Very low water but it still gave me some excitement when I was stopped momentarily while upside down after having been back-flipped in the "letterbox" slot, before I gratefully swam away, grabbed the throwline offered by Rob and watched Jon manfully swim out to catch my paddle. Matt had sacrificed his fag, preparing to jump in to rescue me too.
Jon later swam twice more - once after a graceful capsize when he just failed to get around a bend with a rockface coming too close to his right, and once after just failing to roll after getting caught by a mid-stream rock. Rob managed to get in a swim in the final gorge section (he now promises to practise rolling in moving water every trip).
So Wye 3, Dragon Paddlers 2 - only Matt and Phil D. managing dry runs. Excellent experience for Jon and Phil who previously had only been on the Taff, and they both did very well. A classic end to the trip with us getting changed in snow and sleet in the car park.
(The water was so low we couldn't run what is usually the second significant drop and we spent an age trying to decide what to do before finally, after having portaged to river left, putting back in immediately below what was the tiny remnant of the usually significant drop.)
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