So Poke was right then (see comments on my last piece) - learning to kayak isn't so much a 'learning curve' as a 'learning squiggle'.  Since my succesful rolls on the barrage I have -

 - had a nasty dose of the 'river trots' (yeucccch)

 - had a nasty coldy/flu-y thing that lasted bl**dy weeks

 - been mad busy at work

 - then been given notice at work (from xmas - good old credit crunch), but fortunately managed to find something else.

Which all kept me off the water.  So when I finally headed back off to the Barrage after the long break I didn't know what to expect.  Shouldn't have worried though - my paddling had improved no end!!  I haven't read that one in any of the books - "The best way to improve your paddling is to have 5 bad weeks away from your boat, plenty of illness and a load of strife in your life".  Looking fwd to the Tyne this weekend - my first excursion into that neck of the woods (thanks to the Dales club for the invite).  Hope you all get out and about too.

Hey there

Say hello to the new me - the me who can roll on moving water!  Just been on the evening release at the Barrage, for a bit of a splash after a tough couple of weeks, and managed to roll twice after getting flipped.  I kind of knew I had it in me - I'd already figured it was mostly hip-flick and body-position, with a bit of paddle to help things along, and wrapped up with Corporal Jones screaming "Don't Panic" in your ear!  Maybe subconciously I was waiting for my course at Glenmore Lodge in October to actually give it a proper go.  But after a couple of scrapey swims on the Washburn I reckoned it was time I sorted myself out. Bizarrely it wasn't the swims themselves that made my mind up - I've taken plenty of knocks over the years from various sports - it was seeing how much trouble it caused other paddlers, rescuing boats wedged in trees and paddles wedged in rocky drops.  Swimming and letting your kit go is ok on the Barrage cos you just pick it up from the bottom of the horseshoe - but swimming and letting your kit go on a river is clearly a different kettle of chase-boating.  Crack open the champagne!  (Oh feck, haven't got any, Guiness'll have to do.)    See ya .

The Washburn.  Being new to paddling I’d never really heard of it ‘til fairly recently, but since I got invited down there by Gary from the Dales club I did a bit of asking round and web-surfing.  The only dam-release river in England, everyone seems to tell the same story – Grade 2/3, its quite fast, the eddies are small, the water’s cold and there’s a tricky drop halfway down.  Just what I needed to push myself on a bit, “so let’s give it a go then”.  (By the way, sorry there’s no river-action pics, our official snapper was laid low with a nasty bug – hope you’re OK soon Alex).

First impressions?  “Jeez, there’s a bit of a tricky drop at the top as well, not sure I’m up for that just yet”.  Now if I was a proper rainchaser …

First job of the day was to walk the main parts of the run, with Gary pointing stuff out.  Everything I’d read and heard was true - its quite fast (about running pace), the eddies are small (most of them didn’t even look like eddies to me, just half a swirl behind a tree or rock), the water’s cold (you can actually feel the cold in the air) and there’s a tricky drop halfway down ... 

The run is in three sections - upper (Gr2-ish), middle (Gr3-ish, with the tricky drop) and lower (Gr2-ish again).  You can jump out and portage the middle section if you want, and jump on again for the lower section.  Car parks top and bottom make the shuttling nice and easy.

We jumped on right at the top and warmed up above the put-in, then did a couple of runs straight down the upper section (Gr2).  Carried back up to the top for another go and tried catching some eddies and playing a bit – the speed caught me out a couple of times, with my old favourite ‘lazy upstream edge’ reminding me that I need to concentrate instead of thinking “I’m doing OK at this”.  Then another run and I started to get the hang of the eddies, so thought it was time for the Gr3 section and tricky drop.  First run Gary got through fine, I managed down to the drop OK and got 90% through it, but got flipped (didn’t quite hit the right line and got caught in some boily stuff) and had a fast rocky swim.  Not put off though we carried back up to the top of the Gr3 stretch and jumped straight on again, this time both got through OK (right line, yee-hah) then ran on down the lower Gr2 section to the car park and trundled back up for a spot of late lunch.

Now then, they say a picture paints a thousand words, and this one does it for me cos it captures quite a few ‘firsts’ – my first run down the Washburn, first session of micro-eddy-hopping, first long run on a fast-ish Gr2/3, first swim down a rocky Gr3 (the red stuff on my leg is real but was just a graze, and my defensive swimming worked fine), first successful run down the tricky drop, first river-trip with a ‘get-to-the-bottom-and-jump-in-the-car-for-another-go’ theme … and first use of a mate’s boat as a picnic bench.  One for the memory bank.

We were both a bit done-in by this time, and perhaps a bit slow after our scran, but decided to give it another run anyway.  Upper section went really well, with lots of big grins as the eddies seemed to have grown a bit and we just about managed to squeeze two 8’ river boats into some of the small swirls.  We should’ve called it a day then really, and jumped out at the bottom of the upper Gr2 section, but I kind of felt up to another go at the Gr3 stretch – turned out Gary was up to it but I wasn’t really, I got down to the drop OK but only got 90% through again and had another bumpy scrapey swim down the fast rocky bit.  For some strange reason I still climbed out with a massive grin on my face … I’m seriously starting to doubt my own sanity!  Packed in after that, but not in the least put off by a bit of a bashed thigh and backside from the last swim - I should learn to pack in when I know I’m already tired.  Big thanks to Gary for all the guiding and chase-boating.  Thanks also to the other boaters who stopped to help passing swimmers (I wasn’t the only one), hope we didn’t get in your way too much.

The Washburn then.  Its quite fast (but you kind of get used to it).  The eddies are small (so you feel pretty good when you make one). The water’s cold (but you don’t notice once you’re paddling).  There’s a tricky drop halfway down (but its OK if you hit the right line).  And it’s a total blast!

We all learn the ropes somewhere.  Maybe not anywhere spectacular, possibly not somewhere that features in the paddle press, perhaps just whatever’s local that gives us a regular buzz and keeps us smiling (and wet).  It could be on the Brathay, Washburn, Tay, Frome or wherever - its where we get things wrong and try to put things right, over and over again.  They’re the places that prepare us for the bigger trips and the bigger water, so that when we’re there we can enjoy it and come home in one piece.  They’re also the places we retreat to when we’re out of practice, or have lost our confidence, and need a familiar run to get us back on track again.  Maybe one day I’ll boat down some unchartered Grade 7 on Kilimanjaro, in a traditional yak-skinned coracle, with Tensing’s great-grandson leading the way.  And (just a smidgen more realistically) I’ve definitely got aspirations of doing plenty of Grade 3-4 trips around the UK and Europe.  But this weekend is just a regular weekend, and I'll be off to my local - Tees Barrage - to learn a bit more, and have a good old splash about.  See ya! 

(Gan canny: Geordie - take it easy; no hurry; chill)

So the rolling isn’t going too well.  Although I managed a couple of good ones early on I just can’t get it anything like reliable, and now I’m just frustrated with it.  At first this had me on a massive downer, but fortunately I wasn't put off for too long – “challenges”, not problems (perhaps all of the workplace management-speak might actually be sinking in at last).  I even came up with an “action plan” of sorts, and it went something like this:

1.  If I can’t roll, I need to improve my paddling to reduce the chances of a capsize.  So as best I could (given all the other stuff going on over the summer - work, weddings, baptisms, holidays, etc, etc) I’ve been getting out onto the water on the Barrage and in the surf and just working on my balance and skills, and generally trying to stay the right way up.

(Some gentle stuff in Fintragh Bay, Co Donegal.  Rossknowlagh was bigger, but no camera!)

2.  If I can’t roll, I need to work on my support strokes.  Now there’s a funny thing, support strokes - some people swear by them, some people hate them.  Although I can see both sides of the argument I’m probably falling on the side of wanting to be able to use them safely (ie with at least some possibility of keeping my shoulder joint in its socket) but not relying on them totally.

3.  If I do capsize and bail out I need to be a more confident swimmer, both for my own good and to help anyone on the bank trying to get me out.  I’d spotted the “Whitewater Safety and Rescue” book (Franco Ferrero) previously but hadn’t got round to getting a copy - I’ve got one now.  What a great book!  I was glued to it for weeks, its been read and re-read a few times, and no doubt will be read many times again.  Paddling skills, reading the water, hazard spotting and avoidance, self-rescue, rescuing other people, running repairs (to body and boat) – its got it all.  Surely every beginner to whitewater paddling should have one.  Anyways, not only have I read it but I’ve also bought a few bits of rescue gear plus I also practiced a bit of defensive-swimming and self-rescue at the Barrage.  I’ve even been practicing a few rescues with my kids – you're never too young to start.

4.  I still need to learn to roll though.  Its ok relying on mates to help out and watch over me, but I figured I’d try something a bit more structured.  So I’ve booked myself onto a course at Glenmore Lodge in Aviemore - 2 days of intensive underwater flailing in a purpose-designed rolling pool, which I'm hoping might end up in a marginally less unreliable roll.  The journey up is also a cracking excuse to start finding my way around a few rivers - not that I’ll be paddling on my own, but I’m keen to take a look at some of the Grade 2/3 routes in the ‘Scottish White Water’ guide and see what I’m up against.

5.  But most of all I need to chill (2 weeks holiday certainly helped with this one!).  I was pretty wound up about my lack of rolling earlier in the summer, compounded by too much work stopping me from getting out and about, but looking back I’ve probably learned ten times more about other really good stuff than I would’ve done if my roll had come easy.  These things are sent to try us ……..

Cheers for now,

Rookie x

ps – to the guy who got in touch through the site about rolling practice – sorry for the delay in replying, thanks a million for the offer, let's see how I get on in Aviemore.

pps – to Gary who was paddling at the Barrage - its always good to hear that paddlers are using and enjoying the rainchasers site, hope to meet up for a splash soon.