The Freestyle World Championship begins, FINALLY!!!!

After training hard for the last several weeks and the added stress that comes with it, I am SO ready to compete, SO ready to see where I stand with the rest of the world. Luckily I have had some good friends and fellow Pyranha paddlers to keep me company in the eddies.

Rowan and myself talking about anything but freestyle

This year has been good for Team Pyranha, we have more boats than ever at Worlds. This is partly due to Mr. and Ms. Jed, and of course all of us getting so much better over the last year or two. Team hopefuls include Rowan Stuart, Bren Orton, Brandon Hepburn, and myself. Rowan and Brandon are on the junior team and they are both at the top of their game right now, Rowan is killing it, hitting mcnasties and Phonics’ that most the other Jr. women can only dream about. Brandon has the hole dialed in and has a good chance to podium. Bren and myself are in some of the toughest competition around, as there are more possible World champs in the mens heat than any other.

Rowan mid-dcnasty

Phonics n stuff

Pyranha has blessed us with some amazing carbon fiber Jeds that are really making an impact. We are flying higher and swinging the boat around at break-neck speeds, these boats are lighter, faster, stronger, and better looking than any of the competition. Pyranha is the only company to support its athletes this well and we couldn’t be happier. Its a shame so many people buy into the hype of the “other company” , but as Pyranha begins to take over the podium people will surely notice.

Fusilli coaching me from the sidelines

Demshitz of Amurica

There are lots of other people competing in the Jed, many of them from other countries and maybe not on the “team”. However if you are in a Pyranha boat you are like family and we wish every family member the best of luck to go out and crush it this week.

As the competition heats up we will keep the world posted on the happenings, and for now GO TEAM PYRANHA!!!!!!!

Thanks to Pete Delosa for the pics

Back in February a friend of mine named Fredy from Switzerland informed me of a multi-day paddling trip to southern Siberia being organized by Tomass Marnics and asked me if I wanted to go.  I thought about it for roughly five minutes, called fellow Pyranha paddler Tony Gianfagna and immediately started searching for plane tickets to Irkutsk.  Before we knew it, it was August, our Russian Visas had been issued, and we were on our way.

Read the rest of this entry »

With the world championships at NOC in America coming up fast the GB freestyle team took to the water for a final training session.  Throughout the weekend the team was working on piecing together their competition rides and putting some final work into making sure that their moves score.

Sal Montgomery Training at HPP
Photo by Ed Cooper

Training consisted of working all the top moves such as space godzillas, McNasty’s, Phonix Monkeys and lunar orbits.  Many of the team were also practicing some of the entry moves they intend to do at the comp .  Once warmed up we started putting moves together trying to link them in blocks of 3 so that the routine is easy to remember and has a high scoring sequence.  Team training isn’t always super serious though, we also ran a fun copycat style session where you have to attempt the same move as the last paddler and then add on your own move for the next paddler to try.  With the standard so high, there really were some amazing combinations pulled off!

The Jed catches some more airtime!

The team is very strong this year and we really are in the running to bring home medals in all the different freestyle disciplines.  Brandon Hepburn and Bren Orton will be out there rocking their carbon Jed’s and working the hole as best they can to pull off some high scores.  The Jed should really excel in a hole like this, being able to pull off all the latest hole moves quickly and fluidly.  You simply just have to watch some of the team paddlers moving this boat around a hole or wave to realise how good the design really is.

With many competitors already out in the US practicing at NOC we really should see some incredible rides and some really amazing routines during the comp.

If you havent seen it yet, check out this video of Brandon and Bren training in Nottingham.

For more info on the world champs visit www.freestylekayaking2013.com

Thanks to Sal Montgomery for the photos and Bren and Brandon for the video.

Good luck Team GB!

Danny and Sean scout the 25ft drop on Callaghan Creek

Theres nothing like a good kayaking trip and being my second trip out of thecountry for some boating BC was definitely agem! Its pretty awesome how simple a kayaking trip can be. Wake up, eat, figure out where to go boating, kayak, eat dinner, stare at the stars, pass out and then repeat. With BC it was pretty simple to find places to go boating as the water levels were prime. We were able to catch some of the classics whilst in the area and even had a little bit of poutine. During our first  couple days we camped out near the Ashlu where some other boaters were already staked out. We plundered the local Mc Donalds for internet and hoped for sweet tea… there sadly was no sweet tea.

Yours truly below the 15ft drop on Callaghan Creek

Squamish has a lot going on for being such a small town in the way of outdoor activities. Then we moved up to whistler where we camped at the Upper Cheak takeout. Whistler is a great hub for the areas whitewater as you have the Cheak right in town and Callaghans just outside. We had to take a little ride to get to rogers but theres also a few other runs even closer to town there in Whistler which as per the locals are pretty awesome as well. All in all BC was an amazing time with great whitewater, cool people and tons of fun!

Rich Sean and Myself at the putin for Rogers Creek- Photo by Tim Madison

First Drop of the triple 20ft drops on Rogers Creek

Heres the links to the Videos from BC which include all the aforementioned good times!

$oul Rich- Part One “BC Provides” from Paul Butler on Vimeo.

$oul Rich- Part 2 “Pride, Pumas and Parties” from Paul Butler on Vimeo.

After a short season last year with an injured shoulder and lots of physio and training during the winter I was really eager to get back up to Voss, Norway for the extreme sports week nown as Veko.

Ekstremsportveko is the largest sport and music festival of its kind, and is hosted every year in Voss, Western Norway. veko hosts competitions in kayaking, rafting, mtb-bmx, skateboarding, skydiving, paragliding, hanggliding, multisport, freeride, big air, climbing, BASE and longboarding. For one whole week national and international athletes compete and challenge themselves in the elements. This year was the 15th anniversary of Veko and it shows in the growth.

I met up with the Pyranha team van and UK team athlete Paula Pridham ready for the week ahead. Water levels were on a low to medium level so the usual classics were in order. Raundalselve, Jordalselve, Brandseth, Myrkdalan (which was high), Strandaelve, Basically the hit list for anyone visiting Voss, and of cause when visiting Voss you have to run Money Falls.

Looking into Money drop

Per on the now classic Money Drop

Paula in the bottom of Money Drop after a clean run.

One of the cool competitions at Veko is the ever growing popular Hogi-ned race which is a multi sports event comprissing of 3 disciplines. The first leg is downhill skiing then DH mountainbiking with a kayak section to finish. Due to snow conditions (or lack of snow!) the ski section was cancelled which left my team mate Christopher Hammersland and myself to do the biking and kayaking. The competition was fierce with teams having lots of mishaps but everyone had a good race and the atmosphere was great.

Hogi Ned competition

Again Voss delivered the goods and left us all looking forward to next year.

Typical scenery in Voss.

Small drop on Jordalselve.

Photos: Brian Murphy

For the second time in as many years a new kind of freestyle event hit the Hole Brothers venue in Watertown, New York.  The “BRO”-Down, envisioned by local raft guide, paddler, and entrepreneur Dave Gardner is a super fun grass-roots event that is low-stress way for anyone to participate in freestyle competition.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Kayak Borneo team have arrived in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo and, having paddled several sections already, have secured some transport and will be heading out into the jungle in the next few days to start our exploration of this beautiful island.

The team struggle with the wildly swinging bridge (Photo: Rob Moffatt)

The expedition will be continuing for the next 3 months, pioneering a new approach; a ‘rolling expedition’ which will see 3 teams of paddlers exploring the island consecutively, sharing contacts and knowledge. As a result the expedition can span the very rainy and slightly less rainy seasons, allowing the team to explore all that Borneo has to offer.

Rob warming up in the jungle (Photo: Dave Burne)

Kayak Borneo extends to more than just an exploratory kayaking expedition. The team has been in contact with Heart of Borneo, a conservation charity based in Kalimantan, and will be liaising with them throughout. Once the expedition is completed the team will be selling the boats, kindly donated by Pyranha, to help raise some funds for the charity to continue with their valuable work.

In addition to this, the team will also be providing some training for the guides at RiverBug – a rafting outfit in Sabah.

Dom enjoying one of the easier sections nearby. (Photo: Rob Moffatt)

For more information on the expedition, and to keep up with the team’s progress, check out their website (www.kayakborneo.co.uk) and facebook group (www.facebook.com/KayakBorneo).