1st time in the NEW REV today. Out in the cold on the Delaware river at Scudders falls NJ. The REV was a lot of fun, and trying to loop without getting my head wet seemed like a good way to stay warm! (more…)

Over the past few weeks I’ve been busy paddling morning noon and night, testing one of the new Rev prototypes,  on and various features around the Thames valley.  The final boat will be a little different but here are a few words on were we are at the moment!                                                                                                                                                                                              

So we have a new play boat more an evolution than revolution the Rev takes the high performance of the 4 Twenty a step further.  I was always pleasantly surprised paddling the 4Twenty at just how fun and easy it was to paddle and also how user friendly it was to learn new moves in, not forgetting exceptional comfort.  Now with the new Rev You still have a boat that is great to sit in, the knee room has been slightly adjusted and still   provides plenty of foot room. However the performance has been turned right up!  The boat is considerably narrower than the 4Twenty; the vortex rails have been sharpened and elongated, this combined with the lower rocker makes for a much faster snappier involving boat to paddle.                                                                                                                                          

On a wave the Rev’s flat rocker and quick planning hull make’s it a very quick boat that loves to race down the line, but has still kept enough of the tail rocker for hassle free back surfing & for landing big blunts, pan am’s etc.  With   the reduced width, in a hole/pile of a wave the Rev isn’t  as stable as the 4Twenty and has taken a little longer to get used to, but the benefits you gain in acceleration, speed, looseness and bigger, easer air time out way any negative     points.  The volume distribution has also been tinkered with, and as a result the Rev is stable and controllable up on   its end, cartwheels, and split wheels and huge loops are a piece of cake. All in all this boat take’s a bit more thought to paddle than the 4Twenty but be patient on a big wave or a small hole or even just down at the local swimming     pool this boat give you a big smile!                                                                                                                        

The national watersports centre at Nottingham was the location for the British Freestyle Championships and the Alpkit Series Final. With everyone else on the Team out in Austria for the Sickline event, I was the lone Pyranha team member competing.

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As Richard has already said, the weekend saw the third of the Plastic Fantastic Alpkit Kayak Series events of the year, at the Nene White Water Centre. Here’s some more from the event…

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The second edition of the Thun River Jam was celebrated from the 31st of august to the 2nd of september in Thun, Switzerland. The event combined Freestyle Kayak and River Surfing in the centre of Thun. There was also a Big Air and a King of the Wave competition.

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Our final destination this summer was BC for some creeking in our favorite area to vacation for boating. Here are some shots from BC this summer, and you can read the full report at www.RiverGypsies.com.

Andria running the Nozzle on the Nahatlatch.

Jared airing out the Recoil at Skook.

Leland on Callaghan Creek.
Photo by Bo Wallace.

The morning will be the first day of our road trip taking us North out of Lhasa, capital of the Tibet region, to run some classic multidays and then on to the Yarlung Tsangpo Valley.  The Yarlung is likely to be very high as the monsoon waters drop but most of the North & South tribs of the valley are still undiscovered and have the promise of some amazing creeking.  We are hoping to also make a stop off at Everest Base Camp and paddle in its shadow, before driving over the mountains back into Nepal.

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4 rainy days at Skook this past week. Check out the video.

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Since our last post, we have spent the past month kayaking in Colorado.

Big East Falls aka.”Stupid Falls”

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We recently got out on the Chili Bar run on the South Fork American in California on a hot sunny day in our Recoils. At the big play hole - First Threat - I decided to see how the Recoil loops. Turns out that the boat loops great, and Leland got a nice sequence of photos.

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We recently got to do most of the North Fork of the American River here in California - Including the legendary Generation and Giant Gap sections and some excellent river play in our Recoils on the Chamberlain Falls Section.

Here are a couple of teaser photos of the play - you can read a full report on all of the sections - including the new freestyle trick I invented - at RiverGypsies.com.

Have fun out there!

Leland and I have headed to Northern California to research more rivers for our new guidebook, The River Gypsies’ Guide to North America. The North Yuba drainage turned out to be a class III/IV paddling destination dream!

Check out our full update at RiverGypsies.com

Recoiling the big one on the Goodyear’s Bar play run.

After years of the Peak UK Challenge series Pete Astles has decided to take a break. Step up Jim from Alpkit and a slightly changed format and you get the Plastic Fantastic Alpkit Kayak Series. Round 1 was at the River Washburn in the UK and with a Boater X, Alpjam, Freestyle and a Pyranha Speeder Race, you were guaranteed a great event!!

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Parties, power-drives and pioneering. Making the most of our time on the road and glad to be sitting still for a little while.

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We’ve hit California to see what all we can get in this record low snowpack year - and the answer is you can still get a lot of paddling in out here!

You can view our full update at www.RiverGypsies.com.

Here are some teaser photos for you:

Andria Recoiling on the Kaweah.

Leland running Zero to Sixty, Hospital Rock section of the Middle Kaweah.

More to come soon!

clearing the card.
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After a few problems over the winter the Nene has re-opened for paddling, a great place to learn the basic moves for freestyle and river running.  www.nenewhitewatercentre.co.uk has all the info on opening times.

March was BUSY here with the boys at Pyranha US. Ive had the pleasure of traveling with the crew to shows and demos this month.  Read on to see pictures and details of this months madness. (more…)