Bristol Canoe Club – Sort Canoeing Festival Trip 1998
Sort Canoeing Festival July 5th – 11th 1998
XXXV International Rally of the Noguera Pallaresa River
This year, Bristol Canoe Club decided to go to the Canoe Festival held in Sort, Northern Spain. Some of the club went in 1993, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, so it seemed an excellent idea for another summer holiday.
The festival is a canoeing festival held every year for one week in July, at the town of Sort, in the Pyrenees, in northern Spain (Catalonia). Sort is close to Andorra, high up in the mountains. The river Noguera Pallaresa flows through the town. The river is controlled by dams further upstream, so water is guaranteed for the week of the festival. The town of Llavorsi is about ten miles upstream. The river is graded class 3 and 4 from Llavorsi down to Sort. In Sort itself there is now a slalom course with about 200 metres of grade 3 water, with many artificial breakouts, etc. You can also paddle for at least ten miles downstream from Sort, where the water is graded class 2 and 3, with a couple of grade 4 rapids. There is a large campsite right next to the river, just upstream from the town.
The organisers arrange various events for each day. These are mostly competitive events, but you don’t need to take them seriously if you don’t want to. You certainly don’t need to enter every event. Many of the clubs bring large numbers of youth paddlers, and every competition has classes for ‘infants’, ‘cadets’, ‘juniors’, ‘seniors’, and ‘veterans’. There are lots of prizes to be won! The Spanish national slalom championships and rodeo championships are incorporated into the week.
There were twenty or thirty clubs attending this year. These were mostly Spanish and French, with a few German, Swiss, and Dutch, and just three groups from the UK. In the past there have been many more UK groups, including many University clubs. I don’t know why there were so few this year!
Bristol’s ‘team’ consisted of seven people: Myself (Conor), and my wife Lisa, Paul C and Paul N, Daren, Clive, and Jonathan. I have an RPM, as does Lisa. Paul C has a Waveform Stubby, Paul N has a Freefall LT, Daren was in a Dancer, Clive was paddling my old Corsica S, and Jon has an Acro 270. We ended up travelling down to Sort in four cars. Three cars left Bristol on the Friday evening, travelled on the overnight Portsmouth to Cherbourg ferry, then drove all day through France down to Spain. Jon had been working at PGL in Embrun (France), teaching kids outdoor activities, so he drove direct to Sort. We arrived in Sort late on Saturday evening – some later than others, because the two Pauls managed to be stopped by the police and breathalysed in Sort, just 100 metres from the campsite! Needless to say, they hadn’t been drinking at all, so were perfectly OK!
The campsite was fairly full, and nearly every set of tents had various boats alongside. There were large numbers of slalom boats, large numbers of white water racers, and lots of plastic play boats. It turned out that the group next to us were the Spanish ‘Team Perception’ – they were all paddling 3Ds. There were also lots of the Prijon Aliens too.
On the Sunday we decided to have a simple warm up paddle because we hadn’t ever all paddled as a group together. Paul N opted out because he wasn’t feeling so good. We paddled from Rialp (about three miles above Sort) down to the town. This was a simple grade 2 and 3 section, with one dangerous weir (portage), but even so the speed of the current was a bit surprising for us who are used to British rivers. I would say that it is a little like the Usk in high-ish flow, certainly much bigger than the Dart or Tryweryn. It was very nice, especially paddling in the sunshine. No worries about hypothermia etc like British rivers (though the water was fairly cool), but we had to worry about sunburn instead! When we got down to the town, we had plenty of opportunity to play at the slalom site. This is an excellent site – built since we were last there in 1993. It includes one large(ish) stopper for playing and pop- outs, and this is where the rodeo is held (see later…).
Sunday evening was the official opening ceremony. This is a pretty laid back affair, but it is entertaining because of a two minute speech which is then repeated in five languages: Catalan, Spanish, French, English, and German!
Another two groups of Brits had turned up by this time. There were two guys from Godalming, Doug and Stuart, who were there just to have fun. They had been to the festival every year for ages. Also, a bunch of white water racing paddlers appeared. There were three kids, Mary, Peter, and Colin, who are all keen and up-and-coming white water racers, and their mums or dads, and Andy Parry who was there as a coach. They had heard about the festival, and decided to use it as an excuse for some proper training (shome mishtake, shurely?)
There was a reception party at the local nightclub that evening, supposedly at 10.30pm. However, at 10.30 only the British had turned up. It tried to liven up later on, but Sunday night wasn’t really moving.
Monday was the ‘Kayak Descent’ aka a white water race. I’ve never actually competed in a white water race before, but we decided that we were up for it – in our plastic play boats! Lisa wasn’t feeling too well, and Clive has only paddled a bit of grade 3 and didn’t fancy racing alone, so that left five of us. The course was about five miles, on grade 3 and 4 water, upstream of the town down to Rialp, which is where we got on yesterday. We hadn’t seen this section yet, but with a full dam release it should be ‘entertaining’. As is usual in a white water race, each of us set off at 1 minute intervals. This meant that we were all going to paddle a grade 3/4 river with no one nearby! The organisers had placed some safety cover at three of the worst rapids, but this still seems to break my ‘less than three should never be’ rule. Well, we did it anyway. I managed to roll after hitting a pour-over towards the end of one particularly long rapid. Paul C was one minute behind me, and near the end of the race I could seem him catching me up. After I ran one particular fall, I thought I’d better turn around and see how he did. Just as I expected, I saw him roll too. However, we were the only casualties, and we all finished in a respectable time. Paul N had missed the warm up paddle the day before, so this was his first trip, and it unnerved him a bit – apparently he threw up half way down the course! Needless to say, we didn’t win any prizes, but it’s the taking part which counts… Daren came first out of our group, but we pointed out that his boat was longer (a Dancer) so he had an advantage…
The organisers arranged a lunch for us all at a hotel at the finish in Rialp. This was hugely popular, especially with hordes of Spanish kids from the local canoe clubs. These Spanish kids certainly like their calamari (squid) – I can’t image many British kids liking it. The lunch finished off with a water fight among some of the organisers too.
On Monday afternoon there was a trip to the local National Park (‘Alto Pallars’). We drove twenty miles or so to the entrance to the park, where we transferred to Land rovers provided by the park. (No cars are allowed in the park). These Land rovers took us up a steep windy road into the main area of the park, then carried on further up a very steep rough stone road. Finally, we stopped at 2100 metres altitude, with some very spectacular sights of the mountains. We had about half an hour to wander around and take photos, etc. Clive, our resident hill-walker, was ecstatic, and kept muttering things about coming back another time for some serious walking. Daren, our resident climber, was also ecstatic, and kept on climbing up the boulders, etc. Finally, we had to leave, and went back to the park entrance, where we were given yet more free food and drink at a local bar.
And to cap this off, later that evening there was more free booze in a bar in Sort. They had provided some whisky and some local cider. At one stage, the barmaid was giving some whisky to one of the British kids, Colin, who was 16. His mum jumped up to try to stop her. But the barmaid misunderstood this. She decided to point out that the whisky should be drunk down in one, closely followed by the cider (or was it the other way round?). Colin rapidly took her advice, leading to a red faced mother. The rest of us happily finished off any remaining booze…
Tuesday was listed as the Spanish Rafting Championships (slalom), as well as the rafting competition for the rally. However, most of us hadn’t done any rafting, so we thought we wouldn’t be any where nearly good enough. Instead, we decided to paddle down from Sort to a town called Gerri, about ten miles downstream.
Daren and Jon were overly keen, though. They decided to re-run the race course in the morning at a slightly easier pace. They got up early (well, 10am), and paddled the river down to the campsite. They were expecting us to be ready to go, but when they arrived, we’d only just got up (well, we’re on holiday).
Tuesday had started cloudy, and at lunchtime a huge storm broke out. We decided that this just reminded us of paddling in the British winter, and carried on with our car shuttle etc. However, by the time we were going to get on, it still hadn’t stopped raining, and didn’t really look like it would. We all dived into a cafe, for some hot chocolate. The locals didn’t see to mind seven fully kitted up paddlers joining them. After half an hour or so we decided that the weather was starting to brighten up, so we got on the water.
The first few miles are just grade 2, and then the gradient steepens slightly. The first grade 4 section appeared around a bend, and we stopped to inspect, and decided that Clive should walk. While he was doing so, he touched an electric fence and got a bit of a shock, but nothing serious. The cows seemed entirely unconcerned by these multicoloured people walking by. We carried on, and the rain stopped, and the sun came out again, so it was definitely worth while after all. The next grade 4 drop (in Baro) looked fine from the river, so we paddled it without getting out, and all did fine. Clive’s first bit of grade 4.
Finally, the last grade 4 section appeared. We sent Jon off to inspect. I’d forgotten this rapid, even though we’d paddled it five years ago. Lisa remembered a line though. Jon came back to me, and told me to head off ‘straight down the middle’. I left Jon to tell the others. Well! it was a bit severe, and half way down I dropped into a huge stopper, but managed to roll before the next one, and survived OK to the bottom. I was then just about to get out and tell everyone else to portage, when Jon appeared at the top. I waited while he paddled down, and he did fine, except for hitting a large rock at the bottom. We then waited for the others. I discovered afterwards that Jon hadn’t told the others anything about this rapid – he’d just followed me down. The others all wondered what to do, but decided that it must be OK or we would have told them. Paul C came next, followed my line, and rolled on the same stopper that I had. Paul N came down with a perfect line. Daren bounced down and hit the same rock that Jon had, but stayed upright. Clive came next. We were all expecting him to swim – after all, the hardest rapids he’d ever done before were on the ‘Loop’ on the Dart! However, Lisa had told him the correct line (which was, basically, ‘keep left’), and he got a perfect line. I reckon that my boat remembered the route from when it did it five years before (and besides, Corsica S’s are very forgiving in big water!). Anyway, congratulations to Clive. Lisa then proceeded to ignore her own instructions, and dropped into ‘my’ stopper. She then nearly got back looped, and was pulled back into it again. I was very worried at this point, and was just about to rush up the rapid to her, when she was spat out upside down, rolled up, and finished the next bit backwards! So, we had all survived the great Baro rapids.
On Tuesday evening, the organisers had set up a Rafting Party, at Llavorsi public swimming pool. We turned up there at 10.30 as advertised, and discovered again that only the British were there on time. Again, free food and Sangria was flowing freely, and the local Spanish kids had great fun chucking each other in the pool, but it wasn’t really warm enough for this, because it was windy (ie, it was about the same temp as a normal British summer evening). So I stayed dry. About 12.30am, a coach-load of Spanish fourteen year-olds turned up, god knows where from. We then definitely seemed to be too old, so we went home…
Wednesday. This was the day of the ‘Super G’ slalom, and the Hydro speed slalom. Super G slalom is the same as a slalom sprint – ie just a few downstream gates, doesn’t matter if you hit them. Again, we decided to have a go in our plastic boats, even though most of the others were in slalom boats. We’d paddled the slalom course on Sunday, so we thought it would be trivial. I don’t know if the river was higher, but it was certainly fast moving. Clive wasn’t too bothered about getting the gates, and Paul N managed to miss one, getting disqualified. However, the short boats turned out to be more of a disadvantage than I thought they would be, and our times were well behind the leaders. Daren beat the rest of our club again, but as we said before, he’s got a longer boat. But it’s the taking part that counts…
We didn’t bother with the Hydro speed. Seems stupid to float down holding onto a swimming float when you’re capable(?) of paddling a boat… So Wednesday afternoon was spent sitting in the sun.
Thursday was listed as slalom competition for the kids, and the slalom teams. However, we also wanted to paddle the white water race course again, at a more leisurely pace, so we decided to miss the slalom teams. Clive went off into the mountains for a walk. Paul N and Paul C decided to try brushing up on their rodeo skills, leaving just four of us for the river trip. We started at Llavorsi, and paddled down to the campsite (approx 8 miles?). This was an excellent trip – lower water level than before, but still plenty, though it dropped while we were paddling. The long continuous sections were now a bit easier, and with the sun shining we now had time to enjoy it all properly. We spent about one and a half hours on the bit we had raced in 30 minutes. I spent most of this trip showing off my stern dips, trying to get Lisa and Jon to do them too. There wasn’t much point in Daren trying in his Dancer though.
On Thursday afternoon, Daren and Paul N went off to Andorra to spend some money on duty free stuff. The rest of us fell asleep by the pool… I could get into the idea of a siesta every day.
Finally, Thursday night arrived – and the ‘Party of the Rally’ at the local nightclub. By now we had realised that you don’t get there at the advertised time. We arrived at midnight, which was about right. There was a raffle on, whereby every time you bought some Fosters, you got a ticket. We even managed to drink some of the muck, but it tasted horrible, and I didn’t win anything. I’d really have liked a new Perception 3D too.
Friday was the rodeo heats. I’ve never been a great stopper basher, so I didn’t enter this one. Just the two Pauls. Paul N decided at the last minute that he’d use my RPM instead of his Freefall LT. The rodeo was held on the main wave in the slalom course. I’ve never watched a rodeo before, so we all sat down to watch eagerly. Some of the paddlers were certainly very good. There were lots of Prijon Aliens there, and the Spanish Team Perception were there mostly in 3Ds. There was a mishmash of other boats – RPMs, Vertigos, Flies, and others. The good guys were doing plenty of cartwheels and pirouettes. Our two Pauls both did pretty well, especially since this was the first rodeo that either had entered. They managed to come joint 43rd, out of 53 paddlers. This was frustrating because we couldn’t take the piss out of the one who’d done worse! The top twelve paddlers were selected to go through to the finals which are held in the evening. Again, we didn’t get into the final, but its the taking part that counts… (Actually, only two women entered, so if Lisa had entered she’d have made it to the women’s final.)
On Friday afternoon it was the Rolling competition. This simply times how long it takes you to do three rolls. It was held on part of the slalom course – the trick was to try to do your rolls before dropping into the next wave. I managed to come 13th out of 27 people, with a time of 7.66 seconds. I can do it faster in a pool without a buoyancy aid on… The winner managed an astonishing 4.4 seconds. It was also very surprising how many of the foreigners used a pawlata roll. Jon cocked his rolls up completely, and came last at 15 seconds. The trouble with Jon is that he doesn’t roll on the river enough…
Friday evening, and it’s the rodeo finals. They have set up floodlights, and we are told to arrive early because there will be lots of spectators. They say that there were 3000 last year (?). Nowhere near that many this year, perhaps 300. However, they managed to make a great show. It started off with a procession of boats coming down the slalom course, each with a flaming torch attached to the back of the boat, which looked very impressive in the dark. This was a procession paddled by all the people who’d won events so far this week. Then the rodeo paddlers assembled. Each was introduced by name, and given a minute or two of warm up to show what they could do. The finals then proceeded with three paddlers at a time at the wave, and again there was some very impressive stuff going on. The event was won by a Spanish guy, with a Dutch guy coming second.
On Saturday morning Daren and Clive had to head off for home, because they had only got one week off work. The rest of us stayed for the Saturday in Sort, and were heading off to France on Sunday.
Saturday’s event was the main slalom competition. This included the Spanish Championships as well as the Rally’s slalom competition, so there were a lot of competitors – about 120 all together. Again, three of us had entered in plastic boats. I’m ranked in Div 3 in the UK, and Lisa is in Div 2, and I’d say that the course was Div 2 or Div 1 standard. There were one or two others in plastic play boats, but as was expected we didn’t do very well. Lisa came last in the ladies, and I came 37th out of 41 in the men. But I beat Jon… And its the taking part that counts… It seemed odd to us to paddle to the new international rules (ie 2 seconds penalties, both runs added together), because the lower divisions in the UK are still on the old rules.
On Saturday evening was the closing ceremony. Again, speeches in five languages. The organisers thanked us all for coming, and apologised for the relatively low turnout. As I said before, there were very few British there. Some of the problem was that the main competition had got a little too serious – many of the Spanish guys didn’t come until the end of the week because they were elsewhere training for the slalom or rodeo. (The 1992 Olympic course at La Seu D’Urguell is less than an hour away, near Andorra). They then handed out hundreds of trophies. Every event, in every age range, for boys and girls or men and women, had a huge trophy. Yes, you’ve guessed it – we didn’t win a single one. We did collect the white water race (Junior boys) trophy for Peter, because they’d gone home the day before. So we at least had a trophy to look at.
On Saturday evening a ‘buffet’ was provided. When we were being told about this, the Spanish guy was wondering how to translate this into French. He was surprised to discover it was ‘buffet’ too. But the French pointed out that they said it first…
This buffet consisted of a huge bowl of paella, plus salads etc. There was also more free beer. This was held at the campsite bar, but for some reason the bar decided to shut at midnight, whereas every other night they’d been open much later. Most of the paddlers went off to the night club, but I’m afraid that we went to bed, cos we were driving a long way the next day, to the French Alps near Briancon. More about that later…
We have no hesitation in saying that it is an excellent week. The weather is sunny, the water is good, the locals are friendly, the other clubs are friendly. Everything a festival should be like. It was a shame that there weren’t a few more clubs there. As I said before, in previous years a few British University clubs have been there. It is a great festival to use as a warm-up for the Alps, or even as a wind down. It seems to be difficult to find out about it in the UK – it took me ages last winter to find out any details. And it doesn’t help that it is at the beginning of July which is still during term time for kids. We would have had more people if it was even one week later.
Last time we went it was definitely less formal, with more emphasis on fun events rather than competition. But the competitions are only as serious as you make them, and we certainly had fun in everything we did. This year’s organisers were very efficient, which contrasts to the very laid back approach five years ago.
The entry to the festival cost 4000 pesetas (£16) per person. This is excellent value – the trip up to the mountains alone was worth that, let alone all the free food and drink we got. The event was sponsored by various companies, including ‘Fishermans Friends’ of all people, so we all got a Fishermans Friend baseball cap. The campsite was a bit expensive though, working out at over £20 each for the week. Last time we went, the campsite fee was included in the event entry fee, which made it much cheaper!
The organisers are an outdoor activity company called ‘Top Team’. Their phone and fax number is +34 973 621 367. They have a web page, but there isn’t a huge amount on it. See:
http://personal.redestb.es/acanes/index.htm
For further information about Bristol Canoe Club, see
http://www.bristolcanoeclub.org.uk/
I hope this is useful. Please contact me if you have any other questions about it.
Conor O’Neill, Bristol Canoe Club.