Whilst visiting Riverside Centre in Oxford last week, the guys there tested the Paradise 2 from Islander with a view of adding them to their fleet at the centre. The centre which provides activities for young people in and around the Oxford area also has a shop which is well stocked with products from Palm, Dagger and Islander.

Roger with his best friend, River Thames, Oxford

For more information on the Riverside Centre click here.

Posted on November 21st, 2008 by Ben on the road
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So what do industry types do for a boating fix -they go out at odd times.

Yesterday evening we headed off to Hurley weir on the Thames for a night surf as we’d heard the wave was rocking. Luckily we found that a crew had brought some lights (cheers Dan) so a great session took place under floodlights. Whilst there we caught up with Gareth from the TVF web site who told us about the upcoming Hurley Classic rodeo. If you are UK freestyler this is the spot to try and to get involved in the longest running UK rodeo comp - check it here.

Not having had quite enough we got our kit out again (all praise the dry suit) just after dawn this morning and went back. Thinking it would be empty we found the wave already occupied. Desperate Measures had beaten us onto the water after getting up at 4 am. The guys were fitting in a paddle ahead of a day collecting stock for their shop - another set of paddlesport industry employees getting thier fix at odd times!

Danny from DM

After paddling we went off to visit the guys at White Water The Canoe Centre to check how they have altered their store ( luckily without loosing the massive collection of posters, signed photos, comp bibs and other paddling history they have covering the walls). As they showed us around, it seemed that the Scutt brothers, who co-run the store, were looking a little tired and it soon came out that they too had been out on dawn patrol, slalom training before the store opened.

So if you want to find the latest news about paddling, see the latest kit and meet the faces the best thing to do is set the alarm a bit earlier!

Posted on November 20th, 2008 by Paul Robertson
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We had a whistle stop trip to Ireland this weekend for the inaugrial Colliagan Boater X race  , here’s a few piccies and scribblings about the trip.

The event kicked off bleary eyed early on Saturday as the plan was to get it done in one day.  With about 100 entrants (many of them fresh faces to Irish boating thanks to the Uni clubs of UCL and UCC) it ran amazingly smoothly throughout thanks to Paul and his organising team who impressively were hosting an event for the first time.

The course  was on the gorge section of the Colligan river -  a nice 400m stretch of class II and III with a few tricky  shoots and slots giving competitors the chance to pass one another or better still jam others from passing. The river level was lowish but it never really matters for this sort of thing, as its all about jostling for position and the odd rock spinning a paddler out lends to the fun.

We all choose to use the Dagger Green boat which meant that we were at an advantage over everyone else by about a half boat length. This was great if you could get out in front  - like Rosie did to win the ladies event, but not if you got trapped behind other racers - like I did in the mens final where the other racers made a pact to stop me at all costs!

The team race also had some twists with a cheeky eddy above the crux and a finishing bell which all had to ring. Again team Palm came unstuck in this race as we could not get enough space for Tim to ring the bell as the Greens filled to much of the eddy!

As expected there is alawys a little carnage, but that’s racing and part of the thrill of head to head. Your man here was the only one to get bloody though and he laughed it off and had a pint in hand by the evening!

As dusk fell prizes were handed out and the whole gang up’d and moved to Waterford for a cartoon themed night of  dancing and drinking in a local bar. Needless to say our early morning ferry the next day was painful but luckily there was a tidy little bit of surf when we got off the boat to try the new Dagger Axiom and clear the head.

Thanks again to the Colligan team, the Colligan falls holiday appartments for letting paddlers use thier site and to Great Outdoors (check thier new web site) for inviting us to the event.

Posted on November 17th, 2008 by Paul Robertson
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I’ve just got back from what must be one of the biggest events on the UK boating calendar. Every year over 1000 students, ex-students and general rabble gather in Hexham near Newcastle for the annual carnage-fest that is Tyne Tour.

It was quite muddy..

There were some swims..

..and a few sinkings…

The ceilidh was typically epic..

..And ended with a good amount of uni banter!

Thanks to Claire, Andy and everyone involved in organising another cracking weekend. Thanks also to Andy and everyone at Leeds Uni for yet again bringing 80 people and providing first class banter/carnage on and off the water!

Photos by Paul Wilkinson. More here.

Posted on November 11th, 2008 by Palm HQ
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Well, as most of you might know..: The Adidas SicklineWorld Championships 2008 are history, and the first World Champion crowned!
At that point, even if its 1 month after the event, I send a huuuge thanks out to OLAF OBSOMMER and his team, Planet Talk, Oetztal Tourism and most importantly ADIDAS… you all together pulled off an amazing event, and made it possible that the Extremkayaking World could crown its own champion!

In the meantime i returned to Switzerland and took many, many positive memories with me from the Oetzvalley! After a difficult season in which I again was injured and some other challenges in life, I drove with mixed feelings to the Oetz race. With the knowledge how little I could prepare really for this important race and also how many really strong paddlers were there, with little chance of a good ranking for me.

It was not that i felt like a weak paddler nor didnt i paddle during the summer. As i heard many rumours though about how crazy people get ready for this event, i just didnt fell that i could keep up with them! After organising the VW Multivan River Jam and re-organising my life, my focus were in the last months just not too much with racing!

After the advancement though into the final event, as only remaining Swiss, I didnt wanted to keep place 50.

On saturday morning I started as first paddler. My goal was to make the cut to the best 25 paddlers, and so be able to go into the second and last round! The hopes for that one vanished super early though: As soon as i hit the water after the startgate, i parked my boat in the eddy below. With a strong performance in the technical middle part and a “so-so” boof of the last drop i came with 1:09:42 into the finishgate and knew right away, its going to be tiiiight!!

And so, i was standing for about 90minutes beside the “TAG Heuer Timewatch”, which stopped quite a lot after my time. Pretty early though, i realised that it would get really really tight, as the parking of my boat right at the start, easily did cost me 2 seconds.

Along the racestretch, several hundreds of spectators tried to get a glimpse of the race, with more or less luck. The ambience though was fantastic and everyone enjoyed themselves.

The fastest 15 paddlers were still on top (including olympic athletes, former Slalom world champions etc etc), and i was in meantime on place 14. It would get super tight.

Jakub Nemec after the crux.

At the end, i ended up on the 26th place after all competitors were down. On one side i was disappointed, on the other side i was alright with that position. After a serious training in the winter/springtime i had to fight with all sorts of troubles and altough i would have been better than this 25th (in the end after a disqualification), i respected all the other guys which put so much work into it, were fighting and focusing on this competition!

Bernhard Mauracher (AUT) before the crux.

Jakobus Stengelein (GER) at the exitdrop of the Wellerbrücke.

After an extremly interesting final, the winner was the previous Slalom World Champion Thilo Schmitt from Germany, tightly followed by Sam Sutton from Kiwiland, who had an incredible second run, yet thilo won that one by a better first one! On third came in Michelle Ramazza from Italy! Right after those three guys, the “who is who” of the international racescene took place after place.

After the “Flower Ceremony”, everyone got ready for the big “championsparty”. In the meantime a lot of other paddlers showed up and it was supposed to be one of the better “get togethers” of the Summer 2008.. After a wicked concert by “Orange but Green”, we danced and cheered to the new and fresh World Champion Thilo Schmitt… Greatly done, dude!

On sunday morning, most packed up and set off for their travels home…

Myself in the racestrech
Image by Michael Neumann (THX!)

CONCLUSION FOR THE EVENT:
Adidas and the organisers pulled off an incredible event, which defenalty deserves the title World Championships. After last year cancellation it was a relief when the event kicked off on saturday morning! I mostly had only positive feedback from all sides (expect the ones that always complain *smile) and i look forward to hopefully a great event in 2009, one month after the Freestyle World Championships in Thun Switzerland.

CONCLUSION OF MY SEASON:
After two seasons in which i had to fight with serious backproblems, i have decided to get back in shape for  2009 and give the boys a hard time after all! ;)) I look super forward to race, discover new rivers and spend as much time in my boat as i can! Well, there is the Worlds to organise and lots of other projects, but i know that i can get there! Next year i realised, i want to stand differently at the riverbanks of the river Oetz before the event!

And so we packed up my fellow Multivan and drove on a really sunny day back towards Switzerland. On Monday I was part of a crazy Bacardi event in Interlaken and the next day an appointement with a local  TV station to shoot some action. Life is great and never the same..

Actually just returned yesterday from a trip down to ticino! The Melezza was running at perfect flows… WOW! This whitewater gem is on my TopThree list of Switzerland and runs only every now and than! Because of massive yet decreasing rainfalls we hit the perfect level yesterday with sunshine in the deep gorge! WOW!

talk soon and stay safe!

simon

Posted on November 9th, 2008 by Simon Hirter
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Palm Equipment/Dagger Europe have been major sponsors of the Youth Freestyle series over the last couple of years and have provided a huge number of prizes at each event. The final of the 2008 series was recently held in some unexpected, but more than welcome, October sunshine at Holme Pierrepont. It was unfortunate that the original event was postponed due to a flooded course as there were well over 100 entrants due to enter and not all could re-arrange to the new date. However, a good turnout of 75+ youngsters took to the course for a morning of coaching and an afternoon of competition. 

Thankfully there were a number of features to use on the course allowing a variety of coaching to take place for all abilities - from those who were learning to tail-squirt and perfect their roll, to those who were working on space godzillas and figuring out which moves to put into their competition rides. 

The competition in the afternoon was held on the Muncher and the Inlet gate (one ride on each). For the less confident paddlers and novices there was one ride on the eddyline at the bottom of the course and one on the Inlet gate which had been turned down especially to allow for easy exit off the wave. The crowd-pleasing moves here were big pop-outs which scored extra points if combined with a paddle-throwing manouevre - especially if followed by a swim! As always it was great to see the enthusiasm of all the competitors supporting and cheering each other on. 

The crowds started gathering for the biggest event of the day: the parent/child competition. The organisers cruelly cranked the Inlet gate right up so it was extremely tricky to get out of. Not to be outdone by the youngsters, the paddling parents all put on a brave face though and side-surfs, powerflips and swims were greeted with big cheers from the spectators. 

  A brave Dad! 

Big cheers from the crowd! 

Showing how it’s done: one of the ’sons’ looping 

As this was the final event of the series those that took the top 3 positions over the whole series all went home with a nice glass trophy for the mantlepiece! Full results can be found on www.youth.ukfreestyle.com

Posted on November 7th, 2008 by Gear 4 Women
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It’s racing time in the southeast!  With the fall colors also comes some of the best extreme races the southeast and maybe the country has to offer.  This past weekend saw 52 racers (a new record by more than double) hammer their way down the Russell Fork in eastern Kentucky.  The result new records, good swims, and a little moonshine to top it all off.  Here’s the top three:

Overall

1. Andrew Holcombe in the Dagger Greenboat  10:03 

2. Bryan Kirk in the wavesport Momentum  10:14

3. Chris Gragtmans in the Dagger Greenboat  10:16

Women

1. Robin Betz in the Liquid Logic 100%   11:41

2. Laura Farrell in the Dagger Greenboat  12:01

Hand Paddler

1. Keith Sprinkle

For complete results and video check out www.lvmvideo.com.  Now we’ve all got a week to rest up for the big one, that’s right the Green Race coming November 1st!

be safe

Andrew Holcombe

Posted on October 28th, 2008 by Andy Holcombe
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Ed stands on tiptoes so he doesn't look shorter than me:)

Fellow Palm paddler Ed Smith and I became the 2008 Freestyle British Champions at Holme Pierrepont last weekend.  Despite the low turnout due to other events and several paddlers already on their winter travels the competition was tough and we were up against the locals in my favourite HPP spot: the ‘Muncher’.

I was defending my title, and the heats showed that Jenny Chrimes and Claire O’Hara were the ones to beat. A knockout final format (as we were using current ECA, rather than the provisional ICF rules) meant that everything was to play for. Although as always, and especially given my high-scoring first ride, I would have much preferred a ‘best of 3’ final. I was hoping to repeat the clean cartwheels and super-clean spins of the first round; instead my rides gradually got worse, but thankfully so did everyone else’s – and I took the lead in each round. The final round was close between Jenny Chrimes and myself: a repeat from last year but I just came out ahead to take the Championship Title for the second year running.

Going for cleans

Attempt at a victory loop.

With the fickle nature of a knockout final the win for the men could also have been taken by anyone and the lead changed on each of the first 3 rounds. Local paddler Jon Best had a surprise exit in 5th place after winning the prelims. Ed had convincingly won the semis with the highest score of the competition but he only just scraped through to stay in the finals in round 2. He started to throw down the big moves again though with air loops and McNasties

Ed McNastying

and won the next 2 rounds ahead of Alan Ward and Sam Anderson, giving him the British Championship title, a union jack bib and, most importantly, a little Smurf trophy! 

My trophy

Flea 

Posted on October 11th, 2008 by Gear 4 Women
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We are just back from the annual Kanumesse trade fair in Nuremburg Germany. Its a special show because (as far as we know) its the biggest kayak trade only event, anywhere. Usually at trade events paddlesport is pitched alongside the great and the good like North Face or someone selling propellers for Sunseaker yachts but at this show its purely about paddlers which is cool.

The Palm mannequins were doing the robot dance again this year

Always plenty of new stuff  to see, so here are some of our highlights for the year ahead:

Immersion suits - We have done a lot of work on the Stikine and Torrent models to improve durability and performance. New features like the Kevlar elbow pads (on the Stikine) and neat details like zipper covers and super slick welded socks finish our suits off to what, we think, will become a new industry benchmark. The 2009 suits (Stikine, Torrent, Element- with pee buddy as standard, and Aleutian) will be made from a new XP250 fabric which we’ve had in the field for about a year now with the ever demanding Gene 17 coaching team.

a little teaser of the new suits - available at the end of the year

Paddle wear - We launched another product in our Approach line at Kanumesse. The Velocity is a latex sealed entry level jacket to compliment our huglely popular Vertigo semi dry model. Breathable, tapped throughout and with twin waist and outer seal covers its a great starter piece.

New Velocity Approach jacket

Footwear - Its been hard to keep quite about our joint project with Merrell. When the worlds biggest footwear brand chooses you to work with on a completely new watershoe you want to shout about it. We’ll now we can - two models, the Gradient and Eddy will be in the shops come spring and we can happily inform you that they stick like …. we’ll you’ll see. Needless to say folks were clamouring around to check them out and they made the front page of the shows daily magazine!

Gradient (lft) and Eddy (rt) - sticky stuff!

Dagger - Two new models and a load of improvments on fit out for our Dagger kayaks brand. The Axiom river boat was regarded by many as the best new WW boat there. Showing clean lines and we’ll tested principles it is set to become a classic river crusing machine taking over where its predecessor (the RPM) left off. Its very new skool, old skool so get set for a tail dipping style revival on your favourate runs.

The Axiom - 4 sizes of river fun!

The Alchemy touring boat is a bit of a departure from the normal ‘journey’ style tour boats. It’s wide-ish beam and adjustable skeg will make it ideal for begginners and help tracking, but its designed to move once you get it on edge so search out those rock gardens, waves and river channels to explore its potential. A perfect boat to grow into as a paddler.

The Dagger stand- the new Alchemy is the Red boat at the top

So that’s about all from Kanumesse 08, we are now busy getting all of the new items into production and onto the shelves. We look forward to hearing what you get up to using them!

A big thanks to HF for organising with usual efficency and also thanks to all the dealers who travelled to see us.

Posted on September 30th, 2008 by Paul Robertson
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This year was my first time at Wet West Paddlefest and after hearing a lot about it, I was excited to find myself in the country with nothing clashing in the diary. I was also pretty keen to try out the Mamba 8.0 creek spec on something that would test it properly! So we packed up and headed north - camping out at the Falls of Falloch.

Hucking off the Falls of Falloch before breakfast - Photo: Tom Laws

Tom Laws on the Falls of Falloch - Photo: Lowri Davies

Chris Georgiou going for an alternative line on FoF - Photo: Lowri Davies

Not a bad christening for the three new boats, fresh from Dagger’s HQ! Happy that we were now awake, we headed to Glen Etive to find a sea of multi-coloured plastic enjoying good levels on the Etive and tribs. A run down the Etive and a blast down the ever hilarious Allt a’ Chaorainn and another run of the Etive with the rest of Team Palm/Dagger seemed to be a good way to start what would be a great weekend…

Tom Laws on Crack Dawn on the Etive - Photo: Lowri Davies

Chris Georgiou on a chunky Right Angle - Photo: Lowri Davies

The Green Machine almost reaches the bottom of Right Angle before it’s left the top! - Photo: Lowri Davies

After catching up with friend from far and wide at the Ice Factor centre on Friday night, we settled down for the night: 3 people, 2 thermarests and 1 van. Saturday’s organised release was on the river Garry - but fancying ourselves some more rock slidey fun, we headed to another of the Etive’s tribs - the Allt Mheuran. This trib involves a much more arduous walk-in but with a fun team and enough water, it was definitely worth the effort!

Team runs with High Fives - Photo: George Mortimer

Chris Georgiou on the final drop of the last crazy-fast chute - Photo: Lowri Davies

After paddling down it every which way, it only seemed right to try it on our bums, in trains and surfing down it. We also tried to see how many people we could fit on a Nomad - videos of these silly antics will no doubt end up online somewhere soon!

Photo: George Mortimer

Tom Laws, Tim Ripper, Chris Georgiou & myself - Photo: George Mortimer

Awesome fun - like being 10 years old again!

Saturday night was party night - with a mixed uptake of the Superhero themed fancy dress. My favourites were Flash Gordon, Borat, Banzer dressed as Ed Smith, Ed Smith dressed as a thunderbird and the couliflowers (for sheer randomness). Oh and who can forget Mad Andy dressed as a gorilla?! The party suffered a little from a small venue which closed quite early, but it was good to see everyone. Quote of the evening: “Go spoon yourself, Spoon Girl!”.

Sunday hosted the much anticipated Morriston release - well at least it did once they remembered to switch it on! As ever with organised events like this, there was plenty of carnage to entertain the crowds as hung over paddlers took to the water, not always with the skills to meet the lines. Luckily no-one was badly hurt. It was the first time I’ve had the opportunity to paddle it and really enjoyed it - some really sweet lines and fun little drops.

All that was left at the end of all that, was the long drive home with the two PK monkeys.

Tom and Chris prepare for the long trip home…

My photos from the trip can be seen here.

Generally I liked the Mamba. It is forgiving and seems to be a good shape for the female form. I chose the 8.0 as it is more comparable with my current river runner (Medium Burn) and I prefer my big boat to be big enough to carry plenty of kit, but when I paddled it I definitely thought the 7.5 to be big enough for a person of my size for general UK river running.

Happy Paddling, Lowri 

Posted on September 23rd, 2008 by Gear 4 Women
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