Sam's Blog

    Today Hurley had dropped down to 2 gates, which was in a way a positive as it provided a different type of wave which would in tern need us to paddle with a different technique. At first it was really strange to paddle this wave, mainly because the shoulder was really wide and happy to push you off the back of the wave. Right Blunt     I decided that my aims for the day were to be: Helixs, pistol flips and also K-Ys. We went through with Jacko a few things that would help each other in terms of getting the moves. This is because a few of us were looking at pistol flips. After looking at a few videos of Stephan Write doing pistol flips at the SAS Hurley Classic last burners session we had all come back with different ways that we could pull the move. My idea was to bounce, pull the boat round, and then throw your loop as quickly and as aggressively as you could. Back blunt     Getting some McNastys in gate 1 was a good starting place for myse...

    Wednesday night I decided that I needed to go paddling after having a  rest weekend without any paddling. I went along to Lee Valley to get some hole boating in as I've kind of missed looping and doing combos. Unfortunately the Olympic course wasn't turned on so I had to paddle the legacy course. Loop     I was paddling my Jed because I don't know if I could trust myself with my carbon on the legacy without breaking it. After talking to Sam I knew where the best sports on the course were. After my first ride I knew it would just have to be a fun session; this was because the hole was quite flushy on some moves and didn't provide any pop for extra air.     Messing around in a few of the holes throwing moves like McNastys, Phonix's and spaces I started to have more fun with the Jed. The only problem I was having with the boat was that the tail is very catchy, so it meant that I was flushing on loops if I didn't get enough air. Going for t...

    It was a strange feeling to be leaving home at 6:30am and it being bright and kind of sunny! It brought a good feeling for what would be in store for the day. Arriving at Hurley I noticed that there were a few new faces waiting along with Jacko. Charlie and Hugo were also there.     We were going to be at the weir for the whole day so I took down a spare change of cloths to keep warm. I also had my lunch and some bits and bobs if I needed them, all packed into my 100 ltr dry bag.     After doing warm ups and introductions we headed over to the wave to start our days training. It was really nice to just paddle with some friends without having the stress of having to train extra hard for selections. It was also nice because we weren't worried about flushing off the wave, so we were trying some new moves.     Charlie, Hugo and I decided that we'd work on pistol flips as our main move for the day. After trying them a few times we figured out...

    Today everyone was looking at as a day to just throw what you can when you can during your rides. We stayed in the same running order as we did on day 1. I was feeling more nervous than I was on Saturday for some reason, weather it was to do with not knowing how things would go, or just feeling like everything rested on the so called wave at lee valley.     My first ride went surprisingly well, I was able to spin and possibly a roundhouse. I was feeling calmer after getting the ride out of the way. The wave felt different to all of the other times we had paddled there. I found it easier to set up on but still super easy to flush. My second ride is started with a spin to at least have some points, then I tried an airscrew but landed a bit wobbly the flushed; unsure if it had scored I paddled hard back up the eddy to get back onto the wave for another go but just missed out on the timer.      My third ride i felt like I should try somet...

    Saturday was the first day of Team GB selections. We got there early so that I could have a few rides on the wave before registration started, this was to see what the level was like. I found this useful as I got used to having people on the bridge while paddling. I was able to land both my airscrews and a back pan am on my first training ride which super motivated me for the event. Back Pan am     The first heat was C1 which we only caught the end off as we were getting warmed up for our heat which was after C1. Charlie started off the heat with an amazing first run. Everyone was putting down some really good rides but really having to work for the feature as it was easy to flush. When it came to my first ride I did my two spins, blunt which felt more like a roundhouse but flushed on my airscrew. My second ride was by far the best ride for me out of my 3 rides. I did two spins, blunt, airscrew and a back pan am! I was really happy with that ride and knew i...