Our bags all packed and ready to go!

I’ll be updating the FlowFree blog, our facebook page and my twitter feed (flowfree_lowri) when I can. We’ve set up a blog specifically for the trip where we’ll all be posting up stories and photos from our adventures, so if you want to keep fully up to date bookmark www.kayakcolombia.wordpress.com

The series is a fantastic initiative to help raise funds for the Youngsters in the Mountains scheme which aims to help youngsters realise their dreams through outdoor adventures. Famous names such as Andy Kickpatrick and Leo Houlding have been involved in the past so I am honoured to have been asked to be a part of it this year.

So if you fancy an evening of tall tales and awesome photos come along! Tickets for the talks, which happen every month between now and March, can be purchased on the High Sport shop.

When I heard there was going to be a new ladies Palm Element suit, I was really exited. New zip shape and materials to make it more manoeuvrable, drop seat for ladies relief and the same articulated cut and lightweight but durable material as my favourite cag – the Aqua (see this video for more technical details).

Last weekend an exciting parcel landed on my desk: a pre-production model for me to test! I rushed straight down to the Tryweryn, disregarding the fact that we were having the hottest October days on record. Over the course of the next couple of days I played about in my playboat, bashed around in my creekboat and fell out of inflatables trying to splat NRA bridge. I had an awesome time messing about with my mates, and hopefully you’ll enjoy this video.

Lowri does some playboat coaching at the newly improved Campsite Wave (aka Super Wave)

Fun times in the King of the Wave event

Saturday’s highlights definitely included the Big Dog Freeride event, where you had one minute to impress the judges by doing anything you liked on any part of the the river between the raft take-out and and NRA. Be careful when you say “anything goes” to a bunch of paddlers, you never know what you’ll get!

Big up to Pete Woods for some impressive head stands and somersaults with bells on from an inflatable “orca”. Gez’s seal-lauch into fingers was inspired and there were some funky moves pulled off by Tim Burne and local boys Vito and Beesley but I somehow beat them all to win the “new school” category. There was no competing with the boys in orcas for the “spirit of the games” awards though!!

Saturday also saw a cool new relay race, where teams of 3 had to choose one boat and one paddle that they would all use. The boats were lined up at the top of Ski Slope and there was a mass-start in middle car park, where the first racers from each team ran up to their boat, hurredly pulled on their deck and raced on down the river through Ski Slope, International Wave and Davies Bridge. At this point they had to make an eddy on river left, where racer 2 was waiting. As people piled into the same eddy, trying to get to their team mate, the first racer had to get out of the boat and pass it to racer 2 , who has to run with it to above Davies’ before launching in and racing down river to cafe wave. It was here that the final racers awaited. The field had spread but the small change-over eddies soon had everyone battling to try and be first down fingers and towards the finish banner at NRA. A last minute entry of Tim Burne, Dan Heyworth and Danny Young took the win.

Saturday evening we were treated to a first look at the footage from a recent China expedition which featured some local heros such as Tom McLay, Simon Tapley, Rob Litherland, “Crazy” Dave Thompson and James Shrimpton.  We watched in awe as the guys tackled some of the biggest white water on the planet in cold and remote mountain regions. By the end of the video I think most people were either itching to get on an adventure of their own or glad that they only had to face the Tryweryn tomorrow! As custom would dictate, there were of course a few beverages in a local establishment afterwards.

Sunday morning came with a few weary heads, but also the event we’d all been waiting for after the epic hilarity of last year. The Palm 8-ball race is a boater-x with a difference. You race in heats of 4 with a couple of downstream gates to go around, but watch out! There are “blockers” in various places along the course, usually involving a big inflatable orca, so being in the lead isn’t always to your advantage!

Lowri getting smashed by an orca while in the lead

Another big impact in the same race!

The great thing about 8-ball is that there is a massive random element to it. You never know what’s gonna happen! In the end our own Dave Hollins took the win in the open and Lynsey Evans took the ladies, pipping me to it in the final eddy after a great neck and neck race. Fran was victim to dirty blocker tactics when her deck was pulled, though apparently I’d been the original target… shame I was too speedy for them

The silliness and carnage was not over yet though! It was soon time for the King of the Wave. Choice of craft was tactical: choose a manoeuvrable little playboat or go for a big boat that will wipe out the opposition? I went for the Dagger Green, deciding that the comedy value was well worth the lack of manoeuvrability. Dave Hollins went for an orca, there was a Speeder and a Fusion, all sorts of creek boats and a plethora of playboats.

Myself and Dave managed to get a couple of classic moments where we wiped everyone else off the wave, but in the end it was the Fusion that won out with Tim Burne at the helm.

All that was left to do now was claim our tea and medals – quite literally.

TrywerynFest is a fantastic weekend of fun and frolics – whether you wish to compete in the events or not, there is loads going on from demos to coaching and a river to paddle for free. But the carnage is definitely worth watching!! Make sure you come along next year, it’s not to be missed. So see you there, I’ll most likely be the one under an orca…

All photos with thanks to Sam Beesley, Alex MacGregor and Palm Equipment.

I kicked off proceedings on Friday with a photo slideshow of the expedition to Georgia I led last August. I hoped to inspire paddlers to get out on adventures of their own, or visit Georgia… or both. There certainly seemed to be plenty of “bar chat” of future Georgia trips or other potential destinations that evening, so I guess I managed that!

Throughout Saturday and Sunday there were a range of courses and workshops that participants could sign up to. I was running an expedition river skills workshop and armed with a hand drawn river map, I headed out with 6 lovely paddlers for a day on the Blackwater Weirs. Despite low water this proved to be an excellent coaching venue for working on group dynamics, lateral momentum and key strokes for drops and stoppers.

Sunday was a little slower off the mark and with a shorter session we were only able to venture as far as a tidal spot, which provided enough flow to work on efficient ferrying and driving across boily eddylines. Once the tide became slack, we returned to where iCanoe had a bunch of demo boats on offer – allowing us to give people an intro to playboating or work on their double pump while others practiced their rolls or just tried out different boats. We also discovered that lean-cleaning uses the exact same motions as hula dancing… so dig out your hula hoop!

More photos and comments from the weekend can be found on our facebook page.

 Over the trip we paddled the whole Futa  including: Inferno Canyon, Terminator  Section, Bridge to Bridge, Mas o Menos and Casa de Piedra and the Macal Section.Anyway here are some photos of our trip for you to look at.

Photos thanks to Katie, Pamina, Christiano, Tzak, Dave and Me

The official date of closure of the Silverback channel to river craft is now set as Feb 28th – less than a month away. Below is the response from Nile River Explorers Rafting.

For kayakers, the effect of this closure is initially not as dramatic. Kayaks will still be able to paddle the rapids prior to Silverback and portage Silverback to continue down the Day 1 section. Only when the dam is actually put in place will we start to lose the rapids upstream of Silverback as the water backs up – it is estimated this is around 12 months away yet.

That said, I’m taking every chance I can to paddle all of those rapids before they are gone forever!

If you are thinking of coming out to Uganda, my advice is do it! Even if you can’t make it until the dam is in place, there is still a great range of rapids and playspots below the dam and the promise of higher flows will make it a lot of fun all round.

Time to get back on the water. Happy paddling all.

Working on ferry gliding at Mile End Mill

A round of applause for a rapid well run.

I have just taken delivery of a GoPro HD, and as soon as I get my computer updated to cope with the work-load of editing the footage I will add a video of the day. The GoPro is a great tool for capturing the action, and should prove a useful coaching tool.

UPDATE!!

I have now cracked the computer conundrum (more coal shovelled into the fire, hamster in the wheel given fresh water etc), here is a short video from the weekend.

Here’s jus a few pics from my trip. Photos taken by Me, Paula Volkmer, Sara James and Adam D.

Just like North Wales!!

We arrived at Public Toilet Falls having driven on several roads that we could have kayaked down to get there. We jumped out of our cars and ran to the footbridge.

WOW!

The river was higher than I’d ever seen it… huge crashing waves, large pour-overs and spitting rooster tails. I almost wished I’d brought my playboat for the Lower… maybe Maddach Special was just around the corner?

We hatched a plan to first paddle the Eden then head to the Upper Mawddach once it had dropped off a bit. The Eden was a good level and a very pleasant run, but looked like a stream in comparison. At the confluence, we looked back upstream at the last drop of the Mawddach and raised our eyebrows at the lack of rock showing – not even the big rock that usually separates the two channels of the drop!

We bobbed on through the huge standing waves, occasionally giggling out of sheer enjoyment. At the the take out there was some debate but we stuck by our original plan. Luckily for us, the river was dropping off quickly and we enjoyed a fantastic level with entertainment the whole way down. When we reached the last drop it was clear just how much it had dropped in the time we had been paddling, with the middle rock now at least a foot clear! It was still high though, and a couple of surfs were had in the hole at the bottom of that one

A quick look at the gauge graph shows how high the river was that morning, and how quickly it dropped. It started to rain as soon as we got of the water, ad it looks like the river went mental again…

Today, I think I will move from the Nile to the Zam…

Dee-bezi here I come…