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01
Mar

Redemption

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The story:

Three years ago, I, a lowly fresher, completely new to kayaking, decided to step up to a relatively low run of the falls of Dochart. Safety was set and everyone on the river that day was fully prepared to fish me out if I, as expected, swam out of the hole under the bridge. However, the proverbial shit hit the fan earlier than expected. Before the bridge I managed to hit a rock and flip. Unable to Eskimo roll, I swam out of my kayak. Not yet defeated, I remembered the advice bestowed on me by Kestutis that I was to try and avoid the right side of the river at all costs. I began to swim river left but the river had other idea and pushed me right, off the plate and then I disappeared for what felt like an eternity. I was pushed into the undercut that was carved out on the river right bank and hit my knee with great intensity against some sharp rocks.

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When I resurfaced I was in excruciating pain and, to add insult to injury, I had torn the leg of my dry-suit and it had filled up with water. Unable to walk, I was helped up to the road by Calum and Kestutis and set off back to the car using my paddle as a crutch.

I was unable to bend my leg for 3 weeks and had to use crutches for extended period of time. The injury itself wasn’t life threatening and my rehab was in no way taxing but that day fundamentally altered how I assess the safety of myself and others on the river.

Fast-forward to last weekend and a group of people from Edinburgh Uni Canoe Club were out in the highlands for a long weekend. After 4 days of class 3/4 boating (and a G5 or two) I was feeling confident and strong.

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After 3 years away from the Dochart it had become somewhat of a nemesis to me and I was nervous to say the least but today was the day. I could feel it! Fresh off a low run of the River Coe I was ready for some REDEMPTION!

I got into my kayak and let Tom, Becca and Sam go before me, giving them plenty of space. I only managed to get half way down before eddying out to help Sam who had swam and was standing in the middle of the river. After getting Sam and his boat to the side I set off to do the rest of the rapid. With all my friends watching from the bridge I aced the line and skimmed over the hole under the bridge screaming with relief.

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I know the Falls of Dochart aren’t the hardest run I’ve done or will do but the fear I had built up around them meant that it was challenging to get on the river that day. I think that with the bombardment of videos from professional kayakers running 100ft waterfalls or burly rapid class 5 rapids, it’s easy to forget how important personal accomplishments are; improving step by step and making sure you’re 100% ready for a challenge are luxuries we often forget we can afford.

Thanks to everyone who was there on the day to set safety and thanks to Scottish Kayaks & Paddles/Pyranha for lending me the sexy sexy 9R L; fast is most definitely fun!

Amy

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01
Mar

Awesome! Chile road trip

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Since last October, I adventurously explored rivers and waterfalls of Chile for two months with a tool called Whitewater Kayak. I could newly discover the scenic beauty of mountains and rivers of South America by overcoming fears of occasionally veiled water streamline. Furthermore, the natives’ culture and attitude of living along the river was a wonderful experience.

Even though just watching in the airplane, the sky view of Andes beat my heart

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I teamed up with Chilean kayaker, Alejandro Campos, and we have met great Chilean kayakers.

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Anywhere in Chile was easily possible to purchase fresh food. Especially, fine BBQ could be done any time since the reasonable price of high quality meat. Typical local food: Completo, compose of avocado and sausage. Cazuela, soup with beef.

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Numerous beautiful campsites are in the vicinity of urban areas in Chile. Excluding private properties, camping is freely available at any places. Listed campsites possess amenities such as barbecue grills.

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I involved in a 3-day teaching class as a session staff for the students of Adventure Tourism in Santiago Duoc UC. The students were trained in various outdoor activities in mountain, river and ocean by professionals for 2 and half years. They get CPR courses in every session. I really envied their infrastructure of systematically educating outdoor sports.

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Chile still has many unknown rivers and waterfalls due to the harsh environment. This waterfall is the one we approached when heading to the south of Santiago. At first we planned to kayak the waterfall, but the height of it and its previous waterway were much more dangerous than we expected. It was left in abeyance until the next adventure.

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Chillan’s Waterfall, Photo by Kang Ho

Soul friend kayakers in Chile

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Rio Yeso, which is named after a famous old limestone mine, reflects the color resembling limestone. Beginning from 1480m above sea level, the river starts to flow by the melt water when summer arrives. The best season for kayaking is from Oct. to Nov. It is a rapid flow rate creek which is categorized as class 4+/5 river. It has steep slope with many rocks and flows about 3 km. Upper Maipo is connected further down the takeout point.

2_rio예소 2_rio예소_2 Rio Yeso, Photo by Kang Ho, Kayaker Tino Specht

Rio Maipo is a fascinating gorge located an hour away from Santiago. It is consisted of 8 km of upper region and 12 km of low region. Commercial rafting is available from Sep. to winter season in low Maipo. Meltwater keep increases as the season goes, introducing continual rapid stream. The Maipo kayakers are very famous for their toughness even in Chile. In Sep., the class of upper Maipo is 3/4, but it changes up to 5+ in upper area at Frechman’s corner in Dec. Rey del Maipo, extreme kayaking competition, is annually held in Frenchman’s corner Every Sep

riomaipo_kangho_수정_1280 Frenchman’s corner in Rio Maipo, Photo by Alejandro Campos, Kayaker Kang Ho

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Rio Maipo, Thank you Adventra Extrema

Rio Claro is made of basalt which is polished by melted glacier for millions of years. It is formed with class 5 region “Throat of the Devil”, probably the most beautiful drop in the earth, regions of 22 falls and the region of “the seven teacups national park.” Although its characteristics are that of clear waterfall, it’s beyond our imagination in scale and overwhelming. Kayaking is available in early summer season when it melts.

4_rio끌라로 The seven teacups national park in Rio Claro, Photo by Sergio Vidal Bogdanovic, Kayaker Kang Ho

Rio Teno has similar geographical features with Rio Maipo. We can experience the brown colored wild river from September, when the snow begins to melt. Los Quenes River Fest which is a relatively small scale third round of the national kayak circuit is held every early November. Kayaking and rafting competitions are held. Thanks to the road near the river, scouting is handy. The 20 km stretch is mostly class 3/4 but also has upper region with narrow gorge of class 4/5. It meets the clean and beautiful Rio Claro, which has class 3/4.

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Los Quenes River Fest in Rio Teno, Photo by Kang Ho, Team Universidad de La Frontera

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Los Quenes River Fest in Rio Teno, Photo by Kang Ho

As moving south from Santiago, the natural environment begins to change little by little. Rio Nuble has turquoise blue color of water unlike other brown colored rivers. The Nuble Kayak Fest is held in this region. Until early November, its water level is getting higher due to the meltwater. An upper Nuble run would be 14 km section of class 3 and 4 and has famous fast stream, the crux rapid. It is surrounded by snow covered mountains. Technical kayaking is required due to huge rocks. Also, there is a big-boat play boating point in long flat-water part. The lower section is class 3 with continual waves. Unfortunately, Rio Maipo and Rio Nuble are under construction of dams. There are also a lot of frictions between the local residents and construction developers because of the planned or under construction of dam in many rivers

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The crux rapid in Rio Nuble, Photo by Kang Ho

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Upper Nuble, Photo by Kang Ho, Kayaker Pedro Astorga Leiva

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Rio Trancura, meaning lots of stones, is a favorite kayaking spot for locals. From November, the river maintains abundant water level with meltwater and frequent rain. It includes commercial rafting region, where the working place of local kayakers. A typical run on the Trancura could be divided into an upper section of class 3/4 and a lower section of class 3. At the upper section, volcanic basalt produces drop-pool rapids. There are 5 main rapids including Mariman rapid. I got a lucky bigwater when I was there.

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The world class kayakers mainly participates in Puesco Fest. Partly kayak race, partly music festival and partly environmental rally, Puesco Fest brought together more than 1,000 people to celebrate free-flowing rivers. It was incredible experience to watch the paddling of skillful kayakers from all over the world. An all-night rave which lasted 3 days was fantastic.

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Jared1_1280 Tres Troncos in Rio Puesco, Photo by Kang Ho, Kayaker Jared Seiler

Rio Palguin is an endless gorge with various large and small waterfalls. Rio Palguin is high level class 4/5 water challenging the kayakers same as Rio Nevados. We can train our boof skill with various drop and waterfalls in the dangerous but beautiful river.

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Rio Palguin, Photo by Jaime Lancaster Rial, Kayaker Kang Ho

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Rio Palguin, Photo by Lucas Varas, Kayaker Kang Ho

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Rio Palguin, Photo by  Jaime Lancaster Rial, Kayaker Alejandro Campos

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Boof to swim in Rio Palguin, Photo by Kang Ho, Kayaker Jaime Lancaster Rial

Pucon, located in southern Chile, is the best vacation spot. Especially it is a shrine for kayaker due to meltwater and huge rain on a lot of gorges. Rio Nevados is a dangerous stream of class 5, but many kayakers are challenging. 50 feet of Demshitz waterfall was enough for just looking at it.

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Rio Nevados, Photo by Jaime Lancaster Rial, Kayaker Lorenzo Andrade Astorga

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Ecstasy in Rio Nevados, Photo by Jaime Lancaster Rial, Kayaker Kang Ho

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Dulce Amor in Rio Nevados, Photo by Jaime Lancaster Rial, Kayaker Kang Ho

Rio Coilaco, a beautiful 13m waterfall which could be easily accessed and boofed all day long, would definitely make your new profile picture.

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Rio Coilaco, photo by Alejandro Campos, Kayaker Kang Ho

Free the Rivers

Korea is a small but beautiful country with four distinct seasons which is a peninsula surrounded by seas on three sides and is consisted of mountains 70% of the land overall. However, a number of dam construction destroyed river and surrounding environment. This resulted in limited kayaking, which is only available on certain rivers and even more, days right after rain. Economic development oriented policy built a lot of dams and it is still going on, endangering rivers. I am opposed to the construction of dams which destroys natural environment that related with native people’s life. I want to share my experience in Chile of huge mountains and rivers. We must not stop the rivers. It is a vein of our peninsula.

I thank to my bro. Alejandro Campos and his friends. He helps me a lot right beside me. I thank to the family of Adventra Exrema and Cristian. God will bless them.

Spceial Thank you! I especially thanks to my wild horse 9R going through the whole adventure. 9R inspire me and give faith on every drop, fall, eddy and hole.

9R Love! Pyranha Love!

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27
Feb

Wairoa Extreme Race 2016

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I have been out in New Zealand for 2 months now, getting excited for the arrival of my new 9R.  It turned up a day before the Wairoa Extreme Race so, needless to say, I was super excited to try it out.

This annual race is the first in the NZ Extreme WW race; Wairoa, Buller Fest, Citroen and provided an awesome opportunity to meet some more of the awesome N. Island boating community that are so inviting.

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The boater-X showcased some fantastic lines and excellent carnage to keep the spectators cheering

Day one consisted of a 7-8 minute time trial down the dam release section of the Wairoa packed with a heap of brilliant grade 4 rapids.  This was my first time in the 9R and I loved it.  Super-fast on the flats, skips away from drops and boofs like a dream.

The evening provided time for a couple of Kaituna laps and an awesome party.  Yet another chance to enjoy the awesome NZ boating community.

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Loving the boofs in the 9R during the boater-X. Photo – Terry Lasenby

The boater-X event was on day two, where kayakers would paddle head to head down the 1 minute crux of the river.  There were tons of competitors and spectators lining the banks, cheering all of the carnage and watching some pretty styley lines.

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1st round of the boater-X, approaching ‘Rollercoaster”. Photo – Johannes Hendriks

This was an awesome introduction to the speed and accuracy of the 9R and I am supper excited to get on lots more of New Zealand’s classic runs in it.

Thanks to Long Cloud Kayaks for helping me get the boat out here, the Wairoa race organisers for a wicked weekend and to Pyranha for their awesome, continued support.

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26
Feb

Man vs Hell

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I largely despise any sort of Charity Challenge; far too often they are elaborate reasons for students to stroll up a mountain in the sunshine and feel empowered about it. Whilst it is brilliant that they have the forethought to raise money for charity, I’m not sure if going on holiday is the right way to go about it…

However, there are a few challenges out there that are absolute “suffer fests”, where human endurance, willpower, and sheer tenacity is stretched to the limit in the name of others, so much so that even my penny pitching self felt morally obliged to cough up some cash. With this in mind, there was one charity challenge that piqued my interest; Man Vs Hell.

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The Man vs Hell challenge centres around one man, Richard Brooks, and his desire to push himself to the limit in the name of charity. The challenge has, in the past, been 24 hours of non-stop kayaking on the Upper Dart river in Devon, quite an achievement in itself. However, this year, Rich would be taking it to the next level by immediately getting on his road bike and cycling a distance of 300 miles for a further 24 hours. My first thoughts when I heard that Rich was going to attempt this ambitious feat were; “Not an ‘effing chance mate!’.

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Rich got some training under his belt, the months flew by, and soon the challenge was upon him. I was lucky enough to join Rich for the 24 hours of kayaking on the Dart; we started at 12:00am on Friday morning, the levels were low but not terrible, and the first couple of laps flew by. Just another day on the Dart.

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Things quickly changed once the sun went down though, and we began getting into double figures in our total amount of laps. Visibility was a major issue, despite various elaborate lighting systems we could only see at most, two feet in front of ourselves. It had been raining steadily though the day and the river began to rise in the early hours of the evening, not enough to be dangerous, but just enough to change the lines on a few of the rapids. This led to several moments of carnage as we adjusted to the different levels, notably Rob Harris at Pandora’s Box, a tricky little slot with a tight lead in that is near impossible to see in the dark. Rob had a few crashes on this drop but came up smiling every time, at least, I think he was smiling… he could have been grimacing, it was rather dark at the time.

The hardest aspect of the night for me was adjusting to the different temperatures; we would be sweating as we cranked out laps on the river, only to become freezing cold as we stopped moving during the shuttle back to the top. I think it was these temperature changes that sapped me of my energy the most; but it could also been the multitude of laps we had completed and the lack of sleep. Around 5:30am the urge to just go to sleep was almost over powering, but we pushed on for another run of the river and were rewarded on the following lap with a glimpse of the sun rising over the moors in the distance. The sun came up, the air temperature became bearable, and several fresh faced friends joined us for some early morning laps, providing us with a much needed boost.

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The following few hours flew by, but with just two hours to go I was starting to really feel it. The last two laps were a genuine struggle, but we finished strong. Delighted, elated and broken, we took off our gear for the first time in 24 hours, refuelled and briefly celebrated. Celebrations were brief, partly because we were both shattered, but largely because a sobering thought had crept into my head, “Holy $#@! – Rich still has another 24 hour challenge to get through!”. We said our goodbyes shortly after this; I would not be joining Rich on the second challenge, for I am a simply not man enough. I climbed / crawled into the van, and myself and Rob Harris began a three hour drive back to London.

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Rich fuelled up on another cup of tea, donned his cycling equipment and took off into the hills to begin his second consecutive 24 hour challenge.

I would truly love to tell you that I spent the next several hours deeply worried as to whether or not Rich could pull it off, but that would be a lie. I was too busy sleeping!

I awoke on Sunday morning expecting to hear the worst;
Rich couldn’t do it, it was just too much.
Rich fell asleep on the bike and crashed into a ditch.
Rich was hit by a drunk driver outside of Cambridge in the middle of the night.
We ran out of tea bags and he couldn’t continue. You know how much he likes his tea.

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Thankfully, none of these serious problems had arisen through the night. Rich was alive and somehow, pulling off the impossible. He had battled through atrocious weather in Dartmoor, climbed some long hills in Bath, avoided being run over and was well on his way to completing his challenge. I could only smile in disbelief, my body ached from the 24 hours of kayaking alone. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain that Rich must have been in during the night on his second challenge.

I watched online as Rich’s tracking dot crossed over the finish line of his journey, 53 hours 20 minutes after he began his epic challenge. I was impressed, I was astounded, I was inspired… I was… feeling thoroughly emasculated.

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Rich Brooks is just an ordinary man who dreamt up an extraordinary challenge and went through hell and back to finish it. Rich is quick to shake off any praise or glory and point out that the suffering he went through during this challenge does not come close in comparison to the suffering that cancer patients, their families and the families that have lost young children go through everyday.

In the face of Richard Brooks’ amazing achievement there is one lasting impression. If an ordinary man is willing to go to such lengths to raise awareness for others, surely then an ordinary bloke such as myself should be willing to donate a few quid to help them out as well…

https://www.justgiving.com/Richard-Brooks15/

http://m.virginmoneygiving.com/mt/uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=Manvshell&un_jtt_redirect=un_jtt_iosV

Thanks for reading and see you on the water,
Bren

All photos provided by Man vs Hell.

With thanks to:
– Everyone that has donated and helped to support this challenge.
– Richard Brooks at Sue’s Canoes and his support team for genuinely being awesome people.
– Rob Harris for rigging up the light systems and joining us on the night runs of the Upper Dart.
– White Water The Canoe Centre for lending me a kayak to do the challenge in.

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22
Feb

Dominican Republic – Part IV: Staircase Section of the Rio Jimenoa

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In December of 2015 Matthew Beauchamp, Steve Krajewski, Shannon Goshorn, and I headed to the island of Hispaniola to check out the rivers of the Dominican Republic. Although the island was experiencing a pattern of dry weather, we still found options to paddle daily and enjoyed a great time in this lesser known paddling destination.  If you missed the previous parts of our trip report, you can find Part I: Rio Yaque del Norte HERE, Part II: Rio Blanco HERE, and Part III: Upper Rio Jimenoa HERE.

Below: Matthew Beauchamp on the perfect waterfall.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.

MB by AG 1

The Upper Rio Jimenoa ends at a swinging bridge over the river that is also the put-in for the Staircase Section.  The Staircase Section is named for its take-out, which involves climbing 900 concrete steps up and out of the canyon.  The steps are in place as a result of a dam, completed in 1950, which was the first hydroelectric project in the Dominican Repbulic.  Operators at the dam work in 24-hour shifts and commute via the same steep staircase that allows paddlers to exit the canyon at the end of their run.  It can also be said that the name of the Staircase Section has a double meaning because the riverbed loses gradient in bedrock steps throughout the run.  Not far from the swinging bridge at the put-in the river enters a bedrock canyon that doesn’t let up for the rest of the run.  With lots of blind drops and the bedrock canyon making scouting and portaging very time consuming, it took us most of the day to scout our way down this amazing run.

Below: Steve Krajewski on one of the early drops.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.

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At one point in the run we came to a two-part drop that consisted of a rapid, leading into a hallway with overhanging walls, that then spouted off a waterfall into the pool below.  The problem was, a log made the entrance rapid look less than appealing.  We spent some time scrambling around and scouting various options.  I decided to portage, while Matt and Steve decided they would seal-launch into the hallway and run the second drop.  After further examination of the portage options produced no feasible portage routes, I eventually resigned myself to having to throw-and-go from the much higher cliff to the right of the final spout.  A quick swim to the bank had me back in my boat and we were back on the move heading downstream.

Below: Steve Krajewski on another one of the early drops.  Photo by Adam Goshorn.

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The whole section was pretty great, but I think the other guys would agree that the true highlight of the run was a beautiful, picturesque, drop that came about three-quarters of the way into the run.  After a really tight part of the canyon, we found a tricky-looking entrance rapid leading into the perfect waterfall.  Luckily the entrance rapid was easily skipped with a small seal-launch about ten feet upstream of the lip of the falls.  One by one we sailed off the falls… reaping the reward for the day’s efforts; this was what we came for!

Below: Adam Goshorn on the highlight drop.  Photo by Steve Krajewski.

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After the waterfall, we knew we needed to proceed with extra caution.  One of the pioneers of Dominican Republic whitewater, Dag Grada, had told us that there was an unrunnable waterfall near the end of the run that would be terrible to blunder into accidently.  With that in mind, we rounded the corner, ran a small ledge, and then portaged an ugly boulder jumble.  The next rapid consisted of three slots, none of which looked particularly appealing at the current water level, so we portaged high on river right and lowered boats back to river level.  At this point we could see a horizon line, that we assumed was the unrunnable drop and an eddy twenty feet above the lip on the right.  However, it was hard to tell how swift the current was leading up to the eddy, so back up the right side we went, portaging high once again.  To get back to river level, we put a sling around a tree and lowered Steve’s boat down to the bedrock shelf above the mandatory portage.  Steve climbed down, unhooked the boat, and sent it back up to Matt and I.  After sending my boat down, we were in the process of hooking Matt’s boat into the rope when we saw my boat floating downriver towards the horizon line.  We could see Steve scrambling to try to grab my boat, but there was no way to do so and we watched as it went over the lip and heard it a loud bang from the canyon below.

Below: Steve Krajewski spotting his landing.  Photo by Adam Goshorn

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We hurriedly lowered Matt’s boat, scrambled down to river level, and made our way to a pothole where the other guys could seal launch into the canyon below the drop.  Matt went first and took off around the corner to try to catch up to my boat.  I held Steve’s boat while he seal launched and then I jumped into the canyon myself.  Holding onto the back of Steve’s boat and kicking, while he paddled, we headed downstream, hoping for good news.  Luckily, the river was almost flat at this point and after a couple of curves in the river Matt came back upstream towing my boat.  Unbeknownst to us (and incredibly luckily), we had entered the backwaters of the narrow lake formed by the dam at the take-out.  Matt had been able to catch up to my boat fairly easily and had even recovered by camera bag and both elbow pads! Reunited with all of my gear, we hammered out the remaining quarter-mile of flat water to the take-out where Shannon and Jose Manual were waiting.  By the time we reached the top of the namesake staircase, it was almost dark.  Thankfully, all that was left to do at that point was to head back into Jarabacoa in search of food and beer.

Below: Video from our run down the Staircase Section of the Rio Jimenoa.  It doesn’t include all the rapids, but the ones it does include are shown in order. Edited by Adam Goshorn.

Until next time…

Adam Goshorn

Below: Matthew Beauchamp lowering the landing gear.  Photo by Adam Goshorn

MB by AG 2

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16
Feb

How to Seal Launch?

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Seal launching is like flying, but only to land in water. Its an amazing feeling and it is fun. The seal launch involves sliding or falling off the shoreline and dropping into the river. The seal launch is a fun way to start your day. Or playing on rivers with steep banks, and sometimes it can be the only way of getting on the water.

Step One-  Get over the fear of falling 

For me I think of all the good and bad things that can happen, but most of them are good. I start to talk to myself and tell myself that I am a great boater. Then after that I pray and hope everything goes well and planned. Then I say just do it, about 3 times.

Step Two– Get ready launch

Put your boat at the edge or where you need to put the boat before you slide in. Then of course, get in the boat, secure yourself in. Then do step 1. again. And get ready push of the ground, but make sure you are ready to fall or slide.

SMile

Step Three- Push Off

Where you launch off of will determines whether you tuck or don’t tuck. For a drop seal launch, which means to push off a rock and fall in mid air, you want to tuck. If you don’t tuck you face the consequences, which aren’t bad they are just painful. Example is that when you hit the water, it can hurt,depending how high you are above the water. So for that not to happen, when you push off, put you paddle to the side of you and tuck.

The next type of seal launch is a slide, meaning to slide of the shore and into the water. If the slide is not steep,  you want to lean a little bit forward, but not too much. You want to aim between 2-3 inches past your hips. That way you can keep you speed. If the slide is steep to where you need to hold on to something to keep you from sliding in, or if you lean forward you will slide into the water, you want to lean back about 4-5 inches so your bow is lifted off the ground. That way when you hit the water you glide across. If you don’t lean back, you could possibly hurt your back because when your bow hits the water and it is not lifted, it might catch the water and go under, therefore all the speed you had, comes to a stop.

Take Off

Flying

That moment when you are flying

Step Four- Be excited

Once you do the steps above step four smile, because you just did an awesome seal launch. If needed and possible, go hike back up to the seal launch and do it again. Once you do the perfect seal launch you will  feel accomplished and happy.

Some things to watch out for

  • Back and shoulder pain ( If done wrong)
  •  Face plants
  • Funny pictures/videos
  • excitement on peoples faces

Hope to paddle with you on the water,

Cat H.

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15
Feb

Dominican Republic – Part III: Upper Rio Jimenoa

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Below: Matthew Beauchamp making the 9R fly! Photo by Steve Krajewski.
MB Boof BEST by SK

In December of 2015 Matthew Beauchamp, Steve Krajewski, Shannon Goshorn, and I headed to the island of Hispaniola to check out the rivers of the Dominican Republic. Although the island was experiencing a pattern of dry weather, we still found options to paddle daily and enjoyed a great time in this lesser known paddling destination. If you missed the previous two parts of our trip report, you can find Part I: Rio Yaque del Norte HERE and Part II: Rio Blanco HERE.

Below: Scouting a drop that turned out to be a no-go due to a boulder in the landing zone. Photo by Adam Goshorn.
MB and SK Scouting by AG

The Rio Jimenoa comes out of the rugged mountain southeast of the town of Jarabacoa in the Dominican Republic. It cuts an amazingly steep canyon and is know best locally for its two largest waterfalls, which are tourist attractions. Higher in the watershed, upstream of those more well-known waterfalls, are two high quality sections of whitewater, known simply as the Upper and the Staircase sections. Although they can be run in a single, extremely long day, it is more practical to attempt them separately, which is what we did.

Below: Looking downstream into one of the tighter sections. Photo by Adam Goshorn.
Canyon View by AG

The put-in for the Upper Jimenoa is near the confluence with Arroyo Frio. The run starts of with a few small rapids, but soon starts to build in intensity. Due to dry conditions during our trip we had what we considered to be a minimum water level for this section, which resulted in portaging some rapids that are almost certainly runnable at higher water. Almost all of the rest of the rapids would have been improved with higher flow as well, making this section perhaps a better alternative when the Staircase Section is a bit high. However, we made the most of the water level we had and made steady downstream progress, enjoying the beauty of the river and surrounding countryside all day.

Below: Steve Krajewski launching a big boof of the best drop. Photo by Adam Gshorn.
SK Boof BEST by AG

The climax of the Upper Rio Jimenoa is a big drop where a house-sized boulder pinches the river against a huge exposed bedrock shelf on river right. Running the drop requires negotiating a somewhat tricky entrance rapid (which you can see me royally mess up in the video) and then rounding the boulder and off a huge kicker into the pool below. After seeing Steve and Matt have great lines, it was my turn to give this beast a try. Unfortunately, I entered much too slowly and the result was pitoning off the entrance drop and pogoing back into a nasty little alcove. Fortunately, I was able to claw my way upright, get back in to the flow, and run the bigger part of the drop in relative control; although having lost all my speed, I fell off the side of the kicker instead of getting the big boof the other guys achieved.

Below: Video from our run down the Upper Section of the Rio Jimenoa. It doesn’t include all the rapids, but the ones it does include are shown in order. Edited by Adam Goshorn.

Be sure to check back for Dominican Republic – Part IV, which will include pictures and video from the Staircase Section of the Rio Jimenoa!

Until next time…

Adam Goshorn

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07
Feb

MUCHO REMAR, UN POCO NEDAR

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While the Northern hemisphere was providing a poor winter, Zan and the guys went far South to reunite with friends and Rivers they met last year. In Chile and Argentina they found them, summer and many more. Whitewater, smiles, good times and living from day to day; those are things worth chasing!

Love towards Rivers never ceases, no matter where they are, as long as they are flowing Freely! Loads of paddling, a bit of swimming it was!

Leeway Collective

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05
Feb

Nile River Festival 2016

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The Nile River Festival’s aim is simple; to celebrate the warm water, big rapids and perfect waves of the mighty White Nile with awesome people.

The NRF is a four day event which begins with an evening Big Air Ramp Competition at the NRE base camp; beer fuelled, aerial antics promptly kick off the start of the festival. The Irish boys were as always up for the “craic”, and led the charge on ridiculousness by somehow managing to fit four people in/on the same kayak down the ramp. Whilst there was an abundance of big tricks and crashes throughout the night, nobody quite wowed/shocked the crowd quite as much as Scott Robinson, who took the win with some big airscrews and panams, along with an “artistic” final lap (see photo above).

Day two marks the beginning of the white water events with a gruelling 40km endurance race through big rapids and long flat pools, ending with an obstacle course and obligatory funnel at the finish line. Competitors have to race with a partner to act as safety for each other during the race, and your time doesn’t stop until you both cross the finish line; this rule makes choosing a partner that wants to go at a similar pace essential. My team mate was the infamous Yusuf Basiwaldra, potentially Uganda’s best kayaker right now, and all-round powerhouse on the water. Our pace and race strategy was pure and simple, balls to the wall; we went as hard as we possibly could and led the race for a long time, but sadly by the time we got to around the 35km mark, we both had nothing left when Koa and Nasa began a late charge for the lead and we couldn’t hold them off. Koa and Nasa took a well deserved win and it was truly impressive to see them somehow still have something left in the tank after sprinting non-stop for two hours. Myself and Yusuf finished in second place and were the only team in the top 5 to run Itunda as part of the race.

NRF_3_2016-9212

Taking place on my favourite wave, and with a scoring system that rewards kayakers that go big and take chances, the Nile Special Freestyle Comp. might well be my favourite freestyle event in the world; competitors pleased the crowd with huge tricks, old school moves and the quintessential wipe out, which on Nile Special can be quite spectacular. I finished in 1st place, with Sam Ward just behind me and young up and comer Jonny Williams in third place.

Check out some of my training rides below:


The NRF concludes the Hendri Cotzee memorial race at Itanda Falls. Itanda is one of the biggest and longest of remaining rapids on the Nile, and with a tight move at the bottom to get to the finish line, it makes for a great race course. I put down a safe and solid run in the prelims, which was sadly not quite enough to make the finals against the local boys who run this rapid almost daily. The stop watch is cast aside for the top five that move on and the finals are all about style and pleasing the crowd. Sam Ward took the win with a great run down but it was Sadat Kawawa in second place who shocked everyone by dropping into the meat of the biggest hole on Itanda and somehow managing to surf out.

My race partner Yusuf had solid performances in all of these events and was crowned NRF Champion, with myself in second, and Sam Ward in third. Palm’s Lowri Davies also took home a well deserved win in the women’s category, with Aminah Nakiirya in second.

With the impending dam already well under way; we are rapidly facing the last few years of Nile River Festivals, be sure to get yourself to Uganda in January 2017 to enjoy this unique event before it’s too late.

See you on the water,

Bren

www.savethewhitenile.org

Photos by Marcus Farnfeild, Martyn Kirby and Haley McKee.

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03
Feb

Dominican Republic – Part II: Rio Blanco

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Below: The road to the put-in is so infrequently driven it is almost completely taken over by moss. Photo by Steve Krajewski.
Mossy road by SK

In December of 2015 Matthew Beauchamp, Steve Krajewski, Shannon Goshorn, and I headed to the island of Hispaniola to check out the rivers of the Dominican Republic. Although the island was experiencing a pattern of dry weather, we still found options to paddle daily and enjoyed a great time in this lesser known paddling destination. If you missed Part I which included pictures and video from the Rio Yaque del Norte, you can find it HERE.

Below: Adam Goshorn in the second half of the rapid that leads to the tightest part of the canyon. Photo by Steve Krajewski.
AG Boof by SK

The Rio Blanco flows out of the steep mountains east of the city of Banao, almost in the center of the country. We were presently surprised at how great this section of river turned out to be! In fact, we liked it so much we ended up spending four days of our trip paddling the Rio Blanco. There are a number of things that make the Rio Blanco unique. First, it cuts an impressively deep and beautiful canyon with vertical walls that narrow to a width of less than twenty feet across in places. Secondly, the lower section of the Rio Blanco benefits from what is more often a nemesis of whitewater paddlers… a hydroelectric project.

Below: Matthew Beauchamp probing a boof on our first run. Photo by Adam Goshorn.
MB Boof by AG

The unfortunate thing is that the hydroelectric project on the Rio Blanco dewaters the upper section of the river, making it only runnable during larger floods when they open the flood gates. However, the fortunate part for kayakers is that the hydroelectric generating station also provides daily runnable flows for the lower section, a section that surely would not be runnable nearly as often otherwise. The result is a dependable, dam-released, jungle paradise!

Below: Steve Krajewski and Matthew Beauchamp getting back in their boats after a quick scout on our first run. Photo by Adam Goshorn.
SK and MB by AG 1

Our first attempt at figuring out how to access the Rio Blanco was a little bold and a little silly. We drove down the road towards the power plant until we came to a closed gate and then we walked around the gate with our boats and down the rest of the road to the power plant itself. The power plant is located high atop a cliff overlooking the river and not a good access point (and supposedly off limits anyway). Lucky for us, no one was around so we explored the area and eventually found a trail that led downstream behind the power plant, where we scrambled down a steep, overgrown gully to the river and put on.

Below: Steve Krajewski boofing into the heart of the canyon. Photo by Adam Goshorn.
SK Boof by AG

On the next run we were stopped by the guards at the gate, but talked to them a bit and eventually they showed us a trail near their guard house that led all the way to river level. The only catch to this new put-in was that it was a quarter-mile upstream of the power plant. The result being that we would have to scrape down part of the dewatered section of the river and then ferry across the powerful outflow from the power plant. Once we did it a few times, we got quite efficient at this process and it would only take us about 20 minutes to hike in, scrape the quarter-mile to the power plant and make the ferry at the power plant, but the process made it feel like a mini expedition every time we paddled the Rio Blanco.

Below: This video is a competition of footage from multiple runs, but the rapids are shown in order. Edited by Adam Goshorn.

Stay tuned for part III which will feature the Upper Rio Jimenoa!

Until Next Time…

-adam

Below: Post boating refreshments in the city of Banao. Photo by Shannon Goshorn.
MB Beers by SG

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