When we arrived at the first event of the youth freestyle series 2009 we found the car park already 3/4 full so we headed up to the cafe for a bacon butty before the queues got any bigger. The YFS is a number of one-day events aimed at under 18 paddlers who want to take part in a freestyle competition. The events are always a laugh and a great chance to hang out with mates and enter a fun freestyle competition. For this event Sam, George, Ed, Stuart, Jonathon, Luke and I entered. In the morning there was coaching for those who wanted it. I chose to hang out at the bottom wave with Sam and George. The levels were low (about 1.5 on the gauge... much lower than last year's 11!) so it was quite hard to throw ends as everybody kept hitting the bottom.
After an hour for lunch it was competition time. I decided to get my runs out of the way with quickly. I did the middle stopper run first... I managed to get most of the moves in I wanted and even had time for an attempt at a ninja wheel (spinning your paddle while cartwheeling)...I hit myself in the face with my paddle and floped on my head. More practice on that move needed! The second and final run was in a little drop in the river right channel next to the island. My run went excellently I got all my moves that were possible... cartwheel, splitwheel, clean cartwheel, tail squirt and even a Luna Orbit!

After the competition it was time for the Boater X. As normal in the YFS there was a twist. In some heats people had to load their boats with rocks, no paddles allowed and no deaks allowed. In my heat We had to throw each other's boats in the water and race out to get them. I threw Sam's boat upside-down and Brandon threw mine on top of it upside down so I was the first off. Nobody bothered putting spray deaks on...this was my down fall. I swamped on the first drop and the others used me as a landing ramp so all stayed dry. I decided to swim for the bank and run down the bank. I beet everybody to the finish but the judge said I had to have my boat so I ran back up to get it. I finished so far behind I only beet the person in the next heat by about a metre!
After a quick change it was results time. I had finished 2nd in the U15s! Local boy Brendon just beat me. I was really pleased as I had beaten 2 GB team members and done much better than I had hoped for! The full set of results will be avalible soon from here: http://www.youthfreestyle.co.uk/.  
It was a great event, thanks to Matt, Flea and all the other organisers. The Nene is the next event on the 14th of June and it would be great to see some more NACC youth paddlers there.

See you on the water

Josh

www.pgl.co.uk