Avon Descent, Day 2
Pulled up reasonably well from the flat-water sprint of day 1, so I was feeling ok at the start...hands and arms were a little bit sore, and I had some nice blisters on my fingers which I taped up. With the river flowing rapidly through the pre-start it was all a bit chaotic, with boats going everywhere trying to avoid getting swept downstream. Somewhere in that jumble I missed my grid being called up, and charged through the start a few seconds late. (ohnoez!)
The Day 2 ti trees are the worst on the river, even more so with 4 boats charging in every 30 seconds. It started off ok, with everyone bypassing the regular routes in favour of the nice broad channels opened up by the high water. Soon we had a nice train of boats going, which came to a grinding halt in a narrow channel. The call came back up the line that there was no way through, and we should back out....against a 2m/s current. My response was "You've got to be $#*&ing joking."
A couple of boats managed to turn around and came charging back up the channel through the rest of us clinging grimly to trees. A small K1 going broadside across the channel put a stop to that. Once the boats behind me (trapping my tail) got free I tried to back out myself, went broadside and ended up next to the K1. Lost balance, tipped out and came up between the K1 and my boat, which promptly tried to crush my face with the force of the water. I ducked under the K1, still holding onto my boat on the upstream side, and tried to figure out how to extract myself - the K1 couldn't move because of my boat, and mine was trapped by the K1.
I resolved that one by jerking the nose of my boat down and under the K1's tail - he promptly lifted 20cm out of the water thanks to the buoyancy of my nose. :) A few hefty jerks (bear in mind I'm hanging onto the nose grab-handle of my boat, which is the only thing stopping me from being swept downstream) and my boat came under the K1 entirely and got free. Floated down the river for a while until I found a small island poking its head above the water...never did find the blockage that caused all this crap....stupid paddlers. Followed the two crazy buggers who drive a canadian canoe for the rest of the trees.
Posselts ford was still a non-event, totally washed out. Saw my first wrecked boat wrapped around a tree above Superchute, which was almost blocking the whole channel. Slipped past that before getting sucked into a giant hole at Superchute itself and had my second swim.
By this stage I think I was down about 150 places for the day, as ski drivers and the luckier/fitter/more skilful kayakers poured past me in droves. After my third swim at Bonebreaker I was back with the slow guys at the back. My biggest problem for the day was catching these guys in the rapids - they'd head into the rapid paddling well, so I head in 20m behind them. By the time we're halfway down the rapid I've caught up because they just....stop paddling. These guys are drifting down the rapid, boat corkscrewing all over the place while they do brace strokes (losing more speed) to stay upright. I'm charging through the waves using my speed to keep some stability, run straight up their ass and get glared at.
(Apparently I wasn't the only one - Fiasco (very experienced K1 guy I did a run with 2 weeks ago) had issues with a double ski dropping an anchor at the top of Syds for god's sake.
Had more swims at Emu's (last stopper in the Shredder tipped me out, then nearly went down the Washing Machine on my ass if not for a switched-on ASU rescue guy and his rope.) Moondyne (all the way down before a ski went broadside in front of me) and The Wall (ski driver ditzing around at the top - he woke up just as I tried to charge past him). The water was...huge. Really huge. The thickets above Moondyne, which are normally boat-killers, were underwater. You could see the main drop from 200m upstream, which was a "...woah." moment. Some rapids disappeared, others developed huge stoppers and sucking holes, where the water dives under and circles back on itself - VERY dangerous if you're in the water, as the water will hold you under until you can escape.
Shot Lookout without a problem, then went to shoot Championship on my habitual right-hand side. Most people go left in all water levels, but I've always had success going right. Unfortunately at high water there's a big eddy at the bottom on the right side... I came flying over the last wave, hit the eddy and spun out1 before I could even blink. Stayed in the boat, caught my breath, tried to eddy back into the flow and promptly tipped out. Drag boat to shore, empty it, get back in. Re-enter the flow...over a rock, into a hole, tipped out again. Crap. This time my boat stayed in an eddy while I went sailing downstream on my ass. It took me about 250m just to get out of the flow, then had to walk back up the shore to find my boat sitting happily in the eddy.
Back in, starting to paddle and saw a couple of ski drivers floating downstream. It turned out one of them was KS, an elite orienteer doing her first Descent.
KS: Hi Paul....got a spare paddle by any chance?
Me: Errr, yes. Why's that?
KS: *holds up wing paddle with one blade, other end snapped at the base*
Me: Oh. Righto, get yourself in an eddy and I'll dig mine out.
As I dug my paddle out I took a hard look at KS. She looked completely wrecked and was shaking like a leaf. She said she'd been shaking like that for the last 3 hours! Gave her the paddle and told her to eat something and get moving, or she was going to be in real trouble. Debated staying with her but trying to paddle in groups at this level is a good way to end up with two dead boats, so I carried on. We found out later that she'd swum at Syds 1k downstream, lost track of her boat entirely and pulled out.
The channel leading to Syds is normally quite placid, but not today - the whole thing was a mess of big waves and random channels, a powerful flow heading for the waterfall and one gigantic hole. I gave the ski in front of me plenty of room, and true to form he drifted down without paddling much. 50m above where the waterfall channel splits off he fell out and didn't grab his boat. He went left, boat went right. He fell into the hole and stopped dead right in front of me2. I tried to avoid him, lost balance and fell out just as my boat went over the drop into the hole and clobbered him in the back of the helmet.
I came up holding the back grab handle. He was floating right in front of me, next to the boat, and just drifting along. I started barking "Grab my boat. GRAB MY BOAT" at him. Thankfully after a couple of seconds he looped an arm over it and I pulled us both to shore just above the main drop of Syds. Left him in the hands of the ASU guys (who were having a VERY busy day) and emptied my boat out.
ASU: So...you going to shoot it or walk it?
Me: Dunno...how bad is it?
ASU: You've already done the worst...
Me: Shoot then! :D
ASU: Righto. Best line is start middle/right, go under the low branch and you'll be fine.
Me: There's no low branch in...*looks*...oh. Right.
ASU: Yeah. It's a low branch today. :)
It was...wild. The first drop was confused, as it always is, but the rest was just a rollercoaster. 5m/s water or more, plus hard paddling, and I went down like I'd come out of a cannon. Stayed upright, got a nice cheer from the crowd3 and belted off down the river.
The ti tree thicket below Syds was an interesting sight, far more colourful than usual. It seemed like the front of each group of trees was decorated by a brightly-coloured boat...I think there was 6-8 dead/abandoned boats in the space of 50m. Apparently the carnage at Syds was pretty heavy...
Cruised through those trees and into Long Pool at Walyunga...to see a red Multisport cruising down the river with no driver. Another paddler made a half-arsed effort at steering it before wandering off. I figured there was a) no rush, since I'd already blown any chance of a good time, and b) no rush, because I was still well clear of the cutoff times, so I started poking it to shore. A bunch of spectators blandly watched me pushing this half-flooded boat to shore until I yelled out for someone to take it off me, at which one guy belatedly came down the shore. Just as I got it there the driver popped up - he'd apparently spent about 40 minutes walking up and down the river trying to find his boat4.
Trundled down to Bells, passing some exhausted paddlers on the way. I felt sore and out of strength, but I could still paddle...so why stop?
Bells...holy shit. The wiser people took the chicken chutes, I said "sod it" and headed over the main drop. The size of the hole at the bottom was staggering. My boat went in, the nose started climbing the stopper and then the tail caught the hole and just...stopped. I'm facing up a 15-20 degree angle and just going nowhere. Found some strength, hauled on my paddle and broke the tail free. The next drop was almost as bad - another big drop, huge hole, summon some more strength and get free again. I heard later that the carnage at the main drop was incredible, with boats and people going everywhere - including one guy who was held in the first hole for 15 seconds while the crowd looked on going "...oh shit."
Somehow I'd held it together through those drops, and the rest of Bells was pretty easy...and then the flat water starts. The flow pushed me happily to Gt Northern Hwy where I met cricketk, my tireless support crew. :) Refilled, switched to my flatwater paddle5 and carried on. The trees were...weird. Mostly easy, sometimes easier to paddle along the bank, impossible to recognise the usual river shapes because it was all flooded to hell.
The rest was just a slog. No fitness left, no strength, fingers and wrists were on fire...and it's sad to say one of my motivations was not wanting to post "...and so I pulled out." on LJ. Mainly it was not having to say "...so I gave up." to anyone, because giving up when you can still move is just...foreign to me, I guess. I couldn't find a reason to stop paddling 15k from home when I'd already done 115k, with 50k of it in pain. So I kept paddling.
People passed me, I passed some others, we all trundled down the river in our own little worlds with the power boats streaming past us in their race to the finish. I've never liked the 30k of flat water at the end of the Descent, but conquering it makes the sense of achievement so much richer. Finally Tonkin Hwy looms into view and you know as you pass under that you can see the rotunda at the finish, and then you know you've done it.
Onto the sand and collect my medallion from...I think it was the Bayswater mayor? He had a name tag, but I couldn't think so good at the time. :) I like the way they give everyone a medal, and they do it as soon as you stand up out of your boat - the nice man waits while you gather your legs (which can take a while), shakes your hand and hangs it around your neck.
Thankyou to K of course, for spending her weekend waiting for me and chatting to random people (as she does so well), zebra363 for the use of her house on Friday night, and to everyone who came out and cheered, waved or yelled things. Another Descent over and life returns to normal for a while...
1 'Eddying out' is a very useful way to turn a long boat. You point your nose into the eddy - which is either slower than the main flow, entirely still or sometimes flowing upstream. Your nose stops, while the tail keeps going in the flow and voila - you're facing upstream in a quiet patch. To eddy back in you just poke your nose into the flow and lean a bit while the river turns you.
2 Really bad situation for both of us - he's without a boat, I'm in a 5+m boat in a raging flow. If I go broadside to avoid him I'm screwed, he's in the path of 150+kg of boat and paddler.
3 Sorry shrydar and rabbit1080 - apparently you were there, but it was one of those rapids where if you took your eyes off the water for a split second you'd probably lose your boat. *waves belatedly* :)
4 Turned out he'd helped steer my boat to shore after I swum at The Wall, so karma came around nicely there. He tracked me down at the finish to thank me, and said he'd pulled out at Walyunga completely wrecked.
5 aka. The paddle I can't afford to break in the valley because each blade costs $250+ o_O
The Day 2 ti trees are the worst on the river, even more so with 4 boats charging in every 30 seconds. It started off ok, with everyone bypassing the regular routes in favour of the nice broad channels opened up by the high water. Soon we had a nice train of boats going, which came to a grinding halt in a narrow channel. The call came back up the line that there was no way through, and we should back out....against a 2m/s current. My response was "You've got to be $#*&ing joking."
A couple of boats managed to turn around and came charging back up the channel through the rest of us clinging grimly to trees. A small K1 going broadside across the channel put a stop to that. Once the boats behind me (trapping my tail) got free I tried to back out myself, went broadside and ended up next to the K1. Lost balance, tipped out and came up between the K1 and my boat, which promptly tried to crush my face with the force of the water. I ducked under the K1, still holding onto my boat on the upstream side, and tried to figure out how to extract myself - the K1 couldn't move because of my boat, and mine was trapped by the K1.
I resolved that one by jerking the nose of my boat down and under the K1's tail - he promptly lifted 20cm out of the water thanks to the buoyancy of my nose. :) A few hefty jerks (bear in mind I'm hanging onto the nose grab-handle of my boat, which is the only thing stopping me from being swept downstream) and my boat came under the K1 entirely and got free. Floated down the river for a while until I found a small island poking its head above the water...never did find the blockage that caused all this crap....stupid paddlers. Followed the two crazy buggers who drive a canadian canoe for the rest of the trees.
Posselts ford was still a non-event, totally washed out. Saw my first wrecked boat wrapped around a tree above Superchute, which was almost blocking the whole channel. Slipped past that before getting sucked into a giant hole at Superchute itself and had my second swim.
By this stage I think I was down about 150 places for the day, as ski drivers and the luckier/fitter/more skilful kayakers poured past me in droves. After my third swim at Bonebreaker I was back with the slow guys at the back. My biggest problem for the day was catching these guys in the rapids - they'd head into the rapid paddling well, so I head in 20m behind them. By the time we're halfway down the rapid I've caught up because they just....stop paddling. These guys are drifting down the rapid, boat corkscrewing all over the place while they do brace strokes (losing more speed) to stay upright. I'm charging through the waves using my speed to keep some stability, run straight up their ass and get glared at.
(Apparently I wasn't the only one - Fiasco (very experienced K1 guy I did a run with 2 weeks ago) had issues with a double ski dropping an anchor at the top of Syds for god's sake.
Had more swims at Emu's (last stopper in the Shredder tipped me out, then nearly went down the Washing Machine on my ass if not for a switched-on ASU rescue guy and his rope.) Moondyne (all the way down before a ski went broadside in front of me) and The Wall (ski driver ditzing around at the top - he woke up just as I tried to charge past him). The water was...huge. Really huge. The thickets above Moondyne, which are normally boat-killers, were underwater. You could see the main drop from 200m upstream, which was a "...woah." moment. Some rapids disappeared, others developed huge stoppers and sucking holes, where the water dives under and circles back on itself - VERY dangerous if you're in the water, as the water will hold you under until you can escape.
Shot Lookout without a problem, then went to shoot Championship on my habitual right-hand side. Most people go left in all water levels, but I've always had success going right. Unfortunately at high water there's a big eddy at the bottom on the right side... I came flying over the last wave, hit the eddy and spun out1 before I could even blink. Stayed in the boat, caught my breath, tried to eddy back into the flow and promptly tipped out. Drag boat to shore, empty it, get back in. Re-enter the flow...over a rock, into a hole, tipped out again. Crap. This time my boat stayed in an eddy while I went sailing downstream on my ass. It took me about 250m just to get out of the flow, then had to walk back up the shore to find my boat sitting happily in the eddy.
Back in, starting to paddle and saw a couple of ski drivers floating downstream. It turned out one of them was KS, an elite orienteer doing her first Descent.
KS: Hi Paul....got a spare paddle by any chance?
Me: Errr, yes. Why's that?
KS: *holds up wing paddle with one blade, other end snapped at the base*
Me: Oh. Righto, get yourself in an eddy and I'll dig mine out.
As I dug my paddle out I took a hard look at KS. She looked completely wrecked and was shaking like a leaf. She said she'd been shaking like that for the last 3 hours! Gave her the paddle and told her to eat something and get moving, or she was going to be in real trouble. Debated staying with her but trying to paddle in groups at this level is a good way to end up with two dead boats, so I carried on. We found out later that she'd swum at Syds 1k downstream, lost track of her boat entirely and pulled out.
The channel leading to Syds is normally quite placid, but not today - the whole thing was a mess of big waves and random channels, a powerful flow heading for the waterfall and one gigantic hole. I gave the ski in front of me plenty of room, and true to form he drifted down without paddling much. 50m above where the waterfall channel splits off he fell out and didn't grab his boat. He went left, boat went right. He fell into the hole and stopped dead right in front of me2. I tried to avoid him, lost balance and fell out just as my boat went over the drop into the hole and clobbered him in the back of the helmet.
I came up holding the back grab handle. He was floating right in front of me, next to the boat, and just drifting along. I started barking "Grab my boat. GRAB MY BOAT" at him. Thankfully after a couple of seconds he looped an arm over it and I pulled us both to shore just above the main drop of Syds. Left him in the hands of the ASU guys (who were having a VERY busy day) and emptied my boat out.
ASU: So...you going to shoot it or walk it?
Me: Dunno...how bad is it?
ASU: You've already done the worst...
Me: Shoot then! :D
ASU: Righto. Best line is start middle/right, go under the low branch and you'll be fine.
Me: There's no low branch in...*looks*...oh. Right.
ASU: Yeah. It's a low branch today. :)
It was...wild. The first drop was confused, as it always is, but the rest was just a rollercoaster. 5m/s water or more, plus hard paddling, and I went down like I'd come out of a cannon. Stayed upright, got a nice cheer from the crowd3 and belted off down the river.
The ti tree thicket below Syds was an interesting sight, far more colourful than usual. It seemed like the front of each group of trees was decorated by a brightly-coloured boat...I think there was 6-8 dead/abandoned boats in the space of 50m. Apparently the carnage at Syds was pretty heavy...
Cruised through those trees and into Long Pool at Walyunga...to see a red Multisport cruising down the river with no driver. Another paddler made a half-arsed effort at steering it before wandering off. I figured there was a) no rush, since I'd already blown any chance of a good time, and b) no rush, because I was still well clear of the cutoff times, so I started poking it to shore. A bunch of spectators blandly watched me pushing this half-flooded boat to shore until I yelled out for someone to take it off me, at which one guy belatedly came down the shore. Just as I got it there the driver popped up - he'd apparently spent about 40 minutes walking up and down the river trying to find his boat4.
Trundled down to Bells, passing some exhausted paddlers on the way. I felt sore and out of strength, but I could still paddle...so why stop?
Bells...holy shit. The wiser people took the chicken chutes, I said "sod it" and headed over the main drop. The size of the hole at the bottom was staggering. My boat went in, the nose started climbing the stopper and then the tail caught the hole and just...stopped. I'm facing up a 15-20 degree angle and just going nowhere. Found some strength, hauled on my paddle and broke the tail free. The next drop was almost as bad - another big drop, huge hole, summon some more strength and get free again. I heard later that the carnage at the main drop was incredible, with boats and people going everywhere - including one guy who was held in the first hole for 15 seconds while the crowd looked on going "...oh shit."
Somehow I'd held it together through those drops, and the rest of Bells was pretty easy...and then the flat water starts. The flow pushed me happily to Gt Northern Hwy where I met cricketk, my tireless support crew. :) Refilled, switched to my flatwater paddle5 and carried on. The trees were...weird. Mostly easy, sometimes easier to paddle along the bank, impossible to recognise the usual river shapes because it was all flooded to hell.
The rest was just a slog. No fitness left, no strength, fingers and wrists were on fire...and it's sad to say one of my motivations was not wanting to post "...and so I pulled out." on LJ. Mainly it was not having to say "...so I gave up." to anyone, because giving up when you can still move is just...foreign to me, I guess. I couldn't find a reason to stop paddling 15k from home when I'd already done 115k, with 50k of it in pain. So I kept paddling.
People passed me, I passed some others, we all trundled down the river in our own little worlds with the power boats streaming past us in their race to the finish. I've never liked the 30k of flat water at the end of the Descent, but conquering it makes the sense of achievement so much richer. Finally Tonkin Hwy looms into view and you know as you pass under that you can see the rotunda at the finish, and then you know you've done it.
Onto the sand and collect my medallion from...I think it was the Bayswater mayor? He had a name tag, but I couldn't think so good at the time. :) I like the way they give everyone a medal, and they do it as soon as you stand up out of your boat - the nice man waits while you gather your legs (which can take a while), shakes your hand and hangs it around your neck.
Thankyou to K of course, for spending her weekend waiting for me and chatting to random people (as she does so well), zebra363 for the use of her house on Friday night, and to everyone who came out and cheered, waved or yelled things. Another Descent over and life returns to normal for a while...
1 'Eddying out' is a very useful way to turn a long boat. You point your nose into the eddy - which is either slower than the main flow, entirely still or sometimes flowing upstream. Your nose stops, while the tail keeps going in the flow and voila - you're facing upstream in a quiet patch. To eddy back in you just poke your nose into the flow and lean a bit while the river turns you.
2 Really bad situation for both of us - he's without a boat, I'm in a 5+m boat in a raging flow. If I go broadside to avoid him I'm screwed, he's in the path of 150+kg of boat and paddler.
3 Sorry shrydar and rabbit1080 - apparently you were there, but it was one of those rapids where if you took your eyes off the water for a split second you'd probably lose your boat. *waves belatedly* :)
4 Turned out he'd helped steer my boat to shore after I swum at The Wall, so karma came around nicely there. He tracked me down at the finish to thank me, and said he'd pulled out at Walyunga completely wrecked.
5 aka. The paddle I can't afford to break in the valley because each blade costs $250+ o_O