Saturday, October 20, 2007
Ramp session on the Ottawa
After nearly two months, I managed to get out of Toronto and back up to the Ottawa. My mother is over visiting so I decided to show her where I had worked during the summer. Paddling up in Ottawa in the Fall is really breathtaking, the leaves on the trees start to turn a beautiful brown and you have the river completely too yourslef.
Myself, mum, Corey Volt, Joel and Katie Kowalski braved the elements and took to the water at about 10am, we started with a nice ramp session and then ran the river. It was a lovely break from Toronto and college, mum hadn't been out on the water in 5 years so we thought things were going to be interesting but she sailed it.
I was in a Jackson Super Fun today, I'm 200lbs and despite the 70 gallons the boat was easy to throw moves of the ramp, and it surfed nice on what is left of the waves on the Ottawa, I wass quite suprised, but if your looking for a river-running playboat and you weigh 200lbs and over, weather its beacuse you used to play rugby or if you've just been lax of late this is a nice wee boat for you. Out for now, DC
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
The 2007 British Championships
The 2007 British Championships was held on alongside the Plastic Fantastic Alp Kit Kayak Series at Nottingham. The top ten paddlers from the Saturday went through to the semi final of the British Champs on the Sunday, then 10 dropped to five for the knock out final.
The comp was held in the Muncher at HPP. Due some changes on the whitewater corse the muncher has not been the same as it was in the good old days, still with the water level raised the hole seemed to take form and start to resemble it's old self. Air loops, Tricky Wu's, Phonix Monkeys and McNasty's were the choice of moves for the day, seeing some amazing rides from James 'Pringle' Bebbington, Ross Montandon, the Brayfield brothers and many more.
David Bainbridge showed why he's European Champion by pulling some awesome moves to take the C1 title.
In the Womens, Flea Jarvie pushed into first place with some very consistent rides, with Jen Chrimes hot on her tail.
Flea cleaning up
Ross Montandon managed to pull it of in his final ride even with a popped deck to take the win in the junior men's class.
Ross on a roll
The Men's was tough seeing Ed Smith, Me and Pringle down to the top 3 in the knock out final having said goodbye to Adam Norfolk and Chris Chapman in 5th and 4th place respectively.
Ed went out in 3rd seeing some big air loops and very consistent rides. I came 2nd and therefore it was a well deserved 1st place for Pringle, every Phonix Monkey and Mc Nasty done to perfection.
Also well done to Emily Wall and Pringle for winning the overall Alp Kit series 2007.
Me and Pringle in the final
Thanks to Jim from Alp Kit, Sneaky pete and Tim Raa for judging.
The Prize giving
Photos provided by Peter Meares and Ian Burt
The comp was held in the Muncher at HPP. Due some changes on the whitewater corse the muncher has not been the same as it was in the good old days, still with the water level raised the hole seemed to take form and start to resemble it's old self. Air loops, Tricky Wu's, Phonix Monkeys and McNasty's were the choice of moves for the day, seeing some amazing rides from James 'Pringle' Bebbington, Ross Montandon, the Brayfield brothers and many more.
David Bainbridge showed why he's European Champion by pulling some awesome moves to take the C1 title.
In the Womens, Flea Jarvie pushed into first place with some very consistent rides, with Jen Chrimes hot on her tail.
Flea cleaning up
Ross Montandon managed to pull it of in his final ride even with a popped deck to take the win in the junior men's class.
Ross on a roll
The Men's was tough seeing Ed Smith, Me and Pringle down to the top 3 in the knock out final having said goodbye to Adam Norfolk and Chris Chapman in 5th and 4th place respectively.
Ed went out in 3rd seeing some big air loops and very consistent rides. I came 2nd and therefore it was a well deserved 1st place for Pringle, every Phonix Monkey and Mc Nasty done to perfection.
Also well done to Emily Wall and Pringle for winning the overall Alp Kit series 2007.
Me and Pringle in the final
Thanks to Jim from Alp Kit, Sneaky pete and Tim Raa for judging.
The Prize giving
Photos provided by Peter Meares and Ian Burt
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Dave's Virgin Post
I'm Dave Crerar a new member to Squarerock. I'm studying for a brief period in Toronto at the moment, but this summer I spent the first part in Downtown Chicago working for Kayak Chicago and then on to the Ottawa to work with the Ottawa Kayak School and the Keener Program. It was an unbelievealbe way to experience the Ottawa as you not only get to appreciate all the play features but you also get to explore the whole river from an instructors point of view. I'm even bringing my 50 year old mother down the river in late October!
While I was there the river fell from around 1 to minus 2 so I got to see a number of the rivers features including Corner wave, Left Side horse shoe, push button and of course Garb. I spent as much time as I could on Garb and Corner Wave, sometimes it meant going straight back out after a days paddling with work, but it was all well worth it. I was in the new Super Star, a big boat I know, but as my gran used to say I'm "built like a brick sh!*t house", and it goes off, this boat made my summer, I can't wait to get it back out on the water. Down to study for a few months now but hopefully I'll find a few paddlers down here in Toronto to have a bit of craic with.....
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Lienz round up
Here's a quick round up of the 1st leg of the Euro Cup Series.
The competition was held in a nice hole on a River Drau which ran through the beautiful Austrian town of Lienz. The turn out was good and the competition was tough, 80 paddlers from around Europe flocked to the site for the first leg of the Euro Cup Series. The prelims were held on the Friday, with the top 20 men going through to the quarter's, all hole moves were going off.
In the women's event, Emily Wall got the biggest loops in her new Star but a low scoring first ride meant she just missed out a place in the finals leaving her in 6th place.
Em giving it her all
After the quarter's and semi's, I placed in the top 5 every time, making it in 4th place for the finals. The format was a old-style knockout, first rides were tight with all the guys going for tricky woo, phonix monkeys and godzillas, going out in 5th was Casper Van Kalmhout from the Netherlands. Peter Csonka, who placed 2nd at the World Champs, was a shock, going out in 4th. Leaving me and the Strohmeier brothers to the podium. Simon couldn't quite put together the same high scoring ride he had done during the other rounds, so taking 3rd and Seppi, his older brother, showed everyone is was definitely back to form after his couple of years out due to a wrist injury, taking 2nd. The standard was high and it was hardwork against such an awesome bunch of paddlers but I managed to nail my loops and godzillas when it counted and so was stoked to take 1st place and €200.
All in all, the organisers, judges and sponsors made the event an awesome start to the series.
Next stop, Sweden!
The competition was held in a nice hole on a River Drau which ran through the beautiful Austrian town of Lienz. The turn out was good and the competition was tough, 80 paddlers from around Europe flocked to the site for the first leg of the Euro Cup Series. The prelims were held on the Friday, with the top 20 men going through to the quarter's, all hole moves were going off.
In the women's event, Emily Wall got the biggest loops in her new Star but a low scoring first ride meant she just missed out a place in the finals leaving her in 6th place.
Em giving it her all
After the quarter's and semi's, I placed in the top 5 every time, making it in 4th place for the finals. The format was a old-style knockout, first rides were tight with all the guys going for tricky woo, phonix monkeys and godzillas, going out in 5th was Casper Van Kalmhout from the Netherlands. Peter Csonka, who placed 2nd at the World Champs, was a shock, going out in 4th. Leaving me and the Strohmeier brothers to the podium. Simon couldn't quite put together the same high scoring ride he had done during the other rounds, so taking 3rd and Seppi, his older brother, showed everyone is was definitely back to form after his couple of years out due to a wrist injury, taking 2nd. The standard was high and it was hardwork against such an awesome bunch of paddlers but I managed to nail my loops and godzillas when it counted and so was stoked to take 1st place and €200.
All in all, the organisers, judges and sponsors made the event an awesome start to the series.
Next stop, Sweden!
Thursday, May 24, 2007
After many years of serious effort and commitment, Pete Astles of PeakUK has decided to take a well earned break from organising events here in the UK. Thankfully, Jim Evans and his company AlpKit have stepped up and this past weekend saw the launch of the Plastic Fantastic AlpKit Kayak Series
The first event in the series was held on the Washburn River in Yorkshire. All of these event will have two main parts, a boater x and a freestyle competition. The boater X saw it's fair share of carnage with heat of 4 heading off in an 'America's Cup' style start. Each paddler had to negoiate a slalom pole half way down the course which mixed things up a bit and allowed opportunities for over taking. The expert men's class saw an interesting battle between Jon Best and James 'Pringle' Bebbington, who had made a bet where the loser had to race the final topless. However, both made it through after winning their heats so the final saw the two of them scrapping 'skin to win', except they were so busy fighting each other that they were over taken by the other two paddlers leaving them in 4th and 3rd respectively.
Jon going skin to win in the Mega Rocker
The first event in the series was held on the Washburn River in Yorkshire. All of these event will have two main parts, a boater x and a freestyle competition. The boater X saw it's fair share of carnage with heat of 4 heading off in an 'America's Cup' style start. Each paddler had to negoiate a slalom pole half way down the course which mixed things up a bit and allowed opportunities for over taking. The expert men's class saw an interesting battle between Jon Best and James 'Pringle' Bebbington, who had made a bet where the loser had to race the final topless. However, both made it through after winning their heats so the final saw the two of them scrapping 'skin to win', except they were so busy fighting each other that they were over taken by the other two paddlers leaving them in 4th and 3rd respectively.
Jon going skin to win in the Mega Rocker
In the women's event, I won my heat putting me through to the expert women's final with Claire O'Hara and new SquareRock paddler Molly Crisp. A good start put me in second place, but at the slalom gates, I slowed down and Molly over took. However, after sneaking across the start line before the buzzer, Claire, who had shot off in 1st place, had to touch the penalty board, putting her back in the third place. It was a good fight til the end, but I couldn't quite get past Molly, leaving her to take the win and me in 2nd, with us both in Punk Rockers, a JK 1 and 2! My best results in a river race so far!
Molly at the back, then me, chasing down Claire at the start of the final
The next day saw the freestyle competition take place in the 'broken weir', a small shallow hole where you hit the bottom, alot. Despite this, Pringle managed to pull phonix monkeys and loops from no where to take the win in Expert men's. In the expert women's, Molly was looking great for the win all weekend, however the final was knockout format and one not so good ride left her in third place. Leaving me and Claire to fight it out. Claire went first and couldn't quite get the moves she was looking for. I think this was the first time I really realised how much my time spent judging has helped me. I was able to figure out exactly what I needed to do and although it wasn't the most exciting ride, it was safe and I was able to win!
Overall the weekend was a great sucess, Jim did a fantastic job and thanks to everyone who helped out. Bring on the next event at Tryweryn in September!For all the results check out http://www.alpkit.com/pfaks. All picture courtsey of Jim Evans
Jim with the women's freestyle podium finishers, (me on far right)
Thursday, May 10, 2007
2007 World Champs wrap up
So the 2007 Freestyle world championships has come to an end. Despite Bus eater only being in for 4 days the event went very well. We had a crazy training day on Tuesday when the organizers had to cram in training for all the nations, which proved hard as many of the competitors had never used the tow in rope before, this meant training was short with not much wave time. I think I managed to get 5 practice rides before my competition rides. I guess it was the same as everyone bar the locals.
Photo by Maggie Crocker
The wave fluctuated quite a bit during the comp, I think it was probably at it's prime on the first and half way through the second day of the comp, by day three it had started to brake and become very piley. At its best the mini bus wave is amazing, the biggest wave I have ever surfed. Every wave move is possible and every move is massive, it is very hard to throw anything small. When bussy backs up and your at the top, it feels like your about to fall of a house, you need take advantage of every pass you can because your never sure when the pile will brake on you, you'll be swallowed and spat out the back.
The competition went very well, with chief judge Emily Wall keeping things on time and running smoothly. All the competitors seemed stoked that the comp was going ahead on bussy and that really showed in their paddling. Some of the rides were out of this world, Billy Harris, Nick Troutman, Peter Csonka, EJ and and many more showed unbelievable control and style. In the women's Ruth Gordon and Tanya Faux really made an impression pushing the limits for female paddling.
When the comp was quickly over on the Friday, it was time to party. A Hawaiian and Red Bull party finished off the event nicely.
To find out more about results and info on the worlds check out. www.worldfreestylekayakingchampionships.com
Check out EJ's winning ride here.
Thank you to 'Wilderness Tours, Matt'Sharky'McGuire, Emily Wall and all the judges, Peter Mears, Team GB, Dave, Terry and Pete, and all else involved.
Photo by Maggie Crocker
The wave fluctuated quite a bit during the comp, I think it was probably at it's prime on the first and half way through the second day of the comp, by day three it had started to brake and become very piley. At its best the mini bus wave is amazing, the biggest wave I have ever surfed. Every wave move is possible and every move is massive, it is very hard to throw anything small. When bussy backs up and your at the top, it feels like your about to fall of a house, you need take advantage of every pass you can because your never sure when the pile will brake on you, you'll be swallowed and spat out the back.
The competition went very well, with chief judge Emily Wall keeping things on time and running smoothly. All the competitors seemed stoked that the comp was going ahead on bussy and that really showed in their paddling. Some of the rides were out of this world, Billy Harris, Nick Troutman, Peter Csonka, EJ and and many more showed unbelievable control and style. In the women's Ruth Gordon and Tanya Faux really made an impression pushing the limits for female paddling.
When the comp was quickly over on the Friday, it was time to party. A Hawaiian and Red Bull party finished off the event nicely.
To find out more about results and info on the worlds check out. www.worldfreestylekayakingchampionships.com
Check out EJ's winning ride here.
Thank you to 'Wilderness Tours, Matt'Sharky'McGuire, Emily Wall and all the judges, Peter Mears, Team GB, Dave, Terry and Pete, and all else involved.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
A very dry Scotland 2007
Just got back from a week in Scotland, water was in very short supply but we still managed to paddle some cool rivers.
I was luck to get my hands on the new 2007 Rocker & Punk Rocker for this trip. Both turn really well, carry good speed & are very fast on rock slides. Looking forward to paddling the Rocker on a river with water in sometime in the future.
I was luck to get my hands on the new 2007 Rocker & Punk Rocker for this trip. Both turn really well, carry good speed & are very fast on rock slides. Looking forward to paddling the Rocker on a river with water in sometime in the future.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
A small film of the New All Star
So Im back in sunny England, a bit of a climet change but im slowly adjusting.
The trip to Uganda was awseome and I wish I was still there now, oh well back to the real world.
While in Dubai on 7 hour stop over I made this small film of the New Jackson All Star on Nile Specail.
Enjoy
JB
The trip to Uganda was awseome and I wish I was still there now, oh well back to the real world.
While in Dubai on 7 hour stop over I made this small film of the New Jackson All Star on Nile Specail.
Enjoy
JB
Friday, February 09, 2007
The New 2007 All Star!
The new 2007 All Star is proving to be a big hit.
Harry Cox arrived four days ago on the Hairy Lemon, with a brand new All Star. My eyes lit up at the sight of the new boat... ...I have now stolen Harry's boat, and he's not getting it back!
The performance of 2007 All Star on a wave is living up to all the hype! It has a faster hull speed, is looser, releases better for a bigger pop, and is very forgiving, particularily when landing big moves. The All Star has been ripping on Nile Special and Mutt's Nutts and I am continuing to discover all of the boat's potential! I have not yet tried the boat in a hole, but I am sure it will live up to all of my expectations.
Harry Cox arrived four days ago on the Hairy Lemon, with a brand new All Star. My eyes lit up at the sight of the new boat... ...I have now stolen Harry's boat, and he's not getting it back!
The performance of 2007 All Star on a wave is living up to all the hype! It has a faster hull speed, is looser, releases better for a bigger pop, and is very forgiving, particularily when landing big moves. The All Star has been ripping on Nile Special and Mutt's Nutts and I am continuing to discover all of the boat's potential! I have not yet tried the boat in a hole, but I am sure it will live up to all of my expectations.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Update from the Nile
So the other day we paddled the day 2 section in search of a wave that people say is the best one on the river. We got to Hair of the Dog early in the day to catch Mutt's Nutts at its best level.
All the hype that we had heard about this wave was true, it is awesome. A symmetrical breaking green wave with a sweet pile, what more would you want. The only problem with the wave is that it's a little hard to get to without paddling the whole day 2 section, so today we went on a Boda boda recon mission to see if we could find an easy way to get there by road. After a bit of bush wacking on cow paths, and zooming through many small villages we were greeted with success!
JB
All the hype that we had heard about this wave was true, it is awesome. A symmetrical breaking green wave with a sweet pile, what more would you want. The only problem with the wave is that it's a little hard to get to without paddling the whole day 2 section, so today we went on a Boda boda recon mission to see if we could find an easy way to get there by road. After a bit of bush wacking on cow paths, and zooming through many small villages we were greeted with success!
JB
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Eventfull Trip on the Upper Dart, Devon, UK
When we left Northampton very early on Friday morning we never knew what was ahead of us. After an uneventful journey we arrived at a very wet Upper Dart, we inspected the level (Low-Medium) and moved to the get in. This is where we meet up with the rest of the group (Me (Chris Chapman), Paul, Jack, Ben, Richard, Kevin, 2 paddlers Ben knew and 2 that Richard knew (Dan and Jules)).
Once kitted up we move to the river, at this point we realised the river had risen quite a bit (Medium-High). We started down the river, which was already big and this was the so called warm-up section. As the river narrowed around an island the group moved down the river in a chain, this part of the river was high and the trees were in the river. Half the group meet at the bottom of this rapid in one of the very few eddies. When they found out that one of Ben’s mates had got stuck under one of the trees, he finally released himself and swam. The boat came past us and we tried to chase it but the river was too fast and we were getting stuck in stoppers. After about 100m we decided that we should leave it. At this point Ben’s mates decided that they should both walkout as the river was now really starting to get harder.
The rest of us moved on down the river, until we came to the start of the “Mad Mile”. By now the river was huge and was continues grade 4+. Jules and Kevin decided to walk around the next bit. Ben, Richard, Dan, Paul, Jack and I continued around down the river heading towards a section of rapids called “Bedrock”. We came around the corner and saw a huge stopper that decided it liked me. My Rocker decided at this point that it was a playboat and started cartwheeling in the hole. After a few seconds the boat settled and Richard shot past me smacking his elbow on my boat. I decide that I was not coming out of this hole in my boat. I rolled over and released my spraydeck, keeping hold of my paddle. I rolled back up in the hole and waited for my boat to fill up, sink and catch the undertow. Once I was clear of the hole I got out of my boat and swam to a group of trees by the bank. With some help from Richard I got out of the river with all my kit. We took this moment to scout the next section. We picked our lines and moved on down to a rapid called Euthanasia (4+/5). We got out above Euthanasia to scout it and decided on the line, which involved starting on the right and moving very quickly across to the left just after a tree to avoid a rather interesting bit that we did not fancy going down. Once on the left you had to start moving back to the right to avoid a double decker bus sized hole.
We waited for a few minutes for the others that had walked around the top section. Dan decided he was not going to run this section and went to find the others. We carried on waiting but after a few more minutes the rest of us decided to run Euthanasia. We ran it with no problems and meet in the eddy by the large stopper. We continued down the river making our way thought continuous stoppers and waves. Ben managed to breakout after Pandora’s Box whilst Paul, Richard and I continued down. I managed to find a breakout in a bunch of trees and Paul tried to follow, but managed to get pinned on a tree: he got himself off the tree but could not get into the eddy. Paul had to hang onto the tree about 10 feet from the side of the river, but he managed to drop his paddles. Richard and I got out of our boats and mounted a rescue which evolved me swimming on the end of a line, grabbing the end of Paul’s boat and swinging me and Paul into the bank.
After the rescue we stood on the bank preparing a set of split paddles for Paul when Jack who had gone back up to find the others came flying past with Jules swimming behind him. By this point Ben had already tried to rescue him with a throwline, but Jules had been pulled under and got tangled up in the line so Ben had to release it. We got back into our boat and made our way down the river after Jules and Jack. After a few hundred meters we heard Ben shout and we managed to breakout. Paul, Richard and I walked back up the river a bit to find the others. We finally found Ben and Jack on a large island that was now underwater due to the high water levels in amongst the trees and rocks. Ben then pointed out Jules clinging onto a tree with Ben’s throwline around his leg about 20 feet from bank near the main flow. Jules by this point was very tired after swimming about a mile. We mounted another rescue, which involved Jack swimming on the end of a line (held by Ben) to Jules and then swinging Jules and then Jack back to me. At this point we were still about 15 feet from the bank, as we had to swim and walk to get to our rescue position. After about 1 1/2 hours we all finally got back to the bank, but by this time it was dark and took the decision to walk out.
We started to walk out, but could not see much through the trees and decided that we would have to walk up out of the valley. After starting this with our boats we decided to put the boats down, tie them up and continued without them. After about an hour we found a muddy track and followed it back towards the car park when we saw a set of headlights coming towards us. As it got close to us it stopped and a fireman said “we are looking for you”. After sorting out who we were and putting Jules in the back of the truck we continued down the track to the car park where we were surprised by the amount of rescues services we had looking for us. We had 2 fire engines, 2 off road fire trucks, 4 police cars, an ambulance and we later found out that there was also a helicopter from Scotland coming to look for us. And the final piece was Jules got interviewed for local TV. We got changed and headed to the pub for stories, food and beer.
The next day we had to walk back in to the Upper Dart to retrieve our boats so Paul, Ben, Jack, Richard and I started the mile walk. This was a lot easier than last night, as we could see the path (Parts of it would have been underwater even if we could have followed it). The water had dropped about 4 feet overnight and you could see clearly where the water had been.
On the way back in we found Jules' paddle by a tree, not too far from our boats. Once we had collected the boats we proceeded to get on and finish the paddle we started the day before. During the paddle we all decided that we would go and do the Upper again and then continue down the Loop section. The upper the day before had taken us over 6 hours from put-in to being found, this time it took us less than a hour.
Over the next few days we managed to recover all the kit we had lost on the Friday including Jules' boat, which was found by a sea kayaker 20+ miles down the river. Paul’s paddle was found on the Loop and so was Ben’s throwline. The only things we lost were a pin kit and throwline that was in Jules' boat.
It was a great weekend of paddling, rescuing, paddling…..etc
Once kitted up we move to the river, at this point we realised the river had risen quite a bit (Medium-High). We started down the river, which was already big and this was the so called warm-up section. As the river narrowed around an island the group moved down the river in a chain, this part of the river was high and the trees were in the river. Half the group meet at the bottom of this rapid in one of the very few eddies. When they found out that one of Ben’s mates had got stuck under one of the trees, he finally released himself and swam. The boat came past us and we tried to chase it but the river was too fast and we were getting stuck in stoppers. After about 100m we decided that we should leave it. At this point Ben’s mates decided that they should both walkout as the river was now really starting to get harder.
The rest of us moved on down the river, until we came to the start of the “Mad Mile”. By now the river was huge and was continues grade 4+. Jules and Kevin decided to walk around the next bit. Ben, Richard, Dan, Paul, Jack and I continued around down the river heading towards a section of rapids called “Bedrock”. We came around the corner and saw a huge stopper that decided it liked me. My Rocker decided at this point that it was a playboat and started cartwheeling in the hole. After a few seconds the boat settled and Richard shot past me smacking his elbow on my boat. I decide that I was not coming out of this hole in my boat. I rolled over and released my spraydeck, keeping hold of my paddle. I rolled back up in the hole and waited for my boat to fill up, sink and catch the undertow. Once I was clear of the hole I got out of my boat and swam to a group of trees by the bank. With some help from Richard I got out of the river with all my kit. We took this moment to scout the next section. We picked our lines and moved on down to a rapid called Euthanasia (4+/5). We got out above Euthanasia to scout it and decided on the line, which involved starting on the right and moving very quickly across to the left just after a tree to avoid a rather interesting bit that we did not fancy going down. Once on the left you had to start moving back to the right to avoid a double decker bus sized hole.
We waited for a few minutes for the others that had walked around the top section. Dan decided he was not going to run this section and went to find the others. We carried on waiting but after a few more minutes the rest of us decided to run Euthanasia. We ran it with no problems and meet in the eddy by the large stopper. We continued down the river making our way thought continuous stoppers and waves. Ben managed to breakout after Pandora’s Box whilst Paul, Richard and I continued down. I managed to find a breakout in a bunch of trees and Paul tried to follow, but managed to get pinned on a tree: he got himself off the tree but could not get into the eddy. Paul had to hang onto the tree about 10 feet from the side of the river, but he managed to drop his paddles. Richard and I got out of our boats and mounted a rescue which evolved me swimming on the end of a line, grabbing the end of Paul’s boat and swinging me and Paul into the bank.
After the rescue we stood on the bank preparing a set of split paddles for Paul when Jack who had gone back up to find the others came flying past with Jules swimming behind him. By this point Ben had already tried to rescue him with a throwline, but Jules had been pulled under and got tangled up in the line so Ben had to release it. We got back into our boat and made our way down the river after Jules and Jack. After a few hundred meters we heard Ben shout and we managed to breakout. Paul, Richard and I walked back up the river a bit to find the others. We finally found Ben and Jack on a large island that was now underwater due to the high water levels in amongst the trees and rocks. Ben then pointed out Jules clinging onto a tree with Ben’s throwline around his leg about 20 feet from bank near the main flow. Jules by this point was very tired after swimming about a mile. We mounted another rescue, which involved Jack swimming on the end of a line (held by Ben) to Jules and then swinging Jules and then Jack back to me. At this point we were still about 15 feet from the bank, as we had to swim and walk to get to our rescue position. After about 1 1/2 hours we all finally got back to the bank, but by this time it was dark and took the decision to walk out.
We started to walk out, but could not see much through the trees and decided that we would have to walk up out of the valley. After starting this with our boats we decided to put the boats down, tie them up and continued without them. After about an hour we found a muddy track and followed it back towards the car park when we saw a set of headlights coming towards us. As it got close to us it stopped and a fireman said “we are looking for you”. After sorting out who we were and putting Jules in the back of the truck we continued down the track to the car park where we were surprised by the amount of rescues services we had looking for us. We had 2 fire engines, 2 off road fire trucks, 4 police cars, an ambulance and we later found out that there was also a helicopter from Scotland coming to look for us. And the final piece was Jules got interviewed for local TV. We got changed and headed to the pub for stories, food and beer.
The next day we had to walk back in to the Upper Dart to retrieve our boats so Paul, Ben, Jack, Richard and I started the mile walk. This was a lot easier than last night, as we could see the path (Parts of it would have been underwater even if we could have followed it). The water had dropped about 4 feet overnight and you could see clearly where the water had been.
On the way back in we found Jules' paddle by a tree, not too far from our boats. Once we had collected the boats we proceeded to get on and finish the paddle we started the day before. During the paddle we all decided that we would go and do the Upper again and then continue down the Loop section. The upper the day before had taken us over 6 hours from put-in to being found, this time it took us less than a hour.
Over the next few days we managed to recover all the kit we had lost on the Friday including Jules' boat, which was found by a sea kayaker 20+ miles down the river. Paul’s paddle was found on the Loop and so was Ben’s throwline. The only things we lost were a pin kit and throwline that was in Jules' boat.
It was a great weekend of paddling, rescuing, paddling…..etc
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
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