Having attended Dee Fest for the first time in 2024, I knew it was an event that I was keen to return to! If you’re not aware, Dee Fest is a white water kayaking festival on the river Dee in North Wales. It is also exactly the kind of event I love! A bit of friendly competition, time on the water with friends and lots of opportunities to have fun. Read on to hear about my account of Dee Fest 2025!
Friday: Arrival & Registration
We arrived on Friday evening and went to Mile End Mill to register for the weekend. Of course, being a kayaking event, you immediately bump into a number of long lost friends and so registration takes a while as you spend time chatting and catching up with those friends. Events like this always have such a lovely atmosphere for this very reason. Eventually we did make it over to Tanya, one of the event organisers, and her children who sorted us out with our wrist bands for the weekend.
Saturday: Racing, Tailees & Waves
I always get overly excited at kayaking events. I’m a social person and being around lots of people makes me really hyperactive. At the same time, I also get really excited about kayaking, especially kayaking with friends. So of course combine kayaking and lots of people and I am doubly excited!
One of the nice things about Dee Fest is that there are shuttles running all weekend between Horseshoe Falls, Mile End Mill and Town Falls. It means you don’t need to worry about driving (or parking!) anywhere and so we parked at Mile End Mill and chose to get the shuttle up from here.
I was changed and ready for a shuttle before 9am. Lovely Pete from Palm walked past me and goes ‘always the first on and the last off Del. Have fun!’ which I took as a compliment!
We shuttled up and headed to the river for the mass start race. If you have not paddled the Dee before, the classic white water section starts at Horseshoe Falls. You have to walk down the hill from the car park to get to the horseshoe weir. Llangollen is beautiful and I always think taking a moment at the top of this hill to appreciate how spectacular the view is is the way to go!
mass start race
As I arrived at the race registration, I saw Lowri who is one of the event organisers. She asked if I could help with sign ups so of course I said yes. Me and a lovely lady called Helen were doing sign ups for the men’s races. The way the mass start is set up is that the races are split by ability. There are three races – experts, intermediates and beginners. Men, women and juniors all race in the same races but are given different bibs so they are ranked differently. Me and Helen stormed through race registration and before we knew it, everyone was bibbed and ready to go!
Luckily whilst I was sorting the men’s registration, lovely Sam had got me a bib to compete in the women’s experts. I was thrilled that he had picked bib 1 for me. I was even more thrilled when the ‘glitter girls’ came across me and glittered me up for the day!
Lowri led a group briefing and then it was onto the expert race. We started below Horseshoe Falls and raced to just above Serpents Tail. I had thought it ended at the bottom of Serpents Tail so was expecting more carnage when I had signed up! We lined up and Lowri set us off for the race.
I enjoy a good mass start but if you chose to put yourself in experts, you do chose to race against some very competitive people! It was slightly chaotic to say the least. The river was low and this caused everyone to be driven into quite a narrow channel of where the water was flowing. I was paddling in the Firecracker and whilst a smaller boat had advantages in being nifty, I did get my tail paddled onto quite frequently which meant I was regularly paddling on my tail! Although the race was pretty short, it was a fun experience.
I stayed to watch the intermediate race, alongside a nice lady called Steph and we watched in admiration as they came charging down below chain bridge. There is something very exciting to a mass start and everyone should give it a go if they ever get the opportunity to! Afterwards, I made my way back up along the canal to head to the top eddy for the tailee jam!
tailee jam
A tailee (a stern squirt for my American readers) is where you dip the tail of your kayak under the water and hold it in an upright position. It’s usually done on an eddy line so that the water can catch your tail to make it easier to get it vertical. Messing around on an eddy line with friends is one of the most fun ways you can spend time in a kayak on the water!
The tailee jam was being held on an eddy line just below Horseshoe Falls and run by Pyranha Kayaks. I was asked if I could help rally people along (probably based purely on my talent of being loud) and so I encouraged every paddler I saw with a slicey boat or playboat to make their way to the eddyline!
I got on and paddled up to the eddy myself to join in with the fun. I was hopeful that some of the paddlers I had encouraged would be there, only to see that the eddy and eddy line was absolutely packed! A slightly carnage filled tailee jam was in full swing with kayaks going vertical in all directions.
I went in for a couple of tailees but struggled to get vertical as I was little scared of getting a kayak to the face. I resided myself to sticking in the eddy and having a good chat with people whilst watching the mostly younger generation battle it out on the eddy line. After a bit, things did calm down a little and the eddy line became less busy and less scary. I was also thrilled to have had a baby Pyranha sponge launched at me by David!
sparkle jam spectacle
Straight after the tailee jam, the squirt boaters came out to play on the same eddy line. Squirt boating is a wonderous sight if you have never seen it before. In a nutshell, you are more in the water than on the water and that is the aim!
social float
Those of us who had stayed to watch the squirt boaters then floated down to mile end mill, catching a few tailees on eddy lines along the way of course! Lots of people were commenting on the fact that the Dee was very low. Having spent many days on a low Dee, I have grown to really love it. All you need is a fun kayak and a fun mindset and the Dee is a fantastic playground for kayakers. It has many great little tailee and surf spots and is just a really fun river.
party wave
I couldn’t spend too long floating down however as David had asked for some assistance with running the party wave and the rodeo down on bottom wave at Mile End Mill. So off to bottom wave we went! The Party Wave was split into 2 waves (pun absolutely intended). The calmer wave happened first and was for people who didn’t want too much carnage. The chaos wave went second and was for people who embrace carnage. There wasn’t much more to it than that! As everyone was set off, I handed over the megaphone to Lucy and got in a kayak myself.
I do love a party wave but it is madness. Fun madness. Think rugby scrum but with kayaks and on white water. Anyone who fully commits to being launched onto generally does quite well.
rodeo
The party wave was followed by rodeo. Essentially a mini ‘fun freestyle’ competition. I helped with sign ups and sorting bibs. Each heat the paddlers would take turns to show us their ‘best moves’. I particularly enjoyed the paddle throws, Harry Potter spells and attempted pop outs.
It was during one of these heats that I noticed I had not eaten lunch and was suddenly very hungry. Luckily, the lovely Mim, whipped out a mini bag of mini eggs and kindly shared they with me. At T-fest last year, Mim also went to get me a hot chocolate mid event. This girl clearly knows the key to keeping me happy! Thanks Mim!
Pirate Party
Following a bit of media work and pizzas down by the river, we headed over to the Pavilion for the Pirate themed party. By the time we arrived, the place was already packed with people and it was a nice chance to catch up with a few people I hadn’t yet seen that day. My costume consisted of a modest eye patch and a stripy top, but I was very impressed with the commitment to dressing up shown by many of the paddlers in attendance! And even more impressed by some of the dance moves!
Sunday: Duckie Race & Inflatables
Ducky racing and fun!
Sunday turned out to be a glorious day in terms of the weather! We arrived at Mile End Mill in beautiful sunshine and got promptly put to work. Joe had brought duckies over from Jamie who runs Paddle the Dee. Jamie had kindly leant his duckies out for use for Dee Fest. Joe needed assistance in getting them inflated and so me and Sam teamed up along with a bunch more people and got inflating.
Duckies all ready to go, I geared up and paddled one over to the other side of the river, briefing stopping to assist Cam who was busy popping up the Palm banners on the island.
Chips had requested to be my partner the night before in the ducky race and so we grabbed a duo ducky and headed up for the racing to begin… only to find out that the duos were actually intended for use if you had a child or were assisting someone with a disability. Despite both of us having the mental age of a child, we of course relinquished our duo ducky and hopped into two single duckies instead.
Heats were run with 6 duckies at a time and the top 2 going through to the next round. When it came to my heat, I found out quickly the trick to winning was to not get taken out by the ‘pirates’. The pirates were various paddlers in the water who were happily sabotaging every ducky that went past them. The trick was to not get caught! I of course, along with almost every other paddler, did get caught by the pirates! Needless to say I did not make the top 2 paddlers!
If you can’t beat them, join them! As the next heats came down, I joined the many paddlers now lining the river to also become a pirate! Myself and fellow Palm buddies Chips and Cam lined up with one target in mind…. David Bain. David is a former slalom paddler and all round very nice person. David is also very competitive and likes to win. As David paddled past us, our team of 3 launched ourselves at him and took him out. Much to the delighted cheers of the other pirates.
Myself and Chips then boarded David’s ducky and joined him down to bottom wave. We then spent 10 minutes having some surfing fun together with me in the front and David then Chips behind me. We also acquired Darragh. It was the MOST fun! I did say at one point that it felt like I was being taken for a fun day out with mum and dad! I think David was done but humoured me for one more surf before heading back to the top. Big thank you to David, Chips and Darragh for the fun!
It was also lovely to meet John in this eddy (and nearly take him out with the ducky!) John is a long time reader of my blog so I thought I’d give him a special mention here. Great to meet you John!
After mum and dad (Chips and David) had to go back up to actually do some work, I needed to acquire a new ducky surfing buddy and so grabbed Cam to join me. The next few hours were spent having the most fun down on bottom wave. We also acquired Darragh again who was our front mascot for quite a long time. Eventually we had tired ourselves out and made our way back to the top for a break.
Inflatable carnage
If inflatables are involved, you know it is going to be a good event. Sadly my long term inflatable Myrtle the Turtle had acquired one puncture wound too many at Dee Fest last year and this year had to be replaced with Florence the Flamingo (named by Cam)! I also added some pirate attire to my costume with an inflatable sword and a pirates hat.
I was struggling to get the hat to stay on my helmet but the lovely Chips kindly sorted it for me using a combination of string and Palm stickers. Amazing his work lasted the rest of the event, despite me spending much of it upside down!
It turns out that Florence was an excellent surfer and stuck in middle hole really well! There was one moment where I was struggling to stay as I fell off the back of it. Luckily the lovely teenagers Jack and Jacob from Nottingham grabbed me and pulled me back up with them! I was very grateful! I also had several members of the safety team pop me back into an eddy at times as I floated a little too far downstream. Thanks guys!
It is just such good fun. Messing around on the water in the sunshine with lots of great people is the best! By the time the event ended, I did not have a single surf left in me. Me and Florence left the river utterly exhausted but very happy!
prize giving
Once everyone was changed and kayaks were loaded onto roofs, it was time for the prize giving. Lowri gave out the prizes, including the spirit of Dee Fest award. I was particularly proud of Cam who won the experts category for the juniors. It was nice to see everyone being celebrated, especially so many of the volunteers who made the weekend happen. Events like this require so much community good will and willing people in order to be successful so it is really lovely when those people are recognised.
Big thank you to everyone who helped make Dee Fest happen and who helped to make it fun. Shout out to all the people whom I shared the water or a conversation with this weekend – nice people are what make these events special. Another huge thank you to my media buddies who let me use their lovely photos in this article as well as being good fun to hang out with this weekend. See you all next year!
