Show and Tell - 2008 memories

[Mark R]

Okay boys and girls - here's the game ... post a single photo from 2008 and tell us the story behind it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



April 2008 - This piccie shows Claire Cheong-Leen about to lead the charge down a 300 metre long rapid on the Alaknanda River in India; this is one of two major tribs making up the Ganges River. It was early morning and we had just crammed all the gear into the boats for our second day (of three) on the river. The day prior had been much more 'feisty' and it also was the first time that most of the team had paddled with loaded boats, so everyone had experienced their own personal 'moment' (or two)! Now the river was less steep and everyone began to relax and enjoy.

On this rapid, Claire independently headed off and picked her way cleanly through a complex series of holes and reactionaries, followed by everyone else in succession. I packed the camera away and followed last. When I caught up with her at the bottom, Claire observed that it was the first time she'd lead a serious rapid in over a decade.

That afternoon, her achievement was honoured by several hundred monkeys performing acrobatics across the river from our campsite.

[Douglas Wilcox]

Please excuse the salinity, but this was on moving water!

Tony and I are entering the west end of the Corryvreckan. It is a spring flood tide going from left to right at 9 knots. The great race extends westwards for 5 miles out into the Atlantic. We were making use of a narrow east going eddy on the south shore of Scarba. Unfortunately the swell on the coast of Scarba was breaking so heavily that we had to keep well out. This meant we were often right on the eddyline with the Great Race, which threatened to drag us back out to sea again... very far out! It was a very exposed and committing position off a remote and uninhabited coastline. There were no other boats anywhere.

It was an immensely satisfying paddle and has given us the confidence to tackle some of the other major tide races in less than ideal conditions.

Douglas

[ol]

This picture taken by Mark R shows me on an evening circumnavigation of Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel on my first ever trip in a sea kayak.

That morning, some of us friends, some of us strangers, had all awoke around 5am in a carpark in Rest Bay having arrived the evening before at various times and at various stages of darkness to bivy in our cars or on the dirt-fringes of the parking area.
We entered the water at sunrise to stunning and eerie cliff walls and so begun a long open water crossing, our final goodbye to solid ground marked by the close passing of a whaleshark.
After close to 4.5 hours paddling, much of it without sight of land in any direction(disconcerting to someone used to small rocky ditches) we arrived at the island, egressing on the beach 200 yards from the ferry spewing out a throng of amazed onlookers who had taken the more 'leisurely' travel option.
After a few hours rest we re-grouped and headed out for this trip around the island. We were treated to perfect sea conditions with a gentle swell, fantastic weather, clear and warm and just amazing sights, be they from seals popping up closely and larking around or from the rock formations and natural 'corridors' formed by rock seemingly of another continent.
Timed to perfection, we finished the loop up a small tidal race formed by the dropping water to a sublime sunset and our march back up the hill to the islands pub.
Brilliant.
OL

[Veedurb]

I was coaching Cub Scouts at my Dad's Scout group doing the good old paddling balance games (standing up, raft walking etc) when I challenged one of them, a nine year old, to pull a headstand in a boat. He did it on open water completely blowing my smugness out of the water and proved to me that there is still a lot to learn in the world and there will always be something to amaze you, despite what you may have already seen. Then he proceeded to do it again for the camera. This photo still amazes me every time I see it.

[Heather Rainsley]

Same trip, another story. This is the put-in for our first day on the Alaknanda; upstream of the photo of Claire. The boats are loaded with camping kit and food and everyone is making their final preparations for our multi-day trip. Having paddled a loaded creek-boat only once before, and feeling underprepared for the trip because I had only been on rivers a few times in the previous nine months, I was feeling decidedly shaky.

For me, this picture sums up all the little things that can combine to make the worries go away.

Firstly, solid, supportive and positive people; some of the people in the group had been strangers to me a few days earlier, but it was already clear that everyone -old friends and new- was the sort of person who would be there if somebody had a problem, as well as being happy to pull their weight and share a laugh or a quiet chat. No big egos, everybody was just there to paddle.

Secondly, the value of bright sunshine for morale is something that is rarely mentioned, but I would go so far as to suggest that a river may be as much as half a grade easier if the sun is shining and the weather warm.

Thirdly, I discovered that an audience is a great thing for silencing the worry monsters. If a whole school has stopped work for the day and turned out to cheer you on, then you just have to get on with things and stop feeling nervous.

And finally, the discovery of an unexpected, unopened bottle of irn-bru at the very back of your creek boat -presumably from your last trip to Scotland- is just the thing to give you something to look forward to at the end of the day. It also makes a swim unthinkable.

[Mark R]

the discovery of an unexpected, unopened bottle of irn-bru at the very back of your creek boat

Ha! You can take the girl out of Scotland, but you can't take Scotland out of the girl ... I'm amazed that those 2 litres of Irn Bru didn't get us all charged for excess baggage on the flight out ...

[Grumpy Fisherman]

Day 4 on the Tsarap. Tim had managed to leave his passport on a rock at the Phugtal monastery, which by now was 40km upstream. As he and Rob hiked back up overnight and the next morning, Steve and I (on the advice of Shalabh) decided to try and track down some chang from the local villagers. So we set off on what we thought would be a half-hour walk up to the nearest village - error. This turned into a 2 hour mission including some very steep and very sketchy paths on scree slopes! Eventually we reached a small village, sweaty, knackered and sure we weren't going to find any of this magical beverage.

Suddenly a man appeared. He spoke fantastic English - amazing as the nearest proper school was in Padum, a 2 day hike away - and invited us into his house. He sold us chang and gave us plenty of tea (both the sweet and salty versions), and we sat with him and his family (wife, mother and two children) for over an hour. His name was Stanzin Nayan, and his and his families' generosity and hospitality will stick with Steve and I for a long time.



When we got back to the camp we found Tim and Rob back and asleep, and Shalabh a little *ahem* worse for wear. Apparently Godfather Super, local "whisky" and some Czech plum spirit was a bad combination!

[guy]

Lava on the Grand canyon - There are BIGWaves on the Colorado and this one is about to munch me.
We waited 6 years on the waiting list - then they changed the system to a lottery. so we bought a comercial trip.

[little tim]

Pic By Dave Matthews : Clicky for Flickr Page

This is the first big rapid we did in India that needed a few technical moves - still a little unsure in my big boat on big water, cleaning this rapid (on the Indus) gave me a huge boost in confidence that I needed before going up to do the Tsarap. This was the first time in a while I'd been quite so nervous about doing a rapid, so not messing it up really helped!

It also gave me enough confidence to really enjoy the rest of the few days on the Indus; a blur of brilliant 3+ to 4+/5 rapids.

Tim
Ps. Big thanks again to Dave for jumping out & running up to get the pic, despite having just met us!

[Mark H]

Picture by Pete Steinhardt

Getting off the East Lyn as the Sun went down at the end of a 5* training weekend.

Having slipped into some very lazy club paddling over the last few years, rarely venturing off the Dart Loop or Trywern, this was the first weekend of paddling for a very long time when we all felt we had achieved something and pushed ourselves out of our comfort zones and re-ignited the joy of white water paddling.

Mark H

[Bob Flanagan III]

The French Alps at the end of May. Driving 2000 miles in a week chasing fairly low river levels for a change.

This photo is of the Romanche where we tried to guess how long we would survive before we died. Short video can be found here

We managed to fit in 4 days paddling though which was more than a lot of people. 2 days on the Durance before the ban on kayaking and 2 days on the Veneon as although it was in the ban area the rafts were still running.

All in all though, not the best introduction to Alpine paddling

[morsey]

Number Eleven has the ball, I have number nine, that's Number Wang.

Photo Paul Smith.

[Gazza]

Born 7th Jan, and the reason my paddling count this year has been a paltry : Hurley twice, Chertsey twice, surfing once, and a failed surf weekend where it was flat as pancakes and not worth getting in. Not a sniff of a real river.

Not to mention he's already csot significantly more than a new boat and complete set of new paddling kit, or the sleepless nights that makes past times of dossing in car or tent in a frozen campsite after a a good days paddling seem like a relaxing night in the Ritz.

Still, he's cute though and well worth it, and he's already getting lots of practice underwater ready for future paddling days !

[Grumpy Fisherman]

Stick in a Dollar bill and that will look like the cover of Nevermind!

[Diamond Dave]

After working in a Ugandan hospital for 6 weeks last summer it would have been rude not to pay the White Nile a visit.
It was a bonus to meet a few familiar faces to go boating with. One of whom was a certain Max Bilbow who it could be said knows the river ‘fairly’ well.
With his knowledge we ticked off 3 of the ‘Big Ones’ in a day.
Bright sun, warm water, good people and big rapids - definitely up there with one of the best days boating I’ve had.
After running the Widow Maker & Dead Dutchman topped off with Itunda, a Nile Special was on the cards that evening. It’s fair to say, ‘We Earned It’.

[Dug]

After moving to work in Lincolnshire for 3 months myself and a work mate decided to go up to Yorkshire to the closest white water on the Wharfe (not quite the highlands......). Here after having driven for hours to get to basicly one rapid we managed to get thrown off the river by the 'water baliff' who by this point knew my car reg etc when he came to throw us off..... Being from Scotland I was not very used to this and a bit shocked but took great pleasure in making him follow us for an hour and a half as we walked down the tourist path past the Stridd with our kayaks after I told him where to stick his lift.... A new experince for me and not one I would want to have again.

Doug

[janet brown]

I look forward to Gazza junior recreating the photo in 17 years:
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1598985/20081110/nirvana.jhtml

My highlight of 2008 wasn't captured by my camera: surviving Serpents Tail, so I can't show and tell, just tell.
Thanks Sid from Plas y Brenin for leading the way, sorry I nearly overtook you!

Janet

[c.blyth]

Doing my first youth freestyle event is a big one for me.
I hope do do all of them next year!!!!

( ME in the finals of the novice section @ HPP)