Ever since I heard inlet was back at HPP, I had been eager to get up there! And although I was a bit dissappointed that Hurley was not running, I took the opportunity (a silver lining) and headed to HPP! It was cold and windy as usual, but I was on the water by quarter to 10, warming up on the lake ready for it to open. The Canadian glitter war was not forgotten, as I was accompanied in my boat with a plentiful supply of blue glitter that shortly brightened the Trent waters.
With no more slalom paddlers in sight, and knowing they didn't use the top gate, I decided to drop in a couple of minutes early. It felt like home. Like many other UK boaters, inlet has been the place for many firsts - the feature you learn in before progressing. I tried everything and it was so much fun! But then I flushed, and with no one else around and not being able to paddle back up, I jumped out, and dropped in once again. Even if there was someone to pull you up, it was very difficult and so mostly, I just got out and went round.
With only an hour to paddle before helping with some rafting photography, I headed down to check out twin. Initially, I found it very trashy, but towards the end of the day, I begun to get the hang of it (I think). It was so nice to have an easily catchable eddy, meaning I just went round and round, only stopping for slalom paddlers to use a few gates. I really enjoyed being presented with a new feature, and feel as it over the day managed to progress quite far with it - from power flips in the morning to attempting Phonics Monkeys in the afternoon.
Having been joined by Sam, we then continued down. Before the summer configuration, the course pretty much stopped there - but instead, we found jaws had remained. This was really good to play in, and even try some small wave moves. However, I didn't spend long enough on it to fully begin to get to grips with the new set up.
I then headed down, expecting there to be not mush else, but was more than pleasantly surprised to find a couple of small waves upstream of troll hole. The under the bridge section was back and it was great. Although troll is still fairly shallow, I managed to practice some cartwheels and McNastys as well as old school moves on the waves above.
And it didn't end there. Just below was another feature that was pretty good, although very flushy, and then a quick surf on plug, before dropping into Muncher! And then at the bottom of the course, there was also still the bottom stopper. To finish the day was the GB Freestyle Kayak AGM - but I couldn't bring myself to get off the water, so missed the start.
This new configuration was amazing, and in my opinion has made Nottingham once again a world class white water course. The breadth and variety of features on the course means it's hard to ever et bored, and the diversity of the features means that moves should become fully cemented and adaptable to a whole range of international features. Admittedly, inlet and twin are not as good as they have been in the past, but at the end of the day, the course is inedible now and overall I think it has improved. I will take the sacrifice of a walk round at inlet and a sweet spot slightly o the left, for the amount of features currently there.
With no more slalom paddlers in sight, and knowing they didn't use the top gate, I decided to drop in a couple of minutes early. It felt like home. Like many other UK boaters, inlet has been the place for many firsts - the feature you learn in before progressing. I tried everything and it was so much fun! But then I flushed, and with no one else around and not being able to paddle back up, I jumped out, and dropped in once again. Even if there was someone to pull you up, it was very difficult and so mostly, I just got out and went round.
With only an hour to paddle before helping with some rafting photography, I headed down to check out twin. Initially, I found it very trashy, but towards the end of the day, I begun to get the hang of it (I think). It was so nice to have an easily catchable eddy, meaning I just went round and round, only stopping for slalom paddlers to use a few gates. I really enjoyed being presented with a new feature, and feel as it over the day managed to progress quite far with it - from power flips in the morning to attempting Phonics Monkeys in the afternoon.
Having been joined by Sam, we then continued down. Before the summer configuration, the course pretty much stopped there - but instead, we found jaws had remained. This was really good to play in, and even try some small wave moves. However, I didn't spend long enough on it to fully begin to get to grips with the new set up.
And it didn't end there. Just below was another feature that was pretty good, although very flushy, and then a quick surf on plug, before dropping into Muncher! And then at the bottom of the course, there was also still the bottom stopper. To finish the day was the GB Freestyle Kayak AGM - but I couldn't bring myself to get off the water, so missed the start.
This new configuration was amazing, and in my opinion has made Nottingham once again a world class white water course. The breadth and variety of features on the course means it's hard to ever et bored, and the diversity of the features means that moves should become fully cemented and adaptable to a whole range of international features. Admittedly, inlet and twin are not as good as they have been in the past, but at the end of the day, the course is inedible now and overall I think it has improved. I will take the sacrifice of a walk round at inlet and a sweet spot slightly o the left, for the amount of features currently there.
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