The season has started
November: cold; damp; dark going to work; dark by late afternoon; but also a whole load of rain (well, this week at least), Hooray. Whilst the rest of the Northern Hemisphere paddlers get ready for the ski season, or head to warmer climates to go paddling, we Monkey Islanders start our paddling season - madness.
After six weeks or so of not being in my boat (due to lack of water, time and motivation) it has finally started raining, the Hurley season has arrived! Last week saw Hurley on 2 gates for the first time since the beginning of May and yesterday we got a fantastic 3 gate level.
Unfortunately, the new season, as always, brings the crowds and I was sat in the eddy on Sunday afternoon with 25 other people! 3 goes on the wave and we were done - no point in sitting there when it is that busy. We really should have made the effort to get in the car and drive a few hours to go paddle a proper river, but I'm getting old and there was wallpaper to take off the walls (and other Sunday jobs) and I wasn't motivated enough to sit in the car formost of the day - next time though, definitely. Thankfully I did get a good 2 gate session during the weekend when there were just 3 of us and I also had a perfect 3 gate session yesterday. Perhaps not so perfect on the paddling front (I seem to have forgotten how to blunt in my 7 months of cartwheeling-only paddling, and my legs are not used to sitting in my boat after my 6 weeks off), but boating with the old 'hurley friends', just surfing around on the wave, the occasional big blunt, and then sitting in the pub by a roaring fire eating good food. Excellent.
After six weeks or so of not being in my boat (due to lack of water, time and motivation) it has finally started raining, the Hurley season has arrived! Last week saw Hurley on 2 gates for the first time since the beginning of May and yesterday we got a fantastic 3 gate level.
Unfortunately, the new season, as always, brings the crowds and I was sat in the eddy on Sunday afternoon with 25 other people! 3 goes on the wave and we were done - no point in sitting there when it is that busy. We really should have made the effort to get in the car and drive a few hours to go paddle a proper river, but I'm getting old and there was wallpaper to take off the walls (and other Sunday jobs) and I wasn't motivated enough to sit in the car formost of the day - next time though, definitely. Thankfully I did get a good 2 gate session during the weekend when there were just 3 of us and I also had a perfect 3 gate session yesterday. Perhaps not so perfect on the paddling front (I seem to have forgotten how to blunt in my 7 months of cartwheeling-only paddling, and my legs are not used to sitting in my boat after my 6 weeks off), but boating with the old 'hurley friends', just surfing around on the wave, the occasional big blunt, and then sitting in the pub by a roaring fire eating good food. Excellent.
posted by flea at 7:06 pm 
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