Surf is up!

September already! Where oh where has the year gone. September is the time of year when the swells start to pick up again after a summer calm.
Mike and his mates make the long journey up to the North coast for a surf trip and normally get a good few waves in on the many different beaches and breaks all along the North Coast. This year I went out with Gavin and met up with them to get the craic and catch some waves. This time Mike didnt paddle out, but sat on the beach with his fancy looking camera and took some shots. I dont proclaim to be a good surfer or paddler by any stretch of the imagination but I do have a great time doing what I do. However I rarely get the chance to see myself having fun as I am normally the one on the other side of the camera. However Mike shot a few action shots and emailed them to me on his return home. In his favour he must of neglected to send the pictures of me taking a swim!! I was impressed by the pictures as his fancy zoom lense somehow made it look like I knew what I was doing out in the surf instead of bumbling and bobbing around like an idiot in a wheely bin!

pic by Mike Marshall

The surf was far from ideal as many of the wave appeared to look very good only to back off at the last minute however there were a few good ones to be caught and I made the most of those. The venue was Melvich beach and I was on the water surrounded by boarders. They seamed like a nice bunch of guys and I managed to avoid any drop ins or clashes. It was unusual to be out on the water at the same time as so many others as I am used to having a whole beach to myself and whomever I am paddling with. The whole surf etiquette thing is worth learning to avoid any confusion as to who has right of way at any given time.

Pic by Mike Marshall

Some of the waves were dumping down unexpectedly so tested my recentl DIY replacement seal on my dry cag. I am glad to say the repair appears to of worked quite well!

Pick By Mike Marshall

And again

Pic by Mike Marshall

Then on Saturday the SCA were holding the Scottish Surf Champs and the Venue was once again Melvich. On Saturday however I was a spectator as I am not good enough to compete and to be honest I surf for enjoyment not for competitiveness so even if I could rip the waves up like an expert I am not sure I would want to pit myself up against others in short 20 minute heats rushing to catch as many waves as I could. It was good to watch though and my kids had a great time playing on the beach in the late season sun!

An unknown surfer gets a good ride in!

Its been a while mark 2

Monday Evening

Yet again this year has been a poor one for paddling trips however the trips that I have done have been fun, pushy and helped my confidence in myself and my boat. This week however has been the highlight of the paddling year (so far) for seeing 3 fun trips in a short space of time. Monday evening after work saw a very quick scrape down the Halkirk section of the Thurso river (18 inches on the gauge) and some runs down the not so scrapey Forss river (2 foot on the gauge).

Gavin Checking The Line

This river is fantastic fun and can be quite a turbo charged blast in very high water with big waves, stoppers and trees to avoid.  On these days there is no time to stop for a picture. It is hidden from the road and has a short 500m section of fairly continuous grade 3 with a fairly big Grade 3+ Rapid to finish the section off. It is easy to put on and paddle walk back up and repeat until the sun sets! Which we did and managed to get away without a capsize or a midge bite.

The picture and video were taken on a previous trip when the light was better and the river was lower.  However it gives an idea of what to expect.  In bigger water the waves get bigger and the stoppers can be quite tricky!

Thursday Night/Friday Morning

It has been raining overnight and the excitement and planning has started.  How, when, where and how can I get on a river.  Emails are flying and hopes are building up and fingers are getting crossed. I take you all know what I mean when you get the feeling I am talking about.  Whitewater paddlers must be one of the few groups of people that actually smile when its tipping down?

Info from the sepa gauge showing fridays high level.

Unable to get out on Friday due to other commitments plans were pencilled in for Saturday morning an 8am start was planned to make sure we caught the water before it dropped too much and allow for other things that my paddling buddies were planning to do in the afternoon! (Why does it never rain on a day when you have nothing else to do)

My mate who had been out walking his dog sent me a picture text message showing the dam at Loch More spilling over the top. Things were looking good for Saturday! Friday may of been a bit spicy in the gorge thinking about things afterwards so maybe Saturday was the sensible day to paddle.

Loch More at the top of the Thurso River. The water is pouring over the dam.

The river has burst its banks downstream of Halkirk and the anticipation for Saturday is building up!

Friday Evening

Then on Friday evening it was a quick surf session where although the surf was poor the fun factor was high as we had a group of kids out for a taster session.

Playing in the soup!

They did amazing well and they all left the water grinning from ear to ear so that was a great session for everyone.

First time out surfing!

I even managed to catch a few smaller sets in my Surf kayak, Trying to remember last time I was out in it and it may of been 2 years ago. I had forgotten how uncomfortable and how unstable it was but that was soon a distant thought once I caught a wave or 2 as the thing just flies.  Just wish I had the time and the skills to do it justice. For every paddler that has enjoyed a surf session in a river boat I would encourage you to try a proper surf craft as it is amazing. Hard to describe but something I think everyone should try !

Saturday Morning Early

Saturday morning brought me to the Dirlot Gorge section of the Thurso river where we managed to hit it at 42 inches on the gauge.

42 inches on the gauge when we got off the water

This is the highest I have paddled it at and by looking at the watermark on the bank it had been several foot higher the day before. I think I am glad we did it at the height we did as it may of been a bit spicy at its peak.

Mathew Surfing the wave at the top of the rapid above the cemetery pool rapid. At this levels the river has a few waves to surf on your way down and a few big bouncy wave trains to ride! The rapid below the cemetery pool had a nasty looking pour-over and stopper on river right so a river left line was order of the day which had a much safer and bouncy roller-coaster of waves. The river right line is for much much lower levels!

One a down side I split the neck seal of my cag taking it off so a new seal is on order from LOMO and hopefully I will have a go at DIY seal replacement. Or it could be a letter to Santa asking for a new cag (drysuit) for Christmas. Heres hopin that the rest of the year holds more high water and good fun runs!

Saturday afternoon involved ordering a new seal for my cag then a well deserved snooze followed by a curry and some beer later on. What a way to end a great week!

Its been a while!

Had a big drought from paddling this year. From February until the end of November I managed one river trip and and one short sea paddle then once in the swimming pool and no surf trips……………………. So when I went out at the start of December it was a shock to the system to actually be floating on moving water.

I went out for a fairly easy grade 2+ paddle to get myself back into the swing of things after a couple of wobbles I appeared to be getting up to my previous low levels of ability. What is even better was no capsizing so no rolls required and obviously no swims either.

Then another shock to the system I managed out again on Tuesday for a pre Christmas paddle with fingers crossed for a pre new year paddle  too. Someone even managed to catch me in action on the river and I must of been sub consciously shy as I hadn’t noticed the camera but managed to successfully obscure my face in the shots. Maybe a good thing or I might of damaged the camera with my ugly mug.

And another just for luck

Free Rivers for Everyone

Scotland is very lucky as it has a very good system of free responsible access to our outdoor areas. Not everywhere is as lucky Our close neighbours in England and Wales are not so lucky. In fact you could say the access rules are antiquated and the attitudes of some river users are frankly quite sickening. People should have access to walk swim or paddle along the great rivers and streams after all they are a natural resource that is far older than the so called owners. Imagine my disgust when I heard that one river user has been arrested and out on bail for daring to paddle a river without paying money for the priveledge. What makes it even more shocking is the fact that the person pressing the charges is not some stuffy old Lord of the Manor or awkward fishing syndicate it is in fact another whitewater user. Check out this link for more info http://www.netscribes.co.uk/stuff/jj/Rafting%20Canoeing%20White%20Water%20Rafting%20and%20other%20Outdoor%20Activities%20at%20JJ%20Canoeing%20and%20Rafting.htm 

Or have a look at this thread on the  http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38104&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 Maybe one way everyone will be as lucky as the Scottish. But until then dont let the bastards grind you down.

10 Rounds with Tyson

Tonight I am sitting in front of my PC tired, sore, sunburned and grinning Why might this be I hear you ask?

Tired well I have just finished my night shifts and at last count I have been awake for the past 31 hours.

Sore well I got a thumping in a sticky hole on a river today.

Sunburned well it was a lovely day apart from the wind, Bright sunshine and a day out in the fresh air in february excellent.

Grinning well I have paddled a new river today that I have never paddled before which is always a good thing. I have a tin of cold beer in front of which again is good and even though I had a OOB* experience today I feel I paddled well to day and pushed myself on a harder paddle. I also got to put my whitewater safety training into use bagging a paddling partner who also had an OOB* experience today.

Set out from work this morning all ready to get on the water heading for a new river. The Berriedale Water was the place of choice today and it was one that 2 out of the 4 paddlers had never done before. This river had nearly 9 miles of fairly continous whitewater with a few portages to make. Grade 2-5+ mostly grade 2 and 3 with a couple of 4s and 5s thrown in for good luck

* OOB = Out Of Boat

A Great Week

A good week always starts with a day off work. The schools had a “in service” day so my daughter was at home so I had a day off work. That certainly kept me busy as the weather was terrible and I had to amuse the kids indoors. But as every kayaker knows bad weather normally involves rain and that is a good thing so here’s to getting out later in the week. Rough plans were made for a trip out on Wednesday morning with a couple of paddling buddies. Then a spanner nearly arrived in the works. The surveyor for the double glazing company wanted to come to measure up our sun lounge to fit our planned french doors on Wednesday. I managed to organise this for 9am so all was not lost the surveyor reckoned on 1 hour and he would be away. So phone calls went out to arrange a 10 am set off for a paddle. The proposed location was the river Dyke a trib of the Halladale. Gulp that’s grade 4 and steep I thought and I have never seen it before double gulp. Wednesday morning arrived and I was crappin it having not slept very well. Excitement about new adventures all ways keeps me awake.  First things first get the double glazing surveyor out of the way. Bollocks the plans have been drawn wrong and the building warrant is possibly wrong due to some sort of communication breakdown between the salesman my wife me and the surveyor. I am not brave enough to blame the wife so it must of been the salesman   All this extra hassle meant 10 am went past and still no completion of the window plans. However a phone call arrived to let me know that a change of plan was in order the river Dyke was empty! Where had all the rain gone???

Dunbeath was the new location. Now on a fateful day last October I had a major out of boat experience that saw me swim through some rapids and lose my boat. I have done it once since but it was rocky and a scrape. I was hoping to put my demons to rest on this river and have a good paddle at a better level. I set off for dunbeath and arrived first as the others had to divert from the journey to the Dyke and make a new direction. I arrived at the get out to see the river on the lower end of the runnable scale 0.1 on the gauge. Last year when I lost my boat it was over a meter higher that current levels so I felt quite relaxed at the prospect of the trip. We had a work with the Keeper on the estate who is a right friendly chap. We always let him know what we are planning to do and everyone is happy. This time we were planning the upper and the lower sections. The upper section consist of several man made weirs and small grade 2 rapids. Nothing of any consequence at current levels but in high water it apparently takes on a whole new nature and some of the weirs can be nasty and worth watching. The lower gorge section consist of loads of grade 2 and 3 rapids at this level. This river is fairly continuous and and you are lucky to see 50 yards without some sort rapid or drop. In high water river wide stoppers form and very few eddies are to be found upping the grade to 4 in places.

The video above shows the upper section. The batteries ran out before I got to the lower gorge so that is an excuse to go back again on another slightly higher water day to complete the filming   

Now last time I paddled here it was low and very rocky and there was one grade 4 rapid that required a narrow line to be taken. This time the big rock that had the pinning risk was gone and the river was back following its old route. Last years flood diverted the river for a section and washed away a bridge. This year the river is back where it was before and the bridge has been replaced. The estate must keep good care of this river.

 I had a good run down with no slip ups and even managed to keep my head dry the whole way down. I passed through the gorge without incident which was the bit that worried me after my previous bad run at it. Last year I capsized on the entrance to the gorge only roll up against the gorge wall and fell back over again the speed and the ferocity was something I had not expected and I tried for roll after after roll before I finally bailed.  6 failed rolls and about 100 metres of river traveled mostly upside down I pulled the ejector loop and swam. tightly gripping my paddle and no idea where I was I good only hear Colin shouting SWIM HARD!! SWIM LEFT!! I AM RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!, CATCH THE EDDY NOW!! These are the commands I heard as I surfaced between wave trains that sent me to lung bursting depths. I was never so glad to pull myself up a river bank when I got into the side. I gave myself quite a fright and a bruise on my leg that lasted months afterwards. Once on the Bank Colin checked I was ok and apologised for not chasing my boat but the the river was high and He thought it was more important that I was on the bank and ok than chasing an empty boat. Once I caught my breath I went down the river bank to see if I could find my boat but I think at the time I expected that it was out to see and I would never see it again.  As luck would have it the river dropped by about 5 foot overnight and Colin found my boat wedged in the fork of a overhanging tree branch. I am glad I wasn’t still in it as I don’t think I would been able to hold my breath that long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. That trip put my faith in my roll down to zero and my paddling skills were gone I was nervous and timid on the easyest rivers afterwards and even now I am not quite back to where I was last year. I am getting there slowly and hope that it is all behind me now.

Back to the present and I was delighted had a nice fun run of the Dunbeath and I felt my confidence was coming back. I still need to be a bit more agressive attacking rapids harder rather than letting the river push me around and I need to get the weight forward more on drops. Coming to the end of the week I had a good pool session on friday where I worked on my roll and made some big improvements and even managed a few on my bad side. Or as the optopmistic folk would say my not quite so good side. And to top it all of on Saturday a night out on the drink witha slap up meal with a great bunch of folk and no hangover on sunday! What more can you ask for.

Sharing the Love and the Waves

Went out for a surf today. Magic seaweed was giving 4 star surf so I wasnt expecting to get a beach to myself but away I went. Thurso was poor with loads of boardies out. So westwards I went Sandside flat! Melvich about 6inches!! Strathy about 3-4 foot Hardly what I would call 4 star surf but never mind. Offshore breeze and quite nice waves but 3 car loads of boardies. Never shared strathy before and I wondered how it would go. Everyone took positions and picked away at the bigger sets that were coming in for a good fun couple of hours. I have not been out much this year much to my disgust for various different reasons so it was nice to get out twice this month. My last trip out was a mixed bag with more swims and trashings than waves caught so I was a bit aprehensive this time. However once out on the water I was having great fun and caught quite a few of the better waves and maged some good long rides and some practice at bottom and top turns. Man I love the sound of the fins humbing in the water when you are flying! I was starting to get tired and a swim made me decide to call it quits.  AsI am loading my kayak onto the roof rack a couple of the boarders came over so I wasnt sure what to expect. Anyway they were wanting to have a look at my funny kayak with fins! They told me they had seen kayakers in the surf before but always assumed that there were river boats. We had a nice chat about surfing on boards and kayaks and they said that they had been west at Farr beach earlier and there had been about 25 boards on the water so they steered clear because they didnt like the attitude of some surfers who thought they owned the place and hogged all the waves!! Looks like its not just “goat” boaters that some surfers dont like it is anyone else in the water. If only everyone you met in the water was a friendly and approachable as those lads everyone would be fine. They also said they thought my boat looked fast amd smart on the water so that made me Grin!! I must of been surfing well today if a boardy was dishing out compliments…. Looking forward to my next trip out.

Wet west paddle fest

Well what a weekend I had, My paddling has suffered recently with a lack of trips out, The result being my shonky roll is getting even worse. It has been a while since I have been on the river and the last trip out was at the start of July. So with the paddle fest fast approaching and nobody to paddle with I was Billy no mates until some kind souls on the www.ukriversguidebook.com forum took pity on a lonely swimmer and offered a paddle for me to grab. A big thanks to the guys from the Stirling canoe club www.stirlingcanoeclub.info/ who gave me a shout and let me join them on the water.  I had a great time and hope I will meet you guys on the water again.

So with the weekend approaching the paddling gremlins had a go at me and nearly had me calling off. Having puked up on Thursday evening and spending all day Friday and a bit of Saturday staying closer to the shitter for the fear of filling my boots!! However Saturday morning arrived and after half a dozen movements off I set to head for Inver Moriston where the hardcore paddlers would be showing me a mere grade 3 paddler how its done. A few stop offs on the road down for more movements until I finally appeared to be firming up and looking ok to fart without a worry made me a happy chappy. I arrived at Inver Moriston and parked up and took a wonder along with my camera and took a few shots at the falls.

I had correctly judged that this river was out of my skill level and I was safer on the bank. Or was I a badly placed foot whist negotiating my way to the edge of the river saw me sliding down the hill on my arse and elbows until I managed to grab a tree just short of the edge !! There was me not even paddling and I nearly had my first swim. What a plonker. Looking at the rapid below I think I would of been minced had i land in it. At least there were paddlers at the bottom should my body parts of needed removal from the river.

 

Time to head to the upper section for a few more pictures and to make some fantasy lines in my head. Most involved lining up at the top getting spat over and then having a rocky nasty swim again I was glad my kayak was firmly strapped to the roof of my car. No near swims this time and a few nice pictures taken and I had the pleasure of watching 3 guys jump in at the top of a rapid and swimming front crawl the whole way down.!!!

 

What was I worried about it was easy. LOL!!!!

 Enough time was spent at the river and I was getting Hungry so off to Fort William I went and found the Nevis Centre where the party was going to start off. Once found my next mission was to find a chippy. Easily done and well fed I set off to find a campsite! nearest was miles away and was about £12 for the night stuff that I though I will camp rough somewhere. A decision was made not to drink just in case the dreaded trotts came back for Sunday!! The thought of having to rapidly exit my dry trousers and have to hide behind a tree at a busy riverside was not a nice thought. So I went to the pub and had 1 pint and then phoned the wife to ensure the kids were in bed sleeping and all was well back in the homeland of Caithness. Shortly after I received a call from Gavin (g man) announcing they were heading to the Nevis centre and then another call from Wullie (council dog) asking where it was. They arrive shorty ad we went to the party which turned out to be a full blown student stylee 70s night with a mama funk styled theme. What had I let myself in for. Folk arrived with all sorts of funky affros and mullets flares and pink shades. Some even in leotards and tights. (that was just the blokes) A good crack was had and some folk were having too much of a good time. I cannot imagine that they would mange much paddling on the Sunday. Although some might of needed a dip in the river to wash off the paint.

Late on I decided to head away to find a spot to camp for the night and set off in may car. On arriving at the big round about a police car going the other way did a full circuit and followed me out of Fort Bill for 15 miles before they stopped and did a 3 point turn a headed back the other way. Maybe they spyed the Kayak on my roof and thought I would be pissed because pretty much everyone else was by that time of night. I decide that I had traveled so far I may as well go the whole way to the river and sleep at the get out. When I arrived I couldnt pitch the tent as the ground was so rocky so I slept in the car!! Not a lot of room in a saxo but I was that tired I soon dozed off. I was awoken in the morning by the sound of a van arriving It was the Guy that Owns Stirling Canoes setting up his gazebo for the day ahead. So up I got and extracted the handbrake lever from my back and went for a walk. The river was low as the release had not started yet  so away I went to find somewhere fro breakfast and a dump. The local petrol station fitted the bill so a cheese and ham sandwich and a fresh orange set me up for the day. Things were firm on the other front so things were looking up Back to the river and a leisurely get ready as the river started to rise. Soon enough the boys arrived and we shuttled up to the top for the first run. A few wobbles ensued making me wonder if I had ever paddled before. Man how quickly the skills fail!! Any way a fairly leisurely run down and 2 swims later we were at the bottom. Anyone got a self righting mechanism send me an email Please.

 
Back up for another go and this time I felt much better and even managed to assist others that took a swim!! (makes a change) I felt a lot better and happier on the water. If only I could paddle something like this every week I feel as if I would progress much better with my paddling and who knows maybe one day I will be up to the mighty River Moriston.

All too soon it was time to head North to get home. Now this is where a wheel bearing on the car went and the brakes nearly packed in but thats another story all together. I hope that this event will be on again next year and I hope I can go. I also hope that the Stirling guys will let me join them again if I am stuck and I hope I find a shop that sells bombproof rolls!

River Garry that trip that took some work!

My first Blogg. Haven’t made many trips recently so trip down to the Garry was very welcome. So an early start was planned for Wednesday morning www.wheresthewater.com told me a release was planned. So typically on the Saturday before the car wiper blades packed in. A trip to the garage revealed that it would be at least Wednesday before they could get a new bit. Bugger!! A phone call to the garage in Inverness revealed they had parts in stock and would keep one for us on Wednesday. I managed to bodge a temporary repair with one wiper blade clearing most of the screen until then. Phew that’s means I can still get wet on Wednesday. Then on Tuesday night the brakes stuck on the car and boiled the fluid giving me a scary moment, again somethings trying to stop me getting wet on Wednesday. So on Tuesday evening both front calipers were stripped and cleaned lubricated and reassembled. Black hands and skinned knuckles reminded me of why I normally pay garages for this type of work!

Still the paddling was back on again. I had arranged to meet my paddling buddies just before the Dingwall round-about and leave the wife and kids to go to Inverness to pick up the wiper parts and go shopping for the day whilst we cut cross country to get to the river. What else can go wrong? Well nothing I hoped but our supposed short cut through Dingwall was a mistake as we got stuck at a roundabout for about half an hour due to road works.  At the river we changed quickly and walked up to the get in. Paddled to the play hole and Gavin went to have a play in the top hole. In he went and caught an edge straight away. A badly placed upstream high brace had him over and when he rolled up he was still in the hole with a missing blade that had just dropped off the end of his shaft. Over he went again not noticing the missing blade and rolled up again to see the blade float off downstream at this point he fell back over and popped his deck and swam. Its one of those days 5 minutes on the water and disaster struck! No spare paddle! So we decided to take turns running the river with one person left on the bank.

So after all that Mathew and Myself headed on down whilst Gavin waited on shore. We had a fairly quick run down the river that saw me vertically pinned between two rocks. What a day!!!!! Anyway after much pushing and shoving I was free and on we went. The drops appeared different from last time I had paddled here and it turns out that this was a small release. The stoppers were bouncy-er and the waves steeper which did not make it so friendly as it had been last year on the Andy Jackson memorial weekend. Luckily we manged a few more runs down without event well apart from me fluffing a roll and swimming out of the bottom hole.  A swim is quite normal for me and I must really work hard on my roll this year but a lack of time makes things quite hard. Any way fun was had and an eventful day was concluded so it was back to the sneck to meet my wife where I fitted a new wiper motor and mechanism in the Eastgate car park for the way home. Why is it when one plastic bush is knackered you have to spend £85 on the whole gubbins to fix it.