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....