PADDLER 55
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IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE ONE LAST THING YOU WANTED TO ACHIEVE WITHIN WW PADDLING BEFORE GIVING IT UP, WHAT WOULD THAT BE?
It would be never to give up. I’ ve always wanted to live to 100, and I want to be still ripping a kayak around as close to that as I can get! Who’ s the oldest person still looping? Who’ s the oldest person to run a waterfall of any size? Who’ s that well-old guy showing the kids up at the local freestyle spot?? I plan for that to be me!
Is there anywhere in the world that you want to keep going back repeatedly? Yes, quite a lot, but a few have managed to make me go back again and again.
Back in the day, Uganda was an amazing place to kayak, with world-class waves, big-volume rapids, and paddlers from all across the globe visiting to get their winter sun. That had me going back many times.
These days, I love to spend winters at Aventurec in Veracruz, Mexico. Veracruz has great whitewater from Grades 2-5, some of which are world-renowned runs. On top of this, there are loads of waterfalls to scout, consider, and eventually run. The atmosphere at Aventurec is amazing, and the local rivers and waterfalls provide a lot of opportunity for progression, so I plan to keep spending upcoming winters there. Trips are being run from Aventurec, and onsite guides are available, so anyone interested in a winter kayaking trip can get in touch to learn more.
Apart from freestyle and river running – are there any other areas of paddling you would like to explore? I’ ve always thought I’ d get into surf kayaking at some point in my life. I do own a surf kayak and have been on a couple of trips with it, but one day, I’ d like to really get into it. I love being in the sea and the feeling surfing gives; with my current skills, it should be an area of kayaking I could progress in relatively quickly.
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You do like your waterfalls; what in particular attracts you to them? Waterfalls are a part of kayaking that still needs me to progress. Being based in Mexico over the winter months gives me a great opportunity to work on this, improving my technique, slowly pushing my comfort zone, and running some drops that I was never sure I’ d feel confident enough to do.
Waterfalls are much more technical than people might realise, and all of the techniques to get it right need to happen in just a few seconds … The feeling of being able to control yourself while falling is really quite addictive.
Have you ever feared any river or waterfall? Yes, often! With scarier rapids and drops, I generally only‘ go’ when I’ m confident there’ s a high percentage chance that I’ ll make the line and look good. This can often mean portaging the first time I’ m there and scouting. Then, when I’ ve had good time to process the rapid, if I feel confident with the line, it becomes something that I want to do, and the fear or nerves turn into confidence in my ability to nail the line. I’ ve found that strategies and processes that I use for competition can be very useful on the river when something seems scary. For example, I might go through my warm-up process before starting the river so I know my body’ s ready to react how it needs to. I might go through a mental rehearsal before running a rapid to help remove any distractions and focus on the task at hand. www. gavbarkercoaching. co. uk Wings out on number 6 of the Seven Sisters, Mexico
PADDLER 55