LAOS - Mekong River Waterfalling

Mr. Clean

To summarise this was by far the strangest "Paddling trip" I have been on because after a week of being there collectively we didn't want to go paddling. The waterfalls pictured are created by a rock shelf in the Mekong River. The waterfalls are tough to get to and from and the very few rapids there are are no longer then 50m. Get beta info. To enjoy this place fully you have to be a stout master with big balls. Venture there towards the beginning of December smash out the whitewater in two weeks max.

When the work dried up in Nepal I went and spent my last week in Barabhese next to the Bhoti Koshi River. The week gave my paddling partners Jack C and George Y the time to infect my mind with the idea that changing my flights and going boating with them in Laos would be a great way to skip the UK winter.

Cambodian

I was convinced and made the journey with them to South East Asia. After over 24hours of travel,(taxi, flight, taxi, train, x2 trucks, tuc tuc and bus), we arrived at the port of Nakasong where we were greeted by ferry boat drivers demanding three times the set price for a lift to the Island of Don Det, our proposed base. The price was so steep due to the dimming light. Frustrated at having already had to pay double price for all other modes of transport we stuffed all our kit in our boats and got on the water not knowing where we were going, not knowing where the whitewater was and not being able to see a whole lot. It was very gripping.

A week later I'm swimming and clinging onto the side of a very green and slippery cliff trying not to get sucked back into the falls I had just fluffed at the same time I'm trying to get the attention of Jack and George before they paddle off further down river.

With my waterfall confidence blown I then hated the area because the place is a waterfall nirvana.

Mr. Clean

Due to there mostly being waterfalls, which were well at the top of my comfort zone to begin with, I was unable to get my psych back and I spent the rest of my time beasting the flat water, portaging drops and running around on the rocks snapping the shots of George. I'm not going to type any further on this trip as I wish to forget about it and use what is left of the UK wetness to get my whitewater groove back. If you have questions get in contact.

Himalayan Whitewater Challenge 2015

The festival this year was a great success again seeing paddlers from all over the globe attending the event. Even with the India border blockade, the Nepalese paddlers and spectators fueled the party vibe and made it a memorable one.

 
Largely thanks to Paddle Nepal, the festival held three events. Extreme Slalom, Freestyle and BoaterX. I was able to compete in all, beating my positions gained at the 2014 events. I hope for the 2016 event the freestyle feature comes in stronger so the Nepali paddlers can really show their skill that they often practice whilst safety kayaking!

Sea Stoke

For the past fortnight the rivers have been rising slowly and there have been a number of after work missions to Brick Chutes on the River Leven. But with fast approaching early nightfall in the evening these sessions are going to eventually come to a close. Low levels on days off have meant I have taken to the sea again with friends to get our fix of whitewater and the surf has been pretty big on some days which has led to some amazing rides and definitely some progression in my boat control on waves and confidence on the water in general, just in time for winter boating.

Above is an image taken again by my GoPro HD mounted on my custom kayak mount. On the left of the image Bob can be seen taking flight off of the back of a wave. A superb effort considering he is in a Pyranha Shiva.

Travel Writing #3 - Conquering Liza Beck

Mike's brainchild, the first descent of Liza Beck had been in the planning for the past 5 weeks. Mike had been up and down Gasgale Gill scouting the beck, moving rocks and spotting the best lines down the rocky riverbed. All we needed was water.

Mike and Tom

On the day Mike was determined to paddle the beck, the amount of water just wasn't enough for me but for Mike who was intent on his quest to paddle the “previously un-paddled” it was a great confidence building experience. For me, although I hardly paddled and lugged my boat all the way up the Beck to then not paddle down, it was still a great adventure. We were also joined as ever by Tom who is the most experienced boater of the group and his knowledge of whitewater safety and rescue was used to safely anticipate the most daring section of the descent, Double Drop. A set of two reasonable sized drops in a narrow channel with interesting landings. 

To get ourselves and our kayaks to the top of the beck we used rucksack like straps attached to our kayaks, constructed by Mike. These proved great for Mike and Tom however mine needed some further development to be made more comfy for long steep hauls, so I had to shoulder my boat and endure the strain. Whilst moving up the gill we inspected interesting features whilst having breaks from carrying the boats a few times. After we reached the starting point, distinguishable by the flow of water uphill of us dispersing into smaller and smaller tributaries like branches of a tree, Mike and Tom adjusted their boats and packed away their carry straps whilst I readied my cameras.

We were off very slowly and bumping rather then paddling down the Beck. This wasn't what I was expecting. After enduring five minutes of hearing the rocks of the riverbed gouge new scrapes into the hull of my boat I opted from then on to get out and just film and be safety officer. So again I shouldered by boat and hastily skipped back down the path we had just come up, to a position below Mike and Tom to film them bouncing down. The Beck surprisingly, has a number of good features that if there was more water would be fantastic. The most noticeable Mike has come up with names for, like the most memorable one Double Drop. As Mike continued to bump down the Beck I continued to do my best to carry my stuff and film his efforts. After arriving back at the most paddle-able point at the foot of Gasgale Gill the sun came out and beamed down as if to praise Mike for his effort.

I think more water is a key factor if this descent is to be achieved by us or anyone else wanting a challenge. But, Mike has achieved what he set out to do, complete the first descent of the Liza proving it can be done. When we had packed away our stuff back into Tom's van I presented Mike and Tom with my first pieces of Whitewater Aptitude apparel. T-shirts I had printed with my logo on. Tomorrow I'm off down to Mike and Tom's house to go paddling again and show them the footage I took on the day and hopefully help Mike piece together a short video to Mike's specifications.

  

Below is also a snapshot of me taken from a video, captured from my GoPro mounted on my rear kayak mount whilst I was carrying the kayak. I rotated the image and made it black and white for dramatic effect.

 

SUP

The past two weeks I have been getting out surf kayaking with on the sea at Bournemouth beach. I've been going with my friends Peza and Cheryl who have both been showing me up on Stand Up Paddle-boards (SUPs). We've been out a number of times over and the waves have gadually became better and more surfable until the last Saturday when the waves grew to a whopping continuous 4ft high the with the odd wave rolling in around 5-6ft. For my ability, at times, this was terrifying. To surf the waves firstly you needed to get "out back".  The outback in surfing is the area where you wait for the waves to come in, spot them, then ride them. To get out back I needed to time my paddling correctly so to not get caught up in the large aftermath of breaking waves and also not be at the same point where the waves were breaking. Unlike a surfer, in my kayak, I cannot dip underneath the breaking waves, i have to punch through them, a downfall to surf kayaking. However I managed to predict my paddling fairly well and get outback always relieved.

From here I was able to get in position to surf the waves coming in as best I could. after surfing the green wave then also surfing the strong broken wave. I would often end up all the way back on the beach and have to repeat the process of getting out back, a tiring action.

I unfortunately had one swim on this day after getting caught out by a huge steep wave as I was getting out back. I ended up trying to go over the it at the time it was steepest. Unfortunately due to the steepness of the wave and gravity instead of punching through the top of the wave. I felt my boat sliding back down the wave face and start to plain. So i started surfing the wave backwards. Something I can just about do on a small wave. This six footer was no match for me. I was unable to spin back around to face down the wave and ended up going over. I tucked up and felt as the wave broke and carried me all the way to the beach still upside down. I tried performing my C to C roll but in the foamy wash I couldn't managing. I chose to come out of my boat. I then had to get myself boat and paddle to shore only 15m away the dumping waves made it a struggle. I emptied my boat of water and carried on as I had been doing before.

At the beginning of our session the tide was in and I was keen to get on the water. However I didn't put on my new GoPro mount as I didn't want to have it trashed straight away which it would have done. As the tide dropped towards the end of my session the waves became unsurfable for me, so I got my DSLR out and snapped some photos of Peza on the diminishing leftovers from stood in the shallows.

We use the site MagicSeaweed to predict what the surf conditions are going to be like.

After these exciting times in the next few days I then had an equally exciting time doing my first piece of commercial/non commercial work for an old friend Sam of Cumulus Outdoors. I was creating a promotional video for them to promote their coasteering programs based along the Souths Jurassic Coastline. The experience was extremely beneficial. Learning what skills I need to further develop and how to approach future work projects.

GoPro Mount

I've been researching to make a pole style GoPro mount for my kayak for some time and being home has given me the access needed to tools and odd nuts, bolts and washers I needed to complete the creation. There are a number of options for creating something similar I got this design idea off the kayak tips, tricks and reviews site Unsponsored.

Firstly I acquired all the pieces I would need for the design and tools.

1x Cut down piece of steel
2x Bolts from original Fluid grab handle
1x Bolt and fitting Nut
1x Large Washer
2x 32mm End Cap Plug
1x Cut down piece of PVC pipe (not sure what diameter this was it was scrap i found in my garage). (55cm Long)
1x GoPro flat mount
1x Length of strong cord

1x Electric Drill
1x Metal Saw
1x Adjustable Spanner
1x Flathead Screw Driver
1x Allen Key set
Piping Glue

I removed the original rear grab handle from my Fluid Detox by unscrewing it and then used the original handle as a template for the new one. I cut the odd piece of steel to the correct length then  drilled two holes for the handle to be re attached then a third hole in the center of the handle. Thats that piece complete.

Now to complete the rest of the "base". Firstly drill a hole in ONE end cap. You should then be able to use the 1x Bolt and Nut and 1x Large Washer to construct it. I took into account I'm not always going to be using the GoPro mount and therefore have tried to keep the handle and base as snag free as possible so it can still be grabbed by someone in a rescue situation or possibly be used to clip the boat if it needs rescuing (hopefully will never happen!). To keep it snag free I shortened the Bolt I was using so to not stick out above the End Cap.

To create the removable pole glue the remaining End Cap Plug pieces into the PVC pipe and let it set. The PVC pipe is 55cm long. The final step is add a GoPro flat mount to the top End Cap. I'm going to be using some cord attached to my GoPro from the case to the grab handle incase the camera ends up getting knocked off the top in shallow water. See below for pictures of the final construct and a snapshot taken from one of my test videos.

Canford Weir

First post of 2013 Happy New Year

I've spent the past festive weeks at my home in Dorset getting out boating as much as possible on the local weir at Canford Magna or out on the sea.

The weir at Canford is on the River Stour. This location needs a lot of water and the river level rises to a state of high or flood Canford weir turns into a reasonable sized wave and stoppers. Jack and Josh, the paddlers I was boating with, both managed to have a good play on the weir however for myself it was a little intimidating looking very similar to the area where I broke my nose up in Cumbria. The anxiousness that kept coming over me as I was just getting onto the wave would then lead to me coming off the back so my efforts were always disheartening and frustrating. However we moved over to a different area where my efforts were rewarded. Level with the weir on river right there is a sluice gate that on this day was producing a long boxed in surf-able wave. At first from the water you couldn't quite see the whole size of the wave or its origin, putting me off even dipping my nose in this one. However we needed to do some gardening to to make it easier to get onto the wave. This gave me the oppotunity to see the wave fully and after I had removed the foliage that was obscuring our play area I jumped back in my boat and had an awesome number of blasts on it. The wave was very fast and I struggled to flatten my boat out to surf it straight therefore I kept zipping back and forth across the face of the wave which was a great success for myself. I recon I might have been leaning back to much which casued this. Next time I aim to slow it down a bit and stay on longer. Hoping to see Josh's footage from the session to take some personal points to work on.

Descent Cycles

The week has been spent completing coursework. The week has not been pleasant.

Today however I handed in that coursework and balance is slowly being restored to the Galaxy. Also today I helped out my good friend Tom get some photos and video for his soon to be constructed website for his new mountain bike guiding company that he is aiming to have up and peddling strong as soon as uni is finished. The day was a new experience and hard. I was running/stumbling/rolling around Whinlatter Forest on foot chasing after Tom and his friend David. The trails were icy and I did a fair bit of sliding about getting into positions to capture the specific burms, jumps and climbing sections the two selected. Although bright out in the open the wooded sections of the trails were particularly hard to get good sharp images. I was relying on my Canon 600D, 18-135mm lens, tripod and GoPro HD Hero to capture the action I intend to to go through the footage and images with Tom on Thursday. The result from the day weren't my best so i hope not to disappoint my pal. Below is a snapshot from my GoPro of me filming.

I'm hoping to also do some kayaking with Tom this week but its rather chilly. Check out my Facebook and Twitter for on the day updates on my activity. Links to these can be seen on my website that has also had some alterations to it and pictures added so make sure you look at them.

http://www.hartridethestorm.co.uk/

In the world of kayaking this week has been the start of the White Water Grand Prix 2012 where the sickest white water boaters in the world compete over two weeks to win the title. Among the white water community this events coverage has been shared and viewed countless times the content showcasing the highlights of the different stages set in Chile. The competition currently only at stage 3 has many different competitions to test the different abilities of the paddlers. One of my favourite stages from last year was the Big Wave Freestyle where athletes perform kayak tricks and flips whilst surfing a wave similar to that of what a surfer would however the waves stays in place on the river. This is called a standing wave. If you cant imagine what that looks like the link below is to one of my all time inspirational kayaking films showcasing some of the best freestyle atheletes some of whom are in the WWGP. Good luck to all the athletes in the competition especially the GB guys whom are lagging.

Stakeout - https://vimeo.com/8208615

Travel Writing #2 - Boater X

The highlight of this week by far was paddling on the Leven again. This was on the 28th November 2013. After heavy rain a few days before, the river was very high at 1.3m, too high for the intended UCUM -v- UCLAN Boater X. This race event was planned to be a social competition between my University of Cumbria (UCUM) paddling club and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) paddling club. However due to many people dropping out the night before numbers to the event slowly dwindled and by the time we met at the river Leven there were a grand total of seven people from both unis. Clearly only the elite could manage boating on this day. Luckily I knew everyone that turned up and their paddling ability so making the decision to bench the race for another day was easy and we decided to paddle the whole river rather then just the top easier section. After a slow start the day went well. The group stopped to inspect each rapid before proceeding picking the best line suited to each individuals ability. We had two swimmers throughout the day, myself on Backbarrow Bridge rapid and Mike on a the last rapid of the day.

 

Backbarrow Bridge is a notorious spot in the Lake District for paddlers as the rapid is big, not easily inspected and intimidating due to the fact that there is a large stopper under the bridge that you can always see is there but you can't judge how large it really is. Due to this fact, only three of seven participants on the day paddled this rapid. In their larger boats Matt and Jack successfully managed to punch through the make or break stopper under the bridge however, I was not so lucky. The Boof stroke I put in on my right side was too weak to get the nose of my kayak over the foam pile of the stopper to then allow me to make progress through the stopper. Therefore the nose of my boat was taken by the water and I was flipped over, capsized. Feeling the water rush around my face I tucked up to protect it, something I had failed to do quick enough the time I broke my nose. Holding my breath still in my boat, I waited being thrown about by the water. I was waiting to be flushed out of the stopper into the large pool below where I knew I could roll up but I wasn't getting flushed. With this thought in my head, I held on one more moment hoping to feel the surface of the water with my paddle to then roll up, however, running out of breath I pulled my spray deck off to get out of my kayak and try swimming out of this sticky situation. 

 

Luckily by this point I had been flushed out and was on the edge of the stoppers grasp. As soon as I came up I took a large breath of air grateful to have made it out. I then started swimming to shore aided by my pal Tom. My boat unfortunately didn't get out of the grasp of the stopper and was thrown around before coming out and being rescued by the rest of the crew who also retrieved my blades (paddles), all before reaching 30m down river the looming Backbarrow Death Weir that is "unrunable" in a kayak. Looking back at the footage from Tom’s head cam I'm gutted I hadn't held on a little longer as when I came out my boat I would have been able to make that roll and paddle away in anger rather than swim away in shock. On the other hand, I feel it was a step that needed to be met at one point to make me less intimidated by these rapids and to allow me to focus on what needs to be done to conquer them.

The rest of the descent for me was great although a little chilly due to water coming in through my neck seal on my dry cag as it is split. It’s getting cold now and I’m not sure how many more kayaking session I'll be having before Christmas.

Boating, Finally!

Wow having a car makes such a difference in ease to getting out paddling and with there having been plenty of rain in the lakes this has lead to plenty of paddling in the past week, super. Sometime before all this rain hit I managed to dig out some footage of my friends Mat and Pete paddling on the Upper River Swale and using my new laptop have created four very short videos showing four of the five main drops on the river. These videos can either be viewed on my Youtube or Vimeo channels. Dont forget to Follow or Subscribe.

Youtube > http://www.youtube.com/user/HARTridethestorm
Vimeo   > https://vimeo.com/hartrts

Last Post of Second Year

Well that flew by. Last Friday saw me hand in my last piece of work for the second year of my degree. The piece was a 10minute film (link below). I'm not particularly proud of the final piece as it was a last ditch attempt at getting a grade as my original plans to make a whitewater kayaking film ended up failing due to plans falling through and not creating solid enough links with the Carlisle Canoe club YET. My film "follows CRAIG CHARTERS and GAVIN HART's week long mountain biking expedition around the Seven Stanes of Scotland." 

However its the summer now and am looking forward to working as a paddling and climbing instructor in the USA! So keep up-to-date on here and my facebook page ( http://www.facebook.com/HARTridethestorm )  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2BM96GoL9M 

Yeeeeehhhhaaarrrrr

I've spent the last few days securing my visa for working in the USA. I should now be able to work out there over the summer now. Super excited.

My friend also finished editing his film this week that I helped film. A film about how Miles Hickey is dealing with being diagnosed with cancer and his adventures in the outdoors. The film is on Youtube at the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwd9xJ60AXU&feature=youtu.be&a