summer’s end & Thun

The road South from Norway to Slovenia is very long, a day of driving passed Oslo and Southern Sweden, an overnight ferry across the Baltic and then another day south through Prussia, and Germany to the Alps beyond. Its long, especially when you are on your own, regardless of your mp3 collection or podcast unlistened too. Still the reward is to be home in Slovenia. Well is it my home, its where I now have everything so its my home.

Satu VW Images

I was in Soča for a week or so, work and some play. Here I am in my carbon beauty on the river. She’s 3.5m and goes very fast, especially on the open face bow rudder turns, its pretty flash stuff, especially as I am now keeping up with the speed on the Soča slalom course. We had Gene17’s August trips in Slovenia to, which at the Summer low water was a great time, with the hot weather, being in the river was the coolest thing to do. I had a much fun, everyday tee shirt paddling, nice dynamic moves and great people too, cool as….

After Slovenia, Satu and I headed to Thun via Valsesia, why that way, because I love the food you can get from Campertogno and its one of two routes to the Berner Oberland. We could of gone north and along the northern front range of the Alps, but its a long way either way, and the great food from Alberto tipped it. Plus it meant I got to bike down 2 mountain passes on my new bike, getting ready for 2 weeks biking in Thun….

Satu VW Images

Satu VW Images

Once in Thun, we got into the regular routine of pre-competition, I would film the Finn’s training and then get uplift to a biking trail, wicked fun. All evening I got to review the training on video, and have a beer or two. This kind of went on all week, some times we headed further for biking, and on the weekend before the event started headed to Luzern for a relaxing weekend and dinner on the terrace at Satu’s brother’s house. Summer air and white wine, its a fine time indeed.

Satu VW Images

The World’s organised by Simon Hirter, long time friend and the tallest man in kayaking, was the best kayaking event I’d ever been too. Always things to do, a great atmosphere and everyone having fun. I twittered the event for Palm, wrote their daily blog updates and got to use my iphone with some wicked app’s, ipadio a kind of audio recording app that uploads the captured voice online, like packaged commentary. Great fun, and interesting to get all the info out there from many different sources.

Satu VW Images

The World’s themselves, it was the Jackson show, and a great show it was. One brand is very much dominate on the competitive freestyle scene. The paddler’s in their boats are great, Nick Troutman was king, and so was his wife, excellent stuff. I was a little disappointed by a few paddlers all readily able to complain about something, but there was little to complain about, a great wave, a great event and good times.

Satu VW Images

Great now we are in BC, Canada, about to hit something new, details to come, I just hope it has good water!! 5 days 3 lakes and 60km of WW, see you on the other side……

8 weeks of Sjoa

It has been another whirlwind Summer, no sooner than its time to head north, than the leaves start to turn and we’re heading back down again. This year I was in the centrale for European whietwater paddling for the 14th Summer in a row, Norway has it all, and never disappoints.

When all the Spring melt has normally passed on from Piemonte and Ticino, and the peak flows of France has dropped off, Norway for the Summer still has so much to offer. Year and year I return, and to miss a season, would be a sad occasion, yet as the years wind on, there is a sense that in spite of the fire burning in the belly, a lull in the proceedings would be be a miss, but then again how could I?

With the World Freestyle Champs only moments away, as I type this blog entry, this Summer in the Westgarth house was dominated by my wife going to Thun and needing to enjoy her playboating. this meant days of Skjåk wave fun, trips to the fabled Lom Bakery and the occasional surf at Jølgens wave on the Sjoa. For the big guy, and now that I am approaching 90Kg there are not many playboat options for myself, the WS Project and Jackson SuperStar, both are ace, but for the wave this Summer in Norway the Project made for some ace airtime. I also managed to prize Jon Kristain’s Version 5 Centrifuge prototype from him for a session at Skjåk, what a ride, fast and hard rail turns. Those days of speed are sadly missed by myself, perhaps the ocean will call again this Autumn, as the annual migration to Devon is soon before myself.

This year saw the Sjoa Valley Kayak Shop, Strie Strømmer take charge of the Sjoa Kajakk Kamp as well as the annual Sjoa Kayak River Festival, and in mid July the boys with the help of many local friends made a great event into an excellent time. I have been to every Sjoa Festival and have seen the event grow and change over the years. In the early days the local crowd ran the events, but the festival was overseen by the Norwegian Paddling Association, which kind of took the shine of it, later a commercial rafting company made several excellent events, yet they were always balancing the need to run their operation with the Festival going on at the same time, from the same location. This year all the elements finally seamed balanced and so much more was added to the event as a result. Plus after a 7 year absence we finally saw the return of the Ulla Extreme Race. Once and only once was the race on the waterfalls, and this was the first event, and there after the race has always been on the slides, and this year it was no exception.

This year I fired it up and gave a good account of myself, with a third place. There’s steel in those arms still. Although in the BoaterX, the time trails went very well, yet in the first round with some 15m is spare I decided to surf the entry hole on the last rapid of Åmot, and watch everyone else sail on by, oh I did get a cheer. Check out the race here:

For entertainment my wife, Satu decided to go a the Besseggen Trail in Gjendesheim, so I joined her for a trip on a boat up the Fjord to Memurubu and a walk back to the car along a spectacular ridge. Its a cool spot, at one time to cross a small natural rock dam, that is holding back a big lake from falling 500m into a huge lake. After the hike, my wife cooked Cheesecake and then tried to eat it all!!!!

Of cause whilst we were in Norway, there was work on the river, and what a delight it always is. This year was great, lots of paddlers from all over the place, coming to Norway to enjoy the fun of the Northern Summer. When working these weeks are often long, with early stars and late finishes, yet happy days abound.

After yet another surf session, time was almost up. So I visited Sweet Protection en route South to Slovenia and enjoyed one more Coke from a glass bottle, always a treat in Norway, until next Summer, Number 15, almost a round number……..

steeper, deeper & the Guil

And that is why you go to the French Alps, no not for the portage on the Durance Gorge, but for the days of near wall to wall blue bird sky. The sun shines and its pleasant, the paddling can be good if you like alpine run away rock gardens, the fine food is very different from Italy just minutes away and the days are relaxed, no real missions, mini adventures though, and did I not mention it; accessible, fast and excellent mountain bike trails, in fact I would go so far as to say the biking is better than the paddling in the Haute Alpes.

It was a pleasant month in France, that’s that word again pleasant, office jock in the morning, paddling on the high water in the afternoon, and an evening uplift to some side valley for a full speed descent on the bike. This pattern was pretty much the norm for the stay in France. I did have a few days work, these too were relaxing, on the Upper Guil, with its wide open valley with gently inclined mountain slopes, gave this part of the alps, an almost Canadian Rockies feel, like a lot more sky or something, as the grand peaks are set back a bit away from the valley floor. The Ubaye also reminds myself of this wider and grander valley feel, certainly very different from the granite mountains with their more enclosed tighter valleys for Piemonte and Slovenia.

With the Durance being so close to Torino and Milano, the weekend crowd is often full of italian’s, and in mid June, Team Casino came for some Durance Gorge action, here we are at good flows, having fun on slot and drop, a small feature and sparks the interest in this classic mainly read and run section.

As ever in June, the Durance was invaded by numerous British paddlers, several of whom are the Uni crowd, most of who are looking for fun in the sun, and a few gripping moments on the river. The now almost annual Uk Student BoaterX, brings in the old boys and girls too. Its another successful meeting point event, that paddlers always gravitate towards. Well in the crowd were Dave Fairweather and Nick Horwood, both of whom join myself on a great day out on the Middle Guil. Its often the case you do not see paddlers on this section in high water, so we had the river to ourselves. At high water its read and run all the way, the few paces where you think it may be a bit tight, is often washed out, and at normally minor spots its a little ugly. The staircase is a great example, straight forward and clean at high water, but the drop just after on the left hand bend, right ugly, the same can be said of the Letterbox and the following Tunnel rapid. Its the little uglies that keep you on your toes….

On one particular day, we had just about got to the end of the run, when I looked up and saw two kayaks sans paddler coming down the run, with quick instructions I relayed the line on the final horizon line, and we got ahead for the gear collecting just short of the lake. 2 boats and a paddle gathered, and the swimmer’s support team on site. We find out that the two paddlers are on river left, and are looking to get back on road to be reunited with their group. Dave, Nick and I headed up to help out, and we brought both paddlers across. The river has high and their gear, shortie and shorts on this alpine runaway was far from ideal, best one guy had clearly not swam in this environment much nor knew much about river rescue, as in his attempts to stay on the back of my boat, he tried repeatedly and as a result was also trying to pull me in too. Well I got him to let go and simply indicated the direction he needed to swim, again the lack of experience meant the defensive swimming position was held, and clear comprehension that his flipper impression would not get him to shore promptly. Its a little shocking that some paddlers are happy to enter into this environment and sadly are without the core skills needed to survive. Be sure to have some gumption about yourselves and learn, plus practise your rescue skills, yet above all you best be onto the safety, like what judgement decision led to them getting on a run in high water without the technique and tactics to paddle and rescue ability to sort out an individual, in stead as in this case, both members of the group were left boatless.

For myself being in France was a little holiday where I got to do more biking than paddling, a welcome change after a near 100 days on the river for this paddling season. In and round the Durance are numerous trails for biking, plus several uplift venues, ie, skiing hill lifts to take the pain out of that climbing on the downhill bike. A few trails I can recommend as the Col de Granon, its a 3 hour tree line traverse to Briançon, the Mélévin trail with its continuous berms descent, is a quick 1 hour hit, plus the descent from Puy-Saint-Vincent down into the Onde, is great single track biking, plus from the top meadow in the Fournel valley to L’Argentiére is a great descent and well recommended. Lastly we hit the bike park at Montgenévre, with its managed trails and ladders, great fun especially if you are looking for some morning or evening action.

In fact the afternoon at Montgenévre was my last day in France, it was time, that time again when the Northern Summer calls, and paddlers head north to Norway, let the kayaking begin………..

rarity runs in piemonte & Ticino

This past Spring has been one of the red letter seasons, that you hear about from of the old guard, going on about big snow pack years, where the Piemonte paddling season lasted into June and even beyond. In recent years there has been good to excellent snow conditions, yet all to often the whole lot comes down the river in mid April with some freak Easter hot weekend, or near monsoon rain for 10 days. However the Spring of 2009 was very different, the snow melted in a timely fashion, means that every day was world class, nearly every popular run was in high water conditions and even more special were all the lesser known, yet highly prized more remote runs were prime and good to go for all of May, and what a feast of sunshine steep creekin’ it was.

Here is the Cervo, a small run from low altitude that faces mainly south dropping into Biellia close to Valsesia. The putin is a sun spot, check out all those sun lizards, plus see the red kayak in the river left eddy, well that was Dr Stefan from Vienna giving an example of the near prefect roll to the bikini clan ladies, I think he liked their smiles…..

In late May the boys from Palm came over for a little photoshot and some fine paddling. Plus I have been filming a little project on this area of the world for some time, the current project is titled “My Ticino”, and captures several great adventures of surprising runs in this granite area. One such run is the Alpe Basso, and side creek of the Loana, a river that is rarely run and is a whole bunch of work to get too and to paddle, but those slides, nice…….

During our week with the Palm boys we got to through in Tim Trew so we could get a shot of the rescue tape in action, needless to say, we were sure to get a few takes to be certain.

Within Valsesia, there are several classic runs, yet just beyond the popular Sorba slides is the upper reaches that flow drop from the Alpine restaurant of Heidi, the famed Heidi section of the Sorba, is a chunky section of steeper combo drops, and need low water. We fired it up, well the start that is, a long portage and hungry belly’s meant we went for lunch instead, as this run needs a bigger breakfast than simple muesli!!!

My old charging partner, Mr Dave Carroll made a late appearance this season, with EMT exam’s to complete. On his arrival, we had a short flat water paddle, 3 strokes to the lip of the Landwasser Waterfall. Wakey Wakey, welcome to the fun park.

Like all good things, time had slid by at hyper speed, and the 6 weeks of Spring in Italy and Switzerland were all but over, yet on our last day we gave homage to the fabled runs of the Sermenzina and Egua, conditions were prefecto, and the crew of Ali Donald, Matt Tidy and Yanni were up for the action. Solid water on the Cave drop and Cylinder meant we were able to find a few new lines for that super cool dry hair descent, an amazing sprinkle of perfection on top of that Italian gelato we found in Bar Cervo on the banks of the Sesia.

May had turned to June, and the French Alps were calling, time to head over the Col de Montgenèvre for some kayak courses, alpine fun and mountain biking….

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 lament 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 eternally 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.