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.

North Devon a Swell end to Summer

Having got back from my Italy Norway adventure mid UK summer season I managed to get myself a end of season job at a Skern Lodge in North Devon. I was employed as a paddlesports and land based activities instructor. Due to the supreme placement of the centre after work I was able to whiz down to the local beach Sandymere, Westward Ho! every other evening to go surf kayaking, swell dependent.

 Before this employment I had played a lot in the surf however this has always been in creekboats or playboats. Luckily Skern Lodge is also a Mega Kayaks demo centre which allowed me to borrow a full carbon Mega Bullit S. Having never used a surf specific boat before the first few waves were very exciting. The speed and distinct difference between front and back rails lead me to throwing some spins I had no intention of pulling off. After some top tips from superior colleges and a better understanding of wave selection I was loving it and hooked. My style is still very much whitewater, stay in your box based, but it was great to keep my paddling fitness fresh. Now i've just got to get used to paddling a whitewater boat again as I'm heading back to work in Nepal until January.

HIGH

Having moved from Japan to Nepal to see out the end of the season, although the water level is dropping, high, could be used to describe many aspects of my current paddling life. Here are a few snaps I've managed to get whilst photo boating for Paddle Nepal, Pokhara.

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.

Air Time

This past week it has been wet in the North. The storms and tides I previously blogged about have changed our favourite surf beach, Silecroft. Masses of sand and pebbles have been moved changing how the waves form and tide surges in an out. This left Tom and I very puzzled the other week when experiencing the new tidal flow as we found ourselves at one point surfing small waves away from shore only to collide with the normal onshore swell. These strange less predictable conditions left us looking back towards the rivers for comfort and luckily its been chucking it down.

Low Force, Upper Tees

To get on the rivers we ventured further afield heading out to the Upper Tees and Upper Swale both known for their waterfalls. Luckily the river gods delivered superb river levels on both days that matched our groups ability. My GoPro accompanied me on both trips and as ever I set it to photo every second mode and left it to do its thing. I'm definitely going to be taking my DSLR to the Swale next time its at a similar level, roughly 0.70m, I'll also have to summon the courage to run the drops first then too to get the shots.

Lower Kisdon Force, Upper Swale

From our later trip to the Swale our return jounrey was also very exciting as we had to negotiate our way back across the Dales in the sudden snow that had fallen.

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.

Pyranha Fest 2013

Pyranha Fest is a whitewater kayaking festival that runs annually at the River Tryweryn, Bala, Wales. I have been to the event three years in a row now and have not once been disappointed by the gathering.

My festival experience began this year with me running home from work to load my car up to then blast down the motorway to Gorman's house. We then transfered my kit and boat into his car and proceeded to Bala via Preston's best fried chicken takeaway! After a few dodgy sat nav directions we made it to the campsite for the event which is located on the bank of the Lower Tryweryn. We met up with Jack the other member of our crew, also a Pyranha Fest vet. Then to our surprise we stumbled upon two friends who we weren't expecting to see Pete O and Tom H. After a good catch up we all retired to be fresh for paddling in the morning. This is important as its best to get out from the campsite early as possible to get ahead of the crowds that will take up the eddys by mid morning.

 Having paddled the Tryweryn regularly each year, it has enabled me to see where I am with my paddling and its safe to say I've made a huge improvement over the past year which was even commented on by other more distant friends at the festival. In 2012 my ability and confidence was a bit dodgy not always making the eddys I wanted and always having to take the easiest lines to navigate down the grade III whitewater. This year however was quite opposite. After warming up I found myself hitting majority of the lines I wanted and when I did mess up and had to recover I did so without a splinter of doubt in myself which lead to great performance on a personal level.

Steve Marfleet

At the end of the day we blasted down the Lower Tryweryn busting out plenty of rock spins on the moss covered boulders that litter the river. After exiting the river just after Bala Mill Falls (IV) which I seemed a lot less intimidating this year we then joined all the others in the Party tent for food, drinks, music and inspiring presentations from fortunate paddlers that had been off exploring in far off places. I like to think I'll be able to give one of these presentations one day.

After a great party for the second day of the festival again we made our way back to the Upper Tryweryn this time slower and hungover. Strangely we still made it there before most crews and got to enjoy the river relatively empty of people again. Hungover and dehydrated I called it a day around lunchtime for my paddling but got out my camera and snapped some of the shots above on the teams last run of the day before all departing back to uni etc. If you are even in doubt about venturing to this festival or its suggested by mates I highly recommend it.

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.

Change It Up

After purchasing my Wavesport Project X (Yellow) a few months ago I ended up neglecting my Fluid Detox (Red) for a while. This came to bite me back when I took the Detox out for a spin on the Kent making me feel very unstable and uncomfortable, this was really disheartening. It felt like something had changed with the boat, it hadn't, I had just got used to my playboat. I over the past two weeks I have done some re outfitting to my Detox adjusting the hip pads, foot-plate, seat position, seat height and thigh supports and after a few on the fly tweaks on the beach at Silecroft. I am now torn between what boat to take out on the water especially in the places I have focused on over the past fortnight.

Brick Chutes

Due to no real amount of water in the rivers again, the only options we have had to get out on has been the River Leven or the Sea. The Leven has been at a great level for playing on Brick Chutes where the river has been lit well into the evening by a close buildings security light. The chutes create a boxed-in green wave then below a standing wave that is pretty tricky to surf for a sustained amount of time due to its ever changing dumping state. This dumping wave has been great practice and has lead to some unintentional nose dives and stern stalls.

Backbarrow Bridge Rapid, Medium Level

Also on the river is Backbarrow bridge rapid, I have a grudge with due to its tricky nature. The line changes on it every time I run it and I always have to have a look quickly to escape the banter from fellow boaters and focus myself. Recently I've fared quite well and ran it three times styling it once, plowing into one of the bridge walls once and going over once because of the last wave, no swims though.

When venturing to the sea and surf at Silecroft, this has been when the decision of what boat to take has been most challenging. I can't take both boats along with everyone elses as my little car would not make it up the hills! What the predicted conditions are going to be heavily impacts my decision. If its looking like super small time between waves and messy I take the Detox just for ease of getting off the beach and for the fact it can surf really well in most conditions. Then if its looking cleaner I take my Project X so I can focus on attempting spins and getting bounce which both usually leads to eating mouthfuls of sandy water. The above photo was captured on my Gopro HD Hero1 on my custom kayak mount.

Weather: Raining!

Finally this dry spell has moved on and the Lake District's rivers have been filled up again almost to flood level which has been great for getting out. On my days off this week i've been out on the Kent, Greta and Rothay. The water levels have been great on the different rivers for testing my ability in my playboat. The highlight was getting a substantial beating in a hole on the Greta that I recovered from well. So excited for this winter and the potential boating that could happen in-between work. Below is a photo from each of the rivers above snapped on my GoPro HD HERO.

L Shape on the  Kent

Beating on the Greta

Stepping Stones on the Rothay

 In the above photo, taken with my GoPro mounted on my helmet, you can make out the stepping stones that due to the high water level of the river have been washed over to create a small surfable standing wave to play on. The wave on this day was only small however with more water the wave becomes bigger, steeper and more exciting for surfing however the rest of the river becomes more threatening due to large sections of overhanging trees (strainers). Keep and eye out for this photo in Canoe Focus.

Weather: Showers

So the past month has again been pretty dry in general with rain falling but not enough to keep the rivers at a substantial level. Therefore this month I have been checking out the surf again on the West coast of Cumbria. I've been quite lucky with the conditions and predicted when the bigger surf was coming through, with the help of Mike who has been accompanying me on his board. The sea waves have provided a great force to practice my surfing on and with the size and less predictable nature when surfing them it will hopefully have helped to improve my surfing when it comes to the standing waves of the rivers when the water comes back.

 

Above are two video snapshots from some video (GoPro HD Hero, 720p) that I took of our first venture to an area called Silecroft which turned out to be a fantastic. The swell was quite messy but manageable with waves ranging in steepness and height. Some steep easily 3ft faces at times which were great to watch roll past and even better for surfing and blasting across even getting some bounce.

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.

 

I Ran the River Swale

This week last year I took photos and video of friends on the River Swale, North Yorkshire.

This week I paddled the River Swale and had friends video me for once!

On Tuesday of this week I joined four other friends all from UCLAN university and had a day of anxiousness, adrenaline, waterfalls, success and vocal celebrations. The feeling of accomplishment I felt that day, I have not felt in a long time and I had a permanent smile for the rest of the day. The waterfalls we were going over ranged from roughly 8ft to 15ft and were graded IV and V.

The rapid/river grading system in whitewater kayaking is based on skill required to negotiate the rapid, the hazards of a rapid and risk and outcomes of the rapids. The scale goes from I-VI. At the top of the scale, grade VI, a rapid that is grade VI is seen as not passable or if so only in very specific conditions. Upon this if you get the line wrong on the rapid or mess up your going to end up either dead or severely injured in hospital. A description of all the grades can be found here on UK river guidebook.

Hopefully in the future I can post a link to the video my friends took.

To show what we were paddling you can watch some videos of my firends from last year on my youtube channel. Click the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/user/WhitewaterAptitude

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.