Team Pyranha Blog » allankayak

Brandseth Team Race 2011 Teaser!

allankayak — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 14:17:23 +0000

This year we will probably be holding the Voss Ekstremsport Veko Team Race right after the Down-Hill Event on the Mighty BRANDSETH!

Here is a teaser of the show! Just about as much fun as you can have in a kayak racing with ya buddies!

Video on YouTube Here!

Once Were Warriors – Demo Day in Voss – Norway – 09/07/2011

allankayak — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 07:04:07 +0000

Pyranha Demo Day in Voss

Pyranha Demo Day with The Pyranha Van crew and Allan Ellard, Mike Abbott, Lizzie Bell and Andy Phillips.

Come and try out the boats you wish you owned and then maybe buy one!

The Van and crew will be parked in the Car Park just up stream of the Money Drop Waterfall on the Strandaelva of the E16 highway.

Depending on who turns up we will head off to a river nearby for fun and frolics. This could mean hucking the Money Drop, running the Upper or lower Strandaelva, a trip to the Raundalselva, or maybe even the Branseth!

We will be on hand to give you tips and tricks on anything from outfitting ya boat to boofing the right direction.

SPREAD THE WORD AND SEE YOU THERE AT 10am 9th JULY!

Raundalselva under threat in Voss – Norway!

allankayak — Wed, 12 May 2010 21:19:27 +0000

Boating season has is well under way for most up here is Norway, despite the currently cold nights and low water levels.

For me, I have to wait and train up a few more weeks before trying anything too exciting after a back operation, but I have paddled the rafting section of the Raundalselva

Which brings me to the subject of saving the the Raundalselva. One of the worlds most beautiful rives is under threat from hydro projects!!

Check out the Facebook group created by Voss Kayak Club here -

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=511904939#!/group.php?gid=119108778099266

http://raundalselvi.invoss.com/

As anyone who has been to Norway knows this river is a gem, with its crystal clear water, raging waterfalls and scenic beauty there is no way in hell you could ever live to see it damed.

At the moment a dubious play has been layed out presenting 10 different ideas for hydro developments, but the most poplar project from the developers side of the table would involve taking water out at the the start of the ‘Rime’ section and delivering it back right down near the airport near Voss. The minimum summer flow left in the river is said to be around 6.5 cumecs, and about 2 or so in the winter – This is obviously not good for any river users, be they fishermen, kayakers, fish or animals after the fish.

Voss Kayak club have been leading the debate and opposition right now and doing a great job at prompting discussion.

To find out more about this and get involved you should head over the to FaceBook group and join in – everyone can help!!

Off to Bhutan – Drangme Chu Expedition! Back soon, we hope!

allankayak — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:38:47 +0000

Lots of Rocks

In about 7 hours I am off to Bhutan!

I will meet up with Mike Abbott in Bangkok and then head up to Bhutan to catch up with the team. We are off to Eastern Bhutan, a long bumpy ride away to the Drangme Chu.

We completed the 1st D of the Same river, where it starts up in India 2 years ago so it is nice to approach from this side and complete the story. In Arunachal it it called the Tawang Chu, that story took us 5 days and a bit of a hike out just before the Bhutan border.

This time, just in case we have to carry anything on any portages we thought we would take some customers! That’s right, its a rafting Expedition. We have 2 paddle rafts with willing clients. They are in for hell of a ride, as the river looks pretty full on until further down near India, so we will see what happens!

I will post a report when we get back and I am sure this will be a grand tale to tell!

You can see more about this trip HERE

Some of the best video of Norway summer of 2009

allankayak — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:05:41 +0000

This is a great movie from Benji Hjort, summing up the summer of fun in Voss, Norway, 2009. There are other amazing videos in the gallery to check out! But this one have several Team P featured, even me!

Nice job Benji!

Check out the video here

Allan and Liz’s Summer local.

allankayak — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:23:51 +0000

The summer is fading away, new snow is appearing on the hills round Voss and a new season approaches!

Right now it feels like it has been raining since June, sun seems a luxury once indulged in, back in June, but overall I would say it has been a great summer. Our rivers have been feed well most of the summer by good snow pack from last winter, but then, just as we thought low water was in, bang, 0 – hero and every things in flood!

In the last month the local river around Voss have gone from low water to full flood about 4 times and counting. The Raundal river goes has gone from 13 cumecs to over 200 in an evening of rain, then back to 50 or so 24 hours later. Needless to say this keeps you on your toes and keeps you guessing where you should head next.

Read this and More on www.riverkore.com

These days we are both living in Norway on more of a permanent basis. I am ops manager at Voss Rafting and Liz runs Liz Bell Fysioterapi in Årdal Kommune, 2 hours from Voss. We do still manage to get out and about on the rivers of Norway and with so many amazing rivers within a hours drive time from Voss we are spoilt for choice!

One of mighty home runs is the Myrkdale. This is about 35 minutes from home and is in fact the major tributary of the Strandaleva which we raft on. The Myrkdale offers upper and main runs, the upper needing more water to clean it up and the lower better with slightly less. You can still go for an action run at high flows, but there will be a few more portages than normal. The main run at normal flows offers all sorts of rapids and slides, sticky holes and blank horizon-lines! On a good day with people who know the way you can get down there in half an hour or so, on a bad day, with no clue it can take you hours!

There are a few rapids to get the blood pumping, and a few to send your friends down blind with minimal directions. One of the fun features of this run is that is quite near the source, so on a rainy day you can put-in in the rain,with a normal flow and by half way down it could be up and running at action flow. You might not notice until someone runs a drop and find the hole slightly more sticky than expected. There is, however a lack at the bottom of the run to catch all gear and boats you may loose on the way.

Just before you get to the main road bridge, the normal take out for most, there is one last quite a large drop. At a glance it is quite intimidating, but when you work out that all you need to do is boof off the middle, they lean forward for re-contact on the slide its all good! There are a few more drops after the bridge and you can take out on the left just below the little caravan site if you wanted. Generally people take out on the right just below the bridge and park by a craft gallery near the road. (Remember to respect the locals and parking areas when using these areas!)

So now snow is creeping its way down the mountain sides, winter is on its way. It looks like we are about to have another flood come down the valley and the rafting season is coming to an end. Norway and Voss have again lived up to the reputation of being an amazing place to live in all sorts of ways and the winter madness will just add to the cocktail.

Sometimes it is very easy to take things for granted, even when you live somewhere amazing, if you live there long enough the amazing rivers, rugged mountains, crystal clear waters, long summer nights, winter snow, lack of pollution, lack of crime, lack of traffic jams and general pace of life can be undervalued. But one glance at the world news and we suddenly realise just how lucky we all are.

Love an cherish the freedom we have, and enjoy the ride!

Sjoa Fest 2009

allankayak — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 18:17:49 +0000

It was that time of year again! When kayakers gather from all over Norway and Europe to party and paddle in the Riksanlegget Kayak Camp besides the Sjoa River in central Norway. This year saw the comeback of the mighty Ula race, all sorts of fun and games with rafts and a gruelling multi-sport race for the keen!

liz and I arrived on Wednesday afternoon to be accosted by Pete Vikers and a miss-fit raft race team. The promise of fine whisky convinced us join a race in the slowest river craft known to man, and try to make it go fast! This ended up being an entertaining event with semi serious teams of rafts guides and groupies. Amazingly we ended up in second place, which considering most of us were not full time rafters was pretty good!

This year the Sjoa Festival had all sorts going on in an attempt by the organizers to make it the ‘best ever’ – You can see more of what went on here or here. As you can see it appears there were actually 2 festivals going on at the same time, with almost the same name, slightly confusing, but all good fun. We were there for the kayaking and to party! Wednesday night was the party of all parties, the Pimp and Hoe extravaganza. This is basically a good excuse for everyone to dress us as dirty as possible and show their true selves!

Norway Creeking Season starts with a bang in Voss!

allankayak — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:14:09 +0000

The first day of 2009 – Urdlandelva

Spring has sprung and the rivers of Norway are up and running! Right now you can ski, kayak or surf, or do all on the same day if your up for it! This is a pretty great part of the year as the trees and feilds colour up, the days get longer and the sun bring everyone out to play!

It was Sunday, time for Church! Church this week would be the short but sweet Urdlandelva – a tributary of the Raundalselva 20 minute drive from Voss centre. In the summer we drive over this one every day on our way to a Raundal Raft trip. Today the flow was perfect, with just a little water flowing over a slab rock in the middle of the interesting rapid just below the take-out bridge.

Things start with a bang with steep rocky rapids, soon leading to exciting slides. No sooner done with the slides you are at the edge of the main event – a combo drop of 2 waterfalls. The first fall has an fast lead into a narrow shoot, to a boily pool. Right out of the landing pool your on your way to the second drop. Things go white, you drop onto a ledge launch pad, the next thing you know your flying (falling) through the ice cold mist!

Once the adrenaline wore off we headed down the Ninja style boulder gardens trying to remember where the next fall was. There is one more fall that is usually a portage, but it has changed! I was already half way done portaging, so we decided to save our luck for another day!

All in all, a great way to start another creeking season in the land where the sun sets at midnight!

Check out shots of the action in the Gallery HERE

Teigdale Workout 2008 – Voss – Norway

allankayak — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:21:17 +0000

First descent of the Teigdaleselva for this season! With the sun shinning and snow melting hard we gathered a team of 10 to ‘huck our meat’ on the mighty waterfalls and slides that lay in the Teigdale valley just down the road from our summer home of Voss – Norway. Tylor Curtis and Mariann Saether happened to be in town with their crash-test dummy, Logan Grayling and we had the latest addition to Voss Rafting Senter, the ‘Italian stallion’ Michele Ramazza ready for initiation!

FIRST D’S IN ARUNACHAL PRADESH 2007

allankayak — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 08:35:55 +0000

On the 19th Nov a team of bald explorers, including Shalabh Gahault, Mike Abbott, Sam Hughes, Zak Mark, Sangrup (our driver from Ladakh) and myself loaded a jeep in Katmandu, Nepal and set course for Gauhati in Assam. 4 days later Andy Phillips arrived and they headed into the hills of Arunachal Pradesh aiming to complete several sections of un-run rivers and expecting to be challenged with situations requiring extreme bravery and ingenuity.

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