Huge day on the Upper Swale

Another 5am start to get to the Upper Swale ASAP to catch the water, and boy did we. Getting to the put in at 10:15am we got changed and I ran the shuttle.
On the way back I checked the gauge just off the bridge, it was already reading between 1.6 and 1.65 and still raining. This had already beaten our first run down at 1.41. 

Rainchasers Gauge Reading

After a little warm up shooting over Wain Wath Force we broke out above Rainby Force to inspect. We decided to try the far river left line first. Jumping back in the boat as I paddled to the edge I got a good last boof stroke, flying through the air ready for a nice flat landing in the foam pile. Dan then followed the same line, with a nice boof he also landed in the foam pile but had to put in a roll after his edge got caught by a boil.

Rainby Force still

We decided to jump back out and run the drop again but this time hitting the middle line. I had also put the GoPro on the front of the boat pointing back to me. Heading to the drop I was hoping not to take a roll damaging the GoPro, with this on my mind I was a bit late with the boof stroke which left me nose diving a bit too much and on landing and I needed a few support strokes to get away. Dan had another flat flight and landing, firing straight out of the pool.
Not happy with that attempt we went back up and ran it again. This time we both nailed it.



However after getting out to take the GoPro off Dan was half in his boat when it caught an edge. Before he knew it the boat was full of water and he had to let it go. Seeing this I quickly took the GoPro off the front of the boat as I knew what was coming might force me to roll.

The next rapid, taken Nov-12 at 1.41. "Richie's" rapid.

Getting to the start of the rapid it looked a lot worse than the photo above. The ledge was a lot lower, but a massive stopper was at the exit of the slide. Starting river right I dropped off the ledge and then powered hard left to skirt round it. I think I'd just managed to miss it although I was thrown backwards and stern stalling for a moment. After this rapid I could just about see Dan's boat. Powering hard down to it before the next double drop I luckily managed to get it into an eddy and recover it.

With Dan and boat reunited we headed down to Catrake Force. Taking both drops river left we were through with no problems.
Through the gorge section, a few large waves/stoppers had formed and we broke out above Upper Kisdon Falls. After having a quick look we took the river left line and both dropped it nicely.
Lower Kisdon was the final drop on this section. We got out river right to look at the drop and pick our line. Dan jumped back in his boat and ran the drop. Getting a sweet line he bounced off the ledge and landed on top of the foam pile. I then followed, but was a little too far to the left, which put me more into the stopper on landing but I managed to paddle out without any issues. Now just the monster of a walk back out to the car park!

Upper Dart Video

River Tavy, Hill Bridge to Harford Bridge Video

Dartmoor Weekend

So after a few years of low water conditions it finally looked like we were going to hit Dartmoor with some water!

Driving down on the Friday night the met office app was showing rain coming across from 11pm till 4am, at times being heavy. We arrived at the Powder Mills Bunkhouse just before 8pm, quickly unpacking and headed to the pub in Princetown.

SATURDAY

Rainchasers notifications, the
following morning doing there job.

Waking up on Saturday all the Dartmoor rivers were huge or high so we made the call to head over to the Tavy to paddle the Hill Bridge to Harford Bridge section. According to the gauge this was still at huge (1.2m) but as it was a grade 3 (4) we hoped that it would still be runnable. This section is also supposed to rise and fall very fast therefore not easy to catch at a good level.
When we got to the river it looked fast moving but not unmanageable, there were also a few other paddlers who had just got off saying that it was OK to run. With that in mind we headed to the get in and kitted up.
The river was very much like the Washburn, narrow, fast and with trees lining the bank all the way down, this made for very few eddies.

Unfortunately Conor had a little swim after one of the drops, but managed to recover all his kit and jump back on. Just round the corner the river picked up speed and in the distance you could see that a tree was down. With this in mind I made slow progress down to the tree. 

Rob enjoying his new Burn MkIII LARGE

Getting closer I could see that it wasn't blocking the river but you had to be on a good line to go round it. Dan followed me down and I got out to show the others where to go. Conor was next down but got flipped by a hole just above the crux of the line and came out. I quickly got a line to him which he grabbed before heading into the tree. However his boat was heading down the river with Dan chasing it. I jumped back in my boat and gave chase. We managed to catch it up, Dan pushed it into an eddy and I jumped out and dragged it onto the bank. The boat had been re-split on the front, putting an end to Conor's days. Fortunately the main road isn't too far away from the river so we decided that we'd carry on down, run the shuttle and pick him up from the road. This worked well as by the time we had run the shuttle he had just got to the river.

All loaded up and changed by 12pm we decided to head to Dartmeet to see if the river had dropped. Getting there it looked higher than I had ever seen it, but with a solid run behind us we decided to get on.

Within the first 200m you could tell that the river was high as we didn't hit any rocks and were going through waves and holes.

Within the first 200m....

First "Boulder Garden" section

Before we knew it we were at the first Boulder Garden section, however due to the river level all the rocks were covered. This turned the section into a hole boofing paradise, picking the line was relatively easy as most ways were going!

The first ledge drop.

The last ledge drop and channel.

With the river charging we were at the Island split, where the gun barrel is. Normally I take the river right line and drop back into the main flow. But due to the level being high the stopper above this might have been a bit sticky so we decided to stick river left and power straight through. With the river joining halfway down it made a tricky little side wave which you had to negotiate.

Breaking out at the bottom of the gun barrel.

After breaking out at the bottom of the gun barrel I looked back up stream and could see that Molly had taken a roll, unfortunately she had three attempts before coming out after the last wave. I managed to get her on the back of my boat, but by this time we were heading down the start of the Mad Mile. Paddling as hard as I could I got dragged into a hole which Molly still on the back, she let go but by this time Danny had caught up and chased after her. I got out of the whole and picked up her paddle putting it on the river bank to then start chasing them back down. By the time I had got to her again she had swam nearly all the Mad Mile, but just before the Slides we managed to get her out. Fortunately her boat was forced into an eddy and Dan managed to get out and recover it.

Dan finishing the Mad Mile.

Slides just after the Mad Mile.

Molly decided to walk round the slides but got back on just after. The rest of us headed river left down the slides making it through the stoppers and tow back. Next stop was Euthanasia Falls, but before that where a couple of ledges and drops to negotiate. Everyone had made it down until Dan got caught in the last stopper river right. A nasty recirculating boil had got a hold of him. After numerous attempts at rolling he bailed, straight after this he flushed out but we were all in our boats. I jumped out to try and get a line to him but by the time I had he had shot past. I run down the side of the bank to find that he'd managed to get himself to the side but had lost his boat and paddle. I kept running after the boat and by the time I'd caught it up it was pinned at Euthanasia Falls, but with no sign of his paddle and GoPro which was attached to the front of the boat.
I left Dan down at Euthanasia Falls to do safety whilst I ran the rapid to get onto the centre Island where his boat was. The others got out above the falls and walked round. Lucky enough another Kayaking was recovering a boat in almost the same place. We managed to rope the boat off and I walked it down to the bottom of Euthanasia to reunite it with Dan. In the meantime Danny had built up his pair of splits for Dan to use for the rest of the run. 

The group was all back together and heading towards Pandora's Box. Rob, Molly and Dan decided to portage the rapid, leaving me and Danny to run it. At this level the whole rapid was washed out. I could see the rock you normally head for, but instead of it being a rock it was forming a small pour over. Shooting past this you could see the letter box drop, taking a boof stroke just above saw me landing on the foam pile but being pushed slightly to the left wall. Danny had a similar line but didn't get pushed left, instead his Tuna launched him upwards and out of the rapid.

After Pandora's Box it was a straight forward run to the get out, although it was fast moving all the way. Getting off the river just after 4pm we had just started to loose the light, any longer and things might have become even more interesting. The level was just short of reaching the first step.

Fortunately for Dan, another kayaker had seen his paddles coming down the river at the get out and had managed to rescue them!

Spot the difference....

When we got back to the bunkbarn we looked on Rainchasers to see what the level had been like.

Rainchasers level, Saturday night.

We had got on at about 1:15pm, which shows approx 1.48 and were off at 4pm when it was about 1.00.

SUNDAY

Sunday night there was a little more rain. We were hoping that the rivers might have been topped up but unfortunately not. We finally decided to run the Upper Dart again, this time it was medium to low on the gauge. Due to Conor not paddling we didn't have to run shuttles so we got straight on and paddled almost non-stop to the get out. No incidents just good fun paddling. Down in around an hour and fifteen we packed up and headed home.

Video of the weekends fun to follow.....

Kayak Ergometer Build - Part 1

So with the cold darks nights set in for the foreseeable future, to keep paddle fitness up over the winter I've decided to attempt to build a Kayak Ergometer. Weight lifting and cardio fitness in the gym is OK, but nothing can substitute actual paddle fitness.

After looking around I found a previous homemade attempt on YouTube which had been cannibalised from a Cross Country Ski Fitness machine. It utilises the flywheel and resistant webbing arrangement. Connecting a broken paddle shaft via a series of ropes and pulleys will give you the feel of paddling. Changing the tension in the webbing over the flywheel will affect the resistance experienced whilst paddling. Therefore allowing you to easily change between cardio sessions to intense sprint sessions.

Breaking the Ski Machine
After watching a few machines on eBay I finally found a descent looker, only problem was it was in Stockton-On-Tees, a 370 mile round trip. Never the less I won the item and collected after work one night.

Cross Country Ski Machine

Flywheel Assembly

Flywheel removed from Ski Machine

Bearings used to grip and release flywheel shaft

Next step creating the new frame which will house the flywheel assembly and the user will sit on. 

 More to follow.....

Mid-Wales Kayaking.....

"Spotted...."

So after having booked the weekend months in advance it was soon upon us, unfortunately the weeks of rain dancing didn't come off though!

PACKERS had booked the bunk barn at Welshpool for a peer paddling trip with the hope of paddling some of Mid-Wales's best WW, however due to the distinct lack of rain everyone cancelled their plans leaving just Me, Dan G and Rob A heading to Welshpool on Friday afternoon.

Lucky the three of us had planned for the lack of rain and were taking MTB's for the weekend, with the view of heading to Coed y Brenin on Saturday and Cannock Chase on the way home on Sunday.

An early start on Saturday saw us on the trails by 10:30am. The first half an hour was a bit colder than we would have liked, but once the sun had got a little higher the conditions were near perfect. The "very" little rain made some of the rocks a little slippery, but binded the loose stuff together.

Just under halfway round we stopped of tea and a selection of homemade cakes.

Can't do this when kayak!

After our pit stop we were back on the trails and heading to the best part of the Dragons Back, The Adams Family.

Rob on Lurch

Gone in a blur!

Dan dropping into Lurch

Alan at the bottom of Lurch

After a good days ride we heading back to the bunk barn to get ready for dinner and an evening of Rob's movie collection......

3 two seater sofas all to ourselves.

Sunday we were away in good time and at Cannock by 9:30am and on the trails by 10am. Rob hadn't been to Cannock since the far part of the monkey trail had been reopened and it didn't fail to impress. The weather was again ideal. However the small stones which make up a lot of the trails were very slippery, my front wheel on numerous occasions slipped out. The good weather had brought people out and the trails were a lot busier than at Coed y Brenin.

All in all it was a good weekend despite the lack of boating!