Dagger Europe Car

Alas, my Dagger Europe car (I bet you can't guess which of these images it is) is no longer. It was MOT time and sadly, since some thieves tried to steal it (don't think it would have given them much street cred to drive around in a beaten up Nissan Micra!!) the windscreen washer lever was snapped off and temporarily (for 6 months) fixed with a screw and the passenger door didn't open any more. The lights also had major wiring problems and (as you can see from the picture) a fair amount of rust was gathering. The engine was still going strong though - after 17 years and 130,000+ miles, but unfortunately the niggling problems above, which would have failed it on its MOT, weren't worth fixing.

Quite surprisingly a man from a scrap yard gave me £100 cash for it (and towed it away for me).
I have had the car for as long as I've been paddling at Hurley (about 10 years) and its taken me on hundreds of trips there. The £25 Paddy Hopkirk roofracks, which I put on temporarily to last me the first summer until I bought some more expensive Thule ones, were still there (the rust ensured they stayed put, although I didn't dare use them over the last couple of years, I also didn't dare take them off in case that was all that was holding the roof in one piece!). It also had its own rare varieties of moss growing along the top of the bonnet and the roof.

Over the years I have spent almost no money on it - just a few consumerables: exhaust, tyres, brakes, one battery - and it only broke down once (which was easily fixable by the nice man from the AA - cleaning the carburettor). Amazingly I never once topped up the oil - the oil was pretty black and gloopy though as it hadn't had many oil changes either!

When I first got the car I could do a journey to Nottingham (2 and 1/2 hr journey) and back for £20, the last time I went there it cost well over £35, it is now getting very expensive to go paddling anywhere other than locally. Unfortunately though a car is a necessity when paddling so I'm hoping I will be able to find another reliable vehicle soon - if anyone could provide me with one like that in the top right-hand picture, I would be most grateful!

West Virginia...take me home

Our friends, Dan (currently our housemate) and Laura recently got married in Virgina, US.














We thought we'd make the most out of our trip over there by taking our playboats with us and figured we could get on some rivers in and around our frequently-visited haunt of Fayetteville, West Virginia home of the New and Gauley rivers.
We were initially hoping for some New River Dries action but typically there had been generally low water levels in the surrounding area (Weather Witch on tour!) so we didn't expect too much.

Our hopes were raised a little though when 18 hours of torrential rain hammered down on us in an out-of-the-way hillbilly campsite(I was hearing the banjos....). Thankfully the tent held up well, and we'd managed to dismount the notoriously-leaky Handiracks just in time to avoid water pouring into the car. Our hillbilly campsite, full of 40-year old trailers, most of which hadn't been used for as many years (the toilets hadn't either - in fact the Ladies was locked shut: 'we don't have many ladies in these parts'), was just an overnight stopover so we could take a look at the nearby Maury River in the morning. We guessed from all the overnight rain the river would be pumping....

A little bit of disappointment ensued as we realised, whilst it probably was pumping, we had no way of getting to the river as we were trapped in Hillbilly-ville: the road that led from the campsite was now being crossed by a pretty fast-flowing river. Our small hire car was not going to make it across until the waters receded. In fact, the locals in their 4-wheel drives didn't try either, and stories of them being stuck for several days - to wait for people to fill in the washed out road - did not inspire us with hope!



There was quite a sizeable (well, sizeable for a 2-wheel drive Toyota) stopper just to the left of this picture.








As it continued to rain we spent the whole morning sat in the car playing cards, hoping the sound of banjos was just a figment of our imaginations...

.... 7 hours later we thankfully managed to escape to freedom as the river turned to a small stream. We legged it without looking behind to see who was following!

Unfortunately, typically, the Maury river was now far too high- pretty flat - (Weather Witch again?) and it was getting late, so we headed for our next stop: Fayetteville, West Virgina.

In our week of paddling (Cam's second time in a boat in the last year) we managed to tick off a few of our previously-paddled rivers, and a couple of new ones. Bizarrely, unlike previous trips, there were very few paddlers in Fayetteville (probably due to early rafting season, but too late for the Dries) and we were struggling to find anyone to paddle with and run shuttles until we bumped into some other boating-holidaymakers, (guess what - more Brits!) in the shape of Clive, Andy and Ali.

We managed to paddle the Dries, but, despite the huge amounts of rain, they weren't at epic levels, though we still had a fun run down and found some nice catch-on-the-fly surf waves.

We then got on the New for a high-water run, which had some pretty big waves on the rapids - a huge contrast (at least 10ft more water) to the last time I paddled it at 1ft summer-levels! 'Greyhound' offered some interesting super-fast surfing!

We paddled the Gauley....

Our previous trip to the Gauley had been during the festival, (when the release is guaranteed daily) with plenty of paddlers and rafts making it quite crowded, so another contrasting experience to paddle this empty river.

Cam surfing - making the most of no queues!











About to ride the pillow on Pillow Rock rapid.





We found plenty of other paddlers when we headed up to the 'Cheat fest' (for the uninitiated: a river-festival on/nr the Cheat River). We had reasonable water-levels on the Cheat and found a few good playspots, timing them right so we avoided the masses (which were plenty). The most interesting/terrifying/entertaining part of the run was the epic shuttle bus journey in the back of an open-truck going stupid speeds with far too many drunk people pinballing around (generally pinballing off my toes) in the back!

There are a lot of river festivals in the US, which generally consist of running the river with many people, lots of boating-type stands in a (usually) muddy field, camping in an equally muddy-field and most importantly partying with other like-minded, unwashed boaters. The speciality of the Cheat fest was the local 'bluegrass' (lots of fiddles, washboards, banjos etc) which resulted in some fantastic dancing in the mud!

We finished our short boating-trip with another favourite - the Upper Yough...





























.... before heading to DC to make the most of the pound-dollar exchange rate, spending a small fortune in REI and various outlet stores!

Thanks to Andy, Clive and Ali for the paddling, cheap red wine (!) and shuttles.
Thanks to Poncho Pete for the shuttle and the bargain :)
Thanks to Austin at Songer Rafting for helping us out.
Thanks to Clive and Cam for the photos.

Novice Snowboarding

Unlike many other Brits, spending lots of money on a week-long holiday on a winter sport that I would only ever do for 1 week every year never really appealed to me. Especially as I could spend the same amount of money to go boating somewhere warm for at least 2 or 3 or more weeks. However, this year Cam and I had the opportunity to go to Colorado, with some good friends, and really splash the cash on a 2-week skiing/snowboarding holiday. We figured for 2 weeks it would be worth while. So we begged and borrowed some gear, got our hire boards sorted, donned our iron pants....






















....and headed to Copper Mountain, Colorado.

At 3000m it took a few days to acclimatise, especially with the slightly chilly temperature: -15 to -20C on some days, and that was before the wind chill and the huge amounts of snow that dumped on us (mainly when we were on the lifts). But, when we were wrapped up, with a good pair of mitts and whizzing down the mountain we didn't really notice the cold, and because the air was so dry when we were out of the wind, it was actually far more pleasant than a miserable 0C in England. And, of course the huge amounts of snow gave us some great powder days. Perfect for boarding, and a nice soft landing for us beginners.

We took a lesson to get the basics and then spent a few days practising the skills we'd been shown. Mainly though the first days consisted of a lot of this:















... I was grateful for those padded pants!
Lots of people had said I'd pick it up easily because the edges are so similar to boating, maybe, and I got the hang of heel edge/toe edge easily without too much falling over. The biggest problem was turning from one to the other and committing my weight onto my front foot.








About to get buzzed by a 4 year-old on skis, again: a frequent occurrence for the first few days.





We took another lesson after a couple of days by ourselves, to get our turns sorted out, and finally we were managing to get down the mountain and turn without falling over too often. Repeating the mantra: pee like a woman (heel edge), pee like a man (toe edge) helped on each edge turn.
















Finally getting some toe-turns without falling over.



Unlike European resorts there were no alpine cafes high up in the mountain serving hot wine and pastries, but the cinnamon buns and hot-chocolate in the coffee-shop at the base of the lift helped warm us up.
















The weekdays were really quiet, not packed-full of Brits on their week-long holidays (as are the European resorts). There were plenty of empty slopes - great for us falling-over beginners. Though the weekends were very busy with local weekenders - that was OK though as we needed a day off in the middle of the holiday!












Where is everybody?


By the end of the two weeks we were beginning to get the hang of it. Cam, annoyingly, picked it up a whole lot faster than me as he didn't seem to have the same fear of speed and steep slopes. I still struggled with putting my weight onto my front foot which generally led to a number of 180 falling-over manoeuvres resulting in my head facing down the mountain being slowed down rapidly by the huge amount of snow that was scooped up into my trousers!







Cam goes for the hanging arm 'pro-look' !






We did venture onto some black runs - and even made some turns without falling over which was very satisfying. And by the end of the fortnight I could mainly dismount the lifts without wiping out everyone in my path - again, a major achievement!

All in all we had a fantastic time, but our bodies (and knees especially) were certainly glad when the holiday came to an end. We are still not sure whether we can justify the money to spend on just a week's holiday, so we may be looking to do another 2-weeker sometime. Though, next time we may try skiing.

A river!

Some trees!

Canoe Focus Interview

I was interviewed for the latest edition of Canoe Focus. Online here

GB Team Selection 2007

Another year, another selection event (this time for the European Championships in Galicia, Spain - July 2008), another place on the team - just! I'm pretty sure jumping into my boat just 2 weeks before the competition (having only been in my boat on one occasion - the British Champs - in several months) was not really the best form of training!



The event on Saturday was at Hurley on 4 gates, in a horrendous downpour which lasted the whole day. I was really looking forward to a Hurley event, as it has been a number of years since we have had a selection event there. However, I think it changed over the summer - new pillars have been put in upstream which seem to be affecting the flow and it has definitely got flushier. So, my worry for Saturday's event was to stay on the feature and not spend too much time paddling up the eddy, my worries turned into reality as I flushed off the feature on every ride (before I even reached the hole on my 3rd ride) and spent far too much time paddling up the eddy! Unfortunately (or fortunately, for me) this was the way with most people's rides and so despite failing to pull off any loops, I came 2nd - beaten by Jen Chrimes who nailed a perfect loop in the 2nd gate. The scores were relatively low; Pringle scored the only McNasty of the day, and due to the relatively flushy levels the event was not quite what we had been hoping for. However, it was really good to have a change from an out-and-out Nottingham selection.



We all drove up to Nottingham for the Sunday's event, and despite extremely high levels flooding most of the course, the event went ahead. I was not holding out much hope for the Inlet gate competition as I knew the girls I was up against had been practising there throughout the summer. I also don't really like the feature as a competition venue as whilst it is a great place to learn new moves and shows who is able to do the different moves it is unlike any other feature and is not at all dynamic - you can relax with a cup of tea at the top of the pile whilst setting up for a loop. Needless to say the scores were huge - particularly from the men's category who were all doing various combo moves. Although combo moves weren't scored as such, I believe the impressive tricky-whu into front loop that Pringle (and possibly a few others) succeeded in throwing down, was scored as a trophy move. Let's hope they can replicate that move in the European's in Spain!

My rides were OK, but it was obvious I had not done much hole-boating in the last year, time repeated itself as I scored pretty much the same as last year - I haven't learnt anything new (my clean cartwheels were still a bit flat and my loops were not aerial), but at least I have not regressed! Claire and Jenny both got back looops in their rides. I took 4th place in the Inlet gate which meant I was tied for 3rd place with Emily Wall (who had two 3rd places) - my 3rd rides at both events beat her 3rd rides so I just scraped through onto a team place with Emily as reserve. Full results are on www.ukfreestyle.com

We are all hoping the European Championships will be a little more successful than this year's Euro cup event in Galicia - which apparently lacked both organisation and water!

I've been given a chance to compete once again for GB so I'll make the most of it and hopefully in the new year will be able to get back into my boat on a more frequent basis (it needs to warm up a bit first though :)) to learn some more hole moves!

Youth Freestyle - end of series 2007

The end of series Youth Freestyle event was at Boulters some weeks back now (but I've only just got chance to write about it - I may be able to put the rest of the photos on my website at some point although I don't think I have a spare afternoon until just after Christmas!).
A fantastic series with over 100 youngsters entering over the 5 events (and 70 at one event - Nottingham) throughout the year.

There was some off the water coaching, including warm-ups, checking boat padding and paddle grip and also practising the moves - enabling the paddlers to get used to the movements required for cartwheels and loops

There was the usual on-water coaching.

As always all of the swimmers got huge encouragement from the crowds.

And everyone scored plenty of points as all moves, from sidesurfs.....

...to loops, were rewarded.

The series' winners took home some nice glass trophies for the mantlepiece.

As well as some great prizes from pyranha, Palm/Dagger Europe, Squarerock/Jackson Kayaks. Kara Expeditions also donated a prize of a day's instruction with Deb Pinnegar for the top 6 female paddlers.

World-Record Holder and local paddler, Shaun Baker presented the medals, trophies and prizes.

Thanks to Kayakojacko for organising the Boulters event and to the whole 'team' who helped throughout the series. Also to UK Freestyle for helping with the funding of the series.

Next year's series will start around April 2008 (keep checking http://www.youth.ukfreestyle.com/ for details), anybody wishing to donate prizes/cash/coaches should contact me via my website.

British Champion

British Champion. That's me!

Despite winning numerous selection events and a variety of other national competitions, I had never achieved the title of British Champion - mainly because I've not been at the last 3 out of 4 British Championship competitions. So, as I was in the country for this event, I figured I'd give it a go. Although, I had my excuses ready before the event: no paddling for nearly 2 months; a new boat (collected a new Agent the day before, after paddling the Kingpin on the few occasions I paddled in the summer); and no paddling in the 'Muncher' since Selection event last year. I wasn't expecting to do very well.

I used to love paddling in the Muncher and it is generally a feature I do well in. Unfortunately though recent changes to the course have made the Muncher a whole lot shallower (even on full release) and none of us girls could loop without hitting the bottom (I don't know how the boys did it) so whilst the boys were pulling off loops, McNasties and Phonix monkeys, we relied on cartwheels, cleans and splitwheels to earn us points.

Ed Smith looping.

My first ride was my best with a few cleans but my scores went downhill from there. Having not paddled for such a long time (or even been to the gym), I think I broke myself.

The old lady tries to stand up.

The event ran over 2 days, with the 'Alpkit Challenge' on Saturday, and the semis and finals of the British Champs on the Sunday meaning we got double the competition for our money. Jen Chrimes and I swapped places a few times, throughout both competitions. As we were running to ECA rules for both competitions the finals were knock-out format. Jen won the Alpkit Challenge knockout final on the Saturday, with Lowri Davies in 2nd and myself in 3rd (my scores gradually deteriorated in each round). On the Sunday, throughout the semis and finals, I managed to stay a little more consistent, although had the occasional ride where I just could not get my boat vertical without hitting bottom, or flushed early. In the end I took the win over Jen, timing a reasonable scoring ride against one of hers where she flushed early.

I try a clean lefty in the Semis.

In the men's event it could have been any of the top 3 : Ed Smith, Pringle, Jon Best to take the win as they were each putting in really high scoring rides on a number of occasions. So, as always with knock-outs, it was whoever put in their highest scoring ride at the right time. In the end Pringle's perfectly executed McNasties in both directions allowed him to take the title, with Jon in 2nd and Ed in 3rd.

Pringle on his entry move.

Dave Bainbridge convincingly won the C1 event, and in one finals ride threw down one of the highest scoring rides of the weekend. Ross Montandon won the juniors, despite his deck popping a couple of times in the finals (I think he needs to deflate his 'bump' a little!). In his last year of being a junior he showed he was ready to take on the men by getting 4th place in the men's heats. Unfortunately for him the freestyle committee had decided that this year Juniors could only enter either the Senior OR the Junior competition, and not both (as had happened in previous years) - it is only fair to give the Seniors a chance, as they can only paddle in one competition! All other results can be found here.

As part of the Alpkit challenge there was also a downriver race.

This was quite entertaining, although perhaps gave an unfair advantage for those who were able to fit both a creek boat and a playboat on the roof of their car! I dusted the cobwebs off my creekboat (literally) and proceeded to get beaten by sprint-boater Jen Chrimes and a youngster in a short Jackson playboat - admitedly she didn't have to go through any of the gates, and I did have a bad start, but still....!

Adam Norfolk and Jen Chrimes both showed that their recent sprint-racing had payed off as they took first place for the Men's and Women's Cup races respectively.

The weekend brought out all of the old folk from the woodwork:)

Jason Smith and Cheesy resting after a chilled out squirt-boating session.
Captions please...

All in all a fun event and it was great to be able to get so many rides in one weekend's competition (although my body didn't appreciate it!)

The next event will be Kayakojacko's Hurley rodeo on the 1st/2nd December, followed a week later by the GB Team Selection event at Hurley on the 8th December and Nottingham on the 9th. So, I'm hoping for some rain soon to get back into shape before these winter competitions.