Spectra cored floating line. It's expensive but significantly stronger than polypro floating line. That's presuming you need floating rope.

HF do a 22m bag. It costs about £70. I'd look at that.

P.

one of the guys with us absailed down to them using a sling, krab and a throw line Thought for the day: when's the last time you retired your sling? If you're going to be abbing with it, you should treat it as you would a climbing harness, which doesn't involve leaving it wet and rotting in a buoya...

I've just accidentally bought a second bag of non-floating static access line. I'm not planning on using it very often, though.

P.

unless they had / were having an epic of some description!

I think it was the same guys I passed at dusk? I turned round to check they were OK and they were, but they were getting off because it was too late and some of the group wanted to stop paddling. No epics...

Not forgetting all the latest info on some skateboard thingies, which is obviously why I buy a paddling mag? I really enjoyed that article. I've just done a tot up and at least 20 of my paddling mates skate - I can think of maybe two or three regular paddling buddies who don't have boards. It defin...

did your friends from N.W. include Dan Yates - if so are they still out there. They are - the trip's Dan, Darren James, Rob Litherland, Simon 'Scrambles' Tapley, Jam McManus and Irish Ross. I think Dan's going to be coming back in about a fortnight with some of the others. It sounds like levels are...

Just a note for anyone who didn't know, the freestyle worlds are on out in Australia at the moment, and it looks like team GB's flying! The full results and some news from the event are up on http://www.bliss-stick.com/2005worlds/ . I'm really, really impressed with how well our team are doing so fa...

The North Wales guys who've just flown out from Manchester sound like they had an absolute mare getting their boats on. It was only after an hour of arguing that Dan tried the 'You let my mate's on and he's in departures now' angle that he finally got through. Sounds like you just stick to your guns...

How on earth do you split a boat on the Nile??? Same way I bent my Flirt and swam, Dan bent his Kingpin (and received extensive wounds), Ollie swam out his C1, Bert bent his Rad and (I think) Tom Emerson took a pasting: Dan Yates' line on Blade Runner. The rocks are sharp and the carnage hard. P.

I like the composite bar that Jackson use as the hull stiffener. It's the most innovative feature that I spotted in the Jackson boats, and it looks like a great idea for a playboat. Almost all playboats have some sort of hull stiffener in them, and it definitely looks like one of the better ones. Re...

It's not that easy to gauge the level the Glen's at from the conwy gauge. It's quite a few miles upstream and you've got the confluence of the Machno and a couple of other major tribs inbetween. This means, there's only a broad correlation between the level of the Glen and the level of the Conwy gau...

All our boats are proto'ed in plastic rather than glass. I'm putting together a bit of an article on the design/test/production processes for plastic boats which I'm sure will come out at some point, but the gist is that if you make a fibreglass mould instead of a metal one (and use the right resin)...

Celliers has posted me some pics back of the plugs for the Solo. They've gone off to the mould-maker so it shouldn't be long until they're in production. I'm expecting the container to arrive in March. http://www.fluidkayaks.co.uk/news/230105news.htm What do you reckon? I'm looking forwards to getti...

I think this is the section I'm talking about http://www.kajak-channel.de/kajakstory36-1.htm - I've seen various pics on the calendar that playboating are selling and somewhere else (can't remember where) recently. It looks like an incredible section of bedrock rapids and crystal clear water. My geo...

Cost three of us an extra £60 each to get boats on board at heathrow. The quality of service was absolutely terrible as well. We didn't have to pay to bring them back, boarding at Entebbe.

Avoid. BA fly the same route (in fact, they fly london-Entebbe direct) and it's worth the extra money.

Pete.

I had a quick blast from the tail to town a couple of weekends ago. It was pretty high and it was just two of us on the river, but a man on the bank wagged his finger disapprovingly at Rosie just above town falls. Does that count as an access incident?

P.

I keep on seeing pictures of the Reuss in Switzerland, and I clearly need to go and paddle it. I haven't seen any English language guidebooks with any info.

Any one know any more? Where it is, when it runs, put-on/take-out? Need ropes or anything? It looks world class.

P.

Liquid Logic, no question, end of discussion, finis !!!!!!!!!! Still on a deal Chris? I'm saying Fluid because I work for them. Well, of course. I know that our range isn't the most comprehensive at the moment but... I've seen the design process. I've visited the factory, I know Celliers (principal...

Nobody was breaking out, nobody was missing the breakout by accident. I was and I wasn't - I broke out on every run I made on Saturday and on Sunday, unless I was signalled through by another guide. As Tom says, it's part of the centre policy. I don't generally like running over paddlers because I ...

Email press releases tend to go straight from the newsdesk to the recycle bin. The best bet is to fax it in and then phone a little later to ensure the fax has got through and been read, as well as answer any questions. I've put together some guidelines on writing a release which will get you a bett...

There's some awesome stuff there, but it's all rain fed. The last time I went was during an extensive high pressure that had lasted the best part of a month - the only run worth doing was the Mino, a class 2 play run. On the other hand, the time before that had loads of water - constant rain and som...

Beg, borrow or steal a set of uprights. It's the easiest way by miles - because the hull and sidewalls aren't flat, it makes it tricky to load them without. If you're planning on driving at 70, make sure you endgrab them (tie ropes through the grab handles to your car). WWRs tend to lift at the fron...

I couldn't hear anything out of my left ear for a week and a half after getting back from the Nile because I lost my plugs for a week. It's worth taking spares. Pardon? Proplugs are good and take most of the force out of the water hitting your ears - most paddling shops have them and also have sizin...

I've paddled the Flirt quite a lot, being as it's my job and everything... Most of the shops that sell them have demos in all the sizes - take a look at http://www.fluidkayaks.co.uk/dealers/dealerList.htm to find out where has which size. As for how it paddles? I've been impressed. I'm particularly ...