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!!

Freestyle Stoke

For the past month its been raining pretty regularly in the Lake District making river levels fluctuate heavily and sit solidly on the medium - high level this is especially so for the river Leven. This has lead to our favourite play spot, Brick Chutes, to be in perfect condition for using for surfing progression. Pete K, Thomas H, Mike D and I have been making regular trips to the location to get our fix of whitewater in between our jobs.

Over the past few weeks my muscle memory for my roll has really shon through allowing me to recover quickly from when going over. Having this confidence has really allowed me to throw my boat around and use it more how it should be used. So much so that at I am now quite capable of pulling off flatspins in both directions which grants such a good feeling and would actually score points in a freestyle competition! I've been able to pull off this trick not only at Brick Chutes but also out in the sea at Silecroft, getting multiple spins down on single rides, much to my surprise.

Hopefully next week I'll be doing this...

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.

The End of an Era

For the past three years I have been studying at the University of Cumbria on the BA(HONS) Adventure and Media course. In the past month I have completed the final pieces of work for my degree and am now awaiting my final results to then graduate in July.

Leven at 0.76 taken by Thomas H

The course combines outdoor activities with photography and video which initially led me to setting up this blog in September of 2010. 

I joined the course having very little knowledge of camera equipment or techniques but had a respectable amount of outdoor skills and experience that has helped me to relax when out on activities and focus on using the camera etc.

Having now finished I currently have a good amount of free time which I am using to  further develop my paddling skill and ability to enable me to get closer to attaining my ambitions.

I recently purchased a new kayak to aid in this development, a Wavesport Project X 56. The plan is working and I am trying to squeeze in as much paddling as I can before I start my new job in Ambleside which should enable me to continue to live in the Lake District and paddle and practice my photography in any free time I have spare.