So after receiving my new Pyranha Shiva I'm pleased to say it is standing up to my expectations!
I have however only paddled it on Trywern, Cymfal and Swallow falls, so it has not experienced any high or bigger volume drops.
My first impressions of the boat are the speed it carries threw waves and how the boat runs. I cant wait to do some races in this one!
It has a nice displacing hull and stronger rocker profile which makes boofing really easy, and landings softer. It also minimizes the risk of catching edges on slides.
This boat however does need to have the power being put down to hold lines and stop it sliding, its much like a slalom boat in that respect and its a good style of paddling to have.
Definitely get in one if you have a chance and see what you think!
David
Sunday 9 October 2011
Sick lines, Fast bikes, and a little gravy!
It always starts with a journey
Our trip started in Nottingham, where Tom and I live. A kit list was made and we left at midday on Friday. A quick drive and we arrived in London at the White Water Canoe Centre where Pete Scutt works. After an afternoon in the shop we headed to the local pub beside the Shepperton Slalom Site followed by a curry.
The next morning we were back in the shop watching the rugby, myself very over-excited about the coming week and not really knowing what to do with myself till 4:00. However, the time did eventually come and we began our trip to Dover and the drive to Europe, our destination, Sickline!
We arrived on Sunday afternoon with sore backs from the journey. After a quick inspection of the course we were changed and raring to go. This was the first time I had seen the Wellerbrucke section at race level, and to no surprise it still looked rather big. With help from all the GB guys here I had my line set in my head as well as following Graham, Pete and Tom down.
My first run was pretty clean, and filled me with confidence, I went straight back up for another few runs. We all got off the water buzzing with how we paddled. No huge beat-downs were taken and most of us felt really positive about the course. We then got some food and headed to Crazy Eddies.
Crazy Eddies
Crazy Eddies is possibly one of the coolest most random places I have ever been to. It is an old raft centre, where many raft guides still live. It’s comprised of a central building with a full industrial kitchen, of which only a small electric oven hob combo, and a fridge works. Another room with another walk in style industrial fridge is, again not working, and a table where we eat, chill and most importantly drink tea.
There is also an assortment of old train carriages, which are very Harry Potter style. You can even imagine the dementors coming down the corridor. These carriages have doors to each, converted “bedrooms” which have fold out bunk beds. The window seals are perished and doors squeal but still I really enjoy sleeping there for the quirkiness of the whole place.
Middle Oetz and back to the Venter Ache
In the morning we headed up to run the Middle Oetz with Seth as our guide. It was a really fun run, with nothing too difficult at this water level. It certainly kept you busy though as the rock-gardens were super long and tight. After this we went up the valley to the Venter Ache, my favourite run to date. Unfortunately I had only ever run it in spate, and at normal water levels it wasn’t anything overly special. It was still great to paddle through the deep gorges in the sunshine, and there were enough features to make it enjoyable and a fun run.
We finished the day back on the Race course on the Oetz with a few quick runs down, and an unfortunate snapping of my paddle just above the two largest drops on the course. A bit of C1 down the drops had me on a nice clean line though. Thankfully.
Race Prep is Important.... But so is relaxing
After a having to abandon a plan to run the Risbach we had to decide what to do with the day. The thought of a day just on the race course was not so appealing, therefore we went to the local bike hire, and rented some Giant DH and free-ride bikes. I had not been on a DH bike for a few years, since I sold mine. We got the ski lift up, and had our first run down, a definite walking track.It was super steep and not really wide enough for a bike. We ended up finding some single track road, then nailing it down the mountain roads overtaking cars. The second run down we found some fire road tack where even the open corners seemed tight due to a lack of berms. Towards the end we found a nice little section of DH which really got the adrenaline pumping. A few minor crashes were had within the group but nothing major. The day ended, again with a few runs down the race course.
The reality of racing
So it came to Thursday, as I awoke the race nerves came apparent. It was a strange feeling knowing that this was actually a world champs. We had a short paddle in the morning including a run down the Infamous upper Wellerbrucke, which is one rather scary dirty run. The evening had some nice lines going down from all the GB paddlers. We had a race meal that evening which consisted of numerous pieces of meat and a few potatoes. I got an early night and started psyching myself up for the next day.
Qualification
The prep leading up to the race for me was pretty thorough. I had not done much training on the qualification course due to the top being so technical, a mistake on my part as I had not understood how challenging qualification was going to be. Anyway, with advice from Pete Scutt, Craig Aires and Rob Harris, I thought I knew my lines well. I waited in queue for the start, eagerly awaiting my time to climb down the steep bank to the small eddy by the start beam. I sprinted off the start, and as planned hit the hump of the first drop nailing the boof and landing on the left pile, I sprinted towards champion’s killer. I hit the right boof and landed perfectly and powered through the small gap below. At this point I had thought the hard work was over and it was just keeping to the “easy lines” however through the middle section I made contact with a few rocks which slowed me down significantly. My time had me 3rd in 1st qualification.
Second qualification was very much the same again hitting the same rock. I rushed up after my times to watch the other GB competitors. Tom Wakeling, one of the fastest GB paddlers unfortunately backlooped on champion’s killer therefore this year did not have the chance to race in the final. Congrats to Pete and Anton who also made it through along with myself.
Finals day!
The moment I had been waiting for, sitting at the top of a 6 meter seal slide looking down upon the swirling waters below. A cameraman was placed just where I wanted to be at the top of the slide, which meant I had to just hope that I would be ok sliding further right. The light went green and I shifted my weight over the edge, the boat began to slowly tilt, then speed down the rock towards the small yellow plank. I shot off down the river as my hull boofed nicely off the flat surface below. I knew this was the first key part to my race. I then picked up the pace through the first section flowing with the S around a rock then a hole, a quick boof and I was on to the flat section in the middle of the course. I sprinted towards the compulsory left channel. I hit it with a nice line and then paddled for the middle route where you come all too near to the undercut that has claimed so many peoples runs. I got the double boof and then sprinted towards the second to last drop. I hit the hump and again, as in quals landed on the flow and gripped it. On approach to champion’s killer I was just praying that it went to plan. Unfortunately it did not and I backlooped. I finished 8 seconds behind the Russian I was against, who went on to win the quarter final stage.
I finished 34th, very happy with my performance in the race. I can’t wait after another hard years training to go out again and hopefully get a better seeding!
So you may have noticed over the last 6 months there has been a distinct lack of blogs on my creek and big water paddling. This was because I was focusing purely on my racing at this years Junior European Championships, which took place in Bosnia, however within 3 days after the Europeans Joe Morley and I had started the drive out to mainland Europe with 4 plastic boats on the roof. Our plan was to drive straight to Prague for a few days of freestyle paddling on the 2008 freestyle world cup site, also home to many international slalom competitions.
All packed up and ready to go
Creeking In Czech
On arrival to Prague a BBQ was quickly assembled and by 11:30 the steaks were cooked and readily consumed after the 14+ hour drive out. In the morning I woke early, as per usual after a late night, so took a look at the river. My heat sunk seeing that the level of the main river was far too high for the slalom course, leaving the channel backed up and washed out, no use for paddling at all. I quickly made the plan that we were not staying in Prague, I was already having serious withdrawal symptoms from not paddling for 5 days. Seeing the high water level, I knew there must be something good running somewhere, but not knowing any non Czech slalomists i was stuck for ideas, After a quick look on the Pyranha Team Page, and a facebook message to Katerina Migdauova we had a plan. We head up to North Czech with Katerina and many of her friends to a small town names Jizerske Hory. Here the scenery was becoming ever more mountainous with passing many swollen rivers which were getting my heart pumping and ready to run some real water. We parked in a small carpark filled with many paddlers cars and brightly coloured boats. We followed the group up the valley, after a reasonably long steep drive, we went over the brow of a hill to see a huge bowl like valley, filled with small wooden houses, it reminded me of a western film as the camera shows the cowboys looking upon the Indian settlement.
We paddled a small tributary which joined the main river for about a mile. The river was very steep, very rocky and incredibly good fun. The top was tight narrow and gnarly, which certainly put me on my toes after not paddling a creek boat for many months. The river then opened out following the confluence of two other rivers to give some bigger, and deeper technical rapids.
Nice technical rapid on our first river
We then decided to paddle the Kamenica, a river which I would describe as a steeper, wider and bigger Washburn. This river was exceedingly good fun, continuous rapids all the way down. It ended with a 15-20 foot weir, one that local paddlers were wary of due to a shallow landing and strong tow back. After careful inspection and giving Joe first the camera, then the throwline I was psyched to run the drop. I got some run on the boat, and looked for my line, a strong boof off the lip landed me flat at the bottom, with lots of speed to clear the tow back.
Final drop on the Kamenice
My experience in Czech was very positive, and I would definitely encourage people to go paddle there more often and get it on the map!
Wild Water Racing Junior World Championships
The next place on our trip was Opava, Home to the 2011 Wild Water Junior Worlds. A week was spent there, learnin the lines and racing. The river was exceedingly flat, favoring bigger stronger paddlers, however GB fought hard and came out with some reasonable results.
It was a great week and it was especially to meet up with friends which I had met on previous trips. It was especially good to see the amount of paddlers who did not just do Wild Water. Haley Popp, a fellow NRS team paddler raced well, along with her younger brother Bryson who raced in C2 Class. There was also a very large number of slalom paddlers who competed in wild water alongside their slalom racing.
Team race in Czech
Time for the main event
On arrival in Austria life was once again balanced. My slalom and wild water paddling had been the priority, but now it was just me and the rivers, able to choose what to paddle, what lines to take and ultimately how far I wanted to push my self. Many rivers were paddled during the ten days Joe and I were in Austria but I will only speak about the highlights. We started the trip with a medium level run of the Inn Shoot and Landeck Gorge.
Inn Shoot and Landeck Gorge
The Inn Shoot is one of the best sections of water I have paddled to date. It is a continous 3km run with large steep waves and huge holes. Joe had told me about this run, saying it was a lot of fun so it was high up on the hit list for both of us. We ran it 3 times during the week, the latter two times on high water.
We paddled it first with me, Joe and Oz Rowdon, a slalom paddler from the UK. We got in, and started the decent towards the gorge. My heart was now pumping, eagerly awaiting to see what the river looked like at water level, not 100 feet up! The whole run was non-stop paddling, powering threw the edges of holes and fighting over waves to see what the next section would bring. the river flattened off until Landeck gorge approached giving a nice short ending rapid. When paddled later in the week at high water it just got bigger!
Lower Venter Ache - My favourite run to date!
The Lower Venter Ache was quite simply amazing. Large(very large)continuous rapids for 6km.Joe and I had paddled the top half earlier in the week,and were determined to paddle the rest.We headed up to the get in and met with a group of Czech guys.The river was still high due to glacial melt,way over the guide books high water recommendation,however the Czech guys had already run it once that morning, so despite the higher level, Jo and I decided to give it a go.
The first rapid on the Ventre Ache starts as you break out of the put in eddy and doesn't stop till the get out!
The river is fast and narrow, a little wider than the Tryweryn.It had continuous high, peaky waves and large holes, some of which went across the whole river.The gorges were seriously steep with no exit. Very intimidating when some of the biggest water I had ever seen was in there!
The river was still rising sharply when we got off the water but we couldn't resist one more run. It was bigger still and so fast that we only did 3 breakouts during the entire 6km stretch!
Lower Oetz
The Lower Oetz is a classic run.In low water it is a run much like the Tay, in high water it just keeps getting bigger with large standing waves and munchy holes to punch.The highlights of the Oetz for me have to be the standing play wave below the 'extreme danger weir' which saw me doing clean spins and surfing all day, and the rapid on the following corner, where there is literally a wall of water standing in front of me and which I had no choice but to punch through.
Super Glassy Wave
Brandenburger Ache
I had been pretty excited about this run all week. Joe had been bigging it up for the past 6 months, so I was anxious to see it for myself. Getting onto the river,after briefly looking at the first gorge from a foot wide path literally cut into the face of the cliff and from quite high up left a lot of unknowns, especially quite how big the water really was down below!The first gorge was steep ans fast with small drops all the way down, ending with a curl off a wall into a deep recirculating hole which had me quickly flipped and rolling.The best thing about this river was the length. I think the section we paddled was about 16km. Even better is that the river doesn't really slow down for any great distance before you are in the next over hanging gorge and working your way down the another rapid.It was quite an exhilarating experience to paddle through a gorge not much more than 3m wide with cliffs towering above,and indeed over your head. About half way down there was one short portage, due to a drop with a tree in the hole, however the portage was so steep and tricky at the time it almost seemed safer to run the rapid. The last section was again in a gorge and had a small drop with a nasty hole at the bottom,which saw a few of the team having to bounce off a wall or fight their way out of the hole.
A flat section of the Brandenburger-A relatively rare site
Upper Pitzbach
The Upper Pitzbach was also a good run, a technical rocky 8km made us on our toes. It also had a nice little boof half way down...
Nice little boof on the Pitzbach
Augsburg
On the way back, Augsburg seemed like a good place to have a rest break from driving, and of course a short "loops" session...
Looping the Burn - Video to come!
And thus ends the post.I had the time of my life paddling out in the Alps, something I plan to do again as soon as possible. the experience I have gained from my time out there has made me much more confident and I am now really looking forward to Sickline in a month or twos time!
Thanks
I would first like to thank Joe for joining me on the trip, he was great to have along and made things run smoothly. I would also like to thank NRS, Lightning Paddles and Pyranha as my gear really did serve me well throughout the trip. In addition to this I would like to thank White Water Centre, Nelo Kayaks and GoPro for their continued support. I will also thank desperate Measures on behalf of Joe for supporting him.
David Bain
Saturday 9 July 2011
After a very busy few months moving from my home town of Chester, to Nottingham. Moving schools and training hard in the UK, France and Bosnia I have a free minute to write a post.
BOSNIA PRE EUROPEANS
The time has come where the Junior and U23 GB teams have returned to Bosnia. Thankfully the river is staying at a consistent level now, not like in our training camp, where the water rose each day from 25 cumecs to 200, which was challenging to say the least with gates having to be risen every 5 minutes. The course has been altered very little since I was last here, and although it is not the most technical river out there, I am still thoroughly looking forward to racing, which starts with my individual and team qualification races on Thursday.
And yes, it’s a little hot, 40+ deg c :O :O :O
PADDLING MY NEW PYRANHA VARUN AND CARBON FREERIDE BLADES AT HPP
As my training started to dip for racing, and "hot" weather visiting the UK I decided it was about time to get comfortable in my Varun, before I get on larger rivers in central Europe in 3 weeks time. I really enjoyed paddling the boat down river, its a lot faster than other play boats of its type, yet also carves nicely on a wave as well as it being playful in a hole. It really is ace for all round paddling, which is exactly what I intend to do in Austria, Slovinia and Switzerland.
The carbon blades were also great; I am still using the Freeride blade design, which as I said in a previous review are nice strong, powerful blades. The carbon blades are quite a lot lighter, making them more similar to my slalom blades.
BOURG ST MAURICE
A few weeks back I had a camp in Bourg, which is by far my favourite course! It’s just amazing big powerful water that really tests every paddler. After a hard week training it came to the race day. Unfortunately my first run did not go to plan with a 50 given and unfortunately as second runs were cancelled I did not get another chance to qualify however the week was still very valuable.
On that evening myself and Tom Brady decided to go for a light run to ARK 1600, which is abut 15km up and the same down ;) We reached ARK 1600 in good time, so we decided to continue to ARK 2000, only another 15km up. We did reach ARK 2000, after a good 30kms and climbing over 1300 meters. Unfortunately once we approached the top the weather closed in with wet snow and sleet. We both got rather cold rather quickly so a quick decent to lower ground, and a lift down the rest of the mountain with blankets and glucose powder from our coach was greatly appreciated.
Last weekend was very tough, 2 very important races. The first being the annual HPP Head to Head race. Now for those of you who don't know this is a boater cross in slalom boats down a relatively open slalom course. Its chaos and great fun! This year was no exception with lots of crashes and paddle hits going down. Eventually after successfully being in the top two in the qualifications and the semi-final we had myself, Andrew Martin, Tom Wakeling and Robin Vasey in the final. I had a very good start and the others crashing in to each other gave me an early lead which I managed to hold on to, coming first over all :)
A big thanks to Neil Buckly and Greg for organising the event!
Nothing like a good bit of playing :P (photo credits to Beverley Wilkinson)
The next race was the English champs, Many people were abroad this year, so the competition was not a full house.
My first run was pretty quick, with only a few time losses here and there. This time put me in to first place and managed to hold that threw second runs.
I have now gained the title of English Champion for 2011 :)
Ihave a video of the weekend that ill upload shortly!
This week I have been hard at work “revising” for the impending doom of A-level exams, I have still managed to get my regular training trip to Nottingham and have had a good week mostly in the Gym.
I’m pleased to announce that I am now on the WhiteWater shop team! Im thrilled to be working with Pete Scutt and the guys now J
This weekend I am attending the first Team Training Day at Nottingham, Its a lovely sunny day outside so it should be great fun! I am now thinking I should get ready to leave for the course, as the clock is ticking away so look forward to more updates J
My initial thoughts on the blades were how strong the catch was. Being used to slalom blades, I imagined less power but the catch on these blades was solid.
On forward strokes, as previously said, the catch is very strong and you feel a nice connection between blade and water. It feels planted. As the stroke continues back it continues to stay very stable in the water, and provided nice resistance to pull the boat past. Overall this is a very powerful blade even being the smaller of the two lightning non buoyant blades.
The shaft is extremely ovaled, this gave me lots of control with my blade angle. This leads on to how I felt they were on rudders, they sliced surprisingly nicely for a creeking blade, and again the power and connection to the water felt very strong.
After paddling with them more, I am finding that they are a lot easier on the wrists and elbows, due to the nice flex in the blade. They also seem bomb proof, and from the stories that are being told from the testing in Nepal they are!
So now all my selection races are over, I'm thrilled to have gained a place on the Great Britain Junior team for Slalom and Down River racing, and cant wait to race at the Junior Europeans and Junior worlds in Bosnia and Czech Republic!
Training is in full swing making the final gains before these races, where I hope to be in peak condition.
I have now also got my place for the Sickline Extreme worlds where I will be racing along with some of the other Team Pyranha Guys from the UK.
I have got a road trip planned now for Austria and Slovinia where I shall spend some time creeking
Written in the van at Nottingham campsite Saturday night after the Junior race
Selectionis a tough time for everyone, parents, coaches and athletes. The pressure and expectation put on the athletes from parents and coaches can be quite daunting, however this level of expectation is nothing compared to what the athlete can expect from him/herself. I can only speak from my personal experiences here, however I certainly put a huge amount of pressure and expectation on myself, which I find helps me gain more focus and composure for a race.
2011 was a scary start for me, in the first 2 prem races I had made mistakes, but my times were good. Being my last year of junior I was ever more anxious to make these races count and to perform to the level I needed to.
Bala Selection – International Site – Junior Selection 1
I was reasonably calm in the lead up to Bala selection. It is one of my favourite courses here in the UK due to its fast, narrow channels of flow which with correct stroke placing you can use to your advantage and speed down the tight little course, The disadvantage however is it does seem to get shallower each year, but fortunately a fantastic course was set this year, with nearly all the gates over deep ish water.
On the day of the race I woke up rather nervous, something I have become used to over the last two years at important races, working with one of the GB canoeing psychologists, Dean, I have learnt how to overcome these race day feelings, whatever they may be, and use them to my advantage, or block them out completely. Before my run I had walked and analysed the course 6 times, working with Mark, Dean and my Dad as well as other friends to make my race plan suit me and my racing style.
Run 1 went completely to plan, getting a clean line on all the key moves, subtle time losses here and there but overall it was a great run. It put me in First place in the Junior class, and also first over all.
The second run I pulled out all the stops and unfortunately this time it didn’t work out, however my efforts on my first run still secured me a first place in junior and second overall just behind Campbell.
The week between Bala and Nottingham I just stayed focussed and made it my priority to stay sharp, calm and not to over train!
Most of the week we had fantastic weather with temperatures in the low 20s, I had a good session in Nottingham on Wednesday and then came back over to Nottingham on Friday afternoon. On Friday we again had great weather, I spent the evening looking at the course designed by Mark and Ian, and it was a fantastic racing course. I learnt the course well and went back to the van for dinner. I went for a relaxing walk before bed then did some mental prep and slept.
I woke up, as usual at just before 5, I had breakfast early and went down to watch the demos. It was fantastic to have some really high quality demo runners which allowed me to make a good plan. I went back up to the van after demos and relaxed and had some more food.
After numerous course walks and minor plan changes on the course I was ready to race, My first run was clean, but one move choice lost me a chunk of time so I had to correct this on the second run to make up for lost time and improve my placing.
Again after another few course walks and rehearsals with both Mark and Dean I was on the water and watching the clock tick down to my start time.
I executed the plan exactly as I had hoped, only with minor time losses here and there but nothing significant. I ended up in first place in the Junior race and 3rd U23.
I had now made it on to the team in first place.
At this point in the blog I would like to say congrats to Ciaran who has also made it on to the GB junior team this year after his performances in the first 2 races, there is still one place to fill which will be decided in the final race in Scotland this coming weekend.
Written in the van on the way to Scotland
Nottingham U23 Selection – Race 2&3
The U23 selection this year in the K1M was certainly going to be some extremely intense racing with many top athletes competing for the 3 available places.
As usual the races are done on 1 run on the final U23 Selection events.
On my first run I unfortunately made mistakes from the start (Gate 1) and the run, although had good sections were not what I wished for. I had to paddle back for an upstream on a hole, which I was very disappointed about as it was one of my favourite upstream gates.
Second run I was intent at following my plan, but most importantly nailing gate 9, the upstream i had previously messed up on. The run went to plan. Apart from 2 very silly touches with put my time well down, I nailed gate 9 and got a good cheer from the crowed, something that meant a lot after my mistake on the first run.
The Under 23 selection series over all did not go perfect for me, but thankfully it did not need to due to my position on the junior team already secured.
Again congratulations are in order to Joe Morley, a fellow Nelo team member, Joe Coombs and Joe Clarke who gained a place on the U23 team to race at the European Championships in Bosnia this year.
Junior Selection 3 – Grand Tully – Scotland
Leading up to the race in Scotland I was keen to focus on training hard, and testing out my new boat, already mindful that preparations must start for the Europeans this year.
I went in to the race more tired than my previous selections but was still hoping for a good performance.
My first run was reasonably clean but nothing special, I knew I had to step it up in the second run, but unfortunately this did not go to plan either.
All in all it was a rather disappointing weekend with my paddling being sub-par throughout all my runs.
The final results were, Ciaran first, I in second place and Jonathon Abbott in third, gaining him the final place on the junior team.
I shall be spending this week training and preparing for senior selection at the Lee Valley Olympic white water course where there is a 3 day racing series being held.
Photo taken by Jazz Royle at the Lee Valley White Water Center this week
David
Monday 4 April 2011
Lightening Freeride Paddles
So after over a week of looking at my new Lightning Freeride paddles, I decided that they needed to be tested. I had planned a slalom day on CT near Bala, so I put them in the van if I had time.
After a slalom session in the morning I met up with Kev Griffiths and Charles and decided to do a run down with them, in my slalom boat.
My initial thoughts on the blades were how strong the catch was. Being used to slalom blades, I imagined less power but the catch on these blades was solid.
On forward strokes, as previously said, the catch is very strong and you feel a nice connection between blade and water. It feels planted. As the stroke continues back it continues to stay very stable in the water, and provided nice resistance to pull the boat past. Overall this is a very powerful blade even being the smaller of the two lightning non buoyant blades.
The shaft is extremely ovaled, this gave me lots of control with my blade angle. This leads on to how I felt they were on rudders, they sliced surprisingly nicely for a creeking blade, and again the power and connection to the water felt very strong.
On our run down we eddy-hopped most of the way, playing at key features on the course. At the end I had a short go in Charles’s new freestyle boat and nailed a blunt on the cafe wave.
I thoroughly enjoyed the day and can’t wait to get my blades on a bigger river in a plastic boat :D
Over the last few weeks I have had a few hurdles to over come. I contracted an evil flu virus which set me back a week, and had tendinitis in my wrists. I am all better now and cant wait for the racing season to start next weekend.
I had a great training camp at Lee Valley Olympic Course and I am loving every second on the water I am feeling much more comfortable on the course now, and again looking forward to racing on it at the British open.
This is the video I made from the training camp. Many thanks to Mark and Jim for the footage, as well as GoPro for a great high quality helmet camera!
So the last couple of weeks i have been rather busy training all over England.
The highlight has been training on the new Olympic slalom site in London.
The course its self was incredible, A steep gradient created a really exciting ride and with the powerful water all in all a extremely technical course is made.
The site is architecturally pretty, with wooden decking and cool shutter like things. The glass gives the course a modern feel as well as the rapid block bollard system in place makes the course easy to adjust and boat friendly. There is a spacious warm up pool, which curves round to a smaller area where the escalator is. The bottom of the course flows straight towards the escalator and the pumps so it’s nice to end a run and float to the escalator to do it all again.
The course its self starts with a wave like entree which then gets increasinly difficult with side currents causing you to have to keep your edges flat. the eddies all down the course are crisp with a nice backflow meaning super fast breakouts.
The course then takes a turn and goes down the largest section of the course, wich consists of a haystack type wave with large eddys either side, which I feel crosses will become a regular move on as the looping pool at HPP.
The course continues down the main straight with varying features which i found to be a key section as the lactic starts to build and you still have to be strong and technically good to get the gates.
I did four sessions in total over two days and certainly felt that was a hard 2 days training, the powerful nature of the course is physically draining but that is what makes it challenging.
I have now got back to Chester and it has gained a place in my favourite artificial courses and I can’t wait to get back down to London to paddle again.
I would also like to take this opportunity to mention GoPro. Widely known by paddlers as the most popular helmet camera, I shall be using a GoPro HD to make my videos which can be seen on my youtube account. Please click on the link at the top of this post and take a look at the great cameras.
Ill be posting the video that was taken at London asap :)
