"River Tasting Lessons!"

Dry again and breathing just fine yesterday evening:)


MMmmm! Interesting day!

Yesterday Ian & I were supposed to go out for a leisurely paddle down the River Wandle through the south London suburbs that would have eventually spat us out into the River Thames at Wandsworth, but the group Ian & I were to be 'Tagging' along with pulled out at the last minute because of something about the water levels being too high because of all the recent rain blah blah blah! Surely the more water the bleeding better? More fun anyway. Lee was unable to come along as he is very busy with Nic getting their new house ready to move in to. So instead Ian and I went to Hurley Weir which is situated on a very Lovely part of the Thames near Marlow. I had never been there before and was keen to see what it was like. It is supposed to be the best weir for kayaking in the whole of the UK and as we found out when we arrived at 11am Sunday morning there are indeed queues of kayakers in the water right next to the rather large waves that the weir gates produce as they let the river water gush through! Well out of bounds for a novice such as me but fascinating stuff to watch.
We made our way along the river to the weir passing a few kayakers done with the weir and making their way back to their cars in the car park. Although it was bright & warmish the rain was beginning to fall and it was quite windy too.
We found the weir and I realized we were above it and needed to get to the bottom section to check out the faster flowing water where all the action was. Most of the weir is made up from a gentle slope of gushing water falling down a relatively gentle slope of about 10 or 15ft into the lower part of the weir. The main gates that were letting in the majority of the water were about 40ft up near the other side of the weir and on this upper level of the river the entrance into the gates are totally out of bounds! So we looked at the slope of gentle white water that needed to be navigated if we were to experience some of the faster moving water and waited a while for another kayaker to come along and see what he did. When he came along he just slid straight down it and within seconds he was at the lower lever of the weir and paddling off through the very choppy water towards the main gates to join the queue of others and join in the fun. Ian followed next and then I. Perfectly executed and quite exciting too:) Then at the bottom as we were talking about it a combination of choppy water and strong currents caught me and over I went in an instant! I had no goggles, no ear plugs and no nose clip! I had accidentally left all my upper bodily hole plugs at home!! But as soon as I went over all my rolling practice came good and I was up the right way again within a second. I was quite impressed as I was blind and water shot up my nose and made the back of my eyeballs go all fizzy and my ears filled up with water too!
Then we made our way across the lower level of the river and under the weir's main gates and towards the far bank where there were a bunch of fellow kayakers sitting on the bank watching the stunts being performed in the giant waves forming at the bottom of the main gate. All of a sudden we found ourselves in much faster flowing water...much faster than Teddington Lock weir and low & behold...over I went again!! Completely unexpected and with hardly any breath! I tried another roll and my paddle was in the wrong position and the paddle blade cut through the water side on and had no effect whatsoever on my righting myself. So with a slight adjustment with the paddle haft I tried again and failed as the water was so fast. I was almost there but the force of the water just pushed me back over! If I was facing the complete opposite way I would have done it...but thats no excuse I know...I was out of breath and although Ian was there waiting for me to grab hold of his boat I couldn't afford to 'Feel' if he was in the exact right position for me and I knew I had just enough air to pull my splash deck off and make my way to the surface and wait for rescue out of my boat. I couldn't feel the river bed with my feet as it was far too deep and the sound of millions of bubbles rushing by my ears made me feel all too aware of my situation and I was quite happy to bail out. As I came out of the water I was gasping and even swallowed some. Ian was right there and I wished then at that moment that I had felt for his boat and therefore stayed in mine!
Fortunately it all happened right near the bank...far too high to climb up alone and with a boat absolutely full to the brim with river water I was rendered useless until two or three fellow kayakers came running along the bank to yank me and my boat out of the water. Thanks guys! It wasn't as bad as it may sound though as my buoyancy aid kept me afloat wonderfully. I had only bought it the day before. I do need a helmet too. Absolutely everyone else had helmets on and to be honest (& quite rightly too) I felt a little silly! I did order one on Saturday I might add.

So there I was on the bank soaked in river water, the rain by now had stopped and the sun even threatened to come out before the clouds pulled their thin white cloaks over him again. I found a graze on my left elbow and a nick on my left knuckle. I don't even remember getting them! My adrenalin was so high that I could have lost a leg and it wouldn't have registered until I stood up;) My left wrist hurts too this morning and a couple of knuckles on my right foot! It's amazing just what you don't feel when you are faced with a situation such as that! My bike ride later that day probably didn't help matters either!
Ian was still in the water and after I emptied my boat I positioned it on the bank overhanging so I could 'Seal Launch' the 3ft drop back into the river and continue my paddle. Very exciting stuff are seal launches:) As you enter the water the whole of your boat is submerged until you burst out through the water again...splash deck preventing your boat from filling up with the Thames.

An hour and a half more paddling around the nearby islands and watching more of the 'Big boy's' (one of then just 13yrs old) doing some quite amazing things in such dangerous conditions we made our way back to the car. No more rolls and no more capsizes...but the experience will be invaluable for me in future trips to similar weirs. I need to take some courses that's for sure...get a few stars and much more experience. Good stuff. I enjoyed it and although I was gutted that I had to bail out (first time ever) I was however very grateful for the experience.
Actually, thinking back, my capsizes may have been due to me putting in a padded seat cover which I have never used in my little orange boat before and I remember feeling a bit top-heavy and quite high out of the water...this might have contributed to why I went over so easily or it might just have been because I need more experience. I took the thing out just afterwards and I didn't go over again. I'll leave it out to start with next time & see what happens.

I had my camera all the while in the boat and didn't take a single photo! Although I want to remember the days events in my head I don't really want to be reminded by crappy photos! So I didn't get it out. One thing that does stick out from the day was that just after I put in and as I waited for Ian to seal launch in I watched a very beautiful swan gracefully swim up to the side of a boat that was moored on the rivers bank and looked into the cabin to see if the skipper that was sitting there had any food...just at that moment a woman walked by along the tow-path with a giant German Shepherd dog and the powerful, long necked bird hissed at it right between me and the boat. The dog wasn't phased at all. The swan continued to hiss and had an evil eye to go with it! The dog totally ignore the swan as he dodged the puddles on the path so as not to get his big fat furry paws mucky and disappeared. The swan was fine again sniffing for food by the boat. The boat was named 'WILD SWAN". I thought that was cool:)

I took Ian Back home to Richmond and got caught in a little traffic that must have been heading for the new Wembley Stadium to see the Concert for Diana and then I went home and had some factor VIII as my left thumb had also been walloped during yesterday mornings water based activities. Then after an hours nap to let the F8 work I went out for an hours bike ride (15.07 miles) around the tow-path by Hampton Court Palace and watched the sun go down as I pedaled an entire lap of Bushy Park. Then I watched the rest of the Diana concert on telly and saw Ricky Gervaise do his silly dance from "The Office" yet again. You could see he doesn't want to do it anymore but the 90,000 strong audience wanted it. He'll still be doing it whan he's 90 i'm sure;)

Now I wait to see if I get ill from swallowing some of the water...so far so good;)



Jason








(C) JPT 2007.........1959.76 miles