Feed from Josh's Blog

Shepperton Slalom

For the past month my brother has been begging mum + dad for a chance to go to Thorpe Park. So to stop his nagging we took him up there with a mate while we competed in the Shepperton 3/4. For me this would be about getting a good score so I could be promoted into Div 2 for K1. The weir was producing a small amount of flow from one of the middle gates as well as one of the side poor overs, luckily for anyone watching this was still enough to produce some swims! We had our usual practice session before doing our 2 runs. I had a time of 108 in the first run (clean), putting me in the lead. In the second run I managed a time of 108 again. Unfortunately one person managed to put in a faster time meaning that I came second overall but I got 966 points. This was more than enough to see me up into Div 2!

See you on the water

Josh
www.pgl.co.uk

Posted by Josh Wedgwood

Nottingham YFS

The YFS we had all been waiting for had finally arrived... the YFS series final at HPP! We all got changed and gathered before Matt split us into groups. Our group headed down to the Tardis to practice some new moves. While we were practicing Matt had set up his 'super difficult ball challenge', he had hung balls from slalom poles and told us that we would get 5 for hitting a ball with our boat, 3 for a paddle and 1 for our body. The person with the highest score wins... simple. It was much more difficult than it sounded an only a few people (including me) managed to get all of them. I went and had a play in the inlet gate before trying the 'super difficult ball challenge' in a Occoe White Water Open Boat. I paddled on down the course in this, I tried a spin under the second bridge and fell in, after about 6 goes at a roll I managed to get upright, just before falling in again. I swam after this. Bev from Peak UK then said I should do OC1 at the British Championships so I am going to do that in 2 weeks time. After lunch it was time for the competition. I managed to keep the boat moving well and got scored loops, air loops, cartwheels both ways, cleans and splitwheels. After everyone had done their runs I organised another boata-X. We raced from the inlet gate to the Tardis but we were not allowed paddles! James Weight got another win, I came 3rd. It was then time for the final results! I had came 4th at this event with a score of 900 points, my best yet. Overall I have come 4th. My target was top 5 so I am pleased with this result. I also won the 'super difficult ball challenge' (wahoo)!

Thanks to Matt, Mike, Beaky and all the helpers for organisers for such a great series.

See you on the water

Josh

Posted by Josh Wedgwood

Washburn YFS

On Friday night we made the long drive up from near Bristol up to Washburn YFS. On the Saturday we arrived to find the event was a head of schedule (that’s a fist)! The event was part of the Yorkshire Championships. Paddlers could compete in freestyle, down river racing and slalom. Due to the white water racing on the upper part of the course we were paddling down below the broken weir (or in the slot if you did not mind dodging racers, not a good idea). Mike had set up a course for the novices that involved tailsquirts on eddy lines, edders and spins. Most of the freestylers hung out at the bottom wave where a range of moves could be thrown including; blunts, cartwheels and McNasties/Pistol Flips. We headed back up at lunch time for a quick practice in the slot hole where we thought the competition would be held before grabbing some freshly cooked burgers (yum).

After lunch Mike announced that we would have 2, 45 second runs in the slot hole. The novices would be on a green wave just above the second bridge. They would be scored highly for paddle spins, air guitars and shudder rudders (and the usual bribery)! The main competition was held in heats of 5. Big moves were being thrown despite the shallow nature of the hole. Joe Bradly lead the way in the U18s, stomping huge tricks such as Phonix Monkies, McNasties and Arial Loops. I was pleased with my runs as I managed to rack up lots of ends and generally kept the boat moving.

After I did my runs I asked Mike if there was going to be a Boater X event. He said there was not but if I could organise one he would make sure there were prizes. This lead to me running up and down the bank getting everyone who wanted, to up to the top. I decided on a mass seal launch start. Everyone was lined up on the far bank. 3, 2, 1, GO. Everyone launched off. Plenty of carnage followed. We were racing to the second bridge. In the end James Weight ended up winning, I came 4th.

It was then time for the results of the man competition. The results were as the following:

U12 boys
1st James Cooper
2nd Jonathon Williams
U12 girls
1st Kimberlee Aldred
U15 boys
1st James Benns
2nd Brendon Orton
3rd Matt Rodges
4th Josh Wedgwood (me)
U15 girls
1st Rachel Bovill
U18 boys
1st Joe Bradly
2nd Tom Turner
3rd David Wild

For a full set of results, check out: www.youthfreestyle.co.uk/

Sam and I then paddled down the river where our taxi driver (Sam’s dad) met us at the bottom.

See you on the water

Josh
www.pgl.com

Posted by Josh Wedgwood