The Keen Cup
It's Saturday 31st of October. The day starts at 6:30am. I woke up late and ran out the door without breakfast. I got the train to Amagasaki city which is about 15 minutes from my train station. I met up with Macho again and we drove up the coast to Toyama prefecture. It took about 5 or 6 hours to get there. The sun was splitting the rocks and I was loving the fact it was like summer on the 31st of October.
Gas station stops just aren't the same in Japan....
The venue for the kayak competition was on Idagawa or Ida River. I was told it's Japans best artificial whitewater course. For a whitewater course the rapid was the most powerful artificial hole I've experienced. By the end of the weekend I had tendonitis, a sore back and brused hips. I think I'm getting old.
Entry move
The first day was just practice. It was my first time back in a strong hole in over a year and lots of paddlers lined the banks to see what the gaijin kayaker could do! No pressure or anything! With no one in the eddies I was out of breath in no time. After a while a few paddlers joined me on the water and we boated all day until the water was shut off at the dam above.
Chilling after the event
Toyama is famous for its sushi and so Macho treated me to some top quality sushi along with all the other paddlers. I thought I had eaten sushi before but when this stuff went in my mouth it soon became clear that I hadn't really had proper sushi.
I also love Japan for its endless supply of natural hot springs. It is a ritual amongst kayakers to go to an onsen / hot spring after kayaking to warm up. So in true style we all went to warm up after sushi. It is amazing especially outdoor springs with a strong breeze to cool you down in between dips.
Half the paddlers got hotel rooms and half of us camped out in a parking lot. As you can see it's five star camping for sure....lovin it!
Having a few beers huddled between a few cars to protect us from the strong wind I figured out why Yagi was so pissed at me earlier that day. I forgot my helmet and walked up to Yagi to ask him for his one. He was on the bank as was I, looking at a big long fiberglass wildwater kayak coming steaming down the narrow whitewater course. You could see it a mile away. I stopped talking and we both focused on the kayak. The wildwater kayak hit a wave wrong, sending it crashing into the rocks on the bank. The crunch was awesome! The front of the boat was jammed between two rocks and the flow pushed the back downstream. The front of the kayak broke to about 90 degrees and then whipped back into place. I immediately broke into a fit of laughter and turned to Yagi saying "did you just see that, oh my God that was so funny, they just wrecked that kayak" and he gave me a very stern look that I read as, you shouldn't laugh at something so serious. The kayak is worth about $1000 at least just so you know. It got me thinking hard. So I tried to explain myself to him. I said to him, I'm irish and we laugh at peoples misfortune. Like when there is nothing you can do about something bad then all you can do is laugh. I don't think he understood me but he wasn't happy either way. I put it down to cultural differences and decided not to let it get to me too much. So later that night huddled in the campsite I told the rest of the kayakers what happened. They all feel around the place laughing saying it wasn't a cultural difference, it was Yagi's wildwater kayak!! It all became clear and we all laughed some more....i hope he's not reading this :)
Sorry this is turning into a massive story. So the next day the competition started at about 10.30am. The competition was run very smoothly and on time. I came 1st in the prelims, 2nd in the semis and 3rd in the finals. Yagi came first, and a slalom kayaker who competed in Beijing came 2nd. You can checkout more photos and scores on Yagi's blog....
Thanks to Yagi for letting me use his new all star kayak and to 小森信太郎 for taking photos.
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