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.

Twelve Hour Timelapse

This week has been a busy week for me mainly due to my new part time job at the Sands Center, Carlisle where I help build stages for concerts and theater productions. Its tough work and sometimes late hours but good pay to fill the car up with petrol so I can go Kayaking!

Unfortunately, since my last post, I have managed to get out kayaking only once and it wasn't the most successful trip to date either. The trip has been named as "The Reconnaissance Session". Our intended plan was for paddling on the River Kent (Kent Gorge to Force Falls section). However unforeseen problems lead to our team arriving at the river later then planned and with the now winter sun starting to set around 1630, getting on the river that you have never run before around 1500 wasn't ideal. However we carried on paddling the top three rapids. Portaged the weir "you really don't want to run". Then ended up portaging the rest of the rapids on the river due to the light levels, the fact that none of us had run these rapid before and weren't overly confident running them anyway. Not a total fail of a trip as we now have inspected the rapids and different lines we might want to run in the near future hopefully.

I had another go at creating a time lapse this week. Inside this time. The time lapse was over a period of roughly twelve hours and was during my work time. I left my camera to capture the building of the stage for the band Rizzle Kicks. The clip has come out well and I'm just waiting for approval from The Sands Center to add some music to it then they plan to pass it onto the company SJB that manages Rizzle Kicks's tour, could be beneficial. Video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvLU285v6Mw

Tuesday night was spent in Kendal watching a presentation by Dom Bush about his inspirations in the adventure film making industry and showed some his own work. A good chilled out event.

Today again I spent my time in Kendal at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival. A great event where i was representing my university in the its yurt that had been setup to promote the uni. I also manged to escape that and watch a few ski films. Interviewed some adventure and media freelancers for my D..d...d.... (I dare not type it). Ate a load of free samples and gained a many freebies from the stalls there. The best freebies being the coat water-reproofing spray and wash which will save me £30. Brilliant!

Oh the clocks have gone back!

It took me a whole day to realize that the clocks have gone back this week.

For me this week has gone slow. I've been sat at home the majority of the week attempting to read for my dissertation and have also been learning to use the program Adobe After Effects. I succeded in what i wanted to achieve with this program and this was create an animate outro sequence to add onto the end of my Online videos to show that it was me who created them. See the develoupment of the outro here.

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

I also this week had my second Adventure Travel Writing lecture. This was a very useful discussion about how in the future for the module we will be needing to keep a blog to get marked on. Therefore expect the content of my blog to become slightly more focused and thought-out over the coming months.

Below is an image of a screen shot of what Adobe After Effects looks like, technical.

Photo Boating

My boating is finally getting up to scratch. Yesterday I spent half the day on the river kayaking with friends Tom and Mike. We paddled the River Greta, a river i have paddled a number of times now and voted in the top 50 rivers to paddle in the UK. Having paddled the river a number of time I have now grown the confidence to take my camera along for the ride. I used my waterproof Peli-case to transport my camera between my legs as we traveled down the river. I would then descend the rapids, staying in line of sight, to a point where I could take photos of Mike and Tom coming down the rapid. This was very interesting as this would be Mike's first real taste of white water kayaking and has taken a steep learning curve to get to the level the river required that day. Luckily Mike was very determined and if he capsized he would wait for Tom or myself to quickly assist him preforming a eskimo rescue.

Below is a sequence of a time Mike went over.

That evening I attended a university residential teaching the first year students on Adventure & Wildlife Media the basics of how to use and look after the equipment they would be using throughout their course. After this had finished Carrie, Ross and I stayed up till 2.30am trying our hands at capturing a time lapse of the stars that went quite well. Below is one photo from the sequence that shows a shooting star. 

Like to full timelapse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKP4ZneihSg

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