First visit to HPP (Holme Pierrepont) White water course

On a nice sunny March day we decided to go for a day trip to the Nottingham HPP White water course. James, aged 8, had paddled a few rivers with rapids and played on small weirs but nothing as full-on as HPP with its series of features in quick succession.
We started our visit by walking the course, my wife was a little concerned by the size of features but I pointed out he had done more technical features on our last trip to Wales.
As we walked the course we discussed the easiest lines, this put James's mind at rest. We then settled down for a picnic overlooking the looping pool. In hindsight this was probably a bad idea as a number of reasonably good paddlers took a swim down that section of the course. Well, by the time we got on the water James was a little nervous, however with each drop his confidence grew, that was until he went right at the looping pool. If only he went left, but then he probably would have completed HPP first time and that just wouldnt be right for a kid when so many adults swim. His confidence was a little knocked by the swim so we completed the final leg of the course and then practiced skills on the other side of the island before repeating the bottom sections a couple more times.
Watching this video has boosted his confidence and after a bit more practice he'll be back at HPP to nail the looping pool.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• kayaking
• Jackson
• HPP
• Ophion
• blades
• fun
• swim

[mmdghr]

what a great dad

[mmdghr]

that young man is made for the river

[mrpaddlesportuk]

awesome well done young one keep paddlin