It’s that time of year again, the sun is in the sky and the daffodils are growing, the clocks have gone forward (Bad Times) but this means that Thursday Late night has once again started! On Thursday the 3rd of April and then ever Thursday through to the winter we will now be open from 09:30 in the morning until 19:30 at night. 10 hours of shopping pleasure for you all to enjoy!
What’s been on this week? Well it’s been a busy few days George and Mike have both been away on Holiday, George in Wales with the family and Mike has been of on a solo decent of the Arun Gorge in Nepal, hopefully he should be back today! So we might have a trip report form that little adventure soon. At the shop it’s just been me on my own, with the helps from a few friends BIG Thanks to Graham cheers for yesterday! Slalom training has been fast and furious this week I even finally got a Shepperton PURE sticker! I’m very honoured.
Just a quick note to say that we will be closed tomorrow 21st Good Friday! But there is loads of water in the Thames Shepperton and Sunbury both seam to be holding well and more water to come today, so should be a good day off see you on the water! We are open Saturday 22nd normal hours 09:30 – 17:00 Interesting Easter fact!
It’s a Very Early Easter!
Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20). This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar.
Based on the above, Easter can actually be one day earlier (March 22) than it will be this year (2008) but that is pretty rare.
This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives! And only the most chronologically gifted of our population have ever seen this early previously (95 years old or above!) And none of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier! Here are the facts:
1) The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!).
2) The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!
After some pretty dismal weather on Sunday the river has shoot right back up! Sunbury doesn’t seam to working right just yet the gates are set at a bit of a funny level with mainly half gates open, but we will see, if the river continues to rise! Shepperton however is a cracking level. Now that the work on the back weir has been finished we should hopefully see the front weir (weir A) working more normally, I had a cracking surf yesterday morning on six gates, the pool level is nice and high witch is good.
And yesterday evening I managed to talk Evans out of squirt boating and got him back in his float boat for the first time this year! It was also good to finally put the M Long Rev through it paces and I can happily report that it was a joy to paddle, nice and smooth on its ends, still good and quick accelerating down the wave and super comfy. Unfortunately my darling girl friend is running in the London Marathon this year and we both seam to be eating healthily at the moment witch is playing havoc with my weight! I think I could probably do with putting on a few more pounds!!! Any how good day lets see what Shepers maybe Sunbury is up to tonight?
Must apologize for the really quite poor picture taking but our little camera really dose struggle in the dark! Jon Boy if you fancy coming down south with your SLR that would be top!
It's here, Jackson Kayaks new Hero has arrived and looks very interesting! this is what EJ reckons....
"We needed a straight up river running kayak that paddles like a Jackson, rolls like a Jackson, and is comfortable like a Jackson. We started with the new Fun hull and built the boat up from there. This boat is the perfect companion for the paddler wanting a predictable, stable, carving, easy to paddle river runner that won’t hit a plateau before you do. Whether looking to creek the local run, or overnight the canyon, this full volume, planing hull, nimble, quick, safe kayak is your ticket. This will be a top selling kayak in 2008 and beyond, and sets a new standard in just how fun and versatile a river runner can be". 2008 HERO Length = 90” (or 7’ 6”) Width = 25.5” Height = 15.0” Volume = 75 gallons Weight: 42 pounds Paddler range Weight: 120-210 Legs: 26”-37” Feet: up to men’s 14 £819.9900
After a week of rain, Airmiles, Pascal and Pork Pie thought they'd head of to North Wales for weekend of exploratory paddling, Airmiles to test out his new Mamba, Pork Pie to try out the mammoth Everest and Pascal to lose a bit of weight before his big day! Things started badly, when arriving at the campsite at nearly midnight, Airmile's 3 man tent, turned out to be a 2 man tent - bad times! Following a 'cosy' nights sleep with animals marking their territory against our tent, we awoke early ready to hit the water. Unfortunately, the bad luck continued as we arrived at the Mawdacch for a warm up, to find a severe lack of water - bad times! To lift our spirits a bit, we headed up to the top of the Gamlan and ran the 'Perfect 25 Footer' - good times!
(Andy on a rather dry Gamlan) This gave us a good couple of hours entertainment, particularly when Airmiles had to be rope rescued of the side of waterfall (don't ask). Following this we headed of to the Aberglaslyn for a run of the gorge, but, not surprisingly, still no water so no paddling. By this point, we gave up and Pascal insisted on going shopping at Betws-y-Coed - I think a night in a 2 man tent with 3 men has softened him up a bit. Following a good evening in The Goat Inn watching the welsh win the rugby and watching Pascal leave half a pint and half his dinner (I'm seeing a trend here with Pascal) we awoke, gave up all hope of a natural river and headed off to the Tryweryn for a bit of Dam release, only to find half the course was closed for a slalom competition - bad times. So a few hours bouncing down the Tryweryn in our giant boats, trying to avoid people in pointy boats, we reitred from the weekends paddle and started the 5 hour trip home, which for after a hard weekend shopping, Pascal spent most of the journey asleep. Big thanks to WWTCC for the loan of equipment.
Im not to sure how to get the bigger and better videos up here at the moment! But have a look at the video below, only a short one of Mike down at chertsey! The head cam is the amazing GoPro head Cam. I've been realy impressed with the quality of this littel head cam, really is very good
Just in time for the weekend are these funky new WRSI Limited Edition Camouflage Helmets, click HERE to go and get one.
The WRSI story - The history of this project, and hence, a safer helmet for non-motorized water sports, especially the extreme sport of whitewater kayaking/rafting, can be credited to the “living spirit” of one person, Lucas Brandon Turner. Upon his fatal accident on a very dangerous river in Idaho, his surviving family sought some solace in seeking the reason for his “needless death,” and committed themselves to implement a solution to that problem. Ever more, they believed, it would give not just whitewater boaters, but worldwide communities of non-motorized water sports participants, a better chance to provide their own conscious assistance in their unfortunate participation in an accident in a water recreation environment. To this end, the Whitewater Research & Safety Institute (WRSI) was created and began the development, manufacture, and distribution of a safer water sports helmet. Under the direct auspices of Dr. Andrew H. Conn, the Mechanical Design Engineering Department at Johns Hopkins University, the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, and the Inventors, Mr. Chang Lee and Mr. Michael Cordeiro, the WhiteWater Head Impact Protection Project (WHIPP) resulted in a prototype that has produced the 2006 WRSI water sports helmet, that we believe to be the “safest whitewater helmet in the world.”
Canoe Control is proud to announce that it will be hosting a UK River Rescue Symposium at the Llangollen Leisure Centre on the 8th - 9th March 2008. The event will be headed by Franco Ferrero, the author of the bench mark book White Water Safety and Rescue.
Some of the most respected trainers and river runners of todays modern paddling world will be presenting a wide variety of events that you can get involved in. These will include indoor and river based workshops, presentations, and even a 'paddlers question time'. The symposium will also provide an superb opportunity to catch up and paddle with old friends. A full bar will be open on Saturday evening, separate to the main conference hall. Below is a list of the river professionals who will be working at the symposium, we expect this list to grow over the next few weeks. Franco Ferrero: Top end coach and author of the definitive book on WW Safety and Rescue. Ray Goodwin: One of the world’s leading open boat coaches. Dave Luke: Another top end coach who is widely respected within the industry. Bob Timms: A top level coach with extensive experience in the provision of training programmes. Stuart Woodward: Worldwide kayak traveller, coach and expedition boater. Runs Canoe Control. Allan Ellard: One of the world’s leading expedition paddlers. Peter Knowles aka Slime: One of the world’s most experienced and well known expedition paddlers as well as author of many guide books. Dave Manby: A legend in his own life time - one of the original members of the Dudh Kosi team! Alli Marshall: Member of Fat Cats – production team behind 'The Chaos Theory' and ‘The Revenge of the FatCats'. Recently completed the first white water kayaking expedition to Greenland. Jon Davies: One of the new breed of UK river and freestyle boaters. Member of the White Water Rescue and Flood rescue team Dave Rossiter: Member of the SCA & BCU Coaching commitee who will be discussing the changes to the BCU white water safety and rescue courses Lowri Davies: Lowri Davies is a young coach that has a lot to offer; being equally at home paddling remote gorges as she is guiding a raft or winning European Freestyle Championships! Becky Lar: Over the last few yearsBecky has been manly based in Africa working for Kayak the Nile. Jules Bernard: Jules is an aspirant level 5 canoe coach and is currently the European Chief Instructor for Rescue Training International. Dino Heald: Dino Heald is full time level 5 coach at Plas Y Brenin
Well what a start to the new month! This Saturday saw the first Slalom of the year down at Shepperton and what controversy, some people loved it some hated it. I thought Joel did a top job and set a great course that challenged every one! My personal high light of the day was watching a lady drop out of her boat, mid tail squirt! Very funny if a little cold…. (Man in control, Me judging)
For the first time I even gave judging a crack, I’ve never felt so important. I don’t know the exacts number of paddlers but there seamed to be plenty down there from all disciplines, there was even a C2!
It was good to see loads of junior paddler competing and getting involved even with the water and weather pretty dam cold. After the slalom it was off to Chertsey for a birthday paddle with Jazz and the rest of the Chertsey faithful. The water levels are starting to drop of now so Chertsey wasn’t at its best but again it was nice to get and paddle with plenty of people. Jez and Rich like me had there squirt boats out; it’s always cool to squirt with friends. One thing, Mum I’m sorry I missed mother day! Are be down soon….. (The Birthday boy blowing out his candles!)
There were two noticeable absentees from squirting at Chertsey, Mike and Chris both found them self’s up at GB team training, sound’s like they both had a very productive weekend of squirt tuning
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