Blowing the Rust Off

After far too long a time I finally managed to hook up with good mates and CKUK Test Teamers Lee The Muss and Colin The Wiggster. The snow was melting, the rain falling, so it was decided on a mission to North Wales to see if we could all remember how to paddle. After picking Lee up in Coventry we bombed down the A5 to rendevouz with Col at Mile End Mill. The Dee was high and we were hopeful that other rivers would be too. A spot of catching up over a cup of Java in the cafe and then we were off. We decided to head to the Middle Conwy as we figured that would be a good warm up. The sun was shining, there was water in the river and a great paddle followed, although there was more talking than paddling for most of the run (as you can see in the clips). We then headed over to the Ogwen, but when we got there the river was bare. Oh well! A brief discussion about heading to the Glen followed but we all kind of felt that a bit more rust needed to be knocked off first, so it was back over to the Dee for a high water run down as the sun began to dip. At that klevel, there's lots of holes and waves to play on and we had a right laugh throwing our creek boats about. As we were getting changed old mate (and top coach) Andy Turton wandered by, so we all headed off to the Corn Mill in Llangollen for a well earned Apre-paddle pint. Top Day!

Posted by Jason Smith

The Big Melt Is Here

It's raining at last! After a month of being snowed in I can actually look out of the window and see grass. It gets better too. Wiggs and The Muss have been on the CK Towers Batphone and levels are 'going off' on the rivers of north Wales. The gear's packed, the creek boat has just had a whole bunch of new padding put in and is now loaded up on the roof-rack and ready for a dawn raid to get some boating done on a few North Wales classics. It's been far too long since we headed out for paddle together, and to say that I'm a bit excited is an understatement. Sadly Blackdog Butler can't make it due to family commitments, but I'm sure we'll all send him a few gloating texts once we're off the water to make him feel better ; )

Roll on sunrise, move over M6, rivers he we come.

Posted by Jason Smith

Seek And Ye Shall Find

As the snow has finally started to melt, we took advantage of the change in temp to get out on a walk with a difference. He got the boots on and headed out the door into the local countryside. Walking with the dog isn't that unusual on a sat morning, but this time we had an added goal. We were looking for a certain some thing along the way. A 'geocache' to be precise! For those not familiar with the term a geocache is a small package, usually a small waterproof box, that is hidden in the outdoors, all over the world. They usually contain treasure, in the form of trinkets, a note book and some info on the cache. You find the locations from the web and then use GPS coordinates to help you find it, some times with the help of clues or anagrams along the way. It's basically a giant treasure hunt, and a great way of livening up a walk in the woods. Our cache was hidden in a hollowed out tree. We left a note in the book, a key-ring and a nice dog biscuit before placing it back in its hiding place and heading home. It's brilliant fun, and would a great thing to do with kids. We're going to check out a few sites and see if there are any canoe/kayak accessed geocaches. If not then we might just have to head out there and hide one. Check out http://www.geocaching.com/ for more info

Posted by Jason Smith

Who needs the Alps?

Check out this picture... It's from Canoe & Kayak Test Teamer Colin 'Wiggy' Fisher and it was taken, not in the Alps, not in Canada, not in Scandanavia, nope it was taken in the good ol' UK in the glorious Peak District. Col's Bro Steve is a big wig at Snow & Rock in Manchester, and a bit of a dab hand on skis and board, Col's none to shabby either. Anyway the Brothers Fisher and a bunch of Mates headed out their backdoor and to the local hills for blue sky, fresh powder day. Awesome!

Posted by Jason Smith

There's no business like Snow business

Yet more of the white stuff fell this morning and as Rossco has buggered off snowboarding to the Alps for a fortnight, and as we've been pretty much snowed in here at CK Towers for the last month, I thought I'd take advantage of the fresh snow and go snowboating*

Took the creek boat out this time and it was way faster than the freestyle boat and bounced off things easily too, which was just as well. Had a right hoot, but feeling it a bit in the legs now. Getting to the hill involves a good 45 minute slog towing the boat behind. Felt like Ben Foggle in the Antartic. All I was missing was the bit of cardboard glued to my nose!

If I can convince Faye to help me haul the thing, might have a go at snowcanoeing* tomorrow!

Check out the gallerey for a bunch of vids I made while bombing down the hill

* A poncy way of describing sledging in kayaks.

* A poncy way of describing sledging in a canoe!

Posted by Jason Smith

More of the White Stuff

Arrrggghhh It just dumped a whole load of fresh snow, it's snowing right now and the forecast is for a whole lot more over the next few hours. What is it with Rutland? we've now had snow and ice for the last three weeks and it looks set to hang around for a week or two more. Snowboating's fun and all that, but the novelty soon wears off!

Posted by Jason Smith

Wooden Delight

Ross's Dad Peter knows a thing or two when it comes to open canoeing, and he knows a thing or two about working with wood too!

He recently made Faye and I these two beautiful canoe paddles to go with our trusty open boat. The feel, power and balance of them is fantastic and there's nothing that comes close to the pleasure of using custom-made paddles skillfully crafted by hand. Brilliant!

Posted by Jason Smith

Burn Baby, Burn!

We picked up a new 2010 Burn from the gang at Pyranha at the Gene17 APE weekend and it's been out on the rivers ever since. First impressions are that they've managed to make a great boat even better. There's a short vid of it in action in the gallery and you can read a full Tried & Tested 'First Look' review in issue 107 of Canoe & Kayak UK on sale the 7th of January 2010. (For more info on the Burn check out www.pyranha.com)

Posted by Jason Smith

Snow Way

The Snow came to Rutland on the 18th of December and it fell thick and fast. Its now the 5th of January and it's still here and the forecast is for yet more snow to fall again today! It's pretty but enough is enough.

Posted by Jason Smith

The Christmas Party!

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the 'Office Do' and CK Towers is no different. So the 17th of Dec saw us donning our glad rags (a rare event for me and Rossco) as we joined the rest of our department at Warners for an evening of fine wine, fine food and fine company. It was all a bit of a blur for Rossco as he mixed up the wine, cider and port and did his bit as 'Office Eye Candy' for the ladies ; ) CK's Publisher Simon gave a fine and rather amusing speech, with pretty much everyone coming in for a bit of good-natured stick, although CK's Rossco and Andy seemed to get rather more than the rest of us! After a great meal it was time to hit the dance floor for some bad 'Dad' style dancing before heading home through the now falling snow. A Big thank you to Juliet for organising a brilliant bash. (Pic shows yours truly, a somewhat pickled Rossco and CK's Marketing Whizz Kim.)

Posted by Jason Smith

Don't Drown the Mrs - G17 Adventure Paddlers Weekend 2009

Headed down to Dartmoor for the annual www.gene17.com APE Weekend. The heavens opened and the rain fell in spades making the promise of good river levels a reality. Arriving late Friday night, we wound our way along twisting and rain soaked lanes high up in to the Webburn Valley in search of our base for the weekend Bramblemoor Cottage. When we finally found it it was in complete darkness as the owners had got their dates muddled! After a bit of fannying about we finally managed to get hold of them and got in and then spent a chilly night as the heating hadn't been put on! Despite the rigours of the previous night a bowlful of porridge and a mug of hot java had us all set for a day on the River Dart. We'd brought down the Duo and the plan was for me to take Faye (Mrs S) down the Loop section for the very first time. She's had to listen to me twitter on about the Dart for years, so she was keen to find out what all the fuss was about. The rain had dome its job and the level was up to the slab at Newbridge accompanied by our 'Safety Crew'. Good friend Deb P and Dr Chuck in their slalom boats and one of Deb's young team members, from her forthcoming youth trip to the Zanskar, Matt. The level was spot on and we bounced our way down the run, hitting eddies and some very tidy lines indeed. The highlight was Tripple drop where we nailed it spot on and Faye deafened all the waiting play boaters at the bottom with an ear splitting Whooop. After a spot of diner we headed for the River Dart Country Park for the evenings event. To begin with their was a moving tribute to Chris Wheeler who had tragically lost his life on the Dart a few weeks earlier. It was deeply moving and you could have heard a pin drop as the 400 assembled paddlers paid their respects and enjoyed a slide show of Chris's paddling adventures through the years. Following this were great presentations from the BUKE team and top paddling filmmaker Olaf Obsommer. The evening finished with a disco. The rain continued to fall all evening and I was up at the crack of sparrows on the Sunday, leaving Mrs S to head out on the moor with the dog, to meet up with some very old friends from my Thames Weir days, Spargo, Wiggy Dooney and Colin Heald. Heads were a little sore from the previous evenings enjoyment, but the BIG water levels soon dispelled and trace of hangovers as we had an absolute blast from put in to take out. Make sure you get the dates for next year's APE in your diary now. It's an event that every whitewater paddlers should go to. (www.gene17.com for more info)

Image courtesy of Mark Rainsley

Posted by Jason Smith

Staff Training Canoe & Kayak Style!

Been a while since I got on the Blog, so will have to catch up in one big batch. Things have been so hectic leading up to, and over the Festive Season. First up was a visit to the whitewater course at Nottingham (www.nwscnotts.com) to take our new design whizz Robbie Relf for a day out on the water. Rob's luck was in as the usual cold, wet & windy course put on its best sunny weather for him although temperature wise it was still cold enough to freeze the whatsits off a brass monkey. First up was a spot of coaching from Canoe & Kayak's coaching expert Ross Montandon. Rob listened carefully and proved to be an enthusiastic and able student as he soon got to grips with the basics. An over-enthusiastic low brace saw the Robbster take an early bath in the pool at the top of the course, but despite the baltic conditions he was still smiling and up for more. Next it was time to climb aboard the Jackson Dynamic Duo that Paddlepluss CC from Leicester had kindly loaned us for the day (www.paddleplus.co.uk). Rob went in the bow and I went in the stern and Rossco rode shot gun in his creek boat, just in case! We charged down the course smashing our way through every hole and wave and it was so much fun we walked back up and did it all again, throwing in a few attempts at surfing for the hell of it. We had a few near misses, but stayed upright. As the light faded we headed for Number 8 Deli at West Bridgeford for a well-earned piece of cake and a strong brew. It was a great day and Robbo says he's up for some more paddling adventures, in between making Canoe & Kayak look the business, sop watch this space! (You can check out some vids of our duo action in the gallery here - http://www.canoekayak.co.uk/gallery/album.asp?id=627)

Posted by Jason Smith