Tuesday, 24 February 2009

Hi Everyone!

Hi guys and girls! For those who don't know me, my name is Hugh and I've just started working in the shop at riverside now that Cath is moving on to the JR hospital. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone from the club that I haven't already bumped into.

As Rob said in an earlier post I've just got back from a 6 week trip to Uganda. I thought I'd post a few photos from the trip and let you know how awsome it is.

So I left on the 3rd of January with a mate from school, Paul Sopes (in the photo above I'm on the right and Scopes is on the left). We booked the tripwith 'Kayak the Nile'. If anyone is thinking about going out there, I highly recomend using these guys as they make it so easy! We started boating right away - on the morning of the 4th.

The first thing that you notice is that there is no shortage of huge rapids.


Above: Scopes running Kalagala and Bujagali (right line)


Me dropping into 'Blade Runner' previously known as Blade Breaker!



Green tree snake, photographed on the Hairy Lemon (right outside our tent!)




The wildlife is truly stunning! We spent 3 days on safari at murchison park. Here there is an incredible game park where we saw everything other than lions. Perhaps the biggest attraction here is the falls itself where almost all of the nile is channeled through a 5m wide gap where the river drops into the African Rift Valley.

But as you can see from the first two photos of the snake and dragon fly you don't have to go far to see amazing wildlife.

I think the main reason that I wanted to go to the White Nile was to surf on the Nile Special; this is a wave about 8-9 feet high that can deliver air time unlike any waves in the UK. To surf this wave however, you need to get the hang of the rope.

Once you've got the rope sorted its time to start throwing some stuff.

Below is a photo of me throwing a Pan-am on the nile Special.

Check out Peter Csonka doing a Clean Helix.

Oh and probably the best thing about kayaking in Uganda is there is no reason for wearing a kag!
The landscape of Uganda is really incredible, particularly at sun set.

Towards the end of our trip the water level dropped very low in the mornings (water levels can change depending on electricity requirements as the river is dam released). This meant that further down along the Nile special wave train Club wave began to work!


Scopes doing a 'donkey flip' on club.

Me learning how to 'Pistol Flip'.


It's always nice to do a bit of familiar low-volume play back at the Hairy Lemon Hole.


The people in Uganda are fantastic, they're friendly and really good fun. The picture above shows a few of the rope kids watching and apparently really enjoying the boating at the Nile Special.

Check out this video of our trip too (make sure you check it out with the HD option):

Look forward to meeting everyone.

Hugh

Monday, 9 February 2009

Tricks Vids

Finn and myself have been asked to produce some how to vids for tvfreestylers. The first of these can be seen below. It would be great to get some feedback on what you think of them as we go. They are after all for you guys!

Happy viewing

Monday, 2 February 2009

Its all a bit SPECIAL.....

So recently the Riverside Team have been all over the place making the most of life, Hugh emailed me from Uganda today

"Hey mate, How's it going? hope you had a good time in South Africa. Uganda is awsome - We've been paddling like crazy. Here are some photos that scopes took. See you in a few weeks.

Hugh"

In addition to this 6 of us have just come back from Snow boarding in Les Arcs in the french alps... we had such a good time that we only took one photo


More updates soon so keep your eyes peeled

Ciao for now

Rob

Thursday, 22 January 2009

Dartmoor Creeking




Team ROx had a creeking trip to Dartmoor planned and for once it chucked it down for a couple of days before hand. So much so that the planned run of the Upper Dart was scrapped and pastures new were to be explored.
I have to say that my enthusiasm waned somewhat when my alarm went off at 5am, but I dragged myself down to Riverside along with a load of others, played out the epic that is tying boats on a trailer and headed off into the dark.


The plan was to do the Middle Tavy from Hill Bridge down to Tavistock, which on paper sounded like it could be pretty good fun. Rob vaguely remembered doing it, but for the rest of us it was an unknown. We all got the to get in (eventually!) and the level looked pretty good so the mission was on :0)

Well, what a river! The first 5-6km was pretty continuous grade 3 with some long rapids that usually meant you lost sight of your team at least once. This was a good chance for everyone to build their confidence at having to pick their own way down. This is just about the best river I have ever done at the grade, with a little something for everyone. A much better run than the Dart Loop and only a slightly longer drive- brilliant!



Matt

Tuesday, 20 January 2009

Winter Sale 31st Jan - 1st Feb

In need of a new creeker after a boney winter season?

Pick up a bargian on the sale weekend!

Dagger Nomad RRP £849 Sale Price £599
Available Sizes:- 8.1 & 8.5 in last seasons colours

Liquid Logic Jefe RRP £799.95 Sale Price £599
Available Sizes:- Jefe Chico, Jefe & Jefe Grande in last seasons colours

Liquid Logic Remix RRP £749 Sale Price £599
Available Sizes:- 59 in last seasons colours

Pyranha Burn RRP £889 Sale Price £699
Available Sizes:- Small, Medium & Large in last seasons outfitting

Pyranha Ammo RRP £889 Sale Price £699
Available Sizes:- Small, Medium & Large in last seasons outfitting

For junior paddlers:Liquid Logic Remix RRP £499 Sale Price £399
Available Size:- 47 in last seasons colours

More offers to come during the next week......

Saturday, 17 January 2009

2009 Courses with Riverside

We are very excited to announce that our new 2009 brochure is now available here!

The brochure includes UKCC coach training and assesment, BCU Star awards, Introduction and further development courses for Open Canoeing and Kayaking and a range of summer holiday courses for 11 - 16 year olds.

We hope that you enjoy having a look through, if you want to book in, download a booking form

For further information, give us a call on 01865 248673 or drop us an email riversidecentre2@btconnect.com

Yours in Paddling,

The Riverside Team

Tuesday, 13 January 2009

House - 'Mr Potatohead'

So as House returned for another cold and wet Thursday evening, Connor, Joel, Louis, Dan and Toby all turned up to the centre for a laugh and a bit of fun to lighten the day up. The evening's activity was entitled 'Mr Potato head' and consisted of a lot of vegetables, tape, some cocktail umbrellas and a camera. The idea was to make a comic-strip/movie out of vegetable characters, odd, it may seem, but this session turned out to be one of the best.

I was planning to put the video on the blog but it does not seem to be working, so here is the YouTube link - http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=oRij3kGqLT4
Please remember it is only a work in progress.

If you have got any suggestions then drop us an email.

Joel Silver