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01
Feb

Dartfest and Small 2010 Burn Prototype!

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With low water and freezing weather, we didn’t have the ideal conditions for paddling on Dartmoor at the weekend – but lure of a great party won the day, and this weekend – paddlers from all over the UK filled the River Dart Country Park, as Pyranha hosted their first ever Dartfest there. Mitchell paddles and Peak UK also supported the event.
 
There were a number of courses running through the Pyranhafest program and in the evening Mark Rainsley entertained with a slide show and talk about taking your local club a bit further afield than the alps – with Indian and Californian trips being showcased. Max Bilbow wowed the crowd with his adventures in the little known territories of Russia. After all this inspiration for our boating adventures, Dave Hazell hit the decks and we all hit the dance floor. The amount of water in the rivers was probably doubled by the beer that flowed at the party – it was an epic night  – what great party. Thanks Pyranha!!!
 
Pyranha had brought along a huge number of exciting demo boats: the new Molans, the new large 2010 burn and even the very first prototype small 2010 Burn. Despite the low levels I was able to get out on the river – and really put the first prototype of the small 2010 Burn though her paces on the Upper Dart. Here are some pictures of her in action. I really do love the new 2010 design. The boat is much nippier and whilst retaining the forward speed of the previous Burn – I found it much easier to nip around in, more rocker means that it is easier to boof as well. As one of the smaller paddlers around, I also found the slightly narrower design suited me down to a T. I am eagerly awaiting the small production version which will be around in shops very soon. For all you lucky people who are bigger than me, the Large and Medium 2010 Burns are available in the shops now…
 
Thanks for a great Dartfest weekend to Pyranha for hosting and everyone who came along for making it into a great party!  

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01
Feb

AZ’s Perfect Storm

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Finished up filming and boating in Hawaii and raced back to AZ to catch the tail end of a massive storm.  Flows reaching record flows a couple days earlier, there was just enough left to get some boofs in the desert.  Photos by Paul Wackowski

Cody Howard kayaking Arizona

Cody Howard Boofing waterfall in Arizona

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30
Jan

Serving the Storm

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For the past few weeks, we’ve only had one Molan in the US.  As a result, it’s been getting passed around from team member to team member.  I finally got my chance to try it out this week.  I met up with Matt and Graham at Scudders to see how the boat performed in a hole.  Since we were all sharing the boat, I didn’t get a great chance to figure out how it works, but I’ll say it loops big!

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Read the rest of this entry »

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27
Jan

Demshitz Checking in from Pucon again…

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Laying Treats on the Turbio
Check out the Demshitz Blog for a bad ass update from Pucon Chile!

Here is a Teaser for our Next Demshitz Movie ¨Dashboard Empanada¨

Run the Shitz! Looking forward to the NEW BURN and the NEW PLAYBOAT ¨THE MOLAN¨!!! PYRANHA WORLD DOMINATION!!! DEMSHITZ!!!

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21
Jan

“Volcano ride” is online!

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2010 start very well in Pyrenees.

Happy new year bro!

First, happy new year everybody !!! I wish you a lot of  rivers steep, big, in a wild nature.

Second. After a long and hard work, my friend Stephanie Augras finished my last crazy trip movie in Cap Verde.

You should never seen it….

Volcano Ride from stephanie augras on Vimeo.

Have a good time.

Eric.


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20
Jan

Beating the Banda’s (aka. New Year in Nepal)

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The first word that everyone learns upon arrival in Nepal is the ubiquitous greeting “Namaste”. Our trip however was to be different. The first word we learned was “Banda”. Banda is the Nepali word for a strike. These strikes aren’t quite the same as you’d get back home, where a line of disgruntled workers stand at a factory gate, they are much more extensive and indiscriminate. Traffic is not allowed on the roads, shops aren’t allowed to open and the whole country effectively grinds to a halt. 
 
We arrived in Nepal at 10pm the evening before three consecutive days of these strikes. One day of waiting may have been acceptable, but no matter how you look at it, 3 days of a 2 week holiday is a lot! Despite stories of the rather violent enforcement of the banda by the Maoists, on day 2, a local guy we met in the street said he could get us a “landcruiser” to take us and our boats off to the first river under cover of darkness. Obviously this would cost us dear, but we figured it was worth it. When the “landcruiser” turned up, it turned out to be a tiny car, and the driver wouldn’t go without his mate, but by then we were beyond caring, so we crammed 5 guys three boats and 2 weeks worth of kit into and onto the machine and set off into the night…

Although December is the low water season, there is still some great paddling to be had, especially if you venture further up the valleys of some of the rivers normally done “in season”. Whilst dodging strikes, we ticked off upper sections of: Bhote Kosi, Marsyandi, Kali Gandaki along with a few other nice runs down some of the classic sections of these and other rivers.

Anyways, enough spiel… To the photos!! Here’s a flavour of the trip:

Ominous Gorges:
 Upper Canyon, Bhote Kosi

Kali Gandaki

Good Lines: Read the rest of this entry »

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20
Jan

Molan Video

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Check out the youtube video of Richard Brooks in the Molan on Marsh Weir

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18
Jan

Snow melt boating – and new MOLAN at marsh!!!

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Team P’s Richard Brooks putting the new Molan to work at Marsh Weir on the Thames, UK!

 
 Two exciting things happened as the weekend approached last week. Richard Brooks got his much-awaited Molan, the new Pyranha playboat, AND as if it had been planned, the snow started to melt and the heavens opened to give us a hearty dose of H2O.
 
THE MOLAN
 
We headed to Marsh to test out what the Molan was like on the wave. Marsh weir is near Henley on the Thames in the UK (for more information and weir levels, see www.tvfreestylers.co.uk), and water levels had risen hugely over Saturday night – so we had perfect levels. Rich loved the Molan – I took a few pictures for you all to see what it looks like on a wave. He is working on some video footage he took as well – so stay tuned for the update!

 

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Richard on the far side on Marsh

 
DSC_0075I have a go too…although, I am waiting for the SMALL MOLAN I think!

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UPPER TAWE
 
On Saturday we left London at 5.30 in the morning and headed to South Wales with plans to run the Mellte – however when we got there, we found levels to be massive and decided to go elsewhere. The result was a superb run on the Upper Tawe (all of our first times down). The river has some really cool drops and slides which kept us entertained for many hours. There was plenty of water and the snow hadn’t quite melted, but it felt positively tropical in comparison to last weekend when we were boating in practically sub-zero temperatures! What a great weekend. Bring on more rain and even warmer temperatures.
 
 

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One of the many small boof drops on the Upper Tawe!

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Fun slides too.
 

For more photos check out www.worldkayakblogs.com/paula .

Hope to see you all at Pyranha Fest at the Dart in Devon!

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12
Jan

Happy New Year to all the girls paddling Pyranha

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2010 is here! Ski-ing in the woods is the best bet as the rivers are frozen. Need to plan the summer but just taking a moment to reflect on the womens paddling we did last year. A lot of fun, met some fantastic women paddlers and we pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone, tried new things and faced a lot of fear together.

In 2009 we introduced women only whitewater development coaching, played about with the model and evaluated the impact. Overall women say they love the all girl environment (extra male coaches welcome if there name is Brad!) and find it easier to accept their fears and challenge them amongst others who can cope with tears. The dynamics are awesome! To see a group of women come together aho may never have met develop and bond as a group in just a few days is incredible. Immediately caring and supporting each other and celebrating each others sucess.

Sometimes it does not really feel like coaching, more like guiding their learning in a student centred way.

Using the Findhorn as our training venue is a stunning setting. The variety of conditions on the section means there is challenge for every grade of paddler and sometimes the gods help with water levels too.

Developing leadership skills on the river can be difficult for women, how many of the girls you know will push to lead on a club or social trip? Taking turns to inspect, analyse the water and lead with support from a coach is a development journey. It takes time, sometimes we call it tea and cakes at each rapid, but everyone has the chance to really understandd what is going on and how it will affect them when they are there.

We accept that women are not pretend men and have different styles and pace of learning. It is good to see women in the outdoors taking on more advanced water and leading, we need more though!

If you fancy taking part then perhaps here at Pyranha we can pull something together for the girls, let us know!

The recipe is always the same, no matter what grade we paddle. Equal measures of skill and confidence and a sprinkle of brave dust when required.

Mags

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10
Jan

Landed in Hawaii

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We’re filming some whitewater in Hawaii.  Just landed and are looking for some rains… got some surf in while kickin it.  Dipper Creek update also available on http://www.huckinhuge.com

Cody Howard surfing karnali

Jake filming Huckin Huge

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