681st Annual BCU Student Safety Weekend

“Safety: Not just a word – a way of life!”

Once again Tom Parker, Chris Eastabrook, Adam Dumolo and myself headed northwards in hope of some exciting Easter white water and the opportunity to impart some of our wisdom on some of the sport’s finest young minds. And this year we were fortunate to have the aditional assistance of Sara James and Luke Farrington.

Chris Eastabrook demonstrates which direction he wants throwlines to be thrown.

The first day – a day of much swimming around in cold water – was much more bearable than last year when Easter arrived a month weeks earlier. Much fun was had body-surfing holes and pulling each other out of the river.

Steve Brown tests out his club’s new favourite boat (The Karnali) on some good class 4/5 rapids.

There seemed to be a lot of ‘personing up’ from this year’s selection of student boaters. Having all our clients running the gnar (And often very smothly) lay down a real challenge for us coaches to put our money where our mouths were…

Matt Haydock (Leeds) observes Claire (Birmingham) as she persons up to run some gnar. Confident of his line, Matt fires it up himself shortly after.

mach zehnder modulator

Emily Bayne tries to conquer her fear of falling on the Etive.

…perfecting that flare on the 3rd drop of ‘Triple Step’.

I opted to test the Karnali‘s ability to boof comfortably, as this textbook ‘right-angle falls’ photo illustrates. Conclusion: comfy.

Back at the ranch, the team keep their minds fresh by partaking in some late night problem solving. Unfortunately no one was able to pick up a seduko on Good Friday… so buttering Matt and Sarah out of the stairs had to do.

For me: Special study is in and there’s ony a few more weeks left of my PGCE. Summer plans are formulating – watch this space!

For more information about BCU Student Safety, visit: www.bcustudentsafety.com.

Photos by Max Bilbow and Emilty Bayne

We’re finally back in the land of waterfalls, expensive beer and cheap Jam.

After touching down in Oslo, a long train ride to Otta, and a bit of a warm-up on The Aamot Gorge; it was time to pick up the clients for the second Liquid Satisfaction / Tom Parker Coaching Norwegian adventure.

Ruth Loeffler running the first drop on Stor Ulla

From big volume class 3/4 to the tight technical slides and drops on the Upper Ulla, the course covered technique, safety and leadership on the fabulous range of white water which Norway has to offer.

Emily Bayne on Ulla Slide number 2

Learning how to slide using laterals, waves and cushions effectively is fun whatever the weather.

Max demonstrates the cautious line above the Class 6 waterfall on the Lågen Canyon

And at the end of a fun introduction to Norwegian drops and slides, it’s never a bad idea to impress your clients by running a trio of classic waterfalls on the Upper Ulla.

Less impressive but just as fun: the annual pimp ‘n’ ho night at the only pub in the Sjoa valley. For some reason, there were far fewer hos here than the last pimp ‘n’ ho night I attended on the Hairy Lemon, Uganda.

Photos by Sarah Nash and Luke Farrington

Max’s Spring Round-Up

July 4, 2008

Max Bilbow coaching and courses, Events, Liquid Satisfaction, Me, Norway, Uganda, UK Boating 1 Comment

It’s been a while since I posted anything of substantial content and yet so much is going on in the world of Max.

Max gives a talk

In March, Adam Dumolo, Chris Easterbrook, Tom Parker and I ran the BCU Student Safety week in Scottland; helping current university canoe/kayak clubs with the important safety and leadership skills that help produce such persistent university bread boaters.

Good times.

Let’s not forget the NSR and the first official DVD released this year.

Plastic Fantastic at the Washburn! Liquid Satisfaction are helping to product the PFAKS DVD for Canoe Kayak magazine.

The Future

So what for the future? What’s my next step? Well it’s going to be quite a relaxed summer for me; only 3 weeks in Norway and 3 weeks in Uganda. A little repetitive but a good rut to be stuck in, yes?

Norway’s a no brainer; not just for the courses Tom and I are running – a continuing Tom Parker Coaching / Liquid Satisfaction venture – but it’s been a while since I had a good creeking hit and Norway is a Mecca for spectacular gnar-boating.

The call of the Nile was not unchallenged by the screaming rationality of my bank balance. However it will be worth it simply for the first time I lead Adam and Tom down Silverback; “It’s just a big wave train” I’ll say nonchalantly, with a look of inane smugness on my face, as they follow me down down deep into hell’s jaws and wonder how long it’s been since they last took a breath.

Means of Production

And then there’s the DVD. That’s right, we’re making a literal DVD that I hope will be at least half as good as Dave Manby‘s Everest DVD.

The film will contain footage from the last 2 years of kayaking around the world and be chock full of extras including a behind the scenes ‘making of’ documentary. View the trailer at www.mopmovie.co.uk.

The Real World

And then I have to bite the proverbial bullet and take one small step closer to the real world. On September 1st 2008, I will begin a 1 year PGCE course in Mathematics and Outdoor Education at Bangor University. Not only is this a very exciting course for me to take part in but, living in North Wales, it looks like I will be getting in a fair amount of terrestrial boating over the next academic year!

Photos: Chris Eastabrook, Paul Wilkinson

BCU Student Safety Weekend

April 11, 2007

Max Bilbow coaching and courses, UK Boating Leave a comment

Hurrah for the 350th annual Student Safety Week! Adam Dumolo, Tom Parker, Chris Eastabrook and I worked with students from many different university canoe clubs to help prepare them for the enormous amount of freshers they will be introducing to the sport next year.

The general feeling was that everyone had developed the tools and skills to look after themselves and others on the river.