Winter 2010 Video

Video from my 3 favorite spots in the UK: Hurley and Marsh on the Thames and The Anvil back home on the River Dart.

European Freestyle Championships 2010 - Write-up & Results

I finshed 5th in this years European Championships in Austria.

I've done a write up with links to the results on the squarerock site http://squarerock.co.uk/2010/blog.php?subaction=showfull&id=1277325408&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2&

Flowerpots Rodeo

This year the Flowerpots Rodeo organised by Exeter Uni and AS Watersports saw 40+ paddlers entering. Rain overnight had pushed the level of the Exe up and Flowerpots had turned into a flushy but extremely powerful hole. The event format was 6 heats of 6-8 paddlers having a 10 min jam session with the top 2 from each heat going into one semi final which was then cut to the top 4 for the final. I was judging to a very basic scoring system of marks out of 5 for each ride awarding points for the usual freestyle moves but also air guitars, harry potters, beat downs or just keenness and then tallying the points up at the end.

Crowd gathers

Craig Aryes variety of blunts, loops, felixs and cartwheels saw him fly through the first heat. He was followed by Nick from Exeter Uni who landed the biggest move of the competition by sticking a huge loop in his creak boat.

Nick goes huge

In the 2nd heat local favourite Andy Illy was beaten into first spot by Dan Whitlun who again showed a lot more variety than his competitors and landed some nice back loops.

Once the remaining heats had been completed 12 competitors took to a single semi final. Mid-way through the semi’s a free for all on the wave was declared and Dan was given some bonus points as he back surfed between two boats to hold position on the wave.

Dan and Craig share a moment on the wave

The free for all was soon ended when the rear end of Matt Tidy’s Centrafuse gave one of the students a hard smack across the jaw.

A student takes a face full of Matt’s stern

A well executed reverse harry potter saw Craig sale into the finals ahead to Dan, Matt Tidy and Andy Illy. Despite the basic scoring system clearly the best 4 paddlers had got through to the final.

Reverse Harry Potter!

Craig led the final from the start and sealed victor with a huge front loop. Dan was just beaten into 2nd place by Matt Tidy’s impressive cartwheel sequences. Desperate to gain some extra points Andy Illy pulled his deck and swam at the end of the final but it wasn’t enough and he finished in 4th.

A respectable 4th for Andy “Fatman” Illy

Winner Craig Ayres

By Sam Anderson
Photos Fluid Skills and Yak
Thanks to AS Watersports, Exeter Uni, Yak, Fluid Skills and Big Dog Kayaks

Marsh Weir Video

2010 British Team Selection

Autumn 09 saw the first 3 event series (with the best two results counting) to decide the British team for the European Championships in Lienz Austria.

Event 1 – The Prelims for the British Championships HPP Nottingham

The first event was on the Saturday of the British championships weekend with scores also counting towards the first round of the British championships. The feature to be used was ‘twin waves’ the newly formed hole after the inlet gate. The wind was blowing down the course at gale force making it really hard to stick moves. I was late turning up for my heat didn’t warm up and pulled a calf muscle during my 2nd run. I finish 10th meaning I just got into the top 10 for the semi’s of the Brit champs but giving me a poor score to count towards selection. Pringle easily won both the selection event and the Brit champs with a 1000+ point ride.

Selection 1
1. Pringle
2. Richard Chrimes
3. Alan Ward
4. Joe Bradley
5. Stu Parry

Brit Champs
1. Pringle
2. Ed Smith
3. Sam Anderson
4. Richard Chrimes
5. Chris Bucksley

Event 2 – The Tardis HPP Nottingham

Another new feature at HPP located between the Muncher and the Bottom Hole. It’s quite a weird feature that’s quite steep but also pretty flushy. Being near the bottom of the course it washes out easily which is what it was for most of the week before hand. Luckily the level dropped enough before the event to hold the competition in it. Pringle won again but was closed followed by Jon Best who like me needed a good result after a poor first round. Jon scored a trophy 2 for a pretty cool backward space godzilla. Joe Bradley who lined up in the eddy as a senior for the first time did really well coming in 3rd. I sucked spending most of my rides paddling back up the eddy but was kindof satisfied with 6th.

Selection 2
1. Pringle
2. Jon Best
3. Joe Bradley
4. Alan Ward
5. Stu Parry

Event 3 – Hurley

I’d calculated the only way for me to get on the team would be to win the last event but at least it was on home turf. It looked like the event wasn’t going to happen after Hurley dropped to 1 gate in the week but the locky put his neck on the line and promised he’d put it up to 2 gates for the weekend. Because Hurley wouldn’t usually have been on 2 gates given the water level the feature was weird and the wave gate was quite holey. It was therefore decided that both gates could be used making run planning very tricky. Despite deliberately waiting to last to register so that I could see what other people did I was put in the first heat. My run plan of combining the wave and the hole worked well and although gay my felix’s both ways in the hole got me plenty of points to begin my ride with and I managed to win it.

Selection 3
1. Sam Anderson
2. Chris Bucksley
3. Alan Ward
4. Richard Chrimes
5. Jon Best

Final Standings for the 2010 British Mens Team
1. Pringle
2. Sam Anderson
3. Alan Ward
4. Richard Chrimes
5. Jon Best