Extreme Swim Team

Canada

2008-10-15T13:09:00.021Z

This summer, while most of the EST stayed at home and waited for Merlin to start on BBC1, Mark got together a group of some of the best paddlers known to mankind! okay....known to him, and they headed off to the west coast for a bit of a creeking mission!!

The team had a rocky start to their trip, with a 4 hour delay on the flight and Rich breaking his werners before they even got wet, but soon made up for it with a trip down the Ashlu, followed by a not so much fun run down 'Mine V', involving a cheeky swim and self rescue over a blind drop by a certain member of the team using his spare paddles, then a walk out from the river that made me look like this:

The team did get something right, one, very special purchase that will go down in the history books!! The mighty Ozark trail, not just a tent, but with a gear loft, bear fly screen, leaky windows, this really is an M&S tent.

But, with a chance meeting with some locals a few days later, the boys managed to get on some of the whistler area classic runs, namely the Upper Cheakamus, Callaghan Creek and the Soo, all of which were fantastic, and must do's for anyone visiting the area.

After a few escapades, the rest of Team Ozark flew out, and a trip to Skookumchuck was on the cards, this is a really cool wave, and as if it couldn't get any better than being a cool surf wave, there was a period of about 2 hours at lunchtime where the wave greened out and there was nothing to do other than pro chill!!

Once all together, and pumping from the skook, a mixture of courage, determination, eagerness, as well as 100,000 tonnes of rockfall in the way drove the guys inland, and they did some more classic runs, the cilliwack was a good warm up, the Nataclatch, and the stein is one of the most beutiful settings in the world, as well as grade 4!!

Then, as if by magic, they stumbled upon one of the most presigious events in paddlesport history, the Clearwater kayak Fesival, where the team dominated the heats of the downriver race, but dominated the party on the sat night even more, with James and Si failing to see much of the next day. The clearwater is an good river, but the best thing about the Fesival is the people, brilliant, and you can buy T-shirts with extremely short, gay looking sleeves:

There was a couple of people who couldn't understand how we practised whitewater in the UK, I mean on an Island so small, where do you find Whitewater, and if they're reading this, I don't really know you grandma from Birmingham, HA!!!

After leaving the Clearwater, the team headed for the Rockies, and came across the Upper Fraser, an awesome run, especially Overlander Falls, a big tourist waterfall where they love taking photo's of people running it!!

This was followed by a trip into Alberta, did the worlds lowest volume 'creek' run, got drunk, agreed to do a death run thats only been done by 5 people in history, got scared, and ran away before actually having to do it!!

Us and the Scottish Girls in Whistler

Yes, I am a Fitness Professional

As good as Rich's impressions are, this is a REAL bear!

Good job this wasn't in the Bigg Market

Upper Fraser, probably shouldn't have hidden those rocks in Si's boat!!

Careful, the Stormtrooper might want those back!

James on the Callaghan, probably my favorite river ever!

If the Olympic Team need a hand, we're all practised now!!

Si on the big drop, Callaghan!!

That's all for now folks, basically we had a great time, ate lots of really bad food, mark ate more burgers than an average American, that's saying something! if you're wondering, we gave the Ozark trail to some homeless looking people on our campsite!!

With special thanks to: Ozark Trail, The Scottish Girls, Ozark Trail, Clearwater Paddling Festival, The Cows that went into our many burgers, Ozark Trail, FlyGobespan, Aussie Jo and Si, Ozark Trail, Sea to Sky Kayaks, Ozark Trail and to the Canadians in General really for living in such a good place and letting us come visit, feel free to pop over here anytime.

Mark

Poo Point

2008-04-29T15:43:00.004Z

Oh it's been a while since we have ventured down the concrete ditch wonderland of HPP. They have made a few changes since our last trip. The top wave now has eddy service from the bottom which makes the q's a pain in the arse, and the looping pool has become more loopy and less pooly!

Ralph (Zeus) the human god joined us (Billy & Lou) for the day having helped the Novice Mens 8 to bronze medal in a big rowing competition the previous day.

We did a little recruiting of new talent to NUCC while we were there by showing some of the new kids our skills. Ralph showed one kid how to fall off the wall, Lou flawlessly demonstrated the half side loop and Billy showed them watching from the side was all the rage.

We did have a lovely time though and the sun showed himself making for some nice piccy's, enjoy.

Uganda '07

2007-09-15T13:24:00.000Z

So we have returned from Uganda all alive... but not so well.

We spent about three weeks in Africa all together, with some sneaky appearances from Jimmy and Chez to bulk up numbers for most of the time too.

Having only had one hit and run on the way from the airport to Nile River Explorers campsite everyone was in fine spirts for the first few days paddling. Jimmy arrived the following morning, joining Huw, Kev, Chris, Ian and Mark for the first spanking of the holiday. As we set off there was much rolling practice and whimpers, but all this was washed clean out of our systems once we'd flushed through the first grade 5 of the trip. Bujagali Falls.

The rest of the run was similar in size, making us all feel pretty small and humbled, but at the same time the worst that seemed to happen would be a short dicking in a whirl pool or hole and then you were washing into a nice big flat pool:)

A run from NRE down to the bottom of Silverback was our prefered run for the remainder of the first week, allowing us to test the delights of the Boda Boda men. A beer in the bar after a days kayaking would normally be spent discussing the excitement of the boda ride home, rather than any kayaking!

Mark took the prize for the best fall in the rain.

Kev won the 'who can take the longest boat on a moped' contest.

We moved on to the wonderfully tranquil island of the Hairy Lemon after our stay at NRE, however the journey down was not uneventful.

1. Chez managed to have a good arguement with the rocks at the bottom of Bujagali falls as him a Jimmy were paddling down. (just to add this is as bad as it looks!)

2. The rest of us ripped the roof rack off the minibus with our boats, much to our drivers disappoinment.

The hairy lemon island is possibly one of the most relaxing places to stay in the world! A big call I know, but with tea, coffee and more importantly beer on tap, and pretty much nothing to do till 5 in the evening it's pretty difficult no to pro chill. 5 is when Nile Special starts to run, and following a short paddle you are sat in the eddy of one of the worlds greatest play waves. Sitting in the eddy is no mean feat though, and getting on the wave with the tow rope is an art form.

Apart from some world class freestyle moves, a near death experience (made near by Huw, cheers Huw) and a lovely time there is very little else to say about the Hairly lemon and nile special, so I shall move on.

A few of us then tripped up to the Red Chilli campsite in Northern Uganda for some safari fun. We saw many many birds, a few giraffes, a couple of elephants and that was about all. Oh actually I forgot the hippo, which wandered past our tent at night so I guess that counts as well.

We had a little time left so popped over to Murchison Falls to watch the whole of the nile squeeze its oversized self through a 7 meter gap and dissappear over a 45m drop, which I must say, as someone who isn't a massive fan of views and stuff, is incredible.

So all in all an amazing trip, everyone had an ace time even though we did come back a little more injured that we left. Also if you come across a couple of Ugandan toads knocking about in Newcastle, it was Kev!!

Word from everyone to describe UGANDA: EASY, PROPER GOOD, EXCELLENT, NOW THEN, NOT ENOUGH ROOF RACKS

FRANCE '07

2007-06-30T22:09:00.000Z

Jim's verdict 'It rained a lot'

With most of the original EST members making excuses like 'dissertations', 'exams' or 'hospital' it was up to Kev and Jim to take the young guns to visit Rhene at Le lac. Unfortunately when we arrive at le lac Rhene had gone, move on to a bigger lake, worse still, the new waiter Jean Luc didn’t know what a formidabla was!

Day 1/2

Drive...Drive...Drive...Forget passport...Ferry...France...Drive...Drive...65mph max...Drive...Drive...24 hrs later arrive at vallouise. Vallouise closed. La Argentarre. Sleep.

Sunday

Crazy mental lower Guil, Greg wouldn’t do it especially when he heard Jo had swam that section before. Eventually we got him on the water. We did the slalom course that day too, mint. In the evening the team were christened the 'Sketchy splash squad' - EM, Ela, and Greg being the co-founders.

Monday

Upper gusain - and the river gods claimed their first victims - both Em and Ela had a couple of swims each, but even with these swims everyone did really well - it's a hard river - with some awesome paddling from the girls and Greg solid as ever. Jim did some sketchy paddle throwing/deck grab move over a drop. Em almost had to leave us - she got as far as Lyon!

Other Highlights

Tuesday - The mighty durance!

Wed - The upper upper Guil

Upper and middle - Clarie - High water - Sweet! - Everyone paddled really well - Ela lost her bung.

Climbing - Durance gorge - High - Shit scary!

Upper Ubaye - Em had an epic - but it didn’t damage her confidence. Oh and Greg and Em did the bridge jump.

Despite several warnings, with signs in english warning of the dangers of the Onde - things like 'building debris in the river' - what the hell does that mean anyway? Kev and Greg found out pretty soon... rumour has it both Kev and Greg just ignored the signs, didnt inspect the rapid and got F**ked up by a tree, but unfortunaly there is no evidence of this so it porbably didnt happen.

Swim Count = 19

A really good trip - everyone has improved loads - the girls have improved loads - and Gregs ready for some scary stuff!

Photo News!

2007-06-27T15:13:00.000Z

Check out GALLERY

2007-05-10T15:32:00.000Z

It's been a long while since we have posted anything up here, so here is a little bit from this weekend. (obviously we were in Canada at the world Freestyle Championships)

North wales was the destination, and a fine grassy campsite the place. The first day saw some of a fifteen strong group heading up the mighty Snowdon. A 6 1/2 hour trek followed, taking us to the summit and back, via several ridgey things, and a dog who wanted everyones lunch. I'd like to add this may well be the longest walk I have ever been on:)

As sunday morning dawned we headed deeper into Wales to the mighty Tryweryn. It was a bit of a slalom round other paddlers but the day was generally pretty ace.

Bank holiday morning was then soon upon us after one too many real ales. A game of darts sits vividly in my memory, where a Mr Tom Potter cleaned up after five minutes and left the rest of us mere mortals floundering around trying to hit the board for the rest of the evening. Lou may have also beat us all too.

We heading for Stanley embankment for a play on the standing wave there. The wave forms under a tunnel passing from the main sea into the inland sea. The wave starts off nice and small, ideal for beginners and then gently grows as the tide rises. REMEMBER TO ADD ON AN HOUR FOR BST, we didn't and almost went home as there was no wave on arrival. No picture i'm affraid but have a look here for some info and pictures.

NSR 2007

2007-03-13T13:54:00.000Z

This years National Student Rodeo was almost cancelled mid week, and turned into a flatwater BCU fest. However through some kind of miracle, a huge herd of dehydrated cows had made the hike from East Anglia to drink off some of the water flooding into the Trent, and by Thursday afternoon levels were back to normal.

The Rodeo started on Saturday morning with the extreme slalom. There was a terrific amount of swimming during this round, and the looping pool was being ripped up by unmanned boats. Our own Jim the Crusher had to leap from his boat to avoid a low flying plane....

just after the 747 whizzed by

After all the heats were said an done, only Mark had made the expert final, having pulled some superb ends in his heat.

Saturday night saw some kind of rave put on by Leeds Uni, with no end of dance and trance beats being dropped. Our evening was spent drawing beards on everyones chin, and tagging them all with NUCC, and we were pretty surprised no-one beat us up.

The morning came round far too quickley, and sleeping on wet BA's is a really bad idea. The duo heats were littered with fine NUCC beards, and all four of our duo teams went into the final, or so we thought. A second round of heats was put on, where running the boat back to the top was included. Needless to say we weren't very good at this, and everyone got knocked out!! Kev and Huw were convinced they were through, however another uni had taken a team of strong men to run their boat back to the top. Mark tried to throw his duo at a pram an all, but he's mental...

C1 was very relaxed and a few spins and ends were thrown around, but very little else, not bad for beginners though.

Eventually the Mens Expert final arrived, and Mark impressed the judges and the crowd with his fresher style, pulling some masterful pop out's and shudder rudders. Now for some very strange reason, and one which shall be inquired about, Mark didn't make the final 5.... weird.

The Journey home was very very steady, Ailsa decided to get her throwing up done early on, and spread plenty down the minibus side, nice one.

All in all an ace weekend, and we learnt some stuff i think:

Mark learned Shudder rudders aren't scored in freestyle events

Huw learned taxi drivers are liers

Chris learned permanent marker doesn't come off in time for monday morning in hospital

Kev learned he shouldn't abuse people mums he doesn't know

&

Jim learned planes are dangerous

Happy times

A fresher has been pimped!

2007-03-05T19:33:00.000Z

This little beauty was thought up in Starbucks, as Chris, Mark and James Yates sat sipping on Latte, as if we had just won the final of University Challange.

We came up with this plan having fallen short of prizes for our clubs annual Ball raffle (many more prizes were found later). The idea was to collect enough kit together from previous NUCC presidents, so 1 fresher, and 1 fresher only, could be fully kitted out, and never have to again face the horrors of swimming down tyne gorge in club tat!

We were faced with a small problem though, how were we to persuade club members to part with a £1, to be in with a chance of winning this stunning prize..... don't panic shouted Kev, i'll make a tit of myself all in the name of charity.

And so followed a day of frantic filming and editing on the eve of the ball, the results are below... enjoy

ALPS Video 2007

2007-02-26T18:31:00.000Z

After Mark's original epic adventure to rival Lord of the Rings and Rocky I II & III, he has gone back to the drawing board and come up with a shorter, more concise version.

Lovely Job

Continuing the theme of sharing…

2007-02-23T18:12:00.000Z

Its a shame not to share pictures

2007-02-20T14:55:00.000Z

TEESSIDE

2007-02-18T13:19:00.000Z

Bored of sitting in our front rooms playing Pro Evo and drinking tea, Teesside seemed a fine way to spend an early Saturday morning. So braving the freezing cold, even tho it was sunny, Kev, Chris and Sally went to have a go.

He are a few vids and some photos.

Kev was solid at the student cheese burger and i quote said, "i can't not win the student rodeo with that move"

Wet Sheep and Valley's

2007-01-24T20:45:00.000Z

So after Kev wouldn't let us go with him to Scotland, it was decided a few of us should trip to Wales and definitely not invite Kev!! However as before there was a shoddy take up, Mark was on the first weekend of his hairdressing course, and Huw has just got himself a bread maker and was immersed in the wonders of all the different flavours. (thats true by the way)

Chris, Lou, Sarah & Sandy were left to go by themselves to battle the soggy sheep and flooded valleys after a weeks heavy rain.

Fort Bill

2007-01-14T20:49:00.000Z

In December 2006 one intrepid member of the Extreme Swim Team travelled deep into the highlands of Scotland in search of classic creeks and gnarly tributary descents. Unfortunately at the thought of running anything more demanding than a sunny afternoon at HPP, Extreme Swim Team members Chris, Huw and Mark, hid under their beds tightly clutching their security blankets and refused to come out. So, after being abandoned by his fellow team mates, in preference for a hot coco and a warm bath, Kevin Hickey, accompanied by members of the second best BUSA slalom team, set off on the perilous journey north…

Kev running the first drop

Lee almost getting pinned in the 'Constrictor' on Spean Gorge

Bryn, Pete and Rich running the 1st drop on the River Etive

Some of the lads running a rapid on the Etive

Kev running the 1st drop on the Allt A' Chaorainn, a trib into the river Etive.

Kev running the 'Pinball' rapid on the Allt A' Chaorainn

Rich 'G-Force' Showing how NOT to run the Pinball rapid on the Allt A' Chaorainn

Rich running the final Drop on the Allt A' Chaorainn

Fat Kid.... mint

2006-12-02T16:39:00.000Z

Wacky Racing

2006-11-17T18:05:00.000Z

Last weekend was BUSA White Water Racing 2006 on the Washburn. NUCC tripped their way down to the formidable river with boats and bits in tow.

2005 saw Newcastle come a honourable 2nd to Loughborough by only a couple of points. Thus this year it was important we made it clear that we didn't do any training, and weren't very good at down river racing.

And we almost managed, being disqualified on Sunday night, for some very long winded reason involving bears stealing Birminghams tent and small squirrels taking the laptops to sell for new Nike Air trainers, the ones with little air bubbles, and elastic laces cause squirrels, on the whole struggle with bows??

However by Monday morning, after most of Birmingham had spent the evening in the woods tracking the pesky squirrels, and found the laptops, we were reinstated! NUCC swam in just infront of 3rd placed Durham, and trailing Loughborough who were Champions second year running.

Well done, not bad for beginners.

The Land of Robin Hood

2006-10-30T22:37:00.000Z

I'm not going to write much about this incredible trip cause my spelling is crap and i'm getting abused for it...

Newark weir

Newark entertainment didn't last very long, it was a bit shallow and full of cool people so we were off to the pub after a couple of hours.

A fine night out in Sheffield followed, we went to the union and Huw did some good busking, and I think pulled in a fine haul of cash.

Looping Pool, HPP

Sunday morning dawned, and we headed off to HPP, after a short session of man time when we fixed Thor (Huw's Volvo) who over night had broken himself. Then a quick shopping trip an we were ready to go big.

Guest EST member Adsy G joined us, and was first to have a cheeky dip after going for some moves in the Looping pool...by accident.

Top Wave, HPP

The Wales Weekend - Glyn to Win

2006-08-23T17:03:00.000Z

So a day earlier than planned , Huw and Billy headed to the Valley's to visit Kev, who's been there since we returned from the Alps.

With some devine salmon sandwiches and a couple of gingerbread ladies we found our way there... eventually.

Friday was a steady day, filled with stone throwing, some achitectural planning and shopping.

Huw just landing his loop!

Saturday was much more exciting though, we'd by now collected Jo Jo ya wat luv, and complete with her very trendy new ginger hair cut we went down the Tryweryn. Much fun was had by all and much rejoycing after in the tea shop made for a splendid time, except my new crazy 88 ended the day with a split down the seam, gutted!!

It was hard to come up with anything to top all the crazy moves that we'd pulled on the river, and it was hard to dissuade Jo from McDonalds, but eventually we managed to get her to play golf down the beach, an armed with a club each and a few balls a display of golfing masterous followed, with Kev sinking a few hole in ones, and Jo getting it off the ground a couple of times!! (look how long this sentance is)

Sunday dawned and surf was up, apparently, so to Hell's mouth we journeyed. We had a loverly time... thats it.

In the afternoon however, we went paintballing. It cost a fortune, but it was cool as fook. Jo with all her army training was invincible, Kev and Huw spent all their time shooting me in the face, and i ended with a nice egg on my chin.

So for a quite weekend in Wales we got quite alot done. Thanking Kev's Aunt and Uncle who were ace, letting us all crash in the house and even getting an awesome fryup. Ta

Laters

The Alps 2006

2006-08-14T18:15:00.000Z

Once again the Extreme Swim Team set off this year in search of McDonalds and1 Litre Jugs of Beer in the French Alps this July.

Last years crew was joined this time by some new members, Marky P, Tom H, Lou & Sarah, however sad news arrived late that Jo Jo ya wat luv couldn't make it... sad news i know.

This year was blighted by broken vans, chatting to the lady at French RAC and busting the Hire car, but it would take loads more to stop the tremndus (thats my own word) faff we had planned.

Much scaredness and peer pressure made us do some stuff i'm sure we shouldn't really have done.

Kev can probably boost the fewest upside down moments, and Mark can take claim to being the bravest, but he is pretty mint.

To everyones surprise Lou took the smashed teeth prize well and even tried to bust her nose, but did it very bravely. Nice one.

Huw and Billy easily won the Hitching race round 1, and would have won it the second time if Kev and Lou hadn't cheated.

Cheers to the Sheffield boys who lent us their roofracks as they were having even more faff than us.

Off to wales to see Kev's Mum this weekend, so well looking forward to that!!

Selling the G-Force

2006-08-14T17:59:00.000Z

Dagger G-Force 6.3

I finally have to sell this beloved boat.

It's 1 1/2 years old. It has quite a few scratches as you would expect but no holes, cracks or welds.

I have just put in new ratchets for the backband. It also comes with a Jackson Happy Feet footbag.

£300 ono

Idea playboat for beginners and progressing.

I have loads of pics so e-mail me if you want more.

chrisbrowell@hotmail.com

07971678704

Cheers

Chris