RIVER SPRINT (Near S Bends to River Kent Confluence)

[Mark R]

Guide.

[Jim Pullen]

Ran this on 25/10/08.

Got abuse shouted at us at the put-in, just past the church, by an angry women, but she drove off in a huff. In the village got waved and smiled at by locals from the windows of their houses - very contrasting!

All rapids go , but the S-bends have a tree on the right, which is easily avoided. Sprint Mill falls also has a tree on the extreme right. The starting flatish bit has lots of trees which are avoidable in medium water levels, but may be a problem in higher conditions.

[randomgurn]

Just to add to Jim's comments (was in same party):-

We ran it at 0.4 on the gauge just up from Sprint Bridge. It was a tiny bit scrapy in places, but all of the features had plenty of water.

[Jim Pullen]

Landslide on left hand side of a
right hand bend about 200m below rock and roll. 2/3 trees with many branches blocking whole river. Portage river right. Plenty of time to get out for it.

[Jim Pullen]

Paddled today (3/12/06) at good water levels. All major rapids are clear of trees. There is one tree across the river some way below rock and roll, it's easy to spot and portage round.

No longer true, see my post at the top.

[Jim Pullen]

New River wide fallen tree about 500 meters below Rock and Roll,(which is now clear of tree at bottom) on a right bend in easy water.
There was a landslide on the left bank today which has brought a mature tree down across the whole river. We easily portaged on river right.

[Ian W]

New River wide fallen tree about 500 meters below Rock and Roll,(which is now clear of tree at bottom) on a right bend in easy water.
There was a landslide on the left bank today which has brought a mature tree down across the whole river. We easily portaged on river right.

This landslide tree has been cleared enough to pass by. There is another tree lower down in a normally straightforward broken weir, no problems for competent paddlers to pass this.
There is (early nov) a nasty tree on the S bends that made it (for me) a portage.

[husky]

A lot of tree action
One in S bends

[Lancs_lad]

Ran it yesterday no trees whatsoever!

S bends is now completely free of trees after my mate went and chopped out the new tree at the very bottom of it.

[Jim Pullen]

Ran it yesterday (01/08/09), in nice levels (0.7m on the bottom gauge).

Great run, but we had a few issues in the top section (between the get-in and S-bends). The tree issues are now rather irritating, a couple of our party ended up doing handrolls after losing their paddles in them! Virtually all could be pushed through - the summer leafyness probably didn't help!

Unfortunately we were accosted by an angry man on a quad bike who seemed incapable of shouting anything but "out, out!" to begin with. After telling him we accessed from public land and intended getting off on public land he calmed down a bit, but did seem a bit obsessed by the fact that "we would get our canoes blown off!" by another landowner further downstream. We were curious to find out what this would entail, but the only other people we saw smiled and waved at us!

[Lancs_lad]

Ran this on Monday in stonking levels. It is currently clear of trees from s-bends downwards.

[Lancs_lad]

According to a friend there is a substantial tree in "slot and drop". I cant confirm as I havent seen, but just be vigilent when approaching it.

When I next run it I will check the new EA gauge so we can start calibrating it.

[Jim Pullen]

Apparently someone's been moving trees and upset the landowner - http://www.deathbeforeportage.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=859.

[lou]

Can anyone give me any info on the Sprint?

I was thinking of paddling it this Sunday, but I don't have much info. Access info would be much appreciated, and also a rough guide to the river and what levels it runs at.

Thanks,

Lou

[Mike M]

A lot of this info is on the website (check Rivers section) ................reckon you should invest in Stuarts Lakeland Guidebook !!

[lou]

Badly worded initial post!

Have the guidebook, but it is a bit out of date for current info. Just wanted levels, and really any hazards to be aware of (trees, debris etc.).

[Ian W]

Hi
Currently very high!!
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/ho ... ionId=5130

Looking for a level of around 0.6 to 0.7m for some good fun (anything above 0.8m is pretty high!!).

I haven't paddled the river this winter but I have not heard of any significant hazards.

Might be on the river tomorrow (if I can get some mates interested!!)

Cheers

Ian

[callwild]

Badly worded initial post!

Have the guidebook, but it is a bit out of date for current info. Just wanted levels, and really any hazards to be aware of (trees, debris etc.).

Hi Lou
AFAIK the info in WWLD is correct and up to date for access info, and rapids haven't changed. Tree hazards will always change day to day so have to be taken as you find.
I hadn't planned on changing any info for the new guide which is under revision.

Only thing which has changed is level indicators which now can be found on the EA guage site here

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/riverlevels/120709.aspx?stationId=5130.
Alongside this info from the EA thread on this site

Sprint Levels

Not so familiar with the Sprint, it has slightly less volume and drops quicker. Below 0.5 it really isn’t worth paddling but people do, most experienced boaters won’t bother below 0.6, 0.7 is a nice level, 0.9 feels really high. Most years the peak is 1.0 ish, it rarey gets above 1.2 except extreme 1 in 10 year events when it has been a massive 1.7 (90 cumecs).

My best judgement below, again the lower end of my spate will be others high but I don’t see the point of reserving spate for very rare events. I’m calling spate when it starts to get properly chocolate brown after a full day of heavy rain (50mm or more) and everything starts to push along, especially lost boats that usually go a long way. This will start to happen quite a few days during the year. If grading levels misses this out then high will cover a massive range and catch some folk out as spate paddling needs a distinctly different paddle ability and confidence to cope with a step change in seriousness. This is usually above bank full level but that’s hard to judge.

Low 0.5 - 0.55
Med 0.55 - 0.7
High 0.7 – 0.8
Spate 0.8 to 1.0
0.9 is 23 cumecs and relates to about 1.3 on the mint
0.8 approx 17 cumecs
0.7 approx 11 cumecs
0.6 approx 8 cumecs
0.5 approx 5 cumecs

Taken from UKRGB EA thread

Stuart Miller

[lou]

Thanks for the info. It's big at the moment going off the gauge (1.21), so I guess I'll keep an eye on the levels and decide what to paddle tomorrow.

Lou

[Ian W]

Most of the rivers like Sprint, Mint, Clough etc rise and fall pretty quickly.
I would imagine (based on the current forecasts) that the Sprint will be fine tomorrow.
Ian.

[Lancs_lad]

Paddled today. New tree (since thursday) down on Sprint Mill Falls. Fairly substantial and blocking the normal right hand line. Could of probably ducked under it today but couldnt be bothered, so took the rocky double boof down the middle. With more water this would be the only option.

[kris]

Large tree (May 24th 2011) across the bottom of final grade 4 section, obvious and navigable but could cause mischief if you are offline / swimming; the tree also blocks the spate level line. If / when the tree moves it could well block the arches below this section

[Jim Pullen]

Paddled yesterday at a low medium level (~0.6m on the gauge). Everything seemed to be tree free!

[Rdscott]

Tree down river wide at medium low level about 100m above final broken wier and a second on in the broken wier.

Both navigatable but could cause issues if your relaxing

[Lancs_lad]

vid showing high levels (0.9 ish) - click click

[Lancs_lad]

And a vid showing medium levels - click click