Uganda was one of those far of destinations that captured my imagination from an early age, with warm water, big rapids and awesome play waves, it truly is the perfect way to escape the cold (and dry) British winter.

The video of my trip is below,

See you on the water,

Bren

… also known as the NSR, was bigger and better than ever this year! The National Student Rodeo, held in Nottingham every year is a great event with over 1000 competitors of all abilities. Everyone gets a chance to paddle and compete (if not too hung over), even non-students can enter the Old School competition, and the Saturday night party is the stuff of legends!

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The Shiva is a boofster like no other, and I’d been waiting to get it on some stouts for a bit.  Finally rain came and so did the killer boofs that inhabit a special place called Big Creek. Upper Big Creek is like a wet dream to the Shiva, the yin to its yang, the jelly to its peanut butter, the icing to its cake. No better feeling than riding up smooth granite into a full release, from the water that is.

Check out this little video I made back in the fall, including some of the bigger rivers and drops around Boone, NC. Includes North Harper Falls, Trashcan Falls, Watauga Gorge, Gragg Prong, and Linville Gorge. Enjoy!

I’ll go to class next week!

Dragstrip Photo by Eric Chance

Cheers – Clay

Pyranha’s annual DartFest at the River Dart Country Park is always good fun! This year was no exception, check out the video to see what happened…  Slightly low water levels did not stop paddlers getting some great coaching from Chris Eastabrook’s renowned confidence building courses and Liquid Logistics improvers river trip.

Lots of people dropped by the stand to check out the first sighting of the new freestyle machine… the JED. The Loki was also out to play and of course the Burn, Shiva, Varun… were there too!

Off the water in the evening and it was over to the team’s female paddlers for insight and entertainment. Paula Pridham presented her intriguing research on fear in whitewater padding. Most importantly though she also shared her experiences and expert advice on how to manage and overcome that fear. Fran Kohn then gave us the latest from her recent trip to Chile with a video of one of the great rivers she paddled out there.

And then we danced…

The brand new Pyranha Jed!

Loki and Jed on the stand!

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As a round-up to our Colombia expedition I thought I would do something a little different and give you a summary of our trip from our boats’ point of view – enjoy!

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The Grammy Awards have nothing to do with kayaking, and no the Dems haven’t come out with the “Brown” album, yet. However I managed to boof through the front door, infiltrate the Hollywood elite, and bring some “low-class” to an otherwise highbrow event.

I think they knew I was from Tennessee

"I'd like to thank God, brown, and all the stouts that got me here"

Like Batman’s signal in the sky, the raised brownclaw attracts kayakers anywhere

the talent loves demshitz

I did find that musicians make a lot more money than kayakers, based in the number of Bentleys, Lambourginis, and limos. I think the trade off is fair though, I doubt they get to boat and experience the places we do on a regular basis.

Check out the very first outing of the Loki on our local home run, the mighty Tryweryn in North Wales. For more info and where to find a demo go to www.pyranha.com/Loki

Paddler Andy Butler
Filmed by Tom Laws
Edited by Andy Butler