Here is a schedule for demshitz Paddle with the Pros.  We will be heading all over the country hitting up your local paddle shops.  If you are interested in paddling Pyranha’s new line of kayaks, learning a few things on the river, or just want to have a cold one and talk about kayaking. Please come it’s going to be fun.   Also here is Pyranha’s 2010 Promotional video.

Chris Eastabrook, Toboggan, Rio Alseseca. Pic: Pete Wood.

Turns out Mexico isn’t all desert and cacti after all…

For more stunning images and the lowdown, head to www.chargingarc.com

Hugh Graham ripping it in the Molan at the men’s expert final.

The Pyranha Stand

Stephanie cooked a long time.
It’s just out of kitchen.

Green Race 2009 from stephanie augras on Vimeo.

Thanks a lot Dinver for the boats.

I wish you a good viewing, like Nicolas and me in the Green river.

Cheers,

Eric

I must admit three month of paddling was exactly what I needed, day after day with nothing else to do apart from kayaking. Isn’t that great?!

During my first month some german friends and I ran the rivers from Santiago down to Pucon. One big highlight was for sure the Rio Claro, we jumped down the ventidos saltos about 5 times – the last run took us only 19 minutes from the putin to the final drop – germans like the autobahn.

Not as lucky was I after my run down the caracol in the Entre Saltos section, I landed flat and ended up with a broken paddle, a broken nose and two blue eyes … at least I kept my smile.

Entre Saltos Section Rio Claro

After my german friends left, I met two kiwis, we rented a nice camioneta and were ready for new adventures. This time to Argentinia and South Chile. One of my favorite runs was the Los Alerces Section on the Rio Manso, but at the same time it was a bit scary as we were just the two of us, had a lot of water and not much information about the river. So we ended up being in a canyon infront of a rapid which looked pretty big, but was impossible to scout and to portage. That was an explosion of emotions after we two made it through the big hole at the bottom. 

It was a really rainy season in Chile, so we encountered high waterlevels on the Futa and further down south. One thing remains obvious, it was for sure not my last time on this incredible beautiful rivers of Patagonia.

What a wonderful playwave …… unfortunately it is situated just infront of the Petrohue waterfall

Gymnastics on the Rio Palguin

Pancakes for breakfast

Park Nacional Rio Laja

Beautiful scenery, kind people, good food, wine oh and lots of steep granite fun!

Read the full article for more on the rivers… for just the pictures here are galleries of some of the different rivers we paddled: Vez, Castro, Cavado.

After flying into Porto we picked up our hire cars and headed north into the mountains… managing to get our first river done that afternoon!

Rio Vez

More photos of the Vez

A sketchy drive over a mountain pass revealed our hire cars snow capabilities and fantastic views…

Rio Castro

Steep with a bit more water than we wanted for our first run…

More photos of the Castro

Rio Cavado

My favourite river of the trip. First couple of km boulder garden pretty tame… then the granite slides start!

More photos of the Cavado

We also paddled the Rio Mourno the Castro again and then we had to go home to England for tea.

If you are planning to head out make sure you get a copy of the guidebook available here and have a look at the Aqua Vertical blog… http://www.aquavertical.com/

Thanks to Steven Mccorquodale for motivating us all, Eric Starkie for driving and Tom Walby and morley for the photos!

Keep it steep!

Nugz

Thanks to Steven Mccorquodale and Tom Walby

After a day at Scudders- an a massive rain storm over most of the East Coast- Dinver told me he wanted me to take the boat to the New River Dries to get some more pictures and video, and see how it performed on a big wave.  I’ve got to say that despite getting fat and out of shape this winter, and generally being out of practice for wave surfing, I had two of my best wave days ever in the boat.  It simply rips- loose, fast, and takes off effortlessly- but I’ll let the pictures and video do the talking.

“Serving the Storm” New River Dries video

Here is a Teaser for our Next Demshitz Movie ¨Dashboard Empanada¨

Run the Shitz! Looking forward to the NEW BURN and the NEW PLAYBOAT ¨THE MOLAN¨!!! PYRANHA WORLD DOMINATION!!! DEMSHITZ!!!

First, happy new year everybody !!! I wish you a lot of  rivers steep, big, in a wild nature.

Second. After a long and hard work, my friend Stephanie Augras finished my last crazy trip movie in Cap Verde.

You should never seen it….

Volcano Ride from stephanie augras on Vimeo.

Have a good time.

Eric.

Although December is the low water season, there is still some great paddling to be had, especially if you venture further up the valleys of some of the rivers normally done “in season”. Whilst dodging strikes, we ticked off upper sections of: Bhote Kosi, Marsyandi, Kali Gandaki along with a few other nice runs down some of the classic sections of these and other rivers.

Anyways, enough spiel… To the photos!! Here’s a flavour of the trip:

Ominous Gorges:
 

Good Lines:

Bad Lines:

Terrible Lines:

Lines with consequences:

Local Culture:

Local Transport:

…and last but by no means least, a very healthy dose of:

Belting Scenery:

Safe lines, and see you on the river…

Richard on the far side on Marsh

 
I have a go too…although, I am waiting for the SMALL MOLAN I think!

One of the many small boof drops on the Upper Tawe!

 
Fun slides too.
 

For more photos check out www.worldkayakblogs.com/paula .

Hope to see you all at Pyranha Fest at the Dart in Devon!

2010 is here! Ski-ing in the woods is the best bet as the rivers are frozen. Need to plan the summer but just taking a moment to reflect on the womens paddling we did last year. A lot of fun, met some fantastic women paddlers and we pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone, tried new things and faced a lot of fear together.

In 2009 we introduced women only whitewater development coaching, played about with the model and evaluated the impact. Overall women say they love the all girl environment (extra male coaches welcome if there name is Brad!) and find it easier to accept their fears and challenge them amongst others who can cope with tears. The dynamics are awesome! To see a group of women come together aho may never have met develop and bond as a group in just a few days is incredible. Immediately caring and supporting each other and celebrating each others sucess.

Sometimes it does not really feel like coaching, more like guiding their learning in a student centred way.

Using the Findhorn as our training venue is a stunning setting. The variety of conditions on the section means there is challenge for every grade of paddler and sometimes the gods help with water levels too.

Developing leadership skills on the river can be difficult for women, how many of the girls you know will push to lead on a club or social trip? Taking turns to inspect, analyse the water and lead with support from a coach is a development journey. It takes time, sometimes we call it tea and cakes at each rapid, but everyone has the chance to really understandd what is going on and how it will affect them when they are there.

We accept that women are not pretend men and have different styles and pace of learning. It is good to see women in the outdoors taking on more advanced water and leading, we need more though!

If you fancy taking part then perhaps here at Pyranha we can pull something together for the girls, let us know!

The recipe is always the same, no matter what grade we paddle. Equal measures of skill and confidence and a sprinkle of brave dust when required.

Mags

I was quite proud of last night’s creation: Snow-Dude. However, my weenie brothers saw this pic, and being students decided to go one better with a full-on snow boater (see pics below)!

Some people have waaay too much time on their hands!!

Last week I was able to get the new Molan out and about.  I fit in the medium Molan very well.  I was able to where shoes in the boat at 6 foot and 170lbs.  The boat was very easy to through around and looped with ease.  I think you all are going to be very excited about this one.  Here is a video I made from the day!

Here are some impressions of my time in Chile. Up to know I travelled from Santiago down to Pucon, and had an awesome time on the chilean  rivers with  friends out of Germany. It was also a great pleasure to meet and join Adria, Leland and Jeff on the Rio Claro. We did a lot of hike in runs, so I was glad to use pyranhas portaging system, but even more glad to hire horses .

Full trip report at www.RiverGypsies.com
]]> http://www.teampyranha.com/2009/12/23/we-finally-made-it-to-chile/feed/ 0 http://www.teampyranha.com/2009/12/23/christmas-tradition-in-norway/ http://www.teampyranha.com/2009/12/23/christmas-tradition-in-norway/#comments Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:54:56 +0000 per christian pedersen http://www.teampyranha.com/?p=4787

Santa Per running the slide

LarsG Boofing.

Christmas tradition is cold as usual in Norway. With minus degrees we still need to go out kayaking on baby x-mas day. A very happy christmas to all of you, from us here in cold cold north.

Last week Graham Mackereth flew in to the states with the new boat from the UK. My brother Casey and I drew the lucky card to test the boat out first. Yesterday we just got home from a great week of playboating in the new Molan on rivers all across the southeast and the mid-atlantic. Typically I don’t playboat very much, especially in the winter, but I couldn’t resist a chance to hop in this boat despite temperatures in the 20’s and forecasts for snow. The Molan has proven to be everything we hoped for in a playboat – predictable, easy to throw around, loose, easy to take into the air, very forgiving, and most of all, extremely comfortable.

I haven’t been this excited about a new playboat design in years – maybe this boat will get me back in line at the local playspots. Anyway, the new Molan is on its way to shred a playspot near you and I’m back inside out of the cold for a bit!

Enjoy the photos and the video.

Eternity Hole, NC
Photo by Casey Jones

New River Dries, WV
Photo by Casey Jones

Air blunt on the New River Dries
Photo by Casey Jones

Full Molan album at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=145326&id=500041783&l=a9136a51f8

First Impressions of the Pyranha Molan from Chan Jones on Vimeo.

What’s up kids!

I hope that you are wise. Because I soon arrive !

After a long and difficulf work. It’s time for me to leave the workshop. HO HO HO !

But this year, because of the crisis. I are not able to change my old reindeers. The snow is not every where… I decided to make my world tour in magic kayak !

I am at the moment in Pau to obtain my magic kayak driver licence with Eric Deguil.

Fortunately that i passed a good part of the autumn to cut some wood.
My arms are strong !

Molan, new Burn, and Rebel are in my back.

All presents are in my host.

Immediatly take off !!!

With Gauley Season loooong gone and the leaves off the trees in Virginia I thought I would post a little photo essay of the local action we’ve experienced in late summer and fall. After two years of drought conditions, Nelson County and the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia are finally getting the rain love.

Spring started off with the 3rd annual Goshen Race on the Maury River in Virginia. This mass-start race is as grass-roots as it gets – as in no registration, no fee, no classes, and all Glory. There is reliable carnage (the only “prize” this year was a red speedo bathing suit for the swimmer. It was unclear whether the speedo was new or pre-owned). There is always plenty of trashtalking too. There were less than two dozen racers this year due to short notice from the race committee, but this race is about to pop – I expect a huge turnout in 2010. The 2-mile stretch of river is a beautiful course with not much flatwater. I took first this year but I almost felt dirty about it – the Speeder almost seems like an unfair advantage (almost!). Keep your eyes peeled for info on next year’s race.

The Speeder stretching it’s long sexy legs through Devil’s Kitchen:

We invested some time in May giving the local runs a thorough chainsaw flossing.

Eric and Gordon working it out:

This turned out to be time well spent when the goods ran for most of June.

It took some folks a while to dial in their creek-o-meter: A little too high…

…a little too low:

Almost there (that had to hurt):

Just right:

Once the “434″ crew got back into the swing, we starting firing it up in bulk. Seemed like every day had boating of some sort, and every weekend was a “creekend.”

Trafford going down in a blaze of glory:

The fish likes it wet…

…and so do the ladies:

After the creeks dried up we kept up the “training” with some work-out runs in the Speeders on the Rio James. Like Sublime said, “Summertime, and the livin’s easy…”

The wetness has continued into the fall. Yesterday Trafford and I did an after-work session on one of the many Nelson creeks going off this week. I drive over Paul’s Creek every day on my way to work and it’s short length and super-steepness make it a primo apres-work option. Pauls Creek is around 800 fpm and everything is runnable.

 About halfway through Pauls Creek you get to two large slides.  ”Chutes & Ladders” is the first of the the big slides.  I’ve seen broken ribs, broken boats, tweaked shoulders, bloody knuckles, and stout blows to the head happen here. I’ve sworn-off this drop off several times now, especially at low flow (like yesterday). But for some reason I usually end up running it anyway. Yesterday I opted for the shallow but somewhat less-sketchy right line:

A short pool leads into the next big drop.

Here Trafford drops into “Novelty” (aka, “Where’s Haynie?”):

The creeks are still running and more precip is in the forecast. Keep the boats loaded.

Photo creds to Trafford McRae, Gibson Barbi, Dave Perrault, and someone’s unidentified girlfriend.

Just one of Dartmoor's Classic run's the Erme

Three factors meant this weekend was always going to be a great weekend, all the usual suspects heading to the same location mixed with a (heavy) sprinkling of rain and Pyranha launching the new Burn.

Sara showing the 2010 Burn's slide ability

Saturday morning saw frantic activity around the Pyranha stand as the majority of UK Team P were picking up their new Burn’s to go play, with padding being thrown around and some rather desperate sharing of a rather rubbish screw driver everyone headed out to go and play on the various rivers around Dartmoor.

Jo show upmost composure in the gorge

Saturday night was spent catching up, partying through the small hours and wondering if torrential rain outside would give enough water for some of the more adventurous Dartmoor runs.

Enjoying the scenery

Sunday came with a very thick head, but, the rivers were definitely up, so off to play again.

Rich showing off his Boof

So what’s the 2010 Burn like? Well when I was told the Burn was going to get a once over, you could probably hear me scream the other side of the pond! It’s no hidden fact everyone loves the Burn. So how could Pyranha possibly make it better? Well the guy’s in R&D have listened to you lot and given you something you’ve always wanted.

One of the more 'surprising' rapids

The 2010 Burn is still all Burn, but on steroids, its quicker, quicker acceleration & faster in a straight line. It hold’s it’s line better in the white stuff, yet a quick paddle placement and it’ll change direction on demand. More rocker and more carve means you be boofing and flairing your way down the river but still get that crisp Pyranha signature carve across eddy lines. In short it’s a lot of fun, if you don’t believe me go try one yourself, they’ll hit the stores in the next couple of weeks…

Adam Carving round in the Everest

See you on the River

Ben

So… When Sam broke the news that our summer exploration of East Africa would be put on hold for a couple of major shoulder operations, I had to quickly find a new summer plan.

I can’t remember if it was my idea or if someone else put it into my head but I decided a thorough exploration of Siberian Russia might quench my desire.

Deciding that the best way to do this at such short notice was to find some Russians who already knew their way around, I came across Kayak USSR and Vasilii Porsev.

Kayak USSR run several trips in Russia and the former USSR from May to October and in return for my help and expertise on the river (and a little bit of cross-promotion; found here) Vasilii agreed to let me tag along for 6 weeks of the Summer.

My adventure began as soon as I landed in Irkutsk, with a 10 day self-supported expedition on the Kitoy River.

This incredible remote river, in the heart of Eastern Siberia, involved a variety of white water, ranging from class 3 to 5+, and a fair amount of physical endurance!

Above: Max Bilbow paddles the 15m fall on the Ehe-Gol

The Ehe-Gol and Beluty are tributaries to the Kitoy and incorporate some of the most amazing continuous creeking I’ve seen outside of Norway, making the full day’s hike in worth the effort.

The second part of this trip meant catching the Trans-Siberia railway to Novosibirsk and driving to Russia’s Altai region; a trip jam-packed with a huge variety of white water and shenanigans.

And angry fish.

My favourite Altai river (above) is the Majoy Gorge. 10km of solid class 4 and 10km of class 4/5 are separated only by a fantastically terrifying and committing class 5 canyon.

After a few days sessioning the Majoy, it had become, in my mind, one of those great home runs, comparable to Norway’s Aamot Gorge on the Sjoa River.

And even though shortly after the above photo was taken I managed to break myself sliding into the water, I was able to limp down the rest of the river to film Vasillii running the last big waterfalls of the trip… in his new Karnali.

This trip signals the beginning of production for Means of Production 2, expected for release during December 2010.

To get a more detailed insight into the Kitoy trip (and soon the Altai trip), visit www.maxbilbow.com.

That Kayak USSR cross-promotion again: kayakUSSR.com

The Yough Defense party at the Falls City Pub was a great success.  Money was raised to help preserve the Yough watershed.  Thanks to all involved in making this happen.   The Fern Cliff Collective kept the party bumpin playing all night long.  I really enjoyed the band.  Not only where they very talented, but Jess Hartman (rhythm guitar) is a long time kayaking partner of mine.  It was good to see those guys tearin it up, I was very impressed.  Here is a video form the party and some kayaking on the Yough.

Man, what a sick event!  The green race is straight up grass roots.  From the first racer out of the blocks to the bitter end of the after party.  Speaking of the after party, this was one of the best parties I have been to all year, kick ass for sure!   I, myself, didn’t go all that fast.  I hit some rocks, ran some stuff backwards, caught the notch eddy, anyway you get my point.  However, Pyranha did have three paddlers in the top ten;  Dustin, Rob, Jerry and Eric with a impressive 3rd place.  Here is a quick video showcasing demshitz.

A french frog with a strange pink helmet ran the Green narrow race for  second time.

Hungry because he didn’t win the last year, the frog trained very hard all the summer to climb at the first place.

After a good run in long boat (3rd place). He was ready for his favorite run: the short boat category with Karnali L.

“Go left or die”?  No, go left and go fast !!!

Fly frog, fly in Gorilla!!!

Awesome run !!! Frog was so happy after the finish line. But he didn’t win. Andrew Holcomb was 4 seconds faster.

No problem, The frog with pink helmet is second on ironmen.

And he will back on Green river the next year !!!

David Fusilli exit to go left.

Chan Jones enter in “Gorilla”.

Thank you to Dinver for to help me.

www.boushkanaka.com

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

The event is a big gathering of folks to descend the North Tyne and other local rivers depending on rainfall. On the Saturday evening there is a big ceilidh, this is similar to what I imagine line dancing to be but heaps better and without the hats.

Dave Rossetter & I took the Pyranha demo fleet up including a couple of new 2010 Burns. These got a lot of interest and a brilliant reception – keep your eyes peeled for this one!
The rest of the fleet, the Karnali’s, Z:1’s & Ammo’s are still as popular as ever with people queuing at 7.30am to get their hands on one!

Here is Glenn Tomlinson playing on the North Tyne weir, all similes in the new Burn! Cheers for the photo Glenn!

Dancing the night away!  Many thanks to Paul Wilkinson for this photo.  For more brilliant photos from Paul click here!

The next event is the Gene17 Adventure Paddler’s weekend in December, the demo fleet will be out again and members of Team Pyranha GB will be there to badger about outfitting, boat design, technique or inspiration for your 2010 trip plans.

Great news. All the consents have been approved and things are looking good for later this summer. Scott Shipley is in control of the design and building. 3 enhancements in total are planned with the first to be build next year and the rest, the following  year. It will be designed to work at all flows, 10 to 200 cumecs. This will give all year round boating!

Answers on a postcard to Sammy at Pyranha. Best one wins a packet of hobnobs, kindly donated by tomparkercoaching.co.uk

Raymondskill Falls

So while the rest of demshitz is either in south america running stouts or north carolina training for the green race I am stuck in Pennsylvania. To my luck it rained enough to bring up some steep creeks that i have been running since i started creek boating. 

Davids Falls

randy youngbuck on davids

sequence of me running flirting with disaster. Its a drop that falls completely on rocks. my friend eli landhis ran this first a couple of years ago. since then it has become a drop that is regularly run.