Palm Torrent Drysuit Review

After years of wearing wetsuit bottoms and cags, getting damp and cold in the winter I finally bit the bullet and splashed out on a drysuit. And I don't regret it one bit! Ideally I wanted the Stikine drysuit but being my first suit and being on a bit of a budget I went for the Torrent.

First impressions of the drysuit were that it looked fantastic and was super comfy when trying it on in the living room, but I knew it had to be tested on the water! With levels low I tested it out on a bimble down the Mill Falls section of the Usk in South Wales. Of course it turned out to be unseasonably hot and sunny, not exactly drysuit weather....

Nevertheless I got off the river dry as a bone and with a big grin! The first thing i noticed about the drysuit is how comfortable it is. It was extremely easy to get on and the latex seals and cuffs very easily slid on and adjusted. The zip has been designed so it wraps around the shoulder and reduces restriction, which it does perfectly. The suit also has a neoprene waist band which was great for when off the river and letting the suit hang around your waist.

The socks are now tougher with an XP 4-layering and without too much excess sock so no need to spend 5 minutes stuffing them into your water shoes. Whilst on the river the suit didn't restrict movement whatsoever, you wouldn't even know you were wearing it. I messed about trying lots of new moves and get pretty wet on the way down, when getting changed I was dry as a bone, maybe a little sweaty....

I really recommend this suit, it's had a lot of thought put into it's design. It's comfortable and functional, all the high wear points are reinforced and tough, it has great pocket access and a relief zip and all the seals and cuffs are comfortable and easily adjusted. All around a great drysuit which I look forward to using this coming winter season!

Here's a clip of me competing at the Moriston River Race in May using the suit!

https://vimeo.com/96683690

SO it begins...

It's been an insanely busy few months for me so blogging has unfortunately taken a back seat! At the end of May we moved to Cardiff and I now work as a freelance instructor and raft guide which has so far been amazing but full on.

So now the plans for the Adidas Sickline 2014 have begun! The accommodation is booked 500m from the course and the ferry will be booked shortly. It's come around really quickly, now less than 3 months! Training must now get more intense. I joined the gym as soon as we moved here and have been keeping fit, work is very physical so I have been staying in shape but I definitely need to turn it up a notch.

Working at the Whitewater center is great as in my downtime I can grab a boat and lap the course which is great training and a step up from the flat water training I had to do last year. It's been a crazy dry summer which has been really nice but at the same time there is nothing in the rivers so class 4/5 training is not an option at the moment.

So more running, gym sessions, cycling and plenty of time in a boat is on the menu for the next 10 weeks! I am feeling more confident this year as my skills have improved since last year, I have a faster boat and I had a great performance at the Moriston Race in May. Can't wait to get out there!

Moriston River Race 2014!

People travel far and wide for this event simply because there is no other like it in the UK! 600m of class 4/4+ quality whitewater is not only challenging, it's pretty knackering too! Our journey to the Moriston started in Littledean where I picked up Dan Rea-dickens and made our way to Liverpool to meet Andy Butler and Sal Montgomery. With bank holiday traffic were late leaving Liverpool and got to Callum Strongs house around 3am, bed time!

In the morning we hit the road and boated on the Findhorn gorge which was at a nice medium level. It was a new river for me and it was really fun with lots of big moves and punchy holes! After loading up again we made the final part of the journey to the campsite at the Moriston, we met with friends and I took an early night so I could be rested for the race.

Waking up to rain wasn't too motivating but none the less I slipped into my drysuit and got registered for the race and loaded my gear into the shuttle for practice runs! We got about two hours for practice so I squeezed in three runs as the walk back up was quite tiring. It was unusual as I had never paddled this river but I had studied Gopro footage of the course so I knew every feature and move as if I had already done it! My practice runs were on the whole pretty smooth and I felt confident for my runs.

We had our safety brief by the very entertaining James Flemming and people started launching off the ramp in 1 minute intervals, I was number 19 so it wasn't long before I was staring down the ramp trying to cool nerves. The most difficult part of the course is the first drop, it's a manky 10/15 footer with a shelf either side feeding most of the flow into the middle where it goes deep. A lot of people either get stalled out in the feature or get pushed river left into the wall which really slows you down.

My first run was pretty good, I came out of the drop pointing downstream, upright and with speed, result! The rest of the run was smooth except for the cheese grater rapid where I momentarily lost grip of my paddle in the bottom hole and got pushed down the left hand slot which maybe lost me a second or 2, overall I was happy. After getting out to check the results it became immediately clear that they were having issues with the timing as there were only 5 people on the table. Assuming they would work it out I watched over racers for an hour then walked up for my second run, still with no results.

Just before my second run I asked James (event organizer) if he could find out my time as a lot of others knew theirs. After radioing they confirmed I was clocked in at exactly 3 minutes (2 seconds faster than last years record). That was definitely good enough for the finals as long as I had a similar second run, I was confident!

My second run was a dream run, I have never performed so well in competition. All the drops went smooth and fast and I actually crossed the line at the same time as the competitor who went before me, I knew that was a fast time! But again, no results so I sat and watched. When the qualifiers finished the top 20 were announced and it was confirmed that they had big issues with the timing. My name was not called out and I was pretty gutted as people with a slower time than me went through.

I sucked it up, watched the finals and headed back to the campsite to get ready for dinner and the after party. I had a good night and the party was fun! Callum Strong took first place (well done mate!) and there were some cool awards. Monday was a long day, driving all the way from the Moriston to Herefordshire was a painful trip getting home at 11pm.

Since then the results have been posted and my first time of three minutes is not there but my second and fast run is. I clocked in at 2:49 (third fastest time of the day), adding this to my first run I would have been 7th going into the final, gutted! I am really disappointed I lost an opportunity to compete in the final but a positive thing I will take away from it is that I was really fast! My racing is definitely progressing and my Remix is definitely a fast boat! Thanks to James Flemming and Giles who organize the event and who I know are disappointed themselves with the timing system and dealt with it well considering the situation. I am looking forward to competing in this great race next year and hopefully with a better timing system ;)

Here's a short edit of my practice runs in the morning.

https://vimeo.com/96683690

Bring on the sunshine!

Spring has kicked off with some great weather and warm temperature, it's been great for training! The lighter evenings have helped a lot and I've really thrown myself into my training regime. I am starting to feel strong and ready to race!!

My sprint training is going great and my endurance is building so I should be ready for the Moriston race at the end of May. Running and weights are going well and I've been cycling to work as much as possible. So I am starting to feel like I did before Sickline.

Earlier in the week I decided to enter the Adidas Sickline again! Last year was so much fun and such a fantastic experience, I just had to go again! With a faster boat and more experience I feel that I can go into the event this year with more confidence!

I am moving to Cardiff next month and working at the whitewater center so I will be able to train a lot on whitewater which will be convenient and ideal! It's going to be an exciting year for sure!

MRR Training!

So over winter I have been keeping my training ticking over but not going all out as I haven't competed since Sickline so I like to just stay generally fit (and burn off all the xmas, new year treats!). I've been running a couple of times a week and lifting weights, cycling to work etc.

But with the Moriston River Race only a couple of months away it's time to knuckle down and make sure I'm ready! I am going to take a similar approach to training as I did with Sickline but focus big time on my upper body endurance. The Sickline was approximately a 1 minute to 1:20 sprint where as the Moriston is a little closer to 3-4 minute sprint with a lot of flatter patches on the run. Needless to say if you empty the tank in the 1st minute, your gonna lose!!

So the training plan for the next 2 months is as follows. Hill running minimum of three times a week, free weights and cross training also at least 3 times a week. Kayak sprints and paddling at high intensity for approx 4-5 minutes and cycling.

I've just received the brand new Pro Elite Beet It Bars which are amazing! It's the same dosage of Nitrate in a tasty little flapjack, perfect for topping up energy and giving you that all important dose of nitrate on race day! Again if your serious about sport you need to give these a shot.

I'm really looking forward to this race, it should be a lot of fun and a great way to kick off the racing season. Hopefully I'll get some good results in this year, just down to me again to put in the hard work!

Getting stylish on the Usk!

For two weeks I've had a brand new Palm torrent drysuit, Extrem spraydeck and Gopro 3 sat in my room. So I was desperate to get out on the water no matter what it was. A little rain was forecast for South Wales but this wasn't enough to bring any of the good stuff up! So I rallied together some mates and we headed out for some grade 3 fun on the River Usk.

The sun was shining and it was unseasonably warm! A little too warm for drysuits but was awesome to try it out. The Torrent suit looks fantastic, it has a stylish, flattering fit and is very easy to get in and out of. The back zip has been designed to go further around the shoulders too minimize restriction and this works well. I was very warm and very dry at the end of the run, result!

 
Although it wasn't much of a test for the Extrem spraydeck I can tell it's going to be a deck I can wear with confidence on the big stuff. Although impossible to get on first time and whilst dry, once wet it went on with ease but remained very tight and snug to the cockpit. The Gopro hero3 Silver is awesome, but I knew it would be so I won't blabber on about that ;) the quality photo's are evidence enough!

I wanted to work on a few stylish moves whilst on a lower grade and where there were a few descent features to work with. I wanted to work on my crossbow's and on the Evan Garcia inspired 'EG Lean'. I can happily catch eddys using a crossbow but wanted to try boofing, it didn't really work out so definitely work to be done there! My 'Lean' worked out pretty well though, getting most of my head wet whilst boofing through the falls. I have a attached a link to the clip of this attempt!

It was a great day in the sunshine trying out new kit and new moves with great friends! I feel good about my paddling at the moment and I am getting really fired up for the Moriston Race in May, bring it on!

https://vimeo.com/88467740

A week of boating!

Last week I took a week off work which conveniently had a lot of rain forecast! I hadn't done this much classic boating in one week since the Sickline! On the Saturday a large group of us headed to the Mellte which was at nice medium flows. Unfortunately off the first drop my gopro mount snapped and sank to the bottom never to be seen again, bugger! A few of the group were Mellte virgins so there were a few swims and a split chin! For me the rest of the run went really well with sweet lines, I'm loving the Remix!

                                                                                 Simon Wyndam paddling away from the first 15 footer.

On Tuesday the heavens opened again so me and Matt headed with 1 car to the Mellte again. When we left it was low on the gauge with rain coming in so we expected it to be at a medium level. Boy were we wrong... it was big and brown! Driving straight to the top we hiked in to the first drop. Matt had recently run the river at this level so he fired it up first was a pretty descent line. After some more scouting I fired it up and had a descent line, all good! The 30 footer was seriously fun at that level. It's more difficult to get the second boof as the water really piles over you and takes you deep, but pretty soft and cuddly however you get spat out! Matt hiked up to his new camera spot and I lapped it 4 times getting some sweet shots!

                                                                                                             Myself on the 15 footer, high water.

Fun bouncy water took us to the gorge. After portaging around one tree we had to duck under a huge one sat right on top of a hole with a recirculating eddy. Matt got through clean and I took a little surf in the eddy but got pushed out, exciting times! Slot and drop was a different beast at this level. The slot was washed out but behind it were two wave holes leading to the lip of the drop. There was also a large recirculating eddy on the right to also kill your speed, the hole at the bottom of the drop was pretty huge! The water then got pushed into a cliff with a big submerged tree in it. Matt was confident as he had done it at this level the previous week so he fired it up first. He got pulled into the eddy river right and had to breakout pretty much on the lip with no speed, he some how managed to punch through the hole but came out vertical. This didn't fill me with confidence and with only two of us there safety was minimal. Needless to say I wasn't feeling this one on the day and portaged.

                                                                                                            Myself on the 30 footer double drop.

We them portaged the 8 foot weir as at this level the towback was grim! The rest of the river went smooth with some chunky rapids leading to the take out. I then ran the shuttle (this sucked and I don't recommend it!). We headed to the middle Tawe and put on at a medium level, seriously fun slides and bouncy rapids with a few big holes to punch, major grin factor!

                                                                                           Boofing a sticky hole just below the 15 footer.

Wednesday levels dropped but the Wye was a still flooded. So Matt and I put on at Kerne Bridge and paddled down to Monmouth in about two hours! We also got a first descent through a field.

Saturday I headed back to the middle Tawe with a small crew. It was at lowish levels but still a lot of fun! This is quite a short run so we did two laps. On the first run we took a break to help another group pull some trees out of the first slide, this would have been nasty in high water!

On Sunday I had my Level 2 coaching assessment at Paul Junction, Gloucester. It was a beautiful clear day and the assessment went well and I passed, yay! So working this Summer is looking good!

Monday the rain came in late so I headed out for an anfternoon run of the Clydach. I hadn't done the Clydach before so was pretty excited to tick off a new river! After a few nice drops and holes we reached the 20 footer. This has a shallow lip and most if the flow pushes toward the right wall which would obviously hurt. Whilst scouting we walked past two Welsh Water employees that appeared to be pumping untreated sewage into the river right above the waterfall, the smell was pretty terrible! We both decided we didn't want to paddle in poo and unfortunately hiked out and checked out the Grwyne which was too low.

Tuesday I headed down to the Dart with Matt Price. We headed off early and arrived around 9, it was at a sweet medium level! We did two laps and both were seriously fun, sadly I had only done this section in low water. Big waves and holes, constantly changing your line, read and run awesomeness! Seriously classic river, very alpine in style. We took a bike to do the shuttle but didn't end up using it as both times very kind people offered to drive us to the top, thanks!

It was an amazing but unfortunately it was time to go back to work! I also signed on with Palm/Surlines this week and am looking forward to the arrival of some new gear! Good times with good company!

British Winter Time

Things have been fairly quiet lately so blog posts have been sparse! With plans forming for the year it is looking exciting. At the moment I have been focusing on my career as a kayaking instructor, so I have been attending courses and have two assessments in February which will allow me to be a much more employable instructor!

Last weekend I did my 4* training with Escape to Adventure, it was great! First day we had high water levels on the Dee and on the Sunday we had low levels on the upper Conwy, I learnt lots and found out pretty quickly that I was more than ready for assessment. So fingers crossed for February!

Things are also looking exciting on the racing front! With The Moriston race shortly posting there date for this year and entry opening on the 31st the first leg of the race is to actually get entered! This is a seriously popular event and will be fastest fingers on the mouse that will get a place. The Norway trip is looking likely for July, with a friend getting a job out there it's going to be fairly easy to fly out and boat! I've also been given the green light to hit the Sickline again, sweet!

With short funds, America will have to wait for this year! Training for the Moriston will begin this Spring, but I am still keeping on top of the workout regime! Regularly running, lifting weights and cycling. This is looking like an exciting year, full of change and surprises! Bring it on :)

Photo credit: Neil Furmidge

My 2013!

I will try not to blabber on about everything I have done this year but there have been a few key moments that I would like to highlight!

2013 started off with a fairly disappointingly dry Winter and with a work schedule that often collided with boating so in the early months I really didn't get out as much as I wanted too. In April I completed my Level 2 coaching training at Dartmoor and have been working through my course throughout the year and have now booked my assessment. Around this time I decided I wanted to enter the Adidas Sickline in October and began training right away! In May I competed at and pretty much won all the competitions at the Tryweryn Festival which was so much fun!

In June I celebrated the first anniversary of my amazing Wife and I's marriage! Followed shortly by a very messy 22nd birthday. We had a great warm dryish summer and I even managed to get a few boating trips in! In August I took a family vacation to see all the inlaws and I took my parents which was an amazing time. Shortly followed by the Adidas Sickline in Austria which I placed 69th and had an overall sweet time!

I purchased a new paddle wagon and got myself a new speedy kayak :). The last few months of 2013 have seen some amazing kayaking, spent some great time with family and enjoyed the winter holiday season! 2013 as a whole has been quite a busy year with so many ups and a few downs to overcome but it's funny how I only remember the good! Yesterday I wrapped the year up with a bang and paddled a short section of the Mellte in huge flows, unfortunately during this time my car was a victim of a break in, so an amazing and slightly frustrating end to the year but the windows getting fixed today so all smiles and good times :D

Heres a raw and slowmo clip of the 30 footer we did yesterday, it was slightly rowdy! Full video to be put together shortly! Enjoy and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

https://vimeo.com/83025992

2013 Highlight Reel

Recently I noticed everybody putting together their Highlight Reels for 2013, so I thought I'd join in! This year due to awkward weather and work I haven't been in a boat nearly as much as I needed to be, but I did get some good runs in. I plan on doing a write up of 2013 in my next blog post, so stay tuned! 

In the meantime here's the Highlight Reel I managed to put together, unfortunately I still don't have most of my Sickline footage so that will have to wait. Hope you enjoy and hopefully next years one will be a little more epic!

https://vimeo.com/81586336

Beet It Training Diary

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

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!

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!

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

Low water Mellte session

As usual it hammered it down with rain early in the week whilst I was working so the levels were dropping fast by Thursday morning when we were gearing up to head to the Mellte. After picking up Matt Price and meeting up with the other boys in Monmouth we hit the road. On the way we were all given a heavy adrenaline rush by the roof rack flying off Sams car fully loaded with boats. Luckily it was early and the dual carriage way was quiet, so after untying the boats quickly and throwing them in the van we hit the road again!

We got geared up, piled in the van and hit the river. It was low but good enough to get down the falls. Everyone had a sweet line on the warm up 15 footer and we jumped out to take a look at the 30. The lip was super shallow and the second lip was even worse. On the left it is a double drop, 10 foot too 20. My line was almost sketchy, I caught my nose whilst landing on the shelf which turned me sideways on the lip, luckily I managed to put a stroke in the straighten up during the free fall and landed a pretty awesome boof! Everyone had a bumpy line but the best was Matt Prices in his C1 Nomad. I cartwheeled all the way down and was totally uninjured, epic! Sam landed on his side and unfortunately lost of head cam.

The rest of the river all went, the gorge was bony but all good with no incidents. At the 8 foot weir Sam landed sideways and beatered! After 10 minutes we finally got his boat out using a live bait. Sam was having a great day.... We got off the river in good spirits, good day, sketchy lines, awesome times!

Here's a short clip of some footage I got, enjoy!

https://vimeo.com/77810483

Adidas Sickline 2013!

It was that time of year again, the best extreme kayakers from around travelled to the small alpine town of Oetz to battle for the championship belt! After a long drive from the UK I arrived in evening with my wife, father and friend. We were meant to be camping but to our delight we were offered a free upgrade to a cabin, a good start to the week! It rained hard all night which filled me with a little concern as to how high the river levels would be the next day.

 We awoke to a damp misty day and after eating we packed up and headed to the river! We first took a look at the course, it was extremely high! The course was monstrous and no one was training on it as it was just too full on and dangerous. I met up with a group of Swiss and headed up to the middle section of the Oetz river which has a little less gradient. This was a grade 5 section of river in high water and I had never paddled the kayak I had before and was not fitted into it properly. Needless to say after three big sections I got pinned against some trees and had to exit the boat. After an hour of trying to recover the boat it finally came loose! Interesting first day!

Throughout the week it got drier and the river level dropped everyday to more manageable levels. For the rest of the week I met up with fellow paddlers and competitors and trained on the course. It was extreme water and it was awesome! Throughout the week we witnessed some awesome carnage, luckily no one was hurt. On Thursday I registered for the event, got my bib and goodies and had an early night for the big day ahead, qualification day!

After downing a couple of Beet-it shots I got geared up and headed to the event. The river was a little higher but still manageable. The event has a fantastic safety record, using the local mountain rescue and swift water rescue to help anyone getting into difficulty. The 150 competitors were split into two groups, I was put into the second group, and we then had to do our mandatory training run to ensure we were capable. My training run was one of my best and this filled me with confidence for the race! It was now time for the real thing. There were two qualification runs with both of your times being added together to form your score, the top 45 then go through to the finals, slim pickings!

So calming my nerves I carried my boat down the ramp and launched into the hissing white-water below! My first run was extremely good giving me a time of 1:24, this put me right up there with the pro’s. Feeling pretty chuffed, it was time for lunch! I knew I needed to match my first run or do better to qualify, which I knew I was perfectly capable off. After launching again, my line was good. But after dropping into the crux of the run I got pulled slightly right and slowed down, I paddled as hard as I could to get back on line. This minor mistake cost me six seconds giving me a time of 1:30, bugger!

This dropped me over all to 69th place. I was disappointed but also proud of my first run. My first run was not even my best so I know I have massive potential for the future. This was my first major race and out of roughly 15 GBR competitors I was 5^th fastest.  It’s just the name of the game, nature is unpredictable and sometimes it shows you whose boss! After a good night at the Loser’s party we headed to the course the next morning for the super final! A young Kiwi chap named Sam Sutton had won it three years in a row so all eyes were on him. After and epic final a young slalomist from the UK took the belt!

Needless to say the Champions party was a little nuts! With slightly sore heads we started the long drive back to the UK. This was the most professional, intense and amazing event I have ever taken part in and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. It’s made me more hungry to do better and put pressure on the racing scene, as we speak I’m working on purchasing a faster boat. With plans to hit the USA racing scene and dominate the UK racing scene, next year is looking full on! I’m very grateful for Beet-it and Nookies support throughout the event and supplying me with that extra beetrooty boost and fantastic gear! Cheers guys, see you on the water!

Austria Bound...

Well next week is what most of this year has been building up to! This Saturday we will be packing up and leaving for Oetz Austria for the Adidas Sickline. I'm both excited and anxious to get there, hit the water and get into my groove! We're picking up a couple of boats in Munich on the way and planning to arrive Sunday afternoon giving me 3 and half days of practice.

For this last week of training I've added more flat water sprints as a little boost! Next week I'll start my 2 Beet-it shots a day for the week. I've recently discovered the power and importance of visualization for kayaking and other sports, so I have been practicing this over the last few weeks. At the moment fitness wise I feel great and feel that I have done what I can mentally and physically. Now I just need to put it all into the race!

Stay tuned and posted to my facebook and twitter for updates and pictures! Fingers crossed everyone!

A sunny Sunday at the Pyranha Fest!

Yesterday we headed to the Pyranha Fest for the day as a last whitewater warm up for Sickline and a chance to take part in the Boater X race. We had a fantastic day, it was warm and the sun was shining! My wife and I just purchased a fancy camera so she was on photo duty and took some amazing shots!

In the afternoon was the boater X race from below Ski Jump to NRA bridge. As usual it was pretty brutal with lots of paddles flying everywhere and crashing into each other, great fun! I got through to the Semi's but unfortunately got pushed too far right when trying to reach an obstacle which put me out of the race, maybe next time! Was a great day all round. It also showed me what I need to work on for next week!

Getting sooo close!

It's now 10 days until I pack up the car and head to Austria for the Sickline. This year has been flying by as so much training and focus has gone into this event. I've been specifically training for the event since April and in May I won the Tryweryn festival which was a big boost and gave me confidence that I was headed in the right direction.

I've again stepped up the training for the last couple of weeks with longer sprints and heavier weights. I've also now started taking the Beet-it shots daily for the next two weeks and during the week of the event I'll be taking two daily. I'm feeling really good and feel that I have put on a bit more bulk and muscle since returning from the states.

This weekend I'll be heading to the Pyranha fest at the Tryweryn for the Sunday. I'm not sure if I'll be able to compete but it'll be good training never the less. I'd like to get stuck into a couple of races though!

Hoping these next weeks go fast and I feel this good next Saturday!

Astaxanthine, the cure for aches!

I'd never really considered looking for something to help prevent the general aches and pains from training/ exercise, I just get on with it! But whilst in the States my mother in law showed me a supplement called Astaxanthine, which is an epic antioxidant with many health benefits. Needless to say I had never heard of it! 

Because we were due to hike mount Katahdin in a couple of days she suggested we take 2 a day in the days leading up to the hike as apparently the supplement helps prevent aching muscles after strenuous activity. I didn't see any harm in giving it ago although I wasn't too convinced that it would make a difference. 

The hike was a long day, taking 11 and a half hours. We were knackered and sore climbing into the truck to drive back to camp, knowing that in the morning we had to go whitewater rafting! Going to bed that night I was sure that I'd wake up and have to roll out of bad and limp to breakfast. 

But that didn't happen, I woke up and although my muscles were a little tight, I was in no pain at all! I could have gone for a run then and there! Whether this was a coincidence or not I'm pretty convinced that this stuff works and I highly recommend it. Tammy was kind enough to give me the rest to take home and I plan on taking them throughout my training leading up to and during the event. 

I've also started drinking Beet-it's normal juice everyday. This is because of it's general amazing health benefits and I figured it couldn't hurt having a little of that nitrate in my system when not using the concentrated shots. It's great finding these natural supplements that really make a difference to your training and general well being! 

How not to raft the Penobscot, ME....

Whilst on holiday we decided it'd be a good idea to raft the Penobscot river. Having never been rafting before I was pretty excited to be trying something new and experiencing rapids in a different way. After just 5 minutes of being in the raft we flipped in the first fall, awesome! After regrouping we spent the day floating down many awesome rapids, all different grades and super exciting.

The company supplied an awesome BBQ lunch by the river and we had a really good time. If your ever in Maine I highly recommend it! Luckily I had a Gopro on my head throughout the day so we got some funny shots which you can view by following the link below, enjoy!

https://vimeo.com/73690308

The final preparation

Before arriving home from our trip to America I knew that once home I only had about 3 and a half weeks to train before heading out to the Sickline, holy crap! Before the holiday I became lighter than I wanted to be, which was ok because I anticipated some weight gain in the States. Becoming buffer became a little more important yesterday when I was informed that the LL Remix I was borrowing for the race had in fact been given to another athlete, bummer. Fortunately my friend from Munich also has an LL Stomper 90.

This boat is a cross between the Jefe and the Remix so I'm confident of it's ability to race, I'am however a little light for it. I've been told that iconic paddlers such as Tao Berman who was in no way a heavy guy, but a very fast racer, used to use a large Nomad. I'm not concerned at all and the plan is to beef up my arms and torso as much as I can in 3 weeks. My dad has a Jefe Grande so I will borrow that to get used to the extra volume!

So my training has a changed a little, but not much! I'm now dropping down to two runs a week, so I can maintain my cardio but not burn too much muscle. I'm now doing longer and more intense weight sessions targeting a lot more muscles. I am doing paddle sprints at least 4 times a week and I'm putting more focus on my abs and core. So my legs are getting a rest and my torso and arms are getting a beating.

Packing will begin shortly and I'll buy food throughout the month. We are planning a budget trip so we will be camping, could be cold.... Just a little bit looking forward to this one!

An epic American Adventure!

I'm always super stoked to return to the States as I'm lucky enough to have the best family in law on the planet! I headed out there with my wife and parents and just had the best time ever. But two weeks wasn't enough.

We packed so much into our time there that I don't think we really sat down! The first few days we spent shopping, swimming, catching lobsters on a boat and having a lobster party and visiting relatives. Then for a long weekend we headed North to where Jessica's parents camp where we chilled, hiked Katahdin, whitewater rafted, picked blueberries, kayaked, fished and much more! It was my first time rafting so we was great to enjoy the high volume whitewater in something other than a kayak, got a bunch of Gopro footage so a video will be online soon!

Once home again we spent the last few days outlet shopping, celebrating birthdays and site seeing. After some sad goodbyes we had a great flight home and a couple of days off to re-adjust! Throughout the holiday I managed to run most days, but didn't lift as much as I would've wanted. We just didn't have time! But with the 11 hour hike and rafting in the middle I had a descent amount of exercise. I put on a healthy amount of weight which I'm glad about as I can now put time in to using it!

Awesome times! 3ish weeks left till we head to the Sickline. So training has changed a little and increased, more on that soon, stay tuned!!

'Merica!!

This holiday has been a long time coming and to say I'm excited is an understatement! The weather is looking hot and we have a but load of stuff to do. So far the plan is lots of shopping, eating, whitewater rafting, hiking and just general site seeing, gonna be awesome! It's also the first time my parents have been there and met Jessica's parents so it's going to be really cool to show them around and have a good time.

I've really laid on the training in preparation for this holiday as although I'm going to be running and pumping iron out there, we are going to be hitting the food, it's impossible not too.... for me anyway! With all this training I'm actually 5 pounds under my ideal weight so this has made a nice benchmark for growth, I just need to make sure it goes to the right places!

Sprints have been going great and stamina has been increasing, same with running. My weights have been stepped up which is a great confidence boost. When I was at my biggest in NZ I weighed 96kg and I'm now benching 97kg. Not much for the weight lovers but for a skinny guy currently weighing 68kg it's promising to know my strength is in the right areas.

It has raised an issue that with the training I'm doing and active lifestyle, I need to eat more of the right proteins to prevent me losing too much weight before Sickline. I eat a lot, I just don't think it's enough of the good stuff to maintain my weight. More chicken, beans, protein!

I have some Teva Gnarkosi's waiting for me in the States as I wanted a midway shoe for creeking. I have Canyoneers which I love for creeking but for when I have my creek boat on whitewater courses or less rugged terrain I wanted a water shoe that wasn't too flimsy but didn't quite have the bulk of the canyoneers. So I'm really excited to see how they work out. They will definitely be my shoe of choice for the Sickline.

So stay tuned for photo's etc of our USA adventure coming soon!

Cardiff training

Today I decided it'd be a great idea to do some sprint training at CIWW. So I met up with Ben Coulton and headed to the course. The sun was shining and we hit the water! I wanted to do as many laps as I could and I lost count at around 20, I did a lot more after that so I'm assuming it was around 30. Not bad! The course wasn't that busy and there weren't too many rafts so it was pretty spot on for blasting down the middle at high speeds!

I had a Beet-it shot on arrival and I felt really good throughout the day not really getting majorly fatigued on any of the sprints so it seems to be doing it's thing well! It turned out to be a really good training ground because although it's very easy, the features are pretty much back to back so your often moving from one boof to the next and the water is so pushy and swirly it can be a challenge to hold your line. Also the conveyor belt to bring you back up is an added bonus! A great day with great friends and now I'm knackered! Mission accomplished!