Week two and things are starting to get interesting. The water level is high at the moment so Nile Special is paddle on level, it’s steep, fast and with a good retentive pile people are throwing some huge tricks.
Pan Aming the special
We spent four days up at NRE where I stepped on a tent peg that put a nasty hole in my foot. After a couple of painful stitches and excessive cleaning it seems to be in good shape, I was told to stay of the water for a week but that lasted for about 3 days, it’s amazing what you can do with a neo sock, gaffa tape and a plastic bag! That was my pain but Gav had a nasty swim in the pour over on ribcage, after some big downtime we managed to get him to the bank, find all his gear and he has recovered well.
One gamy foot
We are back at the Lemon at the moment getting ready for Christmas, the decorations are up and preparations for the big meal are taking shape. Nile Special last night was a great level, and it looks like it may be here to stay.
I am posting from the Hairy Lemon, an island paradise on the Nile. Currently the water level is fluctuating quite a bit , Nile Special is running in the evening at a good level and is surfable during the day but quite flushy.
They are in the middle of building a new dam on the upper section of river, this has meant some of the rapids have disappeared but also making the original ones bigger, for example silver back at the moment is huge due to the cut off of the ugly sisters rapid, no more wave. Also total gunga once a big rapid with many different lines and waves to explore is now a big lake with a small wave train down the middle. We spent the first two days running the day one section of river and on the last run of the day, Emily while paddling down silver back took a paddle to the face and split open her nose, but it’s ok we don’t think it’s broken so I still have a pretty girlfriend.
Me and Emily had a blast on Nile special last night and this morning woke up to a beautiful mist surrounding the island.
We are counting down the days until our trip back to Africa, leaving on the 14th of December for warm water big waves and sweet suntans :)
In the mean time the rain has been falling and so the weirs are up and running again. Last weekend we took a trip to Sunbury hoping to find a good level. As it happens the level took us by surprise, it took a bit of effort paddling onto the wave but when you eventually made it the feature was good, not super big but with a nice pile it was easy to retain most tricks. On the Sunday we shot to Hurley for a classic 4 gates, a tad cold for this time year but still good fun.
This weekend the Hurley Classic is due to run on the Sunday, and the week after is British team trials for the European Champs next July. Stay tuned for a full report on the two events.
I am currently working to save money for heading to Africa in December. Usually working at this time of year in the Thames Valley isn’t such a bad thing as usually the Thames weirs are pumping, so before and after work a quick trip to one of the many play spots usually keeps me entertained. This year though it seems very different. There is currently no water and there hasn’t been for some time, this is a big problem because normally it’s cold, yes, but at least there’s some whitewater to paddle on, but now it’s just cold, period.
During this summer I traveled to Europe quite a bit but in between trips I was in the UK and to my surprise every time I got back from aboard there seemed to be a great deal of water around. The Thames was pumping and the Midlands saw some mega high water levels. This was awesome, the sun was shinning and the water was pumping, the best combination to have in my opinion. So dose this mean that will be the case every year? I doubt it but it would be nice.
All in all a good summer in the UK probably one of the best, for kayakers anyway. And in Europe we had a great time at the Euro Cup events and the World Champs. Some plans for next year are cropping up, a couple of creeking trips and some more comps are in order. Hope to see you on the river.
I headed down south on Monday morning to catch Hurley on three gates. I got to Hurley around 5:30 am to get in a quick paddle before work.
It was cold and dark and paddling towards the weir I really hoped to see a classic three gates, and I did. The mist was thick and you could barely see the middle wave from the eddy.
As soon as the sun started to come up it started to warm slowly, the sun rise was amazing. It was an awesome 3 gates with big shoulders and a nice retentive pile.
Later that day Hurley went down to 2 then 1, I think all in all I was pretty lucky.
The 2007 British Championships was held on alongside the Plastic Fantastic Alp Kit Kayak Series at Nottingham. The top ten paddlers from the Saturday went through to the semi final of the British Champs on the Sunday, then 10 dropped to five for the knock out final.
The comp was held in the Muncher at HPP. Due some changes on the whitewater corse the muncher has not been the same as it was in the good old days, still with the water level raised the hole seemed to take form and start to resemble it's old self. Air loops, Tricky Wu's, Phonix Monkeys and McNasty's were the choice of moves for the day, seeing some amazing rides from James 'Pringle' Bebbington, Ross Montandon, the Brayfield brothers and many more.
David Bainbridge showed why he's European Champion by pulling some awesome moves to take the C1 title.
In the Womens, Flea Jarvie pushed into first place with some very consistent rides, with Jen Chrimes hot on her tail.
Flea cleaning up
Ross Montandon managed to pull it of in his final ride even with a popped deck to take the win in the junior men's class.
Ross on a roll
The Men's was tough seeing Ed Smith, Me and Pringle down to the top 3 in the knock out final having said goodbye to Adam Norfolk and Chris Chapman in 5th and 4th place respectively. Ed went out in 3rd seeing some big air loops and very consistent rides. I came 2nd and therefore it was a well deserved 1st place for Pringle, every Phonix Monkey and Mc Nasty done to perfection. Also well done to Emily Wall and Pringle for winning the overall Alp Kit series 2007.
Me and Pringle in the final
Thanks to Jim from Alp Kit, Sneaky pete and Tim Raa for judging.
It's been quite a strange year for kayaking in England, when the sun should have been shining and the rivers drying up, we have received more rain this summer than I can remember. The playboating and river running has been epic. But now the summer has seems to have shown it's face at last, and the rivers seem to be back to normal summer levels. It is becoming quite a struggle being stuck in the UK trying to earn some cash to go away for the winter, with not much boating to be done, so instead of using the lack of water have resorted in making the most of using the vast amount of concrete.
The 2007 European cup was held in 3 different countries situated in 3 different locations around Europe.
The first was held in the beautiful ski town of Lienz, Austria. A challenging hole brought many different European nations to battle it out for a head start in the series. British, French, German, Austrian, Czech, Slovakian, Polish, Finish and Swedish were amongst the competing nations. The competition went well, and everyone was very grateful for the friendly welcome and hospitality.
The Second leg of the series was held in the north of Sweden on the Palt wave. An awesome braking wave which allowed all the moves in the book. The river reminded me very much of the Ottawa with sweet rapids in between beautiful still lakes. The competition was tough, seeing some great rides from the locals, the Polish and the Fin’s. I hope to see more competitions held on this spot in the future, all the guys did a great job in organizing the event considering the hard logistics of the venue.
The last competition in the series and also the Pre European Champs and was held in Galicia, Spain. The competition was held on an interestingly sticky hole at the bottom of a very impressive Dam. The event was not the best I have been to, and all the paddlers did very well to put up with the lack of organization (none), a shame as this competition was set to show case the spot for the European Championships 2008.
All in all the European cup went well, seeing some amazing displays of skill from Peter Csonka, Nina Halasova, James Bebbington, and many more. Check out the pics.
The final results for the European cup are as follows:
K1 men: 1st Peter Csonka (SVK) 2nd Jon Best (GBR) 3th Jan Spindler (CZE)
K1 women: 1st Nina Halasova (SVK) 2nd Maria Lindgren (SWE) 3th Ingrid Schlott (GER)
Are you interested in pushing your freestyle kayaking forward?
If so then why not come to the Friday Freestyle clinics. Held on the Whitewater course at HPP starting at 4pm till 6pm. Each session is totally tailored to your needs, from front surfing to Tricky-Wu's it's up to you.
There are only 3 spots available at one time and it is first come first serve. If you'd like to book your place just drop me an e-mail jon@jacksonkayak.com.
Prices are as follows. £10 an hour or £20 for the full 2 hours.
The second leg of the Euro Cup was held in the north of Sweden about a 12 hour drive from Stockholm.
The view fro the camp site
The competition was held on the Palt wave on the Trollforsarna (the troll rapids) section of the Pite River. A large volume river with a beautiful river run and play spot.
Chilling at the bottom of the slide
The wave was world class, a sweet braking wave which allowed you to throw every wave and some times hole move in the book. Beautiful warm weather and warm water made for an awesome destination for the competition. The 24 hour sunlight also meant you could practise all through the night if you wanted, not my cup of tea but the option was there.
Matz flipping it up
The Trollforsarna Whitewater Challenged consisted of 3 competitions, a boater cross, a team race and then the freestyle. Me and Flick only competed in the freestyle as we could only bring our playboats on the plane. It all kicked of on the Thursday with the boater cross, then the Friday saw the Team race and the freestyle was held on the Saturday finishing around 10:00 at night.
Peace Flick
The competition was going well for me coming 3rd in the prelims then an unlucky flush during the semi final placed me in 7th. Flick came 2nd in the juniors seeing some nice rides.
All in all the event went very well and I hope they run it again next year, it’s a beautiful kayaking destination and defiantly somewhere to explore.
Me on the Palt wave
The results for the freestyle look like this.
K1 Men 1. Peter Csonka Slovakia 2. Mikael Lantto Finland 3. Tuomas Kuronen Finland 4. Jan Spindler Czech Republic 5. Miika Kuronen Finland
K1 Women 1. Deborah Pinniger Great Britain 2. Nina Halasova Slovakia 3. Ingrid Schlott Germany 4. Maria Lindgren Sweden 5. Valerie Bertrand Norway
K1 Junior men 1. Jiri Langer Czech Republic 2. Mikael Ekström Sweden 3. Simon Ingelsten Sweden 4. Isak Öhrström Sweden 5. Thomas Bankes Great Britain
K1 Junior women 1. Hana Vackova Czech Republic 2. Flic Meares Great Britain
Here's a quick round up of the 1st leg of the Euro Cup Series.
The competition was held in a nice hole on a River Drau which ran through the beautiful Austrian town of Lienz. The turn out was good and the competition was tough, 80 paddlers from around Europe flocked to the site for the first leg of the Euro Cup Series. The prelims were held on the Friday, with the top 20 men going through to the quarter's, all hole moves were going off.
In the women's event, Emily Wall got the biggest loops in her new Star but a low scoring first ride meant she just missed out a place in the finals leaving her in 6th place.
Em giving it her all
After the quarter's and semi's, I placed in the top 5 every time, making it in 4th place for the finals. The format was a old-style knockout, first rides were tight with all the guys going for tricky woo, phonix monkeys and godzillas, going out in 5th was Casper Van Kalmhout from the Netherlands. Peter Csonka, who placed 2nd at the World Champs, was a shock, going out in 4th. Leaving me and the Strohmeier brothers to the podium. Simon couldn't quite put together the same high scoring ride he had done during the other rounds, so taking 3rd and Seppi, his older brother, showed everyone is was definitely back to form after his couple of years out due to a wrist injury, taking 2nd. The standard was high and it was hardwork against such an awesome bunch of paddlers but I managed to nail my loops and godzillas when it counted and so was stoked to take 1st place and €200.
All in all, the organisers, judges and sponsors made the event an awesome start to the series.
So after a 15 hour drive through 5 countries we finally arrived in Lienz, Austria. Lienz is a beautiful ski town in the middle of the Austrian Alps. The river Isel runs trough the middle town and the play hole is on a small tributary of the Isel.
Pringle sussing out the hole
The play hole runs a best between 11 and 1 when the river is at it's highest. You can pull of most play moves in the hole so the competition should be a good one.
There is also a wave at the raft take out on the Isel which runs from about 7pm onwards, we should have some pics of the wave soon.
Pan Aming the special
One gamy foot
Pas ripping the special
Gav big back stab
Air screw on special
