Looking for downtime at the Magic Roundabout. Photo: Faye Garner
Squirtboating may be a fringe activity in the paddling world, but on the August bank holiday weekend, squirt boaters outnumbered the freestylers and slalom paddlers at Holme Peirpont. Over forty glitter loving denizens of the deep turned up to strut their stuff and search for downtime in the Magic roundabout.
Crowds gather for the downtime competition.
Over the course of the weekend, amongst much merry making and gin drinking, there were coaching workshops, an old school event, demo boats, and the inaugural Downtime King of the Concrete competition which saw Pete Cornes pull out some long and deep mysteries in his Bigfoot to beat all comers and claim the trophy.
Tom Parker rocks out, old school.
This must be the biggest gathering of squirtboaters in the UK for a good number of years, and in addition to the experienced squirters, there were a lot of people trying it for the first time and demoing boats. The UK squirt boating scene is looking more healthy than ever, with over 70 users on the Downtime message board and a constant demand for new boats. Maybe with freestyle appearing to have reached a plateau in the last few years, we will start to see a resurgence in squirting in the UK?
World champion, Ben White shows how it’s done.
Apparently I enjoyed the squirting a little too much as all that boating has left me with inflamed tendons in my wrist. Hopefully resting it will let it recover before the new season kicks of with the Wet West Paddle Fest in Scotland in a couple of weeks.
Filed under: Photography, Squirt boating
Tom looks about 10 in that pic! Looks like a quality event. See you at WWPF – Has Little Tom got you to sample the delights of the Strudel yet?