River Erme Video

Check out this video I just put together... The Erme is one of my favorite runs in the SW and is full of fun stylish moves, I had a great time filming this one even though the weather was less than ideal for filming. Paddlers are Nick Horwood, Mat Corke and myself. Music by The Cinematic Orchestra.

Thanks to Matt Corke for the GoPro footage... Enjoy!

Thanks to: Zet Kayaks

East Lyn Video

Here is a cheeky edit of the main drops on the East Lyn. This is a gem of a run and anyone that hasn't had a chance to paddle it really needs to, you won't regret it. Paddle down from Brendon along a quality section of grade 4 on both bedrock and boulder gardens all the way to the sea in Lynmouth.

And when you finish, don't forget the all important tea and pasty / cream tea... Thanks to: Zet Kayaks

Gene 17, Adventure paddling weekend!

Well what a great weekend! A chance to catch up with old friends and meet some new ones. The water levels were a nice low medium on the Dart, which worked out perfectly for the hundreds of people that were on the river over the two or three days.

Here is a video edited by Finn Burrows, including some of the more eventful parts of the weekend, Enjoy!

Two Days on The Dart (APWE 2011) from Finn Burrows on Vimeo.

Thanks to: Zet Kayaks

Northern Norway!

So the final part in the brilliant Summer we all had this Summer was a fantastic trip up North to the Arctic Circle with Finn, Tom, Nick, Jasper, Tebb and Sarah. This is my third season in Norway and I have been planning on making this trip happen for some time.

Sizing up a drop on the Susna, Photo Sarah Tebb (ST)

We had heard stories of and read about amazing regions as good and better than all of the southern regions. But a trip to the north doesn't come easy. It's a very long way! First stop was Hatfjeldal, a beautiful region with some spectacular rivers, one that stands out as a real treat was the Susna, a run comparable to the Rauma with clean, big, fun drops around every bend!

Put in rapid on the Susna (ST)

After paddling a few other rivers in the area and camping in some of the most amazing places I have ever seen we decided to move on, further North. We paddled some nice runs on our way, the names of which escape me now but were largely top quality grade 4 joy rides.

Dusj Boof on the Susna - one of the most fun drops in the whole of Norway! Photo Finn Burrows

Finn sending Dusj Boof!

We decided to do a little exploring and moved to a region called Beiarn. The river Beiarn is extremely famous for its salmon fishing but little is known about the area's paddling potential. We can safely say that it is a fantastic area to explore. There is a huge mix of paddling in a very small area. We paddled a few runs in the area, some of which could have done with different water levels, the Beiarn in particular is a very committing run that requires low flows. The Tverorga was a stunning narrow gorge with classic Norwegian slides, and we clocked the first run down it!

Finn enters the big slide on the Tverorga

Tom Parker on the same slide, this really is big, and faster than you might think!

The exit of the Tverorga gorge, through a small crack in the cliff... paddle towards the light!

Checking out the maps - the search begins (ST)

There's never a bad view in Norway! (ST)

Setting up camp... (ST)

A spectacular boat - no problems all season and the plastic is still going strong after a lot of abuse!

On the Drive home, myself, Finn and Jasper  stopped off at the Lundselva for a run down what has to be one of the best runs I've ever paddled. A gripping section with a variety of drops ranging from tricky boulder gardens to huge slides!

One of the last few drops on the Lundselva.

Moving further south we stopped for a cheeky huck on the famous tourist attraction Laksforsen (salmon falls). This fall is unique, the lead in is a 150m long grade 4/5 rapid followed by a sizable 10m drop at the end. There were no takers for the main line and the whole lead in so I took a nice chicken line on the left where the fall is steepest, What a way to finish off an amazing Summer of boating!

My run down laksforsen -this waterfall is a true feat of nature! photo from video still - Jasper Polak

Well that's all the updates from my summer, stay tuned for the video:

http://vimeo.com/27763643

Thanks to: Zet Kayaks

Back to Norway, The Land of Plenty!

After a great trip to Slovenia, with a brief stop over in Austria to paddle the Brandenberger ache, thanks to Matty N for the recommendation that was a cracking river! Finn Burrows and I started our long trek north to Norway. This would be my third season in Norway and yet I still feel I could go back for another twenty and still not even scratch the surface of all the boating in this amazing country.

Finn doing what he does best, navigating...

This year we got the ferry from Hirtshals to Kristiansand, I would say this is one of the nicest routes to take to Norway, particularly if you are heading to the west coast as it includes a lovely drive through southern Norway's fjords and lakes.

waiting at Hirtshals for the early ferry. Photo by Finn

The first stop for us was Voss for the extreme sports veko, a brilliant festival where loads of different people interested in different sports get together and have a big party. Finn and I had managed to wangle a great job filming the kayaking for 'today's video' with Josh Neilson and Julian Stocker. It was a good experience and the edits produced were real crowd pleasers, well done Josh.

 Lower Myrkdal, one of the best runs in Norway? Photo by Mike D

At the start of the week we had a great run on the Myrkdal and a few other classics around Voss with Joe and Mike (two English lads on a big old road trip). All of a sudden though, one thing really stood out in Voss... Rain, It wouldn't stop! As a result we had to look a bit harder to find some boating that was at a manageable flow. We went to the upper parts of the Eksingadalen, above lake to lake, it is briefly mentioned in the Guide book, but we thought we would check it out. It was a fun run with a few fun slides and rapids, if only it was a touch longer!

 Nick Pearce, Joe Leader and Mike Durrant on the Eksingadalen

Nick P hitting a sweet line on one of the longer rapids

After a rather exciting week in Voss, Finn and I headed back to Sjoa briefly to pick up Nick Horwood before heading to Valdal. We had a few nice sessions on Jorgens wave and some great runs down the various sections on the Sjoa. The photos below are from during Sjoa festival and the Frig Freestyle Jam competition.

 Charles Blyth sending a nice blunt on Jorgens. Photo by Sarah Tebb (ST)

 Myself finding my feet again in a playboat, it took some time... (ST)

 Going for a helix (ST)

 Finn, hitting up a huge backstab showing the form that helped him win the biggest move prize! (ST)

 Freestyle is all about having fun though really... King of the Wave! (ST)

Eventually we made our way to the land of strawberries and cake that is Valdal! We took loads of film and not too many photos. Here is a video still from a cracking new (we think) waterfall we found near valdal called Store fossen!

A really soft but still scary waterfall with a tricky line up...

More Norwegian updates to come including some video!

Thanks to: Zet Kayaks

Slovenia... Good Fun That!

Earlier on this summer I went to the beautiful and rather surprising Slovenia to paddle on the Soca River with Exeter University Canoe Club (EUCC). None of our group had been before so it was a nice little adventure for us.

A Classic scene for any Uni club - sitting around the Beers!

After the long drive from Italy, we made it to Camp Soca greeted by some rather heavy rain... We had a slow start getting the group river permits together but we were soon out on the river and found out that the rains had made some of so called boulder gardens to be somewhat devoid of boulders. Never the less the paddling was clean and perfect for our group. 

The mountains surrounding the campsite.

To begin with we spent some time on the upper stretches of the river, getting everyone (myself included) back up to scratch after a winter of minimal boating due to a disappointing lack of rain. Soon we ventured down to some of the lower sections, my favourite of these was the Altona section - a great and fairly continuous grade 3 (+) jaunt which was a perfect platform for some of our newer paddlers to test their skills.

Beans, enjoying the sunshine and skimming at the Altona take out.

To summarise the paddling, this really is a must visit place especially if you are mainly in to grade 2-4 boating and sunshine. There is a bit of everything, tight gorgey constrictions, boulder gardens and chilled gravel bed runs. It's not too hard, but if you're imaginative you can test yourself on all sorts of grinds, eddy lines and rock spins.

 A spectacular waterfall on one of the Soca's tributaries - this is worth a quick work to see!

I should mention to those who plan on visiting the Soca as a Uni group or just group of paddlers who want to have a drink and a party to pick your campsite carefully; particularly if, like us you go in early June during the German holidays as the campsites get very busy and our chatter (even though it wasn't very loud) at 11pm didn't go down well. So just do a bit of research and you'll find somewhere more open to larger, louder groups...

Water doesn't get much more blue than on the Soca!

And Finally here is a nice video summary of  our trip filmed and edited by Matt 'Noah' Langdon!

Thanks to: Zet Kayaks

Money Drop, Duo Video

Money Drop Duo Movie from Southern Underground Productions on Vimeo.

Here is a nice little video of myself and Julian Stocker paddling Money Drop on the Strondelva near voss during the Extreme sports week. This was my first time down Money Drop and my first time in a duo, it was great fun even though I broke my blades... Nice to have Julian in the back to help with the rolling!

 The video was filmed by Josh Neilson, Finn Burrows and edited by Josh. Great job lads! Thanks to: Zet Kayaks

Great coffee, spectacular pizza and a jolly time in Italy!

Kicking off the season with a bang, we boarded the ferry to Dunkerque on the 4th of June ready for the grueling ten hour long drive to Campertongno. Arriving late in the evening we settled into a well earned sleep ready for some boating the next day.

On daylight it suddenly became apparent that the traditionally low volume character of Piemonte, was not as low as my previous trip to the region in 2008. In fact the recent rains had pushed almost every river in the area beyond a reasonable flow.  As a result we jumped on to the raft section of the Sesia river for the next couple of days and put our big volume boots on. I have to say that at high flows this section was great fun - 100cms big waves and holes in Italy... What a surprise!

Taking the boats for a walk up the spectacular Gronda (Photo by Finn Burrows, FB)

Finally the rain stopped on our last day of paddling and we managed to sneak a run in down the beautiful Gronda down to the Sorba slides. This run is a real gem and I was so happy to get back on it after three years. It gave the group a great chance to test their skills on steep granite the likes of which Dartmoor and South Wales don't really offer to the same quality.

Phil 'BEANS' Burton, sending a nice line on one of the first slides on the home straight. (FB)

The first slide of a lovely double combination - this one is a treat! (FB)

Lynne Medlock reaching for the boof just above the bridge. (FB)

The same drop, great shot from Finn.

The third drop on the Sorba slides, photo from Lynn Medlock. These drops could never get old!

Next stop Slovenia... Thanks to: Zet Kayaks

Scotland... What a week!

Last week I went to Scotland with the Exeter Uni club. We had a truly brilliant time with fantastic water levels and great company! 

This was my first paddling trip to Scotland and I'll be honest I wasn't expecting much. Perhaps this whitewater snobbery had stemmed from a lack of research or having been lucky enough to travel abroad to some magnificent boating. However, by the end of the week I had to eat my words in a big way...

The first day started with some warm up boating on the Arkaig. We had good water levels and so decided to head to the Roy. After an entertaining upper section we continued down the Roy Gorge, a run which I would have to class as one of the best grade 4 runs in the country. A truly committing run with some classic rapids and at least one very large must-run! For many in the group, this was the hardest paddling they had done, but everyone stepped up and had a great day. I couldn't have asked for a better start to the week.

Me entering the tight S-bend rapid on the Roy Gorge - photo by Ben Watts

The following day we had we did some more warming up on the Spean and Roy followed by the

Allt Ionndrain. This is a great little run which gave the chance for many of the crew to test their skills on steeper boating, the likes of which are hard to find on Dartmoor!

After positively monsoonal rainfall over the next day or so we had a fantastic run down the Spean Gorge at epic flows... a fun bit of water with confused boils and eddy lines. In dramatic contrast we went for a paddle on the Gloy gorge later that day; this is a short run which had little water and lots of trees, watch out if you're heading there any time soon.

Later that day came one of the main highlights of the trip... The Abhainn Righ! Well I certainly wasn't expecting this in Scotland. After a long scout of the drops I decided to fire up the two biggest drops. The first is a huge slide, approaching 20m in height. It's very steep and has two large kickers that give you considerable air time on the way down. I was happy with my line although I lost it at the last moment landing all but upside down in the pool. As a result I was ejected from my boat leaving me to walk to the side to empty it (whilst wearing a smile as wide as the river itself).

Having a last minute scout - Lynne Medlock (LM)

The full sequence  (LM)

The second large drop is a sloping slide into a large drop. A total drop of just over 10m I guess... This is quite a spectacular fall with a small line to hit but it is a real beauty! I went first hitting my line just as planned (trying my first paddle throw in the process), Andy went next sending his first waterfall effortlessly. Unfortunately Ben got unlucky on the lead in, resulting in a dislocated shoulder, get well soon mate!

Lining up for the big hit! (LM)

Flying off the lip  (LM)

A great line from Andy C (LM)

Ben W 'Bucking up and Hucking it' (LM)

An overall view of the two drops. This is a stunning river! (Andy C)

On our last day boating we went to Glen Etive where we got to sample the delights of the middle Etive and Alt a' Chaorainn at medium – low levels (I guess). Both of these rivers, as I'm sure you all know, are real gems. The sun was out, the whole crew was paddling well; it was one of those days that I will remember for a long time!

A lovely shot here by Matt Robinson looking down into Glen Etive from the Alt a' Chaorainn... What a place!

So the brilliant week certainly made up for the long journey to and from Exeter and I will without doubt be back again next year to check out some more of the seemingly never ending collection of classics that Scotland has to offer.

Check out this short video from the week's boating. Thanks to everyone for all the footage.

Thanks to: Zet Kayaks

Zat Raptor: Review

First appearances:

I think the boat looks great, simple and not too shiny... It's a bit longer than the large nomad for example and has slightly less rocker than a lot of other creek boats. Digging a little deeper the first thing I did was to check out the hull: It's not all that different from a nomad, slightly more defined edges, probably what some would call a semi displacement hull.

The next obvious thing to do was to jump up and down on the hull (with good reason). In my opinion one of the most important factors in any white water boat is how stiff it is. This will affect how strong the boat is and how quickly it reacts. The results of this scientific test proved the boat to be very stiff. The reason for this is that rather than a single stiffening beam along the centre of the boat, there is a diamond shaped equivalent, under the seat, which joins to straight beams, running the length of the boat.

Outfitting: The outfitting is basic but extremely comfortable. Setting the boat up takes about 3 minutes as all the hard work is done for you. The hip pads are fixed in with velcro and the foot plate padding slopes away from the ankles providing extra comfort and protection when it comes to pitons...

The seat is just a single piece of closed cell foam. It doesn't absorb water and weighs next to nothing.

Weight: This brings us on to how heavy it is... light! It is still a creek boat but unlike others the lightweight outfitting means that the weight goes where it needs to, making the boat tough!

On the water:

So my first trip out was a nice cruise down the upper dart, a bit of grade 3 – 4. Right from the off there are two things that are very clear: It is very fast and it holds a line like nothing else. On the way down the river I found myself hitting lines as I had done before in a nomad but the Raptor just felt more fun! The speed means that boofing, rock spins, grinds and all that free ride lark is effortless! I also dropped the boat into a couple of holes and waves – it surfs well for a creek boat - easy to get out of holes too (a slight difference to other boats may be that the balancing point on the edge is slightly further over so you have edge hard). It's easy to forget that this boat is quite so large...

East Oakment:

So this was my first trip on this river – a brilliant class 4 (5) gem on the North of Dartmoor. We had perfect conditions for it too. The river begins with a continuous series of slides that don't stop for around 1km! As expected the Raptor stepped up and performed brilliantly – it punches holes with ease, and most notably seems to really accelerate off drops and slides, ejecting you through whatever is at the bottom!

Moving down the river there is a 4m drop, the clearest line on the day was landing on a (very) shallow ledge. This seemed like the ideal place to do some plastic testing... All went well and the boat had barely a scratch on it!

South Wales:

I've had a couple of days up in Wales over the last couple of weeks. I managed to get a range of stuff done, high (ish) volume runs on the middle Tawe as well as steep creeks galore on the upper Tawe a Giedd. 

The boat performed well again but I learnt more this time about how the boat reacts in commiting situations. Firstly, as I mentioned earlier the boat tracks brilliantly, but it is key that you set up your line aggressively otherwise pulling the boat back in line late can be challenging. The same aggressive style applies to running drops, it's harder to get away with dropping in to stuff without much speed; this isn't hard to overcome as the boat has such immense acceleration that you can be flying in a matter of metres.

All in all, this is one of the best creek boats I have ever paddled and without a doubt it is the most enjoyable to paddle. It requires a slightly different paddling style to other boats on the market but in my opinion this style is the most effective for paddling hard water. It is definitely worth considering if you're in the market for a creekboat.

see here for a film of our day on the Giedd by Finn Burrows: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dov6l32eDk0&feature=player_embedded

Sorry for the lack of action photos, Video coming soon. Thanks to Mike Moxon for the featured shots.

Thanks to: Zet Kayaks