After kayaking for more than 35 years I don’t know whether to feel embarrassed or pleased that I’m still learning about paddling. Zen Buddhism has the principle of ‘beginner’s mind’; which emphasises the importance of staying open to new experience and not letting arrogance or preconceptions get in the way. So I guess on balance [...]
Look out for the Tassie juniors!
On holiday earlier this month I returned to my old slalom-training course at the Broken Bridge on Tasmania’s Derwent River. I joined in a session run by Peter Eckhardt and Dave Borojevic, long-time paddling friends who are doing a fantastic job coaching a new generation of enthusiastic and talented young slalom paddlers. Several of them [...]
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My slalom season in review
I’ve just completed my first full slalom racing season since leaving Tasmania in 1992. I set myself the target of competing in at least five Division 1 events, and if I count one ‘judges race’ at Bala I managed this. I was hoping to go to another three races, but work and family commitments ended [...]
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Slalom training then and now
I went for a slalom session at Harefield west of London today, meeting up with Craig Ayres. It was the first time I’d paddled with Craig for about six weeks, and it was good to be on the water with him again. We did a couple of courses between 30 and 40 seconds long, with [...]
Tags: Slalom
3 decades on
I paddled my first slalom session at the new Lea Valley Whitewater Centre last weekend. It was only my second time on the course, and a slalom K1 was a bit more challenging than paddling my creek boat during the assessment session the weekend before. After I’d been paddling for about an hour, Dave Florence [...]
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Hello world!
My name is Jonathan Males, but I’m generally called Mally on the river. I’ve been paddling since 1975 and I still love the sport as much as I did as a 13 year old fat kid. Now I’m 48, and I reckon there’s lots of other people out there like me who are trying to keep [...]
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