Nile Kayaking Festival 2010

I'm sat in the organisers tent - the Boda Boda X has just finished and the Nile Kayaking Festival 2010 is now well and truly underway. I have a cold Club in my hand and the tunes are pumping. It's another classic day in Uganda and we're all having the best day ever!!

The results from the Boda Boda X are as follows...

1. Hassan Kanoli

2. Yusuf Basalirwa

3. Charles Luttaya

4. Timmy Flowers

5. Doug Greaves

Here's some photo's from today, I'll be sure to put more up soon.

Sweet!!

The Pig we're gonna eat in a couple of hours!
Dougy after he recovered from the race
Broken - Doug and the guys after coming in over the line.
For some a funnel of beer was a bit too much after the race!!
Tony from NRE enjoying himself.

The Boda Boda drivers waiting for the competitors to come in at Silverback...

Mass sprint towards Bujagali
The start of the race

The guys setting up the obstacle course
The Boda's before the race.

Well all good now - the next race is who can get drunk the fastest!!!

Zambezi...

I just made it down to the Zambezi. I arrived Sunday afternoon and after a few beers ended up getting the job as safety kayaker for a Water by Nature multi-day trip heading out the next day.

So here's a few pictures from that trip. Enjoy!

-Water by Nature truck-

-Davis in the gear raft paddling over to the beach at number 26-

-The moon's reflection from our camp at number 26-

-Portaging the rafts around Chimumba falls-

-Our camp at Moemba falls on the Zimbabwe side-

-Kids out fishing below ghoast rider-

-Helicopter packed up with gear for a short flight back up to Moemba-

-Dam Site from the air-

-We had an interesting drive back with bald tyres and no 4 wheel drive!-

-Eventually we totally destroyed the tyre-

More photos soon.

Five-day expedition down the Umzimvubu

In April I flew down to South Africa to meet up with fellow Fluid Team paddlers to paddle the Umzimvubu river in the Transkei. It was a chance to meet some more of the team, for all of us to get together and throw around ideas about new designs, get feedback from current designs, have some fun and show off the boat of the moment - the Detox!

-Celliers, David and I may have over shopped-

I flew into Jo-burg where I was met by Celliers Kruger and David Arnaud - the owner and the team manager of Fluid. Unfortunately my bags didn't come with me, and after a few hours waiting for the next flight to come in they still hadn't made it. So the next day after delaying the start of the trip me and David went for a quick paddle on the local run to test out the carbon Nemesis while we waited for my bags to be delivered.

-The Transkei and the Umzimvubu-

After a six hour drive we met up with the rest of the crew at The Falls Backpackers, right in the sickest paddling area of the Transkei. 12 in all we hung out and packed up our things and got ready for the 5 days of paddling that lay ahead. A long drive with 12 of us crammed into 2 bakkies we got to the river.

-Medium Detox in action, pilot, Andrew Kellet-

No one really knew what to expect on the first few days, maps seemed to suggest a decent gradient, but with low levels we had a pretty cruisy time. Everything was read and run except for the odd exception, but the were plenty of fun grade 3 rapids, and it was just awesome to be in good company on a long multi-day in the middle of an amazing place

-Kayak/windbreak/Kitchen/Bedroom-

Days were spent paddling, evenings spent cooking and swapping stories and nights spent looking at the southern cross and wondering whether it was going to rain and get us wet (for those of us not in tents).

-"So you're saying we're in South Africa?? I don't believe you!"-


-The pack approaches the falls-

For me the highlight of the trip came on day 3 when we made the waterfall. Me and Polly got a start ahead of the group so we could go get some shots of everyone else coming in. As we spent some time exploring everyone was unanimous that they weren't running the main drop. It is big and was definitely pretty sketchy at the levels it was running - maybe with more water it will look more appealing.

-Local women at the falls, the one on the right just got back from the spa-

-The big one - tricky lead in, will go with a bit more water-

So someone had the plan to lower the boats from the cliff and for us to walk around and pick them up - only problem the walk was about 2km!!

-Hugh Du Preez styling the mank-

Above the big drop were a couple of smaller little chutes - Hugh eyed one of these up - though it was pretty manky and no one else was keen. I on the other hand figured there must be something else to all of this. And whilst half of the group prepared for a portage on river left I grabbed Scotty Reinders and waded and jumped from rock to rock over to the right side. Over here we found a nice smaller waterfall, a little boof and a rock slide to end on. The beauty of it all was even if none of it was runnable it was easily portaged.

-Yep that's a waterfall. Photo Adrian Tregioning-

I took a little while checking it out. It wasn't that it was very big but it had rocks on the left half way down and on the right at the bottom. So you didn't want to mess it up. Me and Kellet got ready to huck.

-Kellet fires it up-

Andrew Kellet had a sweet line, getting turned sideways a little at the lip but managing to pull it back around and land straight. Some nice shots of the Detox in action right there...

-My turn, Photo Adrian Tregoning-

My turn next and I also got pushed a little sideways, however I didn't get it all the way straight at the bottom. I landed a little over rotated, but right where I wanted to away from the rocks and had a nice soft landing so all good on that one! Nice to hit some steeps again after a long time in a playboat! After we ran it Phil also fired it up, landed rather flat and put a big dent in the boat. After our progressively worsening lines everyone else left it be!

-Celliers looks up at the falls-

-The big man himself Celliers boofing the Vubu-

Next up after a spot of lunch by the falls a little boof. And then to the last slide. The slide after a quick scout looked runnable, but after closer inspection wasn't too great - a bit more water and it would be sweet but at this low level no one was keen. So we just threw the boats off and jumped off the cliff instead. Yeee Haaaa!

-Better to lower these with a rope eh?!-

Oops, what I meant to say was that throwing the boats off was a great idea until we tested the theory with young Scotty's boat and hit a rock and split the stern, sorry scott. So ropes it was!!

A nice little jump off the cliff and we were back on our way. Our 3rd day on the river we only paddled about 4km - as opposed to 40+km on days 2 and 4, however after the fun of the waterfall we decided to relax on a nice island we found, sip a little whisky and enjoy the night.

-Andrew Pollack cruising the rapids-

To be perfectly honest with you I think the above photo is from day 2, or maybe day 4, probably not in the right place, anyway it was one of many fun little rapids that kept us entertained on the way down the river allowing the group to reform and check on how everyone was doing. Often if we were paddling for 40+km we would be spaced a few kms, everyone in little groups, those at the front looking for lunch / camp spots and those of us filming and taking photo's waiting at nice rapids for the rest to catch up so we could get it documented.

-Sunrise-

I took this photo whilst still in my sleeping bag. Time was around 6am, morning after the waterfall so day 4. From under my tarp I see a funny glow, peek out and see this awesome sight. With my watershed bag at arms reach I managed to fire off about 4 shots before the colours faded into white and the land got brighter.

-Eee Orr-

After a 20km paddle before lunch on day 5 we stop where we think is the take out. If we miss it we have to paddle to the ocean. Fuck that. Anyway we had a long lunch, the drivers aren't coming to pick us up. They are coming. They're not coming we're staying the night with no more supplies other than a packet of smash. They are coming? You're sure? Yes. Ok we're on. Let's take photo's of donkeys and local kids with shit on their faces and drink some beers!! Happy days Umzimvubu Expedition 2010 success! Sweet river, awesome crew, awesome boats, cheers Celliers/Fluid and everyone else on the trip!!

-"You got any soap mister?"-



-Local kids in the Transkei-

So the next mission for me is Kenya, although I was supposed to get there today or at least be on a bus and I'm not as I have stuff to do here in Uganda. So fingers crossed the God's of rain will be kind and grant us a little more and I'll maybe get there in the next week or two for some steep creek action.

Other than that I had a bit of a play with the blog and turned it from green to orange. What do you reckon? Let me know - will @ loveitliveit.co.uk

Cheers and Beers!

Back on the water...

Last week I managed to find the time to get away from the lodge for a few days and head down to the river and hang out with friends.

We had a bit of fun sessioning some of the back channels, and then the next day we drove down to Nile Special.

I gave my Camera to a local kid - Ivan - who Sam pays school fees for and who we organised a photo workshop for in Jinja last year.

He managed to get some sweet shots, check them out.

-Photo by Ivan - edited by me-

It was my first session on the wave for a while and I definitely felt unfit after a few months out managing the lodge up at Sipi, I also need to spend some time getting a few moves fully dialed
in, but it was sweet to get out on the water and also sweet to be in my new Nemesis which is a pretty funky Lime green!!

Cool cool, hopefully I'll be back on the water properly soon and looking forward to a summer on the Nile and the Zambezi.

See you on the water!

The Nile Kayaking Festival 2009

We are happy to announce the dates of this years Festival. Now known as 'The Nile Kayaking Festival' it will be held on November 1,2,3.

This years event will be the last chance to compete down the famous Bujagali Falls and the Silverback section of white water before the completion of the Bujagali Dam project that will flood the section at some point next year.

We've changed the format this year from the previous few events and are going back to the competitions roots with a rolling rodeo competition that will see judges in rafts following competitors as they use 3 different wave features to score points.

We've scrapped the endurance race (thank God!) but kept the infamous 'Boda Boda X'.

A return this year too for Bujagai sprint races and a new addition will be raft racing over the same short course.

With this being the last chance to have races on Bujagali we're expecting big crowds, lots of competitors and an immense party. This is a way for us to say goodbye and thankyou to this section of river and we want everyone who can to come along and help us make this an event to remember!!

Full details can be found on the kayak the nile website - http://www.kayakthenile.com/events_freestyle09.htm

Norway

-Photo credits - Dan, Josh Neilson, Sam Sutton, Michele Ramazza and Ian Garcia -

So I've been pretty lame with the blog lately. I just got back from Norway 2 weeks ago and have been working hard on the river for Love it Live it since then. All is good and nice to be enjoying the Nile and learning some new tricks - I decided to learn clean blunts, Helixes and Pistol Flips last week and all efforts are going pretty well!!

So it's all good and fun times all round. If you want a more in depth report of Norway have a look at www.fluid-junction.com or www.whitewater-koa.blogspot.com , where I've posted more and Josh has also written a bunch of stuff and posted more photos.

I'm currently sat in Kampala waiting to pick up my new work permit and waiting for our second LiLi group to arrive from the airport. The first week was sweet - great people and great times.

Take it easy.

Will.

Voss Extreme week...

The last two weeks I've been in Norway getting into some creeking and also competing at Voss Extreme week. Extreme Week brings together the best Kayakers, BASE jumpers, Skydivers, Paragliders, Moutain Bikers, Skiiers and Snowboarders in a week long extreme sports and music festival...

I came out here as a bit of a last minute decision and hoooked up with Josh Neilson and a bunch of the Kiwi boys...

The kayaking involved 3 different competitions. The first was the time trial held on the race section of the Brandseth River, a super cool 2min (or less) run with big slides cool tight and technical drops and a nice 5m waterfall to test everybody's skills.

I had a quick practice the day before down the section, but come race day I hit a couple of eddies and lost time and didn't make the cut for the final runs. In the end Michele Ramazza won on the combined 2 run's and went away with the top prize - Sam Sutton came a close second with the fastest single run in the final.

After a bit of lunch came the Team race.; This was run on the upper Brandseth - a fairly full on section of white water. With temperatures hitting 30 degrees and snow melting fast the water levels came up to a super high level - and some of the womens teams opted out of the race. Having only run the section once before I was sticking close behind Josh and tring to remember the lines as best I could. Our team was me Josh Neilson and Jamie Sutton, and we ended up placing 4th out of the 12 teams competing.

At the end of the team race everybody was pretty stoked - there was a lot of carnage and a few cuts and bruises - every single team had at least a small beat down or mishap. It was an awesome race section and super fun to be paddling full on into all those slides and drops!!

We had a few days off until the next competition on the saturday which was the head to head race. This was on a mellower section of river and a pretty short section. I got drawn up against Tyler Curtis and Michele Ramazza and with only the winner of each heat going through I didn't make the final. In the end the Final was an all Kiwi affair with Sam and Jamie Sutton racing Mikey Abbot, Sam came powering through and won with Mikey second and Jamie third.

During the week there were lots of pretty wild parties and a lot of great boating elsewhere. For photos of the extreme week check out Ekstremsportveko

I'm currently sat in Mikey's house baking in 40 degrees of heat, I've got 2 more days of paddling here in Norway then I'm heading back out to Uganda, I think I have a 13 hour stopover in Dubai, so I'll sort out the photo's and get some more posts up then.

Nepal Teaser Video...

Hey everyone - here's a little movie I made from our recent trip to Nepal, just a bit of an overall feel of the place and some photo's. I'll sort out a more action oriented one soon from our Upper Seti mission.

Enjoy.