An Early Christmas Present Just For You:

A Weekend Wildly and Wetly White Water Racing on the River Washburn 2012. LUCC

Having been volunteered for weekend trip report writing duty again (thanks Fiona) I fear my writing skills are becoming a little too popular for my own good ( for hard evidence please see the 18 likes and counting on a certain facebook page post) but anyway, onto the weekend’s antics with LUCC.

Paddlers & Partiers: Stu, Kim, Schneids, Ruth, Liam, Tolly, Adi, Chris, Mike, Alex, Fiona, Graham, Ben Waller, Grogery & Me (Hannah. Or JJ as we can now just call me for convenience)

So, it was an evening departure from sheds with an imaginative and top quality (naturally?) selection of boats for LUCC -minus Stu- and despite a bit of a debacle with the van earlier in the day, we all set off for Yorkshire! Only to stop at ASDA on Smithdown for the essentials of the weekend; one of which youngest Alex failed to deliver on, so unfortunately there will be no addition to the collection of oh so classy gals accumulating in sheds. But anyway, after Gayham and Fiona had FINALLY got on the bus after taking just a little bit too long in ASDA (this was a recurring theme throughout the weekend) the LUCC convoy rolled on towards North Yorkshire.

Adi was, as usual in charge of the music ( I was, as usual not allowed anywhere near it) and we all sang happily and arrived with no problem at all…. Well, not quite. It was a bit chilly to say the least as we got lost, tried to follow more lost people, who tried to follow us. We did eventually get there however.

The campsite was lovely, scenic, spacious, rural with all amenities aaaand… in the middle of ABSOLUTELY NO WHERE!! Excellent.

So, being really generous and letting Tolly and Ruth put up the tent, me and Alex enjoyed our wander around the campsite trying to find LUCC after Grog couldn't be dragged away from having a ‘little’ natter with some unsuspecting DUCC’ers on car park duty. So after, making camp we headed to the only warm place around for drinking and scouting out the competition (we are ultra-competitive don’t ya know). Was a quiet night, with the notable part being the length of time it took Sprog to find his canister of disgusting cider that Adi had hidden. So, after being FAR too eager about going to bed, the best tent in the world (Ruth, Tolly, Alex and myself) snuggled down with 2 roll mats, 4 double duvets and 4 sleeping bags to a lovely toasty night. Not sure how anyone else’s night was, but I was pretty warm?

SO…. Saturday dawned not as cold as we expected and despite the efficient wake up call, it took a while to rise. But after the short trip to the River Washburn everyone seemed to rouse themselves at the smell of the fresh air and the morning frost (or was it just the bacon?) and the first paddlers (some of which were FAR too eager, but then again, Team GB paddlers were present!) made their way down the river. The get on was just down river from Death Weir (yes, these are the places they take us to) and Day 1 of BUCS WWR saw the longer distance time trial being run along a stretch of the river with most of the crowd gathering at the drop quite near the start of the course to watch the carnage ensue. Liam, Chris and Tolly were quick to get on the water and the one of the first C2 carnage crews to paddle/swim down the drop was Adi & Mike whose boat Liam gladly chased down the river, never once letting his inner frustration get the better of him….

Not entirely sure in which order everyone went, but it was a bit of a long paddle that looked really tiring from the bank (where Alex, Ruth and I remained) despite the encouragement/heckling we provided. Schneiders fell victim to a loose spraydeck and an unfortunate high brace so DNF, and the other K1 ladies decided they just couldn't be without each other and finished in quick succession with Fiona in 10.57 and “Spud” (Kim) 10.58 giving us 2 points overall in the K1W.
The K1M again, decided that being apart just wasn't their thing with Ben Waller coming in as the fastest of LUCC the results were:

28^th- Ben Waller 10.01
29^th Liam 10.06
40^th Tolly 10.19
49^th Adi 10.33
50^th  Graham 10.34
95^th Chris 11.30
143th Stu 14.55

                                                                                            ^^^Mmmm fingers in cracks^^^

The day finished with an incredibly destructive and wet run in the C2 by Graham and Ben. Whilst walking back up the river towards the get on, an excited looking Adi and Tolly sprinted past us towards the drop shouting something about “C2!!... Swim!...Take Pictures!” Naturally I felt I couldn't miss possible carnage but as we waited, and waited, and waited we became a little confused, even more so when a randomer (who turned out to be Stu) eddied out at the very top of the drop for no apparent reason. The C2 crew had done a little damage to say the least and hadn't even made it to the drop (boo!) and so it took a few minutes to locate the broken boat and its paddlers. Once returned to the van, the C2 took a turn for the worse with everyone sticking their fingers in cracks, and it somehow became even more broken (don’t you hate it when minibuses just roll over things on their own!!) After a bit of dancing and grinding from Tolly (Ben really appreciated that) we piled back into the minibus after a bit of faffing and headed back to the campsite.

 It was getting steadily colder and so I had the great idea (despite ridicule from EVERYONE) of getting into my mini sleeping bag I had brought for just such a situation and sitting outside the tents with everyone, then everyone got jealous and decided to lay on top of each other for warmth- Graham whilst laying on top of me “My back’s really warm, but I don’t think I should turn over, because that could get a bit weirder than it already is…” . Kim’s pancake mix in a bottle has to be the best idea ever as various people cooked with various successes and Stu whacked out his sausages as usual. After deciding that an ASDA trip was in order, we left Ruth and Liam to sleep (in separate tents! What were YOU thinking?) and after a ladylike exit from my sleeping bag not helped by various people- Tolly- pushing me over whilst I had no arms we all set off for Harrogate. As everyone looked at the tramps that had just wandered in to the shop, Fiona and Graham went in search of a cheap duvet to try and rival our tent- they failed-  and Greg hit it hard with Apple Sourz fusions (what a man) bought for him by Kim (aww ASDA alcohol policy times ) and we somehow ended up a giant bar of chocolate heavier (again, definitely tolly’s fault) and after making it back from our wander to Harrogate, it was straight back into the room from the previous night to get dinner. The food was, interesting but edible and it was here that an old friend of anyone who had been to the alps appeared: Dan Greenwood. Not sure at which point he decided to ditch EUCC for us, but he was full LUCC that night at the party, and did get a little offended when I asked if he was  Jack’s brother – “Jack’s MY brother, I’m not his brother” oops.

I don't see nothin' wroooong

with a little bump an Griiiind

Hey Ben! Where's your C2?

 Saturday night rolled on with an early chunder in the make shift hair salon outside the toilets (thankfully not from any of us but it was fun to laugh at them) and from here we all got rather drunk rather quickly. Vomming was the theme of the night with both Liam and Ruth making quick exits for some less-than-tactical chundering and Ruth I have yet to tell you this in person, but you sat in your sick a little when you fell over… Coming second in the boat race to Nottingham despite Grog’s poor effort at a strawpedo ;) was a good feeling, the team were: Grog, myself, Kim and Stu I think. Liam’s input into this report: “Excessive amounts of chunder everywhaaa” thank you Liam…

Shenanigans of the night also included us abusing the DJ, OH WAIT, NO WE DID NOT DO SUCH A THING THIS TIME. Well done to everyone for keeping their vagina-dj jokes under wraps: he was actually pretty alright! The party ended somewhat earlier that Teifi’s had, but the final Christmas tunes got us all festive and happy enough to leave the ‘barn’ (I’m sure they normally have 4 walls?) and venture into the cooold night. Tolly “is that all I get?” Robinson disappeared at some point in the night (ahh yeahh)  only to reappear at around 3am demanding his bed back which had somehow been mysteriously taken in his absence. Not letting this phase him, he preceded to snuggle down between Ruth and I, and Mike and Adi. A 5-man cuddle in a 3-man tent, not as exciting as it sounds I can safely say.

The second day of racing was the sprint and it was a little less than impossible to rouse from bed in the morning. But we did, and although I was once again the last one on the bus, it was still in pretty good time! For us anyway.

So, here are the results:

45^th - waller- 01.36
46^th - Tolly 01.37
47^th - Adi 01.38
56^th - Liam 1.40.2
59^th - Graham 1.40.6
80^th - Stu 1.49
94^th - Chris 2.14

17^th - Schn 1.45.5
18^th - “spud” 1.45.8
19^th - Fiona 1.46
20^th - Kim 1.47

There is some video footage (it is on stu’s GoPro so don’t get your hopes up) and I myself have a strictly classified video that shall not be appearing anywhere Liv Uni can see it (private viewings on request ;) naughty). But anyway, after getting the sprint over with fairly quickly, it was only a trip to death weir for Stu, Liam and Adi  and some last burgers to eat whilst they took the tent down around us that stood in our way from getting on our way home. Oh, and Stu’s flat battery. After a suitable amount of faffing it was on the bus and after a while into yet another isolated McDonalds to complete the weekend.

Well done organisers/paddlers/partiers/people who confiscated drink from chunderers etc etc.

Wet love as always,

JJ/ Hannah
xxxxxxxxxxx

Food for thought…
SOMEHOW we ended up with 3 points from the C2 overall. It’s definitely a Christmas miracle!! And we also finished 11^th overall.

MERRY CHRISTMAS & PREPARE YOURSELF FOR SEMESTER 2'S MOISTURE COMING YOUR WAY VERY SOON.

Christmas Paddle Report!

The early start of getting to the sheds at 7.30 in the cold and the dark was a shock to the system to all but soon enough everyone was fighting over boats and they were loaded up and we were off. With a bit of moaning from people at the front of the bus, mainly me, we found a spar in the middle of nowhere in Wales where we cleared the shop then caused havoc trying to get the bus back out of the village!

We got to the get-on after asking for a few directions to work out where we were and everyone donned their Christmas outfits; most went for hats, antlers or shiny bows with Hannah’s (JJ) ending up mostly floating down the river after a swim! While a few went the extra mile with fairy lights and Santa outfits. Spud decided that making a reindeer head to stick to her boat was more important than doing her university work, which looked great flowing down the river along with her Viking-esque helmet; winning her the best Christmas outfit for the day which surprisingly survived the whole river.

After the shuttle was done and Tolly had provided some entertainment by scraping down the small
stream leading into the river, we all ventured on to the river. We broke into groups and heading down to the first rapid, this claimed the first set of swims with Tim, Hannah and Simon swimming after about 5 minutes of paddling and then soon after Iain had a quick dip which resulted in him losing his hat, but was kindly recovered by Ben. Soon after we all stopped in an eddy to have a quick breather and photo opportunity then Fiona and James decided to test their dry suits out by having a swim and try and drag others in, quite unsuccessfully resulting in them struggling to get back into the eddy!

The next few rapids were done quite uneventfully even though we perfectly demonstrated cluster f***ing with everyone staying the right way up excluding Jack who felt like he needed to test his roll. We headed down to the last rapid which took a few more swims courtesy of Hannah, Simon (and maybe a few more I can’t remember) and a roll from Fiona. This drop was also nicely styled by Schneiders No2 (Hannah) who rotated 90o and fooling everyone into thinking she was going over before casually flicking the boat upright and styling the drop.

After getting out and packing up the boats we all got changed and Kim set up the mulled wine and mince pies while Stu set up a slack line. After feeling all Christmassy and being warming up on the mulled wine and mince pies we moved on to very unsuccessfully trying to walk along the slack line until it started to get dark and we headed home. I think everyone will agree that the Christmas paddle was a great way to finish the years paddling off and made us look forward to much more paddling next year! – Graham.

Happy Faces

The Greta, North Lakes Saturday 24th November 2012

Level: Medium – actually with a decent amount of water in!

Paddlers: Schneiders, Spudley, Christopher, Stuart, Gregory, Hannah JJ, Abbey, Jack.

A text from Stu just as I was falling asleep on Friday night informed me that in the morning we were paddling the Greta, so I set my alarm and hoped I’d packed all my paddling kit because there was no way I was getting out of bed to check. After walking across a frosty Wavertree Park to get to Paddle Manor very early for a lift to sheds, Stu informed us that Spud and I were leading. At sheds, we were reunited with Abbey and she was reunited with her Scottish green Hoss. We made it to the Greta after one pause to re-rack some dodgily angled paddles.

                The Learner Leaders attempted to do a river safety talk along the lines of river leaders being akin to gods (or goddesses in this case) while Stu messed about and managed to get piss in places he didn’t want it. This was the first of many times I was to speak sternly to Stuart that day. Once we were all in boats we set off speedily, trying to keep either me or Spudley in front. We spent a while marvelling at the fact that there was enough water in the river to cover the majority of the rocks, which I’m sure many of you remember from our pin-tastic Freshers’ Trip when the river was super low. I can’t remember all the separate rapids which were roughly grade 3, but after the first one or two Stuart took the Learner Leaders aside and informed us that we should be the ‘probes’ and that he and Chris and Greg were ‘invisible’ would only do what they were specifically instructed and wouldn’t do safety unless we told them to. This forced me and Spud to paddle better as there was no one to rescue us if things went TU, and also really think about using the whole group in the most useful way. This gave me many extra reasons to shout at Stu when he was awkward and didn’t do what he was told, but also improved my river-based decision-making a lot, even though I erred on the side of caution pretty much every time. Chris and Greg were exemplary and eddied out to pass on signals and got on throwlines etc when and where we asked them to.

                Abbey, Jack and Hannah paddled really well, and Hannah being the only fresher on a grade 3 trip I can forgive for her one swim where she unfortunately body-slammed a rock upside down. To be fair, it was next to the eddy I was sitting in and I can say that the rest of us all accidentally paddled over the same bloody rock although Chris and Stu managed to make it into some boofy thing. This didn’t make the booty beer at the end any less hilarious. “Grim” is the only way to describe it. I attempted to chase Hannah’s boat, which became a lot more successful when Stu came to help. Still cheerful and with cag chocolate consumed, we got back on and paddled off.

                We found a play wave which some of us failed entirely to get on. Well done Jack, I think that might have been a first river roll. Spud however, demonstrated the perfect but intrinsically flawed Double Roll technique. Imagine self binning as you roll up with too much force and just fall back in... and then do the same thing AGAIN and have to low brace to prevent a triple roll.

                Most of the group marvelled at reaching the get out, having failed to do any such thing on Freshers’ trip. Chris and I, leaders of the Freshers’ Trip Dream Team, just looked smug and congratulated ourselves on a second run of the Greta with minimal carnage. After a few neck-cramping minutes in the group shelter we could get changed and spectate as Hannah did her booty beer. Points for effort.

                We had the traditional visit to Keswick fish and chip shop and I got asked to leave the climbing shop for eating L All in all a successful day trip which hopefully got me and Spud starting to learn to lead and allow Stu etc to retire and live the easy life when they get too old for that sort of thing.

 

A DAY ON THE OGWEN 25/11/12

After I found the 6am wake up the hardest bit of the day, we all headed for sheds and were in and out racked up, paddles on in about 20 minutes and we were on the dark roads to wales.

We stopped at the little chef just outside Bethesda as Stu needed his ‘morning poo’ and we needed food and tea. We arrived at the get on at 8am and eagerly ran to the bottom of ogwen bank falls to see the levels which were a nice medium. 

The first rapid of a day gun barrel was huge! Tolly had a very somewhat lucky high brace after he was pushed right out of the hole into a rock. James also had a bumpy but clean run and everyone else styled it with the exception of Liam who rolled before he even got to the meaty section. 

Me and Spud then joined everyone else at the bottom of gun barrel and off we headed down the river. As we were paddling down the river it got noticeably harder as we were heading towards fisherman’s gorge. We got split into buddies, me and Stu, Spud and Liam, Tolly and James, ben and Greg and our new friend Nicky was running solo. The first drop into S-bend was a shock to the system but everyone cleared it, with admittedly a few interesting lines, Nicky had a roll then we began the gorge.

Stu was leading and I was following, the adrenaline surging because all you could see was a continuous boulder garden down the river. Making a few breath catching eddies we conveniently stopped in time to see James’ boat floating towards us and a surprised James sitting on a rock in the middle of the river. I got out with my throw line to prevent anymore carnage and Stu chased the boat down the river, taking a hard left line into a stopper and had a cheeky roll while no one was looking. Tolly then went to help the boat rescue and Ben, Nicky, Liam and spud went down to the eddy by them. I followed Greg down and ended up hitting a rock, capsizing into a hole and rolling up afterwards.  Several minutes later pulling James boat across the river. He was back in and we paddled on down where the fun continued! After a few cheeky braces and skilfully avoiding the bad lines Stu had taken we eddied out, to see an anxious spud and Liam zoom past. A few minutes went by and none of the others appeared, causing Stu concern so he went to investigate and discovered James had taken another swim  but was quickly back in his boat and we carried on. We then reached the get out but we decided to carry on another 3km where the grade 4 slowly eased into a nice grade 3 although the drops were becoming quickly rocky. We then all got out at 11.55am and soaked up some sun while we waited for the shuttle! A very successful first run of the ogwen for me and spud! We then racked up and popped to Bethesda for some lunch, Nicky then left us to continue his paddling elsewhere. 

We then headed back to ogwen bank falls again, where some of the guys were even keener to run it. But common sense prevailed and they got on below it to run a slightly lower gun barrel.

Me and spud called it a day, as we felt we were pushing our luck to nail grade 4 for another 3 hours. So we resumed photo duty above gun barrel (she took photos, I watched). Where we witness Greg stop dead in the hole, spin round then roll up afterwards. Stu, Tolly, James, and Ben all nailed there lines and liam took a perfect line, making an accidental eddy, then underestimated his ferry glide and nearly ended up in the metal spikes in the drop below. Me and spud then got changed, I had a nap and we waited for them to come back. At 3.30 they returned to hear the river had dropped off, which had made the lines a bit more technical. The majority of them got spanked in the hole Stu and I rolled in earlier and Greg after capsizing in the hole had several roll attempts and eventually swam looking pretty unhappy with himself. Then later on Stu looked round in horror to see James boat capsized with James still in it bumping its way down the rapid. He finally took a nasty rocky swim and ended up with a cut lip. But as a true kayaker he got back on and soon they were at the exit.

We completed the day watching Greg and James do their booty beers. An amazing introduction to the ogwen thanks for taking us Stu and Liam!