If said the word Yak the older readers will remember a brand of cutting edge designs and materials, the younger readers will know good solid products well priced! However this year Yak has done something rather surprising! With a new design team inserted into there corridors the new 2009 range of cags are truly fabulous!!!
Last week we had a little photo shoot for the new kit down at the Tryweryn. I’ve been paddling some of the pro type cag’s for a few months now but this was the first time I had seen the production items and got to use them! Firstly the new materials are top notch! Really very good, there are 3 new materials, a new 2 layer great and light weight but still nice and warm, a new 2.5 layer fabric witch is great, super warm and really durable and a new 3 layer fabric witch has a 4 way stretch! A really good technical fabric, works really well, super strong but great to the touch. Also the new colour ways are a really change from the norm! Yes sir can have camouflage if he wants! Or there are some very visible Brown/Yellow or Blue/Black alternatives. And last but most important alley the whole range has been totally re worked (no little tweaks here!) totally new designs tried and tested by there team over the last year have produced some of the best dry tops I’ve ever worn. But don’t take my word for it! They will be in the shop in a few weeks come in and be amazed. Yak have raised there game to a totally different level. Come and try them.
As for the photo shoot we had a great day. I arrived in Bala late Thursday evening; luckily Mr Pete Ford (possibly the best rep in our industry) was there, we drunk a lot! I learnt how to pour a pint and Havana Gold makes a great rum and coke!
The next morning was hard but we had a great time, Mr Evans had popped over from the plastic bread bin! For a paddle and Craig and Daniel also from the Thames Valley were there to test the kit and show it off. A great day was had by all.
Oh, Yak also has the most amazing pair of shorts! Really good, one day hopefully you will all see them!
Well quite a lot of events took place this weekend, Personally I along with Graham and the other guys from RunandJump Clothing headed to Scotland for the Etive River Race. We arrived by the banks of the Etive at 5 in the morning after a night of driving that just never seamed to end! But after a bit of sleep we awoke the Friday morning to find the Etive pretty dam low! Never mind we thought this is Scotland and there is always something to paddle, with the race in mind we started on the Etive, I’d only ever paddled it once before and had walked most of it then! So took the opportunity to learn the lines and paddle all the drops. After a few runs down we turned our attentions to the small tribs that flow into the river further down stream, although low they provided us with some great sport and a good long walk! Friday as we were just falling asleep it started to rain…….it continued…………….for a long time………………a very long time. The next morning it was still raining and the river had risen over night by quite a lot! So much in fact that the section of the river the race was going to be held on was just too big to run a commercial competition on, so we moved up river to the next section, normally this section is bump and scrape at best, but not today! With the rain still falling the section was now a good grade 3 with good wave trains and hole’s dotted along its length. The format for the race was nice and simple! 50 teams, two in each team, both set off when the last man crosses the finish the clock stops. Pyranha, in the sponsored category to be fair did pretty well with 3 Everest’s and a Burn in the top 4 positions. Me and Graham came first Chris Evans and Pete Catterall came a very close second, Shep and his mate came 3rd a really good well organized race. Once down the main the course Me and Milton set our eyes on the section the race was supposed to be held on, with the water now super high this section turned into a right old mission, but was super cool. The rocky lines of the day before had been replaced by big powerful drops it was great and made the long drive well worth the effort. After the run we all headed back to the Ice Factor in Kinlochleven for prize giving and wee dram of whiskey!
(The river on Saturday!)
Wining teams: Open: Simon Grant & Calum Hogg, A Bowl Full of Fun, Sponsored: Graham Milton & Pete Scutt, Run and Jump Clothing Team 3, Pyranha 16-18: Jonathan Hiam & Adam Cox, Psychotic Badgers,
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