Paula’s Funsized Adventures

Back in Norway again for the Sjoa festival. This is an exclusively kayaking festival, which means that you meet a lot more new kayakers as everyone is grouped together and you keep bumping into each other. After an epic journey with a jefe grande on a train (its a long story), I arrived in Sjoa. I ticked off some great runs, starting with two runs of the Sjoa Normal with Big Morten, Erik and Tone as a gentle warm up. Then I headed to the Ula with Lars Georg and German Benji to run some big slides and the triple drop (three waterfalls in quick succession), which have been on my list for a long time! Great day, especially when Lars pretended he wasn’t running the drops so I thought I was going to be the only one. Tuesday we headed to the Laagen Canyon - fairly large volume, quite continuous at grade and some interesting rapids - and one very interesting portage! That evening I paddled the Amot gorge on the Sjoa for the first time… I was wide eyed the whole way - what an awesome run! Wednesday the Norgies said that the were heading to Bora Bora (!!!) so I headed to the Upper Jordi with Nick Horwood and some other English… Again a steep low volume run with plenty of slides and drops to keep us entertained! Wednesday night saw the Pimp and Ho party so Thursday was a bit of a write off. Mark Burton and I headed to the Skjok wave and had a play. On Friday we felt energetic again and headed with the whole Norwegian crew to the Skjerva and Finna. Putting in at the Skjerva and heading through the beatiful gorge of the Finna. It is a 10km run and is action stations all the way! Almost everyone got toasted at the toaster and all in all I enjoyed it so much - what a great crew and what a great river! I was SO tired at the end of that, that I decided not to enter the race at Amot. I got bullied into it by the Norwegians - it was a time trial to qualify for Saturday’s race. I managed to get through to the final. Saturday was race day - and I managed to slide into second place for the BoaterX!!! (Mens: 1.Michelle Ramazza, 2. Benji Hjort, 3. Felix, 4. Ed Smith Ladies: 1. Lyndsey Evans, 2. Paula Volkmer, 3. Marianne Seather). We partied hard that night and then it was sadly time to leave Norway again….. until next year! I can’t wait.

We had decided to head up to Money Drop (Strondelva) on Saturday morning… and I dreamt all night about running the drop. Finally the time came, and I was sitting in the eddy watching Per Christian paddle out into the flow and disappear over the lip. I waited for the OK sign and it was my turn. There is nothing quite like the feeling when you are out of the eddy, in the flow and past the point of no return. Then I reached the lip - realised I was on the sweet line, and tucked! Unlike other drops I’ve done, here there was an actual moment of feeling like you’re in the air before you hit the water at the bottom. It is an unbelievable adrenalin high when you get to the bottom and look back up! I spent all of Saturday night on a high and then dreamt about it again all night… 

Back on the festival circuit and I headed to the Voss ekstremesportsveko. This festival takes place in a beautiful small town called Voss, which is located about an hour and a half from Bergen. The festival celebrates all sorts of different extreme sports and there is a festival tent where numerous bands play during the course of the week. It is well worth the experience as the night life is awesome.

Close up of me on the Upper Brandseth!

Arriving to find that the road from Bergen to Voss was closed, I spent a rather uncomfortable night sleeping in the airport! I headed across to Voss by train the next morning (one of the most scenic train rides around). I arrived to be greeted by Benji and the kiwi boys (who cleaned up at the races later in the week!). The week began with the play-run on the Strondelva (a medium volume river with big waves and holes that are easily avoided) with the local boys Eirik etc– this was high and a lot pushier than I would expect a play run to be – luckily I was in my Mamba and not in a playboat. Next up was a day spent on the competition run of the Brandsethelva with Per Christian. It is probably only a kilometre long but contains a long slide at the beginning loads of rapids and even a 3m water fall half way down the course!

Morten on the Upper Jordalselva

On the Monday the whole Norway crew headed up to do the Upper Bransdseth – an amazing river with plenty of steep slides and drops. Monday evening turned out to be a pretty big night thanks to lots of beer and some Bacardi Razz… and everyone woke up with a sore head. Time for a chill out run with Per, who was suffering as much as me - we headed to the lower Strondelva. The following day the usual suspects went to check out something stupidly difficult, so I joined a different group and we gave the upper Jordalselva a try. This river is high up in a really beautiful valley and is a low volume, dropping off steeply with numerous slides and creeks as is typical of the Voss area. On the way back I stopped off for a quick run down the Brandsethelva competition run, with Zak and then a bbq by the river bank before heading into town to the festival tent as usual.

Lots of people on the put in for the Upper Jordalselva

Thursday was competition day and we headed for the Brandsethelva. The start ramp gave you a flying start into sprinting down the section and there were so many stylish paddlers there. Everyone had a great day with Mike Dawson (NZ) and Marianne Seather (NO) taking the winning places. I finished 8^th in the ladies event.

Me on the first rapid of the competition run during the race.

On Friday we headed back to the Upper Jordalselva – this time with the whole crew of Norwegians. That night plans were hatched to head to Money Drop on Saturday (full story above). After Money Drop, Per headed home to his lovely wife and daughter and I went along to the BoaterX to see NZ take first second and third places (Sam Sutton, Mike Dawson, Bradley Lauder). They then went on to the big rapid by the campsite (not sure of the name)… all I know is that is one huge hole! After some fun and games there, we headed to Mikey Abbot’s house for a massive dinner with about 15 people with plenty of (imported) Gin and tonics flowing before heading to the epic last night party!

The first week in May is a time for kayakers from all around Europe (and some from further afield) gather in Valsesia, Italy. This is where the Teva Mountain Games are usually held on second weekend in May (find out more at http://www.tevaextremeoutdoorgames.it). Large numbers of people arrive the weekend before and spend the week enjoying the sun, pizza and delicious gelato! I flew into Milan Malpensa and got in my little hire car to start heading off to the mountains. It is about a two hour drive, and there are always plenty of kayakers staying in Campertogno. The campsite has an onsite bar/ restaurant which serves such good food that reservations are necessary at the weekend!

The first couple of days were spent with London friends Adam, Tom and Ali – we headed to a few of the classic runs – the Egua, the Sorba some sections of the Sesia. The Egua is a picturesque pool-drop style river, with a steep gradient! There are some great boofing spots, a couple of fun slides and some 3 and 4 metre small falls. Since we weren’t all that familiar with the river, we were out and inspecting a lot! Team Norway managed to lap us three times in our run on the Egua and still get off the river way ahead of us.

Location: Egua, first drop - paddler Monica Gokey

I met some new friends on the campsite – a group of Americans from Portland. They were heading up to the Sermenza gorge the following day so I joined in with that group. The river is in a beautiful gorge with some interesting drops.

Location - River Sermenza (Photo: Monica Gokey)

One of the girls, Monica, and I decided that we would enter the extreme race. So on the Thursday we moved to the competition campsite and did a few practice runs on the Egua. Team Switzerland (Ron and Severine) were kind enough to show us some lines…

Team Norway on the finish line. Location: Egua River (Photo: Monica Gokey) (Paddlers - Benji Hjort, Lars Georg Paulsen, Eirik Overeide)

Me competing - River Sorba - Extreme Slalom (Photo: Monica Gokey )

It was my first ever competition – I was last to start after 75 male and 9 female competitors, and I certainly got extremely nervous having spent a whole day waiting to race! I survived the run, although in 10th place, and was happy to have taken part in my very first proper extreme race! The following days saw a short distance sprint as well as an extreme slalom and boatercross. I came joint fifth in the boatercross – and then it was time to party! The competitors dinner and party are always great fun. Unfortunately, this left me with a bad hangover for the journey back to ol’ blighty!

Post Competition Party!

I thought I couldn’t start my blog without giving a little summary of the year 2007. The year started in the perfect location – I celebrated new year in Murchison, New Zealand, where I spent four months working over winter 2006/2007. On new year’s day I went paddling on the Buller river in the sunshine.

Location: Buller River, Murchison NZ

Highlights of my time in NZ included a six day multi day trip on the Clarence river, which is located at the top of the south island. The river is remote (3 days to walk in in some places), and I undertook this little mission with three guys who had only ever done 10 days of paddling in their lives. It is a classic class 3 run, with big wave trains and beautiful scenery.

Location: Clarence River NZ

I began my time in NZ with about 6 weeks of paddling with an awesome girls crew – Sandy DiCiero, Kirstin Trudeau and Claire Brown. It’s the first and only time I’ve paddled so much in an all girl group – and it worked super well. There were great times both on and off the river. I spent a lot of time hanging around the NZ kayak school. Mick Hopkinson is an inspirational guy – he says it the way it is, but he was extremely generous with tips and advice. The instructors there are just really good as well! The local raft company Ultimate Descents also took me under their wing – and I lived with two of the guides. I got a job in the local pub – kayaking day time and working there at night.

I managed to get two trips to Hokitika as well – the rivers over there are superb. My favourite one was the Wanganui - my first time in a helicopter, and there were even hot springs at the end! Camping next to the Mahinapua lake – beautiful, and great for swimming off a hangover from too many jim beam’s the night before!

Location - Sorba River, Valsesia, Italy

Having returned to London to start work in February, I still got some good trips in. The first destination was Val Sesia in Italy – the sun shines, the rivers are steep and the pizza is delicious, not to mention the ice cream! I went to the Coruh in eastern Turkey with 6 old university friends. The epic three day journey to get there paid off, as we experienced some great rivers, sunshine and a very different culture. We also did a small multi day trip of 3 days or so, where the temperature suddenly plummeted from 40 degrees to freezing, windy and rainy… and I had only packed my shortie cag! Great fun nonetheless.

The final trip of the year was a play boating tour to the Ottawa with some Hurley kids, and I managed to meet up with Kirstin from NZ again….

So that was 2007 – what a great year!