Jun 24, 2009

A Lost Mega Surf Kayaker on Serayu River

By Richard Hallett*)

Living in Indonesia there is little opportunity to paddle and fewer opportunities to meet other paddlers. A few weeks ago, I came across the Tirtaseta Kayak Community blog. A few e-mails, and a week or so, later I was on the road with the only boat I had in Indonesia, a composite kevlar carbon Mega Cyclone surf kayak.

It is most likely I own the only surf boat in the country and it is almost certain that no-one has paddled any white water river in Indonesia in a surf boat. That was about to change. The plan was to make a surf boat virgin decent of the Serayu, in Central Java.

I met the Tirtaseta crew in Purbalingga on Saturday morning. After "salam" to the Kepala Desa and kopi tubruk, we were on the way to the Banjaran playspot on Klawing river. The playspot is a grade 2 rapid, with a playful stopper/hydraulic that flows out nicely.

The last time I paddled a whitewater river was the middle loop section on the River Dart in the UK in the winter of 1997. After five minutes at Banjaran, it felt as if 1997 was only yesterday.

Saturday evening, we headed up to the Serayu river and paddled the lower section on Sunday. Another kayaker, Gundul, a guy from Serayu Rafting joined our group. Even though it was the dry season, the river had a decent water volume. This river is a great paddle, almost constant good quality grade 2 to 3, with a few surprises thrown into the mix.

The surf boat was very responsive and handled superbly. Although, the extremely high rocker, designed for paddling out beyond the surf break and to stop the bow from digging-in when on a wave, combined with a weight distribution rear of centre and a low volume stern was a handful on the wave trains!.

I was extremely impressed with Tirtaseta crew. These guys have been paddling for a only a few years and yet have developed into what maybe one to the most active and talented group of white water paddlers in a country of over 210 million people.

They should be applauded for donating their own time and resources to promote kayaking in Indonesia in general, and white water paddling in particular. They have recently started introducing and teaching young people kayaking through a schools program in the Purbalingga regency. It was an absolute pleasure to paddle with these guys.

A big thank you goes out to the Tirtaseta guys (Toto, Agus, Puji, Nafi, Tomo, and not to forget Sigit, "the walking warung") for one of the very best weekends in Indonesia in 11 years. Guys, I will back as soon as I can (with more Superman is Dead!). You have been warned:-)



*) Richard started paddling long before plastic boats, epoxy paddles and even the Harishock life-deck, in an age when the best boats were made by Baron and the best paddles were Mark Gees'. Before moving to Jakarta from England in 1998, he coached kayaking and competed in slalom, marathon, polo and whitewater racing disciplines. He paddled with many clubs including Fairthorne Manor, Itchen Valley, Wildern, 3W's, Winchester, Shepperton, Tandridge and Tonbridge. He is currently working as a geologist in Indonesia, where he spends his free time climbing volcanos, hill-trekking, surf kayaking and falling off mountain bikes. Any paddlers in Indonesia may contact him at richard.hallett@cibareno.com

And here are the images from the trip:


Meet and greet with Kepala Desa or head of village

Tasting the traditional food of Purbalingga: mendoan, cenil and lopis


Visiting neighbours of TirtasetA's wet house who are batik painters


Walking to the put in, with green green view of surroundings


When the run about to began




Mega Cyclone surf nicely on Banjaran spot


Drink green young coconut water in break time


Among the Tirtaseta Guys on the flat water section of Klawing river



On the put in of Serayu lower section




Below double drop rapid


Gundul of Serayu Rafting on double drop rapid


cheers on the take out

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Jun 21, 2009

Kayak Training for High School Students was Kicked Off

Head of Purbalingga Education Office Drs. Heni Ruslanto opened Kayak Training for high school students formally,Sunday (20/6). Twenty four senior high school students from 12 different schools were participating in 2 weeks beginer level course.

Heni hoped that the training will be successfully organized and should be continue in the years to come. "All of high schools in Purbalingga should have the same training so that one day every schools in Purbalingga has kayak teams. This will be good and healthy for our regency," Heni quoted as addressing the opening ceremony in Galuh Village Hall. He added that the kayak training should be introduced to junior high school students as well or even the elementary schools students.


M Hadi Nafi, project officer of the training said the program was organized by TirtasetA Kayak School and fully supported by Government of Purbalingga Regency. "The objective is fascilitating the participants to mastering basics skills of whitewater kayaking from paddling, rolling to ferrying and bracing," said Nafi who is also secretary of TirtasetA Kayak Community.
Toto Triwindarto, chairman of the community said the program will be
regularly organized to enable Purbalingga install the kayak program to
its educational system.
Last year, Tirtaseta Kayak School organized the same program for
college students from couples of univrsities in Java, successfully.

Images from opening ceremony :



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May 26, 2009

Klawing River Will be Dammed

Klawing River will be dammed. This is neither a gossip nor a rumour. This is a plan of the government.

It was Ir Setiyadi Msi, head of Purbalingga Agency for Regional Development who confirmed the plan.

"The project plan is coming from the central government. Everything about the master plan, the budget, has been approved by the parliament. So, the building of the dam building will go on," said Setiyadi as quoted last week. The process of development will be starting during this year or next year.

The dam will be developed in Slinga section of the river, a place some 2 kilometers below Banjaran playspot. It is unclear whether will be burried regarding the dam development. But we perceive that the spot at least will have impact from the increase of the water level.

Slinga is flat water section of Klawing river. It has no rapid but you could enjoy a breath taking scenery.

Last week, we check the section. And here is the images of the situation.


Small eddie below a log on the Slinga section


Same section, different angle


Slinga section with Mount Slamet on the back ground


Flat water section with breath taking scenery to enjoy


Banjaran spot is threatened



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May 11, 2009

The Falls of Cahyana

video


Cahyana is another thing that Purbalingga region has to offer. If you take a whitewater kayaking trip to the region, don't forget to visit this reliable flow and drops. The most inviting part of the river are the falls.
We are talking about a mix between natural and man made formation of waterfalls that bring you to the state of suspense, excitement, and satisfaction.

Cahyana is a water channel that was created from the output of a huge dam of the very lower section of Serayu river. The main objective of the river creation was to support agriculture development of Purbalingga and surrounding.
When the creation was starting more than half century ago, no one thought that they were providing a playground for"sick lines seekers." And, it was happened.


There are dozens of drop formations on its 15 km length.But the ideal and most satisfiying part of the drops is lied at 3 km of the middle section. You will be challenged to plunge.
We named it by number from the highest. Falls number 1 is about 8 meters or around 24 feet. Falls number 2 is 7 meters, number 3 is 7 meters or around 21 feet, and number 4 is 4 meters or 12 feet. Below the lower section there are couples of 2-3 meters of drop.

Another challenge is that the falls are separated by continous flat water section. This is not a very boring situation. Coz the view of he surrounding is not that bad.
Enjoy!


Puji Jaya on Falls Number 1.


Falls Number 2.


View below the falls


Different angle below Number 2


Nafi on Falls Number 3.




Tomo on Falls Number 4.


The flat water of the section.


It is a pleasure for rafters as well.

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Apr 28, 2009

Start Flowing at the end of Mountain

The latest project of our latest first descents was running Tuntung Gunung river.
Tuntung Gunung is javanese, both words mean end of mountain. It is one of Klawing river tributaries and start flowing from the southern ridge end of Mount Slamet.

The common features of Tuntung Gunung are big massive stones at the middle of the river. The water was clean and flowed very fast with drop formations of moderate to high gradient.
To reach the put in of the middle section, four of us, Puji Jaya, Sigit Setiyanto, Agus Hermansah, and M Hadi Nafi had to driving 25 minutes from our Wet House and walked with our kayaks for 15 minutes.

The run was about 12 km of class III technical whitewater. At the peak of wet season, the upper section with 9 km of steeper whitewater will alive. We'll be waiting for the moment and expecting a beatifull class IV-V creek that flow through pine forest.
During the first descent of the middle section, the flow was relatively low, but everything was just good. The view was also breath taking and we enjoyed the run till we met the fork with Klawing river.

Here are the pictures of the run.

Walking to the put in...


here come the put in...


the game was starting ....


big stones everywhere


the water was clean and cool


Sigit in action


Nafi enjoyed the rapid


the typical view of the surroundings


end of the run

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