The Lettmann Whetman terror tour.
The lack of bloging of late has been due to my trip out to Kanu messa, This is a large trade show were we the dealers get to meet and great all the manufactures see there new kit for 08 and talk business + it’s maybe the best 3 day party on earth
(Pete and Freya @ the Palm cocktail party)with more meat and beer than you would ever believe, The main event however was the after show paddling 2 full days of paddling some of Austria’s finest rivers with Germanys finest and fastest river runners, Jochen Lettmann (92 Olympic bronze medallist) “a really top man” Two of his Olympic team mates “Both very fast” Arnd Schaeftlein, expedition Legend! Plus me & Craig form aqua bound and last but no means least Devon’s finest the Whetmanater. We left Nuremberg and drove for 4 hours at break neck speed to Oetz. Here we rented a ski lodge and drank more beer. We woke bright and earl the next day to paddle the Venter Ache a top little river tight and twisty and on are second run full of water. We then carried on to the upper Oetz again a great river, brilliant from put in to take out. We returned to Oetz (The Town) for yet more meat and beer, before I left the UK every one kept telling me how much meat the Germans eat, but you simply will not believe how much they really consume until you get to these places! Biblical amounts of food and it are all amazing. The next day we headed for the Lofa. This is a true gem of a river, big volume pushy fun. But before we got there we set of down the Lofa creek. I think this river rarely run’s both Jochen & Arnd seamed amazed it had water and super keen to get on. We followed this down to the confluence with the main Lofa River, It seamed high…. I’ve never run the Lofa before but it great fun we set of down the Slalom course surfing waves and busting some big ends in the creek boats top stuff then the river shoots of right down the devils approach “some thing like that” this marks the start of the sporty section. The boils get bigger diagonals are pushier and there is basically more consequence if you muck it up! But anyway we get to this one bit it quite big me and Steve decide to do safety and watch the other boys, Arnd drops down first in the new big Magnum and takes a right old beating and swims!!!! Steve dose rescue! Jochen seeing this hops out to check it all ok and then he hops back in and instead of going over and worked decided to go under and gets the mother of all meltdowns, scary to watch fun to do apparently, me Craig & Steve walked. Had more fun in two day’s than I’ve had in a long time. Big thanks to Steve, Craig and Jochen top guy’s on and off the river THANK YOU BOTH! So much food……….
More pictures to follow as soon as Craig sends them across. We have some paddling! I think.
Post Work Pleasure!
Summer has finally sprung, in between endless nights of Squirt boating at Chertsey, Slalom paddling down at Shepperton CC, and sprit paddling at Elmbridge there's nothing we like more than to get out and play on the river, plus maybe some Urban flat land fun!
(Swan boy going in)
(Pete trying to land back flips)
(Bad sK8 boy Jon going for the grabs!)
(Jon going fakey..... I think......)
Summer stick chasing.
We’re pleased to have one of Robsons first new plastic slalom boats in stock & available to demo on our lake, recent slalom convert Mike took the boat for a test run around our very own lake & was mightily impressed by the new 3.7m boats easy turning & pivoting when compared to his old school 4m pot hunter.
("This is the perfect boat to learn slalom in"(RF))
(The Old 4 m Pot Hunter next to the new boat, more forgiving, manoeuvrable and fun!) RRP £399.00
Sunday lunch.
After another hard week at work this Sunday proved to be something of a surprise for two reasons! 1. The weather was quite nice & 2. Both Amanda and I were free! So we loaded ourselves into a Ultimate 14.5 (a really good boat! fast, stable, easy to paddle, great for picnicking, the seats even come out!)and set off up the river for a day of food and fun.
Shepperton is a great place to paddle locally, plenty of easy parking easy access to the river and loads of back channels and weirs to explorer!
There are always plenty of great places to stop for a bite to eat and have a quiet few minuets rest. Another great point is that there are alway loads of like minded people out enjoying the river, one guy stopped us as we were drifting along and asked for a few pointers on going straight. I know this is going to open a can of worms about what is right or wrong but here are a few tips for good forward motion.
To start with, you should make sure that you have good upright body position
in your boat. It's important that you sit up in your boat. Don’t slouch back in your seat! Your never be able to make an efficient forward stroke from back there. So with a good upright body position make sure that your feet are right up against the footrest. Then rotate your shoulder back, this will pull your arms on the paddle. You will need to push with your foot on the same side as you rotate, right paddle stroke, right push with your foot!
Next, have a look were the paddle goes into the water. The blade should enter near where your feet are in the boat. This does not need to be exact, but stick to it for a ruff guide.
While you are rotating/pulling through the stroke with your lower arm try to maintain a steady push through the whole length of the stroke with your top hand/ shoulder. This will make you rotate your whole upper body. You should take the paddle out of the water as the blade lines up with your hip, again this does not need to be an exact science but use as a ruff guide.
Try not to grip the paddle too tightly; relaxing your grip on the paddle, this just makes it easer to maintain your paddling pace.
Remember to make sure that you are paddling close to the kayak; this is a forward stroke not a sweep stroke! And that your stroke is going deep (your blades are that size for a reason, use it all!).
Follow these simple steps and your forward stroke will be as efficient as it can be. Now stop reading. Go and do it!
(Pete eating!)One last thing. Can squirrels swim? Answers on a post card please.
