Little update from Pikey

By Pikey

Hi Dudes and Dudetts,
I had a wicked sunday paddling at a somewhat special place. a place called Symonds Yat. 10 years ago this little stretch of moving water was the first i’d set eyes on. i paddled it in an old school Dancer with a skeg on the back. i can even remember seeing a dog surfing on the back of a kayak. It was cool.

This time i was trying my first bit of whitewater in an open boat. a new challenge i’ve decided would be good fun to try out. I’m glad to say I was pretty impressed with how good i was doing even though i did swim once.(Mr Cooper says it wasn’t a swim as i did a self rescue.)

i was shocked but also delighted to see was to friends i met up with and coached on the ottawa river last year, both styling up the river with ferry glides braking in and braking out, Guy and Kim have a winning smile along with such passion for kayaking. Catching up with them and seeing them strut there stuff totally made my day.

I’ve also made it to my first youth freestyle series up on the mighty Nene, A great competition for both new juniors and some of GB best juniors. A well run event with so many paddlers, what i liked most of all is how the organizers loved having the parents join in on the water. i’m looking forward to making the next one at my local spot Boulters coming up July 11th. What did get me is how many JK boats where on the water, the Shooting Star and Star certainly as been a big hit here in the UK with juniors. Check out this cool series at www.youthfreestyle.co.uk.

Pikey