Not the Usk - Hurley instead

Our annual trip to the Usk was called off due to lack of water. So...

On a cold Sunday morning we woke up got dressed and went outside. Bad idea, it was freezing. There was ice on the car, ice on the windows and the biting cold was hand numbing. Stuart and Jezz started putting the boats on the car and were shortly joined by Cliff. The boats went on in about 3/4 of an hour and after we went back inside to warm up and eat some breakfast.

At 9 we left the house packed and ready to Mel’s house where Cliff drove straight past and had to reverse to pick Mel up. With Mel safely in the car we continued to Joe’s house where we picked him up and headed towards Hurley. With little traffic on the road we arrived at the Hurley car park to find Garry, Kenny, Ciaron, Geoff and Dom. We quickly got changed and headed down towards the river.

We got to the river to discover that as well as the air temperature being cold, the water was also FREEZING. We paddled upstream and shot the weir to see that it was running on 2 gates and there were more people arriving after us so there were plenty of people there. Jezz and Stu got stuck straight in and were encouraging Mel, Joe and Dom to get on the wave and surf. Mel was the first to go on and like a natural she hopped on the wave front surfed for while got off of the back of the wave capsized ... AND ROLLED BACK UP :-) - it seems that all the practising in the pool has helped Mel to conquer her roll and she did it on big white water; everyone was really impressed. Joe approached it much like Jezz did in the Hurley classic and he got washed off the back first time … and the second time. But on the third go he got on the wave surfed on it for a while came off of the back and determined that he wasn’t going to roll he did a huge high brace right over his head and stayed upright. Jezz and Stu had a couple more runs and Jezz in an unexpected attempt managed to bottom out his boat on the bottom of Hurley weir.

On Mel’s second attempt at Hurley she front surfed like a pro, carved down the wave and span to turn off of the wave and then ended up in a back surf (with that move she would have got more points than Jezz at the Hurley Classic). She then attempted a cartwheel (a bit ambitious at this stage) and unfortunately came off of the wave upside down and her paddles were ripped from her hand and sadly she swam. As the water was so cold Cliff decided to get her off of the water and back o the car to get changed and warm up. However Mel, being Mel, had decided she would be warm enough in just a long sleeve top and jeans so Cliff lent her his fleece, Stuart’s scarf and turned the air conditioning onto the highest setting to try and warm her up.



After a little while Jezz, Stu, Joe and Dom headed back to the car park to pack up and get changed. We welcomed Ian when he turned up because he brought chocolate biscuits, hot chocolate and tea for those who wanted id. It was perfect to warm our cold hands back up. We headed back home but not before finding fish and chips in Princes Risborough. We found the chips in a Chinese restaurant after driving around. They were nice chips some tasted like the Smiley Faces you get for the oven and others had a hint of prawn cracker but they were still very nice.

We dropped everyone back home and after a thoroughly enjoyable paddle we all felt really good. Mostly because we were nice and warm.
 

Dart trip Day2: The Walkham

We set off at about 9 o'clock to the start of our journey. We arrived to a very different scene than last year. Last year the river was a lot higher because we had seen a lot more rain. This year was almost the complete opposite story with our boats just about floating at the top. This meant it was low but still paddle-able. We continued on the river to find that it was quite surreal and a beautiful scene the mist was just clearing and the sun was just rising to shine through the trees:

There were a few un-testing rapids. We then came to the point to where I swam last year and found that I had swam over a 4 ft slot drop. This was very odd as there was absolutely no sign of it last year. This shows the extent of the rainfall last year and the difference the rain makes. The slot drop was relatively easy you just had to remember that you had to tuck your paddles in other wise you would get a face full of paddle shaft. Only 2 people rolled on this bit. Stuart and Cliff. Neither swamb, however Cliff did find his boat sinking as he went to get out of it to get some footage.

Shortly after this 2 people managed to get pinned on the same rock and to top it off Cliff decided to join them and ended up with a polata grip pushing up off the bottom to stay upright. The rest of the river was fairly uneventful until we joined the river Tavy and then it was Kieran’s turn to roll on an easy set of rapids. Shortly after Les gets pinned on another rock (it was rather rocky and we all have some scratches to show for it) and managed get his paddles stuck under the rock so Cliff had to go and recue them. We continued down river and portaged the weir. There was very little water and no clear line through without the risk of someone being caught in the stopper. Not a nice swim on a cold day like it was and having to get a rope to them would have to be a long job. After the wier we were almost back to the get out point but before that there was a beautiful standing wave perfect for surfing and carving across. This for the levels that we had was a perfect river I thoroughly recommend it and had a really good day's paddle. Thank you Geoff for organising the weekend.

Dart trip 2008 Day 1

It started off on a cold Friday afternoon. The car was loaded, the kit packed. We were ready to go. A quick trip down to Bath to pick up Stu from his Uni flat and headed towards Taunton fish and ship shop: Smiley's Plaice. Here we ate and discussed the weekend's paddling. We soon set off and about 2 hours later arrived at the cottage to meet up with the other guys and have a few beers. We sorted our kit out and found a bed ready to be up and awake at 8 in the next morning.
8 o’clock came and a routine of who can get to the bathroom first and who has the breakfast ready. Whilst Stu made the breakfast, Jezz made the sandwiches and Cliff waited for breakfast. Now after a nice healthy breakfast consisting of bacon, sausage, eggs and beans we were ready to set off to our first paddle of the weekend. The "Dart Loop". This is a friendly grade 1-2 with a few features along the way such as the 'Washing Machine' (can be a nasty stopper at higher levels - this is what we were paddling through on the first part of the video), 'Lovers Leap' (a series of rapids with a nasty flat rock right at the end), 'Triple Falls' (as the name suggests three increasingly harder water falls) and the 'Spin Drier' (another nasty stopper at higher levels). All this done and with no dramas. After we completed this we headed back to the car park via the shuttle bus where we stopped for a spot of lunch and prepared ourselves to tackle the last few waterfalls of the "Upper Dart". These we did. On the first drop there was only one swimmer and that was Les (also on the video) this was quite a simple drop into a slot, following the current round. The next fall was a simple slot drop but had to be taken at the right angle and shown perfectly how not to do it by Geoff who took the wrong line and went down backwards. And then the last drop a simple boof off the top and paddle into the eddy. We then proceeded onto the Loop again and only had one swimmer (Les) on 'Lovers Leap'. We then caught the shuttle back. Packed up our things and headed back to the cottages.



After all that hard work paddling we decided to order a takeaway from the local Indian in Ashbourton. We ate this and then proceeded to the Gene-17 open evening where paddlers from across the UK join up to watch videos of some awesome kayaking from the last year socialise with people they haven’t seen for a while and have a few beers. After watching a few videos (when I say watching I mean craning our necks to look around the really really tall guy sat on the bar at the front) we then decided to head back for more beers and then up to bed for the next day.

Jezz's Paddles

A photo of jezz's paddles proves how strong the water can be. His paddles snapped in two due to pressure the water placed on the shaft during a back deck roll. The Shaft broke in the middle and one half was lost in the river when it sank.

Round the Island Yacht Race

Jezz and Cliff had a weekend off Kayaking to do the Round the Island Yacht Race.

It was exhilarating, see: www.annwebcom.co.uk/rti

Our boat was like an overgrown Laser, no cabin, just room for 5 of us in the cockpit - we were so close to the action for 8 hours!

We were pushing 16 knots a few times!

Had a few incidents; witnessed the demasting of a big yacht, broaching with the spinnaker up in a force 5 wasn't pleasant, 7 miles close hauled with F6 gusts and the boat heeled over 60 degrees was very hard work - I can't climb or descend stairs at the moment as my thigh muscles have given up. Surfing 8-12 ft waves down-wind was exhilarating! The broad reach back to the Hamble after we finished was incredibly fast...

Didn't get placed well, crossed the wrong line anyway and didn't declare - I think Jezz and I cramped the helms style - he's 18 and won the National Sportboat Champs last weekend winning every race in the boat we were sailing!

Unbelievable and will do it again!
 

Hurley 22 June 2008

Cliff, Stu, Jezz, Mel and Luke woke early on Sunday morning to get down to Hurley for a quick paddle and to get Mel surfing.
On one gate it was too flushy for the smaller playboats however it was perfect for the longer Whip-it and the Recoil.
We managed to encourage Mel to get on to the wave and first time on she found her self sideways and swimming. However this did not put her off and the second time round she was surfing for a good 20-30 seconds.
Another few attempts saw her roll and swim again however full marks for persistence.
The video shows Jezz, Luke, Cliff, And Mel doing some surfing while Stu filmed most of the footage. Enjoy

Jezz's Second Medley

I Hope you enjoy it. A collection of videos from throughout the last year