Dave on the Ottawa again.

This is possibly one of the best places to spend your summer. I’ve been up here two months and bus eater only went out a week or two ago, it’s been pretty damn good.



It's at a bit of an inbetween level now but the level is beginning to drop and some of the other famous spots are beginning to come in.





Ive been surfing here, working for Ottawa Kayak School and enjoying all the other aspects of the river atmosphere. Enjoy these pics and I’ll have loads more as the levels change.

New JK HERO & The French Alps 2008

Here are a few photos from my recent trip to the French Alps. During the trip I had a good chance to put the New JK Hero through its paces. The Hero handled it self well in the large volume rivers but came in to it own on the more technical low volume runs. If you want a river runner that you can climb out of you playboat and feel at home in then the Hero is for you.

Chris Chapman

Irish National Champs

Irish National Champs

Ladies watching on

Dave Crerar during finals

This years National Champs have drawn to a close, two very well run comps on two of Irelands best features. The turnouts were not what everyone expected, which leaves the question open were those lads from over the ponds right in when they coined the phrase “rodeo is dead”, it could be going that way here in Ireland. But never the less it did not take away from the competition.

Dave Crerar

Sinead O'Donnell

Moe Kelleher

First round was on anon-retainable wave in Limerick, the event was run over two freezing cold, windy days, as you would expect of our random ass weather. The heats were close and I managed to sneak into the top 5 for the mens final. Tendonitis breathing down my neck meant a quick ibuprofen stop and on I went. Unfortunately I finished in 4th for this round with the Kelleher bro’s and Neil Gibson firing ahead with some pretty nice rides. Junior mens had a decent size turnout, with some still competition, but a newcomer to Irish freestyle, and surf-kayaking champ Corin King stole gold, With his little bro. Jake following in close second. The ladies was also a tight one, Kim Sikerman stealing a victory closely followed by Siobhan McG.

Len Kelleher

Corin King

The second round had us travel across the country to the west coast, with the feature being tidal, you don’t get much time to train unless your there a few days before the competition. Ladies and juniors were run off in their entirety on Saturday, closing off their national champs. Junior Men Saw Corin take gold again and in turn made him National Champ for this year.

Coran King

Dave Crerar

Emer Farrell came first for Junior Ladies. Senior Men were run off on Sunday with a tight race to the podium. Moe Kelleher came 1st sealing him his National Champs Trophy for this year, with me in 2nd and Len Kelleher in Third. So this year the top Irish men are Myself, Len Kelleher. and Moe Kelleher.

Dave Crerar

Kim Sikerman

Jake King

Results:

Men K1
1: Moe Kelleher
2: Len Kelleher
3: Dave Crerar

Ladies K1
1: Kim Sikerman
2: Siobhan Mc Griskin
3: Muirean Lynch

JNR Men K1
1: Corin King
2: Eoin Farrell
3: Jake King


JNR Ladies
1: Caoimhe Farrell
2: Emer Farrell

Mens C1
1: Dave Crerar
2: John O’Rourke

Schools Out

Spring is finally here and college has just finished up for Easter. That’s two weeks off, well that’s what they say and then they give you 7 assignments, but I decided to head west to where the Irish water was, to get the as much paddling as possible before I had to sit in the library for hours on end.



So I packed my gear and hopped into the jeep, and off to the west cost I went. There were only a few spots working out west, so we headed off to them for a few days play.



The plan was to head to Galway and paddle at Tuam, a river hole and then off to Clifden, which is a tidal hole and in my opinion the best play-spot in Ireland. The group were really going for it, it was sweet.There is nothing better than driving across Ireland when the weather is good. The sunsets can be unreal and especially after the last storms of winter.



It was good to meet up with old friends and go for a paddle, but it is March in Ireland and it was bloody cold , and mitts were the order of the day. Four days with two sessions each has me beat and sadly feckin’ college work beckoned me back home, but not long till National Champs and more road trips…. Till then I’m out… DC

The National Student Rodeo 2008

This weekend saw probably the biggest freestyle event ever in UK (may be even in the world?!) take place at the whitewater course at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham. It was my third and final time taking part in the National Student Rodeo. This year's pirate themed event had in the region of 670 students from across the country competing for their universities.

Me in the Expert Women's Final - photo John Wood

Yarr - My attempt at being a Pirate

Last year's big bosses - Adam and Sara

Second place expert sailor boy - Alan Ward

As for results, I guess the full ones will be posted on www.nationalstudentrodeo.com at some point soon. The nicest guy in freestyle, David Bainbridge of Nottingham stormed into first place in both the C1 and Expert Men's categories, Nottingham Trent took the overall winning university title and I won the Expert women's class. My final was held in the looping pool feature, with Sara James taking 3rd place and Molly Crisp paddling well into 2nd. It was great fun and I'm stoked to have won; but I do feel kind of sad to have finished my time in the NSR!

Dave Bainbridge - the winnarrr

Prize Giving

Organised by the lovely Nick Norwood and Tim Trew along with the rest of the crew from Leeds University, NSR 2008 was another great success, a huge congratulations and thanks to all those involved!

Shepperton - Jan 2008

After getting completely mashed the day before, I decide to give it one more try.

We took the risk & drove for over an hour. To my relief it was on a good 7 gates, very bouncy but great fun.

Chris Chapman

De Nile review and video

Six weeks in Uganda paddling on the White Nile, world class river running and playboating, every kayakers paradise. The locals say it won’t be long until the Dam at Bujagali will be finished and the silver back section will slowly disappear. Total Gunga and the Ugly Sisters rapid has already vanished and the blasting on the new dam has set boundaries to when you can and can’t paddle the section. But life up at Bujagali is still booming with the new De Nile café based at All Terrain Adventures, the Chapati man is now making his own t-shirts and the boda drivers seemed to have doubled since the last time I was there.
The new Ugandan kayak school was opened not long ago, which will give the locals the opportunity to make the best of the awesome river they live next to. Thanks to Carl Moser and friends you should be seeing some great new local talent coming through.

The river level seemed very consistent for the majority of my stay, with the level high early morning then dropping of but rising again in the afternoon. Nile Special has been at paddle on levels every afternoon and a sweet green tow on level in the morning, it never quite go to Malalu levels although in the middle of the night it could have been very possible.

Christmas and New Year was a treat, with pig and chicken roasts, and champagne in the natural Jacuzzi on the Lemon, then up to NRE for a New Year party which had about 5 different count downs because know one knew the real time.

So I’m sitting in my living room back in England with my boat and paddles still in Brussels, hopefully it should arrive tomorrow and then I can brave the cold and don the long sleeve top again.

JB

Ramp session on the Ottawa

After nearly two months, I managed to get out of Toronto and back up to the Ottawa. My mother is over visiting so I decided to show her where I had worked during the summer. Paddling up in Ottawa in the Fall is really breathtaking, the leaves on the trees start to turn a beautiful brown and you have the river completely too yourslef.



Myself, mum, Corey Volt, Joel and Katie Kowalski braved the elements and took to the water at about 10am, we started with a nice ramp session and then ran the river. It was a lovely break from Toronto and college, mum hadn't been out on the water in 5 years so we thought things were going to be interesting but she sailed it.





I was in a Jackson Super Fun today, I'm 200lbs and despite the 70 gallons the boat was easy to throw moves of the ramp, and it surfed nice on what is left of the waves on the Ottawa, I wass quite suprised, but if your looking for a river-running playboat and you weigh 200lbs and over, weather its beacuse you used to play rugby or if you've just been lax of late this is a nice wee boat for you. Out for now, DC

The 2007 British Championships

The 2007 British Championships was held on alongside the Plastic Fantastic Alp Kit Kayak Series at Nottingham. The top ten paddlers from the Saturday went through to the semi final of the British Champs on the Sunday, then 10 dropped to five for the knock out final.



The comp was held in the Muncher at HPP. Due some changes on the whitewater corse the muncher has not been the same as it was in the good old days, still with the water level raised the hole seemed to take form and start to resemble it's old self. Air loops, Tricky Wu's, Phonix Monkeys and McNasty's were the choice of moves for the day, seeing some amazing rides from James 'Pringle' Bebbington, Ross Montandon, the Brayfield brothers and many more.

David Bainbridge showed why he's European Champion by pulling some awesome moves to take the C1 title.

In the Womens, Flea Jarvie pushed into first place with some very consistent rides, with Jen Chrimes hot on her tail.

Flea cleaning up

Ross Montandon managed to pull it of in his final ride even with a popped deck to take the win in the junior men's class.

Ross on a roll

The Men's was tough seeing Ed Smith, Me and Pringle down to the top 3 in the knock out final having said goodbye to Adam Norfolk and Chris Chapman in 5th and 4th place respectively.
Ed went out in 3rd seeing some big air loops and very consistent rides. I came 2nd and therefore it was a well deserved 1st place for Pringle, every Phonix Monkey and Mc Nasty done to perfection.
Also well done to Emily Wall and Pringle for winning the overall Alp Kit series 2007.

Me and Pringle in the final

Thanks to Jim from Alp Kit, Sneaky pete and Tim Raa for judging.

The Prize giving

Photos provided by Peter Meares and Ian Burt

Dave's Virgin Post

I'm Dave Crerar a new member to Squarerock. I'm studying for a brief period in Toronto at the moment, but this summer I spent the first part in Downtown Chicago working for Kayak Chicago and then on to the Ottawa to work with the Ottawa Kayak School and the Keener Program. It was an unbelievealbe way to experience the Ottawa as you not only get to appreciate all the play features but you also get to explore the whole river from an instructors point of view. I'm even bringing my 50 year old mother down the river in late October!



While I was there the river fell from around 1 to minus 2 so I got to see a number of the rivers features including Corner wave, Left Side horse shoe, push button and of course Garb. I spent as much time as I could on Garb and Corner Wave, sometimes it meant going straight back out after a days paddling with work, but it was all well worth it. I was in the new Super Star, a big boat I know, but as my gran used to say I'm "built like a brick sh!*t house", and it goes off, this boat made my summer, I can't wait to get it back out on the water. Down to study for a few months now but hopefully I'll find a few paddlers down here in Toronto to have a bit of craic with.....

Lienz round up

Here's a quick round up of the 1st leg of the Euro Cup Series.



The competition was held in a nice hole on a River Drau which ran through the beautiful Austrian town of Lienz. The turn out was good and the competition was tough, 80 paddlers from around Europe flocked to the site for the first leg of the Euro Cup Series. The prelims were held on the Friday, with the top 20 men going through to the quarter's, all hole moves were going off.



In the women's event, Emily Wall got the biggest loops in her new Star but a low scoring first ride meant she just missed out a place in the finals leaving her in 6th place.

Em giving it her all

After the quarter's and semi's, I placed in the top 5 every time, making it in 4th place for the finals. The format was a old-style knockout, first rides were tight with all the guys going for tricky woo, phonix monkeys and godzillas, going out in 5th was Casper Van Kalmhout from the Netherlands. Peter Csonka, who placed 2nd at the World Champs, was a shock, going out in 4th. Leaving me and the Strohmeier brothers to the podium. Simon couldn't quite put together the same high scoring ride he had done during the other rounds, so taking 3rd and Seppi, his older brother, showed everyone is was definitely back to form after his couple of years out due to a wrist injury, taking 2nd. The standard was high and it was hardwork against such an awesome bunch of paddlers but I managed to nail my loops and godzillas when it counted and so was stoked to take 1st place and €200.



All in all, the organisers, judges and sponsors made the event an awesome start to the series.

Next stop, Sweden!

After many years of serious effort and commitment, Pete Astles of PeakUK has decided to take a well earned break from organising events here in the UK. Thankfully, Jim Evans and his company AlpKit have stepped up and this past weekend saw the launch of the Plastic Fantastic AlpKit Kayak Series


The first event in the series was held on the Washburn River in Yorkshire. All of these event will have two main parts, a boater x and a freestyle competition. The boater X saw it's fair share of carnage with heat of 4 heading off in an 'America's Cup' style start. Each paddler had to negoiate a slalom pole half way down the course which mixed things up a bit and allowed opportunities for over taking. The expert men's class saw an interesting battle between Jon Best and James 'Pringle' Bebbington, who had made a bet where the loser had to race the final topless. However, both made it through after winning their heats so the final saw the two of them scrapping 'skin to win', except they were so busy fighting each other that they were over taken by the other two paddlers leaving them in 4th and 3rd respectively.



Jon going skin to win in the Mega Rocker

In the women's event, I won my heat putting me through to the expert women's final with Claire O'Hara and new SquareRock paddler Molly Crisp. A good start put me in second place, but at the slalom gates, I slowed down and Molly over took. However, after sneaking across the start line before the buzzer, Claire, who had shot off in 1st place, had to touch the penalty board, putting her back in the third place. It was a good fight til the end, but I couldn't quite get past Molly, leaving her to take the win and me in 2nd, with us both in Punk Rockers, a JK 1 and 2! My best results in a river race so far!

Molly at the back, then me, chasing down Claire at the start of the final

The next day saw the freestyle competition take place in the 'broken weir', a small shallow hole where you hit the bottom, alot. Despite this, Pringle managed to pull phonix monkeys and loops from no where to take the win in Expert men's. In the expert women's, Molly was looking great for the win all weekend, however the final was knockout format and one not so good ride left her in third place. Leaving me and Claire to fight it out. Claire went first and couldn't quite get the moves she was looking for. I think this was the first time I really realised how much my time spent judging has helped me. I was able to figure out exactly what I needed to do and although it wasn't the most exciting ride, it was safe and I was able to win!

Overall the weekend was a great sucess, Jim did a fantastic job and thanks to everyone who helped out. Bring on the next event at Tryweryn in September!For all the results check out http://www.alpkit.com/pfaks. All picture courtsey of Jim Evans

Jim with the women's freestyle podium finishers, (me on far right)