After a hard days racing at the Moriston River Race, Fran, Dave and Andy were keen for a couple of days of more chilled out boating and so headed to the Falls of Lora for some salty surf sessions.
16
May
Season kick off in Colorado
For last month plus Colorado whitewater has been on. Very early snow melt and low snow pack are not helping our conditions but rivers and creeks are running. After first trip out of Crested Butte was to Arkansas and Bailey. Then I started going down to Durango where the real men whitewater is. First weeekend we did Middle Box and Pandoras Box on Animas river at high flow. Super fun. The other weekend my everyday schedule was two laps on Vallecito (Probably the best whitewater in Colorado) and then straight to Pandoras Box at its highest flows ever run… 🙂 Thanks to my friends Nate Klema, Ben Luck, Matt Wilson and Cooper for firing shit up! Below are pics mostly from my head cam. Stay tuned for more! Brown!
Entry 10 footer on OBJ
portage on Bailey – Shiva L rocks!
waterfall on OBJ 10 minutes from my hometown of Crested Butte
Air off the waterfall
Big very juicy boof in Pandoras box on Animas river 1400cfs thats big dude..
Sweet train by put in for middle box and pandoras 🙂
Entry falls on Vallecito that creek is the best whitewater in Colorado
Fuzzy bunny on Vallecito sick drop!
Stay safe out there
Jakook
16
May
Boater Chic Festival
Alright ladies, this weekend in Western North Carolina is all about you. It is the 5th annual boater chick festival starting this Saturday with various events going on. Nelson’s Nantahala Hideaway is the meeting spot for all events, including camping and hosting a party, because no festival is complete without a big ass party. There will be live music, awards, a raffle and of course plenty of fun for everyone. This includes dudes. As for actual boating, there will be a number of clinics that you can partake in, including a playboating clinic that I will be putting on. I will be rolling in style with the Pyranha van filled with various boats for anyone part of the clinic to jump in and get a feel for all the different boats Pyranha offers. For a full line up of clinics at the festival, take a look at the schedule of events. There will also be a freestyle comp held at the Ocoee and a boatercross on the Cheoah. Go ahead, you know you want to join!
10
May
The Varun Mystery
On first appearances the Varun might confuse, it’s a little bit of a freestyler, but you probably won’t see people seriously competing it, mixed up with a little bit of a river runner means its main niche is bigger volume rivers where you need some speed, but want to stop and throw down some big moves, and it certainly moves in the right hands – Think Nile or Zambezi style rivers to see the full potential but the Varun can work every single feature of your everyday play run…
So, for a little inspiration here’s a collection of some of the stunning places the Varun has been…
Africa trip 2010, Ric Moxon at minus rapids Image Maxi Kniewasser
Ric Moxon on the Zambezi. Image Maxi Kniewasser
Pete Simpson on Man Eater rapid, Kawarau River, Central Otago, NZ. Image Antz Longman
Bren Orton messing about on the Tryweryn. Image Steve Cooper
The Varuns first Grand Canyon trip. Image (and paddler) Craig Kleckner
Sam Ellis Falls of Lora
Have fun out there!
09
May
Sweet Redemption on the Opalescent
Sometimes Second chances do happen.
The Boofs in the gorge did not stop. Photo: Morgan Boyles
In Spring 2011 a group of 6 paddlers ventured deep into the Adirondack Wilderness to make an attempt at paddling the Opalescent Gorge. Ă‚Â A portion of the gorge was first paddled by Dennis Squires and Tony Malikowski in inflatables in 2005. Ă‚Â As far as we knew it had not been attempted since. Ă‚Â Tragically Dennis passed away while paddling in New Zealand in 2007. Ă‚Â During our attempt in May 2011. Ă‚Â We hiked with our boats 4.5 miles only to find the gorge was much too high for a safe descent. Ă‚Â We wallowed around in the dense woods for a while, and eventually made our way around the gorge to put back in and quietly float the 10 or so miles back to the car. Ă‚Â One year later Myself, Bill Frazer, and Morgan Boyles redeemed ourselves and had a successful descent of the Opalescent Gorge.
05
May
Jed Small First Look
I want to write up a short review of my first impression of the new small Jed; sick. I took my new boat and headed to Eternity, which is a local hole here in Western North Carolina. This boat was extremely quick Ă‚Â to spin to set up for moves and without much effort at all I was able to set this boat into the air. Compared to the Molan, it takes far less effort to pull off some big air moves. Next up will be a review of river running with the Jed. As a small female paddler, I am extremely excited that Pyranha has added this boat to their line up!
04
May
Youth Freestyle series 2012 – The Dee
The Youth Freestyle series has officially begun !
The first event saw a huge crowd of junior paddlers head to the river Dee in North Wales,
The river Dee has always been one of my favourite places to paddle, it’s home to some of the best playspots in the u.k at the right levels, has a couple of well known rapids and above all has a really chilled out atmosphere, I was really glad that the Youth Freestyle series returned to the Dee this year so that the younger paddlers could experience this stretch of river,
We were blessed with a nice medium level which easily facilitated high scoring rides but at the same time wasn’t to pushy for theĂ‚Â beginners, However despite the organisers best efforts to organise warm sunny weather, the typical welsh weather shone through with heavy showers and low temperatures – luckily for us the juniors that attend these events are really enthusiastic about everything related to freestyle kayaking and weren’t to put off by the weather – the same couldn’t quite be said about Pringle who only returned back to the u.k from uganda the previous day.
The juniors were all split into groups and got the opportunity to be coached by some of the top paddlers in the u.k. Big smiles, new moves and huge wipe out’s where had by all !
With all of the paddlers having had their opportunity to get used to the features and gain a few tips from the coaches it was time to begin the competition – due to the temperature it was decided to run the competition in a jam style format to keep the participants a bit warmer, due to this format paddlers got multiple rides and were a lot more willing to go for bigger, more complicatedĂ‚Â maneuvers. This year the sponsored and GBR team members wereĂ‚Â separatedĂ‚Â into their own categories, to make it a bit more interesting the organisers decided to pit us all against Pringle to try and score the same or even better his ride …
The results for the event can be seen here :
Ă‚Â http://www.youthfreestyle.co.uk/attachments/article/41/Llangollen%20Results%202012a.pdf
A huge thank you to all the juniors that took part, the coaches/Organisers and the sponsors of the Youth Freestyle Series !
And also Brother Photography for letting me use their images !
For more information check out – http://www.youthfreestyle.co.uk/
See you on the water,
Bren
04
May
Jed at Marsh weir
So after a couple of frustrating weeks in North Wales with lots of rain and it all flowing out of the rivers by morning we were left scratching our heads with what to do, a couple of play sessions on the Dee got me thinking about heading further afield, with the news that the large Jed was in production a plan was hatched, borrow the team van and head south to the Thames weirs. On route calls were made, Bren Orton was collected and we decided Marsh weir by Henley was our best bet, It did not disappoint.
Andy
02
May
New River Dries with the Jed!
All photos courtesy of Laura Bayer
As usual, Spring has brought epic water levels to WV. As the newest member of Team Pyranha, I popped down to Asheville a few weeks ago to pick up my new Jed and Shiva, and chat with my good friend and Pyranha designer Robert Peerson. I’ve worked with Robert a lot in the past, and am stoked to be in his designs again. Luckily, a few inches of rain in the New River watershed brought the Dries up to a great level for the put-in waves.
Backstabs go big in the Jed!
After several days at different water levels, I’ve gotta say that Rob knocked this design outta the park! Super loose, crazy easy to edge, and fast! I added a 1/2 inch seat pad which allows more leverage and easier edging, and the result was the easist clean blunts/backstabs I’ve ever done!
Big cleans!! YEAH!!!
Starting one of many flashbacks
The slight V-hull in the Jed’s stern was really well done….allowing looseness, but helping with edging and carving. A lot of folks tend to write off all the newer playboat designs as being or looking all the same, but the proof is in the performance, and having tried every design on the market, believe me, they are all VERY different!
Launching a pan-am
Another Clean....This boat LOVES to do these!
Starting a helix
More photos and video to come soon! Until then…
Brian Jennings
Team Pyranha