May 2007

My academic work for the year is done and dusted, and now I have a whole pile of things to look forward to…

Dressing up smartly and getting mucked up drunk. (Sam Leach and Rat Boy featured)

Shortly after that I’m off to the French Alps for a couple of weeks of fun. (Me in the Lions Den, Ubaye last year)

While I’m out there I’ve organised a Boater X, click the banner for more info!

When I get home I have a few weeks of kicking about, doing odd jobs, then I’m going on a sea kayaking adventure, followed by some open boat coaching, liberal amounts of squirt boating, maybe some surfing, and maybe an Ardeche trip.

All too soon it’ll be freshers week, and the whole thing will start again.

Since January, my blog has been found through search engines in a few ways. “Max Bilbow” and “David Fairweather” proving popular. But there are also some oddballs out there who are searching for things like “animals mating” and “wild animals + cat fight”. I can only assume that they don’t find what they are looking for. Nutters.

Last year a few of got drunk in France, and decided it would be a great idea to have a boater X between all the Uni groups that were staying at L’argentiere. Run on a shoestring, and winged for the best part, it was hilarious, and great fun to organise. I decided I would like to run one again this year, and simply chose a date, and time, and put some details on the net. All of a sudden I am being inundated with offers of prizes and support. This totally rocks, cheers to everyone, we are set to have an awesome evening out there!

Currently sponsors include:

Palm Equipment who have given a whole pile of goodies

Level Six who have provided some banners and other race accesories

Tom Parker Coaching and Guiding who have provided some T shirts

Liquid Satisfaction who have provided a million pounds and a trip to the moon, as well as some T shirts!

Slime from Rivers Publishing has provided some books

Thanks to all of them. Its people like them that make paddling so awesome.

More details on the Boater X can be found Here

And for those on facebook… 

Excitingly, all my new Level Six gear arrived over the weekend.

The design on my new board shorts. A summer of funk me thinks!

Giving my awesome new shortie cag a through testing at Stanley Embankment (Pic by Dave Fairweather)

Level Six are now imported to the UK by Square Rock, and should hit the shelves very soon!

www.levelsixinc.com and www.squarerock.co.uk/ for more info!

Continuing the informative “Explains” series, Dave Fairweather explains his latest creation, known colloquially as “The Local Stuff”or a “Gin-Genie”.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=WmzIQ_DzMEU]

Sometimes everything just clicks… At about 10am I get a call asking if I want to hit the Lledr squirt sport. Too Right! Once thats done we hit the Ogwen at a really cruisy fun level. Then we get drunk, which is what I am now. What an awesome day.

Mmmm. Mmm. Who needs smoothie?

Birthday Boy Mitch.

Damn the Ogwen rules…

Hurrah for cheap ale.

There is plenty of media from the recent trip to Val Sessia and Val Aosta, so here is a bit of a round up.

Tom L Part I

Tom L Part II

Tom L Part III

Tom L Part IV

Tom L Part V

Jam Freeride

Dave Fairweather

Chris Eastabrook Part I

Pat Clissold

Level Six Blog

Part V of the idle bugger’s tour Italiano

Chris 

I sat out the last river day of our trip with a sore back and sore shoulder. The others paddled the Soana, which was described as “Read and Run, Inspect and Swim”. I kicked back in the sun, took photos of lizards, and read Northern Lights.

The final day of our trip was spent stocking up on gin and wine for a pittance, loafing about in the sun eating ice cream, and jumping off bridges.

Mmm, Creamy. 

The whole trip was truly awesome, thanks to everyone who made it great, you guys and gals know who you are.

Part IV of the skiver’s tour of Italy!

Dave and Pat arrived that evening, and it was another foul day, heavy rain and mingingness. Being young and keen, we went shopping again, and then huddled under umbrellas while the newcomers (team half holiday) ran the Gronda and Sorba Slides.

TPTV filming. (Pic, S Nash)
After a night on the vino, we waved a fond fairwell to Val Sessia, and headed West to Val Aosta. The Ayasse was high on our hit list after seeing photos of a fun slide-fest on www.adventurepaddler.org. When we (finally) got there, it was a apparent we were in for something a bit special. Fantastic, if a little terrifying waterfall paddling in a narrow gorge. Truly excellent.

Nick Horwood hucking his meat on the put in slide.

Me on the big hit entering the last gorge. (Pic S Nash) From the rocks where Tom and Dave are, you have 2 options. Run the drop, or jump into the pool with your boat, and hope that you don’t wash down into the sticky hole and 20 foot slide combo!

Tom P in the midst of it. The entry fall can just be seen in the background. After such an awesome run, it was only fitting to have an awesome meal, and the local restaurateur’s eclectic “no menu” scheme worked out rather well.

Coming up in the concluding part… The Soana, jumping of bridges, and home time!

Part III of the procrastinator’s tour of Alpine Italy

Finally it stopped raining, and the Semenzini had dropped to a more socially acceptable level. There is loads of stuff on the river, mainly smooth bedrock delight, like the awesome trumpet drop, which is much the same as being shot out of the end of a trumpet. The Gnar Per Mile (GPM) is certainly pretty high.

The main hit on the river is the cave drop, so called because its in a cave.

Nick fires it up and styles the line.

Chris narrowly avoiding landing on his head

A classic Horwood line.

With the Semenzini done, we went and ran the Gronda and Sorba slides again. Then we went to sleep in the rain (again).

Coming up in the next fun filled installment, Pat and Dave arrive, and things get even steeper….

Part 2 of the procrastinator’s tour of Italy!

We ran the sorba slides, they were really low, totally inconsequential, and quite good fun.

The next night it rained, a lot, and then rained some more. Just for good measure it carried on raining. We went to the Semenzini, which was on the high side of good. No one was feeling the love for a damn good hiding, so we wettied off, and went shopping.

Fully equipped with umbrellas, we decided it would be downright soft not to paddle something, so ventured to the Gronda, home of the Teva Extreme Race each year. This also had a substantial drop or two of water in it, but being shorter and less commiting, team exec fired it up. “Class IV, Read and Run, Survival Boating” And it was.

Hang time on the last drop of the Gronda. Pic Sarah Nash 

Finally it stopped raining, and we made it onto the Semenzini, but revision calls, so that is a story for another day…

Part one of the revision break update series!

Ryan Air flights are a peculiar beast. I spent more on trains and petrol getting to and from the airport than I did on the flight. Once you get on board you are treated to a barrage of adverts for Ryan Air. Surely they have you hooked already if you have made it to the seat?! Collecting the hire car, the lovely woman at Europcar had laid on a treat, assuring us that we had been given a free upgrade, point-blank refused to give us the scrotty estate we had ordered.

The Executive Saloon. A 2L TDI Passat.

We spent the first few days hammocking at Campatongo in Val Sessia. It seems to be a focal point for paddling in the area, as well as being a prime spot for kicking back and telling extravagant lies about the day’s adventures. For about 80% of the time we stayed there it rained heavily. I guess we were lucky. Click on the cat and mouse for more info on this awesome spot.

30 seconds at Campatongo one evening

Egua

The first run was a low but excellent Egua. The major tributary of the Semenza, it has bedrock fun, interspersed with some bouldery steepness, but with straightforward lines and awesome moves.

The river kicks off with a bang, Nick Horwood busts his groove on the first drop. The Peli case is a video camera rig.

Me in one of the steeper slides on the river, about to turkey ham off the end of the slide.

Tea Boy Tom Parker getting towards the end of the river. It really was this good all the way down. Show the last slide a bit of caution, or send a probe first, as it can get really sticky.

Next time on Tarquin’s adventures, we go to the Semenzini, and are joined by Pat and Dave. Check back real soon

I’ve just got back from a long week in Val Sessia and Val Aosta in Alpine Italy. Some of the nicest steep paddling I’ve ever done, a truly excellent time was had by all. Enjoy these photos and short tales, there is video and more pics to follow.

A quick warm up on the Egua in low water. A cracking Grade V Leisure run, slides and boofs all over the place. (Pic Nick Horwood)

Some classic airtime on the race section of the Gronda (Pic Chris Eastabrook)

Tom P on Cave Drop, Semenzini. (Pic Tom Laws)

Far too much happened to try and compress it down to one reasonable length update, so I’ll let it filter out over the next few days.