So with the racing season over for 2013 it's time to plan 2014! Over the next few months I'll be deciding what I want to do/ achieve and what is feasible. In the mean time Beet It have put together a little edit about myself and what whitewater kayaking is. With Beet It being more linked to mainstream sports such as running and cycling this video is obviously more aimed at people that have no idea what our sport is!
So the edit gives a little detail as to what basic training you need to whitewater kayak and what it's generally all about! There's some sweet action footage thrown in there too from the last 18 months! Have a watch and enjoy! Link is below....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2RXFEJoieg
Saturday, 30 November 2013
Thursday, 21 November 2013
FLo Festival Extreme Slalom
Saturday the 16th saw the first ever Extreme Slalom of the FLO Festival in Llangollen. I only had the Saturday off so I headed up for the day with my wife and friend. This was the first race that I'd be using my Remix so I was excited to see what it could do! After signing in at the Pavilion I headed back to town to change and get some practice on the course.
Carving hard into Gate 3.
At 11.am we had the race briefing letting us know what the plan was. The course was as follows.... Two racers go head to head starting river right just above the small weir. The next ledge was a freestyle zone where racers could do a freestyle move in an attempt to get one of the 'Wildcards' available if the race wasn't going in their favor, this would put them through to the next round if they pulled the best move. After this was a gate in an eddy river right which you had to touch with your hand. There was then a gate river left in the flow halfway down the falls, followed by another deep in an eddy river left. Finally you had to ferry to river right and touch a tricky gate in an awkward eddy then make a dash and touch the final gate by the bridge. If you missed any gates you had to do a 360 spin before finishing.
After getting bibs we were shown the start list. Luckily my first round was up against a 12 year old boy, I was confident! Straight off the start line I broke away, doing a deck grab in the freestyle zone and hitting every gate I won with quite a lead. Feeling slightly guilty for the young guy I shook his hand an congratulated him, he was going to receive £20 for being the youngest competitor!
Heading to gate 4
Heat 2 I was against a guy my age in a Stomper. Off the start line I again got the lead (remix pulls away fast!). Doing a roll in the freestyle zone and hitting the first gate I maintained my lead. I missed both river left gates but headed straight for the river right gate and then the finish. At the last gate I did my 720 spin and finished in first again!
Heat 3 I was put against a young girl, I had a perfect run and finished with a big lead, again feeling slightly mean... Heat 4 I was put up against Anton Lippek, fellow Sickline competitor and slalomist. We were both nervous at the start line! I'm still blown away by the remix as once again I got the lead from the start, I hit all 3 gates whilst keeping my lead but on the last gate I fell back in the eddy a little and Anton and I were side by side both reaching for the gate. Luckily I managed to stay between him and the gate, touching the gate I broke away for the finish, I was incredibly pleased!
Battling it out with Anton for a spot in the Semi's!
It was now the top 8 in the semi finals. I was put up against a slalomist in a very skinny Acrobat. I started on the left which was an immediate disadvantage and from the start he managed to pull away into the lead. At the first gate we had a bit of a fight to touch it and I ended up getting pushed away whilst be headed for gate 2. Missing the gate I decided to follow but was at a bad angle to head for gate 2, I missed this as well! As I watched him hit gate 3 and head for number 4 I knew my race was over so I headed straight to the finish line. I wasn't trying to display bad sportsmanship so I hope that this is not how it was taken! I just knew it was over.
Sprinting to the finish line!
Congratulating my opponent I headed to the car to get changed! It was a really fun race and the course was very well set up and challenging! There were a few issues with the race in my opinion. From the start the heats were two people head to head, this made the race very time consuming and it took along time to get through everyone. Communication from the bottom to the top was also not great so there were long waits between heats meaning we all got rather cold standing around. I think having heats of 4 at a time with top 2 going through would obviously speed with up and with radio's to communicate from top to bottom. These are just my thoughts and it is the races first year so obviously it's going to need fine tuning. I really enjoyed it and I was glad to hear that they are trying to make a series next year, I think it will do well!
The Finish line!
Well done to all the winners and everyone who took part and thank you to the organizers.
See you all next year!
At 11.am we had the race briefing letting us know what the plan was. The course was as follows.... Two racers go head to head starting river right just above the small weir. The next ledge was a freestyle zone where racers could do a freestyle move in an attempt to get one of the 'Wildcards' available if the race wasn't going in their favor, this would put them through to the next round if they pulled the best move. After this was a gate in an eddy river right which you had to touch with your hand. There was then a gate river left in the flow halfway down the falls, followed by another deep in an eddy river left. Finally you had to ferry to river right and touch a tricky gate in an awkward eddy then make a dash and touch the final gate by the bridge. If you missed any gates you had to do a 360 spin before finishing.
After getting bibs we were shown the start list. Luckily my first round was up against a 12 year old boy, I was confident! Straight off the start line I broke away, doing a deck grab in the freestyle zone and hitting every gate I won with quite a lead. Feeling slightly guilty for the young guy I shook his hand an congratulated him, he was going to receive £20 for being the youngest competitor!
Heat 2 I was against a guy my age in a Stomper. Off the start line I again got the lead (remix pulls away fast!). Doing a roll in the freestyle zone and hitting the first gate I maintained my lead. I missed both river left gates but headed straight for the river right gate and then the finish. At the last gate I did my 720 spin and finished in first again!
Heat 3 I was put against a young girl, I had a perfect run and finished with a big lead, again feeling slightly mean... Heat 4 I was put up against Anton Lippek, fellow Sickline competitor and slalomist. We were both nervous at the start line! I'm still blown away by the remix as once again I got the lead from the start, I hit all 3 gates whilst keeping my lead but on the last gate I fell back in the eddy a little and Anton and I were side by side both reaching for the gate. Luckily I managed to stay between him and the gate, touching the gate I broke away for the finish, I was incredibly pleased!
It was now the top 8 in the semi finals. I was put up against a slalomist in a very skinny Acrobat. I started on the left which was an immediate disadvantage and from the start he managed to pull away into the lead. At the first gate we had a bit of a fight to touch it and I ended up getting pushed away whilst be headed for gate 2. Missing the gate I decided to follow but was at a bad angle to head for gate 2, I missed this as well! As I watched him hit gate 3 and head for number 4 I knew my race was over so I headed straight to the finish line. I wasn't trying to display bad sportsmanship so I hope that this is not how it was taken! I just knew it was over.
Congratulating my opponent I headed to the car to get changed! It was a really fun race and the course was very well set up and challenging! There were a few issues with the race in my opinion. From the start the heats were two people head to head, this made the race very time consuming and it took along time to get through everyone. Communication from the bottom to the top was also not great so there were long waits between heats meaning we all got rather cold standing around. I think having heats of 4 at a time with top 2 going through would obviously speed with up and with radio's to communicate from top to bottom. These are just my thoughts and it is the races first year so obviously it's going to need fine tuning. I really enjoyed it and I was glad to hear that they are trying to make a series next year, I think it will do well!
Well done to all the winners and everyone who took part and thank you to the organizers.
See you all next year!
Friday, 15 November 2013
Liquidlogic Remix
Last week was Christmas come early, my new Liquidlogic Remix 79 arrived! Due to standard tradition when getting a new boat I had to drag it through the house into the living room, get the outfitting sorted, then sit in it and watch TV. After a short time I realized maybe I should walk over the road and actually paddle it on the river.....
My first impression just looking at it was that it was HUGE! This thing is long, coming in at 8'11 this is only a little shorter than the Large Jackson Karma, also a huge boat. Before purchasing the boat I looked for lots of advice as to which size to get. I know a lot of racers use the 69, but I was concerned that in high volume rivers or if I chose to do a multi-day trip and pack out the boat with gear that it would not have enough volume. I had paddled the Jefe Grande and the Stomper 90 which I used to race the Sickline and felt comfortable in both. A lot of advice people gave steered toward the 69, but going with my gut I took the risk and went big!
As usual the 'Bad-ass' outfitting in Liquidlogics is in my opinion the best! It's like a compact couch, awesome! As soon as I hit the water the size of the boat seemed to be irrelevant as I span around in the eddy. It's extremely maneuverable despite it's length. Second thing I did was do some sprints, and holy crap this boat shifts! I wasn't expecting to notice a difference in the speed, I was just hoping to notice it on the clock in races. But this boat was noticeably quick off the mark and cut through current like a knife, I was sold!
The following weekend I headed out with friends and Wyedean Canoe Club for a mellow run down the Usk, Mill Falls. This gave me a chance to throw the boat in some small holes, waves and drops. The flatter hull and small chimes work really well on a wave, it carved and surfed nicely. The first thing I noticed whilst running a 3 foot ledge was that compared to the Jefe, this boat requires a lot more effort to boof! But where boofing is more difficult this boat has been designed to punch through waves and stoppers, which it does very well. The tail of the boat was designed so the end of the tail is flatter and more slicey, this allows you to cut the tail into the flow when paddling into holes or drops, lifting the nose nicely and firing you through the feature.
Whilst sat in an eddy I attempted a pretty impossible ferry into a micro eddy on the far bank. This involved ferrying into the tow back of the falls then paddling against a boil pushing you away from the eddy. Needless to say I hammered across the flow and cut through the boil and into the eddy with relative ease, I'm confident that this wouldn't have been possible in a Jefe!
I'm blown away by the boat and can't wait to you use it on some steeper whitewater. Tomorrow I head to the Flo Festival in Llangollen where I'm competing in the Extreme Slalom, with a prize fund of 500 quid I'm looking to cash in! With this boat I'm confident, fingers crossed!
My first impression just looking at it was that it was HUGE! This thing is long, coming in at 8'11 this is only a little shorter than the Large Jackson Karma, also a huge boat. Before purchasing the boat I looked for lots of advice as to which size to get. I know a lot of racers use the 69, but I was concerned that in high volume rivers or if I chose to do a multi-day trip and pack out the boat with gear that it would not have enough volume. I had paddled the Jefe Grande and the Stomper 90 which I used to race the Sickline and felt comfortable in both. A lot of advice people gave steered toward the 69, but going with my gut I took the risk and went big!
As usual the 'Bad-ass' outfitting in Liquidlogics is in my opinion the best! It's like a compact couch, awesome! As soon as I hit the water the size of the boat seemed to be irrelevant as I span around in the eddy. It's extremely maneuverable despite it's length. Second thing I did was do some sprints, and holy crap this boat shifts! I wasn't expecting to notice a difference in the speed, I was just hoping to notice it on the clock in races. But this boat was noticeably quick off the mark and cut through current like a knife, I was sold!
The following weekend I headed out with friends and Wyedean Canoe Club for a mellow run down the Usk, Mill Falls. This gave me a chance to throw the boat in some small holes, waves and drops. The flatter hull and small chimes work really well on a wave, it carved and surfed nicely. The first thing I noticed whilst running a 3 foot ledge was that compared to the Jefe, this boat requires a lot more effort to boof! But where boofing is more difficult this boat has been designed to punch through waves and stoppers, which it does very well. The tail of the boat was designed so the end of the tail is flatter and more slicey, this allows you to cut the tail into the flow when paddling into holes or drops, lifting the nose nicely and firing you through the feature.
Whilst sat in an eddy I attempted a pretty impossible ferry into a micro eddy on the far bank. This involved ferrying into the tow back of the falls then paddling against a boil pushing you away from the eddy. Needless to say I hammered across the flow and cut through the boil and into the eddy with relative ease, I'm confident that this wouldn't have been possible in a Jefe!
I'm blown away by the boat and can't wait to you use it on some steeper whitewater. Tomorrow I head to the Flo Festival in Llangollen where I'm competing in the Extreme Slalom, with a prize fund of 500 quid I'm looking to cash in! With this boat I'm confident, fingers crossed!
Saturday, 2 November 2013
Sketchy pin!
As I didn't bring a laptop to the Adidas Sickline I had to put some of my files onto a friends laptop, I'm now slowly retrieving this footage. This clip is of the first day in Oetz and my first day paddling. After meeting up with Adriene Levknecht and delivering her Remix I joined her and a group of Swedish paddlers heading up to the middle section and the Wellerbrucke was just huge.
It was a rainy, misty day which gave the river a mysterious and uncomfortable feel about it. I was paddling an LL Stomper 90 which I had borrowed from Max Eberl. I had never paddled one, and had not outfitted myself into it correctly, this didn't install confidence! After launching and running a few rapids I realized that because this group knew the section well this was going to be a grade 5 read and run trip, awesome when you know the river, a little nerve racking when you don't!
But after a few sections of awesome whitewater my confidence grew and I started to get a feel for the boat. So feeling confident as a came through a smallish feature I got pushed hard right toward a small slot. I tried to back paddle and steer left around the rock but it was too late, I was being fed into the slot. As the trees hit me in the chest and covered my deck I pushed up with my hands on the rocks and managed to pull my deck quickly, I knew I didn't want to be in this thing if it went under!
The boat didn't fill up right away so this gave me a chance to simply stand up and step out of the boat directly onto the bank, which in the video looks entertainingly chilled! The boat then submerged and breached under water in the slot, I managed to get a sling clipped to the nose. My team stopped and explained that it would be impossible to rescue the boat till the level dropped and that I'd have to wait.
My Dad, wife and friend were running the shuttle and after my group reached the get out they were told I was sat by the road waiting. As soon as they arrived we got all the rescue kit we had an assessed the situation, the water didn't seem to be dropping at all. I knew the longer we left it in there the more damage would be coursed to the boat.
Under closer inspection we realized that one of the trees pointing straight up in the middle was actually very alive and was holding the boat in place, the nose of the boat wasn't actually pinned on the rock we were stood on. After attempting to move/ break the tree we realized it wasn't budging! We came up with a radical plan...
Using me as a live bait I waded into the water and used a tree branch to anchor under the nose of the boat and lever it up. This moved the boat and made the nose come above the surface of the water. Using group strength we then pulled the nose upward and out of the water, after much struggling it finally came free! To my relief the boat was undamaged, and in one piece!
Great first taste of the Oetz river! Great section, highly recommend it! I put together this raw footage of the trip, enjoy!
https://vimeo.com/78372939
It was a rainy, misty day which gave the river a mysterious and uncomfortable feel about it. I was paddling an LL Stomper 90 which I had borrowed from Max Eberl. I had never paddled one, and had not outfitted myself into it correctly, this didn't install confidence! After launching and running a few rapids I realized that because this group knew the section well this was going to be a grade 5 read and run trip, awesome when you know the river, a little nerve racking when you don't!
But after a few sections of awesome whitewater my confidence grew and I started to get a feel for the boat. So feeling confident as a came through a smallish feature I got pushed hard right toward a small slot. I tried to back paddle and steer left around the rock but it was too late, I was being fed into the slot. As the trees hit me in the chest and covered my deck I pushed up with my hands on the rocks and managed to pull my deck quickly, I knew I didn't want to be in this thing if it went under!
The boat didn't fill up right away so this gave me a chance to simply stand up and step out of the boat directly onto the bank, which in the video looks entertainingly chilled! The boat then submerged and breached under water in the slot, I managed to get a sling clipped to the nose. My team stopped and explained that it would be impossible to rescue the boat till the level dropped and that I'd have to wait.
My Dad, wife and friend were running the shuttle and after my group reached the get out they were told I was sat by the road waiting. As soon as they arrived we got all the rescue kit we had an assessed the situation, the water didn't seem to be dropping at all. I knew the longer we left it in there the more damage would be coursed to the boat.
Under closer inspection we realized that one of the trees pointing straight up in the middle was actually very alive and was holding the boat in place, the nose of the boat wasn't actually pinned on the rock we were stood on. After attempting to move/ break the tree we realized it wasn't budging! We came up with a radical plan...
Using me as a live bait I waded into the water and used a tree branch to anchor under the nose of the boat and lever it up. This moved the boat and made the nose come above the surface of the water. Using group strength we then pulled the nose upward and out of the water, after much struggling it finally came free! To my relief the boat was undamaged, and in one piece!
Great first taste of the Oetz river! Great section, highly recommend it! I put together this raw footage of the trip, enjoy!
https://vimeo.com/78372939
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