Paddling tips, tricks, news and gear reviews from an Unsponsored point of view

Month: March 2020 (Page 1 of 2)

Ötztaler Ache – In Danger

Ötztaler Ache - In Danger
Ötztaler Ache – In Danger

The Ötztaler Ache is the largest currently free-flowing river in the Tyrol region of Austria. It is home to a diverse riverine ecology, with bank side alpine meadows and is a mecca for white water kayakers from around the world.

This jewel of Austrian rivers, previously home to the Sickline Extreme Kayaking World Championships is now threatened by multiple hydro power developments.

Whilst most of Europe is on lockdown developers have started building the Tumpen-Habichen power plant without all the legal permissions or answering important legal questions.

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Verus Kayaks – More Detail

Verus Kayaks have released more detail on their two new kayaks.

Verus Kayaks - More Detail
Verus Kayaks – More Detail

We are excited to announce the 2020 lineup from Verus Kayaks. These kayaks have been in the works for the last year and we are excited to bring you the Gladiator 2.0 and the Hellbender. Our goal with these kayaks is to play the river as much as possible and offer the most aggressive designs on the market today. We took the feedback we received from the original Gladiator and created a more playful stern and improved the outfitting. The Hellbender came from our love of slicey boating and the idea of creating a boat that will maximize fun on class III and IV rivers. We are stoked to get these boats to the people by June! Stay tuned as we will be announcing pre-orders in the coming weeks. You will be able reserve your boat in advance with custom color options!

Verus Kayaks
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Movie Monday 30 March 2020

Welcome to Unsponsored and Movie Monday 30 March 2020. The start of week 2 of lockdown in the UK. Thank fully we have bumper crop of whitewater edits for you to check out.

Enjoy!

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The Legend of Muksu – Review

The Muksu is regarded as the most difficult rivers in the former Soviet Union. Extreme whitewater, extreme lines, and extreme scouting in the heart of Tajikistan, all of which has been beautifully captured by Olaf Obsommer.

The Legend of Muksu - Review
The Legend of Muksu – Review

This 41 minute “on demand” video follows a highly talented kayak team on a six day drive, a 20 mile hike and 10 days on the river.

Is it worth a watch? Yes, most definitely. I found myself pausing the video a few times just to try and spot some of the lines.

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Schema-Building In Coaching

For those coaches amongst us, we all love sharing our enthusiasm for the sport and seeing our students pick up the skills we teach them. But when was the last time you thought about the evidence that backs up the way we coach? 

As a full-time secondary school teacher, I’m always being pestered about the importance of ‘evidence-based practice’ and cognitive science. That is, making sure that the way we teach is backed up by plenty of proof that it works. But if we want to help train solid paddlers (in addition to ensuring people enjoy the sport of course), surely this is something we should be thinking about as coaches? To save you the trouble of trawling through endless pages of research, I’m going to walk you through some of the main evidence-based ideas in teaching and how I take them from the classroom to the river.[1] In this article, I’ll be looking at how we can help paddlers to build schemas.

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Social Media Saturday 28 March 2020

Welcome to Social Media Saturday 28 March 2020 and Unsponsored. Despite most of the world being on lockdown this weeks Social Media Saturday is pretty full. Check it out and please share with your friends.

Social Media Saturday 28 March 2020

Enjoy!

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Titan Nymph – Review

Slicey kayaks are on the way back. After years of super short and relatively high volume playboats the “old school” makes a return. Now old school is relative, for some of you out there it may be a blast all the way back to 2010! However I’m talking about going back to the 1990s and early 2000s. This is great news as those boats were super fun.  Add in some modern design thinking and better outfitting and these new slicey kayaks have a lot to offer a wide range of paddlers.

Titan Nymph - Review
Titan Nymph – Review

One of the newest releases is from Titan Kayaks and we have a pre-production Titan Nymph in for review at Unsponsored for almost two months. Other than the graphics (missing on this one) and some tweaks to the outfitting this kayak is the same as the final production version.

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Bren Freeride Highlights 2019

Bren Freeride Highlights 2019
Bren Freeride Highlights 2019

I think this is my favourite sort of kayaking at the moment, trying to be creative, thow a couple tricks and send some big lines all in the same kayak. Nothing new people like Billy Jones, Dave Fusilli and a host of others have been doing this for years, I just didn’t know what to call it? It isn’t river running, it isn’t freestyle, it isn’t really creeking, Half slicing? Freeride?

Senders
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New Kayaks From Verus

It looks like Verus have two new slicey boats about to be launched. The gladiator and hellbender.

New Kayaks From Verus

More detail when we get it.

The Sequel – Daydream

Daydream is the sequel to Dream. If you haven’t seen Dream then please check that out first.

In Dream we met Theo, the shy newbie whitewater kayaker who is unsure of how to progress into a more confident paddler. Theo, a bit of a space cadet, slips into his mind on the side of the river and dreams he is the kayaker he wishes he could be. In Daydream Theo has progressed into a strong paddler but after a move into the big smoke and getting way WAY into yoga he now wonders, how will he get back to the river that taught him so much and how can he progress even further? He needs a mentor, a teacher, and he slips away…

The Sequel - Daydream
The Sequel – Daydream
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Dream

I wonder… if… one day…

When a newbie kayaker goes paddling, he discovers a posse of pros on the river and wonders whether someday he could be that cool. A daydream in the eddy transforms the purple-helmeted rookie into a whitewater Adonis. Join kayaker Ben Marr as he takes us to a world where a paddler’s wildest fantasies come true.

Drean
Dream
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Movie Monday 23 March 2020

Welcome to Movie Monday 23 March 2020 at Unsponsored. It’s business as usual at Unsponsored HQ. Please spend some time checking out the 1000’s of posts including reviews, news and videos.

Movie Monday
Movie Monday 23 March 2020

Enjoy and please share this page with your friends!

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