left me sitting in the mid-table after saturday. Sadly Sundays course changes didn't suit me and I had a poor result. Luckily sunny weather and good company made up for it all.

The following week was spent on a practical week with uni climbing in the Peaks and learning a few new bits and bobs along the way. That lead straight into an early drive to Bala, Wales on saturday morning where Pyranha were hosting the first of a series of freestyle competitions. The event was held at the top hole on Tryweryn, and although the water was cold the weather was HOT.

The feature was a bit flushy and after three rides I had not done that well. Luckily a cracking party was organised and the next morning saw a brilliant boater-X event. Once the water had been turned off I headed to Capel Curig where I had another week of multi-pitch climbing with Uni.

In conclusion May has been a real belter, hopefully the rest of the summer will be as good.

Photos by Ash Bullivant, Mike Scutt, Liz Forshaw, John Butcher and derek burdett

Thames Valley Freestylers 3rd Birthday event

2010-04-15T08:36:00.000-07:00

So Saturday just gone was the Thames Valley Freestylers third birthday. To mark this monumental event an informal competition was held. Organised just three days before by Dave 'Scout' Wortley the event was a boomer. With events including freestyle in pairs, king of the wave and a knock out comp it was a great chance to meet new people and have a great time at one of the friendliest playspots on the Thames, Hurley.

A sunny Surf

The water levels gave us a fantastic three gates and glorious sunshine. Most of the locals were there but it was great to see some new faces enjoying the wave. Many prizes were generously donated by WWTCC and others the only negative was the sunburn after a full day of boating. Well done to the organisers, I'm sure next year will be just as good.

bit of a blunt

Backlog of Blogs!!!

2010-03-30T11:01:00.000-07:00

The week or so has been so busy I have barely had time to get any blogs done. So lets go back in time a week or so. Thursday/Friday a week and a bit ago saw me taking part in a four star kayak training course with Tom Parker. The course only had a couple of people on and was pretty mellow, thourghly enjoyable and not too cold. Result!! .

Tom Parker showing (a) Lovely Flare

The weekend that followed that was my first slalom race of the season, my home ground Shepperton. A solid first run saw me into second place with Pete 'the Scud' Scutt in first place. Pete was a good twenty seconds ahead so there was little chance of me catching him, my second run sealed second place for me, not too shabby

Setting up an 'S'

Making a breakout

Gunning it.

Fast forward one week and I made another long trip down to Shepperton, this time with a different boat, my new Molan. Shep was on a meaty five gates, and my boat performed brilliantly, swift edge transitions and big air, SWEET.

Little bounce

Pete throwing a helix

Uganda Video

2010-03-25T09:32:00.001-07:00

I finally got round to sorting a quick flick of our trip this year, enjoy

New Toys

2010-03-22T08:21:00.000-07:00

Finally got my new Molan on the water both yesterday and today. At hurley it was class, I really noticed how quickly and smoothly it changed edges, at HPP earlier is was like paddling a well balanced Rocket ship.

Check the Pics

See you on the water

Balanced Cartwheels

Big Air

Team Pyranha

2010-03-17T07:44:00.001-07:00

I am happy to announce I am a part of Team Pyranha, meaning I am currently the proud owner of a new Molan, and have got a brand new Burn for a while as well. I super excited to be a Team member, and can't wait to get my boats on the water.

Getting a sit in my new boat

Picking them up from the factory

National Student Rodeo 2010

2010-03-08T07:47:00.000-08:00

The weekend just gone played host to the worlds largest and funniest freestyle kayaking competition, the National Student Rodeo. As ever 'My Lot' from the Buxton, Derby University Canoe and Kayak (D.U.C.K) were in attendance with more than double the amount of people than the previous year.

For those not in the know, NSR is a freestyle kayaking competition for uni students from all over the country, tailored to suit all abilities from novice to expert.

Since its a student event the Friday evening when everyone arrives is a big party, even though it goes on well into the night the competition still began on time at 8:30am the following morning. The format of the competition begins with an extreme slalom, this puts people into there respective categories either novice, intermediate or expert. Heats would then happen across each category throughout the afternoon. I was in the expert heats and paddled well enough to get to the final the following day.

Sofa Cross race

Saturday Evening, after a dinner had the premier of the new Rush Sturges/Tyler Bradt Film: Dream Result, the second this was over we hit the bar, a number of others had headed up for the party including Pete "The Scud" Scutt, Ed "Egg" Kay, Sam "Rambo" Ellis and a load of other people who don't have good nicknames.

General camping shinanigans.

The following morning with a stinking hangover I took up a bean bag at the Pyranha stand and began watching the days events, starting with the Topo Duo semi-finals. Eventually it was time to get on for the Men's Expert Final. It was a fun eddy with many familiar faces including two other D.U.C.K.s. Regrettably the amount of alcohol consumed the previous evening ment that i struggled to avoid being sick and needless to say did not paddle that well.

Big turn out for the Final

After that was done everyone gathered to watch the Topo Duo Final which is easily the funniest event of the competition.

Topo Duo Final

Great Fun was had by all, and i'm looking forward to next year already.

Best trip ever....Uganda.

2010-03-03T04:50:00.001-08:00

So i've just returned from a two week spell in Uganda where the sun shines, the water is warm and the whitewater is massive. Spending most of our time in the Dorms at Nile River Explorers set us in the perfect location to paddle both the day one and day two sections of the river.

The White Nile from the Air.

I flew out from Heathrow Airport on Sunday 14th Feb with Ed 'Egg' Kay. We arrived at NRE the following afternoon where we were greeted by a great view and cold beer. We booked ourselves into the Dorms and had a few more beers while we caught up with our old friend Jon Best who has been living in Uganda since Early December. The following morning we headed out to do our first Silverback run, a quick blast of blind grade 5 whitewater from NRE to the take out below Silverback where we were met by our Boda Boda drivers (Little motorbikes that you sit on the back of). The run takes around half an hour and we were back in time for a chapati lunch.

Bujagli Falls on the Day one section

The best Chapatis ever

A few days later after some heavy nights in the bar and some fun paddling we loaded up a car and headed to Nile Special. This was the first time I had ever used a tow rope and it took a while to get use to it, however it was definitely worth the effort as the wave was great. We also did the full day one section following a raft, great fun but i got pretty badly sun burned.

Using the rope

After nearly a week we were joined by Pete 'the Scud' Scutt and Richard Marrill. Now we had a good crew the first thing we did was another day one trip so that Pete and Rich could get a good go on the River, at the end of the day we finished by doing all of Itanda Falls a big (fairly scary) grade 6. That evening much celebratory beer was consumed and the next day was much more docile.

A bounce on Special

A tasty river lunch

Later that week we did the day two section which includes Kalagala falls, vengence, hair of the dog and Kulu Shaker. This section is also home to some great river waves including Nile Special and Mutts Nuts (A morning wave which is easily better than Special).

A Crazy Boda journey

Uganda is one of the friendliest, greenest countries I have ever visited and although the people are poor by Western standards they are fairly well off compared to some of the other african nations as they can cultivate crops and keep animals. Its a great place to be and I would definitely say it is the best holiday i've ever been on. I could say so much more but you would probably get bored of reading about how much i enjoyed it, just get out there if you can.

The view from the bar.

A welsh weekend with the D.U.C.K.s

2010-02-01T04:27:00.000-08:00

So this weekend just gone I spent the weekend in North Wales with Derby Uni Canoe and Kayak club (D.U.C.K). We all saddled up our cars and left Buxton on Friday evening. It wasn't long after we crossed the Welsh border that we were bombarded with snow (which was un-forecasted).

The morning's View

The next morning after struggling on the snowy roads we were confronted with low water everywhere. Saturday we managed to get a run on the Llugwy.

The D.U.C.K.s getting ready to go

A new river to me, it had an two sections of note, a brilliant Grade three drop which everyone in the group managed and a series of three Grade five drops. Pont Cyfyng has a tricky lead in rapid with a series of large drops, I managed to run the lead in and the first drop and quickly made the get out on river left, just before the second and third drops which have lead to a number of deaths in recent years.

Having a look at Pont Cyfyng

Me at the bottom of the First drop of Pont Cyfyng

The following day we were forced onto the Dee, at a fairly low level, with plenty of snow. Everyone in the group enjoyed this river although it did cause a couple of swims within the group.

Discussing the final drop of Pont Cyfyng from the bottom

All in all it was an enjoyable weekend, without me having to do too much rescuing.

Have a great time, I will see you on the rivers.

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

2010-01-17T08:18:00.000-08:00

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

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

2010-01-15T01:46:00.000-08:00

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.....

Winter Paddling......Sunbury/Hurley

2010-01-11T02:38:00.000-08:00

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.

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

2010-01-09T09:29:00.000-08:00

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 .

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

2010-01-07T05:23:00.000-08:00

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.

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

2010-01-05T06:33:00.000-08:00

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.

2009: My kayaking review...

2009-12-29T14:38:00.000-08:00

This year has been great for me, loads of firsts. First playboating competition (as well as the second and third), a promotion at the end of the slalom season to Division two, My first waterfall (and then three more), my first grade five rapids, first kayaking trip abroad, first time snowboating.

I've tried to sum it all up in a little vid, enjoy

WhiteWater: The Canoe Centre, The Golf open

2009-12-23T12:24:00.000-08:00

Every year a select group of people are invited to take part in the WWTCC Golf open. This year was my first year, so I managed to get a sneaky mornings practice at a driving range with my Grandad. The next day there was enough snow to keep us off the real golf course so we made our way over to Top Golf, we had a competitive morning of golf with the benefit of a heater and not having to walk anywhere.

Ive never really played Golf before and was unaware of a rule which means if you miss the ball you have to play the next go with your trousers down. What a crazy game.

anyway, have a lovely Christmas, See you on the river.

Back down south and already breaking Ice...

2009-12-20T01:25:00.000-08:00

So after making a treacherous journey home in what felt like blizzard conditions on Thursday evening I was stoked to be travelling to Dartmoor on Friday to do four star kayak training course. Sadly on Friday I got the email to say the weather was too bad for the course to run. Never mind, Hurley is on a perfect three so off I went. Great level, loads of snow and ice on the walk up though.

Spinning

And Blunting

All Smiles, except for the cold..

Have fun on the water, paddle safe and be careful of the Icy conditions.

Photos by Simon Kibble

No time to paddle!!!!!!

2009-12-11T06:49:00.000-08:00

So its been nearly seven days since I last sat in a boat. Last Saturday morning I made the long drive from Buxton to Shepperton to endure the cold and enjoy a 5 gate green wave (Sorry no pics, was too busy paddling) , Sunday morning brought a fun four gate Hurley, although it did frustratingly brake my nose clip!!!

Since then I've been snowed in with Uni work and have not had time to get in a boat, last night to vent our frustration me and a few of my house mates set up a slackline in our local park, hopefully I am nearly at the end of this work and I can get back in a boat soon.

Deep Concentration

One legging

Have fun and be safe..

GB Freestyle team selection, event number 2....

2009-11-19T14:49:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it happened a few weeks ago but I’ve been a little bit too busy to blog it. It all took place at HPP, on the 7th November. The event was held on the newly remodeled ‘Tardis’ Feature which was grippy and difficult to set up on but great fun. The usual format was used, each competitor gets three rides, their best two count. Early in the day came the Squirt, OC1, Junior ladies and Men’s. The morning events were commentated by yours truly, I think I did a bang up job, It was really great to see a good turn out in all of these categories. Then Lunch. Then it was the C1, Womens and Mens K1. The weather was lovely for the event, sunny and not a hint of wind. By the time it was my go it was getting dark. My run’s were a real mixed bag, after scoring nothing in my first run after a failed entry move put me off I knew I had to do better in my next ride. My second ride was awesome, a really big loop, some ends and a spin got me a score of 130 points. SWEET. Unfortunately I could not re-produce this in my final ride and scored a poultry 6 points. This put me 19th out of 23. Paddling mentour Pete Scutt came just one place above me this time, with only four points in it. As ever the show was stolen by James ‘Pringle‘ Bebbinton who scored an impressive total of 1586. Although Jon Best was hot on his heels at 1423.

Throwing down

Setting up...

Good fun was had by all, and I will definitely be having another go next year.

Paddle safe

Photos by Mags Brayfield

Brit Champs...

2009-10-13T09:04:00.001-07:00

A week and a half ago Nottinghamshire’s Holme PierrePonte held the annual Freestyle kayaking British Championships. Since I am back at Uni and HPP is only a short trip away, so i decided to compete.

This event was my first real Playboating competition, needless to say I was well prepared, having only been in a playboat once in the previous month. Never the less I arrived on Saturday morning and signed on. The event was fairly busy with people coming from all over the country. After a long wait we gathered for an initial briefing. After the mandatory safety briefing we were informed of the scoring system and definitions (which were fairly new to me). Eventually a timetable of which heats were in went up. I was on at 1.

By the end of the day I had finished 25th overall out of the Mens K1. Not that great but oh well. After watching the rest of the competition (and even a spot of commentary during the squirt boating) it was time to party. Organised by Run and Jump clothing a good time was had by all, I certainly drunk plenty.

The next morning, feeling a little worse for wear it was time for the ‘Mass Boto-X’. For those that don’t know this is where all competitors must race head-to-heead down the length of the course, then back up the back channel, then to the finish. Since anything goes I did a good amount of cheating I finished the race in fourth posistion. Not too bad.

The rest of the day was good fun, well done to everyone who took part.

Photos by Joel Croft

Scotland...

2009-09-29T02:42:00.000-07:00

I have just come back from a nine day trip to Bonnie Scotland. I travelled up for the Wet West Paddle Fest. This is an event where the SCA organise shuttles for two dam release rivers. One per day. Saturday is an easy warm up river, the Garry. This is a nice fun play run, at grade 3 with a bit of sunshine a good time was had by all. The next day the river Morriston is running. This is a slightly more serious, but still great fun run. Scoring in at grade 4/5 this was a great river. Sadly my paddling partner Phil took a swim about halfway down the short upper section. After a spot of lunch and a little time to reflect Phil decided he didn’t want to paddle anymore that day, which left me with half a day and no paddling partners. Luckily for me I was able to link up with some who I sought of new and we decided to go and do the lower Morriston. This was another brilliant short section of grade 4/5 with fun drops, and narrow channels.

Sidesurfing on the Gary.

End of a rapid on the Morriston

Sunday night brought a large rain cloud. Since we were camping the weekend we slept in a bit till the rain passed. After hours of sleep it was still raining. We went and checked out a few rivers but eventually settled on a low grade ditch river because Phil didn't fancy getting on anything too scary. We opted to go the the Akraig, a 2km section of lake to lake, shallow whitewater. We had chosen this river as we had only one car and it was a short river. After a 20 minute blast down the river I began to walk back, I was looking for a private road that should have taken me 2KM back to the car. Sadly I never found that road and ended up having to do a two hour long walk back to the car in the rain. Not cool.

The following day we linked up with a few more people and drove to the Nevis. I had heard stories about the Nevis, and the epics that people had had in there. Since I didn’t want to put myself off I elected not to read the guide for it but to just go with the flow. Phil decided to sit the Nevis out, and followed our group of five along the river equipped with the camera. This was probably my favorite river of the whole trip, with committing gorges, blind bends and ‘must make’ lines, culminating in a wicked waterfall. Apon getting back in the car and having a look at the guide book it turned out I had just completed my first grade 5 river. Sweet.

Boulder Blast, the first Nevis rapid

Nevis Waterfall

We managed to cram a few other rivers in during the week including the Orchy and the Roy gorge. These rivers were great fun but all a lead in to the coming weekend’s main event. The Etive River race.

I had never paddled to Etive before, so when I joined my paddling sensei Pete Scutt on friday morning I was slightly unnerved at the speed we blasted down the river. Because we were going so fast and neither phil or myself really had no clue of the lines we got a bit worked over. Phil had two swims then decided to walk out half way down the river. I got nailed in a drop called the Crack of Doom after coming over the drop a bit sideways and despite making a good attempt to stay in my boat I had to take my first swim of the trip. Thanks to the rest of the group, Jenny and Tom for a quick rescue of my boat. I jumped back in my boat and we continued down. Needless to say I was a little more cautious now, but survived the rest of the river. We reset the shuttle a prepared to do the river again. I was a little more nervous this time, but after a few tips on improving my boofing I was off again. This time I did fine.

The next morning I went to register at the Glen Coe ski centre. The race is a team event, and after his swims yesterday Phil decided he didn’t want to take part. This left me partner less. After an hour and a half of anxious waiting, I was introduced to a man named Barnsey, he agreed to be my partner so I was back in the race. Pete had told me Barnsey was a machine, and he was right as we set off down the river I saw Barnsey disappear around the bend. Twelve and a half minutes later and once I had a few unfortunate instances including running the second drop of triple falls backwards and getting stuck on a rock we finished. Although I was exhausted Barnsey talked me in to running one of Scotland’s classic tributaries. I can’t remember the name of it but its the one with the pinball rapid on it. Anyway After a short walk up I was treated to around fifteen minutes of sweet slides and chutes, in-between beautiful pools of crystal clear water. The whole run was made even more stunning by the Sun shining, something we hadn’t seen all week. It turned out I had come 8th in the Etive River Race and will definitely be going back next year.

Backwards on the Second drop

So fast I'm blurred

I was lucky with the water levels this week and had one of my best paddling weeks ever. I would highly recommend Scotland to anyone who hasn’t paddled there before. Amazing

Stay safe .

Photos by Phil Hollman

The New 2010 Allstar. My review.......

2009-08-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

I have been paddling a 2008 Allstar for nearly a year. From the first time I paddled it i thought it was the best thing ever, balanced cartwheels, big loops, comfortable enough to paddle for hours on end, easy to roll. The I had it on a wave and it was a dream, loose and easy to throw round. Essentially Its perfection in a boat.

So naturally when I heard that Jackson kayak were designing the boat I was very excited. Jackson kayak released a bit of hype and some pictures and videos of a boat that looked tricks would go bigger and with ease.

Two weeks ago the boats came into the UK, since I work at Whitewater:The canoe centre, I managed to blag the first go in the demo boat. Looking at the boat on the ground it is much shorter and fatter than my Allstar. When I sat in the boat I found my knees higher and closer together than what I was used to.

The new Allstar laid nose to nose with the 07-09 Allstar

When I got it on the water I could feel how much shorter the boat was. The Shorter tail combined with additional volume meant that it not only looped big, but loops came round easier. However, this boats lack of length meant that it cartwheeled faster than speeding train, so fast that cartwheel felt absolutely out of control. To add to the feeling of uncontrollability the seating position makes the boat feel continuously off-balance, especially when doing stalls or cartwheels.

Going BIG

Granted I have only been able to paddle these at Chertsey, which is not exactly a world-class play feature. However even my existing Allstar still feels much Better. Im my opinion Jackson Kayak had achieved perfection in a playboat with the 07-09 series Allstars. The new Allstar does loop BIG, but the boat length and seating position combines to make a boat that I don’t feel is as good as the older series of Allstar. The old adage of ‘If it aint broke don’t fix it’ springs to mind after paddling the 2010 Allstar.

Stay safe, paddle new boats when you can, and make your own opinions....

Seth

Open Canoeing. Its not just for old people.....

2009-08-19T23:24:00.000-07:00

Last weekend a few of my friends and I headed up to North Wales to do our Open Canoe Four Star training. I have had my Open Canoe Three Star for a little while now and when I got the opportunity to to more I jumped right in. The training took place on the River Dee, and was run by GETAFIX. I was quite impressed my the amount of stuff we could cover in two days. As well as Honing our Personal skills we also learned about leading groups, different ways to run a river, poling, Lining and Tracking (This is where you use throwlines to guide your boat upstream through a rapid from the bank) and much more. Much fun was had by all, especially with many comedy swims happening all round (mostly by me).

Heres me goin for an eddy.

We travelled up on friday evening straight after work, luckily I wasn't driving as it was a trip which took five hours. When we arrived in Bala we were already booked into a bunkhouse. I can't remember the name of the place but it was awesome, Fifteen pounds per night including three meals a day. The only downside was that it was quite a way out of town. Oh well.

Setting up for another eddy.

Trying to catch the last wave.

Over the course of the two day the course was tailored to our needs by our coach Richard from GETAFIX. I think the course was run very well. Big thanks to them for sorting us out.

If your going open canoeing in the future, let me know as im always up for another trip.

Keep safe

I'm In............

2009-07-26T23:52:00.000-07:00

I am now officially entered in the Etive River Race in September. Supposedly it is Britians most extreme kayak race, to find out more and to enter check hear.......

http://www.etiveriverrace.co.uk/

Hot summer. What a bummer.......

2009-07-26T10:32:00.000-07:00

At some water levels, the Thames Weirs can create some of the best playspots in the UK. However, this summer has been both hot and dry, meaning that the sometimes world-class play features are no more a few small jets of water. Whilst at times the lack of water is frustrating, i feel im making the best of it. My regular paddling week consists of three slalom sessions a week at Shepperton. In addition i'm getting a couple of play sessions a week at the mighty Chertsey weir.

To keep things interesting in my paddling, I always try and learn new things. For a long time I have been totally unable to cartwheel, however after weeks of practice and hundreds of rolls I finally cracked it. Well going left anyway.

A stylish blast from Pete Scutt

However even with the best will in the world Chertsey is only entertaining for so long and eventually a drive up to HPP is in order.

To make thing even worse the initial heat wave that we had at the beginning of the summer is gone, replaced by rain. Frustratingly not enough rain to make any of the weirs run at a good level.

Oh well, its still good fun.

happy paddling....

Another Video............NSR 2009

2009-06-27T13:14:00.000-07:00

This is a longer video of the event which took place in March 2009. Enjoy...

Holidays..................

2009-06-03T01:53:00.000-07:00

In about September time, a few of my friends and I started planning a eurotrip kayaking holiday. The idea was to drive round the different paddling play spots of europe, and even run a few rivers. Well as time went on, pretty much everyone who wanted to do it had pulled out, leaving just me and one of my friends. Since a long holiday with two people would have been a bit boring we decided to do a weeks playboating in Lyon, south of France. In the week leading up to my trip I had everything sorted, car ready, clothes packed, eurotunnel booked, money changed. Then someone recommended i look into the Alps for a couple of days. Although I wasn't convinced initially I looked into day trips that could be done from Lyon. I finally settled on a day at Bourg-Saint-Maurice, a French International Slalom Site. More about that later.

On sunday morning we got on the road, the photo above is taken on the road in France, by midday temperatures were well into the high twenties, and when we arrived in Lyon after ten hours of driving on the wrong side of the road the temperature was well into the thirties.

The next morning after getting some food at the supermarket we headed over to Hawaii Sur Rhone. It turns out that this particular feature is quite easy to see from the motorway, but very difficult to get to, as navigating around the complicated French road system is hard. Finally we arrived, we walked over and had a look the size of the wave. BIG. There were a few other people there, so we got changed and jumped on. After talking to the people who were on the water we discovered that the water levels weren't great. What this meant was that the wave was extremely difficult to catch. With this in mind we persevered and although we didn't get loads of rides, but each one we did get was both amazing and terrifying. The speed down the wave was amazing, each hard carve lead to a bounce which threw your whole boat into the air.

Thats me, that little spec in the middle.

After a couple of days here we got up early and headed to Bourg-Saint-Maurice. I wasn't really sure what to expect when we got there, so when I arrived to see around a 900M of lovely Alpine river, made even better by the fact that no-one else was there. We spent the day playing on the river, the water was FREEZING, darn glacial melt.

A pic of Bourg (Taken from French website Eauxvives.org, as i can't find the one we took)

The next day we were back in Lyon, unfortunately for my paddling buddy Andy he swam, on his first ride of the day. As if this wasn't enough he lost his paddle. With no spare that put an end to his paddling week. Unluckily for me I pulled a muscle soon after. With no solution in sight we did the student thing. We bought some really really cheap wine and got extremely drunk.

The following day we felt a little worse for wear, so decided to wander around town.

Now i'm back in the UK and back at work. I had a good holiday, if you've got one coming up good luck, I hope it goes well. Be safe.

The WhiteWater Chertsey Tuesday Invitational

2009-06-02T14:14:00.000-07:00

Every week at the 'Mighty' Chertsey weir an informal playboating competition. The event is invitational and 'organised' by my friends and colleagues at Whitewater: the canoe centre, generally we all turn up, paddle then go to the pub for a refreshing summer shandy in the sun. The competition is pretty informal, a few weeks ago I filmed the event, yesterday i finished the video.

I'm back down South............

2009-05-18T12:56:00.000-07:00

So its now May and I’m back from Uni for the summer. Its awesome, the weather is lovely the water is warm but its not perfect, there is a distinct lack of water at the moment. Luckily for me, the ‘Mighty’ Chertsey weir is always running, and even runs best at lower water levels. So, off I popped down to Chertsey to meet up with one of my local paddling buddies Mike Brown. We had a wicked hour on the water and I finally started to to get my Loops dialed in. After that I whizzed down the road to WhiteWater: The Canoe Centre, my local canoe and kayak shop for a cup of tea. Lovely. Im back to Chertsey this Tuesday evening for the regular Tuesday night Chertsey Collection. This usually see a great mix of people of all ages and abilities. There’s a couple of photos below. So until then, be safe and paddle hard................

Mike Brown going for the Mystery move

Cracking out a loop...

We love the Nights...

2009-05-15T12:52:00.001-07:00

Had a great fun time at HPP last night, it was really nice and quiet. I managed to lay down some nice Loops and a few cartwheels. Luckily it was fairly quiet, with only a handful of slalom paddlers and no other playboaters, this meant no queuing, SWEET. heres a few little pics.

A bit of an arty shot of Andy

Me Goin UP

Andy, giving it the wave

Me again, all smiles at the newly refurbished HPP

Stay Safe....

A week of paddling prizes......

2009-05-02T05:13:00.000-07:00

The last few days i’ve been back at uni, and they have been packed with paddling prizes. Well maybe not packed, but i’ve had a few.

It started with the Canoe club (Derby Uni Canoe and Kayak club) AGM on wednesday, during the meeting, the D.U.C.K awards, were dished out. Prizes were awarded for Best swim, Best Novice male, Best Novice female, best haircut and Most Valued Paddler.

Andy Gibbs won Best Haircut with his current half blond-half brown hair do. Josh Edwards Won Best Novice male, Rory Richards won best swim, for not even making it to the feature at NSR just a few weeks earlier and i was lucky enough to win MVP for a combination of my individual representation of the club at the BUCS slalom in January, and doing OK at NSR. The prize was mainly pride, but also a really big rubber duck.

Following this I have spent all weekend slalom racing a the Marple Division 3/4 Dave Higson memorial slalom. The event was held by Manchester Canoe club on a small shallow bit of river located in Marple (which is near stockport). The weekend was a double event meaning each day counted as a separate race. On the Saturday, despite a few showers around 25 Div 3 K1 Men took part. My first run put me in second place, but after smoothing out my second run i finished ahead by a healthy 5 seconds, earning me a nice shiny plate. On the Sunday the weather was much nicer, however there were less competitors, despite this there was still fierce competition, and in my second run I was even given a 5 second penalty for starting too early. Inspite of this i still had a fast enough time too finish in first place. To make things even better, i had scored the fastest aggregate time over the two days, earning me the ‘Dave Higson Memorial trophy’.

All in all a good week, I hope I can do as well in races later in the year.

The Prizes

National Student Rodeo 2009

2009-05-02T04:50:00.000-07:00

At the end of March 2009, the biggest freestyle kayaking event in the world was held at Nottingham’s newly revamped HPP. Here is a short film i’ve just finished from the event, I will be doing a longer vid when i get some more time. Enjoy.

and here is a youtube link if you are struggling http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYfS7aBYGf0

First blog. A little about me and what not......

2009-04-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

So here goes, my first blog. My name is Seth, I live in Ashford, middlesex, UK. I am a friendly, outgoing, humerous, kind young man and currently a student at the University of Derby: Buxton where i am doing a Foundation Degree in Outdoor activities. Im also a seasonal Outdoor Ed worker at Thames Young Mariners OEC, in Kingston.

Anyway, I LIKE KAYAKING, whilst i am at home i can get on the water pretty much every day, I take part in slalom, playboating as well as being a coach. I enjoy kayaking because; its outside so you get lots of sun and fresh air, you get to meet lots of nice new people, you get to go to different and exciting places and its pretty fun.

In the last few months my recent paddling exploits have included the rivers Tryweryn and Dee. As well as many sessions at HPP. This also included the National Student Rodeo last weekend which was very good fun.

So today the river Thames is rather low, so i went for a quick session at the 'mighty' Chertsey Weir. I had quite a good time, the level favored Float boats, much to the disappointment of my friends mike and pete who were in Squirt boats. Didn't get any pictures tonight but i will have a flick through the albums and get some up soon.