in Spring

Spring had barely sprung when we arrived in Valsesia, for what was and still is one of the best Steep Creeking Season’s in Piemonte and Ticino in living memory. The snow pack was massive, the local ski resort stayed open until late May, unheard of in the last 10 years. Hot days were rare, so no mega runoff, the sun brought pleasant mornings, and by lunch time the valley was clouded over with the on set of the heavy snow cover bringing prefect a mirco climate for easy conditions. What more can you ask for, 3 years or so of low water, all change for the new el nino phase.

What these prefect conditions also meant was we were to get on some of the rarely run rivers, places of legend and prefect paddling attraction. Check out the images below:

There is much to laminate about this Italy season, new inform runs, classic conditions and prefect days. The six weeks I spent on the Spring Granite were near some of the best I have known. It was a shame my old charger had fallen away along the way, yet life is an ever changing experience, and for that I can be internally happy. One small hickup, was the amount of unprepared groups out in Italy, all wishing for low water conditions and getting a slice of experience in the mountains verging on misadventure, serious stuff. One specific group of six managed to lose 5 paddles in a week and a boat, which was recovered by a local paddler, who lost his paddle during a live bait boat rescue, and alas the reward for the recovery of the original lost boat, minus one Werner paddle, was €50. The imbalance in karma is stark. Perhaps that is why in more popular venues around the world, local paddles keep what they find, as the gratitude is less than worth while. Now I am not saying, be a mercenary, but fair effort and genuine good will must go a long way.

Mid way through the Italy season, I was joined by a few paddlers from Palm, and that is another story…..

soča, genotype 2 dvd & England

What a site, 50cm of snow on the Valley floor. Trnovo ob Soči, is at 350m above sea level, in the middle of the Julian Alps, and occasionally there is considerable snow, and this year was no exception. The ski season for the Eastern end of the Alps was one of the best on record. I had some days on the hill, but this Winter has been on the main part a non-winter sport year, shame shame. But plans for 2009/10 Winter are in flow, and it looks like the whole Winter, Satu and I will be on the hill, yahoooooo

With all that snow abundent in the Juliann Alps, this Spring in Slovenia was always going to be ace, and there was no disappointments. Early on in March, I needed to get a wood burner to fire up the house, and dry the paddling gear after the river. So true to form, I brought a beauty, that can heat 100 square metres, look at her raw…

The best of Spring, a fire to dry the gear, and afternoon beer in the sun

As times are always a changing, and my small business is moving along quite nicely, it was time to start the search for more staff, so we but together a week for the young and talented to step up to the plate and show us what they can offer. In the group are some of the stars of tomorrow for white water kayaking plus a few looking to expand their scope as paddlers and future contributors to the shape of the sport. As you may know, we have a strong employment record, Gene17’s staff are the best of the crop in any generation, not only great paddlers, but excellent river guides and kayak coaches, plus and this is the big plus, wonderful people who very much enjoy to share the river and paddling with other paddlers. We got the lads to work hard all week, running coaching sessions, developing their technique, and undertaking various workshops. This Summer we’re have Nick Horwood debuting in Norway, Lowri Davies in Slovenia and Will King assisting Deb Pinniger in the French Alps fro the Summer.

The month of trips went well in Slovenia, and the high water brought greater challenges for the team, especially as we ran a range of courses at the same time. Still it was a good Spring in Soča. For Christmas I brought my wife a mountain bike, and she got to enjoy the pleasures of off roading with two wheels. These days it appears that every paddler is buying a mountain bike, especially those from the UK and Ireland, as the Winter season can be unreliable for rain, and there is little in the way of paddling in the Summer. Here is a shot of my new bike, I ordered, its a free ride beauty with a longer stance for my longer arms, plus she’s quite light for the park…..

At some point in April, I completed a 4 year project, yes I hear you, it took 4 years to finish Genotype 2, my new instructional DVD. The content of the DVD focuses on concepts and themes for coaching white water kayaking fundamental core skills. The range of shots took a while to gather, especially as you never really want paddlers to play act the weaker part. Plus the ideas although well developed through Gene17’s programmes, to actually get them down on a video format, took while a lot of realisation of ideas. Still its a beauty and I am very happy with the out put. Interestingly enough several coaches were in the first batch to be sent out. Here is the front cover, and sample chapters on YouTube:

Towards the end of April, Satu and I went to Italy for a sprint race in Tagliamento somewhere in the Friuli Dominates, in the image below, snow was still on the valley floor. At Birrificio Artigianale “Foglie d’Erba” in Forni di Sopra, they brew their own beer, see Mountain Beer. Now for Italy this is a very good thing indeed, as Italy has excellent wine, but on the beer front, its a poor show, but this beer is excellent. Oh, at the races, Satu won a range of smoked meats, which for a vegetarian as she is means I get the bounty, she can race again…..

After 6 weeks in Soča, we had a few appointments in England, a musical in London’s West End, a day in Bath watching the Rugby, an out School Reunion (can you guest which one I am!!), Sunday lunch with my Sister, a Dartmoor trip, a Wedding Anniversary in Croyde, to Humberside to visit my Nan, a Rutland Wedding and another Sunday Dinner, but this time in Norfolk, it was a crowed 10 days in England.

Early on Bank Holiday Monday morning we set sail to Valsesia, and a massive snow pack awaits………

early spring Escape

What can I say, the Winter in Devon was long and dry, the river days less than normal, the running trail crisp and fast, and the editing of Genotype 2 slow and difficult. Yet by the last day of February, I was en route with all my worldly goods to Slovenia. Finally I removed everything from the UK, and took it to Soča. Naturally I stopped by Nussdorf to visit Olli and Ingrid, who were having another time of their lives skiing season. It was a whistle stop tour, as I needed to be in Soča to unload, and return to Munich to meet a delivery truck late evening at a motorway service station with all my wife’s worldly goods. I missed the Rosenheim Film Festival, another Classic I was assured, yet the party in Nussdorf I made. Great beer in Bavaria and the famed hospitality of the WEG is well known. Young Gun, come rapper Rush Sturges who was the guest of honour tried his talent on the local scene, only to be chance out of a dwelling in the early hours. The following evening I flew to Helsinki to complete the moving out of my wife from her apartment, and our complete move South to the Juliann Alps. Sadly my car had a little accident en route, and in the above image you can see the ADAC recovering myself for a day in a hotel somewhere in Northern Germany. Our day lay over meant that I had less time to complete the edit of Genotype 2, as we had flights out of Munich for Uganda in less than 48 hours. Sadly I did not complete in time, in spite of 20 hours straight on Olaf’s editing desk in Nussdorf. With a heavy head I went south to Escape.

Satu had wanted to return to Uganda for a while, and after quitting her long time job, it was a just reward. I had other matters on my mind, yet the days at the Hairy Lemon are very relaxing, and Nile Special is a world class spot. Every time you go, a new crowd are there, even more locals are throwing sick moves, and its a slice of perfection. Naturally at such a great play spot, there are a million cool shots, here are a few from Satu, Nico and Mariann. In between surfin’ in the morning on Club wave and Nile Special in the afternoon, I read, slept and had a few afternoon beers to ease the day away.

At around the mid point of the trip, we joined the Bavarian’s Nico, Christian and Seppi for a Safaria trip, we were not disappointed, in seeing a lot of the larger game, and for long periods of time. The Park Guide would not let me pull the tail of the sleeping lion, claiming that these cats were very fast!! A few minutes later we were charged by an Elephant, its quite the site, and naturally I was asking the driver to go, and the Park Guide was laughing, “she only playing with you”. Its a hot spot, so a pool side drink as a sun downer is a must.

To and from the airport and the Safari, we have discovered the delights of the Garden City Mall in Kampala, there is a spot called New York Kitchen, and after several days at the Hairy Lemon, its a great treat. No sooner had I started to get a tan, we headed back, to collect the fixed car with new turbo, intercooler and compressor, yahoooo, and go for a paddle on the Soča, to take out at my house, well that is another story…..

into winter & Beyond

What more is there to say, in the depths of Winter, as the cold bites, fresh snow falls, making chaos on the roads and some of the runs become too low or inaccessible, the moment in time is bleak, dark and uninviting, much like the state of the economy at present.

Yet, like any moment of near darkness, like the hour before dawn, where all feels lost, the bringing of the new day is the very essence of why mankind has hope in every new dawn. And on the 9th February, my birthday, the snow started to melt and the glory of highwater was there as the best present I could have at that moment. Here is Mike Mixon is his 3D and myself on a 2 steps covered Upper Dart day.

At 37 years old, the mind is certainly willing yet the body has a few small problems, and just does not always work so well, especially as my lifestyle is bearing down on my bodies maintenance. A few years back I must of taken a head shot impact, as slowly my left eye lid is closing, as the nerve has been damaged. Plus, this year my GP said I have a “divarication of recti“, which is a vertical split in the upper abdomen, and was probably started from the early days of freestyle grunting those big moves on the large boats, and now will years of loading boats on to car roofs has given myself two odd bumps just below my rib cage, and a split in between. Its a mere reminder of my mortality.

The day after the first snow melt, the local boys fired it, and we hit the pool drop classic of the Erme on South Dartmoor and another smooth Upper Dart run. Check out the smile of Daniel’s face, it says it all, happy days.

It has certainly been fun in Devon this Winter, although the season has been either all or nothing, not the normal topping up on a solid ground water table that brought paddling everyday, hmmm, or is it just the way I wish to remember it? There is a new crew of Devon boys on the river, and as their skills heighten, its always a great feeling that as older boater drop out of the scene, fresh faces fire up their charc and head to the hills. For Gene17, it was the busiest so far with work every weekend for Deb Pinniger and I, plus lots to do in the week days as well, good days. At the RDCP this Winter, it was peaceful, so much so it looks like I will finish my DVD project in the coming days, this has been a labour of love, and I am happy to see it complete.

The following weekend, we had a 5 Star Assessment, and here is our fun on East Lyn. Its a great run, full of good moves for the technique boater. Here is Spyros, from Greece, finally on his assessment, amazed that the UK has white water of such quality, fun that, Kaja Stein who came to the G17 APWE in December also said something along this line, as well. where do you think all these UK & Irish paddlers learn their boating?

Since leaving the UK, I have packed all my things from my mothers to relocate with my wife in Slovenia, this meant, driving everything from the UK to Slovenia, then meeting a truck driver with all Satu’s stuff in Munich, before flying to Helsinki to collect my wife, my car and the rest of it. We have fallen a little short of the destination of Munich for Saturday’s flight to Uganda, as my car decided to to stop in Northern Germany, so as we wait the repair bill, here is the road warrior getting a ride………it just shows, it’s always better to be lucky than good.

PS, don’t forget, we’re starting up in the French Alps this Summer, Deb Pinniger will be in residence for June and July, plus myself for June, so for all your guiding needs, coaching solutions and great paddling, you know the score.

“How much did you say it will cost for the car to be repaired!!”

dealing with the Past

Ok, finally I will tell the tale of an epic day out for a Face Book Group. 10 years ago now, I was on the West Coast of the USA with Jason Smith, editor of CanoeKayak UK. We went to fire it up in Oregon and Washington, and after arriving into Seattle we hit a few runs and were getting into the mode for steeper fun. We met up with friends in White Salmon, and headed for an adventure on the Little White. I have previously run this great section before and not without another story for this group, but another time I feel.

At the put in we were 5, a mixed crew; Andy, a UK expat, Johnny, a West Coast Green horn, Joey an East Coast charger, Jason, UK shop boy and myself. The level was high, well it was certainly considered high at that time, yet on we got, and the first incident was within 250m of the putin, Johnny had swam, a little ridge from the task that lay before us and made a rolling competition with himself, he lost. After a while searching for the nice new Werner paddle, Johnny headed back to the car

Into the Darkness
Onwards we went, the pace picked up and we started to enjoy the early drops, great fun. On one sloping ramp drop, I ran hard right to nail a boof, and amazingly I got a little deflection into an odd pin. Now my weapon of choice was Dagger’s Gradient, I really did not like this very roundy boat, plus the volume around the cockpit was all a little too less for my likely, as you felt certainly well down in the water. Anyway, my new roundy boat had gotten myself into an odd pin, where I was now facing back up river with the boat pitched forward into a sump. My paddles were thrown straight away, as I fully understood the situation, as the deflection on the ramp had placed myself into a siphon, my arms were on the rocks that guarded the siphon, and I was holding the weight of the boat and myself up to avoid plugging the gap.

Seeing the light
The whole crew were on river left, and I was amongst an overhanging rock jumble on the right. My arms were not going to last too much longer and the my paddling crew were still not with myself. I started to look for all the possible options, I certainly was not going back out the way I came, nor could I climb out as the overhanging rock was a little challenging. So I watch where the water was going, and I could see beyond the dark siphon, the occasional moment of light. I watched for what seamed a long while, and then I kicked the boat off, and let her go through the siphon, watching all the time. And when my arms could not hold myself any more, I tucked up and went for my through the looking glass experience.

On the other side, Andy had just managed to get on to come back upstream, and then I appeared just after my boat in an eddy around the corner from where I last was seen. We collected all the gear, on retrieving my paddle I look again at the siphon and the benign deflection rock on the ramp, and it all seamed so innocent, and the escape I had chosen was the only option

Onwards
Regrouped below, off we went, the drops came fast and action was great. We got to a double drop, where a boof on the right, grind the bank to avoid a pour over was the way we ran. All went well, until Jason in the Diablo Evolution made the prefect piton on the right bank and bounced into the pour over. The cartwheeling was world class, vertical ends, an excellent rhythm and the occasional change in direction. A truly high scoring run. After a while Jason’s efforts to get out were fruitless, and getting a line to him was not really an option as the boat chopped ends at quite a pace. Jason bailed. During the whole swim, Jason’s head never re-surfaced, his camera box, paddle, boat and spray deck!! all came out, but no Jason!

I was stood on the side watching for any sign, and then at the foot of the undercut rock I was on, a hand appeared, I grabbed hold and lifted him ashore. Breathless, Jason was happy to be on terra firma…

Up and out and down we went.
Jason’s boat was broken, and the only option for him was up and out, so we said our goodbyes and headed our own ways, 3 paddlers carried on.

En route to the main event, Andy on a high boof landed bad and was hobbling along, the pace slowed and the ambition lessen. Finally looking at Spirit Falls, the side curtain was forming quite a hole, and Joey who was here the week before, fired it up and nailed the line. He re-surfaced so happy with himself, that he looked back at the drop and into the side curtain hole. Another rolling competition unfolded. During this time, I headed to the eddy below, Joey had not swam, but missed the eddy and went backwards into the now famed chaos drop…..

Ripper at the door
Joey battled well, yet at that level they is little chance of escaping Chaos. By the time I was in my boat, Joey was heading downstream, face down. I sprinted after him, by good fortunate his unconscious body eddied out, I jumped from my boat, turn him and opened the airways, a few rescue breathes later he was clearly alive. We did a few rounds of the eddy, before I got him, my boat and paddle and myself ashore. Andy had join us by then, and Joey had started to regain consciousness. After 10 minutes had past, Joey could speak and we reasoned our options. We could stay put to rest more, paddle out to the car a km a way or walk out. Joey did not wish to paddle anymore, his boat was pretty broken along with him, I did not wish to stay, so it was climbing out. It took several pitches of climbing to drag Joey to a bench, where we rounded a ridge and drop down to the run out of the river, we swam across to the car and on to the hospital.

Lactic acid is your friend
On arriving at the local hospital, there seamed to be a height level of activity, all of a sudden, Joey was in the chopper en route to Portland hospital and then all was still.

Collecting our thought, we spoke to the Doctor on hand, and he had said Joey’s heart was beating abnormally, and then he needed serious medical help. After we got to Portland, and found out the rest of the story. Joey was all good, yet during his fight with chaos, he worked so hard without oxygen than his heart muscle had high amounts of lactic acid in it, making it’s pattern abnormal, and the fact we climbed up and out and did a huge amount of work probably stopped him have a heart attack on the river……

Seldom do adventures encounter few problems, yet solve them as they befall you, and keep a sense of momentum and group dynamic going, sometimes misfortunate knocks you down and whilst being good can be great, its always best to be lucky.

glorious Devon

The wilds of Lappland were left be hide on the flight to Bristol, and the temperature when I arrived was colder that the Sub-Arctic. In fact the UK had been in the grips of a 4 week cold snap, dry and freezing. My humble accommodations at the prefect Winter paddling Devonshire location on the bank of the River Dart within the National Park, was extremely cold and very uninviting. At least I had White Water Safety and Rescue courses to work on!!!

These course are always fun, running through core techniques for rescue and setting up a number of scenarios within the terrain of advanced paddling, and hopefully whilst learning without the water conditions found on advanced rivers. We also look at safety elements in terms of group dynamics and how a group of paddlers can be more team like, without kayaking being a team sport. Will King’s face as the vertical pin dummy, says it all on this just above 0℃ day.

No sooner than we packed away on the Erme, the heavens opened and our month long cold snap was over. Let the days begin. And the next day, was vintage Dartmoor days. The following 2 weeks have been ace, with lots of paddling, including a favourite, the mighty Plym, which namesake runs into the city on the coast, Plymouth.

On these Winter weekends, Deb Pinniger and myself are normally busy running all manner of courses, these included technique, river leadership and rescue skills weekends. When conditions are good, I really enjoy the days on the water, especially as Dartmoor is made from granite, so the combination of bedrock and round boulders makes for some excellent play features for creek boats. Here we are with some paddlers on a course, firing it up on a nice little grind rock spin spot, great fun for all.

Part of the Winter programme are British Canoe Union, (BCU) qualification and training courses. The BCU has a wide reaching programme of progression for its 25,000+ members, and as you can imagine with such a large membership, making everyone happy is quite the challenge. These days the BCU are overhauling their coaching scheme and although they started this transition well, its all a bit rudderless from the paddling public’s point of view these days. Shame as a lot of effort has gone into the scheme, yet with several good people on the bridge, they will no doubt sail through these choppy waters. I wish them well and hope they continue to listen to what is said out there.

Below, we’re enjoying the easier delights of the Lower Walkham on the western flanks of Dartmoor. A cruiser run into a relatively remote valley with patch work fields, old growth forest and some fine looking granite built houses, a very English scene.

And another very English scene is this gentleman, he and his type can be found anywhere in the countryside, shouting and bullying anyone who will listen about why they are not allowed to be there and that what they are doing is illegal, in fact criminal. Now in all my years paddling, some 26, I have never felt what I was doing is criminal let alone illegal. And after researching this matter for England at University, and have a good comprehension of the legal situation. So when the above gentleman fired it up, I outlined the legal position and he quickly went on to start bullying others why they are not allowed to be there. After several minutes of myself outlining the legal situation, he calms down for a moment, and it is revealed that he simply does not like us and what we are doing and if we got out elsewhere, in fact he shows us where. As it appears he’d be happy as he’ll not actually see us, thus if you don’t see it, you do not need to be bothered with it! A strange position, why doe he not come over and speak normally.

The legal situation in England for access to rivers is at present unclear. The banks of the river are owned by the land owner, and in fact land boundaries are often drawn to the centre of the river bed, yet the water flowing over the river bed is owned by the Crown, ie the state. The Crown makes no claim to access to water, and only charge a fee for extraction. The problem we have in England and Wales, is that to get on the river you should seek the permission of the land owner. Often the land owner will grant permission, yet in some locations there are fishing right to sections of water, other people can own these and probably pay a fee to the land owner, and in turn bear influence on whether the land owner will grant permission to get to and from the river. Its a very foolish situation and unique to England and Wales, where as in Scotland they have seen the good sense to change the law to accommodate the recreational demands of a modern society. In all my travels, there are few water access restrictions, those rare cases are based on conservation demands to very rare nesting birds or time restrictions to allow fishing at both dawn and dust. I would hope we’d get there in the UK, but politically the powers at be seam to be willing to uphold the status quo, in spite of the its ridicules outcomes.

Alas enough, I must get back to this editing.

lappland, a winter Wonderland

After a late start to the UK paddling season, the first significant cold snap arrived and set about drying and freezing all of Dartmoor’s water, locking it in well into the New Year. Thankfully, I had other plans. I flew to Helsinki to meet the lovely wife, and the head straight to the ski hill with some of the Finnish paddling crowd. Conditions were not much better for snow sports, with only 2 slopes open and temperatures just around freezing, so we set about clocking up laps to get the legs ready for the Christmas trip north to Lappland.

With a few more days back in Helsinki, we packed up the car and drove to the train station for the night train, where your car came along for the drive on its own carriage. Through the night the train headed north into the Arctic, and after a few beers and a movie the rumble of the wheels on the tracks sent us into a restful sleep. On arrival, the most authentic Santa Claus I’d ever seen was waiting to greet everyone off the train, it was quite the site, and the young children could not belief their eyes. A big open wood fire set the scene for waiting passengers, as their car driver’s collected their cars.

We arrived on Christmas Eve, so a quick afternoon nordic skiing to get the legs going, then sauna before a traditional dinner with Satu’s family in the small ski village of Levi. The restaurant was made to appear like a local Salmi dwelling, with a huge open grill pit in the mid of the room. After dinner we were treated to traditional Salmi songs and poetry about northern life and Salmi culture, wonderful stuff.

As the days passed, Satu and I fired up the ski legs and made numerous day trips from Levi on the tracks around, through the week we clocked up over 100Km, plus had a day or two on the snow boards. Around most of these ski towns there are numerous tracks with cafe’s or shelters with fire where you can grill food for a warm lunch. What is really revealing on these ski tours, is not only the amount of people out there, but also the diversity of people, all ages, race heads, families, groups of teenagers and old couples can be seen enjoying the workout and the Winter Wonderland. On one trip we came across dog sledging tours, and very noisy affair.

During the evening, Satu’s parent had got Guitar Hero World Tour, and as you can expect we rocked out on every occasion. Another high light was the traditional Finnish Christmas dessert, “Joulutortut”.

As ever no sooner are you into an excellent holiday routine, it was time to leave, Satu and I took the night train back south on New Year’s Eve and had a great fireworks show as the train passed through Oulu at midnight. Soon after it was time for myself to head back to the UK for work, and colder days than I had in the Arctic, still Christmas in the snow with loved ones is a slice of wonderland.

autumnal Devonshire

And finally after a long early Autumn in Finland trying to finish my long awaited and now 4 years in the making Instructional DVD, Genotype 2, I headed to Munich from Helsinki to collect the G17 Sprinter, and drive back to England.  I know this drive very well now, I can normally get to Dunkirk in 10 hours via Luxembourg, and the VIP lounge o the ferry was worth the extra £10 just for the leather sofa to sleep on, let alone the inclusive drinks and food.  Once in the UK and remembering its on the left, driving that is, and getting it wrong can be a right problem!!  I normally do at least one mistake after each cross over, its on T-junctions where I head off up the road on the right!!  Needless to say, I quickly remember where I am, “England my home, the crash and burner of life”.  Harsh I know, but its been a bleak Autumn in terms of the amount of on the water fun.

Here is Devon at its finest, a rare high water Autumn day with friends, hmmmmmm

Heading into the Mad Mile on the Upper Dart

Pete on the Mad Mile, Upper Dart

Finally Some Autumn Rain on the Upper Dart

Good Water Youthy

Soon after returning to the now fabled River Dart Country Park, I took up residence and waited for the rain.  I edited away, ran the wonderful forest trail, went mountain biking with Dr Paul, any visitors from Norway and Canada, went to Galway for a wedding, and yet no rain, what a time of it I was having.  Still I could organise a bunch of other things for Gene17, namely moving bank, accounts, and planning for 2009.  The moving of bank has allowed Gene17 to trade in Euros and not have to pay £30 every time I wish to send money outside the UK.  This although boring, has been the vain of banking for sometime, and now HSBC have opened the door for European style banking in the UK, its no winder they have not been caught up with the looming economic recession at our door.  I also have a bit of a rant with O2 and got a lot of money back and an iPhone, so I to can enjoy my apple on the move.   

At least the UK politics have kept myself entertained, and with BBC 5live on 24/7 I am getting all the low down, Vince Cable, he’s has nothing to lose and just says it like it is, a refreshing insight into real politik. Now I have hours of political podcasts to enjoy when I go trail running.  As you see its been a little desperate in terms of paddling news…..

Waterford's finest playing the river

Paula on her 5 Star Assessment

With so little rain, I managed to run a bunch of WWS&R courses, in particular the Advanced course is very popular, plus a few 4 Star and 5 Star Training and Assessments, we finally got a little rain for these. Some boys from Waterford, Ireland came over for some coaching, and we hit the Upper and East Lyn for Steep Creek Training and Group Dynamic coaching. There are numerous play moves on both rivers at all levels, so it was great to show the guys that fun can be had even at low water, and England does in fact have some WW.

Image Mark Rainsley UKRGB

By the beginning of December, the now annual Gene17 Adventure Paddlers Weekend hosted at the RDCP in Devon draws lots of paddlers. I am very happy to see so many people from across the UK and further away come to Devon for some fun. Our little race with friends was great, and with a Team in the Dagger Green including myself it was a bit easy to pull away from the crowd, a few restrictions I think for next time. We got rain a few days before the event, and so people made the trip, I heard some 100 paddlers were on the Lyn on Saturday!! A busy spot given its narrow size. This event is quite a joy to run, the hosts are great and happy to see paddlers, and the crowd that comes down supports the whole event, and this year drunk some 1000 pints in one night!!!

Here is a shot taken on Palm’s new Drysuit photoshot, where one of our number managed to pin their paddles across a certain drop on the Upper Dart, and although I had heard of them before, I have never seen it. Its like the old comedy scene where someone is trying to fit a ladder size ways through a door, if you have T bird through a slot your paddles will be left be hide.

Image Paul Wilkinson

So with this image in mine, its time to pack up 2008 and look to 2009. What is on offer, when my wife may be with me on the road this coming year, so I am very happy to paddle with her all season. The stronger Euro may have a bearing on UK clients joining G17 in Europe, as our prices have been in Euros only for a year now, as that is what our costs are in. Still bookings look good for now, and a trip to the Alps in February will the excellent early snow will lighten the load as I look to bring on new staff for 2009 and a training course in late March to fire them up for Operation French Alps with SND this coming Summer. After the Summer, a belated post honeymoon honeymoon with a round the world trip to BC and Nepal in the Autumn should fire up the soul for the next UK season. For now I will enjoy the rest of my Lappland experience before the UK for another 5 weeks, although I will not leave the island until I have completed Genotype 2, and as such I must, its been a labour of love and now I must share the ideas and concepts for new school paddling and the coaching of the modern style with all and everyone.

Image Paul Wilkinson

Cheers and I’ll see you in 2009

Simon

gauley fest Fun

Its like no other paddling place I have been, the annual Gauley Fest in West Virginia, on the East Coast USA is like the Glastonbury Music Festival of the WW kayaking world.  Full of geeks, freaks and uniques every where, plus a host of the mainstream crowd all rubber busing this fine river section.  At this point I best say there are some nice normal people there too…..  Above is Bumblebee man, a regular paddler on the Gauley.

Before we hit West Virginia, Deb and I went to visit Confluence and its R&D department to look at the new Dagger and Wavesport boats for 2009.  Unlike the days of Dagger at Harriman, we were not allow to take any images, in fact we simply weren’t allowed.  So from Greenville to Asheville to visit the Apple Pies, the girls had arranged a cook out for us, and we had an array of illuminating conversations and laughed a lot.   

After Asheville we headed to Gauley, and the Pie and Pints Pub in Fayetteville, where we meet Katie Johnson, a long time friend of Deb’s.  After some great wine, we crashed at Katie place and in the morning we meet up with more friends of Deb, Pamina and Christano, Torinesse from Italy now living in New York.  Over the next few days we cruised the Upper Gauely, playing at the top spots, and meeting some great old faces from the US scene, as I’d not been in the US since 2000.  Katie showed us lots of little hits on the slot boating lines that the Upper Gauley is famous for.  On the Saturday night, the grand event, its like a big gear give away at the end of season, some manufacturers sell off their end of line gear, others simply throw stuff from the roof’s and all kinds of give away events are going off all over the place.  The party theme is set with live music on the central stage and free beer on most stands.  Its quite the kayaking festival.

Here is a great squirt boat mystery move sequence taken at the take out of the Upper Gauley, such a cool spot to watch these guys chop into the green and disappear for a moment on such a small and seemingly weak feature. Cool hey?

Here is one of my favourite things about the USA, the “Cinnabon”, like a visit to the burger store, one a year is suffice, still what a luxury, mmmmmmm 

After the USA, it was a hop through London to Venice and Soča beyond.  A quick clean up of 22 Trnovo, some days on the river in my new slalom boat, and then on to the Kanu Messe in Germany for some fun with friends and to see all the new stuff for 2009.  Below are the final samples of the new Palm Drysuits for 2009, Gene17 has been testing these beauties since last December, their ace.  The two main improvements are the development of a new fabric and a new modern cut.  The shoes below are a joint development between Palm and Merrell, which has been an 18 month project.  These are paddle sport specific water shoes, with an encapsulated shoe with razor cut lines in the sole to provide more surface area for improved traction on water rock.  Both are available in the New Year from Palm. 

After KanuMesse, I went to Helsinki to be with my wife and edit the long waited Genotype 2 DVD.  Its a labour of love, and has taken 3 years to get this far.  Now the end is close, which is a relief, yet there is still much to do.  These days I am back in Devon editing away, and waiting for the rain.

the grand: Lava and every thing Else

Deb Pinniger Image

After the Inner Gorge delights, the river’s difficulty drops off again leaving days of cruising and the occasional surf wave, or entertaining move through a rapid.  Yet its all about the environs of the Canyon which is part of the draw.  There are a number of attractions to consider, side hikes up various creeks to view geological phenomena, or native artefacts or just for the pleasure of being in such a unique place.  We did an excellent day hike you Thunder Creek, over a dry bench and down another creek, hot, dry and world class hiking. 

Lava is the single biggest high light of many days of action.  The group were nervous, especially as its certainly Class IV, you need to go for a line in amongst it, yet rolling in the wash out is pretty much the worst you’ll face.  Still the guys lined up for the action, and action they got.  Great fun watching from above and seeing all enjoying themselves.  We camped just below Lava, and a few of us went back in the morning for a few more runs.  Myself, well I needed to master a clean line, after 5 runs and 5 rolls, the day before.  After no breakfast just after dawn, 3 runs and all clean, the trick was to surf the face of a diagonal to cut the top of an exit lateral, the day before I was always a metre too right, and got involved with a brace off, I never seamed to win.  Still its great to be able to challenge yourself a little harder to nail the beast.

My mother fired it up with the paddle raft crew, that also included my in laws, all loved Lava Falls.

After Lava, the days mellow out, there is the occasional river attraction, yet its a cruise into extra holiday mode.  We had a few next delights at camp with both a rattle snake and a skunk visiting in the moon light.

Most people take out at Diamond Creek, yet we pushed on for an extra days good paddling.  These rapids had a little extra push as the Colorado reminds us its battle to the dammed lake below is still a little ways to go.  On the morning of the last day, a jet boat picked us up at the top of the lake, and we rocketed to South Cover, with a van ride to our accommodations and the real flip side of a near unearthly experience that is Las Vegas.  Below we’re in a stretched Limo heading out to dinner in the urban jungle, near removed from the pristine experience of the Grand.

A truly World Class trip, and a must do for each and every paddler, at least once in their paddling career.