Weblog about my kayaking

The weather got worse last week.  Miserable, with plenty of rain.  You can tell the paddlers around, because they are the ones that cheered up.  The more rain, the bigger their smiles.  When ducks get fed up with the weather, they turn to each other and say "Nice weather for kayakers."

This was great for my first attempt at white water at Mile End Mill in Llangollen on the river Dee.  This is a safe white water spot for beginners and above.  By safe they mean that the rescue boats can collect both your boat and paddle while you swim to the shore.

The water would still be cold, this was late March, after one of the coldest March’s for over 10 years, and on the way there we could see snow on the Snowdonia peaks.  I had a gas fire, which I thought I could put in the boat, but was told, "I could not have my kayak and heat it."

I went with James, Russell and AJ.  Pete, Chris, Ade and Stuart met us at Llangollen. James, Stuart and I were the beginners, but Ade had been kayaking for quite a while before.  It was comforting that the North Wales fire service was at hand practicing their water rescue techniques.

While we were waiting and watching the firemen we had a chance to watch the rafts that were also using the rapids.  One stopper kept on holding them, and to get them out someone had to rock hop across to a rock near it and then leap into the raft.  You wouldn't catch me going down that rapid!

We had to prepare properly for the day, of course, and so we went to the cafe for tea and breakfast.  AJ took us through some theory.  While it helps learning about how dangerous parts of the river are, it didn't do much for my already jittery nerves.

We went to get changed, and I must say what great facilities there are at Mile End Mill.  Indoor changing rooms, showers, and the café is obviously paddler friendly.  Then we had to get into the boats.  There was no turning back.  We couldn't get in where AJ wanted to; as the fire service had people trapped and were attempting to rescue them, so we moved down river a short way.

Finally, into the water.  AJ said we should head into the jet, which is the main flow of the river and hold position.  Of course, I knew better.  I ferry glided right to the other side, and then came back.  Well, I came half way back.  The water really is as clean as I was told, I thought, while looking up at the surface.  I had flipped so fast there had been no warning.  One moment the right way up, the next under water with no apparent transition.  One hurried attempt at a roll, which failed because it was hurried and I swam out, got to the side and walked down the river to where someone was kindly emptying the water out of it.

As the fire service had moved on for a while, we could move to the "gentler" spot we were originally going to start on.  We practiced moving in and out of an eddy and holding our position in the jet.  I was having to concentrate very hard in holding the boat straight up stream as, when I turned sideways on I went over a couple of times.  Fortunately my boat had a space for a flask, and so for getting out safely I was rewarded with a cup of tea, though when the flask is under the water in my half filled boat, it makes you think twice about whether you really want one.

Getting into and out of the eddy is a valued technique.  An eddy is a calm piece of water behind an obstruction in the water.  It is separated from the jet by the eddy line.  There is the eddy turn to get in, but AJ showed us that all we needed to do, while heading downstream was to look into the eddy and keep paddling forwards.  Looking into the eddy edged the boat and the difference in speed between the water in the jet and the water in the eddy turns the boat into the eddy.  Breaking out just required paddling fast, it seemed.  Maybe next time someone can show me a more effective technique.

Pete said that at that time I wasn’t in a position to develop my skills very far, because of the level of concentration that I needed.  As I have been told before, too much thinking.  He was completely right, and I needed to find a way to make it more natural.  Then AJ pointed out that all we needed to do was look downstream.  It couldn’t possibly be that easy, could it?  It took a while before I could trust myself with this, but when I did it transformed my paddling.  Looking downstream edged the boat away from the flow of the river; this helped the water flow under the boat, and meant the boat stayed upright.  At last, I could relax.

Up river slightly there was a pourover, which is where a line of rocks pushes the water up and over them, making a wave.  We were getting closer and closer to it, but it looked big and very rough.  I asked Russell what it would do to me if I went into it.  “Nothing,” he replied, “You will be fine”.  Great, I thought, and went into the wave and capsized.  This time I nearly rolled.  It was the closest I got to a roll, but my paddle was wrongly placed and so I sliced the water when trying to brace.

I had obviously spun round in the water so when I came to the surface the buildings were on the wrong side of the river.   I swam to the island in the centre, and the boat got stuck in a strainer.  This is where something like a branch is hanging just over the surface.  If the boat gets stuck under that, it stays stuck.  These can be very dangerous, but as I was out of the boat it held the boat while I collected my senses and let the blood return to my feet.

The strangest thing is that I kept on going back for more.  I went back to the wave and finally managed to get into it.  Some of the water at these points goes back on itself, so it is possible to sit on that water with the boat up the pourover and it feels like you are surfing.  The front of my boat was under water and it went up to, and round my body, but it was very stable.  Once again, AJ was there with useful advice about the best place to look.  On the wave, if the boat moves left, then look left and vice versa.  This keeps the boat stable and leaves you in a position to move the boat back round onto the wave or to come safely out of it.

Now it was time to stop for lunch.  All of us were now wet, the experienced ones from playing and the beginners from capsizing.  Even James finally went over, and he had stayed dry the longest.  We found out how paddler friendly the café was as we dripped up the stairs in all our gear.

After lunch we carried our boats up stream, and after someone fetching my boat that I dropped in the river, we ferry glided across the river and continued walking further up, past what looked like a weir with part of it on the left broken through until we reached a high bank which angled into the water.  We got into our boats at the top and seal launched into the river.  In an eddy AJ told us the rules for rapid running; keep paddling, lean slightly forwards, keep the boat turned straight downstream and keep paddling.  AJ led, and I went second.  The weir was invisible; all that could be seen was a line where the water went over the edge.  It was just when we got close that we saw what we would be hitting.  Paddling as hard as I could to keep myself into the left and this was it, straight over the pourover, like a very fast slide and hitting the wave.  The boat just went straight underwater; the river hit my chest and splashed over my head.  Then the next wave, same again.  Still paddling to keep upright, the water pushed me this way and that until I was through.  I turned into an eddy.  I had done it!  Then we went downstream and another rapid, the one that I would never go down because of the stopper that held all the rafts.  And another.  This was fantastic. This was what the kayaks were built for, they felt at home.  We stopped at some of the stoppers to allow the experienced paddlers a chance to play in them, cartwheels, spins and other moves being performed in water that I wouldn’t choose to go anywhere near.

Now we just had to get back across the river.  First, we had to walk up the bank, past the lowest rapid that we had just descended.  By now, I was tired, and I thought that after we had all helped each other off the water and up the bank that I would go ahead so that I could rest half way while the others caught up.  Off I went until I was called back because I had gone the wrong way!

This was an interesting ferry glide.  I guess we were tired, but the water was pushing and pulling the boat all over the place.  A couple of times I switched direction and headed back to the wrong side of the river.  Then there was the rock.  Only a small one in the middle of the jet, but I was heading across the river at it.  Remembering AJ's advice that if you hit a rock, hug it (literally, grab onto it.  This edges the boat so that water flows under your boat and you stay stable) I thought I would avoid it altogether by going slightly downstream of it.  I learned two things in the next few seconds.  One, downstream of a rock there is an eddy.  Two, going from a jet into an eddy slows the boat fast.  Fortunately this time, I kept the boat upright, made it to the side and exited my boat for the final time.

Have you ever tried putting your nose to the grindstone, giving someone the cold shoulder, having your back against the wall, pulling your socks up, putting your best foot forward while leaving no stone unturned?  That is what learning to roll is like.

The kayak is stable in two positions.  Known as "the right way up" and "help".  These are opposite to each other.  Obviously one has gravity on its side and we use the other one.  Rolling is the art of moving from one stable position to the other while the whole Earth is attempting to drown you.  Yes, I do take it personally.

Firstly, move to the side of the pool, drop your paddle and grip the side.  Volunarily tip your boat until you can't breathe and then pull yourself back up again.  Repeat ad nasuem, and believe me, nasuea is the general direction you should be aiming for.  The idea for this controlled drowning is the attainment of the mystical hip-flick.  Only when the penitent has been baptised many times can this be realised.

The next stage is to be shown the arcane paddle positions.  With an instructor The initiate must perform these without knowledge of what their ultimate purpose will be.  Lean forward.  If you are right handed put the paddle on the left hand side of the kayak, parallel with it. With the front blade flat against the water.  Twist your hand away from the boat, make sure you are leaning as far forward as possible.  Comfortable?  No? Well, now go drown yourself.  The instructor then holds onto your paddle and pulls it round along the surface of the water until you are ready to push against that in order to breathe again.  Repeat ad naseum.

Personally, I was doing this, with AJ's help, for weeks.  It didn't make any sense, and it didn't feel intuitive.  Why should I be moving my paddle side to side when I wanted to move from down to up?  Then, one session I turned too sharply and capsized.  I put my paddle in the correct position and then, without thinking, I rolled.  It was effortless and felt so smooth.  I felt good, and held my paddles in the air as a celebration.  What I didn't know was that everyone was watching and I got cheers and applause.

That's it.  I can roll.  For the rest of that evening I practiced, but the effort came back and the smoothness went as I tried to work out how I had done it.  The next week I lost it.  Firstly I could get half way round and then a brace would get me up and eventually nothing worked.

I was advised to switch from my normal boat, the Perception Method Air, to a Pryanha 200.  It has a rounder bottom (I know the feeling!) so should be easier.  After getting into it and padling another sharp turn turned me upside down.  But, I rolled back up again.  It was easier.

Before going back to the Perception, I asked Wade to check my roll.  He gave me 20 different things to do at the same time.  Holding my breath was easy, I couldn't do everything and remember to breathe as well.  The strangest thing in rolling is the fact that your head must remain in the water until the last moment.  I am beginning to believe that kayaking and breathing don't go together.  My roll vanished again. More practice, and less thought and it  came back.

Now I can roll most times I try, and the side to side movement I have realised actually does move you half way up, so that when you do push down it isn't so far to go.