Freedom

The last month seems to have sped no doubt this was because off of the boating the team has been doing. To start off the North West saw a superb amount of swell come its way so we had a few sessions at Northshore and St.Bees. mostly were very windy but good waves to be had especially by Mike who was on his new long board which due to its size had no trouble catching any wave he wanted as if he had an engine.

Photo of Alex by Bob, Trib into the Rawthey.

 Next the rain came and saw us going a spate run of the Lune where actually most of the rapids were washed out however this lead to the formation of some pretty sweet wave chains and huge areas of boil which is always entertaining. On this day we also did for the first time as a team the middle section of the Rawthey. Now this run was pretty poor in our opinion. It needs a ton more water then guidebook suggests as it was very scrappy in places even though we were paddling it at a "high" level. Look out for a river wide tree that must be portaged about an hour into the river.

Bob running End of the World Rapid, Scottish Leven.

This poor experience was soon forgot about though as we nipped upto Glencoe for the 10th, 11th, 12th to see what Scotland had to offer. This was the first time for me paddling in Scotland and I can easily say it was some of the most challenging, scary, exciting, technical boating I have ever done. We had a great crew of people, Pete, George, Bob, Fiona, James, Sam and myself all were able to push ourselves on the rivers and we all saw our own bit of carnage. Luckily everyone came off easy and managed to only aquire a few solid bumps and bruises which we are all grateful for.

In the super stout SUNNY three days we got on the Orchy, Etive, Alt A'Chaorainn and Scottish Leven all of which I hope to repeat in the future. Anyone that is looking to get up paddling in Scotland I highly recommend getting in touch with a local boating crew as it saves on having to inspect every run and allows you to crack on at a good pace allowing for more rivers!!

Instagram

For the last fortnight the crews days off and water levels havent matched up and this prevented us from getting on the water as often as I would have liked to. We did make the effort to try and get on Stonethwaite Beck however we arrived to late and the water had dissippated over the pebble riverbed. So we went and smashed every eddy on the Greta again, this time at a medium level (1m).

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East

The last fortnight has seen some pretty high water levels in the North and the pleasure of being employed full time has lead to our group having to pick and choose our rivers to make the most of it. I made the bad decision to run the River Greta (Keswick, Cumbria) one day which turned out to be a bad choice as levels ended up dropping off by the time we got there and with this so did the play-waves and friendly stoppers disappear. This lead to me being band from picking rivers for the next few trips.

Upper Kisdon Force, River Swale

On the 1st of February we travelled out East to the North Yorkshire Dales initially wanting to get on the River Swale however this ended up being too low to we continued over to the River Tees where we decided to run the section Middleton-on-Tees to Winston Bridge. The section is normally a grade three section but due to the river being on the higher side of high this cranked up the grade with some deadly sized stoppers and the biggest wave chains I have ever paddled the choice of river this time was superb for our group.

Unfortunately no photos from me as I was concentrating on controlling my new boat but I expect to see some content from George. Y as he negotiated the river in his new Wavesport Mobius throwing down freestyle moves on the features that reminded him of Uganda. Jack. C was determined to style every line on every rapid whilst implementing his best practice in leading the team down the river. Bob. A was keen to get in amongst the large moving water too to remind himself of his recent trip to Nepal.

At roughly 26km! the section of river was a great blast and I'd love to do it again in a few weeks time to see how well the control of my new boat has improved and also I intend on having the camera with me as I've set myself the goal now of getting at least on photo of the river we paddle on each trip. The photo above is of Bob on dropping Upper Kisdon Force on the River Swale, he chose to do the river that day and it turned out to be mega low, guess I'm choosing the next river.

New Year - New Boat

For the past few weeks boating has been slim due to cold weather, work and water levels. The majority of my time has been spent on the River Leven adjusting to my newly purchased new/old boat a Liquid Logic Remix 69. A state of the art specialist river runner the boat has taken me a few weeks to tame having never really paddled a boat with such a rounded hull.

River Sprint

Last Wednesday I was especially pleased with my own performance in the boat when running the Sprint and then on into the Kent with Fiona W and Pete R. Slightly different to usual we paddled a low level Sprint for the first time which was a very cool. The river is quite enclosed with moss covering all rocks and trees making it feel like a proper adventure. After successfully negotiating the rapids the Sprint had to offer we continued to paddle the river which turns relatively flat. The Sprint then joins the Kent. A long flat-water section again sees the river head straight through the centre of Kendal where there are number of small play waves and weirs to inspect. Flat-water is rarely a enjoyable experience and after paddling the flat for roughly and hour this made seeing the normal get on for the Kent a great relief. During the time we had been paddling the flat the river had been rising due to rain and when arriving at Natland Bridge the river is at a healthy medium level (0.74m). This made the final whitewater section to Force Falls a brilliant level for our groups ability. We all made great lines. I was mega pleased with my line off of Force Falls where I'm sure the volume of the Remix in comparison to my Detox was a definite plus and I cannot wait to see where I can get to with this boat.

Sea Stoke #1

Due to the supreme weather we are experiencing at the moment the surf on the West coast has been pounding. Even though with the abnormal weather circumstances Magic Seaweed's predictions have been pretty accurate allowing myself and company to select the days we venture to the coast. One day predictions came up as 8-12ft waves. Mike and Thomas went and had a look at this at North Shore for kicks and even had a dip, with their boards for half an hour. When the picture bellow was taken they had retired but those foam piles are easily 8ft high, monsters.

Northshore, The wall on the left is 20ft high!

My weeks surf experience was at Silecroft where Pete and I stuck with our playboats. The experience of surfing the juicy waves we encountered was so thrilling. These beasts we encountered had the power to easily back loop us if we let our guard down and due to the foamy sea surface rolling technique and timing had to be spot on but at the same time, it had to be done hastily so not to be smashed by the next incoming wave.

On this outing you really had to earn your waves but it was well worth it as blasting down the faces and carving to keep in the power pocket was so rewarding especially if Pete and I decided to nab the same wave and then it would often become a freestyle king of the wave medly! Were definitely need to get get a bigger crew out next time. I'll probably post to the Whitewater Aptitude facebook page next time we plan to get out, keep and eye on it. 

Above and below are two photos I quickly snapped of Pete using my Canon 600D from the beach towards the end of our session, I really need to get back into the habit of using my real camera more.

Change It Up #2

This fortnight I took my boats to the River Kent and Northshore "surf beach" again. With George and Bob keen to get out on the rivers we ventured to the Kent but with no other vehicles to shuttle with we sessioned the section from the rapid above Sedgewick Bridge to the get out after Force Falls. I set my gopro to photo every second mode and hoped to capture the moments when boofing off of L-Shape and powering over Force Falls as we had caught the river at a good level, around 1.23m on the EA gauge. I was rewarded with the shot below. It was captured on my third drop of the falls that day which was also my best line of the day as on my previous attempts I got a kicking at the bottom of the falls.

Force Falls, River Kent

Later that week the swell came up at Northshore, Whitehaven, so I accompanied Tom and Mike with their surfboards. When getting to the beach the wind had dropped off leaving the surf to become cleaner and more linear an awesome sight for what is usually a pretty messy surf location. The surf wasn't particularly big but it was great for testing my ability to Flatspin my boat quickly and keep on the waves as the ride the waves produced wasn't very powerful and ended up being a pretty short ride. I snapped this photo again with my GoPro when Tom and Mike were taking a break on the harbour wall. I was quite happy bobing about.