2009: My kayaking review...

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

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...

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!!!!!!

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....

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...

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...

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.......

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.....

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............

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.......

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

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

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

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

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............

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...

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......

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

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......

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.