The partial title of this post “Where’s the rest of your boat?” reflects a comment that many a paddler in a freestyle boat will be familiar with. A reference to the current short nature of modern playboats. This along with “Where are your legs?” are amongst many a good natured jest. But it does speak…
Recently I had a chance to make a short visit to the Tees Barrage whitewater course in Stockton on Tees. Hopefully this will be of interest and use to anyone visiting the north of England and find themselves in a dry spell. To give an idea of distances, from Threlkeld in the Lakes it is…
Improving skills in kayaking is a subject that comes up often. I know some may be thinking as they read this article “Who does this fool with no pieces of paper to his name think that he is?” True, I am not a kayak coach, but I do teach martial arts, so I can still…
Gear / Playboating / Reviews
I have been wanting to try out a Pyranha Loki ever since it was released back in 2012. The Loki is not very popular in the UK, and would appear to be a very under appreciated kayak. The reasons for this are numerous. From shops who do not understand it, and want to push the bigger,…
Readers of this blog know that I am not regular writer of “I went paddling at XYZ” type entries. Instead I prefer to focus on what I hope to be more interesting topics and musings from the world of paddling. However I feel that I should give some props to the Cardiff International White Water…
I will preface this article by saying that this is not the Kayaking Gods guide to the Bovec Soča area in Slovenia. But I hope that it will give some useful information to those who have been thinking of visiting, or are visiting later this year. I feel that while Slovenia can be popular with…
Here’s an interesting video… https://vimeo.com/98753591 This was me two years ago when I first started to practice a bow stall in a playboat. Two years on and my bow stall is exactly the same (although the other day I was given some good tips to help stop me tipping over). Okay, I am getting better,…
Kayaking is a visually amazing sport. The sights of the rapids, the sounds, and the way in which the extreme ends of the sport often involve falling off gigantic waterfalls. It isn’t surprising that companies will usually only sponsor content that shows such extremes. After all, they want the “wow” factor. The trouble is that…
Background As readers of this blog may or may not be aware, I have fairly recently started trying to do more in the way of play boating. Rivers have been very fickle as to when they fill up, and I like to boat throughout summer. I am still at the very beginning, so you won’t be…
Don’t allow the fun to leak out of your kayaking!
Summer is nearly upon us, and not before time. Not long to go now. And with summer comes the weekends, for myself and my girlrfriend at least, of warm days messing around at the Cardiff International White Water Centre, playing around on weirs, and now the fun of taking the boats to the beach. People…
Kayakers more than many people will be aware of how ridiculously restricted access to the countryside in the UK, other than Scotland, is. Angling interests alone kick up such a stink about other recreational users using the rivers that they often become physically threatening over it at times. Walkers and other outdoors enthusiasts are forced…
