Pyranha Logo
facebook twitter vimeo

18
Jun

Teva Outdoor Games- Italy

Categories:

by

Teva Outdoor Games – Valchiusella
Week before last my self, Tom Wakling, Joe Morley and Jen Chrimes headed out to Northen Italy for the 2012 Teva Kayak Race.
We went out a week in advance to train on the course and of course paddle some other rivers.
On arrival we met up with the Pyranha Team van being driven by Anton Immler and Andy Butler. Our first day was spent on the Chiusella paddling the whole run not knowing which part would be in the race. I immediately liked the style of the river with small technical drops allowing pacey sprints in between.
The following days were spent doing more training on the Chiusella as well as running the Atassa River in the next valley along. This was a really nice run with more technical drops than the Chiusella and a big 200foot slide to finish the run. The photogenic bridges over the river again amazed me as to how they still stand up, and how an earth they managed to built them so symmetrically across the steep gorges.
Coming to race day I felt I knew the race course well, and with low levels felt confident that my light weight would be an advantage for this run.
My first run left me in a strong top ten position but with aggregate scoring I knew I would have to do a good second run as well. My second run turned out to be 4 seconds quicker than the first putting me in a solid placing.
Next day was the team events. First we had the creek race which was held on a lower section of the river. Predominantly flat with 2 main drops, however these drops turned out more difficult than expected. I made a mistake on the first drop that cost the team some time however we picked up the pace and nailed the final drop finishing in second place behind the Kewi team. The Team slalom was held in the evening, where My self, tom and Joe raced as the GB representatives.  We had some issues on the first run, but so did everyone else.  Our second run was great, and finished us in first place and first place over all in the team event.
On the last day of racing we had the Individual sprint slalom and Boater X races. I again finished in a solid top half position with my second run including a role! Over all this put me in Tenth place, a position I am happy with being my second international extreme race!
We still had 2 more days in Italy before heading home so we went to Valseisia to run some more rivers. Without a guide book we really had no idea where to paddle so we got on and inspected each drop well.
All in all I had a fantastic trip, and it was great to see Andy and Anton out there whilst on the Team tour.
Cheers,David

This post has no tag

18
Jun

Jed Surfing West Virginia

Categories:

by

This spring I got to surf a few really good waves in West Virginia, and even better I got to surf them in the new JED.  I still can not say enough about this boat, it’s fast, loose, and goes really big.  Enjoy the video and stay tuned for another sick wave video from Skook, where Demshitz will be inventing tricks.

Jed Surfing West Virginia

Tags: , , , , ,

14
Jun

Demshitz Romance in Durango

Categories:

by

So demshitz has been wondering around the Colorado scene in the recent few weeks. From Paddlefest to a quick Durango creek mission (the vid from this is below), straight to Teva Mountain Games in Vail, to a few dealer visits and demo’s, to the Lyons outdoor Games and now we are back in Buena Vista Colorado for the FIBARK river festival. I guess we have had little time to blog, but we are going to try to get yinz up to date. For now I found out that the Boater X here will be canceled because of low water, but some folks are trying to make the play feature work in Salida for the freestyle. I know that sounds kind of bad, but we have been making the most out of low water in Colorado. Look soon for a short update from the events listed below, but for now I hope you enjoy our Durango mission video below!

Demshitz Romance in Durango from David Fusilli on Vimeo.

One day in Buena Vista Co, Demshitz, Jed Selby and Mathieu Dumoulin loaded up in Orange Bitch and headed to Durango Co for 2 days of straight charging. We ended up doing 4 creek runs, a playboat session and drank 100 beers. Some great times with demshitz!!!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

12
Jun

Val Sesia Festival

Categories:

by

Gene17 and Pyranha joined forces this June to put on a kayaking festival of great proportions in the well-known and loved Val Sesia region of the Italian Alps. As well as the traditional fine pizzas, fine wine and delicious ice-cream, the festival offerred the many participants from the UK, Ireland, Germany and all over Europe as well as as far afield as New Zealand an opportunityy to take part in clinics and competitions. The Sesia Sprint section of the Sesia river was the location for a team race for teams of three paddlers, followed by an individual race. Team Pyranha took 3rd place (with Anton Immler, Dave Hollins and Andy Butler representing). The best times for the individual race were under 11 minutes for the 3km course of the class III/IV race course.  In the individual race, I came second in the ladies category.

The Sweet Rumble boater-X saw another great round of competition, with exciting starts from the start ramp and nail biting finishes with the last two eddies counting for everything! I came second in the ladies section of this race.

The evening finished with a superb outdoor party with everyone getting into the party spirit and dancing away to the excellent DJ’ing provided by AS’s Ewart and Paul Robertson.

I leave you with a few pictures of the picturesque local creeks of Val Sesia and nearby Ticino region in Switzerland (photos by Max Siech and Dave Hollins)

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

12
Jun

Caucasus Mountains, Russia

Categories:

by

Hi Folks!


It is around 10 days since we are visiting some Caucasus countries in order to investigate all these rivers, what would be suitable for the first part of summer’s Ride The Planet project. Rivers are sick, water is high and weather is good. More photos here —>>>

This post has no tag

11
Jun

Heavy rain hits Mid-Wales

Categories:

by

This weekend just gone has seen epic flooding hit Mid-Wales. Whilst for some it was a horrible weekend of swimming out of windows to safety or watching belongings get swept away, up in the hills a couple of kayakers had a great time on the upper section of the upper Ystwyth, a run that hasn’t come up in the last three years we’ve been at university. This was an incredible way to say goodbye to uni and Aberystwyth town, getting on the river at one of the highest ever recorded levels.

 

This post has no tag

10
Jun

“Eporedia Active Days” – Teva Race in Italy

Categories:

by

Last week the annual Teva Race – now called “Eporedia Active Days” – took place in Valchiusella and Ivrea/ITA.

The individual competition consisted of a downriver race down the shallow and rocky Chiusella River and a sprint and boatercross race on the slalom course in Ivrea with better water levels.

One of my two downriver runs was pretty bad – I was ending up on way to many stones -, which placed me into 15th position after that stage. Honza Lasko (CZE) won, Michele Ramazza (ITA) came 2nd, Pavel Andrassy (SVK) 3rd.

Fortunately, I was able to catch up a bit in the sprint race where I got 6th (Sam Sutton/NZL was 1st there, Jakobus Stenglein/GER 2nd and Honza Lasko 3rd) and in the boatercross, which was as much fun as almays. Finally I ended on the 8th rank, which is all right after my weak start in the downriver race. Overall, Honza Lasko won the event, Sam Sutton came 2nd and Filippo Brunetti (ITA) 3rd. Congratulations!

The team race couldn’t have been any worse for the German team, consisting of Jakobus Stenglein, myself and Markus Hummel. Last year we were able to win this competitions, but this time we had no chance at all after a popped off spraycover at the very first rapid. That cost a lot of time! The English team took the title, leaving France and Italy on the 2nd and 3rd rank, respectively.

My team mates and I had a great time paddling in Italy, especially when we were meeting up with the Pyranha Team Van crew there. I hope they’ll enjoy their further tour! See you on the river!

This post has no tag

31
May

Youth Freestyle series – The Nene

Categories:

by

The second event in the Youth freestyle series took us the the Nene whitewater course, in Northampton .

The nene is possibly the smallest course we have in the u.k running on just 2-3 cumecs it funnels it’s way down a series of small ledge holes untill it hits a wooden ramp and the excitement really begins – Pool A consists of a reasonably big pour over and whilst not being famed for it’s freestyle prowess it does dish out a fair few beatings in between moves – great fun to watch.

The event followed the usual Youth freestyle format of some chilled out coaching in the morning, followed by a competition in the afternoon. However due to the weather/easy to swim course/coaches and parents wanting to cool down – the Nene is also host to a search and rescue ball game, a team of 5 kids has to rescue the balls that are being recirculated in the pour over.

The results for the Nene can be found here - http://www.youthfreestyle.co.uk/attachments/article/44/Nene%20Club%20Results%202012b.pdf

Check out the video below,

See you on the water,

Bren

This post has no tag

30
May

Boater Chick Festival a Success

Categories:

by

The Boater Chick Festival has come and gone and a recap is in order. This is the first year that Pyranha has been a part of the BCF and I hope to be part of pyranha continuing to sponsor this event. The setup of this festival is a bit different than what I have seen before; everyone camps out and then wakes up in the morning to decide what boating is in their future which can range from a guided river run or various clinics. I was the instructor for the Intro to Playboating clinic. I grabbed the van loaded full of Jeds, Varuns and Shivas and met the ladies at the Tuckaseegee River in North Carolina.

Being my first year, I had no idea what to expect. A few ladies took me up on my offer for a demo and myself and 15 women hit the water to get in some beginning freestyle moves. I was also learning as I’m new to the Jed and this was a great chance for me to really figure out the edges and the balance point of this bad boy. There are no big features on this river and this gave a friendly feel to surfing, spinning, rolling and even a little swimming! At one spot I do believe one of the girls tried a loop for the very first time which is always scary and exciting at the same time.

I could not have been more proud of these women. The standout to me was a woman I got the chance to interact with on the shuttle; she is 69, learning all about her new pink Varun and absolutely being an inspiration to women of all ages. Thanks ladies, I had a blast out there!

This post has no tag

29
May

Shiva on the Green River Narrows

Categories:

by

Chris Morelli checking in with an update here! I just headed back to the east coast from a winter of skiing in Utah. On the way home to New York, I decided to head to Asheville, to pick up my new Shiva and JED from Pyranha. I got the chance to take the Shiva out on the Green River Narrows that week, for two days. I love the green. This was my second trip to the river, last time being two summers ago. Anytime you have the chance to paddle the green, take it! It’s such a beautiful place and paddling community. I was very excited to show up for Jerrys Battle also. Such a great challenge for paddlers, paddle the Narrows, hop on a bike and make it happen!

My first thoughts of the Shiva was FAST FAST FAST! This boat holds a line, boofs EVERYTHING, and is super stable landing off of drops. This boat is exactly what I was hoping for. I am 6’1 160lbs. I was in a medium Burn, which is great for pin point accuracy and river running. The Shiva fills the gap for running harder, and bigger whitewater. This boat makes you feel like a rock star. The added volume of the medium Shiva floats and punches effortlessly through holes. The rocker on the boat also lets you turn on a dime and redirect to where you need to go. The biggest change going from a Burn to a Shiva you will notice is the edges, but the Shiva can still whip into micro eddies and make quick moves. The rounded bottom boofs great flat off of drops, as well as edge to edge boofing. Overall I have paddled it a half dozen days so far, and I already feel apart of the boat, and ready to push the limits even harder!

Check out the Shiva in action!

Cheers!

 

 

This post has no tag

Older posts «

» Newer posts