The 2019 Welsh Open Freestyle is taking place on the 5th of May at the Cardiff International Whitewater course.
Author: Unsponsored (Page 104 of 389)
We bought this HF Little Fish Throwbag a week or so ago and reckon it is about time we posted a first look.
The HF Little Fish throwbag is small. You would expect it to be given that it contains only 9m of 7.5mm floating rope. This puts it in the position of being longer than a bought rescue tape but shorter than most throw bags currently on the market.
Continue readingTuesday 15thJanuary. A club pool session has just finished, pints are in hand and inevitably the conversation turns to the upcoming Summer Tour. Where to this year? France? Austria? Norway? Then Andrew, in his final year and last long summer of freedom, mentions the magic word. Expedition? A murmur goes around the table. Some dismiss it as too much effort, others don’t have the funds, but a few keen eyes light up. “Where to?” are the first words out of their mouths. With experienced paddlers about to graduate and new blood just entered the club, an expedition is the perfect opportunity to pass on skills and attempt new destinations. Imperial College Canoe Club has a long history of kayaking expeditions, but the graduates who undertook them have long since moved on. Time to renew the tradition.
A few more pints later we had a team and a destination. The team: Two fourth year students, Andrew and Tom, who have been with the club for four years; two first year students, Ben and Cameron, who are competent paddlers but with little international experience; and one graduate, Mo, thrown in for good measure. Our Destination: The Republic of Georgia. Due to various commitments we are limited to September, where Georgia is one of the few countries with good water levels. Moreover, Georgia is a lesser known kayaking destination- up and coming but with very little information on the rivers there. We plan to spend the whole of September exploring and documenting these rivers.
After some research, we found some river notes from 2007 written by Steffen Schuelein, who scouted the country for the Georgian Tourism Board. However, most of the descriptions are from scouting the rivers at the roadside. More recently, there have been a few blog posts from people who have ventured out to Georgia, but we were unable to find much detail other than the names of rivers they had paddled. Our big break came when we contacted a Russian provider who runs trips in Georgia. They were able to point us in the direction of their rough notes, which had suggested ingress and egress points as well as rough difficulty indicators. We were also relieved to learn that they run trips in September which reassures us that there will be sufficient water.
Continue readingNovember 2018 marked 20 years of Unsponsored.
Unsponsored started in the late 1990’s and has continued to have a high presence within the paddlesport community. The aim of the site has evolved to provide the paddlesport world with up to date “paddling tips, tricks, news, and gear reviews from an Unsponsored point of view” (many thanks to Shane Benedict from Liquid Logic kayaks for coming up with the tag line for the site).
Gavin Hart and team went to try and surf the Arnside Tidal Bore, Cumbria on the 23rd and 24th March 2019.
The bore itself was shockingly naff but the features under the railway bridge that are created on the incoming tide were pretty fun whilst there for an hour or so. Highly recommend as a local playspot.
Continue readingThe South Ram River, near the small town of Nordegg, Alberta, stands out to a select group of kayakers because of a beautiful series of waterfalls spread throughout its canyon walls. The tallest waterfall on the river, Ram Falls, cascades nearly 100 feet to a pool below. For years, paddlers have visited the South Ram River to run the Class 5 canyon, but always opt to enjoy the view of Ram safely from the riverbanks. T
Three kayakers logged the first descent of Ram in 2012. Six years later, extremely low water levels forced Edward Muggridge to abandon his first attempt at Ram Falls. He all but gave up his dream to run this hundred-footer. Liam Fournier followed Edward Muggridge’s journey to paddle 100-foot Ram Falls. Mentored by world-class kayaker, Aniol Serrasolses, Road to 100 takes us deeper into the attempts and the failures, the anxieties and the skills involved in successfully running massive waterfalls.
Continue readingFinally took my Antix out for my first lap of the year on the Little White.
But I decided I would mess around and try as many things on the way down as I could, even if it meant landing on my head. Stuck some things, ate sh*t on some things, but it was a glorious lap!
Continue readingWelcome to Movie Monday 8 April 2019 at Unsponsored. Check out the great edits we’ve found over the last few days. Please give this post a share.
Enjoy!
Continue readingWe all love a loop, don’t we?
The loop, is a front flip in a kayak, and is one of the most fun tricks you can do in a kayak. Nick Troutman breaks down the techniques and trouble shooting for the loop. The loop is a great starting point for the modern freestyle tricks, it will also help with more advanced moves as it is a prerequisite for many of the more advanced tricks like a McNasty or Phonix Monkey.
Continue readingLooking after your gear is super important as it will hopefully last longer and look after you. Keeping your drysuit stored correctly in your kit bag can really help look after what can be a seriously expensive piece of gear.
NRS have put this short video together on how to correctly fold a NRS suit but is applicable to most makes.
Continue readingWell it might not be floodstage, but the sunshine finally brought us some medium low-ish flows in the Little White.
So we finally got our first lap of the season, as well as finally got to introduce Kalob to the gem that is the Ldub, and I think he might have enjoyed himself.
Continue readingPure Land Expeditions
Northshore Watersports
Recent Comments