Sam Anderson Freestyle

GB Freestyle Team for 2012

2011-11-18T09:33:00.000-08:00

This years Hurley rodeo had to be postponed until February due to low water levels so the GB team for next years European Championships has now been finalised despite not having a date for the Euro’s in Vienna. This years winners of the league series were crowned British Champions and were given automatic entry on the team. Everyone else competed for one less place per category on the team at HPP in Nottingham. Below is what I make the team to be:

Mens

Myself (BC)
James Bebbington
James Weight
Alan Ward
Gav Barker

Womens

Claire O’Hara (BC)
Emily Wall
Lowri Davies

Jr Men

James Benns (BC?)
Bren Orton
Sam Stephenson
Brandon Hepburn

Jr Women

Kim Aldred (BC)
Jennifer McGaley

C1

Paul King (BC)
Dave Bainbridge
Adam Ramadan

OC1

Paul King (BC)
Alan Ward

Dublin Sluice Rodeo

2011-10-29T03:22:00.000-07:00

This year the sluice rodeo in Dublin was one of six competitions used to determine the British champion. Unfortunately, the sluice couldn’t run due to an issue with a repair to a bridge upstream so it was moved 40k north of Dublin to Stackallen – not great when you don’t have a car. Luckily a local kindly sorted us out with a lift. The feature was a tiny wave that you probably wouldn’t bother stopping to play on if at somewhere like Nottingham. But the event was still good fun and more laid back than most competitions. It was a jam session format with best 5 moves counting.

The UK did pretty well. Kim Aldred won the junior girls with some nice loops. Clairo won the womens landing a mcnasty in a really really flushy feature. Paul King came a close second in c1 and I won the Mens.

The league is your best 4 results from the 6 comps. I’ve won the Nene, Tryweryn, Cardiff and now Dublin so will be British Champion for the second time regardless of the Hurley result.

Thanks to Adrian Durrant for organizing the event.

Lee Valley Olympic Course

2011-09-22T06:16:00.000-07:00

Last week I got to paddle the new Lee Valley whitewater course for the first time with the rest of the squarerock team as well as freestyle legend Eric Jackson.

I’d heard how clean the water was before going but didn’t release how nice paddling clean water that you could see the bottom in would be.

The Olympic course was really tiring with constant whitewater and fast eddy’s. There are a few good drops with fairly chunky holes at the bottom of them. There was lots of carnage at one particular drop as everyone tried to play on a wave directly behind the drops big hole that was also being played on. Under its current setup there weren’t many good playspots but it was definitely a lot of fun.

Cardiff British League Event

2011-07-20T09:33:00.001-07:00

Last weekend saw the third of six British League Freestyle Kayaking events to determine this years British Champion. This stage was held at the newish whitewater course in Cardiff and it was the first uk freestyle competition to be held there.

Through the day the course was open to all on 8 cumics. At this level a nice hole is produced before the main bend in the course. The hole is quite friendly so is good for practicing moves on. The water is really clear so the bottom is easily visible and although the hole is shallow you don’t hit the bottom to much.

At 6pm the course was closed to the public and turned up to 12 cumics for the competition. At this level a much deeper more uniform hole is formed making for an excellent competition venue. One of the best things about Cardiff was that spectators could watch from the cafe when the really heavy rain hit.

Up first were OC1 with Alan Ward making his debut in this class making for a lively event. Paul King managed to stay focused through Alan’s swims to cartwheel his way to victory.

In the junior girls Rachel Bovill won with some snappy loops.

Matt Rogers won the junior boys with some big space godzillas and mcnasty’s. Local James Cooper got some impressive air in his small Rockstar and Sam Stephenson, who seems to be improving fast, came second.
In the mens Matty Nicholas kept flushing on his first two rides but had an awesome third ride to put him second. Alan had some really big moves in his rides and finished third. I chose the right moves to get three consistent scores in my rides and this was enough for me to take the win.Photos by Andy Aldred & Dale Mears

Tryweryn - British League pt 2

2011-06-01T05:32:00.000-07:00

This weekend saw the second British League Event at the Tryweryn in the top hole above the chipper. Its quite hard to stick moves but I really like the hole. The rapids below are pretty rocky and there’s also a big rock in the middle of the hole that you need to watch out for but unlike everyone else I decided to use my carbon boat anyway. It meant I couldn’t plug hard so my loops and space godzilla’s weren’t as good but it was easier to retain mcnasty’s and phonix’s.

In the end my carbon boat only helped me score 50 points more than last year but my rides felt much easier. Results below:

Photos: Andy Aldred / Jack Gunter

End of 2010

2011-01-03T04:46:00.000-08:00

2010’s been a great year for me kayaking with two main highlights, becoming British Champion for the first time and coming in the top 5 at the Europeans which was probably the most enjoyable competition I’ve had. The only down side of 2010 being the cold weather and Hurley hardly running. The main goal for 2011 is to do well at the Worlds in Plattling, Germany.

Winter 2010 Video

2010-08-03T04:44:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-01T13:10:00.000-07:00

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

2010-02-09T08:51:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-05T05:37:00.001-08:00

2010 British Team Selection

2010-01-01T05:56:00.000-08:00

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

Importance of warming up

2009-10-08T07:40:00.000-07:00

At competitions I don’t really like hanging around in my kayaking kit for too long before competing so usually leave it quite late before getting ready. Last weekend at the British Championships I strolled out of the changing rooms to see that my heat had already started. I started my runs without any warming up and managed to pull my carve muscle whilst finishing off a phonix monkey. At the time it felt like the worst cramp ever and I had to abort my run. Luckily I managed to get another run in and just made it through to the next round. It goes to show how much you actually use your legs in freestyle and I’ll make more of an effort to do some leg stretches next time. The next day the leg was fine for paddling and I finished the brit champs in 3rd behind pringle and ed smith.

A very windy hpp

World Championships - Thun, Switzerland

2009-09-16T05:27:00.000-07:00

The worlds at Thun was a great experience but also pretty frustrating at times.

The area was well nice we were camping on the edge of lake thun and had views of the snow covered mountains in the distance despite it being really hot. The city was also nice with really pretty buildings etc. The wave and trying to get on it was the annoying part. The wave is set by adjusting the gates upstream to a certain setting whilst maintaining a steady level of the lake. First off it was tuned late which meant no wave until wednesday morning after being promised it Monday afternoon. The organisers claimed to know how to set the wave but through the training week it was really inconsistent sometimes completely greening out resulting in some countries having to abandon there training sessions. Each paddler was given 3 mins a day training on the wave which makes it hard to learn a new feature. So the only other option was to paddle outside of the team training slots which ran from 8am to 8pm. I got up at 4am to paddle one night and halfway through my sleep at 1am another night but even in the middle of the night when the city was completely dead the wave was packed and eddy queues lasted around 15mins so it was a nightmare.
In the end I finished 39th out of 110, initially I was a bit disappointed with this as I could have done better but in the world it’s a decent ranking.

Chertsey Summer

2009-07-23T05:21:00.000-07:00

This summer is starting to feel really long. Hurley hasn’t bounced back to 2 gates once since it dropped to 1 early in April. The only paddling available round here has been the pourovers Boulters and Chertsey. Although, Chertsey has been on good form this year and at one point earlier in the summer I was willing to claim that I preferred paddling Chertsey in the warm to Hurley in the cold but two months later and I’m not so sure. It has been good practice for combo moves though and I’ve been playing about with a move I’ve not seen before that’s kind of a split monkey.

GB Team Selections

2009-03-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend saw the GB Team selections take place at Hurley weir. Hurley was on a sweet green 3 gates which meant big wave moves like pan-ams and helix’s were going. I managed to make the top 5 which means I’m part of the British Team heading to Thun in Switzerland in the summer to complete in the world champs against the likes of EJ!

Full team: http://www.ukfreestyle.com/team.php

Me with a clean blunt (Photo: Emily Wall)

Somewhere Different - River Fowey

2009-01-30T04:16:00.000-08:00

On Saturday with the Dart pretty low me and Will headed down to the River Fowey near Liskeard to try out a playspot that came highly recommended from Cornwall expert Denzil Pearce. As soon as we saw the river we were thinking it was going to be crap, as the river looked pretty small from the road. Whilst getting changed by neck seal ripped on my Cagdeck and Will realised he’d forgotten his lunch then the walk through the woods was a nightmare in partly bare feet - this trip was going to be the worst day ever. Once we got on the river though it was apparent there was quite a strong deep current and around the corner a large stream entered it. We got to the playspot and it looked quite nice but after a few flushy cartwheels I was undecided as to whether it was worth it. I started to get into it though and once I realised it was great for loops I was loving it. Apparently, its a lot sticker when its lower and when its higher which would make it excellent for learning new moves.

Early morning sessions at Hurley

2008-11-06T09:45:00.000-08:00

Now I’m living up near Hurley I often get up early and have Hurley to myself before work. Getting changed is a bit of an effort and it usually takes me at least 10mins to get warmed up but once I’m into it it easily beats sitting in queues of an evening or at weekends. Last week I was up extra early so I took my video camera down. Here’s the footage:

British Championships 2008: Bronze (and a swim)

2008-10-06T03:55:00.000-07:00

I’m happy to have taken 3rd place at this weekend’s British Champs. It didn’t start off that well though after I SWAM!!! in the prelims. Luckily it was on my last ride, my deck popped after landing a McNasty (most likely due to the power of it!), I noticed it had gone but went for a loop anyway. It wasn’t the greatest idea, I swam from the Muncher down to where the course re-enters the Trent (thanks to Chris Chapman for rescuing me). I qualified for the Semi’s (top 10) in 4th place. In the Semi’s my first ride was awful; I flushed after less than 10 seconds. The pressure was on my second ride but luckily I put in my best ride of the weekend to qualify for the final 5.

Results:
1st Ed Smith
2nd Alan Ward
3rd Me
4th Ben Brayfield
5th Jon Best

Below is a video of me doing a bit of practise before the competition.

The Mighty Nene Freestyle

2008-09-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the Nene Freestyle. The feature for the freestyle was a very sticky pour-over that made it almost impossible to finish of moves like phonic’s and even loops. Saturday was the qualifying for the top 15, I struggled compared to the locals and qualified in eighth position. In the semi’s I paddled a bit better and qualified for the final in first place. The knock final was a great experience and I made it to the final two but was just beaten to first place by last year’s winner James Reeves. Full Results. I did a 2nd place double by coming 2nd in the Boater-Cross too (thanks to the King family for letting me borrow their creak boat).

Photos from Hurley

2008-09-12T05:25:00.000-07:00

A few recent photos from Hurley (thanks to Dave Worthley).

European Freestyle Kayaking Championships - Ourense, Spain

2008-08-04T06:55:00.000-07:00

At the Europeans each country can provide a maximum of 5 paddles to represent it. This lead to 50 of the top paddlers in Europe lining up for the Mens K1. Out of this lot I finished 18th and was the 2nd highest placest Brit. I also beat all the Irish which was a personal target so overall I was very pleased.

Me concentrating

Spainish kindly decide to actually build the feature

Team Photo

Brits take over the Island by the feature

Lining up for a Back Roundhouse

My Stunt-Double ClaireO

Countdown to the Euro's

2008-07-07T08:48:00.000-07:00

Less than 2 weeks to go until I'm off to Spain to represent Great Britain at the European Freestyle Kayaking Championships. I'm in the Mens K1 alongside Pringle, Jon Best, Richard Chrimes and Alan Ward. It's in Ourense in the Galicia region of Spain and no one really knows much about the feature. Not sure where I can realistically expect to come, I only found out I was going last week so I haven't had chance to train. Hopefully I can handle paddling in the heat, rumours are its over 100 degs there at the moment.

Alpkit Tryweryn Leg

2008-06-18T02:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I headed up to the Tryweryn for the Alpkit challenge. The freestyle competition was held on Saturday on the NRA bridge wave, which is a really good playspot since it was improved a few years ago. In the prelims my first 2 rides were pretty poor but I managed to put in a decent final ride to qualify for the semi's in 5th place. My 2 rides in the semi's weren't very good either as I kept washing out on a frustratingly flushy wave.

I finished 7th in the semi's, not good enough to make the final cut of 5 which was won by Ed.

Saturday also saw the Pyranha Rev Big Move Challenge, the winner being the person who could throw the one-off biggest move in a Rev. I paddled the medium long Rev which felt a bit weird compared to my Jackson but was quite comfortable. To my surprise the Rev McNasty'd on the wave really nicely and I actually managed to stick a couple which was good enough for me to win the competition.

After the BBQ on Saturday night the sumo competition got underway. Not sure if there was an overall winner but it was a good laugh though.

Sunday was a boto cross race down bala mill falls and the rapids leading into it. I only managed to get my hands on a small ammo, which I had to take the footplate out of to get into. My first race was my first time paddling the falls. I came 1st in this race qualifying me for the cup competition. The next race was much harder work and I struggled to keep up in my shorter boat. I came 3rd / 5 meaning I didn't get through to the semi's. At least I didn't end up face sliding the falls like Arron from Square Rock below.

Chertsey Weir

2008-05-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

Chertsey can be a really sticky pourover and dishes out plenty of beatings. I love it though and it works all summer long!

The point of Spot X

2008-05-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

After having Spot X slagged off to me heres my best effort to over-glorify it showing why I bother with it...

(To be fair I hate it 90% of the time)

The Lunar Orbit to Front Loop Combo move.

A tiny bit of footage from a sunny pots last week

2008-03-26T04:07:00.000-07:00

It was a lush day, the sun was out and the level was perfect. I didn't take much film but heres some of the best bits.

Pots when its high

2008-03-17T14:52:00.000-07:00

I had a good session at flowerpots today. The Exe was still quite high (10.1), flowerpots was just lower enough to be a hole with shoulders either side. The hole was fairly stable but the current coming down the weir was so quick that it was hard to stick moves. The eddy line gave me a bit of grief but nothing too bad.

The Upper Dart

2008-03-14T02:16:00.000-07:00

Tuesday afternoon I had a hour on top wave in a playboat and then met up with big Rupert and crew to do the Upper. There was alot of rain in the morning and the river had come up to a level covering the whole ledge and was just off running through the third arch. I borrowed a creek boat off Rupert, which I was grateful for however.... the seat was totally knackered, there were many spilts in the bottom of the boat, one of which you could see the seat through and the drain plug was a small piece of foam shuffed in the hole. It was fine, I just had to empty the boat every 15mins. Mad mile and Euthanasia were really good fun, although not as technical as when its lower.

Me at the top of Euthanasia (photo Tommy Hatwell)

Rupert at Euthanasia (photo Tommy Hatwell)

A five hour blunt fest at Hurley

2008-02-14T07:17:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday me and Will headed up to Hurley for the day. The level was good, a really nice and retentive 3 gates. The sun was out all day and there was no wind making it fairly busy for a week day. We made the most of it paddling from 12 till 3 and then again from 4 till 6.

A crap day at pots - thanks environment agency

2008-02-08T06:27:00.000-08:00

On wednesday the Exe was at a level which would usually make flowerpots sweet, however the environment agency had kindly drained the river downstream of pots by opening the flood gate at trews weir. This made the pool level at pots lower which increased the height of the drop making it more vertical and turning the washout into part of the hole.

I decided to give it a go anyway, it was hard work getting out because as well as not having the usual washout the back flow of the stopper was carrying river-right, towards the pit. My tactics were do one move and then try and get out.

Top Wave River Dart 15 Jan 08

2008-01-15T13:43:00.000-08:00

60mm of rain since midnight and Tuesday morning the Dart went massive. Will pulled a sicky and me and him were joined by local paddler Nick East on the Wave. Half way through our wave session we decided to run the end of the Upper which also had some nice big waves on it. Top wave never videos very well but heres some footage of the three of us surfing it. The level dropped quickly while we were there so the wave sometimes looks alot smaller.

The Anvil

2008-01-14T14:31:00.000-08:00

It had been ages since I last went to Anvil at a decent level but I gave it a go today and found it well good. I thought the weir had started to break up a bit and it wasn't as good these days but I was totally wrong.

New Webcam levels (so I remember)

2008-01-08T06:39:00.000-08:00

THESE LEVELS HAVE CHANGED DUE TO THE EA REPAIRING THE WEIR DOWNSTREAM (I THINK LEVELS ARE NOW A BIT HIGHER THAN THEY SAY ON THE GAUGE)
(there's 5 mini bars to the main bars so 7.5 is 8 by my way)

10.1 (culm ave/low flow) - still a hole just but starting to become a wave with shoulders for blunts either side, fast and fun but hard to stick moves

9.3/9.4 (when the culm was doing nothing) - just starting to lap the path by the pub - big and fast but still a hole

8.3 - perfect flowerpots level - nice fairly chunky well formed hole

7.3/7.4 - flowerpots still a well formed hole with a small wave to the surfers right

7.0 - flowerpots a line stopper without the usual washout (to look at anyway)
7.0 - spot x as good as it gets - goes left and right (stay forward on the back end to help keep the next front end back from the pour over), loops never touch the bottom

6.2 - spot x ok - becomes a bit more annoying as the eddy is flushier and shallower and you tend to hit the bottom when trying to come up vertical off loops

5.4 - spot x pretty shit - too shallow for anything expect carefully placed right cartwheels

http://eathorvertonwebcam.org.uk/index2.html

A session at Becky Weir my secret local playspot at a very low level

2008-01-07T08:11:00.000-08:00

Today the Dart was really low (a few inchs below the slab/under 4ft) and flowerpots was just too low so I went for a quick session at my local playspot I discovered last year. The level of the Teign was low but there was JUST enough water for the spot to be working. With more water all hole moves go at Becky Weir but at the level it was today any moves involving looping would hit the bottom = right handed cartwheels.

This level was 0.94 on the gauge at Chudleigh (1.43 is its highest level before it becomes too flushy).

My new All Stars first time out at pots on Saturday

2007-12-31T03:32:00.000-08:00

Both me (Green) and Will (Orange) have recently got new All Stars and this weekend was there first time at Flowerpots. We had it too ourselfs on Saturday morning and on Sunday we were joined by Dan, Bailey and Darren. Saturdays level was perfect (the "messed up" webcam read 8.3). Heres some stills and a video from Saturday.

Nottingham

2007-12-20T02:19:00.000-08:00

This is a recent video of me practising for the GB Team selection at Nottingham. Most of the action is on the inlet gate but there is a bit from the looping hole at the end. I try to show the moves both ways but to be honest most of the left handed moves wouldn't score.

River Dart action 06/07

2007-12-20T02:04:00.000-08:00

I've found an old vid of the River Dart. It shows 3 play spots: top wave, triple 3 and the anvil.

Spot X

2007-12-20T01:39:00.000-08:00

Spot X was named this a few years as then only really the true locals knew about it. I go there a fair bit as it usually works when the Exe is at its winter base level. Sometimes it can be really good for learning new moves, over times the lack of eddy service, the shallow rapids downstream and muddy fields leading to it can make it super gay. Heres some of last years action from it.

Old video of pots (if this works)

2007-12-19T14:09:00.000-08:00

A few old photos of the mighty Flowerpots

2007-12-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

This level is just about perfect.

Test Blog

2007-12-19T08:11:00.000-08:00

Just starting my blog, lets have a play.

Hayle Sluice

2007-12-18T09:42:00.000-08:00

About: The only decent tidal only playspot in the South West. As the tide comes in it runs over the sluice and creates quite a powerful but fairly shallow stopper. Works all year round but is best at spring tides. It starts to work approx 3 to 4 hours after low water and works for about 45mins to 1 hour.

Location:

View Larger Map

Parking: I parked for free by the sluice but I'm not sure if this is allowed. If not theres plenty nearby. The above map shows the water completely wrong but head for the A and you should find it.

The Anvil - River Dart

2007-12-18T07:40:00.000-08:00

About: Many people think of Anvil as a beat down hole that is hard to get out of. For experienced freestyle paddlers its a really nice sticky hole where all hole moves go. Its also one of the few left handed holes in the South West. In flood a nice one hit wonder wave forms river left.

Water Levels: Quite low to Flood

Location:

View Larger Map

Parking: Holme Bridge (5 to 10 min walk back up after)

A video of the Anvil at a low to medium level

Triple 3 - River Dart

2007-12-18T07:21:00.000-08:00

About: On the third drop a nice surfable broken wave is formed suitable for novices to freestyle but also fast enough for the more experienced to enjoy.

Water Levels: Med/high

Location:

View Larger Map

Parking: Either park at Newbridge and paddle the whole of the loop section or park in the layby by spin dryer (just upstream of holme bridge). Its about a 10min walk up river to Triple 3 from there. Don't walk through holme chase, pick up a small riverside path to cut it off by climbing over the fence high above spin dryer. The lane shown next to the river on the map is private (and a dirt track).

Top Wave - River Dart

2007-12-18T07:11:00.000-08:00

About: Always first choice when its going. As the river comes up top wave forms with a broken wave to the right and a green wave to the left. When the river gets up really high a world class wave is formed.

Water Levels: Medium/High to Flood. It starts to form as most of the slab at Newbridge has been lapped.

Location:

View Larger Map

Parking: Newbridge car park.

A Video of Top Wave when the river was high

Flowerpots

2007-12-18T06:56:00.000-08:00

About: One of the best holes around on its day. Flowerpots can be quite powerful and fast when high but will usually always wash out over turned canoeists. Its quite right handed but it is possible to go left.

Water Levels: Medium to fairly high. Check out http://www.aswatersports.co.uk/ for current levels. The webcam needs to show between 0.73 and 1.0. More info on the gauge levels.

Location:

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Parking: If you're there when the pub is quiet park in the Mill on the Exe pub. Otherwise look for 2 hour spaces along the road or there is a car park on the other side of the river just downstream of flowerpots.

A Video of Flowerpots

Spot X

2007-12-15T06:38:00.000-08:00

About: Spot X is a good little stopper for learning new moves, especially when there is little water in other rivers. However, it only has a tiny eddy which can be used to re-enter the playspot and if you miss it you're into a very shallow rapid.

Water Levels: Low to Medium. Exe webcam should ideally show between 6 and 7 on the gauge. More info on gauge levels.

Location:

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Parking: I park in Tiverton College

Video: