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03
Sep

Cardiff Paddlefest

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After a slow Drive down in the Van from Runcorn I arrived in Cardiff on Friday night just in time for a blast round the course. It was the first time I have been to the course in Cardiff and I have to say I was impressed, not just in the course but the facilities as a whole.

The festival kicked off on Saturday morning, Paul Smith and Myself unloaded all the demo boats and set up the stand. We had with us all sizes of Jed, Varun, Zone the Venture Surf Jet and both the new large and small Loki!

The whole day was pretty hectic, the course started on 4 cumecs proving very popular with paddlers and soon most of our demos were on the water leaving us free to chat with paddlers and other retailers.

After Lunch the course was ramped up to 6 then 8 cumecs. which opened up the playspots and most of the power of the pumps which supply the water for the course.

At 3.30 the competitions kicked off with the Ducky Demolition Derby. Then the Palm Team Races from 4. The team races consisted of one Pro paddler, 2 normal boaters and a junior. I headed up the Pyranha team unfortunately during the first race one of our team got pushed against a wall and swam so we didn’t do too well in the time trial. In the individual boaterX we had a couple of good results with 2 second places in both the junior and one of the normalls. In the pro race I managed to squeeze into first place with a bit of a fight with Josh Wedgewood from Team Fire it Up at the Finish Line (well spraydeck).

After the Festival was over there was a freestyle event, part of the UK freestyle League for results from that check out https://www.facebook.com/pages/GB-Freestyle-Kayaking/347721655253588

 

Andy

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28
Aug

Floodwater Dreams

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When the days get colder and the green trees slowly turn into a nice orange color, it´s the time oft the year that my stomache begins to shake. It´s the time oft the year when i drive my car tot he infamous Ötz Valley in Austria. The low waterlevels make it possible to paddle nice sections of Ötz and Venter river. This year  my stomache began to shake a little bit earlier in August. I decided to go to Ötz Valley in summertime what i didn´t make in the last five years. You can´t run the classic low level sections but a lot of other sections which become fast and pushy rollercoaster runs. If you want to paddle high quality big volume rivers, this is your destination in summertime in Austria.

All the runs look pretty ugly with dark brown glacier water which temperature is slightly over zero degrees and it´s hard to find a rock that it´s not sharp like a knife.  Swimming is no option here.

But at least it´s keeps you young and fresh when you scare yourselve once a day

Enjoy some photos and the video of upper Ötz, middle Ötz, lower Venter and Pitzbach

Cheers Timo

 

 

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25
Aug

Dear Pro-Boater, go to Pakistan please.

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Due to a fourth member of our trip failing to get his Pakistan visa, and another losing his passport, we have had to cut our trip short, and ‘only’ managed to get two months of high water boating done out here. However, spending two months in a country with very little documented boating achieved, and leaving with a to-do list ten times bigger than what we have arrived with has only solidified my opinion that Pakistan, especially at high water, is the place to be.

MJ’s Landlide Rapid

After my last update we headed up to the Hunza valley to see what was on offer north of Gilgit and found some incredible big volume blue water, which was a nice change from the brown silty waters of the Ghizar, but we only got around 5-10km of paddling done due to the water being so continuous and gigantic downstream of the Nagyr confluence. It was definitely kayakable, but not by us. I just watched the teaser for the Congo footage today, and it looks like the Tribe boys have had an appropriate warm up for a high water Hunza now…

The Hunza river whilst it is still blue ‘low volume’

Towards the end of the trip, with Griff having lost his passport and my brother’s visa application rejected, leaving him twiddling his thumbs in India waiting for us to head over, we decided it was time to start doing bigger rapids due to a worry that “our footage wasn’t good enough.” Always a good motivator! Out of the fifteen or so ‘bat-shit-crazy’ rapids on the Ghizar river (they lurk somewhere between grade V and VI, having lines, just very silly ones) we managed three of them between us. I can guarantee all could be done by someone, but once again, not us.

Bat-Shit-Crazy on the Ghizar.

I’ve already got plans to revisit Pakistan next year as it’s been the most amazing place for me to push my own boating, but I also believe that it is a place that the pros at the top of our sport could visit to smash the boundaries of kayaking, stomping brown stouts in a genuine frontier. If hucking substantial flows is like going to church to these boys then they should pay good attention to this Azan; get out here, its epic! And the footage is going to look awesome too, which seems to be a big focus of paddlers these days. Pretty much all rivers are roadside, scenery is epic for those lovely time lapses River Roots love to do, and I’m sure Bomb Flow could add some pretty awesome special effects with all the surplus ammunition kicking around the country.

Stomping: a good reason to visit Pakistan

Epic Pakistani scenery

Brining a new meaning to ‘Bomb’ Flow

But, on a quick serious note, Pakistan is epic, under-visited, and so welcoming once you look past the media driven stereotypes (which do exist, but not everywhere). If anyone is genuinely interested in a trip and would like some more info, do not hesitate to track me down and I’ll send all the information and all important contacts I have.

And now for some more photos of rapids we didn’t do:

Upper Batret Nala, would be a cracking IV-V run in lower flows, or epic scary stuff in July

Bat-Shit-Crazy on Ghizar Nala. That hole is about 15-20ft high

The Indus is known for the low water big volume Rhonddu Gorge, but there is a lot more to it that the 120km that you’ve read about

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16
Aug

Black Canyon Sessions

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After summer spent working and kayaking i am getting ready to take off to Europe for a bit. Hiko Devils Extreme Race is going down in two weeks so iam going  there for a sixth year… Most time this summer I spent in Black Canyon of the Gunnison which is about hour and half from my hometown Crested Butte. This year i have finally done two runs in one day – one of the hardest things i have ever done. Handful of solo laps and plenty of runs with friends just for fun. Here is a few pictures to look at.

Close up of me running New Generation – one of the biggest rapids in the canyon

Ballcrusher rapid – one of my favorites

Jakub stomping waterfall

Nice sceneries while chilling with friends

All pictures by Will Stauffer-Norris – Thanks!

Have a great rest of the summer and stay safe out there!

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07
Aug

Three competitions – three 3. places

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I competed in three competiion in July – Bratislava, Prague, Sopotnice.

I like my new Jed!!

My rides were better in qualificastions but I was in 3 . place in every competitions.

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06
Aug

Himalayan rivers – Ilam, Nepal.

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The monsoon rains have kept flowing, but the break in the sky shows us the amazing views from the small town of Ilam. All tea fields flowing across the eye line, in the flow below, the clear river cuts a path all the way to the highway. Pure Land Expeditions In association with Nara, Rafting Star Outdoor School and the Heritage trail for the Tourist board put together a descent of the Mai Khola to promote the Eastern area of Nepal. This is a lesser traveled area, 18 hours on a bus from the chaos of Kathmandu and on the border with India. Monsoon runs, where the rivers swell are often overlooked, why we don’t know. The classic Sun Kosi about 250km becomes a quick 2 day run. Its not all big water blasts. The Melamchi Khola draining in to the Indrawati, that is a great run like the Marsyandi in November flows.

Ilam is a different story.

What we found was a river, unspoilt by roads, away from trails. We passed the clear rapids, all now vivid etched to memory. Clear lines and swrils. Waves and holes. Each village greeted us with shouts of Namaste and smiles. Welcomed to the family puja we settled to lunch, the pray for the harvest and the passing of the rains. As the walls closed in and the gorge section appeared we rested for the night. A humble settlement of houses, a bed, a meal and talk of developing the area for tourism – positive and negative. Day two and the river floated on. The trees the hiding place for the odd monkey. Crisp boil lines and waves were surfed. As the cremation ghats wafted smoke in the distance we took out – welcomed in our descent.

In short Ilam district has lots to offer, to raft – kayak – trek and explore. It is away from the Lonely Planet guidebook reader radar. Sadly this river the Mai Khola is set to have more hydro project on it – we will have to wait and see how this changes the villages and the people.

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30
Jul

Endless summer rain

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Any UK boater who’s not been lucky enough to disappear overseas this summer, will have no doubt noticed that this summer has been a rather exceptional one for paddling.

Read the rest of this entry »

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30
Jul

2012 London Olympics

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2012 London Olympics


I was lucky enough to get hold of tickets to see the start of the C1 and K1 men’s heats of the 2012 London Olympics.

It was a great day out with the Olympic spirit running high through the whole Lee Valley course.

The first heats, were played pretty safe by everyone, all trying to get a solid time to qualify with.
In the men’s C1 David Florence, had a fantastic second run which place him 5th for the semi-finals later this week. It was a great performance and the home crowd really got behind him.

The mens K1 Second heats was a must make performance for Richard Hounslow as he sat in 16th place after the first heat, just out of a place of the semi-finals.

Hounslow gave it his all in the second run and managed to achieve 11th place and secure his semi final position.
The rest of the afternoon was full of fantastic performances from those who had gained a semi final place in heat one and relaxed into the course to produce world class times, especially Hannes Aigner from Germany who toped the leader board at the end of the heats with a great performance.

Despite the ominous black clouds that had gathered and decided to let rip with rain for the last run.

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30
Jul

Sjoa River Fest

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Sjoa River Fest

 

The Gene 17 Sjoa river fest is now one of the best festivals on the circuit, from the world class racing to the world class partys, the 2012 event was no exception.

 

The week kicked off with the Pyranha Old School Rodeo, where points don’t mean prizes, style does, Held in the feisty Faukstal hole on the Sjoa playrun.

In its first year the numbers were not quite as high as expected but we expect the word to spread for next year where we will have a bigger better rodeo. Congratulations to this years winners.

The next day kicked off with guided trips from the Gene 17 team followed by the Sjoa River Guide Raft Race. Then in the evening the world famous Pimp ‘n’ Ho party at Pensj Pub, I might not have one any races but am pretty sure I won the party,

Thursday had a lazy start, but with the qualifications for the Sweet Rumble and the Gene 17 Ula Race at 3pm everybody was eventually forced out of bed for a timed run with a couple of tough eddies to make down the slalom course.

On Friday at midday was the Gene 17 Ula race, as I was doing a guided trip in the morning I missed out on my race run but was there to watch the finals, the competition was tough this year and the course was high, with the winners were in the mens 1st Sam Sutton, closely followed by his younger brother Jamie with Tomas Andrassy in 3rd. In the Ladies First place went to Sandra “the guns” hislop with Louise Jull in second and Darcey Gaecher in third place, full results can be found at http://www.striestrommer.no/sjoariverfestival/gene17-ula-extreme-2012/

And a video

http://vimeo.com/45926219

Friday evening led to the Pyranha King or Queen of Sjoa un-sponsored race. With the Prize for first place being a brand new Pyranha kayak of the winners choice, we decided that if you cant throw a throwline you don’t deserve a free boat.

 

The race was you had to land your throw bag into a cockpit, recover it, run to your kayak and race the length of the slalom course, in the final we added a gate into the mix to make it harder. Congratulations to Jonny Haugen this years winner.

That evening saw the Palm throwbag olympics,

http://vimeo.com/45831804

The Sweet Rumble Boatercross was held on Saturday probably the closest finish ever in a boatercross ending in a draw between Sam Sutton and Pavel Andrassy

The girls winner was Toni George.

All in all a wonderful event in a stunning location, I cant wait for next year.

Andy

(pics by Gene 17, Tom Leyland and Graham Milton)

 

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27
Jul

Downriver Tricks in the Loki

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I’ve been having an absolute blast getting back to my favorite downriver tricks in my new Loki, and also enjoying how well it runs rivers – smooth boofs, glides, and hole punches with the nice rocker and extra length.  Lots of knowledge of how to do tricks in a slicey boat like the Loki has been lost over the years, so I’m putting together a series of video tutorials so everybody can get in on the fun!

Here’s the first installment of the series – How to do a Rock spin.

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