WWTCC News

Read all about it!

I knew Jon Boy did a little article with a guy from the Telegraph a while back! and i've just found it! read on read on......

Tarquin Cooper goes to playboat extremes to be at one with the water
I'm staring down a run of rapids at Britain's top white-water course, in Nottingham, and feeling increasingly anxious. Any second, I will launch myself down the fast and furious course.
"Normally I wouldn't send a complete beginner down," says instructor Jon Best. These are not words to fill me with confidence. My chest beats hard as he gives the final advice: "Paddle as fast as you can and hit it straight on."
I go for it, heart in mouth, and try not to panic as the kayak spins from side to side with each stroke. A foaming wall of water quickly approaches. Suddenly, I accelerate down a ramp and, with the adrenalin pumping, smash through the surf before spinning off to the side.
I'm elated to have made it through, until a sobering thought hits me. This is just the start. I'm with Best, an ace among Britain's top paddlers, to try one of kayaking's extreme disciplines, freestyle. Also called playboating, it involves doing tricks in white water in a small, highly responsive kayak.
"It's like snowboarding down a mountain, then finding a half pipe to do some tricks on," says Best, 22. "With freestyle, you're using all parts of the river, combining river running with freestyle skills."
The sport may not have been in the Olympics but, like surf and board sports, it has urban cachet. "There's more soul to it," explains Best. "It's just more exciting and challenging than other disciplines. You're much more at one with the water."
The idea is to use one stretch of white water to perform spins, flips and exotically-named moves that don't seem possible. Paddlers spend up to a minute dancing on the surf like a fish at the top of a fountain.
It requires considerable spatial awareness, an understanding of river features and, when I shake Best's hand, it's obvious that upper body strength is useful, too. He was British number one last year, has been a member of the UK team for six years and is just back from competing in the European Championships in Spain.
We meet at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham, home to the Holme Pierrepont white-water course. The man-made run is 300?metres long and boasts five grade three rapids.


(the little riper in action down at Sunbury!)

"Have you done much kayaking?" Best asks. I have recently been sea kayaking, but decide not to mention this as I was pulled out by a lifeboat after getting into difficulty.
Best offers to give a demonstration and squeezes into his Jackson kayak, just in from America. A couple of kids wander past with the same thing on their minds as me. "Where are your legs?" one of them asks.
With a couple of paddle strokes, he's in the course's first feature, balancing on the surf. The demonstration begins as Best performs twists, turns, cartwheels, flips and an "air loop" (a mid-air somersault). He dips the front of the kayak in the water then springs into an astonishing mid-air manoeuvre to the delight of the small crowd now watching.
"That's one of the great things about freestyle," says Chloe Nelson of the British Canoe Union. "It's great fun to watch. You don't have to know much about the sport to appreciate it. It looks so exciting. Most people wouldn't know you could do those things in a boat."
Then it is my turn. I squeeze into the kayak, wedge my knees out to the side and stretch my feet into two beanbag type cushions up front. Best then pulls draw-chords that squeeze me so tightly I can barely move.
"Can I still get out of this thing?" I ask. "Don't worry," he replies.
The introduction begins with a roll on a flat water lake. My first attempt is a disaster. I end upside-down with the front of the boat sticking up in the air.
"It should be one fluid movement," he says. "Flick your hips and remember, your head should be the last thing to come out of the water."
My second attempt is perfect. It's also a complete fluke. Later attempts end in failure: hardly an auspicious start before running the rapids.



Undeterred, we venture on to the course. After rapid one, the pace picks up and in no time I'm being tossed about like a ping-pong ball. I run the full distance. There's one problem: I'm upside-down for most of it.
"It's a great buzz," says Best, "when you get the hang of it."

posted by Pete @ 4:52 AM