Friday:
A few hours drive to west wales was on the cards for over 300 students this Friday. The sun was shining, the River Legacy Team was busy preparing the huge tent which would later become the buzzing venue for the first of the two legendary Teifi parties this weekend. Everyone spent the afternoon hands on, usually with a cup of coffee in their hand, covered in mud. The wellies were invaluable and we all had a wander round and sussed out the camping area and river.
The students started arriving from about 4pm and started to make camp for the upcoming three days. The dewerstone tent was blasting music all afternoon and positioned next to our rather more ‘luxury’ home for the next few days (warm motorhomes are heroic), we chatted away to excited paddlers from all Universities and spoke with anticipation about the upcoming event.
A short wander into Llandsul and some pizza in our bellies, we set up the DJ decks in the party tent and waited for everyone to arrive. MC DC was psyching the crowd up, our legendary dewerstone DJ’s had the tunes rolling in, the drinks were flowing and needless to say, everyone had a fantastic night, a particular highlight being several excited freshers diving into the pool (in the middle of the tent) in their clothes, to find a gold poker chip and a lucky university student won a brand new drysuit supplied by the generous Whitewater Consultancy.
Around 3am, the music died down and everyone headed to bed, eager to get a good nights sleep in preparation for a full day of paddling the River Teifi the next day.
Saturday:
Up bright and early, the dewerstone stand was set up and not surprisingly, the student camping area remained pretty quiet until around 10am. After a quick breakfast, everyone got changed into their kit and with a massive option of demo boats from Pyranha, there was no shortage of great boats to take down the river. A few of us managed to sneak away for a few hours and paddle the river. It was a beautiful 3 hour trip with Grade 3 sections and equally enjoyable slightly slower sections. We saw a lot of other students on the river and the vibe was great- with everyone sharing an equal love for kayaking, both beginners and experts. It really was the epitome of what the paddling community and university spirit is about.
Luckily, there was a free shuttle bus waiting for us at the final get out and as we bundled our boats into the trailer we spoke about our favourite bits of the river. We cooked a delicious lunch, had a tactical nap, then moved the stand into the big tent, in preparation for the evening.
Around 5pm, there was a boatercross, which had a carnage fuelled start and prizes were awarded to the winners. It was very entertaining to watch and everyone had great fun.
Saturday Night:
As part of the Teifi Tour Ticket, a big social meal is cooked for everyone on Saturday night. We streamed SENDS new film, ‘Home of the Viking’ which features dewerstones own Bren Orton and his buddies Dane Jackson and Adrian Mattern. The film was followed by SENDS recap of their event ‘Unleashed’ which took place earlier in the year, along with several River Legacy short films. Everyone enjoyed watching world class kayakers whilst eating their food.
The theme for the evening was Viva Llan Vegas which meant a lot of playing card, bride and disco outfits, however, as a team, our favourite duo were the two males wearing tight gold hotpants, a brave choice. Other favourite moments of the evening included watching the kayak pool games, a girl buying 6 Jaeger Bombs and handing one to Mark then proceeding to down the rest, a ‘legendary’ rap battle between our very own MC WOKKA- TRON (aka the Lyrical Avenger) against the mighty DEECEE (needless to say, everyone loved it) and the crazy higher lower game played to win a custom IR drysuit. The prizes this weekend were immense from all the sponsors and people threw themselves into everything Teifi offered.
Sunday:
Up early (ish) we spent the day packing down, cleaning the mud off ourselves and reliving some of the funniest moments of the weekend. A lot of students hopped on the river for a final paddle and we started the long journey back home.
Till next time Teifi!
Becka xx
P.s Time to #getsnuggly
P.p.s. I like kayak
Check out the video i made recapping the weekend:
Get set for your next adventure:
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