Squarerock News

Spring 2010

2010-04-04T14:47:00.001-07:00

So it’s almost time to go again. A winter of snow really reminds you how good kayaking really is. We’re leaving BC in a week to get to the L6 Capital Cup and Dream Result premier in Ottawa on the 24^th of April and then into Quebec with the Bottoms Up crew to creek. Lets pray we get the water. Stay tuned for lots of pictures and video this spring and summer.

BC Mission

2009-09-27T19:30:00.001-07:00

Summer was spent as per usual boating on the Ottawa with the odd trip to the Gat to catch High Tension. This yeah however differed in that I finished University and am now have a degree. No plans to do anything with that right now. For the past month I have been boating in British Columbia with a group of friends. It is a little different to driving at home in Ireland, driving from Ottawa to Vancouver takes the same amount of time as it does to cross Ireland 12 times, so you can only imagine to road rage... After finally getting to BC we have managed to get to Skook, through Squamish, Whistler, Revelstoke and Golden. It is always weird switching between creeking and freestyle, especially when you put 3 months in-between each switch. This year was no different in that switching was tricky, but boating out here has been amazing, once the snow begins to fall it is up to Big White in Kelowna to get on with making a living in the outdoors for a few years. Check in again soon.. DC

Nene Whitewater Coaching Day

2009-08-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

At the end of July I helped run an coaching day at my local whitewater course. The course is a is a 300 meter long pumped whitewater course in Northampton, UK which is aimed at beginners/intermediate paddlers to improve their whitewater skills.

As part of the day we offered several 2 hour sessions which included intro & intermediate whitewater skills as well as intros to Whitewater Racing, Slalom & Freestyle. The event was attended by over 40 paddlers of all different ages.

We had positive feedback from all the paddlers and I am looking forward to an improved event in 2010.

The new Hero hits the UK

2008-10-29T04:20:00.000-07:00

The new Jackson Hero has hit the UK and I took it out for a spin on the beautiful river Gamlan in North Wales.

This was my first time on this particular river and we were exceptionally lucky with the water levels, although the river was dropping off very quickly we managed to get in a great run and therefore got to put the boat through it’s passes.

The Hero I think is a massive improvement on the older style boat that Jackson brought out. The Hero is only 231cm long, not the longest riverboat on the market but that is why it appealed to me to get it out on some of the tighter steeper runs. The manageability of the boat is a godsend, especially if your main discipline is playboating. The Hero’s hull has been taken from the Jackson Fun range and has been lengthened, surfing waves in this boat feels like your in your freestyle kayak, which is again great for getting out of those STICKY situations.
Although relatively short the Hero still has 75 Gallons of volume which is ideal for the style’s of river in Great Britain, and weighing less than 20kg the boat is perfect for your trek to the top of any river.

Overall the boat work well, but what impressed me most was it’s ability to work its way down the river responding to your every move.

Stats:

Length: 231cm
Width: 65
Volume: 75 Gallons
Weight: 19.05kg
Paddler weight range: 52kg to 87kg

For more info check out jacksonkayak.com

Video of the hero

Last words of summer

2008-09-10T04:41:00.000-07:00

So Im back at home in Dublin reminiscing on an unbelievable summer that has just passed, great times amongst some new great friends... read more...

Dave on the Ottawa again.

2008-07-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

This is possibly one of the best places to spend your summer. I’ve been up here two months and bus eater only went out a week or two ago, it’s been pretty damn good.

It's at a bit of an inbetween level now but the level is beginning to drop and some of the other famous spots are beginning to come in.

Ive been surfing here, working for Ottawa Kayak School and enjoying all the other aspects of the river atmosphere. Enjoy these pics and I’ll have loads more as the levels change.

New JK HERO & The French Alps 2008

2008-06-19T14:46:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos from my recent trip to the French Alps. During the trip I had a good chance to put the New JK Hero through its paces. The Hero handled it self well in the large volume rivers but came in to it own on the more technical low volume runs. If you want a river runner that you can climb out of you playboat and feel at home in then the Hero is for you.

Chris Chapman

Irish National Champs

2008-05-01T16:38:00.000-07:00

Irish National Champs

Ladies watching on

Dave Crerar during finals

This years National Champs have drawn to a close, two very well run comps on two of Irelands best features. The turnouts were not what everyone expected, which leaves the question open were those lads from over the ponds right in when they coined the phrase “rodeo is dead”, it could be going that way here in Ireland. But never the less it did not take away from the competition.

Dave Crerar

Sinead O'Donnell

Moe Kelleher

First round was on anon-retainable wave in Limerick, the event was run over two freezing cold, windy days, as you would expect of our random ass weather. The heats were close and I managed to sneak into the top 5 for the mens final. Tendonitis breathing down my neck meant a quick ibuprofen stop and on I went. Unfortunately I finished in 4th for this round with the Kelleher bro’s and Neil Gibson firing ahead with some pretty nice rides. Junior mens had a decent size turnout, with some still competition, but a newcomer to Irish freestyle, and surf-kayaking champ Corin King stole gold, With his little bro. Jake following in close second. The ladies was also a tight one, Kim Sikerman stealing a victory closely followed by Siobhan McG.

Len Kelleher

Corin King

The second round had us travel across the country to the west coast, with the feature being tidal, you don’t get much time to train unless your there a few days before the competition. Ladies and juniors were run off in their entirety on Saturday, closing off their national champs. Junior Men Saw Corin take gold again and in turn made him National Champ for this year.

Coran King

Dave Crerar

Emer Farrell came first for Junior Ladies. Senior Men were run off on Sunday with a tight race to the podium. Moe Kelleher came 1st sealing him his National Champs Trophy for this year, with me in 2nd and Len Kelleher in Third. So this year the top Irish men are Myself, Len Kelleher. and Moe Kelleher.

Dave Crerar

Kim Sikerman

Jake King

Results:

Men K1
1: Moe Kelleher
2: Len Kelleher
3: Dave Crerar

Ladies K1
1: Kim Sikerman
2: Siobhan Mc Griskin
3: Muirean Lynch

JNR Men K1
1: Corin King
2: Eoin Farrell
3: Jake King

JNR Ladies
1: Caoimhe Farrell
2: Emer Farrell

Mens C1
1: Dave Crerar
2: John O’Rourke

Schools Out

2008-03-19T15:25:00.001-07:00

Spring is finally here and college has just finished up for Easter. That’s two weeks off, well that’s what they say and then they give you 7 assignments, but I decided to head west to where the Irish water was, to get the as much paddling as possible before I had to sit in the library for hours on end.

So I packed my gear and hopped into the jeep, and off to the west cost I went. There were only a few spots working out west, so we headed off to them for a few days play.

The plan was to head to Galway and paddle at Tuam, a river hole and then off to Clifden, which is a tidal hole and in my opinion the best play-spot in Ireland. The group were really going for it, it was sweet.There is nothing better than driving across Ireland when the weather is good. The sunsets can be unreal and especially after the last storms of winter.

It was good to meet up with old friends and go for a paddle, but it is March in Ireland and it was bloody cold , and mitts were the order of the day. Four days with two sessions each has me beat and sadly feckin’ college work beckoned me back home, but not long till National Champs and more road trips…. Till then I’m out… DC

The National Student Rodeo 2008

2008-03-09T16:26:00.001-07:00

This weekend saw probably the biggest freestyle event ever in UK (may be even in the world?!) take place at the whitewater course at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham. It was my third and final time taking part in the National Student Rodeo. This year's pirate themed event had in the region of 670 students from across the country competing for their universities.

Me in the Expert Women's Final - photo John Wood

Yarr - My attempt at being a Pirate

Last year's big bosses - Adam and Sara

Second place expert sailor boy - Alan Ward

As for results, I guess the full ones will be posted on www.nationalstudentrodeo.com at some point soon. The nicest guy in freestyle, David Bainbridge of Nottingham stormed into first place in both the C1 and Expert Men's categories, Nottingham Trent took the overall winning university title and I won the Expert women's class. My final was held in the looping pool feature, with Sara James taking 3rd place and Molly Crisp paddling well into 2nd. It was great fun and I'm stoked to have won; but I do feel kind of sad to have finished my time in the NSR!

Dave Bainbridge - the winnarrr

Prize Giving

Organised by the lovely Nick Norwood and Tim Trew along with the rest of the crew from Leeds University, NSR 2008 was another great success, a huge congratulations and thanks to all those involved!

Shepperton - Jan 2008

2008-01-29T11:31:00.000-08:00

After getting completely mashed the day before, I decide to give it one more try.

We took the risk & drove for over an hour. To my relief it was on a good 7 gates, very bouncy but great fun.

Chris Chapman

De Nile review and video

2008-01-28T09:43:00.000-08:00

Six weeks in Uganda paddling on the White Nile, world class river running and playboating, every kayakers paradise. The locals say it won’t be long until the Dam at Bujagali will be finished and the silver back section will slowly disappear. Total Gunga and the Ugly Sisters rapid has already vanished and the blasting on the new dam has set boundaries to when you can and can’t paddle the section. But life up at Bujagali is still booming with the new De Nile café based at All Terrain Adventures, the Chapati man is now making his own t-shirts and the boda drivers seemed to have doubled since the last time I was there.
The new Ugandan kayak school was opened not long ago, which will give the locals the opportunity to make the best of the awesome river they live next to. Thanks to Carl Moser and friends you should be seeing some great new local talent coming through.

The river level seemed very consistent for the majority of my stay, with the level high early morning then dropping of but rising again in the afternoon. Nile Special has been at paddle on levels every afternoon and a sweet green tow on level in the morning, it never quite go to Malalu levels although in the middle of the night it could have been very possible.

Christmas and New Year was a treat, with pig and chicken roasts, and champagne in the natural Jacuzzi on the Lemon, then up to NRE for a New Year party which had about 5 different count downs because know one knew the real time.

So I’m sitting in my living room back in England with my boat and paddles still in Brussels, hopefully it should arrive tomorrow and then I can brave the cold and don the long sleeve top again.

JB

Ramp session on the Ottawa

2007-10-20T16:25:00.000-07:00

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

The 2007 British Championships

2007-10-17T02:30:00.000-07:00

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

Dave's Virgin Post

2007-09-11T10:50:00.000-07:00

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.....

Lienz round up

2007-06-26T11:13:00.001-07:00

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!

2007-05-24T04:04:00.000-07:00

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

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)

2007 World Champs wrap up

2007-05-10T13:09:00.000-07:00

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.

A very dry Scotland 2007

2007-04-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

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.

A small film of the New All Star

2007-02-15T02:56:00.001-08:00

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 New 2007 All Star!

2007-02-09T00:34:00.000-08:00

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.

Update from the Nile

2007-01-31T01:17:00.000-08:00

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

Eventfull Trip on the Upper Dart, Devon, UK

2007-01-21T12:16:00.000-08:00

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

Wecome to the new Square Rock news blog

2007-01-10T11:11:00.000-08:00

On this new news blog you will be able to follow the goings on of the Squarerock Jackson team. We will be updating the blog with pictures, news, competition results and updates on the products that we import here at Squarerock.
Have fun browsing :)