The Paddler issue 28 Early Spring 2016 Canoe cover

PADDLER The International digital magazine for recreational paddlers

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TRAINING Richard Harpham

Relearning canoe race

NORWAY/FINLAND Laurie Gullion Border crossing

Issue 28 Early Spring 2016

STEVE CHILDS Silverbirch Canoes

An interview with‌

Contents

Gerhard Braune, Gronda River, Italy Photo: Darin McQuoid Editor

Peter Tranter peter@thepaddlerezine.com Tel: (01480) 465081 Mob: 07411 005824 www.thepaddlerezine.com

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Covers

Kayak: Gerhard Braune, Gronda River, Italy

by Darin McQuoid Salty: Paddle Golden Gate 2016, San Francisco by Mark Boyd Canoe: Richard Harpham

by Peter Tranter

Not all contributors are professional writers and photographers, so don’t be put off writing because you have no experience! The Paddler ezine is all about paddler to paddler dialogue: a paddler’s magazine written by paddlers.

Next issue is Late Spring 2016 with a deadline of submissions on March 20th. Technical Information: Contributions preferably as a Microsoft Word file with 1200-2000 words, emailed to submissions@thepaddler.ezine.com.

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Issue 28 Early Spring 2016

004 The Paddler’s Planet

By Christian Wagley

006 The rollers: Gino Watkins

By Steffan Meyric Hughes

011 Seasonal delights

UK aquatic wildlife in spring by Sonja Jones

020 Coaching

UKCC Level 3 award by Dave Rossetter

026 Testing, testing

Plenty of kit reviewed by our contributors

038 United Kingdom

Central London Thames by night by Peter Tranter

050 Austria, Italy and Switzerland Five days, three stops by Darin McQuoid

068 Kayak paddles

Mark Crame’s personal choice

078 Croatia

A club’s whitewater misson by Matt Cooke

090 Coaching

Downwind kayak sailing by Paul Bull

092 Interview with…

Sandra Hyslop

100 United Kingdom

River Dart record levels by Steffan Meyric Hughes

104 United States

Paddle Golden Gate symposium by Sean Morley

116 Interview with…

Jason Self

128 United Kingdom

Interview with Silverbirch Canoes owner Steve Childs

134 Norway/Finland

Paddling the border by Laurie Gullion

144 Canoe racing

Relearning the craft by Richard Harpham

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PADDLER’S PLANET by CHRISTIAN WAGLEY

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Paddling brings us toget It’s a cold and windy winter morning, and not one I would usually choose for a paddle. But when a local elected official calls and asks me to head-out on the water to explore the health of one of our favourite waterways….Well, no matter the cold, I had to go.

For more information on how you can participate wherever you may be on the Planet visit www.supradioshow.com Stay tuned for my weekly podcast of The Paddler’s Planet with my guest host Christian Wagley on www.supradioshow.com, “Where we are Standing Up for the Planet!”

With the commissioner on his paddle board and me in my sea kayak, along with a local marine scientist, we push off into the rising sun. The bayou (that’s what we call a tidal creek or river here on the US Gulf coast) we’re paddling is one of our urban ones, surrounded by houses and suburban lawns and marked by decades of decline. In the 1940s it was a favourite spot for swimming and waterskiing, with a city park featuring a sandy beach used by generations of locals.

As neighbourhoods grew around it and drainage from streets was directed to the bayou, the waterway that was like a backyard for many residents became very sick. With increasing affluence in the post-WWII boom came large waterfront homes with manicured lawns fed by fertilizers and pesticides.

Scientists reported that they could tell when the spring lawn season began because pesticides would show-up in their water samples. With each rainfall came millions of gallons of stormwater runoff as rain poured across streets and lawns picking up contaminants like leaves, fertilizers, and loose soil and carrying them into the bayou.

Dolphins no longer entered the bayou, and water

that once was fairly clear turned murky, with the former white sand bottom degraded to a dark and sickly muck.

As we paddle beneath a bridge and hug the north shore to stay out of the wind, none of these legacies are readily apparent. On this day the tiny plant plankton in the water are mostly gone for the winter, making it easy to see to the bottom of the shallows and some of the natural restoration that’s happening.

Our local commissioner on his paddle board has the high view and he uses it like a birddog, pointingout the changing scene along the way. In the shallows he points to dark patches on the bottom, which turn out to be prized aquatic vegetation that in these parts we call seagrass.These are aquatic plants that root to the bottom in shallow areas of water ways and form an incredible concentration of life—up to 40,000 fish and 50 million invertebrates in one acre.

Seagrass is nearly gone from the bayou and our local bay system following decades of pollution, so these emerging patches are heartening and spark much discussion. Our observations show that seagrass mostly is growing adjacent to marsh grass—perhaps because its roots add oxygen to the bayou substrate and change the conditions back to what’s needed by seagrass. The areas without marsh are mostly devoid of the submerged grasses. If that theory holds true, it’s a great example of how one form of life helps create the conditions needed by another, which is fairly common in the beautiful and complex flow of a natural ecosystem.

The emerging seagrass shows that as laws take effect regulating pollution from land, some of the damage is slowing. Here the city is going back into older neighbourhoods and adding underground devices to help filter stormwater, along with large ponds on land to capture runoff from larger areas.

A community group has planted oysters in the bayou to help filter the water. The combined results of all of this are starting to show, though the pollution continues to flow through in lesser amounts, making the bayou somewhat like a longtime chain smoker who hasn’t quit but has cut back to just a half a pack a day.

These recovering seagrasses that are returning as clean water returns help to make a point—that in the natural world, we’re usually not very good at directly restoring the things we’ve broken. What works best is to restore the natural conditions— the quality of air, land and water that existed prior

to disturbance. When conditions are right then natural systems can rebound as remaining plants and animals flourish and expand their numbers in the improving environment.

But directly planting back or releasing certain plants and animals is difficult or even impossible if the foundation of healthy conditions is not there. In the case of the bayou, that foundation is the clean and clear water that existed for thousands of years prior to human settlement of the area.

Heading back from our paddle, I think about how our shared love of the water and paddling has brought the three of us—an elected official, biologist, and me—together to see firsthand how our waters are responding to the new laws and programs that each of us works on nearly every day. Out of the office, away from our desks--it’s a view that only a paddle can bring.

© Judith Scott

ther for an up-close view

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STEFFAN MEYRIC HUGHES

The rollers

Gino Watkins Do you remember your first roll? Or, I should say, your first rolls, because there are a number of firsts in reality. The first roll, the first roll outside the warm clarity of the swimming pool, the first roll on moving water, then the first unplanned roll. It is not the hardest move in kayaking these days, not even close to it.

Almost anything in freestyle is harder, particularly the building blocks like double pumps and bow stalls, so the move has lost something of its cachet over the years.These days, it’s more realistic to see the roll as the crux move that enables you to start your kayaking career. It marks the end of beginner status and entry into the real club. It remains, however, the single most iconic move in kayaking and probably always will, because it represents something fundamental and important, and something that is nearly unique to the kayak: the ability to come back up after complete inversion.To the non-paddling world it is more impressive than anything else.

You don’t have to go back far in time to see its evolution in the sport. Various kayaking films of the 70s and even 80s show paddlers performing it as a victory flourish after a rapid or as a statement of intent before one. One good example is the first legal descent of Niagara Gorge – have a look on YouTube – it’s a great video.

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Far left: Gino Watkins book cover by John Ridgway.

Left: Gino Watkins illustration by Ian Ribbons scanned from the book OUP1974

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Photo: The Paddler ezine covered a story featuring a group of paddlers who went to see the remains of Watkin’s base camp on the east Greenland coast.

December 2014 issue read here…

Not long before those days, it was considered dangerous by the British Canoe Union and banned in competitive slalom. But you have to go a little further back to find the first Briton to perform the move, and that was Gino Watkins.

Watkins was not only incidentally a kayaker – he was first and foremost an Arctic explorer who led, at the exceptionally young age of 19, his first expedition to the frozen north (Edge Island), and three more before his death at the age of 26, when he was on his second trip to Greenland to survey the north Atlantic for a proposed transatlantic air route, at the behest of Pan American Airways.

The two published biographies on him (by his close friend JM Scott in 1935 and by the explorer John Ridgway MBE in 1974) focus on his exploration, but we gather that Watkins was not only able to roll his 18ft-long traditionallybuilt sealskin Greenland kayak with ease, but was an accomplished seal hunter and able to perform the ‘Eskimo’ roll without a paddle and in a number of variants of the sort we see today from Greenland specialists.

Watkin’s demise

“In spite of their great expertise in the kayaks, the stark fact remained that one-quarter of all Eskimo deaths was caused by drowning” wrote Ridgway.

Sadly, this was to be Watkin’s demise, when he paddled out to hunt seal on 20 August, 1932. He got out and stood on an ice floe on a routine stop to sort his gear out better, when a falling ice block behind him caused a strong wave to pass under the floe, knocking him into the freezing water and unable to climb back onto the floe or into his kayak, which drifted away. His body was never recovered.

Hans W Pawlata

According to John Dudderidge’s ‘History of Canoeing’ however, it was in fact the Austrian paddler Hans W Pawlata who was the first European to perform the move, and that was in 1927. Pawlata was part of the beginnings of the folding boat era, in which northern European paddlers (particularly Germans) began to discover the joys of running the Alpine rivers when the snow they had enjoyed their winter skiing on began to melt in the summer – a tradition that, of course, continues to this day.

Unlike Watkins, who learned directly from Eskimos, Pawlata taught himself the technique from their texts. Arguably this was an even greater achievement, although we know even less about Pawlata than we do about Watkins.

His extended paddle roll, known as the ‘pawlata roll’ has fallen out of favour these days compared with the ‘c to c’ but was throughout the 80s and 90s the preferred beginners’ roll, the paddler holding the blade of the paddle for better leverage and feel.

Inuit people

Finally, just to confuse things more, it has been suggested that Pawlata was not in fact the first to roll after all! An authoritative article on Wikipedia states that “a number of European missionaries and explorers had previously learned how to roll from the Inuit people of Greenland, Paul Egede probably being the first in the 1730s. Rolling was demonstrated in 1889 at Sandviken, Norway, by Oluf Dietrichson, a member of Nansen’s 1888 Greenland Expedition.”

For this reason, Pawlata’s position in history, although his achievement is greater than Watkin’s, is less secure. Like many things in kayaking, the history is far from clear, but it seems unchallenged (so far) that Watkins was the first Briton to roll. SO we’ll roll with that. And from that basis of being able to self-right, new in Europe but known to Greenlanders and Aleuts since before records of such things began, the sport began its transformation from the era of straw-hatted gentlemen on placid waters to the exciting extreme sport we know today.

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SONJA JONES

Seasonal

delights

…along UK inland waters in spring

Hello and welcome to the 2016 first instalment of seasonal delights, the brand new regular feature to curb your UK aquatic wildlife cravings.

By golly have we got a jam packed line up for you, but before we go any further and despite this issue focusing on inland waterways, something very exciting has happened of marine proportions, which must be celebrated.

To celebrate the new MCZs, in association with P&H Custom Sea kayaks, P&H are offering a £50 voucher for their new P&H WebStore.To be in for the chance of winning, send your favourite salty paddling wildlife photos by April 30th to sonjafvjones@gmail.com along with your contact details.The winning photograph will be revealed in the next issue of the Paddler.

Photo: Ocean Quahog by Paul Kay

2016 got off to an awesome start with the designation of 23 new Marine Conservation Zones around England’s coast. The new sites – a kind of nature reserve at sea – will protect the mosaic of fragile habitats that make up our seabed, as well as the creatures that depend on them. From seagrass meadows to Ocean Quahogs (the longest lived animal known to man) – our seas are now a little safer. MCZs do not restrict recreational access to sea, and a better protected seabed will attract the amazing wildlife we all hope to see when out and about, so good news all round! You can learn more at wildlifetrusts.org/mcz

‘Star Paddler’ interview

Now let’s welcome to the Paddler, this issue’s ‘Star Paddler’, sharing their most treasured paddling and wildlife experiences in spring – the most successful female freestyle paddler the world has ever seen, seven-time World Champion, Claire O’hara.

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ThePADDLER 12 Hi Claire, so for those readers that may not be familiar with you, please can you tell us a little bit about how long you’ve been paddling and why you love it so much?

I have been paddling for over 20 years; I adore how challenging it is to learn new skills, and how incredible it makes you feel being out on the water.Whether it’s flat or moving water, there’s something very special about being out on it, not to mention the awesome people you meet, all having a shared passion for the sport, being in the outdoors and loving adventure.

In a kayak you get to explore so many parts of the world that others don't get to.You get to be at one with nature, seeing the world from a different view. On the river, lake or ocean you are playing in nature’s playground, seeing and living in an unspoilt natural pure way - it’s pretty epic.

Claire O’hara. Photo by Pete Astles

What’s your most memorable wildlife encounter in the UK during spring?

About 20 years ago, on the River Aire where I grew up paddling, two swans had their nest just upstream from our club and so we would walk this section back to the club to give the swans space. The urban nature of the area means that this equated to a 10-15 minute walk, which included a major road crossing, which frustrated a particular paddler and so he decided he did not want to portage and to carry on paddling past the swans.

Swan Nest_Emily Cunningham Swan nest. Photo by Emily Cunningham The following took only a few seconds but reminded us all of how important it is to respect the wildlife we share the rivers with; as he paddled, the swans saw him where one reared up on its legs, opened its wings full span and made loud noises. The swan reared up again and chased him; he turned and started sprinting away but the swan caught up with him and landed firmly on the back of his boat and making squawking noises, flapping its wings loudly, and smacking him around his head.

At the time it was scary but looking back it was also one of the funniest things I ever seen on the river. A swan sat on the back of a kayaker flapping its wings back and forth against his helmet and head. I’m not sure how he got out of the situation but he did, he also had a helmet on so no injuries were caused other than his ego taking a hit; but he learnt his lesson and for the rest of the nesting season continued to walk and portage around the swans.

What are your hopes for the future of UK Waterways?

I hope that waterways remain open so that we can enjoy them as much as or even more so than we already do. I also hope that paddlers continue to respect and treat the rivers and environment with respect, positively influencing and educating the next generations of paddlers coming through.

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ThePADDLER 14 Hi Ali, let’s start at the beginning – what inspired you to work in wildlife conservation?

I grew up in a household where we went out for walks in the countryside, and I went to a school where our teachers took us on trips to the local woodlands, rivers and beaches. It didn’t seem unusual to me at the time, but so many people don’t have that early contact with nature these days. For me, it was just a natural choice; ever since, I’ve enjoyed being outdoors, and love working on projects where I can see a difference being made to my local environment.

Where is your favourite body of inland water and why?

Ali Morse Next up is Ali Morse, Water Policy and Projects Manager from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust.

Ali supports the Wildlife Trusts nationally on water policy work, representing them on the Blueprint for Water Coalition, and locally, works on policy issues as well as river restoration and habitat enhancement projects across Hampshire. A main focus of Ali’s work in Hampshire is as co-host of the Test and Itchen Catchment Partnership, where she works alongside partners to develop and deliver projects including ‘Keeping Rivers Cool’, sediment pathways work, and awareness raising around water pollution. She is coordinating a project working with 10 other Catchment Partnerships across the south east to raise awareness about the impacts of phosphate pollution.

Ali has a vast knowledge of UK inland waterway ecology, so who better to chat to about spring’s seasonal delights along UK waterways!

I’d have to say the River Itchen in Hampshire.

I’ve been working on the river on and off for around eight years now, but whenever I visit I’m always surprised by how beautiful it is. On a spring day, through the (usually) crystal-clear waters, you can see a wealth of aquatic insects and small fish darting in and out of the weed, and you’re surrounded by the buzzing of insects in the nearby wet meadows – it certainly doesn’t feel like you’re only minutes away from huge towns and busy motorways – it’s a breath of fresh air. There’s boating in the river’s tidal reaches and great riverside and circular walks where some of my favourite freshwater creatures can be spotted.

Do you have any specific fears for the biodiversity of inland waters, if so, what are they and is it possible for any harm to be prevented?

Our rivers have to deal with a lot – they’re the recipients of industrial pollution, agricultural runoff, and chemicals from roads and urban areas. They provide our drinking water, carry our waste and take flood flows away from our homes and businesses. In the past few decades we’ve made big steps in the UK towards cleaning up our most polluted rivers, but many are still seeing the effects of current and past abuses.

you can see a wealth of aquatic insects and small fish

darting in and out of the weed, and you’re surrounded by the buzzing of insects

Left: Itchen at Twyford ©HIWWT/Ali Morse Right: Itchen at Winnall ©HIWWT/Martin DeRetuerto

We’re getting better at managing our rivers more sensitively – things like retaining ‘woody debris’ and well vegetated margins which provide a home for the insects and fish fry at the base of the food chain – but one area where there’s still a long way to go is that of nutrient pollution. Nearly half of the rivers that we monitor in this country fail standards for phosphate, which favours nutrient-hungry plants like algae at the expense of the plant communities that should naturally be there.

You can’t see phosphate in the water, but the effects it can have can be extreme – think algal blooms and fish kills. We can all do something to help – farmers are changing practices to prevent the loss of soils and fertilisers from their land, water companies are trialling new phosphate-stripping techniques to remove the chemical at sewage treatment plants, and householders can switch to phosphate-free cleaning products, as residues end up in our rivers. Shockingly, dishwasher tablets can be more than 30% phosphate!

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ThePADDLER 16 Spring is upon us, a beautiful season for paddlers to get out and enjoy UK wildlife – you certainly don’t need to fly to Africa to see amazing sights. If you had to choose from all the flora and fauna inhabiting UK inland waters during spring, what are your four “must see” for our own paddle safari check lists?

1. As the breeding season approaches, much of our native wildlife will be becoming more active. Birds seen along our waterways include the Moorhen, often spotted picking its way through the bankside vegetation foraging for insects and small fish, and the grey wagtail, with its striking yellow underbelly not expected from its dull name. But my favourite is the Kingfisher – usually heard as a shrill ’peep’ or if you’re lucky, seen as a flash of blue flying fast and low over the surface of the water. Probably our most exotic-looking bird, they’re found across England and Northern Ireland, but many people have never seen one, so it’s certainly worth keeping your eyes peeled on your next visit. In spring, you may spot pairs excavating their nest burrows into the river banks.

2. Another favourite found (increasingly infrequently) in mainland Britain is the charismatic water vole; the inspiration for Ratty in Wind in the Willows. Often mistaken for rats, water voles have a blunter snout, less prominent ears, and a hairy tail. Sadly water voles numbers declined by 90% during the 1990s and by a further fifth over the last ten years, so your chances of spotting one aren’t brilliant. In some areas, habitat management, the control of American Mink (a voracious predator of our native wildlife) and reintroductions are helping to turn the tables.

Look out for them munching on grasses at the water’s edge, or listen for a ‘plop’ as they dive to the safety of underwater burrow entrances when startled.

3. The emergence of the Mayfly is one of the great springtime spectacles on our rivers.

Britain has 51 different species, all of which live as larvae in our rivers, streams, ponds and lakes, and, after a year or two, emerge as adult flies in the spring and summer. They get their collective name from one of the larger species which emerges when the ‘Mayflower’, Hawthorn, starts to bloom in late May.

Considered to be an indicator of river health, Anglers count the larvae numbers in water samples to detect pollution. The mayfly ‘hatch’ in parts of the United States can be so big that it shows up on weather radar, but in the UK, pollution, habitat degradation and predation by non-native species can limit the numbers. The chalk rivers of the south and east still usually have substantial hatches.

4. Not everyone’s favourite, spring also heralds the emergence of our bats after their winter hibernation. Bats come out after sunset to hunt for prey by echolocation. Their highpitched sound pulses can be heard with a bat detector, but are usually outside the range of hearing for most adults. Daubentons Bat is the one most strongly associated with water – found throughout the UK, it lives in hollow trees, tunnels and buildings near water and can often be spotted after dusk swooping along the surface of rivers and lakes – these provide rich hunting grounds, and the bat uses its large feet to scoop up flies, midges and moths. Its greyish-white belly is also distinctive, and my top wildlife-watching tip is that it can often be spotted from the comfort of riverside pubs! A great way to end your day’s paddling.

my favourite is the Kingfisher – usually heard as a shrill ’peep’ or if you’re lucky, seen as a

flash of blue flying fast and low over the surface of the water.

Top left: Water vole on the riverbank. Photo: by Tom Marshall Main: Kingfisher. Photo by Jon Hawkins, Surrey Hills Photography Left: Mayfly Photo by Margaret Holland

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ThePADDLER 18 How can we avoid disturbing nesting birds when out on the water?

Many waterbirds will nest on or near the water, with nests constructed on islands, on rafts of floating vegetation, in tree forks, or along the riverbank. Timing varies by species but the main breeding season is between March and August.

Keeping a low paddle angle, keeping noise and speed low, and giving nests a wide berth is important to avoid disturbing breeding pairs – and not loitering for too long will ensure that they don’t abandon the nest, which spells disaster for any eggs laid or chicks already hatched. Using designated entry points will also prevent accidental trampling of nests hidden in the undergrowth.

That’s a wrap for this instalment; I hope both Ali and Claire will encourage you to take a moment to pause when out on the water to simply notice the brilliance of UK wildlife this spring and to take action to preserve our magnificent waterways.

My contact details: Email: sonjafvjones@gmail.com www.sonja-jones.co.uk Tel: 07581 293455

How can we as paddlers be advocates for healthy UK waterways?

As individuals you can support the local conservation organisations that provide a voice for our watery wildlife, as members, volunteers, or both.You might be able to help with managing non-natives, or monitoring water quality.You can also be as efficient as possible when using water in the home, as less taken for abstraction means more for our rivers and wetlands.

Buy phosphate-free cleaning products so our rivers aren’t choked with algae and full of foam. Use water butts for gardening, houseplants, car-cleaning, and washing down your kit. And encourage your clubs to get in touch with the Catchment Partnership for your area – these cover the whole of England (www.catchmentbasedapproach.org) as part of a community-led approach to engage people and groups from across society to help improve our precious water environments. The partnerships will be able to tell you more about the key issues in your local area, and about what you can do to help. In Scotland, Wales and Ireland there may be similar initiatives – your local Wildlife Trust or Rivers Trust will advise.

Pond dipping.

Photo by Emma Websdale

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By Dave Rossetter – Head of Paddlespo

UKCC Level 3 I started off all the series of coaching articles looking at the coaching awards and the progression through them. I have spent the rest of them mainly looking at coaching ideas and principles.These have been technical and tactical options for various aspects of paddling.They have also covered aspects of how to improve – improve as a coach and as a paddler.

Covering topics such as practice, communities and planning they have focused on what coaches can use to aid them in their delivery and work with paddlers.

In this article I want to pause on that and take a more in depth look at the UKCC Level 3 award. Each of the areas in the previous articles is part of the tools on hand for a Level 3.

orts at Glenmore Lodge

coaching award What British Canoeing states A BCU (UKCC) Level 3 Coach is a discipline specialist coach who is able to plan, implement, and analyse long-term development programmes. This is an appropriate level of coach for a person to be in charge of paddlesport activities in a club/centre or as a working professional. As they are likely to be working with participants for up to a year. From Level 3 onwards, coaches will specialise in one or more of the disciplines or environments.

The BCU Level 3 Certificate in Paddlesport Coaching Award is relevant to potential coaches from all paddlesport disciplines including coaches who might work with competitive and noncompetitive paddlers. The award develops the foundation coaching skills taught at Level 2 that will underpin future coaching behaviours and practice.

Remit l

l

The BCU Level 3 coach can operate in a moderate water environment in the discipline specific area of their assessment.

The BCU Level 3 coach can train and assess paddlers for the BCU 1-3 Star and Paddlepower (where meeting specific requirements).

Process

The pathway is highlighted in the model (figure 1 overleaf). It is a modular approach with a few points where you come together for the more formal training. The whole process can take up to four years to complete from the core training through the final assessment. However, many coaches complete much quicker.

The two training courses – ‘Core’ and ‘Discipline’ specific – are an opportunity to get together with like-minded coaches and get set up for the next steps on the process. The supplementary programme is self-managed. It does need to be complete before going onto the discipline specific training however; it can be done at any time leading up to that. It is designed for you to pick up the physiological and / or psychological aspects of coaching paddlesport. Technical / Tactical aspects (for recreational based disciplines) is picked up through the Moderate Water Endorsement award.

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Pathway and content model Level 3 prerequisites Home nation registration Level 3 core training • Introduction to BC Level 3 Certificate in Coaching Paddlesport.

• Analyse participants’ current and potential performance, needs and aspirations.

• ‘How’ to coach – an in depth look at and use of the level 3 coaching behaviours.

• Individualised coaching strategies.

• Plan a long-term programme according to agreed goals.

• Manage a safe and effective coaching environment.

• Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of a coaching programme.

Level 3 supplementary programme • Optimising Fitness and Performance 1.

• Optimising Fitness and Performance 2 .

• Coaching the Mind for Paddlesport.

• BC Moderate Water Endorsement (BC Level 3 Coach).

Home nation registration Level 3 discipline specific training Applied discipline specific delivery and mentoring looking at the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of the coaching process in the context of the chosen discipline environment.

The full TTPP components are explored in this two-day course.

Level 3 candidate assessment portfolio Candidates complete and gather evidence for the assessment tasks.

Candidates are working with their long-term students for 8-12 months working through agreed annual plans.

Level 3 final assessment day Three final assessment tasks assessed during a practical assessment day.

Level 3 Certification

Core training

This three-day course sets the whole process up. It takes the core competencies from the UKCC Level 2 and develops / builds on them.

The course takes place generally on sheltered/inclusive water where all disciplines are catered for. The generic nature of coaching is covered where sharing ideas and knowledge adds to the coach’s behaviours. The main focus areas: l Observation and analysis leading to building profiles. l Skills for developing ours and others coaching. l Longer term coaching behaviours. l Annual planning and building programmes. l Strategic coaching decisions. l Strategies for individualisation.

Discipline specific training

This two-day course is where the components of the core and supplementary programmes are put together in the specific environment.

Coaches are supported by the tutors looking at ‘what’ to coach using the ‘how’ to coach behaviours.

This is a crucial part of the process. The tutors are there to support the coaches with their coaching and provide mentoring leading to the coach developing an action plan going forward.

Between this training and the final assessment the coach will be working through their portfolio and completing assessment tasks along the way.

These six core areas focus the on the generic nature of coaching. The tutors will structure the course to allow maximum participation using a mixture of on-water and classroom sessions.

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ThePADDLER 24 Development phase/building portfolios

The real training takes place in this stage. Building the portfolio around the coaching of long-term students is where the coach learns the trade.

Putting into practice and developing the sophistication in our coaching is what this part helps us with. By identifying a small team of paddlers to coach the candidate will be able to build, with them, a plan for their development.

This profiling and identification of their ‘needs’ along with their wants allows the coach to target their coaching towards meeting these goals. It is also an opportunity for the coach to create and establish their coaching identity. Building on who they are as coach and what is critical for them in their coaching they will target their development against their weaker areas.

The portfolio process provides opportunity for the coach to reflect on their coaching and the process that they are going through. This reflection will be via a few varying methods.

Time spent reflecting on the coaching sessions with development team Taking time after coaching to reflect on the session is a brilliant way to analyse our own performance. There are a few questions that we can ask ourselves to help: l Did I meet the goals that we set out to do? l If so why – what did I do that meant that we succeeded? l What did my paddlers do to aid in this? l If we didn’t achieve the goal what happened? l What do I need to change for next time?

surprised us, we did well with and what worked means that we can more strategic again in the future.

Mentoring of other coaches Being able to have discussions with other coaches ensures that the verbalising of our thoughts deepens our understanding. This helps us with our knowledge and challenges our technical/tactical understanding as well as helping identify and recognise the ‘how’ of coaching.

Being strategic is a vital part of the Level 3 coaching behaviours so therefore being able to discuss with another coach what happened and different ways to progress aids with the strategic decision-making process.

Being mentored Having a trusted mentor help us understand what we did and what we could have done challenges us as a coach. This challenge allows us to be sure of ourselves as a coach which gives us confidence in what we are doing and why we are doing it the way are. However, it also forces us to recognise if there are other ways of coaching. All of this means that we are constantly improving ourselves to help develop our paddlers. This shouldn’t stop at Level 3!

Time spent reflecting on the whole process of the annual plan The whole level 3 process is about longer-term coaching. It take time to develop an annual plan for/with the paddlers so it is only right that we evaluate this process. As above we should be asking ourselves critical questions about our performance. Identifying when we made decisions to keep the plan on track allows us to learn from this and hopefully avoid making similar mistakes.

Also identifying the points along the way that

Summary

Hopefully this gives a flavour of what to expect on the Level 3 process and answers some questions. Depending on your coaching role then this award could be for you. Anyone who coaches over a longer period of time with paddlers should see this as an award that is very achievable and ensure that you add to your tool box of ‘how’ to coach to meet your students needs and wants.

Happy paddling/coaching

Dave Rossetter Dave is Head of Paddlesports at Glenmore Lodge – Scotland’s National Outdoor Training Centre. He has been involved in the development of the new awards and provides expert advice throughout the industry on all things to do with coaching, safety, leadership and personal paddling. He is passionate about all things paddling and specialises in white water kayak and open canoe where he will most often be found.

www.glenmorelodge.org.uk www.peakuk.co.uk

IInspiring

We are Scotland’s National Outdoor Training Centre

www.glenmorelodge.org.uk

White water

Open canoeing

Sea kayaking

Learn, L develop or qualify in an adventure sport of your y choice. Our goal is to inspire adventure by teaching t beginners, coaching intermediate/advanced and a delivering training and assessment courses for leaders l and instructors.

Stand up paddle boarding p

Surf kayaking

Photo: Doug Cooper

Adventure

located l in the heart of Cairngorms National Park.

Qualifications

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Testing, 2016 Dagger Nomad www.dagger.com

By Phil Carr www.unsponsored.co.uk

I had the opportunity to have a brief paddle of the new 2016 Dagger Nomad (#newmad).This particular shell is the large Prototype V3, which is pretty much what the production model will be like.The large Nomad due to be in stores any time now. Smaller versions will be available in due course.

I had first seen the Newmad in the flesh at Paddle Expo and since posting those images taken at the time it has been pretty clear, from the associated statistics from Unsponsored, that this boat has a great number of people very interested. But what are my initial thoughts?

Firstly, if you are one of the many who have preordered a new Nomad without seeing one in the flesh or having even paddled one I can put your mind at rest.You have made a solid choice!

Outfitting:

I am a huge fan of the Contour outfitting system. It still remains my favourite, so it’s great to see it in the new boat and working as well as ever.

The system is designed around ease of use and adjustment. For example the front edge of the seat can be raised or lowered through the use of the same kind of ratchet system that we are all familiar with on kayak backrests.The hip pads come supplied with a range of shims that can be added/removed to provide the optimum fit.

A couple of quick release buckles allow easy access to the back of the pads to add/remove the

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testin

The Paddle r ez ine te

ou want yo ion. If y u stat rp st r

shims.The backrest provides a broad support base and adjusted via two ratchets positioned near the front of the cockpit.

The only real difference to say the Contour system found in the 2013+ Dagger Mamba is the fact that the storage tray has been removed.This has been done in order to save weight.To me that does seem like a sensible move. It doesn't make the new Nomad a lightweight but every little helps.

In the water this large model doesn’t look, feel or paddle big. It does have both great stability and speed yet remains a dream to control. Although quick, I didn’t feel as though it was running away from me, it remained poised and composed throughout.

From the moment I jumped in, it simply felt comfortable and familiar. I do need more time in the kayak and on a wider range of water but at this stage it definitely feels like my kind of boat. I am looking forward to getting hold of one in a week or two.

dd lers - email us: review s@thep addle rez ine

m .co

I was expecting this Nomad to be very similar to the old one but have found that the #Newmad is a totally new beast. It has more volume, more rocker and definitely more speed. However, if you liked that fact that the old Nomad would look after you when the going got tough, you will happily find that the 2016 Nomad does exactly the same but is a much more modern boat.

nte of i

On the water

res t to pa

The Nomad is supplied with a fully adjustable full-plate footrest system that incorporates a system that allows the plate to expand, thus eliminating gaps between the footrest and kayak shell thereby reducing the changes of foot entrapment. It is relatively weighty system but is does work really well.

e will b nd it ed a iew rev uct od

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MSR Dromedary water storage bags www.cascadedesigns.com/ie/msr

By Richard Harpham

MSR Dromedary bags are the gold standard for expedition water storage in the world of kayaking and canoeing.They are extremely durable with good functional design for filling and pouring and securing in your boat. Although we have been reviewing them within the Paddler team, personally I have used MSR Dromedary bags for over six years on expeditions and the first ones I bought are still going strong.

The filler cap has three different options with drinking, filling and pouring available depending on your location and needs.The bag itself is made from abrasion resistant Cordura laminated with food grade polyurethane and can handle temperature ranges from freezing to boiling.

Capacity

2-litre

4-litre

6-litre

10-litre

Width

179g

196g

247g

284g

20x42cm

25x48cm

28x56cm

34x60cm

Weight

Material Cost

Cordura-500 Cordura-500 Cordura-1000 Cordura-1000 (Nylon) /TPU (Nylon) /TPU (Nylon) /TPU (Nylon) /TPU £30/$34.95

£35/$39.95

£40/$44.95

£45/$49.95

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The bags come in a range of sizes, 2, 4, 6 and 10litre and like the Model T Ford’s of yesteryear they are available in black.The MSR Dromedary has an integral webbing allowing for easy securing or hanging for washing and drinking.You can also get showering and hydration kits for the bags to increase their versatility.The bags when empty can be collapsed and stored in a hatch or dry bag.

The MSR Dromedary Bags are designed for heavy usage in the outdoor world and have received a five-star rating on all categories.

Paddler review Durability: Features/design: Value for money: Weight/size:

5 5 5 5

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MSR Pocket Rocket stove www.cascadedesigns.com/ie/msr

By Richard Harpham

The MSR Pocket Rocket stove is ultra light, powerful and simple to use.

It screws neatly onto threaded gas canisters and allows you to boil a litre of water in about 3½ minutes.

The flame heat can be adjusted from roaring heat to simmer with a twist of the throttle! The MSR stove is supplied in a useful plastic case that would fit in your pocket.

Pete Astles. Dorset. UK. Image: Paul Ramsdale.

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The Pocket Rocket is perfect to carry in your kayak, canoe or sea kayak for either a lunchtime brew or alternatively you could knock up a good meal using one to two pot cooking techniques!

The stove would also be a useful additional to emergency repair kits for welding plastic boats.

We used the Pocket Rocket on a couple of paddling trips this winter and found it quick and simple to use and given its size it is perfect to fit in a dry bag in your boat. Expect to pay around £25.00.You can also buy a wind shield called a Windclip for the stove and also a base.

Explorer Suit. Now £499

Paddler review Durability: Features/design: Value for money: Weight/size: Performance:

5 4 5 5 4

QUALITY • PERFORMANCE • DESIGN

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Kitvision Edge HD30W Action Camera http://kitvision.co.uk

By Peter Tranter

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Last issue we reviewed the very affordable Splash camera and this month we have the Edge HD30W, the allsinging, all-dancing top of the line model but still priced lower than their biggest competition without sacrificing any capabilities such as 1080P@30FPS and 1080I@60FPS and the ability to snap eight megapixel photos with the 175 degree lens.

In the world of action cams, it’s the norm that the units have a minimum of buttons, so when presented with something like the Edge HD30W, it can be a little bewildering as it displays a huge array of buttons all over the place, left, right and centre.

However, I prefer buttons.Yes, they may interrupt the lines and make something look a little disorganized, etc but I like them because they give me instant information on what is what with the controls of the camera compared to other units, which require you to be pressing the same button three times, through an on-screen menu.

So on the front you have the on/off switch and above this switches for the G-sensor, the light meter and Wi-Fi status indicator. When the Gsensor is switched to green it enables the camera to sense changes in gravity. If left still for three minutes or more, the camera will exit recording, which will save battery life.

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the light meter is useful for when the central subject is bright against a dark background and helps with the quality of the final video/photo.

The Wi-Fi button is obvious and has a blue indicator light so you can see when it is transferring information.

To set the camera up for recording or taking photos there is an ‘M’ button on the right hand side which accesses the menu and allows you to set the modes etc. below the ‘M’ button is a playback button to access those features.

One of the big features of the camera is the detachable TFT screen, which is really useful. there are many times when you will not need the screen so being able to detach it is neat way to save weight and size. When the camera is mounted on a helmet, the weight change is negligible. However, should you wish to use the Edge with a drone, then the weight saving gains in importance. Whichever way, it is just nice to be able to remove the screen when you know you won’t need it.

With or without the rear screen, there is a is a handy LCD screen on the top of the unit, that allows users to know what mode the camera is in, how much time left for recording and battery indicator.To the right of the screen are two buttons, one which will allow users to stop video recording and the other will allow them to take photos. Press both of these buttons at the same

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time will switch the unit off.There are also a further five buttons on top of the removable screen, which control playback items.There is also a very small hole, which is in fact the microphone.

When the waterproof casing is used as seen on the left you can see how the three primary Buttons are to be used. The green one on the front to record video, the red on the top to stop recording and the silver button for photos.

Finally there is a very neat app that can be used to control the camera from your phone, tablet, computer etc using the in-built W-Fi. So how does it do? Very well in fact. Get to know the camera well with its optimum set-up and you will be rewarded with good, clean looking footage, especially in the 1080P mode. the 1080I mode and 60 FPS is more applicable to fast moving subjects, which will appear more fluid and personally I preferred that setting.

The camera function does a decent job, although like all action cams it does prefer a well-lit setting. There really is nothing to grumble about here and just look at all the accessories that come with the Edge.

You can pick this camera up for around £140, which considering all that you get in return is something of a bargain especially when compared with more expensive rivals. Overall, I was very impressed with it.

Specs: l l l l l l

l l l l l l

l

Full HD 1080p @ 30fps, 1080i @ 60fps Built-in Wi-Fi Waterproof up to 100m 8 Megapixel photo mode 175 degree ultra wide angle lens Micro SD/ micro SDHC cards above Class 6 – up to 64 GB (not included) 10 x digital zoom G-sensor (Accelerator sensor for auto on / stop) Image 180 turnover recording 10 FPS fast shot mode Built-in high quality microphone High capacity rechargeable battery: up to three hours continuous recording Weight: 54 g (114 g with TFT screen and battery)

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Downcreek Paddles Paddles start from ÂŁ150, which is an absolute steal for something of this quality and pedigree.

www.downcreekpaddles.com

By Richard Harpham www.canoetrail.co.uk

Once in a while we find something in life that transcends its original purpose and design and put simply, stops us in our tracks. It is both beautiful, practical and an object you can’t be without.This is the story of Downcreek Paddles and their Big Dipper and Kingfisher canoe paddles.They arrived at Paddler HQ greeted with the excitement of Christmas morning festivities. Since then they have been tested on moving water and flat paddling trips on the Severn, Great Ouse and Dee and in all conditions (mostly flood given the liquid sunshine).They passed with flying colours.

At first glance the workmanship is exceptional with great balance in the paddles. The paddle grips and shafts are also solid feeling very comfortable in the hand. The paddles are the result of hand craftsmanship from Irish manufacturers, Downcreek, who were experienced woodworkers. Their hand-crafted process involves laminating carefully selected hardwoods, which helps provide the balanced weight and all-round performance. It has crossed our mind to place the paddles over the mantel piece with pride of place when we are not using them on journeys or expeditions.

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Sizing your canoe paddle

There are number of ways to size your canoe paddle. Of course having a paddle with a blade before hand can be helpful. An important consideration is to think about what kind of paddling you are looking to do? Whether it is tandem or solo, deep water or white water and so on.The Downcreek paddles, like many manufacturers, come in two inch increments to help you get the right size and you can also select smaller or larger grip sizes.

General rule of thumbs: Whilst on the water

Sit inside your canoe and measure the distance vertically from your nose to the water. This distance will be the required length from paddle's grip to the throat, where the paddle shaft meets the blade.

Trying out a paddle

Kneel down with your bottom about 6 inches from the floor, simulating your seated canoe position. Hold the paddle upside down, with the grip on the floor. You should now have the throat of the paddle located between your chin and your nose.

Measuring at home (without paddle)

Kneel down with your bottom about six inches off the floor, as if sitting in a canoe. Measure from the floor to your nose. Add this measurement to the blade length (commonly 20 inches) noted on REI.com product pages for the correct overall length.

Other considerations

With crank shaft or bent-shaft paddles, then you might want to deduct two inches from the length you've determined above. For wider canoes or paddling tandem from the stern (rear seat) then you might want to add two inches to the paddle length so you can reach the water without excessive leaning and also get more leverage for steering.

For more white water use and or rock gardens then have a look at the Rock Guard tip that can be added to your paddle.

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KingFisher

Modelled on the long narrow bladed Algonquin, which was traditionally a Cree Indian hunting paddle, this is both quiet and efficient to use. It provides effortless long gliding strokes in deep water and is super easy to knife back to the catch.

The handle or grip is gently rounded with a roll top and fits comfortably into your palm, you can hold it using different grip choices which makes the J stroke feel smoother. As you would expect for such a traditional paddle shape you can paddle quietly with the blade remaining continually in the water. This blade is great to have in your quiver, for deep water work or as your main paddle, if you are paddling deeper open water sections.

Again you can tailor the blade to your own specific needs as left.

Blade Dimensions

Length: 29 1/2″ Width: 4 3/4″

Sample weights:

64″ Kingfisher in Cherry = 810g 62″ Kingfisher in Chestnut & Walnut = 650g

Paddle grip sizes

Big Dipper

We have it on good authority from the canoe master himself, Ray Goodwin (The guy who wrote the book), that he was involved the design of the Big Dipper resulting in an increase in the blade size providing a better catch and significantly more power. The paddle is based on the traditional beaver tail which is great for lake journeys and deep water paddling.

The Dipper feels great in the hand across a wide variety of different strokes without any blade flutter. There is a small amount of flex in the paddle to avoid straining joints and muscles. It has a slightly ovelised shaft to improve the lower hand grip.

The Big Dipper is a fantastic canoe blade and one of the best paddles we have ever tested. You can tailor the blade to your own specific needs with choices including: l Length of paddle l Wood types l Grip size l Personalised engraving l White water tip (Rock Guard)

Blade dimensions

Length: 26” Max Width: 7.5”

Regular size: approx. 80mm x 29mm Slim size: approx. 70mm x 27mm Weight: Value: Power: Feel:

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5 5 4 5

Sample weights:

60” Irish Ash & Black Walnut = 800g 56” Cherry & Black Walnut = 700g Weight: Value: Power: Feel:

5 5 5 5

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Lifeventure TrekTowel

Peter Tranter I first received one of these towels many years ago when working on another paddling magazine, around 2008 I think.

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Kitvision Stretch http://kitvision.co.uk

By Peter Tranter

The Kitvision Stretch is a lockable extension pole for use with action cams and even heavier SLRs providing the camera doesn’t weigh any heavier than 500g.

Very easy to use with a twist and lock mechanism that allows the user to determine the exact length they require, unsurprisingly working very much in the same was as the leg of a camera tripod.

I still use that towel twice a week for circuit training plus showering afterwards and can honestly say that it is still as good as new.

Despite being used hundreds of times and going through the washer, there is simply no wear and tear at all, even maintaining its colour – you could say, hard on the outside but soft on the inside.

It’s perfect for those like myself who haven’t got the room for traditional towels and excels in those areas like water absorption, quick drying and anti-odour properties.

Comes in a nice handy bag and available in pocket, large, extra large and giant size in green, blue and pink. Available for £8-25 depending on size.

You won’t be disappointed.

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Excellent for getting closer to the action or arching over a group of people, the Stretch is obviously better employed when used with a remote control. Next to the handle there is a detachable panel for attaching a GoPro remote, which I don’t currently have, so it wasn’t possible to test this feature but it seems obvious enough.

I did though use the Kitvision Edge app that allowed me to control the camera from the phone via Wi-Fi and this proved easy enough and possibly an advantage as with the phone you can observe what the camera is seeing.

No remote? Well set the camera on a timer for photos or set the record to on and edit later.

There is a comfortable rubber grip for holding the Stretch and when extended, everything feels more than stable with the locking mechanism. It feels that the pole is made from aluminium and is certainly strong enough for purpose.

This is a very handy accessory and priced at £19.99 seems quite reasonable for what feels like a quality product and when compared with the experience of a friend who recently ordered a similar product online for £15, which fell to pieces on its first outing in Cambridge.

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Reed Low Profile Pogies

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http://www.chillcheater.com

It has a waterproof outer layer and a comfortable, warm, knit inner layer. Mark said it was key for him that these pogies remain lightweight in action too, for racing and training. He needed pogies that would not hold water, a problem more commonly associated with neoprene pogies.

The latest addition to their range is an Aquatherm low profile, very lightweight pogie. British Ocean Ski Champion and sprint kayaker, Mark Ressel, helped with the design and trial of these new pogies. They are made from Reed's own Aquatherm fabric, a lightweight and fast water-shedding neoprene replacement fabric that is tough and stretchy.

It was critical for him too, whilst making portages, to have a really simple easy-on easy-off, structured and shaped hand opening, one that remained in shape and yet still protected his hands from the elements. Reeds pogies have an inner flexible support at the mouth of the glove. They velcro fasten on and off simply onto the paddles, they dry quickly, and they pack up small into your kit. Bonus is they are machine washable too!

Good feedback from their customers is what fuels Reed Chillcheater's research and development, they tell us.

Explore Milos Island, Greece 6 Day-trips with 8 nights B&B for â‚Ź560 pp.

Genuine hospitality, quality equipment, an amazing place to paddle. BCU qualified coaches. We are open all year, everyone is welcome.

WWW.seakayakGreeCe.Com

Canadian Wilderness www.paddlersinn.ca To advertise email: ads@thepaddlerezine.com or call +44 (0)1480 465081

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PADDLER Kayak

038 United Kingdom

Central London Thames by night by Peter Tranter

050 Austria, Italy and Switzerland Five days, three stops by Darin McQuoid

068 Kayak paddles

Mark Crame’s personal choice

078 Croatia

A club’s whitewater misson by Matt Cooke

090 Coaching

Downwind kayak sailing by Paul Bull

092 Interview with…

Sandra Hyslop

100 United Kingdom

Simply stronger ATOM SUIT

Trimmed down and simplified, our 2016 suits are more T durable than ever. You'll find fewer seams in the leg section, and extra layers of reinforcement where it counts.

palmequipmenteurope.com/atom

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Gliding silently amongst the

BIG

SMOKE Paddling the River Thames in the dark is something that has always fascinated me, so when I noticed an ad placed by Secret Adventures (advertising really does work!), I snapped at the chance.The first date in October was already full but the following November date, the last of the season, had a few places available, so we snapped them up.

We arrived at Limehouse Basin at the allocated time of 6.30pm and were met by Alfie Hatt of Moo Canoes. Although we booked through Secret Adventures, the paddle itself is run by Moo Canoes on their behalf. We'd been advised to arrive in the clothing we intended to paddle in, as the location is under the railway arches with minimal changing room. On registering after arrival we were then provided with waterproof jackets and trousers plus the safety equipment – a buoyancy aid and a light. We also took a set of dry clothes – a really good plan, as inevitably you do get a little damp.

Possessions safely secured in their office the adventure began.

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A friendly but

comprehensive safety briefing was given by our instructors with levels of experience noted, though none was required to participate. Then it’s off for a ten-minute walk around the basin until we reach the kayaks that are lined up in a narrow street next to the river itself.

Further safety instruction is given by Alfie and his two colleagues and we set up the flat bottomed double Perception kayaks for our sizes. Our group consisted of around eight pairs and there was quite an air of anticipation and excitement as we sat in the kayaks before carrying them down the steps and onto the small area of beach from where we launch.

Alfie is already on the water and the second instructor advises us when to push out as the waves are more than large enough to tip us over.

As a wave comes in he tells us to paddle as hard as we can until we are out of the narrow enclosure onto the Thames and before the next wave has a chance to unsettle us. We meet up with Alfie and straight away you realise the conditions are a little choppier than you expect with us bobbing around all over the place, the darkness disorientating us for a minute or two.

However, whilst waiting for the other boats to launch, Anne and myself decide to orientate ourselves and start paddling in unison. Anne being in the front and having issues with left and right, there were a few times when we were definitely not in sync, but as the evening passed we seemed to find a comfortable rhythm, for the most part!

You very soon adapt to the conditions and surroundings and start to feel quite exhilarated and excited to be paddling the Thames in the heart of London at night. The kayaks being very flat bottomed are incredibly stable and surprisingly comfortable. Everyone launched safely and were given a little time to paddle around, getting used to the swell and admiring the twinkling towers of Canary Wharf in the distance, then we’re off.

Tonight’s paddle will take us west from our starting point at Limehouse Basin, under the Tower Bridge, past the Tower of London and turning once under London Bridge.We then paddle alongside HMS Belfast, back under Tower Bridge and onto the waterside pub where we alight for some delicious traditional pie, mash and liquid refreshment and then back on our way again, an adventure lasting roughly three hours.

FACT: More than 400 workers helped to build the bridge between 1886 and 1894. Over 70,000 tons of concrete was sunk to the bed of the River Thames to support the bridge.

FACT: Many people still mistakenly name Tower Bridge as London Bridge as it is the most photographed.

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As we set off

we are given warnings to closely follow the instructions of the guides and to watch for low hanging items off small bridges and the large waves that the bigger craft on the Thames leave in their wake.

The first sensation that hits you is how eerily quiet it is down on the water, very little city noise that belies the fact that it is a very busy Friday evening just a few feet above. As well as being quiet - it’s also very dark, which despite the obvious fact that the sun disappeared nearly three hours ago is a surprise - just expected more artificial lighting.The peacefulness and darkness just add to the magic of being on such a busy river at night, snaking our way through one of the busiest cities on the planet and being almost invisible. A little like being Harry Potter - only slower and lower.

Fact

Seals breed and nurse their young in the estuary of the Thames and have been recorded as far upstream as Waterloo Bridge.

Periodically we turn head on to waves created by the large speeding tourist catamarans but by now everybody seem comfortable with their craft and there is not too much fuss. The only real danger is from one pair of paddlers who seem intent on colliding with every other kayak in the group - but we all laugh and shrug our shoulders.

By now we have passed the riverside homes of Helen Mirren and Graham Norton and the town of Wapping as we keep tight to the left bank of the river with the full light of the city of London now dead ahead. As we approach Tower Bridge, Alfie our lead instructor gathers

The only real danger is from one pair of paddlers who seem intent on

colliding with every other kayak in the group

Fact

The Luftwaffe used the Thames to navigate to London – as soon as they saw the distinctive u-bend they knew that they were at the docks.

Tower Bridge by Dave White http://www.davewhite.me

FACT: In pre-19th century London, cold winter weather would sometimes freeze the surface of the Thames. ‘Frost Fairs’ would be held on the ice, with Londoners enjoying dancing and drinking.The last fair was 200 years ago and it appears unlikely there will ever be another one because the river now flows too fast for the water to freeze. us all up as we had become a little fragmented.

He explains to us where to go and to keep tight to the left bank.

We’re now pretty close as a group as we slowly paddle beneath the huge structure of Tower Bridge with each and every one of us gazing up at this magnificent roadway decked out in all of it's dazzling lighting. It’s an obvious place for a group photo and so we all gather together and give the thumbs up as we all take pictures of each other.

Onwards and upwards then as we pass the Tower of London on the left and I stop to take a photo of Traitor’s Gate. Although what I should say is the signage for the gate as the actual opening is lying beneath the water as the River Thames is now at full tide. It is this tide

that will start to flow outwards that the instructors know will give us a fairly leisurely return leg helped by the current.

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Now gathered beneath London Bridge, Alfie gives us the pep talk for crossing the river.

Basically just paddle as fast as you can when he tells you to as the tourist catamarans travel at quite a pace besides all the other traffic. Whist we are all together beneath the bridge, Alfie gets his mobile out, asks us all what we want to eat and phones ahead to the pub for the food order – nice one!

All done and without incident we are now safely gathered on the right bank of the river and start to make our return as we paddle within feet of the huge hull of HMS Belfast. The 14,000 ton WWII cruiser took part in the sinking of the mighty German battlecruiser Scharnhorst and I for one wouldn’t argue from this perspective. It’s only at this point that

some people high above on the shore seem to have noticed us and begin shouting down at us.

Can’t quite make out what as they sound a bit Brahms and Liszt but it seems friendly and jovial enough – time to move on.

As we pass back under Tower Bridge, it is noticeable how much easier it is as the tidal current starts to pick up and some are happy to just drift along. Not for long though as we now approved the riverside pub where we will take our dinner break. The Mayflower in Rotherhithe, is one of London’s oldest pubs and has as you would expect, is very atmospheric and a very historical background to boot.

Instructor, Alfie Hatt beneath London Bridge

Having previous paddling experience we waited whilst most of the others landed and 20 minutes or so later we got in ourselves. By now of course we were a little damp and cold and after brushing past more than a few raised eyebrows in the lounge we reached the tented area at the back of the pub and all headed for the outside gas heaters. Everything was pretty much clockwork as far as the food and drinks went. Each paddler had a meal and a drink included in the price of the paddle and as far as I could make out, everyone was perfectly happy with what they had and just as we were starting to dry out and warm up it was time to get back in the kayaks.

The Shard by Dave White http://www.davewhite.me

However, getting into the pub from the Thames isn’t quite as easy as walking through the front door and nor should it be really. Only one kayak can go in at a time and this involves much twisting and turning to get lined up with the stairs and then exiting the kayak and climbing over the rails, sometimes with hilarious results. Meanwhile on the Thames, the other kayakers are now having to paddle against the tide so as not to be carried down river as they patiently wait for each person to exit their kayaks and the instructors to tie them up.

HMS Belfast FACT:

The first bridge in the capital was located where the current London Bridge stands. It has been rebuilt many times since the Romans first constructed a river crossing there around 2,000 years ago.

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There is something quite magical when viewing the

twinkling lights of London from the inky Thames

Pub‌

I must admit that when I looked over the Thames from the landing at the rear of the Mayflower pub I didn’t much fancy it. It looked cold, dark and uninviting and once you have stopped moving and reward yourself with a full belly it’s even harder. According to the pub’s website, it may well have been from this very spot that the Mayflower captain, Christopher Jones, tied up to allow some of the pilgrims aboard to avoid mooring taxes before sailing for the US 400 years ago. With that in mind I thought, what have I to complain of? They had a perilous winter crossing of 3,000 miles of Atlantic Ocean in a clapped out sailing vessel

just 90-feet long and 25-feet wide in cramped conditions and killer diseases. In contrast, I had to paddle less than one kilometre across the Thames and back to base.

Which is fine except for some reason when we all re-launched our kayaks in turn - Anne and myself found ourselves in someone else's boat and it was flooded! Not too sure how they had managed to get so much water into the hull but after pumping out the excess there was still a few inches left. So after keeping relatively dry for the first 7/8ths of the paddle, we returned very soggy. Still as I mentioned before - can’t complain!

The Tower and City of London by Dave White http://www.davewhite.me

FACT:

Two thirds of London’s drinking water comes from the Thames.

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The beach was much larger on our return due to the outgoing tide as we straggled in one by one. Alfie and the instructors were great as they insisted we leave our boats on the beach for them to clear later and walked us back to the arches to collect our belongings, where some with towels in place, managed to get changed. I chose the toilets at Kings Cross, otherwise I would have got some strange looks on the train home.

All in all it was a memorable and fabulous experience. So unique that even some experienced kayakers and canoeists thought I was trying to pull one over them when mentioned on FB.They didn't think that paddlers would be allowed on that part of the Thames because it is so busy. However, with three excellent instructors, professional but friendly and really good fun throughout the whole night - they guided us expertly all the way whilst relaying info with the London Port Authority on our whereabouts it all went without a hint of drama. If you want to see central London from a different perspective - you’ll struggle to do better than this - highly recommended.

Links: Secret Adventures: Moo Canoes: London landscapes:

http://secretadventures.org http://www.moocanoes.com http://www.davewhite.me

Friendly, expert advice, great choice and value for money www.kentcanoes.co.uk www.kentcanoes.co.uk Tel: 01732 886688 Email: Email: info@kentcanoes.co.uk info@kentcanoes.co.uk New N House Farm, Kemsing Road,Wrotham, Kent, TN15 7BU KAYAKS|CANOES|COURSES|TECHNICAL CLOTHING|SAFETY GEAR|ACCESSORIES KAYAKS|CANOES|COURSES|TECHNICAL |SAFETY GEAR|ACCESSORIES R|ACCESSORIES COURSES|TECHNICAL TECHNICAL CLOTHING|SAFETY WHITE WATER|SEA KAYAKING|TOURING|FREESTYLE|OPEN CANOES SIT ON TOPS|RECREATIONAL|FISHING

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F I V E

D A Y

T H R E E

S T O P

EUROPE

Photos and story: Darin McQuoid Toni, Rok, Gerhard - Verzasca take out

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With the high water it’s impossible to get out in these

first few gorges, which is a shame because they are incredibly photogenic

Brandenburger

Following the winter of 2014/15 with the lowest snowpack in recorded history, California has no water. That’s given us plenty of time to start a business importing Prijon kayaks. With a little groundwork done and a container of kayaks somewhere on the ocean, Rok Sribar and I fly to Germany to meet with Toni Prijon and ‘produce marketing material’. Basically it's a good excuse to make new friends and go kayaking. It'll be an incredibly short trip for the distance travelled; five full days in Europe. I wonder how much paddling can we accomplish in such a short amount of time?

We land late at night in Munich and crash at Toni's house near the Prijon factory in Rosenheim, which is just 45 minutes from the airport. Rising early in the morning we pickup demo kayaks from the factory and calls are made to figure out water levels. It’s rained overnight and rivers are up in Austria, which has a great run just over an hour away. We throw

the kayaks on the shop van and hit the road for the Tyrol region. Brandenburger Ache is a wellknown run to Europeans but totally off the radar for us ‘Mericans’, I’d never heard of it before. It is a tributary to the Inn River with several sections and we’ll do a few of these sections back to back as water levels are decently high. En route we swing through a small town and pick up local paddler Gerhard Braune who knows Brandburger Ache like the back of his hand and leads us straight to put-in.

On the water we move quickly as Gerhard gives us beta. The run has several fun gorges with quality moves stretched out over a few kilometres. This provides great warm up for us before we get to the crux of the run. With the high water it’s impossible to get out in these first few gorges, which is a shame because they are incredibly photogenic. With lots of nice warm up behind us, we’re scrambling up to a trail to see what I believe is the Tiefenbachklamm Gorge.

In such a developed country, trails along the river make scouting a pleasant experience. This river would actually be a joy to spend a day just hiking and photographing. We scout the blind corner, which at this flow will certainly keep us on our toes as the river goes around a bend with a lot of chaotic water, followed by a five-foot drop through a significant hydraulic. Thankfully the hydraulic is friendlier than it looks and we all get through no problems and big smiles. Gerhard leads us through the rest of the run down to the club house.

Paddling club

A paddling club house is something totally foreign to me. On most rivers in Europe there are paddling clubs. The one here had a lovely little building with a fireplace for cold winter days. What a great idea and they help the sport by teaching beginners as well as having loan kayaks and gear. Truly a great thing and part of why paddle sports are healthier in Europe than the United States where we go at it alone.

Speaking of gear, we loaded ours up to make headway to our next destination; Valsesia in the Piedmont region of Italy. Just a few hours later we cross into Italy and stop for dinner at a restaurant with an incredible setup next to the river. In cool weather, the roof closes and glass doors can seal out the wind – in summer it’s open and pleasant. We enjoy a glorious meal with that famous Italian red wine before driving long into the night to reach Valsesia.

Right: Toni Prijon and Toni on the Brandenburger.

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Valsesia – Gronda All is quiet when we wake, as rain still falls we quickly pack up not knowing where the day will take us. Gear stuffed in the van we walk over to the camp headquarters. Camping in Europe is a whole different experience because campgrounds are ready to deal with the rain.

There is a covered cooking area, bathrooms with hot showers (at no extra charge) and a real restaurant. Compared to the typical campground in the United States it's a very civilized affair. We head into the restaurant for some coffee. The Austrian’s love to say that the Italians know how to do coffee, according to them it’s the best in the world, and only one euro per cup. To think that I thought Starbucks was overpriced before experiencing this...

Welcome to Italy

Watching the rain outside we’ve stalled as long as possible. Now that we’re fuelled by cafe and panini it’s time for us to go kayaking. The Gronda is a local river that needs rain to have enough water and it’s not too surprising that it has enough water. So we head upriver as rain continues to pour.

The standard run of the Gronda is only about 500 metres long and flows through an ancient town that has several bridges over the river. It is truly incredible and unlike anything we have in all the Americas. As we pull into town the rain turns into hail. We talked to a few paddlers who say it's too high, but we think it looks pretty good.

Gerhard and Toni on the Gronda

Water droplets patter on our rain fly through the night. We’ve pulled in late and crashed at the Campertogno campground in Val Sesia, Italy. As I’m fully along for the ride on this trip I really have no idea where it is except that it’s in the Piedmont region, and the place for kayakers to stay.

Toni Prijon - Gronda

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Paddling slides and waterfalls in the middle of an Italian village is something that can’t be experienced anywhere else, this is what the

Piedmont region is about

So we gear up in the hail, which becomes large enough to be downright painful. The shuttle for this one will be easy enough, we just walk up the road to the standard put-in above town. I take an umbrella to facilitate keeping my camera alive, a handy trick for inclement weather.

We put in as hail continues to fall. As a small group of experienced paddlers we make quick progress, even if we are shooting photographs too. As we approach a set of slides above town we experience something else more typical of European kayaking; a traffic jam on the river.There are a couple of groups out here at the same time, and we appear to be moving the fastest but don’t

know the run well enough to ‘play it through,’ which makes the pacing a little awkward.

Sacrificing gratuitous photography opportunities, we bomb through a few slides to get ahead and into the town section. Paddling slides and waterfalls in the middle of an Italian village is something that can’t be experienced anywhere else, this is what the Piedmont region is about. We love it so much that we hike back to run the town section several times before taking out and finishing our day at a lovely restaurant just up the street from take-out. A perfect end to a memorable day that is a perfect example of why we travel to kayak; it’s about more than just thrills.

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Valsesia Egua

Toni Prijon on the Egua

Rising at the Campertogno campground we're greeted by nice sunny weather which calls for a nice al fresco breakfast. With a nice meal behind us, those in the know, debate what to do for the day, looking for what will have the best water levels and photographic opportunities. Jobst Hahn from the Prijon team will be able to join us today and he has the most experience in this area. As the day warms we head up to the Egua River, one of the best known rivers in Peidmont.

The Egua is very typical for Piedmont kayaking, steep and low volume. We have what's supposed to be a high flow, but for us used to higher volume rivers, it feels a bit low; there is still a lot of rock bouncing. There are so many rocks in the shallow water it's more aerated than we're used to, giving it a different feel from something of similar gradient and volume in the states. A mix of slides and boulder gardens the river is a ton of fun, steep challenging but not too scary.

And that’s it. The Egua is an amazing mile of whitewater that drops over 400 feet. Quite incredible that it has no portages considering the nature of it. At the higher flows it’s also not afraid to dish some pain, on our run we saw no less than six swims between our group and one other team!

Travel to Egua

Gerhard Braune – Egua

Jobst Hahn – Egua

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Toni Prijon 窶天erzasca River

Switzerland

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Gerhard Braune – Verzasca

Verzasca

We wrap up our time in Italy with a meal at the bottom of the Egua River and now it’s time for another push, about four hours of driving to get to the top of the Valle Verzasca in the Ticino region of Switzerland.

There is traffic going around the Lago Maggiore, which makes us arrive late and there are not a lot of camping options. In a way it’s a good thing we arrive late in Sonogno though, as the most popular place to camp is a trailhead where it seems to be ok to camp in a van or a trailer, but not in a tent. It’s kind of a grey area and depends on your luck. Arriving late and rising early we have no problems.

Switzerland

Rok Sribar –Verzasca

Sonogno – Switzerland

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Gerhard Braune, Rok Sribar and Toni Prijon Verzasca

Verzasca

Perhaps we’ve gotten up too early, we walk around town for 30 minutes, waiting for a restaurant to open. Once we’re fuelled with cafe and croissants we drive downstream to the Middle Verzasca, world famous for incredible water colour.

The middle section starts under a bridge with an incredible cataract upstream. A few of our group take the time to walk up and run the bottom of the cascade. The upper part of it doesn’t look runnable, but how many times has that been said in our sport? Who knows it may happen someday.

Gerhard Braune –Verzasca

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Miles of boulder gardens and exquisite sapphire clear water have us laughing and smiling. Between the rapids I can’t help but think that there is something odd in our world of kayaking.We’re not paddling the harder lower section of the Verzasca.

I can’t help but make excuses in my head.Why is it that we must always be paddling the hardest run we can? What’s wrong with just enjoying a fun day with low stress and minimal danger?

Part of it is our ego, but part of it is the culture of our sport. So much of the community and media say we must always be pushing further, harder, faster, steeper, higher, and bigger. Why is this? I don’t know. What I do know is that I’m happy we’re all able to ignore that and just have fun kayaking in one of the most beautiful settings in the world on the Middle Verzasca.

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Mark Crame’s personal guide to

K

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PADDLES

A kayak paddle is something that can become a lot more complicated than might first appear. Often a basic paddle will be included with the purchase of a new kayak and while these can get you straight onto the water and are adequate to propel you, in time you may find that you wish to progress further as you begin making further demands on yourself.

It is vitally important to remember that the paddle is your primary method of propulsion and as such is the most important purchase after your kayak itself; it is your motor. A good paddle is a delight to use and becomes an instinctive extension of yourself, taking more of the strain of your voyage than a poor one.

There are many aspects to paddle choice however and the following are some of the important ones.

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Blade material Paddle blades are manufactured from many different materials.Those most likely to be encountered by recreational paddlers come under seven main types or eight if you include wood, though these are mostly seen on Greenland-style or open canoe paddles.

Polypropylene

An injection-moulded plastic – this is the material used for most budget blades. Strong, stiff and durable, it is also light for a plastic but is the most flexible of blade materials and loses energy.

Short fibre

Fibreglass-reinforced polypropylene, this is stiff and durable and has the benefit of being lighter than a standard polypropylene blade.

Nylon

Manufactured from a high-strength, damageresistant fibreglass-reinforced nylon resin these blades are superior to both polypropylene and short fibre blade materials and are a good choice as an all-round, durable blade material.

Carbon fibre

Made from carbon-reinforced nylon resin it is a lighter material than standard nylon while still being as resistant to damage. As a blade material for heavy use and distance paddling it is a good compromise for general applications.

Fibreglass composite

A composite material made from fibreglass and epoxy resin this is lightweight, strong and cheaper to produce than carbon-composite.

Allowing a thin blade to be produced it benefits from inherent stiffness and is a good choice for a lightweight paddle on a budget.

Carbon composite

The premium blade material, carbon composite blades are manufactured from layered carbon and fibreglass cloth impregnated with an epoxy resin which is released upon heating to bond the blade together. The end result is light, strong, stiff and thin, cutting through air and water efficiently.

Designed for high-end performance they are the most desirable material for long distance paddling.

Foam core

Currently the pinnacle of paddle design, foam core paddles have similar attributes to carbon composite but with foam sandwiched inside the pre-preg carbon to provide added lift and strength; they are stiffer but also more prone to dents and puncturing.

Blade style Blade shape is an important choice for any paddler.While general paddling on inland rivers and lakes a high-performance paddle is unlikely to be a major issue, unlike in the sea where wind, current, waves and chop can make for interesting conditions where correct paddle choice can make all the difference.

Symmetric

Symmetric blades have the least application for general kayaking. Commonly sold as cheap starter paddles they do, however, have an advantage where stand-up paddling (with sit-ontop kayaks) is concerned. This is a technique common in kayak lure fishing, especially in freshwater when navigating amongst shoals and marshy areas as fish can be located visually.

Having a flat, symmetric blade with a straight shaft, much like a long canoe paddle, allows greater balance from this position as they reduce blade wobble. Symmetric blades can also be useful in rough water where their even distribution of power can be brought into play.

Wing blades

Wing paddles are the most advanced design of blade and in the right hands and with proper technique these high-performance paddles can propel kayaks for long distance with great efficiency. Winged paddles create lift with their smoother exit from the water and are designed to be used at a high rep rate to push racing kayaks to their highest speeds. While true racing wings are not designed for general touring, semiwing blades (a cross between a true wing and a touring blade in design) are becoming more popular for the benefits that they bring on longer distance paddling.

Asymmetric

Asymmetric blades are less tiring to use due to having an easier entry into the water and smoother exit with less water being caught. Due to the dynamics of the design the blade is more stable in the water and the equality of the pressure allows the entire paddle to feel more balanced thus reducing flutter.

Surface area is reduced below the level of the shaft and length is increased above which evenly distributes water along the face. The ensuing softness of the catch (variable with individual blade shapes) ensures a smoother and less-tiring stroke and reduces strain on both the shaft and the body.

Asymmetric blades come in both high and low-angled designs and both dictate and are dictated by your paddling technique.

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Blade size and shape Blade size is an important consideration and one that is easy to get wrong.There are two main areas to look at – how and under what conditions you intend to paddle and what your physical build is.

Size

A large blade pushes a lot of water and while producing a great deal of power it is also more tiring over distance. For battling through surf and against strong currents it really comes into its own but unless you are strong and fit enough to continue at a steady pace long-term, any advantage past the surf zone becomes less pronounced. A smaller blade on the other hand, while not moving as much water, requires less energy and generally allows a higher stroke rate over a greater period of time. Smaller blades, by requiring less effort to pull through the water, also reduce the likelihood of strain injuries on both wrist and torso. This choice of blade shape also to a large extent defines your paddle technique with the former more suited to highangle strokes and the latter to a low-angle style.

Shape

The curvature of a blade is also important. The additional power available from a curved blade comes from the stabilising effect caused by the more efficient aerodynamics and minimal slipping experienced when allied to a ribbed cross section. This helps to reduce both twist and flutter by better controlling the flow of water during the movement of the blade through the water and results in less power being lost from the blade.

Shaft material Aluminium alloy

A reasonably lightweight shaft material, aluminium tubing benefits from being cheap and easy to produce as well as resistant to corrosion but has the disadvantage of being the least damageresistant of the various shaft materials due to the softness of the metal and its inability to flex and are thus more likely to bend under pressure. It is also cold to the touch when paddling in colder weather which can cause discomfort.

Fibreglass composite

Strong, hard-wearing and light, Fibreglass shafts give good performance at reasonable cost. Available in different grades and thus weights they are a good, all-round compromise for all aspects of use being stiff, strong and reasonably light.

Carbon fibre

The lowest weight and highest strength of touring paddle materials, carbon composite shafts have excellent stiffness and are available in different grades dependant on their application.

Additionally the material does flex slightly which absorbs shock and reduces fatigue. When combined with blades of the same material the ultimate distance paddle is created and is a pleasure to use.

Shaft type Straight shaft

The majority of paddles sold have a straight shaft as these are easier and cheaper to manufacture and can be used by anyone irrespective of reach and build.

These shafts allow the user to vary the position of their grip in order to put extra power on a specific side allowing them to alter or correct course.

Due to their simple design they are lighter than cranked shafts as they do not require as much reinforcement due to the lack of bends. Straight shafts have the disadvantage however of placing greater stress on the paddlers arms and wrists and this can lead to tenosynovitis, a painful inflammation of the tendons in the wrist caused by repetitive movement often compounded through gripping the shaft tightly.

Cranked shaft

Cranked shaft paddles are designed in such a way that a correctly sized one will feel more comfortable in the hand than a straight shaft and will also perform better by allowing the shaft to act as a lever, correctly positioning the blade in the water for a more efficient stroke. Cranks stabilize the blade and minimise sideways wrist movement while allowing an almost automatic positioning of the blade as it is pulled through the water.

It is both unnecessary and undesirable to grip tightly and these shafts show distinct advantages for long distance paddling through the reduced sideways bending at the wrist and the lighter grip. Heavier than straight shafts, cranks have additional reinforcement along all stress points.

Of vital importance when choosing a cranked paddle is the positioning of the bends in relation to the natural position of the paddler’s hands. This ‘Distance Between Thumbs’ is every bit as important as the overall length of the shaft if you wish to be comfortable and get the maximum benefit and as such a compromise between the two is sometimes necessary.

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Shaft length

The traditional advice for choosing the correct length of paddle for a touring kayak is to raise your arm while standing up and curl the tips of your fingers over the end of the top blade in the centre – the length of the paddle being related to its length through the centre line of the shaft.

A touring paddle benefits from being long as it allows a slower stroke rate which is more suitable for long periods of maintained cruising.

Conversely a short paddle is more suitable when manoeuvring and a fast response or acceleration is required – for example in the surf zone.

With a longer paddle a low-angle paddling style is generally adopted while a shorter shaft will force a higher angle. While a low-angle technique can be less tiring over extended periods it does restrict the choice of strokes available to the paddler and does not lend itself to instant adjustments.These considerations are only a part of the decision making process however – as the majority of kayak angling is done from sit-on-top kayaks an important adjustment must be allowed for. A sitinside sea kayak places the paddler lower and is generally narrower in width. With a wider craft that entails a higher seating position an increase in shaft length is generally required to allow the paddler to obtain the most efficient propulsion from his chosen paddle.

Multi-piece

Another important decision when purchasing a paddle is how you would prefer to store and transport it.

A single-piece paddle, while lighter and arguably stronger as well as being less prone to wear at the joints is generally two metres or more in length and thus more likely to get in the way on land which is why many kayakers prefer to go for multipiece paddles. Single and two-piece paddles are readily available and the latter allows the user to break it down into a more manageable size.

Further choices are available however with three and four-piece options available from some manufacturers. These allow the shaft to be either one or two-piece with removable blades. Apart from the space-saving advantage these allow two further benefits. Firstly, the possibility of being able to change blade shape or type for different situations without having to find the space for two complete paddles, or even from long to short, straight to crank shaft for other situations.

An example might be using a larger blade to punch through the surf at launch and recovery before changing to a slimmer blade for distance touring once the conditions are more settled, or using the same blades on a shorter straight shaft and longer cranked shaft for the same purposes. Another advantage is that should your paddle be damaged each component part can be replaced individually without the whole paddle being ruined.

Greenland paddles Furthermore, some manufacturers produce an adjustable shaft connection that allows paddle length, feather and hand to be altered – by realigning the shaft to a left-handed configuration and swapping the blades to opposite ends the paddle can be made suitable for a left-handed paddler. A multi-piece paddle can also be stowed away easily for use in an emergency situation such as a broken or lost paddle.

Feather

The most basic style of paddle is unfeathered, where both blades lay at the same angle. Aside from older paddles, these are usually to be found at the bottom end of the market or on children’s paddles as they are the easiest to use in the initial stages and place less stress on the wrists. There are circumstances when you may find an unfeathered paddle to be of benefit, such as in surf, but generally people choose a feathered paddle for the increase in performance it offers and the reduced resistance when paddling into a headwind.

Going back to the origins of kayaking there is also the traditional carved stick, often made from driftwood or the small trees found in the tundra. Some people love to use the latest technology while others prefer the traditional, proven tools for the job and this is something that fits the latter but in many ways equals and in some ways exceeds the more common style of paddle.

The concept is to attain maximum results for minimum effort and the efficiency and versatility of these long blades that can be dipped or buried in the water as necessary is something that has to be experienced to properly understand. Unfeathered, light and slim, they are less likely to cause joint or muscle pain.

Shouldered and unshouldered styles are both available commercially and typically they are manufactured from wood, though it is possible to get carbon versions, either single or multi-piece, though many traditionalists see the making of their own to be a rite of passage.

To benefit the most from this, a 90 degree feather is required – however this places a large amount of stress on the tendons due to the increased wrist action needed to operate it effectively and consequently most paddles are feathered at lower angles than this, typically 60 degrees for touring. With two and four-piece paddles there is usually a selection of feather angles which can be set either by the locating of a button into a preset hole or by rotating one half of a grooved shaft around the spigot until the desired angle is reached, with some manufacturers producing a joint that can allow a full 180 degrees of rotation, 90 degrees each for left or right-handed configurations.

While on the subject, don’t forget to make the distinction between left and right-handed paddles and remember that the oval side of the shaft should be in your stronger hand with the short side of an asymmetric blade on the bottom.

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Background Background

Well, that’s all very dry and dull isn't it… so have a bit of background on me to lighten things!

cranked Carbon Composite Lendal Nordkapp, my main paddle since then, apart from my carbon composite Lendal Mystik surf paddle on a double Torque XPS shaft.

I worked for Johnson Outdoors UK and for the last year or so I oversaw the drowning remains of Lendal… please don’t hold it against me! Truthfully I did do whatever I could to help, as a paddler who went through the thousands of paddles we’d brought down from Scotland, sorting them out, cataloguing them, dealing with all the warranty claims and trying to supply what was requested or suggesting alternatives where possible.

Recently I borrowed a Tahe Greenland paddle and it appealed to me; I clocked myself a couple of times over five-mile runs on a gentle river and in my inexperienced hands it was a mere 10% slower. So I ordered a two-piece carbon Greenland paddle.

I started out with an alloy and polypropylene Carlisle Day tripper and it was fine, travelling miles with it. Then I was given a Carlisle Enchantment Carbon, lighter than I could have imagined and using the alloy again felt like paddling a telegraph pole… I was hooked. Wrist pain on the River Alde, coming back against the tide, saw me looking at cranks and I began with a Lendal Kinetic Wing on a fibreglass modified crank and no pain… then came an additional

There was a double reason for this choice being the perfect emergency/spare paddle! Very easy to stow on deck or in a hatch if I decided against regular use but to be honest I’ve used only that for the last three months as my Nordkapp is out with a mate for the foreseeable future. There’s something different about it and strapped into a paddle keep on my fishing kayak while at anchor I honestly do not know it’s there. I’m sold on it.

There are such great offerings out there now from a wide variety of paddle manufacturers and I am looking to change – I will keep you posted.

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By Matt Cooke

CROATIA

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Matt at the Mreznica drop. All photos: Matt Cooke and Ivan Ĺ afradin

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For over 30 years, Peninsula Canoe Club have formed one of the most efficient canoe clubs in the UK winning multiple BCU awards for Top Club status. I have been a member of the club since my first year of kayaking in 1986.

The club has supported all disciplines of the sport and seen some of their members reach National and International status through competition and exploration. The one thing that the club was missing was a white water expedition outside of the UK. Throughout my travels, I strive to search for locations that would suit all abilities of paddle sport. During my two visits to Croatia over the past three years, I knew that this would be a perfect place to organise a mission for our clubs whitewater enthusiasts.

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Helen and Geraint Rowlands

All it took was a phone call to our agent on the ground, Ivan Šafradin. Ivan runs Croatia Kayak Safra tours in Split, Southern Croatia. Myself and David Bain met Ivan during the 2014 Pyranha Team Tour and he was more than helpful during our visit, showing us around the areas we had previously been unable to visit. Ivan was delighted to be part of what I had hoped to be a thriving kayaking location for a large percentage of the world’s paddle sport community.

Additional crew members

For this specific mission, it was time to select some additional crew members. A good friend to Ivan and myself, conveniently living in my street and an obvious choice if available was Geraint Rowlands. I gave Gezza a call, it didn't take too much persuading before Gezza was sold on the idea. Gezza currently works as a paramedic in North Wales and has reached global recognition from a long line of whitewater and academic achievements. We now had a solid crew joined also by Helen Flint and Pyranha Pro Coach Dave Kohn-Hollins.

Our plan was almost too simple. The variables for me were my van and the reliability of Ryanair.

I have driven a Mercedes Vito now since my return from Australia in 2005. My first van died in 2013 after 15 trips to Europe and I luckily scored a peachy deal for my new one from the insurance money. A newer version with nice extras but I did not yet know how it would fair up on a trip to Croatia.

The club had donated a trailer for us to tow down to Europe with the kayaks whilst the team took a short flight to Zadar from Manchester, just two hours from our first proposed camp in Omis, southern Croatia. We set off to Slovenia for our first stop on the journey south. I could not resist an opportunity to visit our friend Blaž Lužnik who works in Kobarid on the banks of the Soca River in Slovenia.The Soca is the closest paddling location to Croatia, just a few hours between and is well worth a detour to paddle in the Bombay Gin coloured waters and world class whitewater. It was here that Myself, Gezza and Helen joined up with Dave Kohn-Hollins. We spent a couple of wonderful days on the Soca before we tackled the last leg of the journey.

The Soca is the closest paddling location to Croatia, just a few hours between and is well worth a detour to paddle in the

Bombay Gin coloured waters and world class whitewater

Geraint Rowlands at the Mreznica drop

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CROATIA

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The Cetina truly feels like a

whitewater safari.

Glorious sunshine, tropical wildlife with crystal clear waters await you

Roger Cooke on the Cetina

The

Cetina

River

Croatia has some of the world's prettiest coastlines and the drive down to Split is truly breathtaking. We experienced some extreme weather conditions in the first few days that we had certainly not accounted for. After setting up our tents at Autocamp Sirena, I bombed back up to Zadar to pick up the guys from the airport.

We got back to camp around 1am and got our heads down. I was sleeping in my van and got rudely awoken by my dad calling me out to help with the tent. What I saw when I opened my van door, was a sight that made me move faster than I usually do at 6am after four days of travelling.

Something called a Bora

Croatia has something called a Bora – news to me but I had the chance to experience it first hand. The weather during my last two visits to Croatia had been nothing but perfect sunshine and no wind. I stepped out of the van into 100mph winds, permanently bending the trees to 45 degrees and making light work of blowing all our stuff away including the 12-man tent I had borrowed for the mission from a friend in Bala.

The whole team were spread out around the tent holding on for dear life. If anyone had let go it would have been lost to the Ocean. We swiftly collapsed the tent and took all our equipment into the camp’s restaurant. The Bora was a wind storm that hits the Croatia coast line in the early stages of the summer. It is something special to experience but not really when you're camping!

Richard Peel on the Cetina

So a successful but entertaining start to the trip.

Everyone was safe and it did not take us all long working together to have a superb first day paddling and return to camp for a fresh tuna party hosted by the camp owner. The local lads caught a Tuna that filled the back of a Vito van.

Four large guys held up the beast for all to see. I have never tasted anything like it. I was in eating heaven.

With Ivan living just down the road in Split with his family, he was quickly on hand to offer support for directions and logistics for our first river, the Cetina. The Cetina is split into three sections with a large dam and waterfall separating the sections – the waterfall David Bain and Barnaby Prees abseiled into just months before and the same waterfall where Ivan had shown up the previous year and paddled first himself a few years previous.

Old pirate town

The Cetina flows into the Bay of Omis. Omis is an old pirate town in a stunning location just south of Split. The river winds its way through steep canyons and lush green rocky remote landscapes. The river ranges around Class 3 but mostly chilled Class 2, a great river to feel comfortable as a Class 2 paddler with optional drops to run if you’re feeling brave.

The Cetina truly feels like a whitewater safari.

Glorious sunshine, tropical wildlife with crystal clear waters await you. Some of the put-ins are roadside with one exception of a cliff climb out of the canyon and 10-minute walk out from the top. Well worth the slog. I recommend you stash cold beers at the car for when you finally reach it, watch out for snakes. Yes, really!

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Group at Cetina waterfall

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Andy Baxter on the

The

Zrmanja/Mreznica Rivers Our time in Omis and the Cetina had been a sublime start to the trip. Exciting weather, mouth-watering cuisine, powerful local motoroil shots and idyllic kayaking. My plan was to spend two days on the Cetina, two days on the Zrmanja and three days on the Mreznica. It was time to say our goodbyes to Autocamp Sirena and head northeast to Kastel Zegarski, the home of the Zrmanja River and Raftrek Adventure.

After rafting, kayaking, swimming and drinking our fill of the Zrmanja, we drove north for the Mreznica just a short drive once you have reached Slunj. Slunj is a large town with ATMs and supermarkets, a nice place to stop, recharge and get supplies for the river. Within 20 minutes you are at the Robinson Campground. The most beautiful camp spot in Croatia or maybe even the whole world.

Raftrek Raft Base is the put in for the river that myself and David Bain had stumbled upon in 2013. This was now my third visit to Raftrek and it was a great feeling to see the company thriving. On our first visit, it was quite different.

Right at the take out, you can exit your boat and jump straight into the hammock.

The river has some spectacular rapids and drops. A pushy section at higher flows but with the low levels due to lack of rain in the north allowed our team to be comfortable and learn how to tackle smaller waterfalls and slides.

Whitewater community

Some of my favourite people I have met in Europe over the years are from Croatia.

The whitewater community is small but extremely welcoming and supportive. We have always had no issues making our way around the country being helped by shop owners, policemen, farmers, raft guides and local kayakers. I actually love Croatia and is my new favourite place to visit in Europe with still so much to discover.

Our camp on the Zrmanja was tranquil, sunny and calm alongside the riverbank at the put in. It was a perfect location for our second basecamp. The Zrmanja was our first river three years ago and the water levels were good. The Zrmanja is home to a cluster of beautiful waterfalls and canyons.

The Safari was on. Crystal clear spring water, more exotic wildlife and wild west canyon walls. Every feature of the river bed clear to see from your kayak with warm water to enjoy a fantastic time on the river.

You do actually just have to go there and experience it for yourself.

The river was lapped a whole bunch by the team over the last days with some epic culinary creations from the crew and some lovely nights by the fire. We had the luxury of having the campground all to ourselves.

We had been booked in by our old friend, our first point of contact in 2013, Matija Link. A guide from Raftrek, now running his own rafting operation on the Mreznica.

Matija has always gone above and beyond the call of duty making sure we left wanting for nothing. A big thanks goes out to Matija and all of the Raftrek guides for all their support.

e last rapid on Mreznica

Zrmanja camp fire

Matt on the last drop of Mreznica

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Richard Peel Cetina drop Time had eluded us all and to our surprise, it was almost time to run the team back to Zadar to catch their flight home and for myself and Gezza it was time to make the long journey north back to the home land.

The trip had, for me been an opportunity to test running commercial trips to Croatia with a group of close family and friends. It was the first time I had travelled abroad with my father, Roger and was a well needed break for the both of us outside of work. It had all worked out without a

hitch, if you're not including my exhaust falling off but I didn't really want to let that spoil an almost perfect trip.

We left a very happy bunch of paddlers and went our separate ways. With no time to waste we set our nav to Calais. The distance it calculated made me chuckle at first and soon wiped the smile off my face as we hit Austria, driving for 12 hours with another twenty to go!

To be honest, we smashed it, arriving home safe and sound in Bala a few days later.

If you're recently starting to paddle white water, this is a perfect first destination and perfect for club trips. #endlesssummers #croatiakayaksafra #winning.

For all enquires about kayaking in Croatia: Matt Cooke - Endless Summers (fb): endlesssummers@hotmail.co.uk/ Ivan Ĺ afradin - Croatia Kayak Safra (fb): safrakayak@gmail.com

Watch the footage‌ https://youtu.be/l9mc3QdS5Jg

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By Paul Bull –UKCC Level 3 Coach at Paul Foundation Kayak Skills

In the last article I described some methods for downwind sailing in open canoes. But what about kayak sailing? The British Canoe Union Touring Awards are becoming increasingly popular, especially given the large number of lakes, canals and slow moving rivers we have access to. So how can we take some of the effort out of kayaking? Well here’s a few simple methods that will help you and your group glide effortlessly along…

In case you missed the last article let’s remind ourselves of some basic principles of journey planning. So we are off on a journey on a lake in the beautiful Peak District, launching and landing at the same point to avoid a car shuttle but there’s a light breeze blowing. If we have a choice, do we plan to start our journey by heading downwind or upwind? My preference if at all possible would be to start the journey off by heading into the wind. As we or our group tire we have the option of an about turn and have the wind behind us on our return journey. .

SIMPLE DOWNWIND SAILING

Bull Coaching This is where our improvised sailing rig really comes into play for a pleasant journey back to our starting point. It is worth pointing out that there are many types of improvised sailing options available to us. So here’s a few solutions that cover all bases.

The main element here is ensuring that when we have a sail up we can still effectively steer the boat!

The sail can take any form - the principle being that the breeze catches the surface area that we present to it and pushes us along in its direction.The other main principle for downwind sailing is to have the correct trim.

We need to be stern heavy after the sail is up to help us go in a straight a line as possible. If we have a skeg we should make sure it is in the down position. If we can’t do either then chances are we will end up sailing backwards down the lake!

Rafted or tandem sailing rigs

When we raft a group up we can free a few pairs of hands and a couple of paddles to help us make an improvised sail. I like to use a plastic survival bag and slide two paddles into the bag to give it some rigidity (or masts). The two paddles are then pulled apart to keep the bag taught and the breeze catches the bag and propels us downwind.

The larger the group the more sail you need so simply add more survival bags or try using double survival bags for larger sail area. I like to try and get the sail as close to the front of the boat and if possible try and make a wedge shape for the raft but try lots of configurations and you’ll soon find out what works for you and the mix of kayaks that you have on the day.

This method also works when paddling in K2 kayaks if we are carrying a spare split paddle or if one of you is paddling with a set of split paddles.

Solo sailing rigs

If you and your group want to try a bit of solo sailing then one of the best pieces of kit I have purchased is a small umbrella. Lightweight and compact, they are easily stored and provide a quick and easy means of catching a downwind breeze. Again, ensure your boat is trimmed stern heavy or you have your skeg down. With practice this method is incredibly effective and even allows you a small amount of steerage by holding the umbrella in different positions.

Finally, lets have a look at some off-the-shelf sailing rigs for kayaks. Coming in a small bag using pop-up tent technology we have a pop-up sail. This takes some fixing in place and are definitely difficult to get back into the bag after use however they are well worth a look! These have a clear plastic window to look through so you can still see where you’re going and what’s coming up ahead. Many also allow you to keep paddling forwards as well, again extending the glide phase of your paddling, making it effortless on the return leg of your journey.

These methods can both be also set up for tandem K2 paddling as well.

Have a go at these kayak sailing concepts if they are new to you and let me know how you get along!

Paul Bull I'm an enthusiastic full time UKCC Level 3 Coach who’s passionate about helping people to develop and enjoy kayaking and canoeing whether that be more advanced skills on the more technical or bigger volume rivers of the UK and Europe or grass roots sessions nearer to home. I deliver a range of BCU and Personal Skills courses in both Canoe and Kayak around the country and from my recently opened centre at Tittesworth Water, Staffordshire. More information about me and the courses I offer can be found at www.paulbull.co.uk or via Facebook via Facebook at www.facebook.com/PaulBullCoaching

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See me after class…

World Class

Academy that is!

Sharing a passion for teaching and kayaking

An interview with‌

SANDRA HYSLOP Interview: Peter Tranter Photo: Apurimac, Peru by Julio Baca

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F

irstly, where was your first paddle?

My first paddle, and the majority of the following eight years of kayaking was on the River Tyne in Hexham, North East England.

What and where was your first competition?

Again on the River Tyne, this time downstream at Prudhoe. It was a ‘Wavehopper Challenge’ event designed to get kids into wildwater racing, and for me at least it worked!

How does kayaking give you satisfaction?

In so many ways! Be it nailing a difficult line, landing a perfect boof or getting huge bounce on a wave, there are so many adrenaline thrills. Being with good friends on the water and all the new people you get to meet in our amazing and welcoming community provides me with a great social satisfaction. Also being a very competitive person, I enjoy the physical challenges of training and competing… and nothing beats the satisfaction of winning a race you have spent months/years preparing for.

Futaleufu, Chile. By Julio Baca

Only early doors but what is the biggest accomplishment of your career so far?

A silver medal at the 2009 European Championships and team gold at the 2010 World Championships are definitely the highlights of my river racing days. More recently, getting the opportunity to compete in the 2014 Whitewater Grand Prix was another.

I started kayaking with the rest of my family at the ripe old age of 10 in a small town called Hexham in north east England. Since then I’ve travelled all round the world to kayak and spent a good number of years representing GBR in the discipline of wildwater racing.

Although racing took up most of my time as a teenager and got me a scholarship to Durham University (where I studied Chemistry), during my time at uni I got back in to more recreational river running and driven by adrenaline started pushing myself to run harder rivers. After training to be a teacher in the UK, I landed the best job in the world as a maths and science teacher at World Class Academy, the travelling kayak high school. I spent two great years with the school and am now on a gap year of sorts travelling in South America, kayaking and learning Spanish.

Sandra Hyslop

Please describe your role of teaching in the World Class Kayak Academy…

Hard to summarise such a complicated position but in a nutshell: World Class is first and foremost a high school and I was responsible for preparing and teaching classes in Maths and Sciences. As well as this there is a big pastoral role to the job and each teacher has 3 students who are their specific responsibility and every 4-5 days I would be responsible for preparing all 3 meals for that day with the help of my 3 students. Every day after classes we hit the river and again part of the job is to ensure the safety of the students on the water as well as coaching and guiding. It’s a pretty full-on job but you can’t ask for a more exciting and fulfilling way to travel the world and kayak every day.

I’m a paddler looking for the perfect river, where would you recommend?

The Raundal River in Norway, Alsesecca in Mexico and White Salmon in Washington state are three rivers I’ve paddled that come close to being perfect. Each offers whitewater sections of all grades so a paddler can progress from beginner to Class V pro and partake in different disciplines all on the same river. Closer to home…the Tees is pretty awesome but lacks a good Class V section to challenge the more advanced paddlers.

Sandra Hyslop, Salto Sakaiki

By Robert Moffatt

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River Racing by Jo Oughton

Bourg St. Maurice, France by David Bain

Canoe Polo by Michaela Gardner School photo,Apurimac, Peru by Abe Herrera

I would like to get back in to a structured training regime, something I haven’t done for a few years. I am planning to spend the summer (visas permitting) working on my playboating whilst working with the Ottawa Kayak School in Eastern Canada and get to a competitive standard in this discipline. I would also like to go and compete at Sickline in Austria this year as I’ve wanted to go for a long time but have always had other commitments.

What would be your ultimate achievement?

Winning a world championship.

Have you ever been scared and if not – what would it take?

Any kayaker who says they’ve never been scared on the river is a liar! However, overcoming your fears is one of the most exhilarating and rewarding parts of the sport.

What’s the most courageous thing you have done in life?

I threw myself off Tomata 1 in Mexico last Christmas. I don’t really like big waterfalls so it was big for me. Unfortunately I totally ballsed up the line so have to go back and do it again for redemption ☹.

twitter.com/sandrahyslop

What are your goals for the next 12 months?

What’s the craziest thing you have ever done?

Not sure it’s really crazy but one thing I really love doing is full-moon paddling and I have been racking up lunar descents all over the world my favourites of which have to be on the Trancura and Futaleufu rivers in Chile.

Any advice for women starting out in ww kayaking?

Not really anything specific for women but for anyone starting out you should just get out and try as many different types of boats as possible on as many different rivers. That way you can find what part of the sport most appeals to you and the people you most enjoy paddling with.

Which women paddlers out there are currently pushing the ww boundaries?

Sadly one of the women leading the charge in WW kayaking, Louise Jull, passed away recently but it’s definitely an inspiration still. In the competitive disciplines I think Claire O’Hara, Jess Fox and Nouria Newmann are just a few of the girls pushing hard. Mariann Saether has always inspired me for her adventures and expeditions and Katrina Van Wijk is doing a great job at promoting and inspiring women in kayaking. This is just a few... there are so many more amazing women out there going hard and enjoying life.

Besides kayaking, what other sports do you pursue?

I run shuttles when I have to and more frequently than I’d like I try my hand at whitewater swimming.

You’ve travelled far and wide, where’s your favourite destination?

It has to be Norway.

Where do you see yourself in 20 years?

I would love to see myself living by the river or sea with lots of good runs nearby but hopefully with a bit more of a solid job and income.

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Quickies…

If you could paddle with anyone in the world dead or alive who would it be?

Richard Fox and family.

Pick two celebrities to be your parents…

Mum: Paula Radcliffe. Dad: John Cleese.

Which famous person would you most like to see play you in a film?

No idea…I don’t watch much television/films.

Favourite iPod track?

Bohemian Rhapsody… or is that too cheesy? (No - it’s a classic - Ed).

Cats or dogs?

Kitties.

Facebook or Twitter?

Facebook.

An ideal night out for you is?

Big meal out and pub with friends.

What one luxury item would you take with you on a desert island?

Uhhh a kayak?

What do you get really angry about?

Camera faff.

If we came to your house for dinner, what would you prepare for us?

Lasagna and a big cake for pud.

If you could be a superhero for one day, what superpower would you choose and why?

Breathe underwater... to go and explore the oceans.

Favourite sport’s team?

England Rugby.

Who are your kayaking buddies?

So many! I will boat with anyone anywhere as long as they’re keen but especially enjoy paddling with my boyfriend Julio Baca, old river-racing buddies, the north-east crew and my fellow teachers at WCA.

What’s the most boring question you are often asked?

Where are you from? I talk funny.

Fill in the blanks: I am ______?

Short but stacked.

Any final shout outs?

Big thanks to Palm Equipment for fitting me out with some gear for the Grand Prix last year.

To everyone I get to paddle with for helping make life awesome!

Find out more:

I have a blog which has been suffering lately due to poor internet but I’m trying to get back on it. Check it out at www.ilikekayaking.com

Sandra Hyslop

Cheers Sandra:)

Alsesecca, Mexico

by Corinna Rebnegger

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High on

DARTMOOR Some pretty frightening videos starting popping up on the ‘Kayaking on the River Dart’ Facebook page after Saturday 6th February, when some local paddlers took on the Upper section of the Dart.

It’s one of the most famous Grade 4 runs in Britain but ‘big Saturday’ saw it easily rise at least a grade higher after 118mm of rain fell on Dartmoor, near the all-time record rainfall in Britain.

The New Bridge car park (take out for the upper and put in for the Loop), was covered in water and some scaffolding at Holne Bridge was swept away. The level, according to eyewitnesses, rose to within two steps from the top at the New Bridge slab. Long-term residents and paddlers commented that they’d not seen the river in this state for a long time – if ever. This did not prevent a group of local Dart specialists putting on for a run with just four steps showing.

Among them was local paddler Rowan James (18), Tim Copplestone and Mike Scutt. They all made it down safely. Rowan, who ran every section, told the Paddler, “I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t been on my game, and if I didn’t know the river very well.” Rowan was under no doubt that a swim could easily have proved fatal.

Video credit: Rowan James

The video footage is horrifying, with large standing waves, stoppers and tree strainers in a continuous torrent with most of the eddies washed out. Rowan was keen to point out that paddling the Upper Dart at these levels is strictly for those who already know the river very well.

Later that day Rowan and a larger crew ran the Upper East Dart, which included a possible first descent on the East Dart waterfall, a 6ft drop onto a 20ft slide followed by 50m of technical Grade 4 then 500m of “grade 5 chaos.” The waterfall itself was “straightforward” said Rowan.

Although Rowan’s team are worried about claiming something that is not theirs, it seems a possibility that the waterfall is a first descent. The Upper East Dart as a whole has been run before, but not often, at least not in the last 25 years. Paddlers on the Upper East Dart run were Rowan with Sam and Mark Dixon, Hugh Graham, Samuel Lyons, Mike Scutt, Carl Ross and Arek Bialek.

Steffan Meyric Hughes

BOBY FRIESER LIKES IT SPORTY. HERE AT THE DEVILS SLIDE AT THE SORBA RIVER HIS STIKINE BENTSHAFT IS HIS LOYAL COMPANION. LEARN MORE ABOUT BOBY AT SPORTBANDE.DE

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104 United States

Paddle Golden Gate symposium by Sean Morley

116 Interview with‌ Jason Self

To advertise email: ads@thepaddlerezine.com or call +44 (0)1480 465081

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As the sun sets on Paddle Golden Gate 2016, it is time to reflect on the event and perhaps what it says about the kayaking community both here in the Bay Area of California and further afield.

By Sean Morley

P A D D L E

GOLDEN

GATE 2

0

1

6

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Paddle Golden Gate, presented by California Canoe & Kayak, is a destination event for paddlesports enthusiasts on San Francisco Bay and the Marin Headlands.

Photos by: Tom Gomes, Nathan Moody and Mark Boyd.

The mission of Paddle Golden Gate is simple; to offer high-end professional paddlesports instruction and a quality event experience in a truly unique location.The remarkable venue provides a challenging coastal environment any time of year but we choose to have the event in the winter when the strongest ebb currents and powerful winter swells combine to produce ideal conditions for advanced skills training alongside protected water appropriate for more novice and intermediate paddlers to develop their skills.

With a focus on skills training, this unique event offers participants the opportunity to paddle with some of the world’s best instructors and coaches, in one of the finest teaching locations in the world. Sea kayaking, kayak sailing and surf ski all featured in this festival of paddlesports.

A similar event known as the Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium (GGSKS), was created by

myself, Jennifer Kleck and Matt Palmariello in January 2009. After the first year, GGSKS was given to the California Paddle Sports Council, a non-profit paddlesports advocate organization in Northern California. With the cancellation of the event and dissolution of the California Paddlesports Council in 2015, there was an opportunity to review every aspect of the event and thus Paddle Golden Gate (PGG) was born.

A new name for a new era – Paddle Golden Gate better reflects the diversity of paddlesports in the Bay Area and the event is owned and organized by California Canoe & Kayak, the premier paddlesports retailer and instructional provider for over 40 years.

Sea kayaking, kayak sailing and surf ski all featured in this festival of

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The date for Paddle Golden Gate 2016 was set long before the Super Bowl date was announced and El Nino started to assert itself on our weather patterns. These were just a couple of the challenges we faced as we developed an idea into an event that was worthy of such an iconic location.

74 degrees F

We also chose this time of year because much of North America remains frozen while San Francisco can experience summer-like weather making it the perfect paddling destination. As fall turned to winter, El Nino started to assert itself on our weather patterns bringing consistent heavy rain through January. We became concerned that the event would be a washout but we caught a lucky break as a ridge of high pressure diverted weather systems to the north and we saw perfect conditions; cloudless skies and near record high temperatures of 74 degrees F (25 degrees C) all weekend. This combined with powerful tides and solid Pacific swell to produce truly perfect conditions for our inaugural event.

The three-day event operates a simple format offering full-day courses to maximize learning potential and give the best value to participants with some half-day, land-based classes on the last day for those whose energy levels might dropping. Much of the magic of events like Paddle Golden Gate happens off the water where participants rub shoulders with some of the biggest names in paddlesports from as far afield as Canada and Europe. Most of PGG’s coaches and instructors stay at the Marin Headlands Hostel and the sense of community is what makes this event so special.

Participants rub shoulders with some of the biggest names in paddlesports from as far afield as

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Evening entertainment on Friday included a presentation by a US Coastguard rescue swimmer, a flare demo, GoPro video competition followed by an informal social gathering sponsored by Canoe & Kayak magazine.

On Saturday night the keynote presentation was ‘Ice Bears & Islands’ – Jaime Sharp’s successful circumnavigation of Svalbard with Tara and PG .

Sponsored by Kokatat, this was a truly epic tale with stunning images. Dagger also donated a new Stratos kayak for the Silent Auction, Ninkasi Brewing Company agreeing to donate caseloads of their delicious brews, the list goes on…

Of course, a sea kayak symposium is all about the participants and they came in record numbers from far and wide to learn, share and play. Canada, Mexico, Chicago, Florida, Georgia, New York, as well as the Pacific Northwest and Southern California were all represented. We had paddlers aged 15 years to 70+ and the level of passion and dedication to their sport was clearly evident.

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ThePADDLER 114 Sea kayaking is dead (NOT)

In 2015 we heard many stories coming out of the paddlesports media that, “sea kayaking is dead.” Here at California Canoe & Kayak we knew that it was a myth and with the help and support of CCK staff and instructors, presenting sponsors Canoe & Kayak Magazine and Kokatat and all of our other sponsors, we put together what we hope will be considered a worthy replacement for GGSKS and appropriate for this iconic location.

It should remind everyone across the paddlesports industry that sea kayaking is thriving and as long as companies like those already mentioned and Werner Paddles, Current Designs, NRS, Sterling’s Kayaks, Thule and GoPro continue to support grassroots events like ours, we at CCK will continue to do our part to create paddlers for life.

Thanks to everyone who helped organize, supported, coached, volunteered and most of all registered for Paddle Golden Gate 2016.We hope to see you all again in 2018!

If you have any questions regarding the event, please send us an email: info@paddlegoldengate.com.

CCK offers classes all year round and we can create custom programs for individuals or large groups. Check out: http://calkayak.com/classes-and-trips/ for more information.

www.kokatat.com l www.systemxeurope.com

To advertise email: ads@thepaddlerezine.com or call +44 (0)1480 465081

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California Dreamin’ with…

JASON SELF

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H

ow did you start out in what is a very successful career in sea kayaking?

I've never heard my career describes as “very successful” before, but if you define success by getting to do what makes you happy for a living, then yeah. I'll go with that! Can you make sure my girlfriend's parents see this please?

Before our initial visit to Northern California in 2002, I began perusing gear for our trip at local outdoor stores. Let me just say that the marketing worked. A paddling magazine at the shop caught my eye, and when I flipped through the pages, there was a great photograph of a man cooking dinner on his camp stove on a desolate beach surrounded by pine trees and snow covered mountains overlooking a mirror flat body of water reflecting the scene.

Considering it was July in Texas and the average temperature was 90-100F, I couldn't think of anything more in the world I'd rather be doing. I grew up swimming and fishing in the creeks, lakes, and rivers, and kayaking resonated with me on many levels. Water has always drawn me to it. At that time the biggest appeal to me was solitude and exploration. The kayak was simply a means of transportation to secret beaches and solo journeys far from civilization. At that point I was hooked and had never even sat in a kayak before.

I grew up in Austin Texas, the self proclaimed ‘Live Music Capital of the World’. Being surrounded by such a thriving music scene growing up inevitably led me to pursue a career in music early on. I played guitar in bands through high school and college, where I met my partner Shay Bickley in 1995 at the University of North Texas. During college I entered into the music business, founding a national booking agency and concert promotion company which quickly grew to success. After a few years of late nights at venues and endless hours on the computer, I began having nature withdrawals. A visit to coastal Northern California in the summer of 2002 closed the deal. I had no idea what I wanted to do, but I knew where I wanted to be. Three months later Shay and I sold all of our belongings except our bedding, a computer, and a guitar and headed west to the promised land in order to immerse ourselves in the natural beauty that exists here. Our savings ran out after about two years and we relocated to Portland, Oregon for more employment opportunity. Portland is an amazing place, but we're not city people and in 2013 we moved back to coastal Northern California to once again immerse ourselves in nature and we're not planning on leaving any time soon.

Jason Self

Once we got to California, I begged every person I met who had a kayak to take me paddling. I couldn't get enough, and realized pretty quickly I would need to get my own gear to be able to paddle as much as I wanted to. It wasn't until 2005 that I purchased my first kayak.

Working full time and attending my second tour of college full time left me very little free time to paddle. As I wasn't heavily involved with a serious job while attending school, I decided the best way for me to get all the time in a boat I wanted was to start guiding and teaching, combining my work and play into one activity. I started leading beginner tours for Portland Kayak Company in down town Portland, circumnavigating Ross Island three times a day, five days a week.

The seasonal conditions of employment there made paying the bills tough, and at the end of the first season I left and started work for Alder Creek Kayak & Canoe. Alder Creek had collected a stable of world class kayakers and it was here that my paddling education and skill would really take off. I had only planned on staying with them through school; a year or two at most. Seven years later I found the obsession had only grown. Unintentionally, sea kayaking had become the centre of my universe and I decided to go with the flow rather than fight the current. I abandoned my plans of world domination and financial prowess to pursue my passion every day.

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The ecology of the ocean is central to your beliefs – what sparked the interest?

The ocean has always fascinated me. It's been a subconscious attraction as long as I can remember and I really can't explain why. I've always had a deep appreciation of nature that was instilled by my parents early on. As a sea kayaker, I had developed a deep love for the ocean, but it wasn't until my second round of college, majoring in Environmental Science/Fishery and Wildlife Science, minoring in Ecology and Resource Management that I really began to understand what was at stake, not only at the physical level (we need fish to eat and oxygen to breath and our weather to remain within certain parameters for human survival) but also the psychological impact the ocean (and nature in general) has on all of us.

Books like ‘Blue Mind’ have made the affect water has on the human psyche more main stream in recent years, but in reality we are just beginning to understand how important it is to human happiness.

When the BP Gulf Oil Spill happened in 2010, it became painfully clear that there was a real possibility we would destroy our oceans for

resource extraction and profit without ever fully understanding the value of the ecological systems to humanity and all life on this planet.

The apathy of the American people and the BP response proved that the vast majority of people either didn't understand the value or didn't care. If I had to pinpoint one event as the catalyst to go from words to action, that would be it.

What’s been the biggest step forward to reduce plastic trash in the oceans in the last 12 months?

Society in my opinion is no different that High School. If the cool kids do something, everyone else follows. In the last decade, the cool kids have been taking a stand against single use plastics and litter. Bag bans have succeeded in many parts of the US, and a ban on plastic microbeads in cosmetic products has successfully passed at the national level in the last year. Public opinion has turned in favour of reducing plastic pollution by eliminating the non essential use of single use plastics and that's what it takes to have a major impact and work towards solving the problem all together.

What once seemed like a hopeless situation to me now seems like it will eventually be reduced to manageable levels, as long as those working to raise awareness of the issue keep the pressure on the public to act.

We have a saying, “If it floats or blows, there's only one place it goes.”The reality is if you are using single use plastics you are contributing to the problem. It takes a bit of willpower to change your habits at first, but after a while you'll find that little things like refusing plastic straws, bringing your own reusable bag to the market, or always having a reusable water bottle with you become just as routine as anything else. It's hard to imagine these simple things can make a difference, but if you think about what you use over the course of your lifetime, then multiply it by billions of people, it's easy to see the impact a single person can have.

What’s the most enjoyable encounter with wildlife that you’ve had at sea?

I am lucky enough to live near a spot on the coast where migrating whales seem to enjoy taking a rest. I don't think I will ever get over the thrill of kayaking with whales, even though it's become a fairly regular event. I look forward to their return every year like a kid looks forward to Christmas. The only thing that tops it for me is sharing that experience with others for the first time.

facebook.com/Jason-Self

What can we all do as a collective to reduce ocean pollution?

One of my favourite encounters occurred two years ago while fishing a reef about a mile offshore of Trinidad, California. I was just a few feet from a wash rock, focused on fishing, when I was surprised to find myself surrounded by a pod of breaching gray whales, all of them surfacing at the same time within 30 feet of me. I pulled up my handline quick as the pod slipped back below the surface and I started paddling towards shore.

After a few hundred yards I turned to see if I was clear, and saw a mother and calf headed straight for me. I continued paddling towards the beach until I could see the bottom, thinking there was no way the whales would come in that shallow. I turned around again to check their position, but couldn't see them anywhere. I looked down and the calf was directly under my boat looking back at me from just a few feet below. It's 40-foot mother rested on the surface just a few feet away. It seemed to me that the calf was curious and just wanted to check me out. It swam around me for a few minutes while its mother kept a careful eye before they decided to continue their journey northward.

How does sea kayaking and fishing give you satisfaction?

Both sea kayaking and fishing serve the same purpose for me, which is why I suppose I enjoy combining the two. It's all about having an intimate connection and understanding of the ocean and a desire for unique experiences with a bit of adventure and discovery along the way.

Sea kayaking provides this from the surface up, and fishing fills my curiosity and fascination of what's below the surface.

WEver been scared out there and by what?

I used to have the desire to fish no matter the conditions, but the last few years I've enjoyed kayaking when things pick up more than fighting them to fish. Less wind, current, and swell makes fishing easier, More wind, current, and swell makes playing with sea kayaks much more fun than fishing.

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Jason Self

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Tell us a bit about your coaching setup and how you help others to improve?

Constant, subtle encouragement and positive feedback, combined with a lot of patience, seem to be the key to breaking through people's barriers to allow them selves to learn through their own self guided exploration. For me at least, it seems to be more effective than simply sharing my knowledge. Provide the opportunity for someone to safely experiment and explore technique on their own, and they seem to develop faster.

What projects are you currently working on?

I am in the process of releasing my first attempt at producing a documentary film ‘The Search for the Perfect Day’ and have been putting a lot of effort into developing my skill with a camera in the last few years. Ocean paddling is my muse and I’m focusing on producing smaller projects more often. The next being my second year shooting and producing photos and event video for Santa Cruz Paddlefest, the largest and oldest paddle surf competition on the West Coast US.

Where do you see yourself in 20 years?

I hope that in 20 years I’m doing exactly what I am doing now. I feel incredibly lucky that I get to share my love of the ocean with others for a living, be it through teaching and guiding sea kayaking, photography, writing, or as an ocean advocate with OSOM.

What do you do when not kayaking?

Sleep.

What is special about the Californian coastline?

The combination of incredible scenery, wildlife, and remoteness combined with a moderate climate are to me the perfect combination for a wide range of paddling experience. The Mediterranean climate and temperate nature of the Northern California Coast means when it’s cold and miserable to the north of us in winter, it’s nice here, and when it’s hot and miserable south of us, it’s nice here too!

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Quickies…

If you could paddle with anyone in the world dead or alive who would it be?

I would love to paddle with Nanook of the North. If you haven't seen that film, you should. In the first ten minutes he pulls his wife, two kids, and dogs out of the inside of his kayak, catches salmon by dangling bits of ivory off the edge of the ice to attract them, then closes the deal with his harpoon. The guy hunts and harvests a leopard seal with a handline solo, and then captures and kills a walrus with his group of Inuit kayak hunters. There's an enormous understanding of kayaking, ocean survival, and nature happening there. I'd love the opportunity to learn from the master.

Which one sportsman or woman has inspired you?

As a sea kayaker, I really admire Paul Caffin. His laid back, low key, under the radar approach to spectacular kayak expeditions is inspiring. Whenever things get complicated I try and think about Paul and his ability to just grab his boat and go with little fan fair and no BS.

Cats or dogs?

Cat's. No other pet is ok with you abandoning it for a week or two at a time to go paddling.

Facebook or Twitter?

Instagram.

An ideal night out for you is?

Bonfire, barbecue, beers, and good friends on the beach.

What’s in your fridge right now?

My freezer looks like an aquarium right now. I've got wild abalone, chinook salmon, black rockfish, butter, and beer. What else could you possibly need?

https://vimeo.com/144554046

Many thanks Jason for all of your help on this –

Jason Self

– we really appreciate it.

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PADDLER Canoe

128 United Kingdom

Interview with Silverbirch Canoes owner Steve Childs

134 Norway/Finland

Paddling the border by Laurie Gullion

144 Canoe racing

Relearning the craft by Richard Harpham

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The King is dead, long live

The Paddler caught up with Steve Childs at Tootega to talk about Silverbirch Canoes and their new and exciting evolution in threelayer polyethylene construction, Duralite, which puts Silverbirch into close competition with more expensive canoes produced with composite or the now deceased royalex construction methods.

Interview: Peter Tranter Photos: Tootega and Peter Tranter

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So, little over 12 months after we spoke to you about Tootega, we are back and you appear to have a new brand – what is that all about?

Silverbirch has been a long term goal for us! In fact it has been on the drawing board for longer than Tootega has been alive. From our first scribbled business plan (almost 10 years ago) we have wanted to make canoes. So whilst the idea seems new to most people, it is something very familiar to us!

So does it replace Tootega?

Not in the slightest! With Tootega we have worked very hard to build both a brand and a team that are solely focused on producing the best sit-on kayaks possible!

With Silverbirch we have a unique opportunity to do the same, and from the outset have worked with notable paddlers to build a development structure and core team of paddlers who are focused on canoes and canoeing. The brands do sit alongside each other, but are very independent in how they operate!

So what makes Silverbirch different to the other brands out there?

With Silverbirch we were in the very fortunate position to be able to start a canoe company from scratch.

Without being tied to old mould tools and historical production practices we are free to design the canoes we want to and to produce these in new and innovative ways.

Having production in our own dedicated facility here in Norfolk, ensures we are not only producing modern designs, from the best materials, but we are doing it with consistency and the same obsessive levels of attention to detail that we have become renowned for with Tootega Kayaks.

You hint at new production techniques?

Yes – Duralite!

James and I have a passion for materials science, we always have, and from the time we met each other back in the late 90s we have been tinkering with materials – initially to make our own surf kayaks faster, stiffer and lighter but later for more commercial applications.

For the past four years or so we have been working very hard on ways to make stiffer, lighter and more durable canoes and kayaks. This was initially focused on kayak development, but as Silverbirch began to become a reality and as Royalex announced they were ceasing production it made a lot of sense to apply our research to canoes and Duralite was born!

Without being tied to old mould tools and historical production practices we are free to

design the canoes we want to and to produce these in new and innovative ways.

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So what is Duralite, how does it differ from more traditional techniques/constructions?

It’s stiffer, lighter and stronger!

As odd as it sounds, the Achilles heal of threelayer polyethylene construction has always been the internal skin. This is the layer that is hardest to put down smoothly and so to get an acceptable internal finish most manufacturers have historically used a very ‘soft’ plastic that helps to iron out the lumps and bumps.

So what models does Silverbirch have in its range right now?

We’ve launched Silverbirch with our Broadland 15 and 16 canoes and our Covert 9.3 whitewater OC1.

The Broadland is essentially a more stable prospector style canoe aimed at use on a wide variety of waters.

The Covert, well that’s just feeding our love of all things white water!

The trouble with this is that very same layer is providing a large part of the stiffness, impact resistance, and durability of your canoe and so a stretchy, bendy plastic doesn’t help all that much at all.

So where next for Silverbirch?

The answer seems obvious – use a stiffer, higher impact polymer for the internal layer and that’s exactly what Duralite has, but achieving this in practice is easier said than done!

So a composite Broadland will be coming soon then?

To achieve this we had to develop a moulding technique that gave us precise control over where we are putting the plastic inside our mould tool and this ended up giving us a double benefit because it actually allowed us to control each layer independently – so now we can make high wear areas thicker on the outer and inner skins. We can also make high impact areas containing little or no foam core for maximum durability and we can put maximum levels of foam core in areas where we want maximum stiffness – we call this process ‘tapered foam technology’ and we couldn’t make Duralite without it.

Right now we are working hard on several new designs and a couple of new production techniques, we want to be producing several models in composite before the end of the year.

It will, yes but the real point of setting up composite production is to make some dedicated models for touring and flatwater.

Duralite is a more durable solution for down river uses than we could ever create in composite or vacuum formed constructions and so it really is the ideal material for boats like the Broadland!

Thank you Steve for your time and the very best of luck for Silverbirch.

Where does the name come from, why silverbirch?

We’ve long had a fascination with the roots of our sport. Looking back into the history of canoe design will quickly bring you into contact with the natural beauty of a birch bark canoe, we chose the silver birch specifically because it is our native birch tree.

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BORDER C

CROSSING Travelling in the path of the Sami and Reindeer Laurie Gullion continues her Scandinavian expedition above the Arctic Circle and along the Norway-Finland border.

Travelling above the tree line is always rewarding in Norway where the ‘krummholz’ are gnarled, stunted birches, not the thick spruces more common in the United States.Trailering three weeks of gear and seven canoes, we motored in late June 2015 from the sunny Lyngen fjord up 500 metres in elevation to a windswept mountain plateau, covered in healthy patches of snow.The mountain road – known as the E78 or E8 – is nicknamed the ‘Four Winds Road’ with good reason.

https://goo.gl/maps/xfkUCBcPdsr

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Fortunately the border was no more than a floppy

reindeer fence straddling the river, easily lifted to slide the loaded canoes underneath.

Finland

The vidda, a vast open mountain plain with little to no trees, spreading into Finland as far as we could see. Our group slipped past the empty border station—a reminder of pre-European Union passport checkpoints – and we were greeted not by military personnel but by reindeer nibbling lichen on the open tundra.

Dozens of reindeer were unconcerned with our presence as a thin border fence stopped them from the wandering the border between Norway and Finland.The countries are more interested in keeping the reindeer rather than humans in their respective countries.

We were headed to Kilpisjarvi, a small resort village in Finland, to finally launch our canoe trip.

Extraordinary late-season snow had thwarted our intended beginning at a higher elevation in

Norway, so we’d had to scramble to find an alternative route to get to the Poroeno River.

Our target was Skadjajarvi, a small mountain lake reportedly free of ice, which required a flight over the mountains. We would slip through a series of small lakes for a lovely half-day warmup to begin the trip.

The Poroeno is a rocky, winding river that builds in intensity below Porojarvi along a 75-kilometre stretch – easy rapids to challenging Class 3 drops with a few mandatory portages around waterfalls and a sandy, sinewy esker for lengthy hiking in search of more reindeer. Before the river flattens into the Lataseno, we would portage a kilometre overland to a tributary of

the Kautokeino River. It was on the Kautokeino that we would cross the border back into Norway’s Finnmark region. Fortunately the border was no more than a floppy reindeer fence straddling the river, easily lifted to slide the loaded canoes underneath. Our seven solo canoeists would descend largely Class 1-2 rapids for 60 kilometres through the traditional reindeer herding lands of the Sami to reach the town of Kautokeino.

Serious hazard

River canoeists are rare travellers to this part of Finland and Norway; the high plateau is better known to hikers and skiers. From Kilpisjarvi, or simply Kilpis as the locals say, a relatively easy ascent of a few hundred metres brings you up the ridge to the tablelands above. From here it is possible to ramble for days along gently contoured slopes, either following trails or striking out cross-country. Although the plateau does offer endless kilometres of very inviting

exploration on foot or by ski it is punctuated at times by dark, steep cliffs—a striking view from the river— but a serious hazard for unwary travellers in thick fog or blowing snow. Back down at the river, canoeists have their own set of difficulties created in large measure by the abundance of glacial rocks tumbled into the water. We came to know many of those rocks quite well during our descent. Make sure all the paddlers in your group have well-honed rockdodging skills if you plan to enjoy the Poroeno.

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I have been intrigued with this plateau

since my first trip in 1996, when two Finnish women in Kilpis told me of their 30-day ski trip, “Just to see how far south they could travel.” The famed Scandinavian ‘right to roam’ principle is alive and well in the northern wild lands. A mountain hut system provides refuge along the way from the inevitable challenges of weather at 69 degrees north latitude, well above the Arctic Circle. Even with the huts it’s a good idea to be completely self-sufficient with food and shelter. They don’t call it the Four Winds for nothing.

In need of a Plan B

At least two of those winds were now battering us as we arrived at the Kilpis float plane base for our shuttle. When Alv Elvestad of Pakboats, our Norwegian host, lifted the lid on the trailer to show our gear, the pilot just laughed. Okay, so the four-seater Cessna would need endless trips to get us, our foldable canoes, and gear to the starting point. We needed a Plan B. Considering how many thousands of miles we’d already flown to get here from the When Alv Elvestad of Pakboats, United States, how much more could it be our Norwegian host, lifted the lid to get a short gear shuttle in a freighthauling helicopter? on the trailer to show our gear,

the pilot

We loaded our small mountain of gear into the helicopter’s main cabin and the two beefy steel cages on its landing skids, just laughed wedged one of our canoeists between the packs and two pilots in the cockpit, and watched as they buzzed off across the ridge for the 15-minute flight.

Meanwhile, the floatplane shuttled the rest of us in two trips, providing an awe-inspiring view of snowy ridges and a destination lake ruffled by wind. It proved to be completely ice free, a very welcome sight. Finally, the real trip had begun. We split into two teams to cook supper and assemble our Pakboats, accomplished without interference from mosquitoes due to the stiff wind. A soft carpet of pink alpine azalea blanketed the tundra campsite, a sign of spring conditions.

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Another indicator of spring was the high water created by late snow melt, which made many of the Poroeno’s Class 1 and 2 rock-filled rapids an easier descent than normal.

Usually low water is the bigger issue here.

However, we had to be extremely careful with big waves and pushy corners as feeder streams like the Rommaeno increased the flow to Class 3 conditions, complete with pour-overs and holes.

Lining skills and sharp river reading are assets here. Reindeer continued to ramble the hills, the most I’ve seen here in three trips, as the delayed bloom of spring flowers forced them to rely longer on lichen in the stony landscape.

We had a hard time finding the portage from the Poroeno to the Kautokeino. It had been 12 years since our last trip here, and it didn’t look like other paddlers had kept the path open. Or perhaps even tried It had been 12 years since the path! Shrubby willows obscured our last trip here, and it the route, but didn’t look like once found, we ‘improved’ the passage. One had kept the path open important piece of housekeeping was washing and decontaminating our boats and gear, including our boots, because of a parasite – Gyrodactylus salaris – that could threaten the famed salmon population in the Kautokeino-Alta River system if we neglected to clean our gear.

other paddlers

Back in the land of taller trees

Entry into the Kautokeino can be rugged at low water with constant dragging the first day along damp rocks in shallow water, but high water

helped us this time. We were now fully back in the land of taller trees – primarily birches with plentiful supplies for cook fires – and intermittent lakes filled with trumpeter swans, including one pair with four cygnets. This habitat was also rich with signs and sounds of foxes, ptarmigan, and cuckoos. Our goal on day five was Goateluobbal, a winter Sami settlement with a few weather-beaten houses, old reindeer pens, and open fields for camping. We made it in time to cook dinner under a midnight sun and sleep on a rare, soft bed of grass.

Quick decision making

To describe the Kautokeino as just a Class 2 river doesn’t do it justice, since it has an abundance of pillows that require quick decision making. It’s technical – fun in places and darn frustrating in others under a dark sky that dulls the water, which, of course, is what we encountered. But eventually the river widens into an easy cruise around sweeping corners with sandy cut banks into the village of Kautokeino, where we paddled under the shadow of the abandoned ski jump, where the landing would have been the frozen river.

Kautokeino, a centre for Sami education and research, is a full-service town for celebrating the end of one’s journey or re-supplying for another adventure. We hit town for some R&R before getting a shuttle to the Reisa River for the third leg of our trip. We treated ourselves to a two-night stay in a roadside cabin known as the hytta just in time for two days of cold, hard rain. Brilliant planning.

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The friendly town offers a wonderful opportunity to explore Sami culture with two lovely small museums (both indoor and openair), the national Sami theatre, a reindeer herding school, and outstanding craftspeople, particularly Sami knife makers and Juhl’s famous silver gallery.

Not to be overlooked is a small, beautifully decorated café owned by a Sami woman who serves excellent coffee and fiskesuppe med brød (a traditional Norwegian fish chowder with

home-made bread). Her collection of children’s books with lush illustrations made our warm respite from the rain a memorable afternoon.

We capped off the Kautokeino cabin stay with another traditional feast – a supper of fish cakes, sweetened purple cabbage, and fingerling potatoes, washed down with Norwegian beer.

Fortified, we headed out of town the next day and down the road to Reisa National Park in search of our next adventure.

TRIP PLANNING Innovation Norway for trip planning assistance at: www.visitnorway.com/us/aboutvisitnorwaycom/innovation-norway/ Norwegian Trekking Association for hut location at: http://english.turistforeningen.no/ The Norwegian forest service cabins are available at: Villmarkssenter: saraelv.no Flight services in Kilpisjarvri: Lapin Tilauslento Oy at 358-400-396-087 (float planes) or Heliflite Oy at 358-400-155-111 (helicopter) A Poroeno River (1:100,000) that covers the entire drainage can be purchased in Kilpisjarvi. A Norwegian map titled Gouvdageaidnu (Sami name for Kautokeino) is available from Norwegian Mountain Touring offices in Norway.

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Richard Harpham discusses…

Relearning to race a

CANOE It seems to be from my experience as a coach, that there is a general experience and informal hierarchy in canoeing and paddlesport in that most people get to have a turn at canoeing or kayaking or both. A few will progress to learn the joy of exploring by canoe, then soloing a canoe and that elusive song of the paddle. Many like me have never ventured into the murky world of canoe racing.

Having been invited and agreeing to race by canoe in the Yukon River Quest – 420 miles of paddling joy, I figured that the Devizes to Westminster race should also be done by canoe.

For me given the heritage of our forefathers around the Gold Rush in 1898 on the Yukon, it seemed proper to be competing in a canoe. For me this is a slippery slope back down the learning curve of paddling, relearning the catch and ‘digging’ in with a much shorter stroke from toe to knee.

Like so much of paddling, when it clicks and goes well it makes sense and the boat surges forward and glides, which each stroke. It has called upon a slightly different muscle use, much higher cadence and of course significant endurance. I have had to persuade my brain to focus on the top arm driving down and much less pull of the blade with the lower hand. Sounds simple but the reality involves training below max output to retrain my body to feel the stroke.

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Green shoots

During some training sessions I have questioned my own logic of not taking the easier (for me) option of competing in a K2 kayak using wing blades and sticking with my preferred style.

However, like so many challenges that I have pushed through, with the aches and pains, I have begun to see the slight green shoots from limited progress and success therefore feeling vindicated.

Personally I have always felt the benefit of our sport, an outdoor activity that takes minutes to enjoy but a lifetime to learn and master. Another nuance of canoe racing is switching sides approximately every six to eight strokes. This is to avoid steering strokes and focus all energies into forward propulsion of the canoe.

For the more statistical based readers, my training has been broken down into a mixture of longer endurance paddles of 15-30 miles and then shorter one-hour high intensity sessions.

For me personally this has also had to fit in with

other constraints and commitments, so cross training at canoe polo (one-hour), canoe coaching with clients (2-3 hours for Canoe Trail – no intensity) and 1-2 hour K1 sessions have been the pattern.

Paddling with my team mate Andy has brought many benefits of being alongside a team mate I know and respect but one major drawback of location with me in Bedford and Andy in Bristol.This has meant time in a boat together has been limited.

Top tips on canoe racing – what I have learnt so far:

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If you haven’t tried it, then give it a try for a few sessions. You never know, you might just like it!

Focus on the catch and ‘digging’ the paddle in deeper than normal but with limited pull on the lower hand. As if you were trying to kill a fish.

You should be using the blade from your toes to your knee only, with your legs in front of you as you paddle in a seated position. When you get the stroke, you should feel surges as the canoe moves forward with both paddlers working in tandem.

Switch every 6-8 strokes with a call, “Hut” for each switch of sides.The first stroke after the switch don’t worry too much about making a super clean catch, get it in so that you maintain power.

Learn to wash hang on the wave created by other boats, about two-foot out to side and you should be pulled along with minimal effort as you ‘surf’ down the wave.

Try to ensure body rotation and a vertical paddle for maximum forward efficiency.

Paddle using the visual shape of a slice of pizza as you make the catch so your paddle follows the pizza segment back and is parallel to the keel of the canoe to reduce turning or sweeping action.

The rear paddler can paddle closer to or wider from the side of the canoe in the stern depending on the amount of turning effort that is required, almost like three gears that are available to assist steering.

Paddle a racing canoe like a Wenonah Jensen or similar (18-foot 6-inches and Kevlar) to feel the difference from the classic prospector shapes in terms of weight and inherent speed.

Use racing paddles which are super lightweight and great for high cadence.

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A huge thank you to paddling guru and Level 5 coach Rob Campbell for sharing his wealth of experience of racing and canoeing in general.Thanks also to Viking Kayak Club Stalwarts who have encouraged me and lent kit whilst I have endeavoured to get my act together.Thanks also to my team at Canoe Trail who have agreed to be impromptu training partners and guinea pigs whilst I find my feet or arms.Thanks to Stu from VE Paddles for providing race and whitewater paddles for the challenges ahead.

The Yukon River Quest Entry has been made possible with the support of Yukon Tourism www.travelyukon.com/ and also Canadian Affair and Air Transat. Flights and connections to this incredible wilderness and historic location can be booked via www.canadianaffair.com/ For the Yukon River Quest then visit www.yukonriverquest.ca

1,000 miles of adventure by canoe with team Paddler magazine Adventurers and paddlers Richard Harpham and Andy Torbet are no strangers to canoeing and kayaking but even for them 1,000 miles of paddling is a big challenge. They have been invited to race in the Yukon River Quest, 420 miles from Whitehorse to Dawson City in the Yukon Territories. Preparation is key so they have also signed up to paddle the Devises to Westminster Canoe Race, as a gentle warm up with a further 125 miles with 77 portages to contend with.

Of course 125 miles in 24 hours is no easy task, so the boys have also entered the Waterside C and D races, 23 and 35 miles respectively as well. With busy schedules, the team have not been able to train together regularly and live over 120 miles apart. To combat this they have also planned a series of micro adventure

Richard is a human powered adventurer and paddler who has completed over 8,000 miles of adventures by kayak, canoe, ski and bike www.richadventure.com.

He runs www.canoetrail.co.uk with his wife Ashley and co-founded www.inspiredlife.org, which inspires young people and communities. He is a motivational speaker drawing on his stories from adventure, in corporate life and managing the Ghana Ski Team at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Richard’s adventures test equipment in the harshest conditions and he is proud to be supported by: Paramo Clothing, Valley Sea Kayaks, www.bambooclothing.co.uk, MSR, Leatherman Tools, Canadian Affair, Aquabound Paddles, Reed Chillcheater, USE Exposure Lights, Garmin GPS systems, Sealine Drybags and is part of the editorial team for Paddler magazine.

journeys together including paddling iconic rivers including parts of the rivers Severn, Wye, Great Ouse and of course the Thames.

Andy Torbet is a former Royal Marine and bomb disposal expert, climber and extreme diver who is best known for his TV presenter role on BBC’s One Show tacking extreme challenges. Andy is a motivational speaker and author of ‘Extreme Adventures’ detailing his exploration and adventures in the UK. Andy has a degree in zoology.

Andy and Richard will be sharing their stories from their races, training and paddling adventures writing regular blogs and articles for Paddler and Fitness magazines. You can see more about Andy www.andytorbet.com and Richard www.richadventure.com on their websites.

Great Barford

Canoe & kayak hire Stand up paddle board safari

Bromham

Wild campsite located next to river Tuition, guided tours & multi day trips Canoe & kayak sales Group deals, kids parties & corporate days

The Embankment

Activity vouchers, bushcraft bus & adventure activities Other locations including the River Thames, River Ivel & River Wye

Bedfordshire Canoe Trails

Call Ashley on 07960 087235 or Richard on 07710 616520 Proathlete ltd trading as Canoe Trail