Feed from Josh's Blog

Youth Freestyle Series Llangollen 2009

When we arrived at the first event of the youth freestyle series 2009 we found the car park already 3/4 full so we headed up to the cafe for a bacon butty before the queues got any bigger. The YFS is a number of one-day events aimed at under 18 paddlers who want to take part in a freestyle competition. The events are always a laugh and a great chance to hang out with mates and enter a fun freestyle competition. In the morning there is coaching for those who want it. I chose to hang out at the bottom wave. The levels were low (about 1.5 on the gauge... much lower than last year's 11!) so it was quite hard to throw ends as everybody kept hitting the bottom.
After an hour for lunch it was competition time. I decided to get my runs out of the way with quickly. I did the middle stopper run first... I managed to get most of the moves in I wanted and even had time for an attempt at a ninja wheel (spinning your paddle while cartwheeling)...I hit myself in the face with my paddle and floped on my head. More practice on that move needed! The second and final run was in a little drop in the river right channel next to the island. My run went excellently I got all my moves that were possible... cartwheel, splitwheel, clean cartwheel, tail squirt and even a Luna Orbit!
After the competition it was time for the Boater X. As normal in the YFS there was a twist. In some heats people had to load their boats with rocks, no paddles allowed and no deaks allowed. In my heat We had to throw each other's boats in the water and race out to get them. I threw Sam's boat upside-down and Brandon threw mine on top of it upside down so I was the first off. Nobody bothered putting spray deaks on...this was my down fall. I swamped on the first drop and the others used me as a landing ramp so all stayed dry. I decided to swim for the bank and run down the bank. I beet everybody to the finish but the judge said I had to have my boat so I ran back up to get it. I finished so far behind I only beet the person in the next heat by about a metre!
After a quick change it was results time. I had finished 2nd in the U15s! Local boy Brendon just beat me. I was really pleased as I had beaten 2 GB team members and done much better than I had hoped for!
It was a great event, thanks to Matt, Flea and all the other organisers. The Nene is the next event on the 14th of June. Hopefully I will be able to keep up the great results.

See you on the water

Josh
www.pgl.co.uk

Posted by Josh Wedgwood

First club night of the year

On Wednesday North Avon Canoe Club had the first Saltford session of the year. This year it is the clubs 25th anniversary! Sam and I paddled down to the weir and played around in the jet of water. We practiced hard on my cartwheels concentrating on head rotation. Not surprisingly nobody wanted a go on the rope swing! In the next couple of weeks we have got a 'general paddle', 'try a different boat' and KJO are coming to run some mini sessions.

See you on the water

Josh
www.pgl.co.uk

Posted by Josh Wedgwood

2 days at HPP

During the Easter holidays I was up at HPP for 2 days. George, Jamie, James, Dave, Will, Sam and Todd were also there. We arrived about 11 on Tuesday and quickly got on (first time in my shorty cag of the year). We had great fun working our way down the course playing in all the features. James taught me how to do mystery moves in the looping pool... when you get it right it is a really cool feeling. It was quite entertaining dodging all the slalom paddlers. We had a late start on Wednesday and the day went in much the same way. I was practicing McNastys. A great couple of days!

See you on the water

Josh
www.pgl.co.uk

Posted by Josh Wedgwood

Training at Hurley on 1

When we arrived we expected to head over to Boulters but no. Jacko decided to make the most of the 1 gate. We walked down to the weir and we had a discussion about using different features and making the most of what we had. After a quick warm up we all jumped in our boats and headed over to the weir. A canoe club was there so I don’t think 1 gate has ever been so busy but they left after a while so we had the wave to ourselves. Because the feature was limited we had to be imaginative... Felix entry moves, rock spins and donkey flushes were all on the agenda. After a play Jacko got us onto the bank and he showed us another metal rehearsal technique. We had another play before filling up our boats and going for mystery moves...Todd got the best on and was under for about 5 seconds! In the theory session we did some competition reviewing techniques.

Thanks for a great session Jacko!

See you on the water.

Josh

Posted by Josh Wedgwood