<strong>WWTCC News</strong>: January 2008

Friday, January 25, 2008

Pete Out!

Yes it's that time of year agin and I'm off for a quick board meeting & a beer with some old friends. Are be back in a week! Val Thorens here I come.

;)

Eat Stinger, Play harder.....

Honey Stinger™ is a natural energy gel made from a combination of Pure Honey, Pure Water, Salt, Potassium Citrate and Vitamin B Complex (Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, B1, B2, B6, B12).

Honey Stinger™ contains an ideal balance of carbohydrates for optimal performance before, during and after training
A near 50/50 Fructose - Glucose ratio gives ideal levels of glycogen to muscles and liver.
Ensuring the liver is properly fuelled is an insurance policy for the muscles. The liver is the only source of Glucose for the brain. If the brain runs low, you may find it difficult to continue training. The only way for the liver to produce more supplies is to break down muscle tissue.
Taking Honey Stingers on board during training sends Fructose to the liver and Glucose to the muscles ensuring optimal performance and strength.
Honey Stinger™ uses honey as the main source of carbohydrates, as opposed to man made carbohydrates commonly found in other energy gels. Studies show that honey is low on the glycemic index and therefore provides a long, steady source of energy instead of a spike and crash. Honey is also a natural source of antioxidants.

And we now have good stock! So befor you jet off for a paddle at Shepperton or Sunbury this weekend pop in and buy some Honey Stinger! Your need it. water levels are looking cracking for a top weekends boating at both Shep and Sunbury.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Dawn patrol….

It’s fair to say that we have has a lot of rain here now! But last night undeterred by the cold or the rain we once again set off down to Shepperton to see what was going on. Now I’ve lived up here for a good couple of years and apart from maybe 2003 this is the highest the Thames has been for a while, thankfully there is always some think to do at Shep’s. Personally I took the mighty Everest for a paddle last night and enjoyed a good hour of front surfing and spins! I even pulled few cool Enders ! No rail grab though… Mike and slalom boys did circuits from the weir round to the lock and back, sound easy, it wasn’t.

This morning I thought a gentle paddle down to Sunbury would be nice, honestly I’ve never been so nervous! maybe even scared. There really is a whole lot a flow on the river at the moment. The creek run, just down from the shop was probably a good solid class 3! No joke!!!!!! I intended to take a photo of the weir (Sunbury) to show what it was like,

but this is as close as I felt comfortable taking the camera out of the boat! There is a small wave there but you need a sea boat to catch it. Mind the tree’s coming down the river, Big….

Monday, January 14, 2008

Just for you Mr Robertson

Well yes it has been raining, and yes it is cold, but thankfully I am now loosing some of the weight that I put on over Christmas! And yes Shepperton and Sunbury are both working just fine! All the rain we have had over the past few days/weeks have finally brought the Thames back up to a great level, I hear Hurley is washed out and Marsh is tricky to get on but thankfully the two old fistfuls are going just fine, Sunbury was our weir of choice on Sunday and as you can see from the pictures was a good hole with a small shoulder witch you could, if you were lucky get a bit of an air blunt on. Shepperton is still on 8; the back weir is now all done (Ish) and is death on a stick! Stay away… Lets prey the water deflectors the EA are fitting later this spring change this.

(Rich getting stuck in!)

(Sunbury at it's chunkey best!)

Looking at the BBC weather centre we are due for more rain this week! looks like we should have good boating for a few more day :) Don't forget you can see the weather for our littel area if you look on the Shepperton weir page! Cheers Jez....

Saturday, January 12, 2008

The Africa oddessey continues!

It’s been an action packed start to the New Year here in Uganda. We’ve been here for about three weeks now and I’m now half way through my trip. We spent Christmas Day at the Hairy Lemon, enjoying a pig roast feast and paddle on Special levels. Still on the Lemon the others had an epic on the day two section while I was on a mission to pick up my sister, from the airport. Pas, while showing Emily the line for Kallagala Falls, had his paddle knocked from his hand, despite his best hand roll efforts ended up swimming but impressively self rescued himself and all his gear. Em wasn’t too put off by this and still went on to run the drop for the first time; however the drama didn’t end here. At the top of the next rapid, Vengeance, Em’s paddle fell apart, it didn’t break just came apart in the middle. She made it half way down with the two parts but hit a wave half way down, preoccupied by the camera in her boat she dropped the paddle and swam, with the camera held high over her head. Luckily Alex was using a split paddle so he and Pas continued down the rest of river C1 style. Needless to say, funnels were in order at the bar later that night.

A few days were spent enjoying the awesome levels at Nile Special, before heading back up to NRE and the day one section for New Year’s Eve.

New Year’s Eve we spent partying at NRE. A highlight of the night had to be Swedish boater, Anton’s father crowd surfing across the bar. Of course it all got a bit messy, no one really knew when 12 o clock came, there must have been about 4 count downs, but a good time was had by all.

Unfortunately from neighboring Kenya, we were hearing reports of political unrest. Although the news stories were sketchy, we quickly found out that the roads into Uganda were blocked. With petrol running low, fuel prices soared. With the cost of shuttles tripled myself and Pas decided to take matters into our own hands and hired our own bodas for the day. Initially, we’d planned to do our own shuttle but realized it’s actually quite tricky to drive with another person on the back let alone with a boat as well. Emily came up with the idea of the first International Boda Boda Challenge competing for the Jigger Jigger Cup. This involved teams of two driving around a set course on the camp ground at Eden Rock. Various items had to pick up along the route and water contained within a bottle in the basket on the front, items not collected and water lost meant time penalties; the fastest lap won. Despite us having the bodas to practice on all day, the Kiwi team of Sophie and Brendan were victorious.

We’re now back down at the Hairy Lemon after paddling the whole 45kms journey here from NRE. The levels have dropped now but Special is still good in the afternoons.

Monday, January 07, 2008

Scotland tripping

My self and young Mr Evans have just returned from a quick trip to Scotland. While we were there we did a variety of amazing things such as the Allt Mhuic, Etive, Allt a Chaoruinn, Allt Mheuran, Allt Gleann A Chaolais. We also had a look at a couple of other rivers that we must do the next time! Unfortunately we don’t have any pictures yet but look in a day or two. Oh plus we climbed Ben Nevis, nearly……