Anyone who knows me will know how much I love kayaking and how often I like to bring up kayaking in conversation. ‘What are you doing this weekend?’ – ‘Hopefully kayaking!’. ‘What do you want for Christmas?’ – ‘Rain so I can go kayaking!’ etc. It is so much a part of who I am that it is easy to forget the reasons why I am so obsessed with it. This week one of my students asked me the question ‘what exactly is it that you love about kayaking so much?’
This week has been a fabulous week because I had a new boat arrive – a beautiful shiny Pyranha Scorch! Always an exciting event! But before you can take a new boat out on the water, it is a good idea to outfit it to fit you. This blog is a quick guide to how I outfit a new kayak. I’ve also included some extra tips for outfitting a whitewater kayak as a woman.
Having people to inspire us when it comes to pursuing a sport we love is invaluable. Whether it is someone we have never met but love following their adventures or a close friend or family member who helped us learn to paddle. They help to motivate us to get out and improve our own paddling. I asked on my social media accounts to hear about who was inspiring YOU this year and got to learn about so many amazing people. I’ve split these inspiring people into themed groups and have chosen one person from each of these groups to share with you. Enjoy!
A year ago we all waved goodbye to the madness of 2020 and looked to a brighter 2021. Then it started with a 4 month national lockdown (in the UK) and a stop to any whitewater paddling for most. Yet I have probably logged more hours of paddling this year than any other year. I’ve also been able to share some great days on the water with friends again and just appreciate those river days. Here is a personal reflection on paddling in 2021.
If you have ever told a non-paddling friend that you ‘kayak’, they probably pictured sprint or slalom kayaking. Why? Because they are Olympic sports and therefore tend to have the most publicity. But there are so many other wonderful paddling disciplines beyond these two. Paddlers involved in these disciplines range from world champions breaking records and pushing the boundaries to complete beginners trying it for the first time. I asked 6 paddlers who are passionate about their discipline to tell me a bit more about their sport and what they love about it. Read their stories below and let them inspire you to try a new form of kayaking.
Tomorrow is the deadline for this year’s application for the 2022 British Universities Kayaking Expedition, otherwise known as BUKE. I have known about BUKE since I first started paddling in the UK. It is an incredible and highly sought opportunity for student kayakers. I thought I would write an article about it so that more people know what it is and don’t miss their chance at applying. Hopefully by the end of this article, if you are a student kayaker, you will already be writing your application!
See my note at the end if you have left it a little late to start your application!
We all know that if you make a mistake, the best thing to do is own up and apologise for it. Hit your friend in the head with your paddle as you drop into the eddy? Say sorry. Bash into the side of them as you cross an eddy line with a little too much enthusiasm? Say sorry. But what happens when the mistakes you are apologising for are only visible to you? What happens when the only standard you are willing to accept is perfection? Should you continue to say sorry for not being, as seen through your own eyes, ‘good enough’?
It has taken me a long time to realise that I am a perfectionist and an even longer time to admit it. I have found that this personality trait has had a real impact on my paddling, both positive and negative. Learning to cope with my perfectionism is still very much an ongoing process for me but I wanted to share some of my thoughts on here. Ironically this article isn’t perfect and I don’t have all the answers. But maybe it may help someone who is reading this. Equally, anyone reading who has more ideas than me, please do get in touch!
Nobody told me when I started kayaking just how much gear is involved – especially when more than one person in your house paddles! A lot of people who start out in kayaking ask me what gear is worth investing in first or what my favourite bits of kit are. So this blog is dedicating to discussing 5 of my most favourite pieces of kit, from a woman’s perspective.
‘Buy a playboat if you want to get better at kayaking!’ If you are a whitewater kayaker then I am sure that these words will sound familiar. It took me 5 years of paddling before I finally bought a playboat and now I wonder why I waited so long. I had assumed freestyle was not for me and yet there have been so many unexpected benefits of spending time in a playboat. I am sure that the ‘benefits of playboating’ has been covered many times before, probably by people much better at playboating than me. But here is top 6 reasons from the viewpoint of a paddler who enjoys running rivers.
A while ago I saw Lowri from FlowFree advertise a ‘Looptastic’ course at HPP. Having bought a playboat in lockdown, learning how to loop it has been one of my goals over the last year. Whilst I have made improvements off the back of tips from kind friends, I still have a long way to go. Having considered getting some freestyle coaching for a while – this course looked like the perfect one for me! This weekend my highly anticipated day of learning to loop with Lowri took place and I wanted to share it on here!