Lower Taff, Sunday 27 January

Report from Emlyn: "4 of us took to the waters on this nice Sunday morning. Weather Calm, cloudy ,10 deg C. Andy Rees in charge, with novices Nick Bradshaw, Nick Thorne and me (Emlyn.).Andy decided that we’d shoot the weir for starters. N.T and myself hadn’t done this before so an apprehensive start. Andy went first (to guide us) and from the top he looked o.k., didn’t realise till he explained after that he’d overshot it to the right and at the bottom shot out to safety(he’s previously described this as the pool of death!). NT went down the weir on the correct section, (the piece that is angled higher than the rest) but came unsteady at the base, overturned but managed a good roll and made for safety. NB and myself managed to get down unscathed. NB hadn’t done it over this part of the weir, he’d done it on the left previously. The river level had dropped a bit from recent weeks, but was at a comfortable level, and fast flowing, with a few rocks just under the surface at the beginning hampering progress. Saw a few fishermen on the way down – some heavily camouflaged! We were soon travelling quite nicely, practiced some break-ins and outs on the way, played a bit as well – still getting used to these could do with some more practice. Saw a couple of nasty strainers on the way down, one a shopping trolley plus a gathering of attachments – could be nasty in difficult conditions, but today were easily spotted and avoided. Bouncy bits further downand NT went over but managed a good roll again. We made it in one piece through the little rapid, that was nice and stopped for a picnic just after the railway bridge (little beach left) – mars bar and coffee really! The river was quite smooth after this and when we stopped in an eddy, saw 2 sets of white water racers going past - strange looking crafts. NB was slightly disturbed by the fast current when he made his way to the eddy (we’d used this part previously for breaking in) so he decided to practice a couple of these, unfortunately at the second attempt he went over. No problem as the kayak was brought in to the nearest bank, with Nick towing it. No more adventures, went past a few rowing boats in the lower section then the wind picked up as we neared the open area next to the rowing club. A nice morning’s outing – thanks to Andy for chaperoning."

Tags: Taff

Afon Ysgir, Sunday 21 January

Report from Rob G.:

"On Matt's advice after a scouting session he did on Saturday we avoided the Taf  Fechan and kept our balls. So 5 of us did the Ysgir on Sunday instead -
Matt, John C, Phil D, Dave C and myself. Medium water levels, a good run by all, and well led by Matt. John C got very attached to a rock on the way down but was finally rejected by it despite close cuddling for what must have seemed a couple of minutes. All fine until the end when 3 decided torun the weir. Dave C first - powered through without any problem. Followed by mad Phil D who's low volume boat perhaps not enough to get him through sohe got taken down to the Green Room for a minor trashing before finding he could actually stand up in the water! I managed to run it with Dave C
shouting encouragement and John C standing by with rope."

Tags: Ysgir

Usk carnage, Sunday 7 January

Weather was low cloud at around 350 – 450 metres grey overcast with lashings of rain throughout the day; however, spurred on by this we all met up at the old little chef/Texaco Garage on the A470 @ 9.30 am to paddle the Usk from Talybont to Llangynidr Bridge.

Club Roll Call: Matt; Piers (who I was calling Dave all day); Phil; Ben McDonald; Paul McDonald; Dave; Rob; Emlyn; Nick Thorne; Nick Bradshaw; Andy R.; Steve M.

A good mixture of experience and novice which would prove invaluable on a river bloated from the continuous rain fall over the past few days. At the get in point at Talybont, the sub-structure stanchions were just about visible from the bank with a good force creating the bow wavein front. The field at the get in point was not flooded but certainly showed signs of recent watery coverings.

Once the logistics were sorted and an ill fated search for a shop selling cigarettes for Matt was abandoned by Dave, we started to organise ourselves for the trip down river. We spent 10 minutes getting the newer arrivals acquainted with the river at the get in ferry gliding across from one side to the other. No one capsized at this stage which we took as a good sign and started our journey down stream.

Most of the features on the river were washed out as you’d expect from a river in flood, so we occupied ourselves with eddying, breaking in and out, ferry gliding and more exciting rescue techniques which Emlyn, Nick and Nick wanted the rest of us to perform on them just to keep everyone busy before we reached Mill falls.

Before we approached Mill Falls Matt and I put the game plan in to action and discussed who should do want and picked the order of decent in order to give ourselves a fighting chance of performing proficient and safe rescues in the advent that anyone went for a swim we could recover live bodies and kit.

Mill falls looked a fantastic sight as we approached the first set of rapids before eddying up on the right prior to taking on Mill Falls . Everyone got down safely and the newer members did really well getting themselves in to the eddy. Once everyone was down, it was time to put the action plan in to action. Dave, Steve and I went down first, with Steve occupying the top eddy and Dave and I staggered our positions at the bottom of the falls.

Everyone did very well attempting of getting down the main part of the falls with very few capsizes. One notable capsize was Nike Bradshaw just after the falls, with Piers shadowing Nick in to the eddy and Phil, Dave and myself running down the bank with throw bags at the ready trying to get below Nick to a position that was clear of tree debris. Piers didn’t look impressed as he floated down with asking us politely to throw a line. Phil obliged, and was spot on with his throw. There were a few other side issues occurring at the same time with people get back in to boats etc, but the main thing was everyone made it down. We were by now spread out across the river bank in small groups awaiting individuals to get back in to boats etc. While this as going on Emlyn capsizes in an eddy followed by Ben.

Ben had a nasty experience as he found he was pinned but got out after a bit of a fight. Meanwhile Emlyn rescues Ben’s boat but loses his own! Emlyn goes in search of his boat which has been rescued a bit further on down the river. Emlyn is then reunited with his boat and we all head down the next large wave train which takes us to Llangynidr Bridge and egress. However, while at the egress Nick T goes over and is ceremoniously rescued by Matt, Phill, Dave and Steve.   

 Good day had by all. Much experience gained through sheer ignorance and good company plus another war story to be added to the portfolio.

Andy Rees

Tags: Usk