Vaniljesaus – The Movie!
It’s here at last!
Vaniljesaus – A Norwegian Odyssey, taking you from the rivers of Valdal, North to Hattfjelldal, and even inside the Arctic Circle in search of adventures by kayak.
Enjoy!
Nick & Finn.
Two Days on the Dart – My Weekend in Motion Picture
Last weekend was full of exciting antics in Dartmoor, Devon, and I took a break from working in Oxford and made my way down. Two days of paddling, filming and partying (sometimes at the same time, no word of a lie) all summed up in this short little video I’ve put together.
Big thanks to Hugh Graham for his mad filming skills throughout the weekend, DJ Fromage who’s deck maneuvers made the party and to Simon of Gene 17 for hosting such a great weekend event.
I’m going back to work now, but at the end of the month I’ve got to catch a flight to Chile, which should be a real hassle.
Finn
Could you unpin this?
How would you get that out?
Yesterday a small team of us went on a mission to get this boat out of the Mawddach. It was pretty well wedged!
Two pig-rigs and a snapped rope later (not a Palm line a hasten to add)… we got it! It’s a bit warped and bent, the whole back end was full of rocks and the airbags were shredded – but all things considered I think if faired quite well!
To find out how we did it and see more photos and video, check out the FlowFree blog.
Inflatable Adventure Paddlers!
Hello All!
Myself and some of the Palm crew have just returned from a fantastic weekend at Simon Westgarth’s Gene 17 Adventure Paddlers weekend on the river Dart.
I’m sure the rest of the team will update on the events of the weekend soon, but I couldn’t resist getting in there first to tell you about the most fun thing I have done for ages!!
I’m not even really sure how it came about, but I’m sure it was something to do with the combination of my own withdrawal symptoms from rafting in Costa Rica and a team of adventurers freshly returned from the jungles of Indonesian Papua. The result was a fair band of pirates (Pete Wood, Chris Easterbrook, Dave Fairweather and myself) at the put in to Dart Meet with one borrowed raft and a broken pump. Without even trying we somehow managed to get some friendly paddlers to help fix the pump and inflate the whole raft such was their desire to watch us descend the river, and no doubt provide them with hours of guaranteed entertainment! On the 50m walk to the put in we picked up two more heroic, but, as became apparent later on, rather disobedient crew members. They went by the names Luke Farrington and Tim Burne and had spotted the fun a mile away, immediately ditching their kayaks to join in!
I’m not sure what happened to the kayak race down the mad mile that was roughly planned for 2.30pm (did we hijack it?!) but we ended up being lead down the section by Simon Westgarth and being surrounded flotilla of around 40 curious kayakers, who I’m certain were hanging around to see a pin, a flip or a swim.
For some reason I decided that where the raft was going was my responsibility and turned into a surprisingly bossy assertive guide. But with such a dream team there was no way we could fail! We all turned into children again, the whole experience was a fantastic emotional rollercoaster of adrenaline, uncontrollable laughter, whoops and shrieks as we whirled down the river over holes and ledges. Wicked rumours were flying around the kayak flotilla that there were expressions of pure terror etched into the faces of those in the front of the raft on the precarious lip of Euthanasia and Surprise Surprise, however we all know that rumours are never true…
We managed to descend the whole river successfully, with only a few pins and swims. The aforementioned Tim Burne soon became the most unintentionally disobedient crew member by perfecting the art of tumbling from the raft disconcertingly slowly, and in such a way that we still just couldn’t seem to grab him in time.
Luckily pictures of the fun, courtesy of photographer Kev Winsor (who can be found at Paddle Photos on facebook) were taken, so enjoy. Check out the awesome splat at Lovers Leap – they boys were very happy with that! I hope it inspires you to try rafting – just because it is so ridiculously fun!
Cheers and thanks to all.
Rosie
The weekend awaits!
A big weekend coming up for WW warriors here in the UK.
Sarting on Friday night team paddler Chris Eastabrook will be at CIWW in Cardiff explaining why, amoungst other things, Palm Gradient boots are so popular in Papua New Guinea. He kicks off at 8pm, but don’t forget the course is on the monthly 12 cumec release, so worth a bit of freeride action beforehand.
Further South West at about the same time, the one and only Big O, Olaf Obsommer will be opening this years Gene 17 Adventure Paddlers Weekender. This years show is a refreshing step away from the all action format covered so widely in WW kayaking. Instead it highlights how Olafs skill as a camerman, editor and veretan kayak adventuere have developed to recognise that whilst the purpose is kayaking, the desinations afforded by this means of travel are sublime in themselves.
Oh, and needless to say, there will be some boating. Water is falling from the skies and we will be bringing as many new Dagger Mamba’s as we can squeeze into the van with team paddlers Rosie cripps, Finn Burrows, Nick Horwood and Lowri Davies on hand to give you the lowdown. For those wanting to check kit we’ll have the sample Spark suit, Luna ladies PfD and of course prizes for the Saturday night raffle.
Wherever and whatever your paddling this weekend – have a cracker!
Vaniljesaus – The Final Teaser
Hey there guys and girls!
Vaniljesaus is set for release this coming weekend at the Gene 17 adventure paddlers weekend as well as across the internet for free!
Here’s the final teaser:
“Vaniljesaus is a short film that follows a bunch of goons travelling through Norway for two months; searching far and wide for beautiful whitewater, new and classic.
We tried to film as much as we could, capturing the trip and trying to get the best shots we could. We found big water, small water, no water and a delicious custard drink called Vaniljesaus.
Vaniljesaus will be premiered at the Gene 17 Adventure paddler’s Weekend 2011 and released web wide for free the very same night.
Enjoy the final trailer before the full release this weekend.
Team VJ.”
Finn and Nick
New rapids in Prague
Artificial Whitewater courses are growing in number and popularity, offering paddling groups a community hub, somewhere to paddle when there’s no natural flows and for those who wish to train, consistency in conditions.
Eastern Europe has long been the envy of those elsewhere, with courses offering testing conditions and playing no small part in the competitive excellence that comes from these nations. But it’s not only the conditions created that have been interesting, the methods used have been innovative too like the tyre solution found at Troja in Prague.
But now, technology is moving on and developments introduced at new courses like the Lee Valley Olympic venue are being added to some Eastern European sites. The Rapid Blocs (which are made here at our Clevedon HQ) have recently been put in at the Troja course in Prague and under the guidance of course designer Vojtech Bares they have been testing the systems adjustability to great effect to get the feature they want.
We’ll keep you posted on more spots where Rapid Blocs are being added and for regular updates check out the facebook page.
Olly Sanders Expedition DVD trailer
For those who don’t know Olly, he is a long time Palm paddler, but more than that he is a highly regarded sea coach, guide and expedition paddler…. as well as being a formidable mountaineer!
In other words when it comes to big trips and big adventures he knows what’s what.
From the trailer and the roll call of names he’s got involved it doesn’t look like you will have to look much further for something to inspire and also guide you in your schemes and plans.
He’s locked down editing at the moment, so hopefully it won’t be long before we can all get a copy in our hands.
In the meantime keep an eye here and on his site for more Rock & Sea Adventures
Cornish Open
It wasn’t looking great when we got to Godrevy Saturday morning as it was very windy and although the sun was out it wasn’t very warm.
After I’d signed in I walked up onto the cliff and had a look at the surf. It didn’t look too bad although the wind was off shore and it was blowing the tops off the waves.
I went back down to the car park and after the briefing helped carry the judging equipment up to the cliff and as I wasn’t on for quite awhile I stayed around and helped out with the judging for the first heat. It looked like it wasn’t easy to get on a wave although it didn’t look too bad when you managed to get on it. I had entered in the junior short and long but as only a few had entered in the junior long I was allowed to enter in another category so I chose open long.
I got my boats down to the cliff in preparation for my heats ‘though mine weren’t on till about lunch time. My first heat was the junior short final. The tide had come in quite a bit so it was tricky to get down the cliff path and I had to take both of my boats down to the beach as the open long was the following heat. On the water we had to wait quite awhile for the heat to start. The surf was nice but the spray was blowing back in my face when I was on the wave so I had to rely on the feel of the wave sometimes to time my turns. I had a couple of really nice rides. Finally I think I have got my fins in the right place as I have been fiddling around with them and since I got back from the Worlds I have tried putting them in a completely different place. As the heat ended I rushed back to the beach, changed bibs, grabbed my other boat and then got out back just in time. I had some good rides but they weren’t good enough and I came 4th.
I then had a bit of time to spare before my next heat, the junior long final, so I had a bite to eat and watched everybody else surfing and there were some nice rides to watch.
At last the junior long final arrived and we got down onto the beach. The surf wasn’t looking very good by this time although it looked as if there were a few nice rides to be had if you waited for the right one. When the heat got started a set had just gone past so I had a few rides on the inside but I didn’t think they were that good. Then some better waves arrived and I had a few nice rides and quite a few bad ones as well! Most of the waves that I caught were peeling with a shoulder and no lip to go for at the end although there were a couple that I caught, that weren’t quite as long, that had a breaking lip to finish on. There were only a couple of heats left after my last one so I went and got changed and got back to the judging site just in time to watch the men’s short final which was good to watch. Then everybody helped take all the judging equipment back to the car park and we had the prize giving.
I came second in the Junior short and to my pleasant surprise I won the Junior long! It was the first time I had won it so I was very happy! I think that it was a good finish for the year for me, putting me in second place on the England ranking list in the short boat and third in the long boat. Roll on next year!
World Championships Of Surf Kayaking 2011
It all started for me when I was asked to join the England team earlier this year. The months that followed we arranged the flights, car hire and accommodation in America. The venue was at Nags Head on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and we flew into Washington DC from London Heathrow. It was about a 7 and a half hour flight and after that we had to drive for about 6 hours to get to the house we were renting with some other people in the team. Most of us were all on the same flight so we were all able to be around to help each other if it was needed. We got to the house at about midnight on the 28th and got to bed about one. We had about 6-7 hours of sleep and then everybody was moving around so we got up and met a couple of the team for the first time and then we all went down to the beach to see what the conditions were like. That day was just going to be for getting used to the surf, getting all the boats checked out to make sure they met all the rules, getting the judging stand set up and for all the competitors to get used to things. The surf was very small but it was quite fun . I went out for a couple of hours in both boats. Later on, after the boat check in, we went off shopping to get lots of sun cream as it was extremely hot, in the 80s Fahrenheit, also some mosquito repellent as there were lots of them! We all had to be back for the team parade in the evening and after that was a meal at the pier next to the competition site.
Next day was the first day of competing, round one of the team event which saw lots of good rides and placings for the England team. I was in the junior short category with two others. The surf was quite small that day and not that powerful but I had a couple of good rides and came second although I kept catching an edge which I think was partly because of nerves! At the end of day one England were in 1st place and it was nice feeling that one had done something to help it get there.
Day two and round two of the team event, which was the semi finals, started with some quite nice surf. It was a bit bigger than the days before and everybody went out for a surf before everything started and catching a wave was a matter of making sure that you weren’t dropping in on anybody and then weaving your way around the surfers paddling out! I was first heat on, in the junior long this time, so after paddling in to get a bib I paddled out and waited for everybody who wasn’t competing to get off the water or to move out of the competition zone. When it all started there were some fairly good sized waves coming through and they were the kind that I do best on so I was able to get some nice rides with lots of turns in. I won the heat which I was very happy with as I had felt I had done well. At the end of the day three teams moved in to the final, England in first place, Basque in second and the US West team in third.
Day three the individual event started and I was competing in the junior short and long. But I wasn’t going to be surfing in the long boat that day as it was going straight to a semi final. I was not on till the end of the day in the short boat so I had all day to watch people surfing. There were some very good waves surfed and some big moves scored. In the men’s short lots of people were going for big moves off the lip like airs and pan-ams. At last my heat came up and we got on the water. I think we had some of the best waves of the day. There were quite a few big ones coming through and some really nice rides to be had. I had a couple and then I had a bit of trouble catching the waves so I didn’t have that many but I did well enough to come 2nd which was good enough to advance me into the semi finals.
Day four of the competition started and it looked like I wasn’t going to be surfing that day as all I had left were the semi finals of the junior long and the junior short and they wanted to do all of the semi finals on one day if they could. But it was nice to have a drive around the area and to watch everybody surfing.
Day five and I was in the junior short first. The surf was getting a bit bigger and I had some really nice rides and actually managed to get an air but failed to land it so it didn’t score that well. I came third which wasn’t good enough to get me into the final which was a shame but I felt that I had surfed well so I wasn’t too disappointed. Later on I was in the junior long and again I had a couple of nice rides but only came third and didn’t make it into the final. This left me in 5th place over all in the juniors.
But there is always next time!!
Day six was the Team finals and the Teams in it were, England, US West and the Basque.
It was a very exciting day watching all the surfers compete and the level of surfing was very good. At the end of the day the Basque team were in first place with England in second and US West in third.
Day seven the wind had changed direction so the surf was different for the individual finals and it looked like it wasn’t easy work. I think everybody was pushing themselves a lot and it was nice to have a good place to watch them (being on the pier). Everybody did very well – full results are to be found here.
http://www.worldchampionshipsofsurfkayaking.com/2011/10/07/victory-at-sea-full-individual-results/
Day eight we had a fun ‘iron man’ comp’ in which you had heats of about four and the one with the most impressive wave moved on to another heat. It carried on like that until you had only two left and they surfed against each other for first place and Jorge from Argentina won. The awards and closing ceremony were that evening and it was very nice as actually they took place just across the road from where we were staying! Everybody had a good time and several people got thrown in the swimming pool!
The next day was our last day at the comp’ site as we and most of the England Team were flying back home on the tenth. So we drove around and had a relaxing day in preparation for the long drive to Washington DC airport and then the flight back.
Next day we got up fairly early having about a six hour drive to the airport and we got there with plenty of time to spare, which was nice. After a seven hour flight and collecting our kayaks we then went out to find our car and to find that it was very windy, cold and overcast. A big difference from the 75 degrees Fahrenheit and clear skies that we had in America!
We all had a good time and I for one am looking forward to hopefully going to the next Worlds which are being held in Australia on the Sunshine coast.
Congratulations to the Basque Team for winning this years Worlds!
