Some Nile Special pics

So all is good out here on the Nile, I'm working lots at the moment but on days off, Nile Special is the destination of choice.
Here are some photos taken by Deuce,  Julian and Just James (pringle)

From England to Uganda

From a cold, wet, dark November to an action packed hot December back on the Nile.
The water level is pretty low at the moment but that’s not such a bad thing as different waves and rapids appear and disappear as the day goes on. Club wave works in the morning from about 7am till 1pm. Club is a large piley wave, pretty consistent but as the day goes on it becomes more and more trashy and surgey, until it hits about 1pm then it’s not worth paddling. There’s a gap of about 3 to 4 hours where neither Club or Nile Special work properly, and then at around 4 pm Nile Special kicks in, a large peaking wave with a pile. When Nile Special kicks up you get an awesome steep green wave where any big wave move is possible. The Gui-Gui Prod is an incredible boat the air you can generate is substantially more than any other boat on the river, landing a big move flat is violent and your back defiantly knows about it…but its so worth it.

I’m seeing the river from a different perspective this time round as I am working as a raft guide, so it’s not just my self I have to navigate safely down its also 6 or 7 others as well. Big white water, sun, pineapple, flips and broken bones are the order of the day on the river and none of that gets boring. The money I earn from rafting pays off my tab at NRE so its happy days.

Life off the water consists of mainly eating, drinking, socialising and trips back and forth to town to buy a new pair of sunny that broke on the river the day before.

Photo by Julian Stocker

A short film from Hurley & HPP

Jon

Hurley Classic and the GB team

Monday morning and the weekend is over.
We were lucky to get Hurley on a good level both for Selection and the classic. On Saturday they held the 3rd selection event for the British team, with a low 2 gates and not many entries the event was over by 2 o'clock. Well done to all the paddlers and congratulations to all the boaters who made the team. Saturday saw some good rides, well done to Sam Anderson who steamed into first place after his 2 ride with some quick felixs and clean blunts, also to local boy Pikey who came a very respectable 2nd. The junior men saw some big air loops and with a low turn out from the women Claire O' Hara and Nicola Beeby had a chance to enjoy each others company with not to many distractions.

These are the final results for the GB team here

For the Hurley classic we were blessed with 3 gates which gave people a chance to really showcase thier paddling ability. About 10 paddlers in a heat and with half an hour to strut thire stuff, the highest scoring 4 moves were counted. Well done to Gerd Serrasolses for spain for takeing top spot and Gav Barker hot on my tail in 3rd place.
Check the results of the classic here

Well done to all the judges and organizers for both events and a big thanks to the rain gods for letting it happen.

Photos by Dave Wortly see more here GB selection  Hurley Classic

Hurley is back, but for how long?

So on Sunday Hurley was on a great 3 gates, a strange layout as it was on the 3 next to the wall which made the middle wave gate slightly more piley but still with some nice green shoulders. Popping back down today I expected the same sort of level, only to find the water had dropped substantially and Hurley was back down to 2 gates. No grumbles as we slid down the steps and made the best of a good level, with a big green right shoulder, pan am's, donkey flips and clean blunts we all making an appearance.
With the 3rd selection event looming on the horizon I did feel quite guilty just using the wave gate and not even having one ride in the hole, but with way water levels are looking I have heard it said that the weekends event may not run.
Updates on the event and wether it will run will be posted on tvfreestylers

Jon

Photos by Pringle