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Photo: Spence getting a nice line on the top rapid of graveyard section.

More of the same on Sunday on the Tryweryn. It was by chance that the guys I am going to Corsica with were there too It was good to meet them before I spend a week traveling with them in search of some of the best European whitewater in 3 weeks time. Again we spent quite some time at the entry rapid to graveyard.

Photo: Dizzy, Chris is so Dizzy, his head is spinning. like a whirlpool…

Photo: Nigel practicing some attainment

It was lovely to be out on the water and it was 8 degrees- positively balmy after what we have been experiencing recently. On sunday I spent time on the top sections but when I got tired late in the afternoon I switched to my play boat and headed down to the NRA wave for 30 min. ’Twas lovely although a little flushy- my kind of wave ; steep .

Photo by Chris: Me on the NRA wave

Photo: Nigel and Dan on the bottom of the graveyard section

It is so fantastic that a facility like the Tryweryn is free- how often do you get changing rooms, showers, cafe and a well maintained bank area when you boat- thanks WCA; you rock! And us UHCC members certainly made the most of it. We spent a lot of time making all the eddys and practicing the moves (including flares and boof) on the bird table.

Photo: Tim having fun on the bird table

Then is was off down to the graveyard and our group practiced the move from river right eddy to river left eddy after a small drop. This was may favourite section and I spent quite some time there practicing the boof/ flare into the eddy and clean rock spins. 

 Photo Tom spining around, like a record baby, right round, right round.

After the second flare I realised what my angle should be and where to plant the key stroke. I ended up having to go backwards down the rapid when practicing the clean rock spins but after a while I got into the eddy. So much fun. Then off down the rest of graveyard. I managed to get a few snaps on the way. 

Photo: Dave sporting his spangly new Burn.

Such a fun day on the water! then it was back to Lyndas for a 3 course meal followed by chocolate cake for Barneys birthday. Yummy.

Photo by Chris: Me on the Llangollen canal.

We parked in Llangollen and trekked up to the canal at 8:00 am no less and were on the water within a few minutes. Bleary eyed, we paddled to the put in of the Dee run just upstream of serpents tail.

Photo: James Blackburn on the serpents tail.

While the  guys were doing laps on serpents tail, Chris and I headed back up stream to check out the mutts nutts of new creek boat designs. I believe this is only one of these in the country and I totally had to try to take it for a boof:

Photo by Chris: Me getting comfortable in the the next generation creek boat

The rest of the run was super-fun and town falls was good, but definately on the low side.  After our blast down the Dee it was off to the Trywern for the 11:00 am release.

Rich giving it the thumbs up. Whoop.

The slides were super if a little low. After the slides was a lush drop that that we ran several times trying to put into practice what Simon said we should do. Although it was a small drop, we spent time discussing the line and where to put in the key strokes. We all went slightly left to right with a right boof, trying to see the “window”.

Chris going for the right boof

Going for the follow through stroke.

Me reaching for a boofI missed my follow through stroke the first time.

I missed my follow through stroke the first time.

Missing that follow through stroke meant that I landed on the wrong edge. I thought it was all sorted, but I guess I’m still learning…that’s the one of the things I love about kayaking…the constant challenge to improve. The skills are there its  just getting that  mental side down then the muscle memory then the timing.

Rich and Chris had some really nice drops. Lovely.

Rich on the lip

Rich...boofedy boof boof

Dan hiking back up to a rapid

Pontrydyfen is a small, picturesque village  nestled in the Afan valley and happens to be the birth place of Richard Burton and Rebecca Evans among other stars. This run started with a several weirs followed by a significant number of weirs and ended with a multitude of weirs. I think about 30 in all.

Will boofin' the second weir

Will on a rapid at the start of the run

Dave about to go down a nice weir

Who let tide out...who..who...who..who..who

Would you trust this man?

For my North American blog readers this course is similar to a wilderness first aid course. We started off with group discussions of accident scenarios in remote locations and talking about how we’d deal with them. Then it was onto  lessons about monitoring vital signs and checking the airway, breathing, pulse etc followed by full body checks then resus with the lovely Ms Annie.

Dealing with bleeding and shock were the order of the afternoon interspersed with emergency scenarios outside on the cold ground (it was close to 0 degrees outside…brr). We practiced bandaging bleeds and discussed the most appropriate bandages to carry in our first aid kit. We followed this up with a post match analysis over dinner at the pub.

Kevan and Elaine practice pillow bandaging

Sunday we discussed how to best deal with resuscitation after drowning, fits and convulsions. We learned how to help prevent and deal with diabetic attacks, hypothermia and anaphylaxis. A significant amount of time was dedicated to learning how to deal with fractures and dislocations, sling tieing, pillow bandage making etc. We covered spinal injuries and how to evacuate in an emergency scenario.

Evacuating Kevan who has a spinal injury

For a good chunk of the afternoon we were outdoors in the forest in role play situation dealing with all manner of illnesses, including an axe to the leg, diabetic coma, dislocated knee–cap, scratched eyeball, sucking chest wounds among others…Leo likened the scene to one from Shaun of the Dead; and that’s definitely a fair comparison.

A still fromthe film the comedy classic 'Shaun of the Dead'

After completion of this course I feel that I have been armed with the knowledge to deal with accidents confidently, rapidly and efficiently.  I highly advice anyone to do this course with the supercool coach, Mr Leo Hoare .

Pete checks me over and puts me in the recovery position

Although I started paddling nearly 20 years ago, I’ve never really been one for pursuing paddling qualifications. Apart from safety courses, I am more of a ‘learn from friends; let the river/ocean teach you lessons’ kinda girl. So when I bumped into Simon one evening at River Dart Country Park (RDCP) and he asked me if I wanted to do 5 * training with Gene17, I thought about it really hard. Would it be worth the investment? The overriding answer was a resounding yes. 

I had two main issues that really needed to be addressed and the 5*T proved to be the perfect forum for ironing out those concerns. Firstly, I have been finding myself up front, leading peers down class IV rapids, rather than being a passenger. I had no idea how to judge whether I was doing a good job of leading or not. Secondly I’d reached a plateau in teaching myself key strokes and was stuck with a sketchy boof.

The first day of 5*T saw myself and two fellow 5*trainees with Dennis on the Upper Dart at a friendly level (lapping the slab). The morning was dedicated to covering advanced key strokes, including efficient eddy turns, boofs, attainment and cross grain moves. We also covered secondary strokes such as the stern squeeze (I never even knew this stroke existed; now I’m in love with it). We learned concepts for reading rivers, such as setting markers on the river and visualizing how to get to them; awareness of our immediate environment while looking ahead and planning for the next rapid or eddy.

During the afternoon we spent time talking about and practicing group management, group safety, spotting lines, presenting lines to a group of mixed ability and general “soft skills”. This gave me direction on how to successfully lead on harder water whilst being sensitive to each individuals needs within the group. We also covered techniques to keep the group moving quickly, safely and effectively downriver. Then it was off back to RDCP for some soup and debrief; closely followed by beer (3 pints of).

Sunday was dedicated to personal development and core skills with Simon; and what better place to practice those skills than on the East Lyn? We started with the good ol’ boof. Simon filmed and offered advice as we ran a little ledge over and over. With the instant video analysis combined with Simons critical eye and explanations, our boofs improved infinitely after just 4 re-runs of the rapid. A new concept for me was learning that key strokes should just be an extension of a regular paddling stroke; not forced.

The author finding a nice posing spot

We encompassed more river reading and boofing clinics all the way down the gorge and we put into practice line of sight and river/ bank communication skills. Simon’s teaching style included demonstrations, instant video analysis and succinct, yet effectual advice. Simon took each of our river running issues and fixed one thing at a time until it all just flowed. A great day of learning and personal skill development was followed by a lengthy debrief in the pub. During the1 to1 feedback we were given clear goals and targets to reach before going for assessment.

 The 5 *T with Gene17 taught me in 1 weekend what I’ve tried to teach myself in 2 years. I finally know what is expected of me leading class IV rivers and I finally have a boof that works. Yay! That’s a pretty good return on the investment, I’d say.  ]]> http://worldkayakblogs.com/welshkate/2010/01/31/5-training-with-gene17/feed/ 0