HPP Paddlefest 2009

The time had come... the opening of the new HPP. As the car stopped in the car park we all rushed out to have a look at the new course. It looked great with about 5 new features (any suggestions for new names?). One of the ideas behind the paddlefest was not to paddle your own boat and demo others, I could not wait to try the new biscuit (it is definitely a wave boat) and Big Dog Kayaks. The National Student Rodeo was also running which meant lots of students (all majorly hung-over by the looks of them) were also at the course. A few of the young burners were already on the course so we joined them and cartwheeled, splitwheeled and looped our way down the course (trying avoid all the swimmers from the duo final of the NSR)! After lunch we found that you could try a sprint C2 (queue scary music). It is a lot harder than they make it look at the Olympics. We decided it was diffidently a summer sport. Sam and I managed to get about 20 meters before falling in for the first time and about 50m the second time (that was your fault Sam). I thought it was a great day and I will definitely be going next year!

See you on the water

Josh

Training at Hurley

After Tom had announced he was leaving KJO last week Den and Dan were coaching us. Den had managed to leave his car keys at the bottom of the Themes so the session was structured slightly differently, 3 hours paddling :). Hurley was still on 2 gates even though there has been no rain for weeks. I was working on my blunts as blunting on 2 is very different to the green 3 gates Hurley was on at Selections. It was a really cool training session with some big moves being thrown. At the end Den told us the plan for upcoming sessions. We will be given a plan that will be very similar to the GB team's. This means that our training will be more structured.

Thanks to Den and Dan

See you on the water

Josh

GB Freestyle Selections

Many more paddlers turned up to GB selections for the British freestyle team than I expected on the sunny Saturday morning. This was my first time at selections so I was doing it for the experience. As with all freestyle kayaking events the briefing started slightly late. We were told that we would not get a practice run before our run. Super quick change time! I had half an hour on the water before the squirt kicked the competition off. My practice went well so I got off the water happy before getting a place on the bridge and watching the other competitors. The OC1s were very funny, nobody scored a point but hey, it was great entertainment. In the C1 we were surprised to find David Florence (silver medalist at Beijing Olympics) in the line up. He did well considering he is a slalom paddler and managed to get in the squad. Now it was my turn. I was feeling the pressure but my warm up helped me relaxed and I used the 'Circle of Excellence' to improve my performance. I managed 1 good ride but unfortunately flushed early in my other rides due to a very green 3 gate wave. In the end I came 13th. I believe that I could of came about 8th if I had another good ride. It was a really good experience and I will definitely go again next year.

Big thank you to KJO for the coaching (www.kayakojacko.com) and PGL for the support (www.pgl.co.uk).

I am training again next week so hopefully Hurley will still be on 3.

See you on the water

Josh

GB Selections

GB selections coming up!

I have got my run sorted so lets hope for 3 gates!

Josh

Dart Loop

Kayakers, kayakers and more kayakers was the scene that met us when we arrived at the car park. The water was just lapping at the ledge so we knew that it was going to be more water than our disastrous trip last weekend. Our pleas to do the Upper section were met by silence so we put on and started playing our way down the river. It was a good relaxing paddle to take our mind of our training and selections. The levels meant that all the features were starting to work and that we never got board. The big seal launch below 'Lover's Leap' was good fun as usual. Even the rain and cold weather (it started snowing when we got home!) could not dampen the good spirits. A jump off the bride finished off the trip nicely.

See you on the water

Josh

Last training session before GB selections!

As we all pulled up at the car park we knew that Hurley was on a low 4 the night before so we were all hoping for the magic 3 gates. Sadly this was not to be. On the plus side blunts were still possible in gate 3 so this is where I spent most of my time. I was treating each of my rides as a competition run so to make the most of the session. On the bank based session we looked at video of the session and closely analyzed a loop.

Thanks to Tom and Alan for another great session.

Hopefully Hurley will be on a good level for next week.

See you on the water

Josh

North Wales Weekend

It is clear to me that our club lurch from seriously scary flooded rivers one week to nothing but a trickle. Our planned white water weekend in North Wales was looking distinctly dry! On Saturday the news came through that the Tryweryn was not releasing but we had a plan B up our sleeves. It looked as though there might be some surf coming in at Barmouth. There was just enough surf to tempt us on to the water. Certain people entertained us with lots of swims - about 8 in total, mainly from Stuart. A rip coming from the estuary also kept us entertained with some big standing waves. On Sunday the news came through that the Tryweryn was not releasing again! Time for plan C. Before we knew it we were standing on the banks of the River Dee near Llangollen looking at the famous Serpents Tail. We decided to run a short section from Horseshoe Falls to the end of the Serpents Tail. Horseshoe Falls offered a number of routes....a very narrow bouncy jet, a scrappy rocky 3 step drop or a boof over the main fall - between us we paddled all variations. The lead into Serpents Tail was easy and great for practising eddy hopping. We gathered at the top of the Serpents Tail for the main event. Ralph and I led the way whilst the rest of the group waited for a signal. We set up safety which was about to come in very handy. Emma came down taking a hard right line, she flipped and before we knew what had happened she was swimming. After a quick throw line rescue from me we realised something was not right. There was a lot of blood, I dived in and helped her to the bank before running upstream to fetch a first aid kit. She looked like she had been through a few rounds with Mike Tyson! When the blood was cleared up we realised she had broken her nose…ouch! What an act to follow! It was now time for the rest of the group to paddle down one by one. All had a clean run apart from Stuart who once again was determined to entertain us with a mid rapid capsize and swim. Stuart you are a superstar! As if all of this was not enough we got back on and did this run again....and yes....Stuart did entertain us again!Thanks to Ralph for organising a great trip.

See you on the water.

Josh

KJO Young Burners Training at Hurley

After all the rain and snow Hurley was up onto 4 gates for today's KJO session, the training was focused more on preparation for British Team selections in three weeks time but it was quite hard to practice any wave moves in the 4 gates. I was paddling the best I have had for a long time because of my session with Jacko and Tom working on my posture. All my moves were working well. I tried to put into practice the different training styles we looked at in the last Burners session. This meant that I was paddling at my best for longer than usual. In the dry session we looked at the video and analyzed why people were making moves that others were finding harder.

Thanks to Tom and Tim,

See you on the water

Josh

Training with Tom and Jacko

Over the half term Jacko invited me to Hurley to have a 1 on 1 training session to help with my posture. Good posture is one of the most important skills a freestyle paddler can have as bad posture will reduce the ability to rotate and control the boat. Luckily Tom who has great posture was around to help. Jacko told me and Tom to copy each other for 10 minutes when walking. It was amazing to see how just a little change can have a big difference. We then got on the water to do the same thing. I always throw some ends after I get on... I should have remembered to put my deck on! A chunky 4 gates with a tricky eddy met us. My paddling improved greatly when I was copying Tom... cartwheels, splitwheels and loops were all much easier. Back at Jacko's house after some cheese on toast Jacko and I discussed how I learnt and the stages of learning a new skill. If I could identify what makes me learn a new skill then moves would take less time to learn.

Thanks to Tom and Jacko for a great session.

See you on the water

Josh

Hurley on 3

When we rolled up in the car park the temperature was several degrees below freezing and there was plenty of snow and ice covering the ground. The walk to the river was a bit slippery thanks to the ice but strangely the air didn't feel too cold so after a long warm up and some visualization work on some back blunts. It was time to get on the water and get paddling! Hurley was on 3 so I set about practising my blunts. I went back to the basics and practised moving around the wave as quickly as possible trying to get a move in every 7 seconds. In the theory session we looked at different training styles; continuous, blocked, bilateral and varied. We come up with a style that incorporates all three to maximise our training. We also mapped how well we were paddling through our session and looked at differences between different people and how they were stimulated into paddling better.

See you on the water

Josh

PGL are sponsoring me!

I’ve just had the very exciting news that I’ve landed a sponsorship deal with PGL. PGL lead the way in offering cool adventure holidays to kids, families and schools.

Check out www.pgl.co.uk for more info!

Josh

Welcome

Welcome to my new website.

I will regularly post blogs from my kayaking travels.

For my old blog posts check out:
http://www.canoekayak.co.uk/blogs/blogShow.asp?blog=75

See you on the water

Josh