Environment Agency unveils plans for £300M Thames flood defence scheme

Check it out OPHION Paddles Review In Canoe & Kayak Magazine

Imported by Square Rock

Mens Prelims results

See the links via. the BCU pages at:-

http://www.canoe-england.org.uk/news/5-thames-weirs-to-be-replaced-in-august

Tim

Compare and Contrast: 2010 Allstar first impressions

So, it’s arrived (well mine anyway!). My shiny new 2010 Allstar in its patriotic red white and blue lies there amongst its shipping packaging, and the first thing I think is: ‘Blimey! It’s tiny!’.

So, straight to the point that seems to be concerning most people I talk to: ‘Will I fit in it?’. The new Allstar is indeed 4” shorter (most of which is off the tail) than the previous model, leading to understandable concern; yet it also has 1 ½ gallons extra volume, and I, at 5’10”ish and size 10 feet have no problem at all getting in, with shoes on. Gareth at approx. 6” also hopped in relatively comfortably, albeit pulling the footbag to one side. Clearly bigger people are going to struggle, but then there is the 2010 Superstar, and sadly not everyone can be catered for.

Viewed sided by side the addition of the extra volume is obvious with the knee height an inch greater, and the bow volume extending further forward from the cockpit rim than the ’07. This helps to deliver loads of ‘pop’ for huge loops, gozillas, etc! Also the stubby stern is clearly more bulbous, which should aid in backlooping.

The new model is actually wider than it’s predecessor (3/4”) yet the sides around the knees slope in bringing your knees closer together achieving, in my view, a more comfortable sitting position, reducing back-strain and dead-leggedness, and aiding a better paddling posture (also probably avoids bashing your thumbs!). The seat feels marginally higher than before too, which helps edge control and quick rail transition for those aerial moves.
The hull maintains many of the features of the ’07, though they’ve been tweeked and incredibly, considering the reduction in length, it feels even faster! This apparently is down to some very clever modelling work done to reduce the eddy formed behind the boat when surfing, thus reducing drag and increasing speed. However it’s achieved it works a treat, giving a fast and loose hull yet with great control when the rails are initiated in a carve.

The reduction in length and weight means that rotational acceleration is awesome, allowing for really fast snap when looping, blunting, etc. The short length and rocker profile also mean it’s incredibly easy to launch the boat into aerial moves front and back (definite improvement on the ’07 backwards), although I’m yet to get on a really good wave to test this potential fully. Possibly there is a reduction in stability on its ends but this is marginal and far outweighed by the benefits of fast yet controllable rotation.
I’ve taken my Allstar down a few rivers in the States and was very pleasantly surprised by the performance. She tracked much better that my ’07, especially through boily water and eddylines, plus I found less tendency for the front to purl. The fast acceleration speed of the hull made catching river features on the fly easy, something I will admit I was worried about with the length.
All things considered I find it hard to find anything to fault in the changes made. I’m sure there will be gripes that the sizing of the range hasn’t dropped something between the Allstar and the Superstar, especially with the Monstar available for the more traditionally built boaters out there; but that really is a different matter.

I just can’t wait to hit up a really decent feature to put it properly through it’s paces, because I’m sure it’s gunna rock… plus it’s not made of carbon, so it wont break!!
If anyone sees me on the water and would like a go, just ask. Otherwise, Square Rocks container will be in very shortly, but you’ll have to be quick to get one, as they won’t be on the shelf long!

p.s. I’d like to say a massive thanks to Aaron and Rhona at Square Rock for arranging the delivery of my boat to me at camp in the States, you guys rule!

Cheers Will Hatt

A Short Study 

Background
This is just a short note to explain a little bit of research that has been done recently on the link between Thames flow rates and Hurley gate setting. The intention is to give us all a little bit more information about the likely setting of Hurley gates, if they are about to open, how long they might stay open and if they are about to close.

This work came about as a result of a short post by Dave/Scout on the TVF site, prior to this post Sam Anderson had shown us a link to Maidenhead Rowing Club (http://www.mwronline.net/mrc/default.aspx) that appeared to show daily readouts of Thames flow rates. A quick e-mail follow up with the guys at MRC confirmed that yes they did get real flow rate data from the EA on an almost daily basis and that this was used to populate their site feed.  (We also checked out the possibilities of an auto feed but this is not possible at the moment so currently relies on an e-mail from the EA)

What we did
Next step was to take the data on flow rate and compare it with what we knew about Hurley gate settings to see if we can make a sensible correlation between a given flow rate and a given Hurley gate setting.

We therefore got the past years worth of daily flow rate data from MRC and also the past years worth of text updates to TVF on the gate status from Gareth. A short amount of number crunching via Excel produced the following chart:-

Fig. 1 Thames River flow rate (Cumecs) and Hurley Gate status – July 08-July 09.

Not surprisingly, the data clearly shows a strong link between higher flows and higher numbers of gates open at Hurley. So the next step was to look in more detail at the data to see if the “trigger point” for gates opening and closing was consistent. i.e. do the gates always open/close at a given flow rate and if so what is it?

Again using the data for the last year we created a model of gate opening levels and used this to predict the gate level and then compared it to the actual gate status. The final model data that gave the best match between predicted and actual gate settings is given in the table below:-

Fig. 2 – Hurley Gate predicting model for Thames flow rates. (July 09)

This shows the river flow rate (in Cumecs) needed to either open a gate (river rising) or close a gate (river falling). So for example the model predicts that as the river rises from 29 to over 30 Cumecs 1 gate at Hurley will open, if it rises further to 50 Cumecs 2 gates will open and at 70 Cumecs we get to 3 gates etc. On the way down though 3 gates will remain until the rate drops below 65 cumecs and similarly 2 gates holds until we get down to 45 cumecs etc.

Accuracy.
The model above proved remarkably accurate at predicting the change point for Hurley gates, and 70% of the time it got the gate change and the time/date right  i.e. model predicted change date was the same as the actual change date. Most of the errors were where the model predicted gates should close and they held open for a few days longer. This was particularly prevalent after a good spell of 2 and 3 gates. We suspect this is a result of Giles (the Locky) doing his best to prolong the fun! Other general errors appear when the river rises very quickly and we go from 1 to 2 to 3 and even 4 gates over a very short period. In these cases the gate opening tends to happen slightly earlier than the model predicts. We suspect this is due to the Lock keepers being cautious and opening up gates early to prevent any build up of big flows above the weir. Generally though, these errors result in the model being no more than 1 day out with its change prediction.

Summary
The modelling work appears to show that there is a very strong correlation between measured flow rate on the Thames and Hurley gate positions. Knowing the measured flow rate enables you to say with a high degree of certainty what gate setting Hurley will be on, and by tracking trends in flow rate if it is likely to change either up or down in the near future. In short, if you want to know what Hurley is or will be on go to the MRC site check the flow rate and then look it up on the table in fig 2 above. Until we get a web cam on the weir this is probably the best predictor we will get.

Acknowledgements.
Modelling work done by Garry and Ciaran Miller with thanks to Gareth, Sam and Dave/Scout for tracking down the data in the first place. Any questions about this model then PM Garry or post on the TVF site and we will try and answer them.

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Biggest News Ever- Newest All-Star EVER! 2010 All-Star launched today! Literally!

For the last four years paddlers have congregated in the North-West of Scotland for the Wet West Paddle Fest.  What more could you ask than for two days of fun filled paddling.
The weekend starts on the Friday night in the British Aluminium Club, Fort William where you can meet up with fellow boaters and pick up your event passes.
Saturday is the River Garry event, which is a fairly easy paddle with good playspots and easy access along its length.  It is equally suitable for less experienced boaters as well as the hardened pros.  A shuttle service is provided and will be operating from approximately 10am to 4pm on both days of the event. We hope to have food and demo boats available at the take-outs.  To finish your first day off with all your new paddling pals, it’s back to the British Aluminium Club for some evening fun!
Sunday is mainly for those who prefer a steeper challenge, the River Moriston! It is both excellent to paddle and fantastic fun to spectate, with most of the rapids easily accessible for photo opportunities to impress your mates that couldn’t make it.  The harder parts of the Moriston are the top section (just below the dam) and the final section from the A82 bridge to the end of the gorge.  A more moderate grade 3 paddle can be taken on the middle Moriston, between the two sections.

Keep an eye on the web site (www.wetwestpaddlefest.co.uk) for more information and tickets will be on sale through the SCA website (www.canoescotland.com) from June onwards.

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