Freestyleweekend dag 1

De eerste dag van het freestyleweekend zijn we naar de Erft geweest. Met uitleg en opdrachten van Polo hebben we de hele dag lekker in de wals gelegen. Het water was niet hiel diep, dus cartwheels en loops waren alleen succesvol in het creëren van krassen op de boot. Het bleef dus vooral bij bootcontrole, flatspins en king of the hole. Sommige mensen hebben nog met peddels zitten gooien in de wals, met verschillende maten van succes. Nadat alle verloren peddels waren opgevist, hebben we de dag afgesloten met nog heerlijke Duitse Domino pizza’s, klaar voor dag twee.

Freestyle weekend day 2

The day started on a camping near the Erft where the people who participated on both days of the freestyle weekend spent the night. After packing up all the tents and only a relatively short drive, we arrived at Holibu. There, we didn’t have to wait long for all the other Okawanians to arrive. When it was time to start gearing up, I had to face the moment I dreaded days in advance: Putting on yesterday’s cold, wet clothes... Luckily, I was saved that horror because we were allowed to use the dressing rooms and the hot showers in the club house. 

After getting the nicely warm kayak gear on we started with the training. The group was split in two so it wouldn’t get too busy at one feature. We started out with the guidance of polo at the first wave. We practiced surfing and controlling your position. After we had gotten comfortable at the first wave we progressed to the second wave and like that we move down the features of the course. By the time we had gotten down to the hole we were a couple of hours along and Polo went to coach the other group. 

We played some more in the hole but after two days of freestyling we were quite tired. This showed when I flipped in the hole and I was out of my boat and in the water before I knew it because my knee had slipped out of the boat. I thought what was a good point to call it a weekend and get a hot shower. Once everyone had tired themselves out and had a good day on the water we got some food at a local culinary establishment.

It was a great weekend. It was good to do some freestyling out on the river for a change, since I usually only do that in the pool. The differences between the holes and the waves this weekend were fun to explore, especially with Polo there to help build some skills on the water.