November 2010 newsletter

Transcription

Regents News
November 2010
RCC News — November 2010
02
CONTENTS
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
02
Contents & Letter from the editor.
03
First timer in Scotland by Mark Lamb.
04
A fine Regent’s welcome to baby Rebeca!
05
Ralph Wilson goes solo in the USA. The second installment will be in the next newsletter.
Welcome to the all new and shiny November edition of the
Regent’s newsletter. Unfortunately, the beautiful old Word
template was not compatible with my Mac, so I finally
persuaded my long-suffering, non-Regents husband to pageset something for me in a Mac-friendly application. I hope
you like it. It’s a bit like an early Christmas present to you all.
08
The Duty Rota - not thrilling, but essential!
08
Ian Tokelove gets salty in Cornwall.
09
More babies - a huge applause for baby Douglas!
09
Caz Heraghty experiences a Regents Introduction to White Water course.
10
Surf’s Up! Dave Browne takes to the ocean wave.
12
Another Scottish adventure by Michael Cross.
13
Claire Taylor tells us about our fantastic new boats.
14
Christine Dove shows us her undies.
15
Lucy Gill tells us about open boating across Ranoch Moor.
16
1* & 2* awards.
17
Christine Dove’s top paddling tips.
18
Lesley Shingleton talkes us through the second IWWK 2010
Well, the chill has really set in. The trees are nearly all
skeletons, bereft of their autumn colour and that water is
cccooollllddddd. Still, we have Christine Dove’s helpful
article on what to wear on the river in cold weather with
some helpful ideas to put on your Christmas lists!
The cold weather also signals the start of the famous Dart
season, with one trip already down and two more to go,
including the fabulous Christmas trip. Don’t forget your
Secret Santa pressie for this - there are only so many things
you can buy for a fiver in the outdoor shops in Dartmoor
and trust me, someone will have already bought them all!
Also this season is our Regents’ Christmas Dinner, this
year at the Narrow Boat pub in Islington. It’s always a fun
evening, and for those newcomers to the club, we always
have ‘awards’ for serious things like ‘Improver of the Year’
as well as more comedy acts like ‘Swimmer of the Year’. Get
thinking up your nominations now.
Some Regents’ members have been off on thrilling journeys
far and wide. It’s a rather Ralph-heavy edition, with 2 pieces
by Ralph Wilson who was off being his usual slightly crazy
self.
Closer to home, we have a number of Regents who have
successfully received their 1* and 2* paddling awards. This
is cause for double celebration as they were taught and
examined by a gang of new ‘official’ Regents’ coaches, so pats
on backs all round please.
Articles were a bit like buses for this edition. You wait for
ages for something...anything....and then two excellent pieces
by two Scotland ‘virgins’ come along at once. I have to say
that I enjoyed both of them and didn’t feel remotely bored
‘experiencing’ the same trip twice. We also have 2 great
articles on the Introduction to White Water courses that we
ran this summer.
As you will see, we actually have a bumper edition this
month, with loads of lovely articles, but people were leaving
it a little close to the mark to get stuff in to me. Just so that
everyone knows, we have a newsletter every 3 (ish) months.
If you go on a trip and would like to write something, I
would love to have it! Don’t feel shy - the more, the merrier
and it is great to hear from newcomers and experienced
paddlers alike. Please also include some photos (ideally as
separate documents) as pages and pages of text don’t make
for that thrilling a read. The next deadline is 15th Feb 2011.
Talking of newcomers, we have had a couple of new Regents
babies who we are hoping to see in bouyancy aids very soon.
Goo and gah at them on pages 04 and 09. We’re not however
doing very well with Pet of the Month! If anyone has a pet
that they would like featured in these hallowed pages, please
send me a picture.
Enjoy!
Katie x
[email protected]
Cover image: The middle fork of the Salmon River by Ralph Wilson.
03
A LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER
Mark Lamb plays around in Scottish waters
This was my first Regent’s trip to Scotland, after having
such a great time in the Alps I thought why not! This was an
intermediate trip so no hiding on easy rivers all week.
Most of us headed up to Dumfries on the Friday in search of
Paul’s favourite Thai restaurant, only to be confronted with
the sad news of it closing. Fear not, however, as we were sent
on our way to a place which finely demonstrated what came
to be known as “Scottish Fusion”, ie. throw anything you can
find into a pan and fry, then garnish with chips!
Saturday was our first paddle on the mighty River Nith, a
beautiful day with the sun out, great colours in the leaves and
some fun grade 3 rapids thrown in; an ideal warm up. Lesson
1 - don’t lock the spare car keys inside the car. A fabulous
drive up through Glen Coe and we arrived at our house for
the week to find our first home cooked meal already being
prepared by the intrepid wilderness open boaters.
We started the second day with the obligatory faff where we
debated whether it was too cold and if anyone had seen the
River Spean lower than it was curretnly running. Many of us
armed with new dry suits purposely for Scotland were keen
to put them to the test and the level ended being just perfect.
The first grade 3, Fairy Steps, proved to be more challenging
than it looked. After watching Ian T take a swim and Mark R
put in a quick roll, I didn’t feel quite so confident going next,
but fear not the roll was working and the shoulder was fine.
After a brief pin on Constriction for Claire, the drama was
over for the day. A great start for everyone with much fun
had by all. Gorge paddling is so exciting when you’re never
quite sure what is around the corner.
Every trip has a day on the river that is described as epic, and
for us this was the Findhorn Gorge. Christine started things
off with a swim on the grade 5 Randolph’s Leap; thankfully
she escaped unharmed. I had been determined to push myself
on more grade 4 sections over the week, but that was easy to
say when standing at the top of a meaty looking rapid! After
much deliberating and finally deciding that the portage would
be long and painful, I got in my boat to tackle Triple Steps.
The 2nd drop had a quite a big stopper, which I decided
looked more like a play hole, so rather than paddle through
like everyone else I decided to see what moves I could pull
off in front of the camera. It turns out not many, after rolling
up still in the hole and getting a proper trashing against the
rock face I finally knew I’d have to perform my first dry suit
test, a.k.a. a swim, and never have I been so desperate for
air. This was followed by much merriment when I released
my anger on my boat by hitting it repeatedly with a stick
and plenty of throw line practice for everyone else. Lesson
2 – when in a small boat, lean forward and paddle like crazy!
It took me no time to decide to walk around the next grade
4 after almost everyone needed at least a roll and poor Lucy
broke her paddles after fighting with the rock bed. Some
difficulty in finding the get off, and a 2.5hr drive home
ensured that we were all shattered by the end of it. All that
was left was to watch the video footage, again and again!
The following day we went in search of water on the Etive
and the opportunity for some classic pictures running the
falls. It was now raining hard and comments had changed to
“I’ve never seen it so high!” – welcome to proper paddling in
Scotland. Ian T knew this was his chance to fulfil a dream of
carrying his kayak across the glen in search of a suitable ditch
run. Lesson 3 learnt by Mike, if the rocks are only 190cm
apart and you have 194cm paddles, you lose!
Who needs a paddle?! Mike shows how it’s done.
My favourite day, Claire’s birthday and a day on the Roy,
started with a fun blast down the Lower Roy which had
almost flushed out into one big wave train, followed by
driving back up to take on the Upper Roy. This was a
fantastic short run that involved must-make eddys all the way
down and no respite as the rapids kept on coming. The final
drop was soon upon us, Liza managed to turbo charge herself
out from the drop and Claire showed us how to boof. Fearing
the worst at the top and with an expectant crowd waiting
for carnage of the guy in the small boat getting a trashing, I
learnt my lesson from the Findhorn and leant forward and
paddled hard, straight through; the perfect end!
04
the pub for taking her walking boots off, she’s always causing
trouble!
The last day was reserved for the dam release on the Garry
where the raft guide scared Polly with the words “it’s really
high today, it’s even coming over the top of the dam”. Best
paddling effort of the week must go to Sarah Gibbs, with
the voice of Doom-Paul never too far away offering words
of encouragement. She decided to tackle a tough long rapid
and made it so close to the end, before going on a very long
swim and picking up many a bruise on the way down. It was
so good (the river, not Sarah’s swim!) that we decided to do
it again/ The 2nd time was a real blast with little stopping
on the way. This was our last chance to see whether Mike,
the least experienced paddler, would end the week without a
swim, a roll on the last rapid ensured he made it, a fantastic
effort.
What a fantastic week, no shortage of water and everyone
improved their bananagrams skills. Many thanks to Mark
for organising the trip, all the great cooks in the evening and
as always the river leaders. Hope to see you there again next
year!
Rare footage - Mark smiling!
The Upper Roy must have been good!
Award of the week for extreme paddling injury must go
to John on the Roy Gorge. After breaking his paddles and
dislocating his shoulder on the river he did what any sensible
paddler would do and asked the nearest person to pop his
shoulder back in so he could continue down the rest of the
river with a set of splits! Lesson 4, if you spent all of the
previous day driving to buy new paddles for someone else, at
least buy some for yourself for the next day! Lesson 5 – don’t
buy Robson paddles, they break.
The rest of us took on the Lower Orchy in high levels, a
great run that involved some extreme inspecting, followed
by a confused “was it right, centre, right or centre, right,
centre?!”. The highlight of the day was Lucy being told off in
We finished with cream teas at Liza’s house.
REGENT’S
BABY ALERT
NO. 1!!
A hearty congratulations to Ed & Barbara, whose gorgeous
baby Rebeca was born on 25th June 2010, weighing a
healthy 8lbs.
05
MIDDLE FORK OF THE SALMON RIVER
Ralph Wilson takes a personal journey through a long,
deep, whitewater canyon in the heart of Idaho
The Middle Fork of the Salmon “traverses north-east through
the remote and rugged mountains of Central Idaho”, and was
one of eight US rivers designated “wild and scenic” in 1968.
Happily it’s still that way today. Set within the Salmon Challis
Forest, in apparently the largest US designated wilderness
area outside of Alaska, the only roads are the one to the start,
and – a hundred miles later – the one from the finish. Once
you launch, that’s it for civilization for the next week or so,
apart from a couple of landing strips for the odd private
ranch, and a few hiking trails over the 2000-metre peaks. It’s
the third deepest canyon in North America, with crystal clear
water, and is famed for its technical rapids – 140* of them per
the American Whitewater Association.
The area is also home to quite a lot of America’s 650,000
black bears. Plus a few cougars. And wolverine. And in the
lower reaches, rattlesnakes. Having lived in London for the
last twenty years, my bear management skills are rusty, to say
the least. “Don’t try to out-run a bear, and don’t think you
can escape up a tree” – so basically you’ve got to hope it’s
feeling friendly and not too hungry.
The Middle Fork comprises pine forest, and the more
technical whitewater, with average gradient of 28 feet per
mile (fpm), than most of the other Salmon sections. The
Main Salmon is 12fpm, “rapids less technical than the Middle
Fork, more frequent than the lower”. The Lower Salmon
would be warmer, with more rattlesnakes, and more desertlike landscape.
The Middle Fork runs down to the Main Salmon which then
runs into the Lower. The start of the Middle was running at
about 800 cfs; the Lower at 4400. That’s about 20 and 120
cumecs respectively.
After searching for a trip to join, local rafting operator (Bill at
“Aggipah”) kindly invited me to join their ‘friends and family’
end-of-season float on the Lower, but said the Middle
was too low for their rafts to launch at the usual put-in and
would need a flight to alternative put-in Indian Creek which
understandably they weren’t interested in. If I wanted to do
the Middle it would be solo (excuse the pun). I was excited to
have found a trip and about doing the Lower, but the Middle
was gnawing at me.
Whit Deschner (‘Travels with a Kayak’) lives near the
Oregon-Idaho border, close to Hells Canyon on the Snake
River. His friendly advice re the Middle Fork was: “you’re
sort of off the map on that one, it will be cold and the water
low”. As a UK boater I figured those were near-perfect
conditions, and certainly more what we’re used to. The
ranger confirmed it was getting down to near-freezing at
night. Hmm. I was leaning towards the organized trip, raft
carrying the gear, food cooked for me, sand warm enough to
wiggle one’s toes in, until friend Gus waxed lyrical about the
pleasures and satisfaction of going independent, and that he
could lend me a superlight stove. Oh well, in that case…
I’d heard of people applying twenty years running without
success through the permit lottery system, apparently it’s
over-subscribed thirtyfold. However, my luck was in as I
called up a week beforehand and amazingly, ten minutes and
twenty-odd dollars later, I had an eight-day ticket to ride.
The forest rangers strictly stipulate a minimum kit list to
include:
a porta-potty with “sufficient carrying capacity”;
a firepan (minimum 144 sq inches, with 3 inch sides);
an ash container (preferable metal, otherwise heavyduty plastic);
a mesh strainer fine enough to filter coffee grounds (e.g.
a cheesecloth);
a bucket and shovel for fire fighting (I misread this,
confusingly, as being for fire lighting).
06
Since I would have all this lot, I was sorely tempted not to
bother with gas and stove: why carry both when you’ve got
to have the firepan anyway!? Fortunately I was talked out of
this. Gas is instant and light in weight and a stove can be very
compact. Attempting to get a wood fire going each evening,
and carrying the remnants out, would have been a complete
pain in the ash (excuse another dreadful pun), unless in
emergency.
Day 1 – Arrival and launch
Tuesday 14th September: flew London to Portland (thanks
to a work engagement which I needed to be back in Oregon
for a week later). Wednesday: early flight to Boise, Idaho,
retrieved paddles and splits from baggage reclaim, picked
up minivan from Thrifty, collected rental kayak from Idaho
River Sports, gas canisters from Idaho Mountain Touring,
and set off for my John-Wayne-in-a-canoe adventure.
You’re required to check in 30 miles downstream from
the start, where the ranger inspects your kit, validates
your permit, reads you your last rights, and allocates your
campsites for the journey, hopefully the ones with hot
thermal springs nearby to soak in.
Reaching Boundary Creek at four o’clock, the first sight was
a group of weathered tents, horses and people; so much for
getting away from the crowds; and this lot looked way too
outback for my liking. After driving for hours having seen
virtually no-one, I immediately realized I felt more alone in a
strange place with other really quite strange-looking people
around, than if I were totally by myself. Continuing a mile
down to the river, there was a raft setting up, and I started
to feel more at home. And the river: beautiful in setting,
framed with trees as if in the Scottish Borders, and an inviting
grade 2-3, something between small and medium volume –
definitely paddleable but not big – wow, perfect! Surely the
sun still had at least a couple of hours left. It was an easy
decision to start loading the boat straight away and launch
into the unknown that evening. Containing my excitement as
much as I could, about what I suspected was slightly crazy, I
madly stuffed kit into drybags and made ready.
An hour and a half of toil later, I could barely drag my
now more than fully-laden boat down to the river’s edge.
Cramming the last, worryingly large bag between my legs,
and with other kit digging into my bum, I took a deep breath
and pushed off. From the first stroke it was obvious this was
going to be very different from jumping onto the Dart Loop
carrying only a throw rope and a chocolate bar. Those first
rapids were small, and technically very straightforward, but
it was all I could do to point the boat where I wanted to, and
to find just enough power to cut across the flow. There was a
pitying look on the faces of the couple of fishermen I passed
those first long minutes.
Camping
Seemingly teeming with unmissable hot springs, Whit’s last
advice was “make sure you camp at a hot spring every night”.
Well, my camp that first night was a scrap of uneven ground
about 6 foot by 3, in the middle of a pine forest, and I fell
asleep to the growls of an unknown, unseen, but definitely
large-sounding, and not-too-distant, hungry beast. Still, the
river so far had been beautiful, and I was still dry. I slept very
well.
Day 2 – Technical rapids and a couple of mishaps
The first 30 miles contain the steepest average gradient of
the trip, about 40fpm, compared with 23fpm thereafter. How
difficult would it be, how long would it take, how fast would
I travel? Would I get completely trashed and lose all my kit
down the river at the first grade 3+ rapid? To give myself
plenty of time, so I wouldn’t have to rush, when I awoke at
about 5:00am I decided I should get up and get ahead. What
a wonderful starry sky met my outward and upward gaze.
Not a hint of dawn.
Three hours later (yes, really!) and I was finally ready to
get on the water. Don’t ask me why it took so long that first
07
only 3 miles from the airstrip a mile above Indian Creek.
I had begun to waver a little in my mind, those last few miles.
The camping had been an effort, the whitewater at times
challenging, and I had a long, long way to go. Was it really a
sensible plan, or was I being stupid. Possibly I could fly out
from the fly-in point, knowing I’d at least tried a bit before
wising up. Then again, I’d never be able to say I’d done the
whole thing.
morning, I guess I was getting familiar with everything. And
trying to pack the boat a bit better. Clearly I was going to
have to set my alarm each morning to maximize day length
on the water, so I could complete the trip in time for my work
meeting. Still, no bag between my legs this time, and quite
soon I was feeling a little more confident as smaller rapids
came and went. Then my first grade 3, an inspection, but
another success. And before long, a grade 4, an inspection,
and my first portage. Wow, that boat’s heavy, it could be a
very long trip if I have to portage lots. Still, better safe than
sorry.
High levels of concentration paid off, though, and several
hours and lots of mid-grade whitewater later – and I
approached a semi-blind corner. Could only have done 15
miles, must be another friendly grade 3, the next grade 4 isn’t
until after 20 miles. Hmm, either the grade 3s just got a lot
harder, or progress had been better than I realized, that was a
hard double-drop and I was very glad to have survived it.
Then suddenly round the next corner, in the middle of
nowhere, sunbathing on a ledge there’s a very fit looking
woman. Am I going a bit loco already? Now she’s talking to
me, saying it must be scary on the rapids, and yes, I really am
Now though, buoyed on by this attractive apparition
delivering good news, I found renewed energy to try to reach
the ranger’s check-in post before they shut for the afternoon,
so I wouldn’t have to camp at their potentially busy site.
Sure enough an hour later there was the airstrip and a raftlaunching ramp.
But aha, that can’t be the ranger’s check-in point, that’s
at Indian Creek – I even stopped to check my map. So I
paddled on by. And I kept going. And some more. Hmm,
should’ve reached the permit registration hut by now. Funny,
that big creek coming in on the left really looked like it must
be you-know-what. Maybe just around the next corner.
After another hour of non-stop paddling, the sun was
starting to sink, and the canyon walls narrowed in distinctly;
intimidatingly. And my heart trembled a bit as I realized not
only had I definitely missed the rangers, I’d also just passed
the point of no return. From here, whatever happened, it was
another 70 miles of the unknown. I was committed now. I
looked down to my watch to see how much daylight I had
left, only to find the display had vanished – it must somehow
have become waterlogged in the rapids. And it added to the
sense that I really was all alone.....(to be continued....)
08
duty rota
SEA KAYAKING IN CORNWALL
Emma Stacey
Monday 29 November 2010
Ian Tokelove swaps fresh water for salt.....
Liza Sumpter
Thursday 02 December 2010
Dan Tattersall
Monday 06 December 2010
CLUB CLOSED
Claire Taylor
Steffi Thorhauer
Back in mid-September I lay down my white water paddle,
hired a sea kayak from London Brookbank, and headed
west to kayak around the Cornish coast, at the invitation
of Regents members Lucy G, John H and their friend
Jackie. I spent seven days with them, camping in the wild
and exploring the coast. I absolutely loved it. Here, in
no particular order, are some of the things I learnt and
experienced.
Ian Tokelove
CLUB CLOSED
CLUB CLOSED
CLUB CLOSED
CLUB CLOSED
Monday 03 January 2011
Heather Topel
Thursday 06 January 2011
Rachel Tyler
Allan Tyler
Marco Vittur
Barry Warren
Paul Wathan
Ian White
Ralph Wilson
Dalius Tauraitis
Thursday 3 February 2011
Hygiene
Take wet wipes instead of toilet roll. They pack down light
and it doesn’t matter if they get wet.
Those little bottles of hand steriliser are great for cleaning
your hands but don’t use them for washing more sensitive
areas. It’s a bit like applying petrol, and then a match.
After a week of sea paddling the outer layers of your skin will
start to leave your hands. Two weeks later the skin will still
be peeling.
Bathing in the ocean was invigorating and surprisingly
bearable, but soaping up whilst balancing on wet, slippery
rocks wasn’t always so easy. As soon as you have your kit off
you can guarantee that a fishing boat will chug around the
corner.
First aid
Having a vet on the trip turned out to be very useful. When I
sliced my thumb open ‘no-nonsense’ Lucy quickly bandaged
me up – explaining that this was how she also bandaged
cow’s nipples.
Having a second vet on the trip was less useful. John, who is
also a vet, cut off the tip of one of his own fingers. Lucy again
came to the rescue.
Fishing
Take a crab line and mackeral feathers. We caught mackeral
and pollack almost every day – which turned our evening
meals into full-on feasts. John in particular seemed adept at
hauling in large catches.
Take a knife, so you can free yourself when your crab line
becomes hooked to the sea bed. I spent fifteen minutes trying
to get a line free, and then nearly capsized when the line
broke.
Wild camping
Expect to be constantly damp, even at night. If you camp on
a sandy beach, the sand will get into everything, including
your food, tent and sleeping bag.
09
Take a spare torch. You will need it to find your main torch
when it gets dark.
A turbo-lighter and ‘fire starters’ are great for getting a fire
going when the world has turned soggy.
Take dry bags, lots of them. If it’s not in a dry bag, it will get
wet.
Nothing will ever be packed where you thought it was. You
will have to unpack the entire boat just to find a spoon.
A small tarpaulin under your tent’s groundsheet keeps rising
damp at bay. A large tarpaulin makes a cosy group shelter
when the rain kicks in.
Having unpacked your boat, do not assume that everything
will fit back in. It won’t.
It’s hard to find a genuine wild camping site in Cornwall.
Most beaches had some form of public access. We were twice
warned that we might get asked to move on, but we had no
trouble. Arriving as the sun was setting probably helped us.
Watching the sun set, or rise, on your own private beach,
with a few friends, is one of the best feelings in the world.
Safety at sea
Lucy, John and Jackie all carried VHF radios. In an
emergency these could be used to summon assistance and
allowed us to tune into the latest coastguard reports. Also
useful for alerting the rest of the group when the fishing got
good - and to track down John when he had paddled out to
the horizon in pursuit of bigger fish.
If in doubt, turn back. Our plans to paddle around Lands
End were thwarted by poor sea conditions.
Paddle with people you trust. At times I struggled, but I was
always wholly confident, and reassured, that the others were
watching out for me.
Packing the boat
This was a skill I had almost mastered by the end of the
week. The heavy stuff gets packed as close to the center as
possible. Lighter stuff, like sleeping mats, tarps and food gets
shoved up into the bow and the stern of the boat. I spent
the entire week with a bunch of spring onions and a lemon
wedged firmly into my bow. I needed a mop handle to finally
get them out.
And finally
Big thanks to Lucy, John and Jackie for their generosity and
patience in taking an inexperienced sea kayaker on such a
cool adventure.
REGENT’S
BABY ALERT
#2
Regents welcomes baby no. 2: Douglas Hatton, born
12.11.10, weighing a perfect 7lbs, 3oz. Well done, Caroline &
Steve!
IWWK1 2010
So, it was the start of summer and time for a new sport;
and as sports go, this one rates pretty highly. I have recently
completed an Introduction to White Water course. As well as
having a really good time and learning some kayaking skills
of course, I’ve learnt a whole new set of lessons as well;
I think everyone was feeling a little nervous at the first
session- were they simply going to throw us into the canal?
‘It’s capsize training, honestly!’ Turns out they weren’t and
more importantly they didn’t. Instead we played a game
called ‘my name is Caz’ and discovered everyone was there
for very different reasons; from ‘I want to kayak to meet new
people’, to ‘I want to combat my fear of drowning’, to ‘I want
to be better than my daughter’ right through to the leaders
who were there because they loved to help people to learn to
kayak. We all thought this was a pretty good answer and we
used our leaders’ skills pretty often in the next 6 weeks.
After one or two rounds of ‘my name is Caz’ we were
introduced to what can only be described as the hardest thing
I will ever be asked to do when kayaking - getting into the
kayak! I now see why it’s such a dangerous sport. Apart from
that nightmare, our first session was a very pleasant paddle
around the basin. I have successfully managed to erase the
memory of lifting my paddle out of the water to find a rather
large bloated dead fish on the end.
Lesson 1: Don't look too closely at what’s floating in the
canal.
We had 2 sessions in the pool where ‘It’s capsize training,
honestly’ was much more appropriately situated. We
mastered the art of many a manoeuvre up to and including
the T rescue. We also found there is always scope to add
more ‘art’. We bonded well as a group- there’s nothing like
being flipped upside down in a kayak without warning by
your ‘rescue’ partner to get to know someone! We all paired
up to practice but we must have had an odd number. We’d
done a lot of capsize training by this point, but while doing
some edging practice we heard what was to become a familiar
noise, ‘Bang Bang Bang’. It wasn’t until it was too late, in
T-rescue terms, that we realised John had capsized without a
rescue partner on hand.
Lesson 2: When someone bangs on the bottom of their
kayak, there is a strong possibility they’re drowning; pay
attention.
Back at the canal following a couple of rounds of ‘my name
is Caz’ we were able to put everything non capsize related
into practice including backwards paddling, turning and even
heading in a vaguely straight line, even in an open boat.
The following weekend we headed off to Shepperton for the
day. This was to be our first experience of moving water. First
up, a game of ‘my name is Caz’! We had a lot of fun paddling
around the waterways here and discovered the truth of one of
the best tips we’d been given so far - it was clear to see who
had been having a sneaky peak into the homes and gardens
around as they were those people whose kayaks were wedged
nose first into the reeds. Time for some rapid back-paddling!
Lesson 3: The kayak really does go in the direction you are
looking.
After our experience so far, the water at Shepperton seemed
to us to be around grade 27. Being asked to kayak over the
edge of a weir beyond which you couldn’t see the water
and could only judge the next portion of the river by the
screams of kayakers gone before, was rather scary. The wait
at the top knowing someone had capsized only increased
the anticipation. We had had lesson 4 explained to us but
it wasn't until this point that we'd truly understood its
importance.
Lesson 4: do not grab onto tree branches to steady ones-self
while in a rapid.
10
Thank you Jaf for the near perfect demonstration!
Our last session was our weekend to Symonds Yat.
Lesson 5: If you are the self-nominated map reader, read the
map! Enough said!
This was a chance for us to really experience what a whole
weekend of kayaking with the club was really like, what the
vibe was, what we'd learn and where the focus lay. This we
did and I can safely say we all graduated to high standard in
an intense course in... Faffing!
Lesson 6: Faff exists, it always has, it always will, embrace it
as you have no choice.
Eventually…
We spent the first day doing a river trip. I was surprised that
so many people avoided 3rd degree burns from the scorching
sun - now I see why all the leaders were wearing cags. We
had great fun as Dan’s Dynamos and Tokey and the Titans.
We drifted along, paddling the tiniest waves, picnicking,
seal launching off the rock - which I discovered was less fun
backwards due to my near drowning, and running our very
first rapid!
Lesson 7: (This one’s more for you than me) Caz will stay
in her kayak upside down for an inordinate length of time
waiting for a T rescue - please help her!
We spent the second day out on the rapid breaking in and
out and ferry gliding - looking at Katie of course, very
dangerous to not do so - and laughing at all the open boaters,
beers in hands, capsizing right in front of us. We started
to notice everyone’s paddling style at this point and their
expressions in particular; Agne with the biggest grin, John,
entirely unfazed, Susan, whose eyes widened at the sight of
the rapid and I think I can safely say everyone’s favourite;
Fritha’s huge gasp and dramatic nose holding at the moment
of capsizing.
Lesson 8: Keep hold of your paddle. You may in fact not
capsize and in this situation, you will need it.
Just to clarify, Fritha successfully made it to the bottom of the
rapid without a paddle and without capsizing! Very cool.
Our skills improved immensely, everyone had a really good
time and on the sunniest weekend of the year! We were
assured by the leaders that all kayak weekends experienced
31 degree sunshine - this paddling through the winter thing
wasn’t going to be so hard after all! Think it’s safe to say
you’ll be seeing a lot more of most of us around the club.
After all we only had one person in A&E! That’s not bad
going....right?
And by the way, if we hadn't played it enough, my name is
Caz! Caz Heraghty x
SURF’S UP!
Surf trip Westward Ho! North Devon, by Dave Brown
The idea of this trip was to make the best of Autumn’s warm
and wavy sea conditions with some coaching in how to surf. GB canoe surf team coach Glyn Brackenbury helped Dan
arrange for a group of six of us to have a full weekend of
coaching towards the BCU 4 star surf award. The others,
another fourteen, would combine doing their own thing with
shorter sessions of coaching. We were all to be based at
Skern Lodge in picturesque Appledore, North Devon,
Stormy weather on our first day.
We started early Saturday in one of Skern’s many meeting
rooms with a plenary session on safety and who’s who. Then it was a few minutes journey by minibus through
winding roads and a rugged links golf course, mown by
sheep, to the beach. With hardly any faff at all, though with
lots of getting blown around by a piercing offshore wind, we
trekked down to the water’s edge to see what we could do.
The wind was not ideal. As well as generating plenty of
advice from our coaches to not go too far out, it created
amazing fireman’s hose effects straight into your face when
on a wave, automatic car-wash conditions elsewhere. But in
spite of this we all had a lot of fun straight away. The spilling
surf at Westward Ho! is perfect for canoes as it stays steep
from a long way out rather than breaking all in one go.
Glyn quickly assessed the four star group, my group, and
revised our aspirations to three star (more emphasis on surf
skills, less on leadership). Over the course of the weekend,
he led us through a range of moves: slaloming down the face
of a wave, traversing ahead of the break, bottom turns, top
turns... He encouraged us to make specific plans for what
to do at the start middle and end of each ride. I personally
have surfed many times with no plan except to try and grab
the biggest wave and see what happens, so to me all this was
fascinating. 11
We finished the day red-eyed and exhausted. The food at
Skern was good and the pub nearby so the centre met our
needs well. Skern is equipped with every bit of sporting
equipment you can imagine and I’m sure we could have
arranged some other fun if we had had the energy. also suggestions for leading our own groups in future and
ideas for other places to go. Skern could do accommodationonly deals if we were interested. I think we all look forward
to going surfing again.
Day two, no wind; just gentle glassy waves and long rides. The now three star group surfed with distinctly more purpose
than on Saturday. Some of the surf canoes we tried made life
a lot easier than our river boats, whilst others made it harder,
with the result that everyone bailed out at some point. Your surfing correspondent, Dave Browne.
Our leader, Dan.
Christine rips it up!
Besides giving us a chance to complete the “self-rescue” part
of the 3 star syllabus, these swims to shore gave us more time
to admire the excellent surfing in the other groups. I gather
that the coaching there was less structured: group members
had to paddle up to the coach and ask for suggestions. However everyone seemed to have a great time.
We wound up with a de-brief back in the Sunday afternoon
sun at Skern Lodge. Glyn provided commentary on a series
of photos he had taken of us when we came close to shore,
Amy, what a dude!
SCOTLAND #2
Michael Cross gives us a first timer’s perspective on the
Scotland trip.
By luck and late cancellations I had scraped my way onto the
Scotland trip as the group’s least experienced paddler (bar the
guinea pig). My first big trip panned out like this:
Sunday:
On Sunday morning we leaned over a bridge and decided
that the Roy was too low, then drove to the Spean Gorge.
Here the Spean snakes its way down a fantasy gorge with
wild rock formations and delicious winding rapids. It was a
day of many swims, and many of us breathed a deep sigh of
relief as we watched a much venerated senior paddler kick off
the sub-aquatic action early on. I won’t name any names, but
on behalf of everyone, thanks Ian. Perhaps the best/worst bit
of bat free river running was done by Claire. Marc rushed to
her aid Bay-Watch style, hauled her from a swirling vortex of
doom (that’s the technical term) and then fished her boat out
using many ropes and much grunting. Marc obviously found
it all very enjoyable; Claire less so.
Monday
On Monday morning we leaned over a bridge and decided
that the Roy was too low, and then proceeded to the Findhorn
Gorge, which begins with Randalph’s leap, a nasty looking
grade 5 that most of us carried our boats past. Christine
and Mark Rowe however were made of sterner and more
skilful stuff, so they got in at the top. They both got out at
the bottom, but regrettably Christine did so shortly after her
boat.
From then on we continued down the gorge in the customary
way until the first bit of Grade 4, “Triple Steps”. As we
approached we met Polly on the bank preparing to portage.
“What does it look like?” Claire asked her. “Meaty stoppers,
12
huge rocks and SHIT EVERYWHERE” came the reply,
delivered with admirable contempt for nature’s delights.
Nevertheless several Regents made it through in fine style
before Mark Lamb gave us the day’s main comedic turn.
After a manful fight in his tiny boat he was forced to succumb
to the power of a stopper, his boat floated out soon after
him and sat itself over a rock mid-flow slightly down stream.
Mark then made his disapproval of his kayak known by
beating and prodding it with a stick for fifteen minutes.
Imagine the first pre-human hominid to experiment with
tools and you’ll get a good mental picture. Various onlookers
threw throw-bags to little effect whilst Gareth and I stood by
helpfully giggling and making sarcastic comments. Eventually
the boat was forgiven, the stranded were rescued and we
paddled on.
Further entertainment waited just round the corner in the
form of “Corkscrew,” where we all lined up to demonstrate
that if a whole bunch of paddlers take exactly the same line
the same thing happens to all of them. One by one Regents’
finest were indeed corkscrewed, and forced to roll, swim
or abandon broken paddles. Only an idiot would watch a
long line of far better paddlers fail at something then try it
himself, so I got in my boat. I was second to last in the queue,
so learning from what I’d just witnessed I wisely messed
up the approach, missed my intended line by a clear metre
and careered into a couple of stoppers instead. After a few
freestyle moves (which I experienced more as a passenger
than a driver) I somehow made it out the right way up. There
wasn’t much to say for it though, it was rather like someone
who had taken Viagra- I may have achieved the intended, but
I couldn’t take much pride in it. That just left Ian Tokelove,
- now that almost nobody was watching he felt free to make
it look easy without embarrassing the rest of us, which is
exactly what he did.
Tuesday
On Tuesday morning we leaned over a bridge and decided
that the Roy was too low, then drove to the Etive which
was very full indeed. I thought it looked like the most fun a
human can reasonably expect to have but according to those
who know better I was wrong. There was a whole lot of talk
about how “Dicky nearly drowned here last time it looked
like this” and we all sloped off to look for something else. It
was probably for the best. Not to be thwarted, a hardy gang
of four of us spotted a little tributary of the Etive that looked
paddle-able (in the loosest sense) so we shouldered our
kayaks and yomped up the hillside in pursuit of its source.
Some time later we gave up going round “one more corner”
and began to bump, scrape and slide our way back down.
This passed in a spirit of good fun and without incident until
we reached a little canyon that was exactly 195cm wide with
a short drop with at the end of it. I know it’s exact width
because I took the trouble to measure it on the way down
using my paddle, which is 197cm long - and which just
didn’t quite fit. Having left this cumbersome object wedged
horizontally across the gorge, I had little choice but to run the
little waterfall (which now seemed quite a bit larger) Karate
style. Obviously sick with worry at my plight Claire leapt into
action and heroically photographed my unorthodox descent
for posterity. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Wednesday
On Wednesday morning we leaned over a bridge and decided
that the Roy was – what? High enough! So off we all went
and bounced down the lower Roy through big wave trains in
high spirits and with little mishap.
The afternoon saw the experienced (e.g. Liza, Jon et al), the
brave (Marc, Gareth et al) and the foolhardy (er, that would
be Me) sign up for the Upper Roy which was fantastically full
and tanking along at ninety miles an hour. Like a playground
wimp I was suffering a little trepidation, so I lobbied hard
for a place amongst the most confidence inspiring paddlers
and wound up the weakest link in what would have been the
dream team if it had not been for my presence.
For most people the river was the highlight of the trip, a
hilarious rollercoaster that left them grinning from ear to
ear. For me it was two kilometres of crisis management.
About half way down I had a little incident with a missed
eddy, a few rolls, a couple of stoppers and a rapid that was
too easy to be worth doing upright or pointing forwards.
After an extended struggle I won the fight to get upright
and sat pathetically panting in an eddy like a half drowned
puppy. Mark explained that we were changing our strategy
to ‘line of sight’ and that basically meant ‘every man for
himself’. I nodded, tried to look stoic and secretly hoped
for a few words of comfort. As he pulled back into the flow,
Mark obliged with ‘don’t worry, Mike, this river never gets
narrower than 2 metres’!
Just before the get off Gareth and Liza put on the day’s best
spectator sport, firing themselves out of the water and into
the air like submarine launched missiles as they rebounded
out of the depths of “wish you were here”. Gareth clearly
won the high jump, whilst Liza took the prize for distance
and style. General hilarity and back slapping ensued all
round.
Thursday
Thursday was a day of two teams as the A team went off to
dislocate their shoulders and break their paddles on the Roy
Gorge whilst the rest of us headed down the swollen lower
Orchy, which we romped on down pausing only to agonise
over a rapid, make a comedy river crossing and destroy a
small tree that had the audacity to obstruct our throw-bag.
Friday
Friday was our last day, and most of us paddled the Gary.
Once again I found myself following Mark Rowe with Sarah,
Marc and Gareth behind me. Finding a line through a rapid
is all very well, but there is a point when going round stuff
just becomes cheating. With this in mind, we showed our
true Banzai spirit by paddling straight into a pair of stoppers
one after the other. Mark and I smashed though them like
cowards whilst I think Gareth may have sneaked round,
but Sarah made the most of it, seizing the opportunity to
demonstrate just how easy rolling can be by jettisoning
her paddle, lying on her back deck and completing four
revolutions in as many seconds without so much as a wave of
the hand. The rest of the river was a hoot, barring my near
13
miss with an evil strainer (lesson learned) and Sarah’s four
“near death experiences.” A second run rounded the day off
and I had survived my first trip to Scotland, and thoroughly
enjoyed it too.
NEW BOATS!
Our Equipment Guru, Claire Taylor talks us through
some recent club purchases.
Perception Sonic.
A second sonic for the club. Very popular with medium sized
paddlers. September saw the club’s Special General Meeting take place.
One item on the agenda was the purchase of new boats. The
committee proposed that the club spend up to £6,000 on a
range of boats.
After much discussion it was agreed to purchase some new
boats for the pool, some river runners, an open boat and at
least one play boat.
All boats have been ordered and will soon be available for
use in the pool, on the canal and for hire for trips.
Here is what we bought:
Diesel 65
Another second for the club. This is a medium volume boat
for medium sized paddlers. Liquid Logic Hoss.
This is the larger version of the Lil’Joe.
Liquid Logic Trigger. A third one has been purchased as requested by a number of
the club’s smaller paddlers.
Pyranha Zone 1. (Medium).
We already have a large and a small, so the medium
completes the fleet. RCC News — November 2010
14
replaced the Project 45 with the Project x 48. Not sure what
colour ours will be!
Mad River Explorer 14
This boat is shorter than the club’s current open boats. It is
great on flat and white water for single or tandem paddling. Pool Boats. Pyranha Inazone 232
We have purchased 3 more inazone 232. They have easily
movable footrests. Some of the older boats will be replaced
by boats currently at the canal. SEXY UNDIES!
WINTER PADDLING – Time to talk thermals.
Jackson Star
Slightly smaller than our current Jackson All Star. For the
small/medium paddler. Ours is in yellow.
RCC members who discovered the joys of canoeing and
kayaking in the balmy summer months are no doubt thinking
that some warmer layers might now be in order. To be more
comfortable out on the river, focus on keeping your core /
torso and extremities warm.
CORE / TORSO
Cotton is not a good option, especially if the weather is cold
and you are likely to get wet. Manmade polypropylene fibres
or wool (in particular merino wool which is fine and soft,
although expensive) are much better at keeping you warm,
even when wet as they wick water away from the body and
provide good insulation.
Wavesport Project x.
A new boat only available in January. Wavesport have
There is a huge range of thermal wear available to be
worn as a base layer next to the skin, including underwear,
tops, leggings, hats and socks. There are many makes
and manufacturers – some paddling specific and some
for general sports wear. Most people will have their own
personal favourite brands and types, so ask other members
for suggestions. A few manufacturers to consider: Palm,
Nookie, Immersion Research, Craft, Yak, Peak UK,
Reed Chillcheater, Helly Hansen, Pro Zero, Ice Breaker,
Katmandu. Other outdoor shops (Blacks, Millets etc) and
even high street shops often sell their own brands of thermal
wear.
My personal favourites:
Warmest: Immersion Research Thick Skin, or Reed
Transpire Fleece from Chillcheater.
Most Comfortable and good for layering: merino wool from
Ice Breaker or Katmandu (who often have reduced prices)
EXTREMITIES
It makes a huge difference to your enjoyment of a cold day
on the river to have a warm head, hands and feet. For the
head, either a thermal or fleece hat, balaclava, or, more
specific to paddling, a skull cap of thin neoprene of Reed
Acquatherm. For the hands, open palm neoprene mitts
protect the back of the hand from cold water, but still allow
you to ‘feel’ the paddle. Full neoprene gloves are also
available, as are pogies which are nylon or neoprene ‘pockets’
which Velcro around your paddle and into which you slip
your hands. It is generally a matter of personal preference,
but in my opinion pogies win every time on keeping hands
warm, once you get used to the idea of slipping your hands in
and out of them to hold or release the paddle. Ask other club
members and try out the options to see what suits you best.
I have not found the perfect product for keeping feet warm,
but wool or fleece socks help as does making sure your
footwear is not too tight. Footwear with a reasonable sole
insulates your foot from the ground whilst waiting for the
shuttle!
Many of the manufacturers listed above also make skull caps,
mitts, gloves, socks and pogies.
My personal favourites:
Head: Reed Chillcheater Aquatherm skull cap (thin, warm
and no strap to rub the neck)
15
A JOURNEY ACROSS
RANNOCH MOOR
by Lucy Gill
“Fancy an open boating trip across Rannoch Moor in
October, wild camping along the way...” asked Mark on a
sunny warm alpine day?
I’m always up for an adventure, especially in the middle of
nowhere.. so readily agreed to what promised to be a great
few days!
Feet: Reed Transpire Fleece socks (warm and have seam on
outside to prevent rubbing)
Hands: Peak UK pogies if very cold; Palm nylon pogies for
cold; Yak open palm mitts if cool and easier to use hands for
signals etc.
Most of these items can be bought on line by googling the
manufacturer (many links are on the RCC website) or from
outdoor or paddling shops, where you can often obtain
a discount for being a British Canoe Union member or
Regents Canoe Club member. Try Whitewater the Canoe
Centre (Shepperton), Brookbank (various locations around
the county), and many others.
With Christmas just around the corner, perhaps Santa will
be bringing you something to keep you warm on the river in
2011?
Christine Dove
Our journey plan was to spend five days crossing Rannoch
Moor, one of the largest areas of wilderness in the UK,
down to the River Tay near Perth, taking in multiple lochs
and the adjoining sections of river. On a cold misty damp
morning, with two open boats packed full of camping gear
and enough food for an army, Claire, Mark, Liza and myself
set off across Loch Ba, feeling like intrepid adventurers.
It’s a great feeling to have everything with you for days
ahead, knowing that you'll be outside for all that time.
After a bit of tuition from Mark, we soon seemed to settle
into a relaxed rhythm of paddling. With lots of rainbows
appearing and disappearing as the showers moved over us,
we navigated our way across the loch to find the first stretch
of river.
With a day under our belt, and the light beginning to fade,
we found our first beautiful loch side spot to set up camp.
With the temperatures seeming to drop rapidly at the end
of the day, we went into our striking camp frenzy to avoid
getting too cold! With a stove on ready for soup, tents went
up, paddling kit came off, warm toasty thermals went on, and
of course, the trusty tarpaulin that made our kitchen went
up. It was an amazing time of year to wild camp because it is
deer rutting season. Its an eerie sound to hear the continual
roaring of the red stags coming across the bleak, barren, dark
moor.
With ice on the tents, and snow on the Highlands in the
distance, it was a chilly start for our second morning. As the
sun came up and warmed us, the morning became a beautiful
start to a serene paddle across Loch Laidon. After a welcome
elevenses stop of proper coffee and flapjack, we chopped
some firewood on the beach for another evening campfire.
16
We may have been out in the wilderness, but with all our
food supplies, stoves and a fire box, we still managed to eat
like kings and queens! Breakfast was trusty bowls of porridge
(looking very appetising with iodinated water turning them
temporarily black) - laced with chocolate and dried fruit;
it definitely did the job. For lunches, we had a cheese box
that got 10/10 for variety, chutney, heaps of oat cakes, and a
generous quota of chocolate. Suppers were great. We enjoyed
bean casserole, vegetable curry, veggie stir fry, with cakes and
custard and baked apples for pudding; great paddling fuel!
didn't complete our route due to the lack of water, but none
the less we had a brilliant time, and maybe one day we will
go back. The still mornings on the lochs with the sun, the
frost, the snowy mountains and the reflections of the autumn
colours are images I will savour. We had great fun and lots
of laughs along the way, and hopefully 'Rannoch Moor - the
expedition film', soon to be released, will capture this.
As we left the loch, we had another tricky river paddle. We
were attempting our route after little rain, and water levels
in the adjoining river sections were low. Some bits we could
paddle managing to avoid the rocks as best we could and
were fun. On other sections, it was a case of getting out and
walking the boats down the river. For some variation, we
lined the boats down on throw lines on some bits. There
were tough bits when we had to portage the boats and all the
kit (all those tins, potatoes, litres of wine.....!) across boggy,
hilly bits of moor, where the only plus was that it left you
toasty warm afterwards! The best portage was before Loch
Rannoch when we could use the trolleys along a level bit of
track, a real pleasure!
A highlight for us all was finishing the trip with a sail down
Loch Rannoch. With a force 6 wind blowing, we certainly
had some strong wind for sailing. Our expert open boaters
thoroughly enjoyed turning our two open boats in a beautiful
sailing vessel. She was lashed together with poles and tree
branches, with a mast (tarpaulin poles), and a really big sail
(the tarpaulin). We needed a few practice runs before the
vessel was sea worthy, and the lashing would hold, but with
corrections made we soon mastered the technique, and were
sailing down Loch Rannoch with massive grins and Mark
pretending to be a pirate!
The open boat was the perfect way to do such a journey. We
1&2* Awards
Congratulations to the following Regent’s members who
recently received their 1* and 2* awards:
1* - Elena Sophocles, Becky Keary, Lucy Sames, James Mogie, Tom McDonald, Lesley Shingleton, Andrejs Runcis
2* - Lucy Sames, James Mogie, Tom McDonald, Lesley
Shingleton, Jon Winder, Neil Hoxby, Marie Czajkowski,
Bobby Chen
Many thanks to all the new Regents coaches who trained and
assessed them.
17
WANT TO PADDLE LIKE
CHRISTINE?!
Christine Dove gives us her top tips.
Most people are no doubt aware of at least some of the points
below, but it never hurts to have a recap ..…. I think they are
the 5 key factors in successful white water paddling
1. ACTIVE PADDLE
Keeping a firm but relaxed grasp on your paddle and using
it to make a connection between the paddle blade (and
therefore your body and boat) and the water is essential
if you are to control the direction you are going, to keep
balanced, and to prevent any wobble turning into a capsize.
When your paddle is not connected with the water at all, you
are just going to be pushed around at the mercy of the water.
If you want to move in a particular direction or pull though a
water feature, you need to make it happen by using an active
paddle, fully immersing the blade and making each stroke
really effective!
2. ENGAGE WITH YOUR BOAT
Following on from and connected with the Active Paddle,
if you are well fitted and snug in your boat, then power
generated from actions taken with your paddle is more easily
transferred through your body to the boat, giving momentum
in a certain direction and stability. Consider all the points of
contact between your body and boat and use extra padding
or adjust fittings to ensure they are snug and contact is
maintained. You can paddle whilst loose in your boat but it
can be harder work and makes translating the paddle power
to the boat less effective.
3. USE TRIM & EDGE
It is drummed into most paddlers early in their white water
career to ‘keep the upstream edge up’. Raising the edge of
the boat in relation to the flow of water (by increasing the
pressure of the knee / thigh on the thigh brace on one side to
‘lift’ that side) is certainly necessary if you don’t want to be
at the mercy of the flow piling onto the kayak and trying to
tip you in! Trim is not always focussed on so much, but as
you proceed into stronger currents, more challenging rapids
and drops, being aware of and adjusting the trim of the boat
becomes more relevant. Trim is the balance of weight in the
boat, front to back, which effects how the boat ‘sits’ in the
water due to relative pressure exerted along the length of the
boat. How we sit and move our weight around in the boat
changes the trim which then adjusts the amount of pressure
exerted on the water. Small adjustments can make significant
differences particularly to the behaviour of the front and back
of the boat relative to the moving water
Sitting back can lead to the stern of the boat either being
forced under the water or at least being pushed around by
the current. Keeping your weight forward (by pushing your
bum into the back of the seat enabling a very slight forward
lean, whilst maintaining good posture) is usually enough to
see you through much turbulent water as it means the front
of the kayak is kept in better contact with the water, with less
skidding of the front of the boat. The upright, but slightly
forward posture has the added advantage of enabling you
to reach much further with your paddle to generate more
effective strokes and therefore maintain greater control (see 1
above).
4. LOOK FOR FUTURE WATER
This is actually not only about looking where you are going,
but really turning your shoulders / torso to lead the boat
in the direction you want to travel. If you are snugly fitted
in your boat (see 2.) then just turning your shoulders to
face downstream for example, will immediately engage the
knee on the outside of the turn, which will lead to the boat
being set ‘on edge’ resulting in a smooth change of direction
into the turn downstream. Effective paddle strokes may be
needed to generate momentum to drive over the eddy line,
(see 5. below), but the direction of travel will have been
achieved to a great extent by leading with the torso.
5. BE ABLE TO SEPARATE YOUR BODY ACTIONS
ABOVE & BELOW DECK
This may sound like a contradiction to 4. above, where
turning shoulders, helps to engage the knee under the
cockpit, but there are plenty of occasions where the ability
to make confident and effective paddle strokes above deck
whilst not disturbing the edge and / or trim of the boat
(held by the pressure of the knee against the brace for edge,
or the sitting position for trim for example), is essential to
being able to move about in the current, working with the
water features but still being able to generate momentum
from making appropriate stokes with the paddle. Flexibility
and core stability help here, so even on dry land you can
practice gentle twists and upper body movement whilst sitting
balanced on one buttock!
You will probably have realised that all these points are
interconnected and interrelated. You can get down rivers
using some or more of these key skills, but hopefully you
will find that bringing them all together at the right time and
place, will revolutionise your paddling leading to smooth,
effective descents of white water rivers.
Have fun!
Christine
IWWK2 2010
Lesley Shingleton ‘enjoys’ the Introduction to White
Water Kayaking Course summer 2010
18
The rest of us slightly more sane people just gave up and
bailed and prayed to God that one of the fantastic coaches
would rescue our kayak, paddle, packed lunch, makeup bag, and then of course us!
If anyone had told the IWWK summer class at the start that
they would be swept down rapids at Symonds Yak upside
down and banging on the bottom of their kayak for a Tee
rescue, they would have laughed their heads off and told Ian,
the course leader. that he was insane. The question is, would
any normal person voluntarily sign up to do that? Well 15 of
us did in June this year, and all lived to tell their tales of cuts
and bruises and oh yeah the absolutely fantastic, exhilarating,
challenging and life affirming time that they all had, plus
meeting some truly great people and having one hell of a
laugh in the process.
Just for the record Pete has the largest lungs of any living
creature I know and spends his spare time weighing himself
down to the bottom of pools, seemingly not bothered if he is
rescued:
But that was the end of the tale and I’m missing out the long
story preceding it of self discovery and mastery over some
shrunken canoe called a kayak on Regents canal!
My first lesson taught me this, that what you think is a
canoe, isn’t - it’s a kayak, it’s not an oar it’s a paddle and
that we don’t row up the canal we paddle up the canal, and
in a straight line if possible trying not to tip over any other
kayaker and avoid anything larger than you.
Well this course is nothing if it doesn’t throw you in at the
deep end which is exactly what the pool sessions proved
to be......turn yourself over, pull the cag and get out of the
kayak without drowning says Christine (another coach). This
sounds easy until the next instruction - turn yourself over,
don’t get out, tap on the bottom of the boat and then stroke it
and wait for some kind passer-by kayaker to whizz over and
rescue you.
If that wasn’t enough you then have to find the rescuing
kayak with your hands and haul yourself up and around
remembering that your head comes out last....last, all you can
think about is getting your head out of the water to breath
and exhale the two tons of water from up your nose.....Top
tip here: invest in nose clip for pool sessions, and goggles
and an oxygen tank, oh and don’t forget your towel which I
seemed to do constantly!
The sessions were very useful though, as the group were
soon to discover, with our first outing to a real river with real
white water and something or someone called Eddie, (soon
to be a great friend and a respite to weary arms) and then
the weirs.....at Shepperton. Now a great lesson for this trip
is to listen to the coach, and when he says don’t hold onto
the bridge above the weir, just go straight down using a stern
rudder, that is exactly what you do! Please don’t do as I did;
cling onto to the top of the bridge weeping at the prospect of
what was below, wondering what the hell you’re doing on a
Saturday morning, slightly hung over, hurling yourself over
what appears to be a sheer drop in a kayak, with a very irate
coach (Paul) at the bottom shouting at the top of his voice
‘Let go and get down here now!!!’ Wise words..... if I had
listened I probably would not have found myself falling down
sideways landing face down in a pool of water and rocks and
having to hand roll myself back up.... although saying that I
can boast at being the only group member to have mastered
the hand roll in an inch of water and I was still laughing and
so was Paul!! So up to you....
Well the group was now definitely starting to.. well let’s say..
stay afloat in a kayak, and learn a whole new vocabulary of
essential paddling strokes, with words such as bow rudder,
stern rudder, edging, sweep strokes,..................when just as
all seemed settled we were told that we now needed to apply
these strokes in a vessel 2 times the size and with another
person....a canoe. This seemed like a whole new ball game
and not quite what we have all signed up for, but it was
excellent fun and an opportunity to be a bigger fish on the
canal and charge up and down like Vikings in a long boat.
I’m wondering if Tom in the photo below wasn’t having
thoughts about pursuing a career in canoeing - note the nose
clip looks like he is resigned to the fact he’s going under with
no hope up against a double canoe!
19
scene for our first capsize and bail and at the next set of
mini rapids a swim. Unfortunately, the coach had omitted to
show us the defensive swimming position but not to worry
as lunch break was an ideal opportunity for some on shore
defensive swimming practice....can’t you tell?! Nothing like
strengthening those abdominals and shedding a few calories
from all those cheese sandwiches and chocolate bars........
Then we arrived at the main rapid at Symonds Yat.
Well the final lesson at the canal came, and preparations were
made for the Grand Finale of this introductory journey, our
plan to whip the rapids at Symonds Yat......
We all would have arrived earlier, that is of course if the
drivers had had clear driving instructions and not turned
too early and driven up the smallest and steepest road in
Monmouth. I can quite honestly say that I have never seen a
20 point turn done on an eye of a needle in a 4X4 with such
a look of fear on the driver’s face, ( mainly I’m sure because
Paul would have killed Christine if his pride and joy had got
scratched!).....but that was just the start of the weekend!!!
After a good night’s rest, packed lunches made, kayaks off,
wet gear on we were ready for our biggest challenge yet down
the river Wye and into the white water. We were cheered
on by the onlooking public, we were brave and gallant and
ready for anything....well almost! A few ferry glides across
the first mini rapids and a trial at some real Eddies set the
We were off again in search of more white water, only to be
distracted by some killer death mound, which was screaming
out to be leapt off, in a kayak of course......Some claimed it
was 7 meters high, others claimed that it was possible to do a
360 degree spin off, but most just gritted teeth with sheer joy
and hoped to be rescued!
Now the journey down to the main rapids is about 8K so to
keep ourselves amused and of course focused, coach Mark
gave us some top tips on how to paddle using our core
muscles rather than just relying on our small biceps. He told
us to imagine holding a beach ball between our stomachs and
the paddle but the group were just hoping that no passerbys
were witnessing this rather amusing scene in the middle of
the river - after the lunch time action we were really starting
look like a keep fit group!!
Pupils anxious as to whether they could remember each
stroke to get into an eddie and read the water flow, coaches
anxious if the pupils would make it or if this was going to
be the first carnage group, had their coaching worked and
were the pupils ready....Yes we were and what enormous fun,
heart racing and shear satisfaction it was to all, to run the
rapid and then to try and run it in a controlled fashion.....
some more than others.....which eddie did you say to wait
in......................!!!!!
Second day even more fun, racing down the rapids, what did
a few minor knocks and cuts matter - we were actually doing
what we set out to do all those weeks ago and it was fab.....
Then for some cooling down with some really wild defensive
swimming in action.
Inevitably the weekend came to an end and so did our
introduction to white water kayaking course. With great
sadness we all packed and left for London, but with a smile
on our faces and memories which will last a life-time. So were
we insane? Most definitely, but I reckon we are all up for
doing it all over again very soon.
The summer group 2010 would like to thank all our fabulous
course coaches for giving up their time and supporting us
throughout the sessions, and in particular to Ian Tokelove for
organising it.
20

November 2010 newsletter

Transcription

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