NZ Freestyle Champs- FJ!

Last weekend we had the New Zealand Freestyle Nationals on the Full James Rapid just out of Taupo. This is one of the funnest and most accessible waves on offer in the region and provides a lot of fun. The men's competition was taken out this year by the one and only Josh Neilson! Followed closely by Andy O and the legend Bernd Sommers!
In the Womens Polly Green took the honours with Junior World silver medalist Courtney Kieran in 2nd and myself in 3rd.
A super fun weekend and Jamie and I even got to try out the SUP's on the wave!:)
Big thanks to all the sponsors of the event. There was some super sweet prizes, I was especially stoked with my Tie Downs from CanoeandKayak Taupo as now I can stop using everyone elses!
Also big thanks to the organisers!!! Soph, B, Lu Urwin, Tyler and CanoeandKayak Taupo...without these guys the event would never happen and we would miss out on sick times!
Photo Credit: Canoe and Kayak Taupo
and Rob Sperling

Raglan- SUP!

With the New Zealand SUP National Festival coming up at the end of this month I have been out for a few SUP sessions to help prepare myself! I will be heading up there with Mike Dawson. It will be all very new to me and the competition should be a real experience! But I am looking forward to checking it out and I think it will be a lot of fun. Here are some pictures I took when visiting my sister Heather in Raglan!

Si Memorial race-Nevis

Here is an edit of Simon Davidson's memorial race down some of NZ's biggest rapids- edit put together by Foxy.
It was a hard morning after the epic bender and it was raining and cold! But the crew of 15 of us had a sick time and took a moment at the top of the rapids to remember Si! The paddle was dedicated for him and I am confident he would have been stoked on us shredding down in mass form through the Nevis Bluff rapids! One of the wildest swims in my life, but well worth every second! Ride on.

Citroen Extreme Race! NZ Extreme Series wrap up

The last few weeks have kept me really busy with a lot of kayak instruction work, University work back on the cards, morning surf sessions and an incredible weekend in Queenstown. Jamie Sutton, Kenny Mutton, Ryan Lucas, Willz Martin and I boosted to Auckland Friday night and camped out in the van before flying bright and early Saturday morning down to NZ's adventure capital- Queenstown! The 3rd and final event in the NZ Extreme Race series and the prime event- Citroen Extreme Race is a must make event with very exciting rapids that make for an awesome event and unpredictable racing. Our Okere Massive crew all arrived feeling pretty tired but we were fired up for a good day of racing. Air New Zealand were extremely helpful and awesome to deal with, even though they did manage to leave 3 of our kayaks and gear in Auckland...this left me with a bikini and shorts and no warm gear for the icy Kawerau river waters. Fortunately the Southern Island is full of absolute legends and I was fortunate to have Sara- Jane Luoni, the Bailey Family and Dyl lend me a kayak and some gear for the day!
With 8 woman on the startline the womans line-up was a lot better then last year, stoked! There were also 37 in a strong mens field fighting for the overall title.
I won my first two heats quite comfortably and was feeling good for the final, I was fired up to take home the gold! I decided I would hit the 50/50 hard but fast left line for the final in an attempt to style my way down to a win...unfortunately I got pushed into the hard left eddie however and this lost me a lot of time and cost me the race as all the other chicks in the final went the safe right line. Gutted, but all good. I still took out the NZ Extreme Race Series in the Woman's field and have defended my National Title! Racing in all three events was a lot of fun and I was stoked with how it all went.
The Men's racing was a lot tighter and especially with 4 of the top ranked men racing off for the title at the Citroen Race!!!With Jamie Sutton and Kenny Mutton in the final it was wicked to watch!!! Totally Stoked for Jamie who took the gold in the end and secured his 2nd Citroen Race win and the NZ Extreme Race Mens winner!
Weekend was toped with a Simon Davidson memorial mass start race down the mighty Nevis Bluff rapids! 14 men and myself. Dylan Thompson took the win...I took the most downtime and swimmer award!!! Sick!
Epic weekend. Now waiting in Queenstown airport with Ryan, Jamie S and Ricketts for our flights back to the North!
Photo credit- Ant Longman, Cumec Magazine.