Hambledon weir, with the Jed!

So as you all know, we've recently had a lot of rain, which for kayakers, only means fun, finally getting some much needed water into the rivers! I originally got a call from Alex asking if i wanted to come with him and Rob to Holme Pierrepont and Saturday 28th, to go boating, and a chance to take the new demo Pyranha Jed to see what it’s like, but as the rain kept coming in, Hpp started to flood, and the Thames Valley weirs started to rise, I then had another call, the plans had changed, off to Hurley it was! Rob and I got to Alex's Friday night, ready for an early start, alarms set for 5:30am. We ended up getting to Hurley at 8am, on 4 gates, but, we decided to give it a miss and see what some of the other weirs we like. Next stop was Sunbury, but when we got there, we realised we were on the wrong side of the river! But eventually found our way to where we needed to be. Got kitted up, grabbed the Jed, and off to the water! Only to find, it was to flat, so back to the van! This time we thought we'd try Shepperton, but nope, this wasn’t running enough either, unless you had a longer boat, then it might have been possible to stick on it. so yet again, back to the van we went. Where next? Hambledon! With the post code in the sat nav, we set off! We got there and had a walk down the river bank to find it, and it looked good to go! So back to the van we went again, but this time, to get kitted up, grab the boats and onto the river! This was my first time in the new Pyranha Jed, so took me a while to get used to it, after looking at the wave, and throwing a few flat water cartwheels, onto the wave i went! I'd only ever paddled a big wave twice before, and that was ages ago on Hurley! So I’m still new to wave boating, but one thing for sure, its super fun! Alex decided plastic just wasn’t good enough, even though he was throwing some nice big blunts, he decided to go get his Carbon Rockstar from the van, which he said was so so fast, it took him a while to control it, but once he did, it looked good! First thought on the Jed, looks good, especially in the super cool green and black colour scheme! on the water, i felt my seat was too far forward, as I hadn’t changed the position, but none the less, on the flat it cartwheeled with ease, and looped great! On the wave, it felt nice, loose and very fast! Definitely a boat to consider! Then just before we decided to go, I took my Rockstar for a quick blast on the wave, and then attached the Jed to the back of my boat, and we headed back to the Van, and time for the drive back home, then to try to get my kit dried out for Youth Freestyle on the Dee the next day!

Next up is the CKT Midlands Canoe show, 20th May, at the Nene, hope to see you there! Pete