The countdown begins

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.



JB

Reflection

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.

JB

Surfing in Portugal