Lyon River Festival - Great event, shame about the levels

Despite living only a relatively short distance away from Lyon, I had never actually been there to visit Hawaii Sur Rhone, the wave. But, I had heard good things: a big wave, with big air being a realistic possibility. So, especially with reports of a good season, I was looking forward to spending a few days out there before the 2006 Lyon River Festival. Amazingly I navigated myself through the whole of France and straight to the wave without getting lost – hooray (there were stories of others driving around Lyon for several hours, able to see the wave but unable to get there)!

Unfortunately, as with all good features I arrive at, the river level had recently dropped to a disappointingly low levelL. Thankfully though I had arrived on a bank holiday, and for the rest of the week the dam did release some water and the levels rose, although not to the huge green wave levels of the pictures, but, a nice green shoulder for some right-hand moves (not my speciality) and good enough for some big names to be pulling off some big moves. This was going to be a major event, with boaters flying in from America, Canada, Uganda and all over Europe. However, major events always mean major queues in the eddy, and towards the end of the week this was certainly happening. Forming queues in the middle of the river was fine when the water was at its lowest in the morning but, as it rose throughout the day, I was sure sitting in the eddy waiting for your turn was much more energy-efficient. I was unable to pass on this wisdom to anyone behind me though, as they were so intent on not loosing their place that they were all sweeping passed me to the middle of the river. I think we needed a few ‘Hurley queuing experts’ to have a rant and put things right.

The event was extremely well organised and there were a lot of local people, as well as TV crews, that came to observe the paddling and the other activities going on – come and try it sessions, manufacturers stands, bouncy castles, bands, beer and boozing. The organisers were extremely helpful, especially in showing us where the hospital was – a story for a different day (Pringle can tell you that one) and offering help when the car was being towed away by the breakdown people. The format of the competition was good as well – 30 seconds, 3 moves count, and even moves that flushed scored points, which therefore allowed the paddlers to take the risk to go big.

It was a shame then, that on Saturday, the day of the heats, there was a severe lack of water. Everybody was wishing they were the size of Dane Jackson, as he made the wave look 3 times bigger than it actually was. In the ladies heats the most popular move was the ‘flush’ followed by the ‘just about catch the wave to get through to the next round’ manoeuvre. Although, not wishing to be completely negative, 15 year old local girl Nouria, got an impressive back stab and a big blunt, which would have got her through near the top of the men’s pro! I was pleased to just catch the wave in one of my rides (which would have been enough to get me through), and was then afraid to do anything in case I fell off the back of the pile, so getting a blunt as well was a bonus! The ‘flush’ was popular amongst the men as well, although some managed to paddle back up the eddy to get back onto the wave. But, there were some more inspiring moves as well – helixes, pan-ams, donkey flips (although some of these definitely looked more like – to quote Wiggy – ‘Cow Tippers’, rather than full on donkey flips), and some of them even stuck!

The big air ramp was entertaining to watch and this pulled in the crowds as it was a lot easier to figure out than what was going on in the wave. And the air time, along with the rotations in the moves, was very impressive. Being a big girls blouse and not quite as bendy as I used to be, I decided to decline the ramp, I think Juma (from Uganda) wished he had given it a miss as well, after landing on his ear and not being able to hear anything for the rest of the weekend.

Some decided not to bother with kayaks on the ramp (until the ramp broke and it all ended in tears:))


The band, beer and boozing all got underway smoothly on Saturday night, and continued (perhaps less so smoothly) into the early (late?) hours of Sunday morning.

After a few beers on Saturday night and even lower water levels on Sunday morning I was not too enthusiastic about the semi-finals. When EJ doesn’t make semis you know the feature is pretty tough. As I approached the green tongue leading into the wave I really struggled to see the pile and that was not just because I didn’t have my contact lenses in, nor because I had drunk too much the night before. So, I flushed – twice, actually I flushed once and then decided to catch the wave from the bottom eddy, and failed to do that – twice. Ho hum. Once again it was a case of those who caught the wave (even slightly) got through to the next round; unfortunately (for the watching crowd) no moves were required.

So, to the finals: I have ranted before about how I don’t like knock-out finals, and I thought this format was particularly harsh for the flushy feature - too often it was down to who didn’t flush, rather than who got the best rides. This was particularly true in the ladies, where Nouria from France was clearly getting the biggest blunts and the most consistent rides. Unfortunately though, in her last ride she missed the wave, and first place went to Nina Hvoslef from Slovakia. Dane Jackson won the Juniors, he got a very nice huge air blunt, which was just slightly bigger than the fairly huge air blunt from Nick Troutman.

Big blunts were still possible:


In the men’s event Hurley regular Piers Bucknell (GB) had thrown down some very fast and retentive donkey flips to make it through to the final 5. In the end he came 4th – well done Piers. 1st place was fought out Australia (Anthony Yapp) vs France. In the final ride both men got a big blunt and a donkey flip, so they scored the same and had to go again. I think, by this stage, I had watched too many people paddling up the eddy and I honestly can’t remember what happened in the repeated final ride, but Anthony did something which earned him the most points – well done.

The French Alps were now calling so we didn’t stay around to watch the big air ramp final. Although, I think it was probably a good one. Apparently Logan (Canadian gymnast) got a nice back flip which earned him first place.



Despite my negativity about the feature, it was actually a very good event; paddlers were getting some good moves and there were big crowds. Well done to the organisers who, I’m sure, were even more frustrated about the lack of water than the paddlers. I heard a rumour that next year they may be able to hold the event during a weekday to ensure dam-release, or if not, lets hope they are luckier with the water levels.