Aerial Freestyle- Tom Drake

ScotLAD

The Writer — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 08:42:08 +0000

So, last April I headed to Scotland and well….. Take a look for yourself to see how well the trip went:

Yeah-probably least successful paddling trip. Ever.

Hey I’m off to Norway though this summer with my brand spanking new camera-should be more successful and next weekend is Tryweryn Fest!!!

Tom

Spring in the UK

The Writer — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 16:44:57 +0000

So it’s absolutely boiling outside, 3 weeks off uni, what to do? An entertaining Scotland trip (or ScotLAD more on that next week).

Anyway a short video to (hopefully) enjoy from Scotland, yesterday at HPP and The Swale, I’ll get another one up soon!

Cheers

Tom

Wavesport X 48- My review/ opinion

The Writer — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 13:56:47 +0000

Wavesport’s highly anticipated follow on to the fairly successful Project series, the Project X is a new freestyle boat to hit the market this year. When I saw pictures last year of the designs, I was quite excited by the prospect of having a go in the boat.

So a couple of weeks ago I got the chance to have a play in the project X 48 for a good few hours. This is what I thought.

So, Size wise there’s the 48, 54 and 64(I think), each number corresponding to the volume of each boat. The 48 fits kind of between the Star and the All-star and is roughly small Molan sized, which was a tad too big for me (I’m 5’7 and 65kgs) but it didn’t present too much of an issue when it came to throwing it about due to the fairly slicey ends.

When you first sit in it, one thing that really hits you is the depth of it, the boat feels quite deep- although this is in keeping with the larger volume boats that are coming out. Outfitting wise, there is some fairly striking white covering which is waterproof- a great idea (I always notice when I take boats out they seem to be a bit heavier due to wet outfitting) and is antibacterial apparently- so keeps those smells at bay! The outfitting is very comfortable, but I would recommend adding a few layers of camping mat under the seat to give some extra height so it doesn’t feel as deep and to use a foam footblock as there’s so much room for your feet.

Paddling wise I took it down HPP an artificial whitewater course in the UK, which tends to have loads of holes on and a couple of small waves. On the flat above I threw down some ends and found that it’s really well balanced, unlike some of the other more stubby, ‘bubble’ looking boats on the market.

In the hole it was fairly balanced when doing the vertical stuff, and thanks to the volume in the front it was quite easy to get some big loops off. However, the back is quite chunky, which doesn’t lend itself well to completing moves quickly- especially combos. Trying to land Mc. Nasty’s on the stern just took that little bit more effort. Although this might have been easier if the seat was a bit higher.

Where the wavesport comes into it’s own is on the wave. Although there aren’t any very big waves on HPP, there are small waves where it’s possible to blunt and backstab. Paddling the project X on the wave I really enjoyed having the hard and sharp well defined edges on the boat, which just lets you carve so smoothly around a wave. This, in combination with a really loose, fast hull makes it a joy to paddle on the wave, and allows you to set up for moves really well.

In the space of a few hours, this isn’t the most comprehensive review, but I do seem to have come away with a generally good impression of this boat- particularly on a wave. I wasn’t too impressed with it in the hole though, but I’m sure with adjustment it would perform just as well as my 08 star.

Would I like one? Yes!

Will I be getting one? No. I prefer my ’08 star which is a fantastic all round boat, and despite the fantastic retail price of £740 (which is fairly cheap compared to others out there) being a poor student has it’s pitfalls.

Any questions? comment!!!

Tom

It’s only the NSR!!!!

The Writer — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 23:12:43 +0000

The National Student Rodeo is a regular annual event organised by the kind rodeo bosses at Leeds uni, where over 1000 students (and not so students) descend down onto Nottingham’s HPP white water course and have a great time (on and off the water). It was the first I got to take part in instead of watching the carnage, nakedness and pure hungover paddling- and my first of many NSR’s.

It all started on the friday, where the campsite shenanigans began, signing up to receive a free goodie bag and the bib- then straight onto the party. I can certainly vouch that the NSR parties are the best parties you’ll ever go to. Friday night was more of a warm up party getting us all loosened up for the main event.

So after some difficulty getting out of bed (some fun and adventure may have been had on friday night), it was time for the extreme slalom and the duo heats.

The extreme slalom is where you get put in your classes, and consists of doing a new school move (in my case a mc. nasty), hitting a ball and an old school move (whipped out some paddle spins here). Which popped me in the expert mens (9am on the water on sunday…. great….)

After watching some good old carnage in the duo’s and taking part in the duo heats, but being beaten at the last minute, I had a go in wavesport’s new project X 48.

After a good hour or two paddling it, I had a pretty good idea on it. Certainly, when I initially saw pictures of it, I thought it looked utterly brilliant.

Whilst paddling it I did enjoy the rails on it, much sharper than the more recent boats that have been coming out (which I’m not a fan of having decided I prefer my ’09 star than to the newer Jacksons). The project surfs like a dream, it’s ridiculously smooth and fast, cuts back well and you can pop off some really good wave moves in it. In the hole, I wasn’t so keen. It is really well balanced, easy to cartwheel and loops well, but I really struggled to do much else in it due to the massive depth of it.

This is probably because I’m too small for it, but there is certainly potential in the boat.

It’s definitely worth a look at in my book- but make sure you do a good demo (as with any boat).

So onto the Saturday party, with my brilliant fancy dress sandcastle.

By the end I also somehow gained Max Bilbow’s Whale…

So Sunday came, I woke up a tad late and almost missed my heat in the expert mens, which didn’t set me up particularly well. Oh well. With the NSR the emphasis is on fun and encourage everyone who goes to the NSR to definitely definitely watch the novice finals. Many ‘props’ are utilised during this… I’ll leave it at “she’s riding a man down the inlet gate” Judge in disbelief

So with the freestyle season kicking off, I hope to make a big summer vid. hopefully including a bit of footage of a quick jaunt to scotland to huck ze gnar… and maybe some voss norway action if I’m lucky.

Cheers

Tom

The past few weeks

The Writer — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:56:07 +0000

There’s not much to say, apart from it has been busy, paddling and medical school wise- But I do have some awesome pictures from before christmas up until this weekend. Some awesome, awesome times with Sheffield Uni Canoe Club. So here they are, plus a quick flick from the Swale a couple of days back.

A quick Swale flick

The Writer — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 08:01:41 +0000

Getting back into the swing of things!

The Writer — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 14:33:21 +0000

Righty, for a while I haven’t been paddling all that regularly due to this that and the other (mainly exam and Med-School related things), but now I’m at uni I have a lot more opportunities to go paddling and it’s awesome. I have started to become ‘the one with a kayak in his toilet’ and somehow I’ve just got my mitts on a new creeker too, and I have no idea where that’s going to go, it may have to sleep on the bed whilst I get the space under the desk…

After rain dancing for a few weeks, it’s finally started to absolutely piss it down, so we hit up the northern rivers.

After hearing things about the twiss and doe we went on a 3-4 hour car journey from sheffield in order to locate these apparently fine gems. We found the doe- with a hell of a lot of water in it. Some of it looked fantastic and beautifully runnable. Other bits were absolutely horrific in high water. So after looking at it we went to the car and boats and ran away to a low swale. The Swale is immense!

Photos below, and yes that is indeed an engima plastic squirt boat…

Rain more rain and “warm” weather…..

The Writer — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:26:49 +0000

Four days left until christmas, its snowing and i still haven’t managed to find a hill steep enough for some snow kayaking… oh dear, the snowman will have to do . Ah well at least we’ve had quite a lot of water kicking around the UK to enjoy recently.

Lots of water

My highlight so far was having shepperton weir ( a large weir which creates a big retentive bouncy wave) between me and one other paddler on 6 gates (you should have seen my face that morning).

Bouncy Bouncy

This was my second time I’d ever got to paddle this fantastic wave, the first time was a couple of years ago when there were 4 gates open which produced a wave only surfable in a very long boat. Anyway this time it was MENTAL!!!! after sussing out how to get onto the wave, literally almost anything went, and when it went it went huge. Some fairly large Pan Ams and Air Blunts were the main order of the day with the occasional big move/ wipe out thrown in there for good measure.

Bit of a bouncy spin

Once all this snow melts its going to be awesome too, although stupidly cold. so if anyone has any decent suggestions for something to keep my hands toasty and dry, whilst still letting me have a good grip on my paddles please let me know in time for christmas….

Looks as though I’m going to be snowed in at this rate

Jeremy the snowman

I’ll now leave you with a load of nice pictures to look at and some very cool new paddles (seriously amazing, trying not to be biased here)

Think it will fit in my stocking???

Happy Christmas, have a nice “warm” paddle and smile if you swim.

Tom

p.s. promise a video soon, just have january exams to get out of the way first :-s

Have to learn all of this.... oh deary me

Another Review

The Writer — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:57:38 +0000

As I’m sponsored by Ophion Paddles, and often go harping on about how great they are (honest!), canoe kayak have reviewed the raptures so if you haven’t read it yet have a quick read and see I’m one of the many now

http://www.canoekayak.co.uk/categories/articleitem.asp?item=298

I’ll update this soon with all my summers goings on, and still have a lot of footage to go through to make a video but its all on the ’to do’ pile so hopefully that will be up soon.

Tom :)

Nene youth freestyle and a dynamic duo!

The Writer — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:29:14 +0000

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve updated this, due to various things like exams (which i have to get pretty good results in if I want to do medicine at uni in just over a year’s time (ahh! where did it all go?).

Anyway, may/june has not only been busy with those tiresome exams, but also with a couple of events in there too. First up was the Herts. Youth paddlefest, which basically involved running some introduction to freestyle sessions on the flat of Herts. young mariners base, which turned out to be popular.

Next up it was the Nene youth freestyle on sunday 14th june. As expected from a youth freestyle event, very few people spent much time in their boats actually paddling properly (and those who were, were soon put right ;-p). In the actual competition I had moved up into the U18′s and the competition was in pool A, a nice pour over style hole. The competition ran to two very short 30 second runs, and with a score of 295 points I came 6th (not bad for someone who hadn’t been paddling for a few weeks). But the main highlight came in the shape of a big, orange plastic dynamic duo!!!

Me and Matt (in the front) had a brilliant time with this boat on the nene. Being able to not only roll it but hand roll it too we decided to have a play, and strangely enough it wouldn’t loop in pool A, so getting trashed by side surfing was the next best option.

Then followed the usual squirtboating, and swimming chaos that becomes the nene youth freestyle!

Tom

Thanks to everyone who helped out and took photos!