After a week or so I heard that the Gateneau river had come up nice and high and the high tension wave was well in. Arriving at the wave it felt surprisingly European. With paddlers from 4 EU countries I was at home. A week later my back was in turmoil so I left the great high tension wave to spend a few days paddling the famous Petawawa river.
Hearing that the Ottawa was on the up I headed back just in time to watch the river rise to fifteen on the gauge. Yes we had bus eater. After a week of high water Ottawa, I went back to high tension for a further week.
Time passed and after a few hectic nights in Montreal surfing the St Laurence waves and getting hideously drunk with mark from wave sport and Leone from Switzerland it was time to go home.
Arriving back in England I spent a week circuit training and doing sprint training on the river. Friday came round and James arrived at my house. We loaded up the truck and headed to Europe via the airport to pick up a friend flying in from Oz. Well we spent a few days in Holland with a Dutch buddy before heading to worlds.
Worlds began with training every day at 8 am. We got 3 rides each if we were lucky. Myself and John Best spent almost every night at the wave getting extra surfing time so we would be peak for our rides on the day. Time went by quickly and it was time for my rides. Well let’s just say “I fucked up. Big time “finishing in 44th position it felt like the last 7 months training was all for nothing. With no buzzer I hit my helix’s ten seconds after my ride. With great furious anger I went to the bar and got ridiculously hammered. The rest of the event sailed by with many a cheer and good times hanging with the rest of the Nookie crew.
Time to move on further in to my Euro trip heading to Leone’s house for a night of chilling before making the big drive across to Slovenia.
Slovenia was a haven of good water and fine food and wine. Low levels made the siphon canyon runnable it also meant we could skip the camp site and stay on the river bank and spend the days chilling. It began to get cold in Slovenia so we upped and headed in to Austria hoping that the wave in Kohal would be working. The waves work when it’s high and when it’s low. We got there and it was middle.
Hell it’s time to go home. Heading back to Switzerland to once again chill at leone's place and celebrate my birthday with wine and good steak. On the way I received a phone call from good friend Rob telling me of the famous wave at the falls of Laura would be in on the biggest tide seen in a few years I knew my time to leave main land Europe was close.
Leaving the good company of the Haberlling family I travelled across Europe for one more stop. The Netherlands, as flat as a pancake with about as much white water as my downstairs toilet. Arriving in Delft after dropping crazy Irish Neil in Amsterdam was brilliant. Hanging out with the Dutch boys was well up on my list of cool things to do. We settled down to rest our weary limbs after the long drive and digressed into kayak talk over pizza and a cold beer. Morning broke and we were off back to Blighty. With a week to do my washing and pick Swiss Leone up from the airport and get to Scotland I had time to chill and see the parents.
Big thanks to Nookie, Streamlyte, Sweet and Wavesport for the lovely kit, boats and support getting me to the worlds.
