Finally Someone who’s met Steve Fisher

In my quest to nail a helix I’ve decided I’ll leave no stone unturned and as a previous post suggested I wanted to talk to Irish paddlers who have met the man who conceived the move Steve Fisher.
Irene Hughes hailing from Mayo but now living in Galway is one such person.


Irene running Bugagaly Falls, White Nile, Uganda.

Irene is an accomplished paddler. She has paddled in the Alps, Zambia, Uganda and Nepal. Formally a DCU student she unfortunately qualified and now works for a living. This has been a stressful transition for her but she is coping well with occasional trips to the Tuam hole!!!
It was on one of her trips to Uganda that she encountered the man at the 2006 Nile Festival where she herself got a very credible 2nd place finish in the gruelling 45k boater endurance event.
I decided to ask her some questions.


Hi Irene me auld flower, I believe you had an encounter with the man Fisher in Uganda on the White Nile. Can you tell us the circumstances?


Truth be told this is one of those paddling moments…although it felt like more of an eternity than a moment- where I’d rather pretend it just never happened. In this instance I’d like to think that I have an evil kayaking nemesis who stole my gear, jumped in my boat and proceeded to make an ass of me to the delight of an attentive audience. Evidently I don’t need an arch enemy for this, as I’m quite the capable candidate myself :-)

Set the scene for us Irene, what had you where you where and why?

Well, it was the Friday Freestyle Comp of the Nile River Festival, and I entered for the laugh having arrived in Uganda (round 2) just a few days before. For those of you who have not been, the heats were mixed, they have a specified number of competitors per heat and you get 20mins to have as many go’s as you could get either by dropping on to the wave or using the rope. I think the other female competitors in my heat were Jessee Stone and a Swiss girl named Andrea, while amongst the male competitors was the infamous Steve Fisher.


So how did your heat go for you?

Sooo, the jucy stuff… I dropped on to the wave, surfed a bit, did a shuvit I think and was feeling pretty good when I came off the wave (don’t remember if I was upside down, but assume I was) when I dropped into the hole behind the wave. Just as I was about to roll up there was an earthquake (under the water of course – that’s why nobody else noticed it!) followed by a raging torrent of nemo fish trying to bamboozle me which was ensued by a moment of insanity where I popped my deck and swam out of the hole (in front of all those people).

Really? Go on!

As my attempts to self rescue turned out to be pretty pathetic, Jesse came to my aid and started getting my boat to the bank, meanwhile Steve Fisher apparently shouted “stop the competition, stop the competition” jumped off the water, got in his speed boat and completed my ultimate
nightmare. He literally speeded down to where I was floating (more like a belly-up flat fish than a damsel in distress) lifted me into his boat, picked Jessee up too, and then returned us safe and sound to the competition and the cheering masses. I was certainly humbled by the whole experience, and Bren I don’t mean meeting the magnificent man himself!!!

So after to shock of the underwater earthquake, all those cute fish and the sight of a big South African speeding towards you in a boat while you where enjoying a nice swim and some girly company what did you do then?

I sat out the rest of the comp that day. Later that night I gladly downed my funnel of swim beer (drunkness seemed like a great idea just then J) and I bought Steve (first name basis of course) a “thank you” beer for saving me from the under-water-earthquake and the vicious nemo fish.
I think that about sums up day one of the comp for me.


My hat is off to ya girl not only did you meet the guy you but you got in the swim beers with “Steve”. Not forgetting a bit of a chin wag with Jesse Stone :-)
Irene thanks a million for the interview and the insight you’ve given me on Mr. Fisher.
Any guy who’d leave his competition run to curry favour with two hot paddler babes is alright in my book ;-)

Bren daaarrrling, I wish you the best with your helixing endeavours, but know that if it doesn’t work out I will always be able to sympathise with your public humiliation ;)


Irene scouting on the White Nile

I need to do my homework

As i said before the "Helix" was conceived by world renowned kayaker Steve Fisher. I know little about the guy and the nearest I've got to meeting him was possibly summer 2006 where we may have been on the same continent for a short while.
I need to get a little insight into the man who conceived this complicated maneuver.
I'm going to do some digging around paddlers in Ireland and try and get the beef on him.
You can't thrust the videos and stuff posted on the web by internerds like me so
I need to talk to actual people who've met him and ask them stuff like,
Did you paddle with him ? Did he fish you out of a river somewhere exotic ? Did he get his round in or try chat up your girlfriend ? Is it true he hides fish style gills under his neck seal or can he actually hold his breath for upwards of an hour ?
What language is that he speaks ? when he stands on the rocks scouting the line on a 5+ does he actually see a line or is it just time he takes for one last prayer ?

These are the important questions that need to be answered !

They are important because I cant think of better one's right now but I reserve the right to introduce further important questions should I be prompted or think of any.

Scot Lingren is flogging this video at the moment so have a look at the person he wants you to think Steve Fisher is for now and I'll get back to with what I find.

Enjoy

I'll fecking helix before I'm Forty !

I have put absolutely no thought into how I'm going to achieve my goal as this blog was born of impulse. This fact may well come back to bite me in the future.
I'm just a regular Joe who's main achievement to date was to marry a woman I didn't deserve to get. As the saying goes she is the better half.
Life for me can be bit hectic sometimes with my four young sons. If you've ever seen a TV program called "Malcom in the middle" well I am Hal.
In my very limited spare time I like to mountain bike and white water kayak. Both sports provide an amazing outlet for me and are in the most part responsible for my sanity.
I have made many good friends kayaking over the years and I hope to pressure them into contributing to this blog.
Now to the meat and veg of why I'm doing this.
One discipline of white water kayaking is freestyle kayaking. This involves surfing a river wave or hydraulic and preforming tricks in your kayak on the wave. One of the most difficult tricks is a move called "The Helix". It was conceived by world renowned kayaker Steve Fisher.
The move involves spinning the kayak on two planes over the wave face ( more about that later).
Its normally the preserve of top class kayak free stylers so I'm pretty sure a donkey like me will never do one but dam it I'm going to try.
With the big 40 approaching and my body aging fast due to the kids running sorties the my bedroom every night, I feel it's now or never for me to do this.
Sound like a mid life crises to you ?

On my journey to mastering the Helix there will be diversions due to locations, lack of rain or even injury ( lately I seem to be using trees to stop on my mountain bike)
Here is a good link I've found to get started http://www.niftytricks.com/kayak/ftricks/helix.html
More posts and video to follow.
Bren