Mawddach Hype

Me below the big class 5 hit near the top of the river.

With a sudden rise in temperatures and rain fall the snow was melting and all the rivers were at meaty levels and running brown!

After waiting around for a while we ended up with a random group who didn't know each other very well but proceeded onto the mighty Mawddach non the less!

We drove towards the get in to find the mountain road completely iced over meaning that we had to shoulder our boats for nearly 2 hours to reach the get in.

Once at the get in we had a quick snack of fresh snow before venturing down some continuous class 4 and a couple of 5s. After 2 people walking out due to high water we were left with a final team of 4 people.

We finished the 8+ miles of continuous water just before dusk with welcomed soup and water.

An eventful but good day on the water! :)

Etive River Race 2010!

Above: A cheeky boof off Right Angle.

For those who don't know, The Etive River Race is the biggest Boater x event in the U.K held In Glen Etive on the west coast of Scotland. As I am only 15, I had to gain special permission off the organisers to compete which I am very grateful for! A big thanks to James Fleming ( sorry for beating you ;] ) Me and my partner (Bren Orton) did very well considering we were the youngest paddlers coming 6th in the sponsored category which placed us 7th out of 21 which I was very pleased with! Next year me and Bren aim to get in the top 3 so something to aim for next year :)

Here are a few more photos of the trip:

A Welsh Mission

With the hint of rain (of which there has been very little this year) Me, Matty Nicholas and Adam Ramadam met up with Miles Jones to go and Huck! Water levels were all over the place with the Fairy Glen being pretty meaty whilst the Mawddach was on a low-medium level. We ran the entirety of this right from in the moorlands to below PTF and what a run it is! A truly magical river with brilliant rapids and inspiring scenery! Whilst running the river I had the chance to have a good look at the infamous Rheadr Mawddach-definitely one for the future (with the mineshaft filled, of course!) After that we headed to a medium level Lledr the level was a bit lower than the first time I did it but at the end I was still stoked even after an 'interesting' encounter with some fisherman at Viaduct Falls!

Above: Pont-Y-Pant. A class 5 rapid in Wales. Photo by Ronja Nyman.

I'm Back!

Well it has been a long time since I last updated this blog, mainly because of too much boating!

It has been a very busy summer with lots of competitions and (very) little rain. With numerous competions at HPP including the Youth Freestyle where I came 5th which I was very please with!

Here are a few freestyley photos:

One of the highlights of my season this year is learning to mcnasty which is coming along nicely.

The worst thing this season would be my very bad back problem which is slowly being sorted out. Not good considering I am only 15!

HPP photos

Here are a few photos of me in the new 2010 Jackson Star. I REALLY liked this boat and I was getting some head dry loops and new tricks such as split wheels and clean cartwheels. A few photos:

hPPPPP

I have been heading to HPP a lot recently. I have been privileged to paddle with some of the best young freestylers in the country and I can not thank them enough on how much they have helped me!

I whipped up a quick video...I hope you enjoy it:

Fairy Glen

The team:

It has been a while since I have updated this blog, and a lot has happened! Not too long ago, me and my group set off to the legendary Fairy Glen on the Conwy. This is meant to be one of the best gorges of hard challenging white water in the U.K with class 4,5 and 5+ rapids all in a magical gorge and boy was it fun! The water level wasn't high but good paddling was still to be had.The team who ranger from a 15 year old ( me) to a paddler in his 40s!

Here is the lastest video: Progression...

Here are is my latest video...Enjoy :-)

Fairy Glen, Aberglasyln Gorge and numerous Dee Sessions...

As I am starting to really improve in my boating and start to push my boundaries, We decided to finally hit the Glen and I don't think we could have had a much better crew to show me down : Kev Griffiths, Chris Williams and Phill Davidson of the Welsh Rivers Guidebook Fame.

Well, my my, what a truly magical place! I have never been to such a place which has moved me so much.

It is just amazing how secluded and unique this gorge is. From the moment we got on it moved me in a way indescribable. The rapids were testing with must make lines, gnarly stoppers and lots of hidden nasties....

Due to light we only had time to run the lower gorge which included rapids such as Pipeline, Speed biker and end of the world- the infamous must run rapid.

Due to Captive Productions, I have had to hold nearly all the footage back except for a few various clips:

Here is me on SpeedBiker:

Here is the mighty Chris Williams running Pipeline:

Before we did the Glen We ran a low level Aberglasyln gorge, which was a really nice run which was quite technical at this level.. One thing that I loved of this river was the mellow green colour of the water...Fantastic!

Due to the recent lack of water I have been playing on the dee A few times over the last month, One time in my playboat which resulted in a nice healthy spanking in Serpents which involved a nice lengthy side surf numerous back loops before being briefly shoved under the undercut before I was freee!

Another session involved messing around in my solo on the Mile End Mill site with Peter Lamb, was great to paddle with him and learn some new techniques!

Afon Lledr

Right, It has been an awful long time since I last updated this blog and since my last post I feel my paddling has improved an awful lot...

Shortly after Christmas I met up with the 'usuals' and a few new faces for a paddle on the Afon Lledr. Wow, what a river. I can understand why the guidebook mentions that it isn't as popular as you would think due to the diversity of the rapids. We got on at Pont Y Pant which was one of the hardest rapids on the river which we ran... Straight onto solid grade 5 with no warm up wakes you up believe me! This was one of my first big grade 5s. Here is a video to prove it:

The video doesn't really do this amazing rapid justice but never the less, enjoy:

A full video of our day can be found here:

Afon Lledr Kayaking 27/12/09 from Charles Blyth on Vimeo.