New Gear For July

New shoes from Astral?  Yes that’s right, Astral previously only known for their awesome buoyancy aids have now entered the footwear market with the Astral Brewer watershoe.  It uses the same sticky Stealth rubber sole as the Five Tens with a lightweight self draining mesh upper AND two different colours of shoe lace!!!

Details and specs here:

http://www.i-canoe.com/en/Foot-wear.46/Astral+Buoyancy.40/ASTRAL-BREWER/aSTRAL+bREWER.2261.html

 

          

New spraydecks from HF.  We have both the Polo and Racer decks in stock:

http://www.i-canoe.com/en/Competition+Kayaking.183/Slalom.185/HF.46/HF-RACER-PLUS/HF+Racer+Plus.2260.html

http://www.i-canoe.com/en/Competition+Kayaking.183/Canoe+Polo.184/HF.46/HF-POLO-PLUS/hf+pOLO+pLUS.2259.html

The nice guys from Natasha’s Living Foods called in during the week and persuaded us to stock their Mighty Energy and Protein Munch Crunch Bars.  These are great, healthy snacks full of raw ingredients, natural energy and they are made right around the corner from our shop in Parkwest so they are fresh too!

http://www.i-canoe.com/en/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=natasha&x=-255&y=-343

Where’s The Water?? Part 1.

That’s the same question we were asking ourselves a week and a half ago.  Being short on time and money, we figured the best bet was to book a cheap ferry and head to Cardiff International White Water Centre for a couple of days.

 

THE GOLDEN RULE: JUST BECAUSE THE CENTRE IS ADVERTISED AS OPEN 9AM TO 8PM DOESN’T MEAN THE COURSE IS!

So with return ferries booked, 2 nights stay in a plush hotel in central Cardiff (breakfast included!), we arrived at the course to find out the water was flowing but it had been block booked for SRT training and was only open to paddlers from 6pm to 8pm!

Over a quick coffee/hot-chocolate we devised an alternate plan that involved driving 3.5 hrs from Cardiff to North London, around the dreaded M25 to reach the Holy Grail of Lee Valley Whitewater Course.

Uh Oh, flat water…

Uh Oh, no water!!!

Don’t worry, Walshy’ll sort it out

Time to get ready.

Well not so fast.  First we had to book an assessor to make sure we could actually paddle (no ICU/BCU qualifications recognised here!).  Luckily I had one contact in the area, all-round Mr nice guy Aaron from Squarerock who popped down to make sure we knew our sweep strokes from our ferry glides (It’s also thanks to Aaron that there are 16 shiny Jackson Kayaks available for rent at the course).  But first we had to fill out a 2 page disclaimer/indemnity form, pay £5 for registration, have our photos taken and pay £10 for the first hour/assessment.  Once we had the correct colour bib (with bib number logged) we could finally head down towards the lower lake for a short health and safety briefing!  To say this place has rules is an understatement.  I was waiting for them to bring out a hi-vis jacket and steel toe boots!!

Bernie dropping in.

Ferry assessment.

Hee Hee.

Lee Valley has some pretty big drops for an artificial WW course.  With a height drop of 5 metres and average flow rate of 20+ cumecs it can certainly pack a punch.

While there are a couple of playspots on the course, it is definitely more river-play style than park’n’play (and it is a tad shallow for lanky gits).

Window Licking Good.

There is of course a smaller, secondary course in Lee Valley (about 2/3rds the length of Cardiff) which we were dead curious to explore but due to the reams of red tape, form filling and the fact it was fully booked meant we’d have to leave it for another day.

Stay tuned for Part 2.

McIlroy’s Clubs

So is Rory McIlroy’s current loss of form due to a natural blip in an athletes career or due to his current sponsor, Nike’s equipment? 

We will probably never know for sure but it does raise a common issue that I am confronted with both as a full time equipment retailer and a part time instructor.

Personally I consider “blaming the gear” a trap that at times I need to be careful of not falling into myself.

Repeatedly I will hear complaints about: boats being too slow/heavy/big/small/safe; paddles being too heavy/delicate/brittle/long/short; and shoes being too slippy/clunky/etc…  Likewise we apportion blame to other personal issues: “I was too tired”, “I was hungover”, “I was afraid of the water”.

Rarely, if ever, have I heard: “I didn’t practice enough”, “I should have been better prepared”, “I should have trained harder”, “It was my fault(!)”.

It’s nice for our own psyche/ego to have a bad guy (the gear) to blame but it’s not going to improve our paddling and in reality we’re going to end up stuck in a rut.

Now I’m not suggesting we need to beat ourselves up over our personal ability every time we get off the water but we do have to be aware and take a realistic approach.

All equipment does not suit every paddling style or every paddling location or every paddler size.  It takes an experienced paddler who can put their own ego aside to realise this and advise others.  

Once a paddler is matched to their equipment (right size, right shape for the right type of water) as best as can be, then they should focus on their own paddling performance and take ownership of their success and their failings (and improve on them).

So the next time you miss an eddy on the river, will it be because of the hull shape of kayak you are paddling or because it’s been 3 months since you were last on the water?

Next time you can’t get that elusive 3rd flatwater end, will it be because you haven’t got the latest and greatest freestyle machine or because you’ve been too busy trying to get your flatwater loop?

And next time you miss your roll, will it be because your paddles are too short or because you didn’t put in enough pool time over the winter?

See you on the water,

Colm