Thursday, 29 January 2015

January Update

Over Christmas and through January I was able to maintain a good run of varied activities which was fantastic! On the whole the weather was very mixed and I spent a lot of my time alternating between kayaking the Upper Dart in nice slab covered levels and Deep Water Soloing at Berry Head. It seemed to be raining one day which suited the kayaking and sunny the next which allowed me to get out climbing in the sun on nice dry rock. Super!
I also managed some surfing and body surfing during this time, including a wicked session with my mate Carl down Bantham in chest high clean waves where we both scored some awesome rides. Stoked! 
From a work point if view, I led a good friend Nigel down the Upper Dart at a nice lapping the slab level - breaking it down and running a section at a time to help him learn some lines. I was helped out by another good friend Jez, and we all had a super day on the river! 
I also spent a bit if time coaching sea kayaking skills at the Brixham pool to help out a local club, as well as running a three star BCU sea kayak assessment for some local aspiring sea kayakers. I based the assessment from Dartmouth and we had perfect conditions for it - calm areas to look at some of the skills, some nice rock-hopping to test those skills, and further round the coast towards Scabbacombe some rougher waters for some challenging padding and surf landings. Although it was a nice sunny day it was still quite cold being the end of January so we saved the real wet stuff until the very end. They all passed comfortably and had big smiles on their faces back in Dartmouth at the end if the day. It hadn't just been an assessment, it had actually been a really good days paddling that everyone had enjoyed! 
Looking forward to February now with anticipation of what fun activities that might have in store for us! Hopefully more of the same!!! :) 
Here's a little video I made up of me running the Upper Dart in sweet slab covered levels. Enjoy! :)