Monday, January 29, 2007
Lower Taff, Sunday 27 January
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."
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
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
Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Lower Taff, Thursday 2 Nov.
"Thursday 2nd Nov 06 Paul and Ben McDonald along with Steve White and myself paddled the lower Taff in glorious sunshine with a decent water level.
We started at the usual place Radyr weir. After some inspection I managed to convince the rest of the party to shoot the weir on the right hand side next to the re-circulating pool of death! With an ugly audience egging us on we paddled over the lip of the weir in timely fashion. Everyone completed this first hurdle without incident and found some small waves to play on before heading on down the river.
The day was cold; however, the sun was very strong which made the autumnal colours dance on the waters edge as we passed by the various shopping trolley’s and washed out foliage from the previous weeks high rain fall.
Anyway, the rest of the trip was filled with trying to steal Ben’s Mars Bar and practicing breaking in and out of some of the strong grade two eddies.
The broken weir was worth stopping and playing with everyone going down backwards and generally enjoying the decent water. The only other highlight was a show of macho strength at a small, but strong flowing eddie. The objective was to paddle up to a small protruding rock and through a very powerful grade seven wave. Note it was only a grade seven wave when I did it! Ben and Paul managed to do it only because they had smaller boats and paddlers!
All in all a good, pleasant afternoons paddle on the Lower Taff was had by all. Well done to Ben for getting on most of the waves and thanks to Steve and Paul for the company.
Regards
Andy Rees"
River Usk - Sennybridge to Aberbrân, Sun. Oct 29
"Phil D & Matt M met up with Dave C in the petrol station off the A470 at 0645hrs. Not to get a full days paddle... but to get one of the paddlers back to Cardiff to go shopping for a fireplace! Naming no names but it wasn't Dave and I've got one.
After asking for permission from the farmer to park in his field (the cockerel had already woken him!) we changed and headed on up to the 'put in' at Sennybridge. After inspecting the boats, Matt enjoyed breaking the news that I'd forgotten my drain plug. OOPS, GET THE GAFFER TAPE! Matt is training for his Level 3 coach, so was mightily impressed with himself when he also broke the news that he was carrying 2 spare drain plugs. (Not half as impressed as I was.)
All on the water, we enjoyed some great scenery as we paddled down to the 3
natural weirs. As the levels were on the low side, we shot all 3 and had a bit of fun letting the weir grab the boats and going vertical. (Not advisable if the levels are any higher than they were.)
There were some really good surf waves. On which Dave and I got some unintentional rolling practice. It's good to push the envelope.
Next big event came just past a bridge and before a mansion, river right. A nice clean eddy line provided some great tail squirt practice. Matt showed us how it was done... And I duly capsized! Still practice makes perfect and all three paddlers were nearly vertical at the end of the 5 minute session.
The rest of the trip passed without major incident and the scenery was just perfect. Food for the soul!
Looking forward to the next paddle,
Phil D"
Afon Ysgir and Upper Taff Sunday 22 Oct
Two lots of Dragon Paddlers went out.
In the morning, John C. and Tim ventured out to Afon Ysgir. The water level was high medium. Tim scored one roll (or was it a swim?), the river scored a lost paddle - from John as he saw the final (lethal) weir too late (he thought) and hence tangled with a tree to save himself.
In the afternoon, Matt, Dave, Phil and Jon A. tripped on th Upper Taff at an impressivley high water level - enough to flip Matt at Abercynon weir and permit the Graveyard rapid to be taken down the centre (after bank scouting), rather than on the usual river left side. Plenty of rolling and one swim from Jon.
Friday, September 29, 2006
Weir rescue, Taff, Friday 29 Sept
Matt saw a kayaker running alongside the river (the Taff) by his house in Trefforest today and went to see what was happening. He found a crew of young lads (fresher students maybe?) had been kayaking down and that one of them was stuck in the weir, still in his boat but rolling and tiring quickly. None of them had a throw line. Matt ran back to his house to fetch his and executed a rescue. Well done Matt.
The weir in question is the one Chris Sladden describes as lethal in his book, the Welsh Rivers. http://www.canoewales.com. Quote: "There are five weirs on this section and two are best portaged, with one being a definite portage. The first, about a kilometre from the start [Pontypridd] should be obvious from the river and is a certain portage. This was always a fairly nasty weir with a potentially holding stopper. In 1996 and 1997, I watched the local authority effectively re-building the weir - an interesting spectacle - and I had great hopes that it would be made safe. Instead they turned it from a dangerous weir into a totally lethal weir! Beware and portage." Seems like the paddlers involved hadn't done their homework, nor were they properly equipped. Discuss.