1st and a 3rd what can you say.
The weekend of the 28th 29th June saw a double div 3 and 4 at Shepperton weir, now I don’t want to say that me or Seth had been taking this seriously but Seth had been getting pointers of Mike (all the way from Greenland) and I’d been on the e-mail to ex Olympic games medallist Jochen Lettmann for a last few minuet tip’s, In his immortal words “
Pete just remember to keep your body between the gates!”
(Me at the start)
(Lee at the trickey gate 9)Well anyway I had to beat Seth by 10 seconds, other wise I had to buy lunch! This was my first slalom and so had entered Div 4, Seth, a veteran at slalom now was in Div 3. We had helps build the course 4 day earlier at Shepperton but as this was a double the course had been changed when we finally arrived on Sunday, so quick as a flash we jumped on to try out the changes, I also had a quick chance to try out my new boat for the day, this race was also going to be the first UK race for the Jackson Ricocet. We also bumped into another valley local Mr Lee Pike, Lee an ex premier division c1 paddler is also rediscovering his love of slalom (in a C1!) and in his two judges runs laid down two good times. On our first runs both Seth and I had planned to put down a good solid clean run, I did this, Seth however on the last gate was awarded a 50 second penalty by Lee!!!!!! Friends for you ;-) On our second runs both of us tried to push a little more, but in doing so also hit a little more, so although posting faster times after penalties our first runs were both best!
(George & Poppy heckling at the start!)
(seth ducking and diving)At the end of the day I had Finished 1st in Div 4 and Seth came 3rd in div 3. The best thing is I don’t have to buy lunch! Hay Seth……..
Well done to Shepperton Canoe Club for putting on a great weekend and well done Andy for setting up a cracking course. Everyone reading this how doesn’t paddle slalom, give it a go, It’s a really good laugh. And Div 3 & 4 you can paddle anything…….. Thank you Aaron for the loan of the Ricocet, Mission complete race won!
(Rendal, The machine! 94.8 seconds and the fastest run!)
The bells.........
Last weekend I managed to get a day off work! and it was Richard and Sarah wedding. Rich has been a good friend over the last 12 years and very kindly made me his best man! We had a top day down on the south coast (Worthing) and I think it’s fair to say everyone involved had a great day. The speech was maybe the most terrifying thing i've ever done! apparently however, quite funny!
The Management all dressed up!
Slalom -1 day. Get ready the gun show starts soon!!!!!!
Shepperton weekend
Yes, I think it’s fair to say we have been neglecting our blogging of late! Basically Mike is off having fun in Greenland for 4 weeks with the other Fat Cats, so me and George are left here on our own! In a word busy……. But with Seth here at the moment holding the fault I thought I should quickly write something. Have we been out paddling! Course we have, there’s a slalom at the weekend at Shepperton and me and Seth have pots to chase! You can find out more about the event here
Shepperton CC . Have a good rest of the week and I’ll blog again Monday and let you know how the Shepperton PURE got on!
Is this the end!
What a cool few weeks we have had at long last the sun has really started to shine and finally I’ve got horribly burnt! Terrific…. But how the rain has been falling, Reading had two months rain in 8 hours the Thanes came back up to proper good levels but the sun has continued to shine, as a result we have had deepest winter levels at Shepperton and Chertsey but it’s been 22 degrees.
We’ve had some great paddles in the squirt boats, some sublime long boat cursing and when the pool levels finally filled up some proper good play boating, and I haven’t done that for a serious long time! With the high levels I even managed to get away and have a break from paddling for a weekend of sea fishing on the Isle of Weight, It was really good fun! I court loads!! But after the rain comes the sun and now the river is back on the way down, but we still managed to catch Chertsey at an perfect level for squirt boating last night, Good down time really controllable and super sunny. What fun roll on summer sun!
(A quick break from paddling)As for the Greenland boys, well they got off fine and we had a text today via satellite phone they have landed the boats should hopefully be there today and then there off into the wilderness for 4 weeks, Real wilderness no cars no roads no people just them and a whole lot of country, and plenty of big river to explorer!
Greenland 08
After last year I’m sure Ali and Si said they would never go back! But in 7 days time Ali and Si are being joined by Graham and Mike for the return trip to find even more amazing Whitewater and scenery. The guys are off for 4 weeks and are going to some places with very funny names. The rivers look very big from outer space!
After you’ve travel the world, go to Greenland!
Green with envy
I was lucky enough to be down at Dagger HQ on Friday, where very kindly the Grande Fromage, Mr Paul Robertson let me borrow the Dagger Green boat. For those of you that don’t know the “Green boat” (named after the “Green River” witch hold’s the mighty “Green River Race”) has been designed to win the said mentioned race! So really it’s a 13ft racing creek boat, However as its 13ft I thought it would be perfect to surf Shepperton in. After some 21 minuets of working out how it reacted I was truly blown away by how much fun it was. Supper manoeuvrable and so quick! Really is great fun. Best thing as it’s so long it doubles as an enjoyable touring boat for the cruse back down to the shop too!
If you only have access to a small short boat I pity you!
