Teva River Festival 2007

The Teva River Festival was held of Easter Weekend in Central Otago, the event ran alongside the NZ Open Slalom Nationals. Mike Dawson from Tauranga dominated both events winning the extreme race, mass start down river race & Open Mens Slalom Championship.

A top weekend which consisted of the head 2 head extreme race on the Citreon Rapid - Grade 4, Grand Prix Slalom in plastic boats & a mass start down river race. I kept my performances equal and finished in the middle of each event. Knocked out in the top 16 for the extreme race, getting about 8th in the slalom & somewhere about 10th in the mass start.

Since I was too busy enjoying being on the river all the pictures are by Jono Conway & Megan Foster.

The Arnold River & Random Pic's

The Arnold River is a short drive from Greymouth, a small grade 2 river that is the local training grounds for Tai Poutini Polytech & Grey High School students. A regular flow and nice eddy lines make a fun little trip down the river.

Spent the afternoon in the sun with Megs & Viv Buxton who has just starting working at Grey Vet's. The first half of the run was pretty smooth with some nice little eddy lines, we spent about 20 minutes playing in the most pathetic hole I've ever stopped to park 'n' play in!

Further down the run there were a few nice catch on the fly waves & holes.

As with many rivers the Arnold is under threat from a dam proposal, submissions have closed and we await to see the outcome for a fantastic wee run that would be impossible to replace if lost.

Now to the random photos


Meg's showing off! Photo Antz Longman


A quick stop by Maruia Falls, we didn't feel like paddling.... Photo Antz Longman


Being crazy.... Photo Megs or Kim


The Arnold Put in, Viv's trusty brown wagon. Photo Antz Longman


Viv playing in our mini park 'n' play. Photo Antz Longman

More New Brighton Surfing

Megs cartwheeling in the whitewash. Photo Antz Longman


How's the serenity? Photo Antz Longman


They call him the Sandman... Photo Antz Longman


Megs Wavewheeling. Photo Antz Longman


A little bit of air... Photo Antz Longman


Maybe there are alternatives to kayaking? Kiteboarders dominating the foreshore... Photo Antz Longman

More Buller Fest Shots

Mikey Abbot being a show pony.... Photo Antz Longman


Sam Sutton working the airscrew. Photo Antz Longman


Louise Urwin drops in. Photo Antz Longman


Zak Shaw gets a little competitive in the slalom. Photo Antz Longman


Some people just 'flipped' out with the heat (sorry couldn't help the poor pun) Photo Antz Longman

Murchison with the Girls..

Megs & Kim had just finished their first 6 week posting for the Physio year & were keen to escape the city and go for a paddle.
Hoping that the rain that had hit the west coast had reached Murchison we hit the road.

Straight into the Lower Matakitaki, I quickly realised that it was lower than week before, we slowly negotiated our way through the first few sections. Near the end I managed to pin myself on an undercut rock. Still able to breath and knowing that as long as i didn't move I was alright I waited for Megs & Kim to get into a position of safety.

After about 5 minutes (no exaggeration) I was contemplating my options.

- push myself backwards and hope to flush off the other side of the rock, then tuck to my boat to avoid being pummeled by more rocks.
- pull deck and hope the changed water pressure would move the boat (or potenially pin me worse)
- reach over the rock and try and pull forward and through the small gap between the two rocks.
- use a throw bag to get a lateral pull from the girls on the bank.
- and i'm sure some other plans were thought of too.

I felt around and tried to push backwards to no avail, I then felt underneath the rocks I was pinned against & realised that their was a lot of water pushing through a small gap below me. A gap that I wouldn't go through very easily!
I found a new hand hold on one of the rocks and managed to pull myself higher out of the water, which gave me enough power to pull over the top of the rock. I stalled slightly as the boat tried to fall into a crack, but quickly came to rest in the water on the other side.

A decent little scare, and an interesting situation. All turned out alright but another reminder of how quickly things can change on the river.

We finished the run and headed down to check out ariki falls (again lower than i've seen it. Not keen to drop into the churning/surging hole at the bottom. Camp was at the Earthquake put-in, sandflys made the night miserable and got us out & on the river early the next morning.

A scratchy run killed our enthusiasm and we decided to head back to Christchurch. Mental note Murchison low can be a little bit annoying/boney.

Having trouble attaching photos right now, so no pretty pictures to look at :(

Greenstone Instructing

Straight after Bullerfest I headed south to Queenstown & then on to the tip of the Lake and the Greenstone River. I was there instructing for Wakitipu High School.

The river section we used under the bridge was grade 1, which proved an interesting location to introduce the kids to paddling as their were no eddys, or decent still sections. The 1st day was spent rotating groups of 3-4 kids through strokes and then negotiating the one small eddy we had available.

The following 24hours were a torrential downpour, the 1st rain Queenstown had seen in over a month, everything went from pristine green water to chocolate thickshake with logs. Luckily the bulk of the rain fell during the day that we were'nt kayaking.

Sarah-Jane & I snuck away and went to check out the Routeburn in flood. The route burn normally being a class 4 boulder drop creek was instead a mass of crashing waves/holes. Bearing a higher resemblance to a big water run on the Kawarau. We headed back to camp where Ken McIntyre & I jumped on the swollen Greenstone for a slalom training session, SJ was feeling sick so I got to try out her brand new Double Dutch Slalom boat, was awesome to be back in a slalom boat and feel the speed and satisfaction of carving some sweet turns. Also felt the burn of training with Ken. (Just 5 more..... 10 later!)

Our next day of kayaking was re-positioned to the lake front, which gave the kids more of a chance to play around in their boats and learn strokes etc.

After that SJ & myself headed back in town for a feed of the legendary FERGBURGER, picked up a hitchhiker in Glenorchy or was one of the stinkiest people you could ever have the experience of smelling. We shoved him in the back of the van :D

A quick stay at my parents & i was back on the road to Christchurch. (6 hours of boring driving). Next mission.. back to murchison with Megs & Kim for the weekend.

Buller Festival 2007

Around the first weekend of march each year the infamous Buller Festival is held in Murchison. Around 3 1/2 hours drive from Christchurch I made my 1st ever pilgrimage to the event. This years event held on the 2nd, 3rd & 4th of March was ripper.
I just made it in time to enter the Extreme Race on the Lower Matakitaki Section. First up was a time trial to create seedings for the head 2 head races. I came through in the middle of the pack and was paired off with 3 others who had similar times to me. The winner of the time trail gets paired off with the slowest etc.

1st head to head race I got out of the blocks quick, after a few paddle blows & some pushing/shoving! I was well clear at the finish and touched the Teva Banner stoked. Next round I moved up and was racing against Sam Sutton from Rotorua (little ripper) a big charging swede and someone else. Some slow strokes straight out saw me playing catch up to Sam & the swede. Didn't quite make it and that was my extreme race over.

The finals saw a completey different line up to 2006 with some fresh faces making an impact in the race. Men's final was Sam Sutton, Zak Shaw, Josh Neilson & Nate?

Zak blew the field away a clear winner leaving the other boys to scrap it out for 2nd/3rd. Josh snuck in with 2nd & Nate took 3rd.

In the womens Nikki Kelly robbed Jess Brown at the final banner to claim yet another extreme race title for CV.


Saturday was a day of intense heat for the kayak slalom & rafter cross. A huge turnout and some fast times saw everyone amping for Saturday nights "rock the buller" party. Live music and general kayak riff raff kept the night going until the early hours.

Sunday morning was time for the big air, a slow moving herd of kayakers found their way to the Ramp site and proceeded to hurl themselves off the ramp in a range of gyrations & aerial donkey flips.


Zak Shaw on his way to winning the final - Photo Antz Longman


Josh vs Nate for 2nd place - Photo Antz Longman

A quality write up on the event will be available in the next issue of CUMEC Magazine due out middle of April.

Results as I can remember were.

Extreme Race

Mens

1st - Zak Shaw
2nd - Josh Neilson
34d - Nate

Womens

1st- Nikki Kelly
2nd - Jess Brown
3rd - Polly

Slalom

Mens

1st - Lucien Holgate
2nd -
3rd - Zak Shaw

Womens

1st - Louise Jull
2nd - Linda Wensly
3rd - ?

Big Air

Mens

1st - Nick Smith (with a leg in cast!)
2nd - Sam Sutton
3rd - Justin

Womens -

1st -
2nd - Louise Urwin
3rd -

Christchurch to Queenstown & Back

Last Friday a felt a need to escape the city. I arranged an extended weekend and organised a little trip south.

1st stop was the Tekapo Release on Saturday, I'd heard through the grapevine that a few of the good old Dunedin crew were coming up. So after packing the car I drove the 3 hours south to Lake Tekapo.

High temperatures meant that the normally icy cold water was a welcome relief from driving in a car that's window doesn't wind down. A solid 5 hours of playboating in the top hole wore me down & I decided to head to Timaru for a cold beer.


Craig Adams trying to suss out an entry move.... Photo: Antz Longman


Howie - Photo Antz Longman


Craig again - Photo Antz Longman

After a night in Timaru, Shanan & I headed out to Jack's Point for a midday surf, clean small waves dished out some nice flip turns from Shanan, a few blunts n donkey flips for me. Also one huge backwards bounce to something by me...

Then I was back on the road to Queenstown to check out my parents new lifestyle as moteliers... Abba Garden Motel in Gorge Road if your looking for somewhere to stay in Queenstown! They are keeping busy and really have their hands full with cleaning, reception work, maintenance etc.

A couple days in Queenstown using Dad's computer to edit some footage for the Bliss-Stick Video Competition & I was on my way back. A stop at the traditional Tuesday Meg Night on the Kawarau was awesome. The Roaring Meg hole was working, although not at it's best but good fun for a few ends & loops. I then made the late night drive back to Timaru. Wednesday was spent relaxing in the sun and catching up with Gareth (check out the blacklight blog) for his view on Aoraki's 3rd year thus far... Also caught up with Logie as he supervised the 1st 1st year kayak intensive, supervising from his van. now that's the ultimate in laziness.

Then dinner with my brother at a Thai restaurant to semi celebrate his birthday and back to Christchurch.

The next issue of Cumec is coming along pretty nicely with articles & photos coming in from all directions. Advertising is starting to trickle in as well..

Antz

Surfing New Brighton

Wicked, had a little escape yesterday and went for a midday surf at New Brighton. Lindsay Froggart came along and snapped some sweet pictures from the pier.
All photos copyright Lindsay Froggart (All paddlers me! haha)

The Local Bouldering Scene.

After moving to a new neighbourhood it's natural to explore your new surroundings. First of all the local shopping centre. Ours consists of the local Pub "The Vancouver Inn" with free pool on Wednesday's, although we haven't been over for an evening yet. Next to the inn is Frank's Fish & Chips an establishment of fine repute (according to a guy I met at my brothers party in Timaru a week ago.) Then there is a hairdressers and a token cultural dairy.

We started exploring further afield and found Christchurch's Recycled Items SuperShed. So the lounge has now been adorned with 5 free arm chairs, and stereo cabinet, dining room table & chairs (plus other random items).

It was now time to test the recreational facilities, a couple of sports fields adjacent to Christchurch's Sewerage Facility. Makes for a stinky morning run. A short drive/bike & your at New Brighton Beach for a surf or swim.

Then back to the point of this article, we discovered a local gem. A sculptured outdoor climbing wall in Wainoni Park. The locals had even been kind enough to leave us various contact numbers for "a good time" as well advising us of there names "KO" and "AK". Looking forward to meeting the local boulderers and working some problems...


The girls in blue (Megs, Kim & Laura) with Lindsay in corner. Wainoni Bouldering Photo Antz Longman


Kim wonders where to go next, Wainoni Bouldering. Photo Antz Longman


Girls not interested in Lindsay's show of force, Wainoni Bouldering Photo Antz Longman


Megan defies the laws of nature & engages the rubber arm, Wainoni Bouldering
Photo Antz Longman



Lindsay climbs the mini arete, Wainoni Bouldering Photo Antz Longman