Weekend 10-11 December: 4 trips!

A busy weekend with Dragon Paddlers all over the place:

1. The main trip, Sunday morning: lower Taff. Andy's report (note to Andy: some spellings have been changed to modern English) (Note to readers: he's in IT):
"Radyr weir to Llandaff Rowing Club:
Paddlers were: Nick and daughter Carys, Andy Peate and son Jordan. Jon (not boy blunder John, John with the wave sport) and me.

We arranged to meet at ASDA's car park at Coryton. The plan was to travel to Symonds Yat, however, a quick phone call to the shop at Symonds Yat the day before revealed that the lower rapids had been washed out, so plan B was to paddle the lower Taff, which we duly did.
After the usual logistics and a spot of warming up exercises in the sunnier bits of the road at the get in we carried the boats to the picnic tables next to the sluice gate overlooking the weir. Jon and I decided to try the weir as it didn't look that big. I expected the river to be much fuller and faster flowing than it was considering the amount of rain fall we had in the previous days. Anyway while Jon and I prepared to risk all for a precious moment of glory, and of course waiting for a sizable crowd to appear from Joe Public to watch us, Andy organised Nick, Carys and Jordan. No dramas, excitement over for one day, Jon and I went over the weir without incident. The wave at the bottom of the shoot was quite small. I didn't punch my way through but, to my surprise I shot across the top and paddled in to a left hand eddy near the half submerged island opposite the weir. Anyway between Andy Peate and myself, we got everyone on the water safely, travelled down river a few meters to find an eddy to follow up on some important signals and other vital information. Once done we practised breaking in and out until Nick and Carys were comfortable with paddling on moving water. At this stage I need to mention that it was Nick and daughter Carys's first time on moving water and they did really well from the start. Note to Committee! We need to invest in kit for bigger paddlers. Nick was somewhat at a disadvantage as the kit I gave him was a little small, so wasn't really that comfortable!!!!
We travelled a little further on with Nick taking a swim. Presenting the gunwales of the boat to upstream current result! Nick took this in his stride and got back in his boat and carried on. Carys was a natural. Paddling very determinedly against someof the more challenging parts of the river and making the eddies well done. Jordan, Jon and Andy were their usual competent selves on this grade of water and appeared to have enjoyed the day.
Just after the last set of rapids, Nick successfully navigated the rapids, which at the time were flowing well, and took his eye off the river and ended up swimming again. At this point as the group was split with me at the bottom end of the rapid and Andy Peate and the others at the top end, make it potentially a very bad situation to be in. Andy Peate understand immediately what had happened and took charge of the group while I dealt with Nick. Andy sent Jon down to lend a hand and we successfully guided Nick to the river bank. Again Nick took it all in his stride and got on with. Andy controlled the remaining group members and brought them down to us. Once altogether again we set off.
Towards the end of the paddle Nick took another swim just after the last but one bridge. This where we were practising breaking in behind the uprights of the bridge some how Nick went over and swam! Nick was very good humoured about all of this and I must mention the water temperature was very cold, but fair play to Nick, this did not phase him out one bit. Well done for shear determination. We reached journey's end shortly after Nick's third swim all accounted for and a few lessons learnt along the way. Well done to Carys and Nick.First time out on moving water really did well. Jordan and Jon good co-ordination on the rescues and Andy Peate for his
competent assessments of the potentially exposed situations we found ourselves in.
A level 2 coach in the making!

Good day had by all

Andy Rees"

Phew: better keep the other reports short:

2. Saturday morning, Rest Bay. John C. and I went surfing. Beautiful morning. Big surf: 6-7ft swell. I went out through the break once and was sorry I had.

3. Later Saturday morning, Upper Taff (Quakers Yard to Trefforest): Matt and Jon.

4. Sunday, Wye (Afon Howey Bach - Boughrood). Rob and I. Beautiful day and trip. This is mainly a Grade 1 stretch with some 2, and 1 bit of Gr3: "Hell Hole" : which was basically a straight forward shoot on the extreme right. Rob and I ran it twice.

Afon Grwyne Fawr, Sunday 4 Dec

3 intrepid paddlers -Hywel, Rob and Dave ventured out onto this Grade 2-3 river. The weir gauge showed just under 3 which is low but runnable. There were a few tree blocking the river early on - some we squeezed past but we portaged too. I had what would almost count as a swim when my boat started getting swept downstream as I was scrambling out for a scout just above what turned out to be a couple of falls (for the record, both were easy - the first far left down a shoot). Further on, we scouted when we came to a footbridge across the river which is a hundred yards or so above Penydarren Falls. We ran right of centre. We also ran the weir at Llangenny (where we'd seen sewin trying to jump upstream when we inspected on the way to the put-in.). Nice trip, and a pint in the Blue Bell. We also scouted for another day the much more serious looking Clydach (Grade 3-5) at Gilwern on the way back.  

Sully Island - Lavernock, Sunday 20 Nov 2005

High pressure produced good conditions well suited to a gentle sea paddle. Grant, John N. , Dave C. and I met by the Captain's Wife pub in Swanbridge and launched just after 12 noon. Low tide at Flat Holm was due at 15.30 but already by 12 the causeway to Sully Island had appeared so that a paddle around was not possible. Instead, we paddled up to Lavernock point. A bit of energy was needed to paddle against the tide stream to get up across the two weir like features but it was possible, the longer boats have a distinct advantage over Dave C.'s short un. COming back we pulled out into the tide stream a bit and taking a transit on a buoy between us and Flat Holm could enjoy the speed we were travelling without doing anything. Grant went and spoilt it a bit, making it all hard work by leading us too close into the shore so we were paddling against the eddy. Doh! But after a bit of cajouling he relented and let us pull out a bit further (he had made the kind offer of suggesting I might go by myself first). As it was about 1.30 when we approached the beach again, John N. decided B&Q would be more interesting so rushed off. The remaining 3 of us went half way around the island, came back, watched me splash in the water a bit practising my roll, and got out about 2. Finished off with coffee (honest) for me and Grant in the Captain's Wife. Very enjoyable. You should have come.

I found this link which contains some pictures of the area: not us kayaking though.http://www.glyn-ryland.com/sea.html

 

4 Star Training - 13 Nov 2005

Here is Grant's report of the event which Grant, over L3 Inland Coach organised, on the lower Taff, from Radyr weir down to Llandaf rowing club.

"Participants = Rob Green, Matt, Andy Peate & Grant 
Phil Davies turned up but after looking at his personal kit & experience we decided this
was possibly a bit ambitious given the water level (med - high)  That said,each participant laid out their equipment to see if it matched the kit list on the syllabus.  Andy P was closest with Matt needing a lot more kit.
Participants arranged the shuttle and a warm up/stretch. After agreeing signals and action in the event of a capsize we set off and covered the following:
1. forward and reverse ferry gliding - each participant did a ferry glide while the 3 watching focussed on their body, blade or boat and provided feedback on angle of attack, edge, body forward or back etc
2. break ins/outs - started with the absolute beginnning (edging the boat) then paddling across eddy line, then eyes shut, then looking down river to initiate turn.

This worked very well and gives the coach lots of time to spot things and make suggestions - eg leaning forward during a reverse ferry glide to stop the back of the boat catching.

After this each participants led for a section of the river, playing follow my leader to practice what we'd learnt.  Half way along we stopped for throwline practice - the amount of improvement over the session reflected how much scope for improvement there was!  Lots of practice needed here!
Then surfing small waves which was fine - well done. 
Matt had a good suggestion for getting to the top of the eddy by aiming to break out above the start of the eddy.  He then led an exercise/demo that really helped to
show how this could be done.  Afterwards Andy went off breaking in and out with lots more confidence than before.

Feedback - all 3 candidates have a good chance of passing the assessment - well done  Matt's interest in coaching is really coming through - as shown by the breaking out exercise he used.

Highlight of the trip - Rob Green paddling aggressively across the eddy line when breaking in with his eyes shut - conclusion - next time you break in shut your eyes Rob.

So, lovely day and thanks to you all for the trip - regards, Grant."

Afon Afan, Sat. 12 Nov 2005

Medium water (heavy showers during Friday night, but died out by morning) was a good level for this trip. John C., Tim and I ventured out, and put in on the Corrwg a half mile of so above the confluence with the Afan. (Picture on my blog from the previous time I did the run in January: http://journals.aol.com/hyfforddwr/CanwioHywel/entries/547)

The run down to the Afan was like a pinball game, a narrow run down, few eddies and lots of rocks. A few hundred yards past the confluence I luckily spotted in good time what I'd been looking for - a pipe all away across the river, just above the water. There was a long prickily portage river left and then the fun recommenced. Tim put in his first swim, getting caught out by a rock coming down a rapid. We recovered everything and started out again. We'd only gone another 100 yards or so before we came across the next pipe and did another portage river left. We then found we could have run all the way down and taken out easily on the left or even easily run over thh stone weir on the left.

Then run then continued, Time putting in another swim, this time caught out by another rock mid-channel as he tried to make my break-out - where I'd only gone to provide cover as I'd seen it was a bit tricky.

After that the gradient eased a bit but there were plenty more fun rapids, and a few small mostly broken, maybe natural, weirs until the take out just above Pont-rhyd-y-fen. We then went up to the mountain bike centre at Glyncorrwg for a coffee.http://www.the-dropoff.com/images.php

 A great day out which we should think about turning in to a regular club trip. More continuous and tricky rapids than Usk, Tal-y-bont to Llangynidr, and the Wye, Llangurig to Rhayader, it's a good long mostly Grade 3 trip. Bigger water might make the Corrwg and top section with the pipes too exciting but medium water it's great.  

Usk, Sennybridge to Brecon, Sunday 30 Oct.

The flavour of the day was set when I unfortunately felt I had to tell Emlyn and Carys - all kitted out and ready to go at the petrol station on the A470 at 9.54 - that I thought the water level was too high for them to come with us. (This was on the basis that it was tipping down and that a phone call from a couple on the bridge at Tal-y-bont, our intended destination, had told us that it was over the banks and massive). This was a GOOD decision.

We - myself, John C., Matt and Steve W., proceeded to Brecon, for plan B: paddle the Tarell. We met up with one of Matt's friends (Piers?) there, and the couple who I'd spoken to, Jay and Jo, two friends of Steve M. We then went to view the falls on the Tarell, and John C. was still wanted to do it was voted down. This was a GOOD decision. We decided instead to do the section from Sennybridge all the way down to Brecon, reckoning on big, bouncy water.

I made a bit of a hash leading at the first fall, failing to make a ferry and therefore leading down not a perfect route. Still, all made it down. (The falls were washed out and were just a fair sized rapid. Shortly afterwards, Steve took a swim. He caught a throwline from Matt (I think) (and somehow John C. lost his). The boat was broached on a bush a body's length from the bank Wired up as live bait to John, and John roped to Jay, I dived across and clipped a rope to the boat. The boat obliged in being pulled free.

A bit more paddling and Steve took another swim. This one was a bit more worrying. Matt and I were close to him and shouted to him to swim to river right when a stopper and mid-stream bushes (entrapment hazards is their Latin name) came into sight. Steve put in an Olympic class swim, and was guided in by Matt. Matt then did a chase boating demo. for us all marvel at, but Steve's paddle was lost. Steve, of necessity, decided (again a GOOD decision) to walk back to his car.

 The rest of us went cautiously and eddied out once on river left, me thinking that was just above the falls. It wasn't so we started off again. The noise of big water had us stop river right a bit further down. John was last down and scouted the left bank, and confirmed this was the 3rd fall. It didn't look at all as I remembered it. There was no cliff on the left hand. Jay reckoned it was OK just right of centre and we all bravely followed him down through a massive wave. After that my memory of the trip has already faded - but there were a lot of large wave trains.

It all ended happily in the Inn. 4 GOOD decisions: not bad.

Upper Taff, Sunday 23 October

I can't really compete with the reports below of the Saturday trip, so here's just a brief note. John Mort. and I met up with 3 other paddlers (from another -shush - Cardiff club) to paddle from Quakers Yard down to Trefforest. The water had dropped a bit since the previous day to a low middling level. (Note to John: nexst time remind me to read the gauge at Abercynon weir so I can include it in the write-up). The other paddlers being intrepid types shot Quakers Yard weir, and John followed them. They went over in the centre. All had short boats and aimed to boof as the landing is shallow. All failed to boof (as the stepped take-off makes it almost impossible) but their short boats let them get away with it. Not much else to report. A couple missed the line at the Grade 3 Graveyard rapid but all survived. John's playboating is coming along nicely so it was a worthwhile trip.

Lower Taff trip, Saturday 22 October 2005

I had 2 reports of the trip. Add comments to let me know which you prefer. The writer will be nominated for Club Journalist of the Year Award in the next AGM.

Report Number 1:

"Grant, Matt, Ieuan, Dave (new chap) and myself [Andy R] paddled the lower Taff from Radyr Weir to the Rowing club.Water was flowing quite well and grounding was not an issue! Grant lead the trip, and Matt practiced his leading abilities. We all, bar Ieuan, went over the Weir at the shoot on the right hand side. A good thrilling
start to the trip. Punching through the standing wave at the bottom was an exillarating experience. The Weir looked fairly deadly especially on the right side of the shoot was the water recirculating quite quickly. From the weir on down the river flowed fast, making the rapids that we'ren't washed out fairly playable, but the effort it
took to get on them due to the eddies being non-existant was in most cases hardly worth the effort. Matt was doing some useful stuff around leading and of course tail
squirting! Ieuan did well in his new boat and stayed upright throughout, even though he found it a little bit of a struggle due to the fast flowing conditions.Throughout the trip Grant was able to pass on some coaching tips to us all at certain points in the journey. Ferry gliding being a much practiced event. Note to self here, Pyrhana pro-zones are crap at facing up stream, as all they want to do is dive, not much good when your trying to ferry glide across a river. Anyone want to buy a Pro-zone?

Anyway it was a good trip thanks to Grant, Matt, Dave and of course Ieuan. Well worth a Saturday afternoon messing about on the river."

Report Number 2:

"Taff from radyr weir to Llandaff rowing club - level middling to high.  Me [Grant], Matt, Andy, Ieuan & Dave

Started with running the weir - tricky finding the ramp but after my heroicly botched first attempt I was conveniently out of the boat to direct others.  Lots of ferry gliding, breakins/outs and other drills including throwline practice at the rock garden with a live target after dead targets (pieces of wood) were unresponsive.  One moment of
concern when Ieuan and Andy didn't break out immediately after the rock garden but went straight through the next rapid.  I think this was partly lack of clarity on my part and partly the flow which carried down paddlers at quite a rate.  Next time
ensure group knows where to break out and the leader makes the break out first as a marker.  No harm done though and a fine paddle by Ieuan 'grin and
bear it' and Andy 'no roll with my soup' Rees, Cool hand Matt, Surfin Dave &
yours truly."

Rest Bay, 15 Oct

The surf was so big none of us even really thought of battling out beyond the break but we all - me, Matt, John C., Tim, Rob and Jon - all semed to enjoy ourselves in the white stuff. A fine, sunny day, topped off with a coffee in the cafe with future surfer Luke (aged 5 months?)

Minutes of AGM, Thurs. 6 Oct. 2005

Present (at the Plough, Whitchurch): Andy (Chair), Steve (Vice-C.), Hywel (Sec.), Grant (Training Officer), Matt (Memb. Sec.), Phil, Richard W., Emlyn

Apologies: received from Les (Treasurer)

1. Minutes of previous AGM (9 Nov. 2004): had been posted on the blog (see below). A copy was circulated for info.

2. Reports

Chair: had made enquiries of SportLot but had been told we could not currently be considered for a grant as we had not provided a report on the last one. Action: Sec. to search for record of report which he and Steve remembered completing. Chair to enquire again in Jan. when we could be eligible again. Sec. said Minor Equip. grant from the Sports Council may be another option.

Sec.: reported problem with web site had been solved and that it is now again found easily via Google. He asked members to let him have any trip reports or photos which he would load up on the blog or web site.

Memb. Sec: reported we had 37 paid-up members, including child members.

Training Officer: reported around 6 had passed 1*-2* in the last few months. Matt had just passed his Canoe Safety test. A 4* inland training day was planned for 13 Nov. (details on the web site). (Sec. reported another member planned to attend a sea kayak training course at Plas Menai latter in Oct). 

No reports were available from the Treasurer who had apologised he could not attend.

3. Appointment of Officers: Chair, Sec., Memb. Sec., Training Officer were all re-elected.

Steve indicated he would happily step down as Vice Chair if someone else would like the job. It was agreed that Andy P. would be approached.

John N. would be approached so see if he wanted to stay on as Equipment Officer.

Grant volunteered to be Child Protection Officer and was duly elected. The Sec. was also asked to record that the following had CRB clearance: Grant, Richard W., Andy R. - enhanced; Steve - standard.

4. AOB

Trip dates:

- there would be a trip on the lower Taff on Saturday (see report on blog below).

- another would be run on Saturday 22 October (Grant to lead)

- Sunday 20 Nov. should be kept clear as another possible date, as should

- Sunday 11 Dec.

- Hywel was asked to arrange another trip on the RIver Dart (Loop G2/3 section) "as usual", i.e the 1st Saturday of the Feb. half-term holiday (18 Feb.), and to investigate the availability of tickets for the Upper Dart (G4 section)

Annual Membership: the Treasurer sought the following increases in subscriptions:

Individual (member of WCA) - up to £15 from £8
(non member WCA) - up to £20 from £15
Junior (member of WCA)  - up to £10 from £5
(non member WCA) - up to £17 from £12
Family (adult member of WCA) -up to £28 from £23
(junior member of WCA) - up to £30 from £25
(non member WCA) -up to £35 from £30

These were agreed but the Treasurer was asked to bring forward other options for consideration including i. membership which included pool fees, and ii. the possibility of termly payment.

Lower Taff, Saturday 8 Oct.

Some rain at long last meant that running a trip might be possible. On Friday evening arrangements were made at the last minute, and finalised at the pool session the following morning.

We met at Forest Farm at 2 - 2.15 and after almost an hour of phaffing around with kit and shuttle arrangements we were all on the water around 3pm. The water level was low but there was enough there to allow us to float, rather than scrape - apart from at the start.

Grant led and coached Emlyn and Carys, Ifan and Bleddyn, and Dana, while Matt and I acted as tail-end Charlies and I gave some coaching to John who had come along to a pool session for the first time that very morning. (Readers: fear not, he was not an innocent novice thrown straight onto moving water for the first time, but had some experience of sea paddling).

Anyway, Matt and I ran Radyr weir to join the others below. Ifan put in a sterling performance, as did big brother, and the rest. Middle-aged men make the best swimmers, so Emlyn showed us how on the one rapid. Da iawn Emlyn. Cofia gadw dy gau yng nghau. (Meaning: "Remember to keep your mouth shut". Note Dana - useful phrase for GCSE Welsh).

I looked at Llandaf weir at the end but an inspection when dropping off the cars had revealed number of nasty looking bits of steel work and as I couldn't see any of them when on the water above the weir it seemed wisest not to try to run it.

A very nice trip came to an end with a pint in the Plough. Very civilised. Must repeat.

Thanks to all involved especially to Delyth who couldn't paddle because we couldn't figure out how to get her a boat - and who shuttled us all, as well as looking after her boys.  Diolch Delyth.

 

Severn Bore, 12 March 2005

We had a bit of a social trip when 4 cars with Andy P. and family, Rob G and spouse, me and my family and Matt went to see what the 4* Severn Bore looked like at Newnham. Meeting at Magor services car park at 6.45 to be ready for the bore at 8.20 meant an early start for us all but it was a lovely day and by the time we arrived I for one was sorry I'd not taken my kayak. Ten minutes past 8.20 however the general verdict was that it was like a wave, but smaller, and that it wouldn't have been worth the effort.

I was the only one to chase the Bore upstream, taking the car to the Severn Bore pub at Minsterworth. The crowd there was bigger but there were fewer putting on the water. To be fair, the Bore was a bit more impressive there: as the river is much narrower the Bore grew much higher.

Interesting to see and we were lucky to have a nice day. I don't foresee us adding in a Bore trip to our future calendar of events though.

http://www.severn-bore.co.uk/

River Dart, loop section, Sat, 12 Feb.

Luckily it rained on the Friday before and that brought the water level up from very low to medium high, and so we had a lively trip. Seven of us paddled: Hywel, Andy R., Grant, Rob, Matt, Luke and John M., it being a first trip on the river from Grant and John. We had a fine time, John being especially pleased about getting air for a vertical flip on a hole. And we all liked the photos taken by http://www.dartphotos.com

Sunday 16 Jan. Afon Rhondda Fawr

Rob, Matt, John C. and I tripped down from the Lord Tonypandy to Hopkinstown. The water was low, and the river filthy as usual, but the weirs and Grade3/4 sections  kept us amused. Me, the leader, was the only one who had to pull off a roll, after messing up the line through the bridge arch above the Grade 4 section. Otherwise incident free, and at the time of writing on Tuesday evening the river's bugs still haven't had their revenge on me!

Sunday 9 Jan: upper Taff swim session, Tawe paddling trip

Another busy day, with Dragon Paddlers on two trips. According to the account I've heard of the trip on the upper Taff, it was designed for those members who rarely frequent the pool session, to give them a chance to practise their swimming. John N. at Quaker's Yd and Abercynon weir, Tim at the Graveyard, and Andy practised his rolling in Ponty town centre (river side). Well done, lads. Big water by all accounts, to be fair, with the left hand eddy at the Graveyard having disappeared while the little diagonal wave there turned into a nice broad, big, stopper. (John C's swum there in the past too).

John C. and I went off with two others planning to do the (Grade 4 bits of the) Nedd Fechan but found the water too low! We went on the Tawe, from Abercrâf to Ystalyfera instead: Grade 2/3 on the day - water being low there too - but with a nice gorge and a fair few weirs - some of which would not be nice at all in higher water.