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02
Dec

Chile Trip part 1

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On late November I started a three day journey to Chile. Departing from Bracelona to New York and to Panamá for a couple days layover as my boat wasn’t allowed in the plane after making it all the way there… a day of paperwork and 400$ less and my boat was on its way via Cargo with the same airline… thanks Copa Airlines!

Anyways made it to Chile and went straight to the río Maipo just outside of Santiago where my good Astorga friends live and fight against the Alto Maipo Project the Government and private corporations are trying to put on their river and land. The plan is to divert the river and all it’s tributaries into 70 km of pipes to produce energy for the copper mines in the north. This means drying a whole region with multiple valleys and rivers and taking all of the drinking water for Santiago polluting its waters and mixing them with residual waters from gold mines and others to be purified later on… I really hope that the Government and politicians that rule Chile can see further than their own pockets and decide what’s best for Chile and for its people, NO ALTO MAIPO!  Learn more about the Alto Maipo Project here: https://www.facebook.com/NoAlProyectoAltoMaipo

After settling down and paddling the Maipo for a few days we started the drive south with a first stop at the río Claro. The Claro is one of the most amazing rivers in the world, clean water and the most beautiful lava canyon you can imagine with all kind of drops and rapids, it truly is a kayakers dream. 

The last time I was there was in 2007 together with Chris Korbulic on what we thought was the first descent of the ‘Garganta del Diablo’, my favorite section. It took us a long day to scout as much as we could from the canyon rim, and I think we only saw the 20% of it? Anyway we put on the next day hoping everything would be fine and we discovered one of the most awesome places on earth. It was such an awesome  feeling to go back and remember everything from that tip… We got there late afternoon and put on straight away. 

The water was low but we paddled some of the best white water ever so we war so stroked!! The next day we ran the ‘Cocina and 22 saltos’ into Garganta and finished off with the 7 tazas. Such an awesome day of kayaking surrounded by the most polished and smooth basalt walls you’ll ever find, its amazing, you have to be in there to understand it and  experience it by yourself. After another day of some more paddling we started to long drive south to Pucón. 

The levels in Pucón were still good when we got there so we rushed on paddling the Nevados, Trancura, Palguin and Puesco at good flows. All this runs are really close to town and it’s easy to paddle three rivers in one day so within a couple days I was already pretty sore but so stoked to be down there after so much time since I paddled any of this runs, for me it’s like a rediscovery trip as the last time was 7 years ago and a lot has changed since then, the rivers, the rapids, the gear and myself so its an awesome personal experience to live it all again. After a few days of great weather levels started to drop and we decided it was time to head south.

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30
Nov

Sickline

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New team member Beth Morgan took the 9R to Sickline last month. Here are a few words on her experience:

A couple of years ago, whilst sitting on top of a bus in Nepal, myself and Beth Hume were discussing our future paddling aims. I decided that one of mine would be to enter Sickline. Still an incredibly nervous paddler, terrified when paddling grade 4 and above, the idea of even paddling the Sickline course, let alone racing on it, seemed like something which would be very far in the future if it ever did happen.

Earlier this year when I decided that I was going to go to Sickline, I never thought that this would be the year I would achieve this goal…. I was just going to fly out for the weekend, try to borrow some kit to do a bit of paddling, watch some awesome kayakers race and go to the (infamous) party. However, after realising I had enough leave to take the week off, getting a space in a car with Lee and Rory and a demo of the new Pyranha 9R to take, along with some friendly peer pressure, I found myself entered and leaving in the middle of moving to London and revising for exams (results just in and I got a merit – kayaking apparently is the best substitute for revision!)

After the long drive out we went to look at the course. It is definitely steep! I spent a while looking at the run and watching people’s lines. It is a series of boofs stacked together, none of which you really want to miss. The hole above the start to the qualification course was my main concern, it looked sticky and there was an undercut river left and a siphon river right below it. During the week I watched a few people getting beatings in there which didn’t exactly settle my nerves!

Feeling nervous at the start of the qualification run

Starting slowly seemed like the sensible option, especially after the drive and in a new boat, so I got on below Champions killer and did a few runs of the end of the qualification course before working my way up to Champion’s killer. Champion’s Killer, despite its intimidating name, is friendlier than it looks but tricky to get right. I spent a few days lapping the drop and realised that to boof the 9R you need speed, whereas I had been slowing myself down to get the right approach angle.

Although getting myself more confident on Champion’s Killer (which was most important for me as I wasn’t really expecting to qualify), I still needed to paddle the main course. The universe was slightly against me with this (or I’m just making excuses for being scared!) – once I had recovered from the drive, got used to the boat and was feeling good for the main course I got sick (apparently you’re not meant to drink the river water) and then whilst still feeling weak from this it rained, the river rose 10cms and the rooster tail which made the hole above the quali-start look just about do-able had gone. Not ideal when I was still feeling weak.

Getting ready for the late boof off the lip of Champion’s Killer

The day before the competition arrived and I still hadn’t paddled the main course. Today had to be the day. After a quick warm up on Champion’s Killer and another walk down the course to suss my lines, I couldn’t put it off any longer. This was definitely the most nervous I’d been in a little while (probably since doing the Rauma in July) and I decided that I didn’t fancy the seal launch. After getting through the entrance boof I had a little breather in the flat pool while I psyched myself up and remembered my lines. After peeling out of the eddy everything went quickly and before I knew it I was at the bottom of Champion’s Killer absolutely buzzing.

After a bit of a rest I went back up for double the fun and to try out the seal launch (which resulted in a bit of a girly scream). I was feeling pretty happy and ready for the race! The next day was race day and the girls were up first. I had a great time on my first run, ending up 7th with a sub-1.40 time. Unfortunately, my lack of racing experience means that if I do well in my first run I put pressure on myself to do the same on the next one, which I don’t really know how to deal with! So I messed up run 2, spinning out on Champion’s Killer then getting pushed into the undercut on the exit. But all in all I ended up 9th out of 15 awesome female kayakers – a result that I am over the moon with!

The start of the qualification run

So I guess now I need to think about what my paddling goals for the future are going to be – apart from doing some race training so that I can hopefully qualify and race on the main course at some point! If anyone has any ideas for other goals please let me know!

Thanks to Pyranha Kayaks for the loan of the 9R and Immersion Research for keeping me dry!

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26
Nov

Jenny Kilbride – Introduction

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This is my first post on the Pyranha blog since joining Team Pyranha.

me and sue .

I’m very happy to be here.

I thought I should write this post by way of an introduction.

I’m 34 years old. I live just outside Dublin in Ireland. I started kayaking at university when I was 19 years old. I have many passions and interests in life. My passion for kayaking has been consistently strong. This is somewhat unusual for me because of my very limited attention span and my inability to sit still for more than 10 minutes at a time.

I’m not the world’s best kayaker nor do I aspire to be. I do my best.  I won accolades at my university kayaking club for the record number of swims I had on rivers. It took me a while to get the hang of it.

I have days on the river where I feel like I am flying and every stroke seems to go in the right place and I have days on the river where I feel unbalanced and all over the place. Just like everybody else.

I think that in order to be a better kayaker, I need to practice more. Just like everybody else.

I enjoy kayaking. I enjoy kayaking so much that I teach kayaking for a living. I enjoy kayaking so much that I have made considerable sacrifices to keep doing it and to keep teaching it. Or maybe a better way to put it is that I enjoy being in the water in a kayak. Twisting and turning and weaving. I enjoy sharing that experience with other people. It makes me smile when things I’ve seen flash in my mind’s eye. Journeys I’ve been on. People I‘ve met. The colours of things I’ve seen.

My involvement in the sport of kayaking helps me to realise my potential across a variety of spheres. It stimulates me, keeps me motivated and excited and allows me to experience and interpret the world with fewer filters. In a more innate and natural way.  I believe that your involvement in the sport of kayaking does the same thing for you. That’s what we all have in common. Regardless of our level of ability.

I think that the best thing any of us can be is ourselves. I think we should aspire to be happy with ourselves as we are irrespective of what other people are doing. Not that we shouldn’t aim to improve with practice and hard work or to be inspired by others, just that we should also be accepting of where we are now. So if you love to paddle flat majestic stretches of water on sunny mornings or you love to paddle challenging class five runs with skill and determination then that’s what you should do. Maybe that will change. Maybe it won’t. Be happy with that. There’s a place for all of us.

If you’re looking for lots of pictures of someone stylishly paddling down hundreds of rivers, you won’t find them here. If you’re interested in pictures of nature and scenery and characters and someone sometimes paddling down rivers with style, and sometimes falling on her head, then you have come to the right place!

I’ll share with you some stories of what it’s like for me to teach kayaking for a living and what I learn from other people along the way. Mostly it’s great fun and sometimes it’s hard work. For me it’s a question of self-realisation. Getting paid a small amount to be myself is much easier than getting paid a big amount to be someone else.

I’m also hoping to share some stories of my kayaking trips. I’m heading kayaking in Indonesia shortly with 4 amazing girls. Of course I will be paddling my Burn. Hopefully we will have some great stories to share.

Lastly, big thanks to everyone at Pyranha for welcoming me to the team.

me and the girls costa rica.

The pic above is a pic from my winter trip to Costa Rica last year where I had the privilege to meet these American kayakers who welcomed me, looked after me, taught me a whole new language (which I have since named Americo-Kayaka) and shared their rice with me, as only kayakers can. Thanks Gringos

 

 

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21
Nov

Pyranha 9r – Fast is Fun on the Tallulah Gorge

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I am fired up on this new boat! Going fast and linking up moves is one of my favorite ways to kayak and the 9r makes it that much better. The 9r is the highest performance, most progressive kayak design ever made, and if you need some proof just take a look at the rocker profile. Some serious thought and testing went into this boat, and it is unlike anything else out there. If you haven’t already, check it out and give one a test paddle, I am sure you will be fired up! I have been loving mine, and had the idea to paddle the Tallulah Gorge in Georgia as fast as I could. It took just over 10 minutes from Oceana to Lake Tugaloo. The run may have been over quick, but it was one of the most fun laps i’ve ever had out there! Check out this quick video of the run, hope you enjoy!

– Clay

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14
Nov

Moose Fest and King of New York 2014

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sponsor_love-kony-01-full_logo

 

One weekend in mid-October, several of the Pyranha boys and girls headed up to chilly Old Forge, New York, for the final race in the King of New York Series. The water in the Moose River was over twice as high as normal flows, prompting race organizers to move the race to the Lower Moose this year, which was plenty raging for the 1.5 mile stretch of whitewater chosen for the race. The race began above Iron Bridge, with a mass upstream-facing start. Racers had to attain to the top of an island, then turn downstream and haul ass to the finish, located after two long rapids. With almost one quarter of the competitors being women, this race was much better looking than the average whitewater race. Pat Keller took first place as part of his pre-Green Race training program, and was followed by young buck Robert Waldron, a youth recently rescued from impending degeneracy by mentor Geoff Calhoun, who came in hot on his tail. Jared Seiler, defending King, was fourth in. The ladies field was led by Margaret Williams and Erin Savage in long boats; I followed as the first girl in a short boat.

Though the KONY series is traditionally raced primarily in long boats, I couldn’t resist seeing how the Pyranha 9R would hold up in the pack. After a romantic evening getting to know each other on the ride to New York state, I was confident that the 9R would satisfy my need for speed.

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The 9R and I spending a quiet night in before the race.

After racing in the 9R, I think I can say with confidence that the ladies will love the 9R. The high-riding bow flies over waves, and it turns on a bow draw as easily as it carves, which is a huge plus for this former slalom racer. It also holds a line though, which is especially impressive for a boat that spins so easily. For a light paddler (115lbs/ 52kg), the 9R feels like it’s hovering slightly above the water, and it punches holes like a dream. In short, this boat is perfect for smaller paddlers: light paddlers can expect to put this boat where they want it easily, and to get some pretty major air off boofs.

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To see the 9R in action, check out this little edit I made of Moose Race:

https://vimeo.com/110901807

 

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12
Nov

The long Road to recovery, heeling, resting and enjoying the simpler times. By: Kyle Hull

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The long Road to recovery

The weeks after a serious injury are definitely the most interesting. After months of P.T, sitting around, and reading countless books, when the Doc finally gives you the green light you are more than ready to get up and go. When I broke my Tibia plateau in 4 spots and was on crutches for 3 months, I knew was more than ready to get back in my boat and go.

The worst part is that you just can’t get up and go. It’s now been 3 months since I have been off crutches and I still run with a drop foot and I can’t jump yet. Walking down hills used to hurt more than it did now I can do it with my kayak. The best part is that you get back to living again. I was unbelievably stoked on just paddling flat water and doing attainments right in front of my parent’s house when I was still on crutches.

DCIM999GOPRO

I was fully walking and on my feet in the beginning of August. So I left my parents house in Nor Cal and headed back to white salmon to catch the dregs of the summer kayaking. It was amazing to say the least. The Cispus, which is my favorite summer time run, was still flowing at a healthy medium flow and I was happy to bag about 6 laps on it before it dropped out. I also did numerous laps on the Green Truss, as well as just living simpler times at the Substantial Media Mansion.

DCIM999GOPRO

Now it is the beginning of November and I am gearing up for winter. I was excited to get an invite from Rafeal Ortiz to go compete in a brand new style of Competition show casing waterfalls. So at the end of this month I will be headed down to the Agua Azules for the Rey Del Rio competition. So stay tuned for more info coming from there. So for the time being I just making sure my knee still getting stronger and keeping my paddling sharp. I cannot wait for the 2015 season to begin and just start getting after it.

Thanks to everyone for the support with this Injury and I will see Yall on the Rio.  Here are a few run’s I was able to get on late in the season before the water ran out in the North West.

https://vimeo.com/111251043

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11
Nov

British Universities Kayaking Expedition 2015 – Selection Event

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The British Universities Kayaking Expedition‘s are entering their tenth year. Students from around the country were invited to submit paper applications which were scored by previous team members, with the top twenty being invited for a 3 day ‘selection event’ in North Wales.

The hugely rainfall dependent boating conditions in Wales has required us to improvise in the past, however much to everyone’s relief the rain gods were smiling on us and came up with the goods.

Friday morning saw the 8 car convoy heading en-masse for the Mawddach. The gauges were reading low, but the constant rain gave us hope that it was on the up, so we made the call and got on.

The final expedition team would be selected by means of a vote later in the weekend, so the twenty applicants were split into smaller groups to give everyone the opportunity to paddle with people they’d not paddled with previously, to get to know them, and see how each other approached a ‘new’ river.

pic by Tim Burne

Firing up the chossy fall on the Mawddach

pic by Ant Stewart

Huck and Duck: Tree dodging on the Mawddach

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10
Nov

Western Wanderings 2014

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Below: Jenny relaxing in one of the hot springs early in the trip.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.

Hot Spring 1

Below: A compilation of footage from paddling in ID and CO during June and July of 2014.  Video by Adam Goshorn

After years of unsuccessful lottery applications for the Middle Fork of the Salmon River (MFS) in Idaho, this year I was lucky enough to be invited along by friends who won a permit.  Jenny Leaderer and her husband, John Kern, invited Shawn Malone, David Dehart, and I to join them for an eight-day, self-supported run down the MFS in June of 2014.  Dave and Shawn normally prefer to run difficult whitewater in their open boats, but as the trip approached, they decided that having to stop and dump open boats loaded with eight days worth of gear sounded like more work than fun.  So, they decided to pack Shawn’s small raft with their gear and R2 the run instead.  This set-up worked well for them and they allowed Jenny, John, and I to add our camp chairs and a few beers to their raft, making our trip a little more spoiled than self-support typically allows!

Below: John and Adam enjoying typical MFS scenery. Photo by Jenny Leaderer.

JK and AG by JL 1

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09
Nov

Pyranha Team at the 2014 Tyne Tour

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The annual Tyne Tour was held yet again in Hexham, Northumberland.  All were welcomed by Hexham Canoe Club for another fantastic weekend. Situated on the magnificent Tyne, a river suitable for all levels of ability, we looked forward to a weekend of paddling with old and new friends.

We set out from North Wales with the Pyranha Kayaks demo fleet, including the new 9R and small Burn. We were looking forward to seeing the reaction to the new boats and we received amazingly positive feedback, especially with the 9R.

Stand

Having spent the day demonstrating kayaks, it was finally time to the test the 9R .We cruised downstream through the Tyne valley which was particularly spectacular with the autumnal colours reflecting in the river. Previously we would have found the flat sections pretty hard work, but the new 9R held its speed throughout making it a relaxing paddle.swimming

Warden’s gorge proved to be the highlight of the event with plenty of excitement and carnage. The 9R held it’s own and was like a dream on the top of the waves where we felt very much in control, getting involved in some king of the wave competitions.       double sirf

 Once we had packed up the gear and dried off, it was party time with the amazing firework display followed by the annual ceilidh. Another great event, thanks to all who organised it, participated and partied.

ceildih

On sunday overnight rain had brought up some of the local rivers, and we couldn’t resist the opportunity to go ‘Yorkshire stouting’. Leaving fellow team member Ben to nurse his hangover and take charge of the stand, we met up with Sam Ellis and Greame Benson at Aysgarth Falls. The sun had come out and we had a great morning lapping this cool set of drops!

barny aysgarth

Written by Louise Fingleton, many thanks to Dan Bradley for kindly letting us use your photos and to the tourists who sent us some photos from Aysgarth Falls!

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08
Nov

The last few months…

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The last few months have been non-stop, ending with a crazy unfortunate trip to Chile to finish it off!

I spent July working as a raft guide in Whistler and paddling on the Cheak and Callaghan daily waiting for the Stikine to come in, which did and really early! August 2nd and we were getting ready to drive north for our first run of the season! We got there to find great water levels and amazing weather! We had an awesome season opening 3 day trip, another 3 day trip and a one day that was great. Overall we had great weather, some nice/high flows on our second trip and lowish on the others which still make it an amazing run! 

We shot a lot of footage during our trips with Nomade (Tino and Lore) and Eric Parker Photography for a Red Bull project with my brother Aniol. There’s a lot of amazing footage and I can’t wait to watch the edit they are putting together, coming out real soon!

After that we drove south to Revelstoke to try to get some waterfalls but the ran wasn’t enough so we only paddled Sutherland at a very low flow but it was still great.

We then drove back to Whistler, paddled the Ashlu a bunch with great flows and time to go home came by!

Landed in Spain mid september, hang out for a week painting my grandmas house and paddling in Sort and left to Sickline.

Sickline was great, there was 7 of us from Sort so the drive went by pretty fast. Once there it’s a great life, wake up, eat, kayak and sleep. It was great to sleep on nice beds and cook in a kitchen after so many months of traveling and camping!

The race started really good for me, winning the qualification and quarter finals, made the super final in second place as lucky loser after Sam knocked me out on semis but my final run wasn’t good enough and ended up taking 4th. Started off and hit a rock, what made me make more mistakes and  not have a nice rhythm, felt slow throughout all the course and yeah I was almost 2 seconds slower… Hope to learn from this year and be more prepared next year!!

Right after Sick-Line we flew back to BC to finish the Red Bull project as we needed Fall lows water flows. Everything went great and went back home.

I spent some time paddling in Sort, went surfing in France and the Basque Country, got sick for a week and flew to Chile which took a bit lover than expected as I had to spend a couple days in Panamá as they didn’t want to let my boat in the plane once there… 

Anyways summer and fall were great, lots of kayak in amazing places like the Stikine, Revelstoke, Sick-Line… overall an awesome time a bit busier than expected but sweet times. Now I’m hanging out in Chile where I’ll be all winter long escaping the cold and enjoying the great rivers and places this country has to offer.

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