I brought a shiny new Pyranha Burn out with me to Africa this time for numerous missions that a few friends and I have been planning for a while. But I couldn’t leave it sitting in its bag for long… it was time to test out the Burn on some of the bigger rapids the Nile had to offer!

I have paddled creek boats on big volume white water a few times in the past and never been particularly satisfied with the way they perform. The rounded hulls and lack of rails makes it feel like you are paddling a cork! Instead of holding speed and direction when carving on ferry glides, boils and waves they simply slide and skid across the water leaving paddle power as the only tool for moving across the river.

One morning a Widowmaker mission was suggested and before I knew it the Burn was dropping into its first ever rapid…

The Burn looking small in the trough of Widowmaker

Widowmaker is a one move rapid – two huge overlapping holes with a monster curler that feeds between them. The idea is to launch off the curler charging from left to right and miss both! Now on the previous run when I hit the curler in my playboat I subbed through the wave and hit the left hole.
I came from far left charging right in a similar place as the previous run and instead of subbing through the wave the extra volume and speed of the Burn sent me flying off the back of the curler and free of the holes. A good start for the Burn!

Over the next few days, I paddled the boat on lots of different rapids, boils, big volume features and even waves and was constantly impressed with the Burn’s performance.

There is enough rail to carve and control the boat and to allow you to use the diagonals, boils and waves to your advantage. But where a playboat with hard rails might be twitchy and unstable in changing water the burn sits on top with the rails high enough to make it forgiving. A common problem with creek boats in big water is when you end up surfing holes (involuntarily!). Creekboats tend to slide out into a side surf and bounce around uncontrollably, the burn however has enough rail to give control to give the paddler at least a half decent chance of getting out the hole. I even managed a cheeky flat spin on the corner of the Cuban (a big hole half way down Itanda Falls), which I never imagined I could ever do in a creek boat!

I’m looking forward to the next few months where we have some interesting missions planned here in Uganda on some rockier and steeper rivers!

Happy Paddling, Sam

Check out these blog updates from Demshitz in Chile!
Fred Norquists blog and Evan Garcia’s blog check back for more photos up later this week from a stout Demshitz first Descent in Pucon! ciao huevons!

In July we went to Turkey and here is a short video from that trip.

Turkey Chai and Coruh from Greg Chandler on Vimeo.

It’s the time of year when things are turning colder and not much is running in this part of the world.  Still, I got motivated a few times to head out to Scudders, the best play spot in New Jersey.  Here’s a little video on Chasing Rain.

 Trying to get left on the big un’. The boils were stout I ended up melting into the hyrup  (more…)

While much of the kayaking community was at the Green Race, we spent Halloween afternoon and the next day paddling the Maryland (pummel) and Virginia lines (the Spout) at Great Falls on the Potomac River. 

Chris Menges, Pummel.

Check out the rest of this post for some truly amazing kayak photography by Craig Campbell.

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It’s been a while since I paddled a new river but with the river of Wales full of water and a weekend off it seamed only fair to go forth and paddle. Me and Ali set off early Saturday morning and headed to the Mellte in south Wales we reached the river and found it at a good level, this river really doesn’t give you much of a warm up!

(Ali at the start of a good day)
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So Demshitz is here in Pucon Chile. The weather has been a bit wet and cold, but we have gotten on a few of the best runs around town. (more…)

Another year, another Green Race. Though this year the race wasn’t quite as big as in years passed, it certainly wasn’t a small race. As you are probably aware of by now, the southeast is nearing the end of a second year of drought. In 2007, the operators of Tuxedo Hydro Station were able to give us a little extra water for the race, but no such luck this year.

The 13th annual Green Narrows Race was held at a low 100% release – a mere 6” on the gauge locals are normally used to seeing read 8” to 9” this time of year. At this low level, the Green is a scrapy, technical creek with tight lines and painful consequences for missed lines. Most lines stay the same but Gorilla, the biggest rapid on the river, also becomes the most technical. Gorilla’s turbulent entrance slot, The Notch, becomes a little steeper and taller but no less terrifying, and a hydraulic that will stop all forward momentum forms on the lip of the monkey itself. Add the fact that this hole has a bad tendency to kick right, toward the river right shelf, and it’s easy to understand why this is combat kayaking. Enter the brave Green Racers.

Chan Jones firing into Gorilla in the new Karnali – Photo courtesy of Clay Lucas

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This is a little video I whipped up from a day at the Reno River Fest this year. It features a “CRIBZ” Pyranha Van segment. Pretty much a day in the life of the boys on the road.

A day in the life: DEMSHITZ from Aplin Independent on Vimeo.

I’m back in New Zealand at the moment running a rafting company for the summer, but look out for some updates from my boating this southern hemisphere summer and if I’m lucky I might even get a visit from Jared Seiler

Peace

Huckin Huge went out and ran some falls this Halloween.  2 days of large drops.  Enjoy and check out more at HUCKIN HUGE .com

 It was pretty wild for those of us that live in Northern New York this week.  It’s hard to believe we got a foot of snow before Halloween.  On Monday we were mountain biking on all the wonderful trails around Lake Placid, on Wednesday we were skiing, and on Saturday the rivers came up from melting snow.  What more could you ask for. 

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