Kit Reviews, Travel and Advice
Some of you may be aware of the ‘2022 whitewater helmet ratings’ that Virginia Tech released a short while ago (https://www.helmet.beam.vt.edu/whitewater-helmet-ratings.html). Virginia Tech tested 24 whitewater helmets from major brands such as Sweet Protection, WRSI, Shred Ready and NRS, in order to evaluate their ability to “reduce linear and rotational acceleration of the head from […]
Hey guys, given that there’s been a lack of people at Pinkston recently I thought I’d write a little guide to the course, and maybe I can persuade some of you to give it another go (especially for freestyle) before Bren’s Park Jam at the end of the month! I’ll go from the top to […]
Hello everyone! I know it’s been a while since my last blog post – and this one is quite niche – but hopefully we’ll be getting back into the swing of it this summer with some more widely applicable posts. I have owned a GoPro Hero (2018) for around two years now, but after fiddling […]
Moving on from my tutorial of how to Lunar Orbit on flatwater, I’m now going to explain how to do it on whitewater – something I recently learned myself. For the purposes of this tutorial I will be explaining the steps to do a lunar orbit on a steep feature (as pictured below) – a […]
In this tutorial I’m going to be going over the steps to both loop when seal launching and get your boat onto the side without getting out (videos below). If you own a playboat (preferably a plastic one) and can confidently loop on either flatwater or whitewater both of these tricks should be achievable. The […]
I’ve been running since age 8, competing properly since age 10. It’s been a long journey and it’s had its ups and downs but I’ve learned a lot and I intend to impart some of these things to you in this blog post. Running is one of the few sports that absolutely anyone can do […]
So far my flatwater tutorials seem to be going down quite well, there are a few left to write and still more tricks for me to learn before teaching you guys. One thing I’ve been doing for a while now is linking multiple tricks and I realised that it’s not necessarily that obvious how one […]
I realised that one tutorial which would probably help with some of my other recent posts like how to tricky woo, lunar orbit or double pump would be how to cartwheel. Continuing with the same layout as previous posts, a cartwheel is officially defined as “at least two consecutive ends in the same rotational direction, […]
In this post I’m going to go right back to basics and explain how to surf in a hole/stopper (which is where water pours over a submerged object causing the surface water to flow back upstream towards the object). Whether you’re interested in freestyle or river running this is probably one of the first things […]
Following on from my previous tutorials I’ll be explaining how to flatwater Tricky Woo. This is a trick I’ve been able to do for a while on my right, but learning how to do it on my left reminded me how confusing it can be and how a few little tips here and there can […]
Today I’m going to be explaining how to McNasty on flatwater which is a trick I’ve been focussing on a lot over the past month, even working to get it down on my offside (something I’m normally quite lax about). To be able to do the trick you need to know how to double pump […]
It occurred to me after publishing my previous post that learning how to space godzilla is the natural next step after learning how to loop – the two moves are very similar in their execution, the amount of points that they are worth (90 for a space godzilla, 60 for a loop and 90 for […]
In this post I’m going to be following on from two of my previous tutorials (https://patrickyak.blog/2020/05/08/how-to-double-pump/ and https://patrickyak.blog/2020/07/02/how-to-bow-stall/) and will explain how to loop on flatwater. Once you can confidently double pump and bow stall, learning to flatwater loop isn’t particularly difficult and could be learned within a few hours if you really put your […]
If you’ve been looking for a solution to the recent cold weather then this down jacket made by Mountain Equipment might just be the answer. I received one as a present a few weeks ago and have since then had the opportunity to test it when walking in the countryside. The Senja is designed for […]
Happy New Year everyone! Today I’m going to be showing you six GoPro accessories which I’ve been using recently. Some of these allow you to achieve interesting angles or effects while others are just generally useful and applicable in most situations; all of them are available for under £20 so if you’ve got a little […]
The lunar orbit is a freestyle trick that you can do both on whitewater and flatwater, but while it is an advanced trick on whitewater, on flatwater it is considerably easier and can be learnt alongside the cartwheel, tailey and bow stall. In this post I will only be focussing on the technique involved in […]
Today I’m just going to go over a little trick that I use with my Jackson Happy Feet. I know that some people like to use a foam foot block not only because they’re cheaper, but also a lot lighter and longer lasting however, I fit better in my Jed and feel more connected when […]
Consistency is an important part of sport in general, not just for kayaking and not just for freestyle. It doesn’t matter if you manage to do something perfectly unless you can do it again (or someone filmed it so that you can pretend you can do it again). In this post I’ll describe how I’ve […]
Sometimes you see GoPros in the weirdest of places – on dog harnesses, on a unicorn mount or even being held in someone’s mouth. Having tried quite a few weird ideas myself including mounting a GoPro inside of a lobster pot and on the end of a stick for my dog to chase along the […]
Patrick Kyak 