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!

HOA Extreme Whitewater Challenge

The weekend of the 6th June saw a collection of thrity-one spirited local and international boaters congregate at Hokkaido Outdoor Adventure's base for the annual HOA Extreme Whitewater Challenge. There were four paddling events that took place on the Saru River and a non stop party atmosphere to keep competitors and spectators glowing.

photo credit: Lance PZ

Whitewater Slalom and Down River Race took place on the Saturday.  The Slalom was based on the rapid named First Drop with the main gates hung at the base of the river right shoot making a tricky short ferry glide across the main flow the course was fun for all but the creekboaters dominated. Personally I was given one chance on the course setting a time of 2:31 putting me in 13th place.

The next event, the Down River race, had a mass start of 29 paddlers go all out for roughly 1km this section went through a number of rapids including the Slalom section which lead to some great carnage that smashed my chances of being in the top 10 finishers, again I fought into 13th place at the last rapid. 

Following a night of heavy partying from all, peoples hangovers were washed away by the excitement that was created by the mornings Raft Race. This event allowed anyone to get on the water by borrowing kit from HOA.

 After a cracking lunch of Wazza Burgers the Freestyle Comp took place again on the Saru in the town of Hidaka where Ex-Freestyle champion Eric Southwick built a hole specially for the competition allowing easy access and viewing for all. Being in a creekboat my position for this event was pretty poor and I only scored 10points for a spin... Overall this put my overall standing for the comp at 13th. Thanks to all the new friends I made at the event maybe see you in the future.

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.

Before returning to Uni

After having returned home from America I spent a short time at home where I actually managed to get out kayaking once at Bournemouth Pier surf kayaking, it was very strange and the first time in a long while I had been paddling on the sea, it was awesome. The waves at the pier ranged between 3-5ft. Mat and I had picked a great day to go out. Managed to catch some good waves and then usually ended up getting whipped out which was great for practicing my roll in moving water in a relatively safe environment I.e where I'm not going to smash my face in... again. However I did manage break one of my GoPro attachments, how I do not know.

Following my time at home I then ventured forth In my expensive go-kart to West Snowdonia, Wales. To again meet Mat and spend the next two days camping and walking based out of the Ogwen Valley. The third day was spent climbing in the morning then kayaking in the afternoon. We paddled a section of the River Dee. I did well on this grade III descent no swims, one roll, at Town Falls when everyone was watching. That afternoon got me reacquainted to wearing clothes again whilst paddling as had spent the last fourteen weeks paddling in just boardshorts, BA and lid.

The next two days were what our trip was all about, Pyranha Fest 2012! From last year i have definitely improved my boating. This year again on the Tryweryn, I felt a lot more comfortable giving it a good effort and making a lot more eddies then last year, a few rolls and only one swim on the last quick run of the weekend. Now I've got my car I should be able to also keep getting out (whilst doing my work, dad) and keep my ability up and hopefully get some more footage of my adventures. Looking forward to the uni year ahead.

IOW Time

I spent the week of the 18th on the Isle of Wight visiting some good friends and making some new ones. It was a great week including eating crabs cooked on the beach, getting shot (three times), scary coasteering and slacklining. Managed to get some slackline shots.

Skullcandy Competition Entry

Each month Skullcandy run a competition to create a wallpaper for your computer. If you win you get some goodies. I used my recent picture of Sam with a few tweaks done on photoshop as my entry.

Gin Case Re-Launch

The Gin Case Re-Launch party. PSYCHO