Heading south

Every year or two I find I need to head south, sometimes for pleasure, but usually out of necessity. 

Things always change, last time it was power sockets and in flight magazines, plus my first Oyster card. This time there are strange tables that pull out for laptops, and being close to First Class there is free Wifi. 

It brings to mind flying back in to Heathrow many years ago after 6 weeks off the beaten track inIndia and Nepal. The cultural divide is there despite having the same technologies at home the paradigm is very different. 

At home I walk to work with hills all around, the views include paragliders, the castle ruins, hills going up a thousand feet in every direction, and one of the best white water rivers in Britain.  London initially hits me as busy and bustling, hi tec and high energy but trains are stuffy and it takes over an hour to travel 10 miles. 

Metropolitan line trains are now clean and open, it's disconcerting to see how much the carriages move up and down, but looking down the train as you go round a bend is great. 

I'd forgotten about all the green spaces and found some new ones in Richmond as google told me the eBay office is in the middle of a park, the walk managed to keep my head clear anyway. 

After an interesting conference I had enough of Transport for London and made my way along the South Bank past runners, a circus, the big wheel and a myriad of bustling bars and restaurants, entertainments and side shows until time ran out and I had to hop on the tube again. 

That was enough London for now but it reminded why some love it here and it seems to get nicer and cleaner as the years go by. 

So I did what I came for, a Sellerdeck Conference, caught up with my brother and sister in law and came away with a freshened view of our ever changing capital. 

But little brother please if you must pour so much good wine in my glass at least get up in time to show me how to use the Tassimo. Dare I say lightweight? We only drank til five, why weren't you up t seven to make me coffee like the Bon viveur  you are?

A new Business is Born

It's exciting starting a new business, not something I have done for about ten years.
A new business partner, a fresh start, different aims and objectives and not the organic process I have followed before.
Everything is nearly ready
Insurance tick
Ops procedures tick
Web site tick
Equipment tick
Main Sales channel tick
etc.

We are up and ready to run.

So why a new business?

Well it wasn't totally my idea, and many of mine fall by the wayside as I know what to do but don't have the time, so with my knowledge and my business partners time and enthusiasm we have what we believe to be a winning combination.

So what is this business then?

An adventure experience
Kinda like white water rafting for one
Lots of adrenaline
Great for resellers, a new product in a busy market
Brilliant fun
Accessible
New in North Wales
Early in it's development in the UK

Here's a taster,

Booking dates will be up later today so here's the website for White Water Tubing UK Ltdhttp://whitewatertubing.co.uk/

A Royal Reception at Buckingham Palace - Shaking hands with the Queen and other Famous People December 8th 2011

I was laying tongue and groove floor one monday morning at home, coming to the end of a long project, whet Sal rang from the office,

"There's a letter here from Buckingham Palace, can I open it?" 

OK I can't stop in the middle of this job, what does it say?

"It's an invitation to a reception at Buckingham Palace, next month, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen will be there, the Queen has commanded that you be invited, it says to wear a lounge suit" 

In the exact words it says,

"A reception given by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to mark the centenary of Scott's final expedition to the South Pole. The reception is intended to recognise the accomplishments of those involved in exploration and adventure in pursuit of achievement, research or education."

The Invitation to Buckingham Palace

Excited, you bet I was, as soon as the floor was laid it was off to M&S for a new suit and tie, booked my brothers spare room and wondering who I would meet there. I confirmed my attendance with the master of the household and booked my train.

Off the tube at Victoria and a stroll along Bucking Palace Road took me to the Queen's gallery and the moving photographs from both Shackletons and Scott's last expeditions to the Antarctic, the pictures of Shackleton's ship the Endurance trapped in the ice then raised up and crushed to bits, the Dogloos on the ice, and the rather poor, and I am told inappropriate ponies of Scott's expedition along with the moving presentation of the ship being lifted up by the ice bring it all back to life.

A dry run to the Palace brought me to a police box where I asked wher to come in the the evening, "Not here sir, you get to go in the front gate round the corner". It's special looking at the front of Buckingham Palace with all the guards and the clicking tourists and knowing that you'll be inside later on.

That left me a couple of hours to kill, but a meal and finding somewhere to change at Victoria Station soon meant it was time to get to the Palace. On the way I met Justine Curvengen expedition sea kayaker and film maker, with a massive yellow Ortlieb dry bag swung over her shoulder, I felt a bit less self conscious with my wheeled carry on bag after that. A very smartly dressed queue it was. As we waited in line for security checks Rheinhold Messner pushed into the queue behind me, very European of him, but at the Palace!

Once inside we were give some info on the exhibits from the Royal Archive on show, along with the archivists, and of the ten members of the Royal Family in attendance, though i din't read that bit 'til I got home.

Whisked into the amazing State Rooms and plied with champagne I met an amazing selection of people, I will mention a few.

A glaciologist, some cave divers, the head of a new academy that uses outdoor pursuits and produces great results with third generation unemployed people. The first man to hang glide in the UK (1974) who now breaks helicopter flying records, Phil Blain Chairman of Canoe Wales, two round the world sailors. I spotted Chris Bonington and spoke brefly to Michael Palin, had a long chat to the lovely Helen Skelton of Blue Peter, she was off to the South Pole the week after.

It was soon time for the line up, grinning like an imbecile I was presented to the Queen and  the Duke of Edinburgh then back round for more champagne and canapés and chatting to lots more people some famous and some more interesting, the head of the RGS who assured me they look after Gino Watkins kayak very carefully. Bear Grylls, who loves North Wales and has heard of ProAdventure and is still the the Chief Scout. I met a chap who did the flights over Iceland for all the research done during the recent volcano eruption. After a quick word with Alan Hinkes in the queue for the cloak room it was over all too soon.

A very special evening in amazing company in an opulent beautiful building, a very proud day for me but I still don't know why I was invited. Speaking to the Palace staff it is a very lengthy process, when they have decide upon a theme they approach organisations related to the them for recommendations, then research some more and decide who to invite. I feel very honoured and proud to have been to the Palace and even had a conversation with the Duke of Edinburgh.

Tai Chi in the Snow - A Week in the Swedish Wilderness

Every few months we get an email from OAS, the Outdoor Academy of Scandinavia, they are eagerly received by the shop staff keen on some training in the wilds of Sweden or Norway. This March was my turn for a trip away in the snow. After hunting  out what information I could on what boots were suitable for snow shoeing and what I could get from our suppliers at the end of a cold winter season I ended up with a pair of I ended up with a pair of Hi-Tec Winter Boots and some Rab Down Booties for in the sleeping bag in the cold northern nights.

Kit list complete I booked my two flights to Ostersund, north of Stockholm with an overnight stop at the superb Jumbohostel at Stockholm Arlanda Airport.

Next morning began the usual game of spot the people who are catching the same flight as you who are on the same trip. A multi national bunch from all over Europe with oversized bags and big warm boots stood out from the other passengers. Arriving at Ostersund airport (the only airport I know of with a small Tentipi inside and giant one outside), we were loaded into the waiting coach for our journey to the mountains. 


Kit issue is always well organised at these events, find your rucksack with your name on it, check everything fits and swap what you aren't happy with. With some persistence I managed to get a pulka to myself, well I asked if there was one, it seemed a better idea to have my kit on a sledge rather than on my back.


Next came a whirlwing of training, clothing and sleeping bags from Haglofs and Klattermusen, tents from Hilleberg, underwear from Woolpower and stoves from Primus.


Next day we were off into the wilds, pitching our tents and boiling up snow for drinks and food, all set up in snow deeper than our thighs we had a talk from the nature reserve warden about the park and how to work in harmony with the environment and wild life.

 

 

We were split into groups of ten or so, then into tent pairs, changing tents each night. The  first job on camp was always to get the cook tent up, dig out the floor and get a brew on. Each day a different tent pair was give the leadership role, in charge of the group and navigation for the day, a task I managed to avoid until the last day.

The first team decided to ignore the ski trails and take a short cut towards the days destination, the picture shows how much climb you can find between 10m contours, and you can't always get back down where you think it might be possible from the map. Virgin snow in snow shoes and big packs wasn't everyone's idea of fun.

Last team to the camp site, we where soon set up and cooking, with petrol stoves, reliable and quick to melt the snow.

Next day was a training day, with tent pitching races, clothing quizzes, navigation exercises and more, great fun with scores kept for the end of week prize giving. doing a team impression of the fibres in woolpower underwear was a highlight, if only I hadn't lost the photos.

After a good nights sleep came the highlight of the trip, I have always wanted to dig and sleep in a snow cave, and this was the day. If you have dug a snow cave you will know that you want a steep slope of reasonably compact snow. If you are building a dozen snowholes and get the last spot where the slope is getting too gentle, you know the work is harder. In a steep slope you dig your snow out and throw it out the door and it falls down the slope, we dug it out, threw it once, then threw it again before it went down the slope. A four man hole takes a long time to dig, but we got there in the end, though we didn't add the loo one of the teams dug.

That was our warmest night by far, snug and quiet in the snow after six hours of hard digging. When we awoke we dug ourselves out to a gorgeous sunny morning, all the snow caves had disappeared in to the slope with the drifting snow, a couple were dug out from six foot drifts.

After a good hot breakfast of muesli with chocolate chips, we headed off into some good foggy mountain weather, a big climb with packs  and pulkas we pulled together as a team, down in to the valley and we passed a state complex of huts, and even a little shop, staffed all winter and placed at the junction of mountain valleys, up hill again, and back in to the weather to our last mountain camp site. After passing several ice falls, and with the dark creeping in we set up camp in the woods.

A down hill day, most of the way back out of the wilderness. Pulks pushing us gently down the track, fox tracks on frozen lakes and a short day to a great camp site with room for all our tents below a great little hill. A tempting little hill, so up we stomped in the snow first for the views and second for the night glow one of the team organised, every tent glowing with torch light in the dark.

The last day dawned, an with it our turn to lead. Not wanting to do the day job, I offered to navigate and let my tent partner lead. Then we got our task, a day of navigation, their aim to get us walking through trackless winter forest. Our first leg took us to a frozen lake, and our second to a clearing in the trees. Having given us our last objective, a ribbon lake 3k away they decided that instead of a nice easy approach with a catching feature and an attack point for the middle of the lake I had to take us straight there on a bearing. After an hour of fighting through the woodland, from tree to tree and taking back bearings on our track I stopped and pointed out the way to the lake. They wouldn't let me take the route I knew was the way to the lake, when they showed me the GPS I understood why, a perfectly straight line through 3k of woodlands, snow drifts, thickets and frozen lakes, past strange trees and animal tracks. All with an impromptu Tai Chi lesson to help the team keep their snow shoes on the top of the snow.

So after a hot lunch on a frozen lake we headed back, past the first liquid water we had seen for five days, down to the sports complex for well earned beer, hot tubs and rolling in the snow, and a grand Swedish banquet with quizzes, prizes and our Outdoor Ambassador of Scandinavia certificates. From the meeting at the airport to the slideshow of our escapades in the bar, the Woolpower factory tour and the very cheap, sightly soiled Scandinavian Outdoor kit we came home with, the Swedes have shown us once again that they really know how to to retailer training in the great outdoors.


With thanks to all my group, and the organisers of a fantastic week I hope you have as fond memories as do and are looking forward the next trip to Sweden.

A Taste of Stand Up Paddling on White Water

All set for after work with two boards on the car I rushed back from our Level 1 coach course and head for Mile End Mill with Ant, probably the UK's only white water Stand Up Paddling Expert, fresh from paddling Low Force Ant was going to introduce me to this new white water sport.

 For those of you who know Mile End Mill, we started on the nursery slope by the buildings, Ant teaching me to switch feet at the right moments. You carry your weight on the back foot and trim with the front foot, switching where you want to change edge. The boards respond well to edging and weight shifts.

We ran the middle stopper a couple of times then ran the bottom drop with Ant surfing the wave half way down in good style. After an hour or so on the water and several surf/swims in the bottom hole we headed back to the car park before I was too tired to carry the board. It's very physical and hard work on your core, but on the way back up I started driving with my legs, which will make it easier next time, yes there will be a next time I am sure.

But before that Ant will have me out in a pink Jackson Star, introducing me to freestyle in the modern sense. The last event I entered was a Hurley Rodeo, I got through to the second round with a reverse surf in a borrowed rotobat, some 20 years ago, so I think things may have changed.

To find out more about Stand Up Paddling and video of Ant landing Low Force visit Ant's Facebook page

Level 5 coach Development Day 6 

Back on the Dee with Elaine and Gerwen, Pete to coach first

Checked if wants had changed, Elaine happy with the theme of developing confidence, Gerwen wanting to learn more about reading water.

Would have been good to have asked how they felt today, tired, brain full etc.

On the top pool got them to warm up and think about what they did yesterday. Elaine was doing fine. Gerwen had lost all rotation from his forward paddling. Worked on keeping the top arm level, a clean slice out of the water and not bending the back arm. Still not working so came up with an Austin Powers fembot analogy, shooting enemies to either side with his nipple guns, 10 degrees to start then 20 degrees, this finally brought in rotation and he could feel it in his back. So we ended up with a short powerful stroke, I wanted to move on to the beachball between the arms to stop bending of the back arm. Spikes next step if that didn’t work would have been to get him to put his hands right out to the blades.

Now i had been neglecting Elaine, giving her some trim tasks on the jet, the tasks were not specific enough and the venue was rubbish. I could have dropped down below the bottom drop, got Elaine working on some decent water and still had flat water to work with Gerwen. I don’t think I finalised that session before I started working on the next theme. I ended up changing venue and task, breaking the flow.

Running the top drop got them to think about trim (which Elaine had been working on today, and Gerwen yesterday) this didn’t work and would have been better just having fun paddling down rather than shifting threads.

Next below the top drop I wanted to get them both paddling more efficiently. I asked Gerwen just to paddle across behind the big rock and back then asked him to use the river features to make it easier, that worked. With Elaine I asked her to paddle across and back without first defining efficiency, too loose a task, then I asked her to use the river features specifically the wave below the “hole ” on river left, the mid eddy and to ride the back of the small stopper over toward the big rock. I chose this approach because she dropped down a lot on the cross, but i think that, rather than lack of understanding this dropping down was down to the lack of confidence that Elaine was aiming to work against. When I specifically asked her to use the wave she still missed it due to timidity and not using the sweet spot but trying to use a run up which she then stalled.

Moving on we ran the middle drop, I again tried to get them to use trim to help with the drop and I wanted Elaine to stick with a planned route, which she had not done on the top drop. Again Elaine changed her mind, Gerwen ran it OK without sinking. Again I feel I gave Elaine two things to work on and wasn’t specific enough in my instructions.

On to the mini wave 30m below the bottom drop hole/wave.

Spike pulled me aside and got them to play on the wave and asked me a question of both of them

• What do they need to fix here
• How do they like their information

I correctly identified that they liked getting answers drip fed to them and they both needed to sort their position when getting on the wave. Both the same basically.

So i got permission to be more directive, and things started moving forward quickly. Gerwen was going in too fast and bouncing off the front wave, Elaine either being too timid and not getting on the wave or hitting it too high. At this point a demo would have been really good, I fell into the trap of playing with the newer toys of questioning and task setting when a demo would have spoken volumes to them, as would framing the task with the simple “We are going to work on surfing, using our position on the river to work with the river and make life easier”. Anyway, I made them stop the boat and find the sweetspot to get themselves easily on to the wave. I started using bandwidth feedback, discouraging the negatives and reinforcing the positives to improve their performance. I was missing some basic observational points, Elaine went back to taking a run up and was bouncing off the wave. Once Gerwen was getting on the wave consistently he was dropping off the back when he ruddered to turn, his rudders were out to the side and too far forward creating a lot of drag, I got him to move them back and parallel to the boat and voila, he stayed on the wave consistently. Once they both got consistent quality performances we broke for lunch. If it weren’t for lunch time interceding a change of venue t o the bottom wave would have been ideal for carrying on the thread. They also where consciously using trim on the wave, a great session with some good questioning from Spike to keep me on track while coaching students with a  high level of performance.

Things I missed? I didn’t box off subjects with summaries and clear reasons for moving on, nor did I frame each new thread with motivation for the students or give them my aims for each session. Early on in the session I didn’t fix variables enough, and when getting them to work things out, I wasn’t clear in what I wanted them to look for.

The afternoon – Dan runs a great session on boofing and trim

Warm up on the top pool, hop out to inspect the top drop, great preamble about what he was looking to get out of the session for them, then repeated running of the drop just to the right of the boof rock, adding in timing, angling the boat so it goes straight when you do the boof stroke, dry land drills on lifting the feet. Then a change of venue to the middle hole for some great performances keeping the front deck dry, even in a Pyranha Stretch.

Next question from Dan “would you like to head down river to somewhere you can put this in to practice in a bigger environment”, and off to town falls. 6 on the mile end mill guage, so after an inspection Dan got Spike to demo a line running from left to right to boof off the anvil. Elaine nailed it, running the rapid despite a previous bad experience hitting a rock at the bottom she overcame her nerves to give a great performance, Gerwen didn’t get enough speed across the current and ended up flipping in the pot but rolled well. All out at the Ponsonby car park.

Spike was happy to say little in the debrief, other than a great session at level five standard, the only thing he might have added would be making sure they where aware of short term trim (boofing) and long term trim (leaning back), awesome one Dan.

Gerwen on the Town Falls Approach in Llangollen

For me a great day, knowing where I am and where I am moving towards, lots of positives and lots of ways I know how to improve, big smiles.

Level 5 Coach Day 5

Guinea Pigs on the River Dee – Put in below the horseshoe weir

2 Students Elaine and Gerwen

Elaine old Level 2, WW 4* and sea kayaker, lost some confidence through no particular incident (perhaps shoulder). Has paddled upper Dart a few times and led the loop.

Gerwen Level 2, wants to do 4*, paddled 3 and 4’s and Aberglaslyn in low water. Wants general improvement.

Dan coaching first

Observing during warm up

Spike spotted (and we didn’t) Gerwen had an uneven grip, used tape inside one hand with twists in the tape so he moves his grip out when he touches the tape.

Spikes debrief suggestion was that the overly structured task of ferry gliding form point a to point b made it hard to tell as much as just saying cross the river as well as you can.

We dropped down to the rapid by the Chain Bridge and Dan developed a theme of driving the boat across the current, and for Elaine of putting a blade in the eddy on breaking out.

This theme was carried on down through the Serpents tail and lunch.

My observations of the paddling included.

Elaine bouncing when putting on power, Gerwen not very connected to the boat (A stretch, apparently a horrid boat to paddle). Both reliant on strokes rather than positioning or power. Gerwen sunk the boat on the bottom drop due to poor trim.

My plan was to work on trim on eddy line transitions then transfer that on to a re run of the tail.

I got them doing s turns below the tail then trying different trim on the transitions. Driving over the eddyline interfered with the trim, so we scrapped trim for a while and got them doing transitions without power over the line. This cut stroke numbers after a while. Then I got them to try trim variations on the eddy line, still not clicking. A quick word from spike, then I set the circuit with fixed angles and targets so the only variable was trim and we started moving forward. Before or after this I did a demo of trim on eddylines, back then forward and they started to get it.

Once they felt they were getting some where we went to run the bottom drop on the tail (6 on the JJ guage).  Elaine didn’t want to confuse things by thinking about trim in a nervous situation, so she elected to just run it, then she did try the trim and leant back a bit early, still successful. Both Gerwens runs were on wide lines, but both were better and dryer as he used good trim.

Key question from Elaine, now I can cross eddylines without paddling across the transition is it wrong to reach in to the eddy. No now you have two techniques.

Quick questioning conclusion, then running down to railway bridge playing eddies with trim changes on transitions to integrate the trim bunny hops on eddies.

Forward paddling on the flat. Good individualisation

Fell down on not knowing some technicalities, keeping top hand level with the eyes, finish with top hand over the knee, flick up the blade at the end of the stroke.

 Level 5 coach Development Day 4

Observing Pete Catterall coaching freestyle (ex GB freestyle coach) at Mile End Mill.

Wants and needs chat

Comparing what they do as warm up compared to what they say they want, then choose a coaching location, based partly on need and partly on student preference (they didn't want to work the middle hole). Looking for ratio of paddle to body/blade, wanting 10 to 90 seeing the opposite.

Looking for the same ration on wave surfing, flat with little edge, wave spinning in the bottom hole. Thinking about position first, then snap the body round. Too much edge relative to the green face causing blow offs, so working on reducing edge.

Using wooden model for demo's, and showing body action whilst on the bank.

Asking what percentage of the spin is on paddles and how much on torso rotation, then get them to work on reversing the ration. How do you want me to tell you this, I can give you the answer or you can work it out (caters to their preferred learning style).

Moving on - that wave was not rewarding you for doing it right due to surging so lets change venue. Getting them to the middle hole which is more predictable.

Briefing on the bank by the middle hole using a laminated sheet to sketch out the zones of the site and where we are working and using what. Back to positioning then working on the edge and body rotation.

Bandwidth feedback - giving feedback above a given level of performance and when they are below a certain level, leaving a band in which we don't give feedback.

Discussed limiting factors, such as psychology and injury.

A major highlight for me was when Pete pulled them off the wave and got them to turn the boats without paddles using body movement, edge and weight transfer, then to try and transfer that body english to the wave. This stood out as a key freestyle movement to initiate all the moves and emphasising the 90/10 body/boat to paddle ration Pete spoke of earlier.

Afternoon session

Being coached in river boats by Spike
Students me and matthias
Wants me, get to know my relatively new boat
Matthias to get back into kayaking after a long layoff.

Spike got us working on the rapid above the ramp on break ins and break outs, trim and for me, wing style forward paddling.

Top drop, a couple of runs on the boof move to the left thinking weighting and unweighting, then lifting feet on the boof. Down to the wave below the bottom wave, get on the wave, then restricting the task by cutting down paddle strokes. This tightened focus and forced me to solve the task differently, bringing in much more use of trim, esp. unweighting the front to get over the trickier bits, a good site for this. Advanced coaching in non advanced water. We then moved this to the top wave of the bottom drop to do a similar task in a different environment and to identify what tactics lead to success.
Then a play on the bottom wave for fun, trying to apply the principles coached to the others in the morning.