Welcome to a new millenium and a new edition of the Bristol Canoe Club Magazine. Due to a huge effort by members we have a massive 8, yes that’s 8, page!! issue. Articles from around the globe showing that Bristol Canoe Club really do it any time and anywhere. Plus there’s some canoeing too…
In this Millenium Extravaganza Issue
- Important Stuff
- Club Trip to Europe
- Marathon Report
- Polo Headbanger
- New Year’s Day Lemmings Paddle
- Tees Trip
- River Grading update
- Limerick competition
- The Liffey Descent (a pictorial guide)
- River Exe
- Endeavour Charity(tastic) Race
- Patagonian Paddling
- For Sale
- Spring Programme
- Membership List
Important Stuff (aka Club Notices)
Please could you all check to see whether you may have any club equipment (spray decks, buoyancy aids, etc.) which you may have accidentally left at home. If so, please bring them back – we need them! Also, if anyone has any old items of kit lying around at home, which they don’t feel they want any more, the club will normally be very happy to accept them for more active use.
To all club members: We have been told by Wet and Windy (a shop just off Winterstoke Road in Ashton) that they repair latex seals for dry-cags. So if you needs yours to be repaired, try asking them.
Last autumn Lisa took some of the second team’s polo buoyancy aids down to the pool, for use at the training sessions. One of them seems to have
gone missing. If you have it anywhere, please return it to Lisa. It is a dark green and blue ‘slab’ style buoyancy aid, with a front zip.
Conor
Club trip to Europe, Summer 2000
As many of you are probably aware, we have an idea to try something slightly more unusual this summer for a foreign trip. We’d like to try paddling in Slovenia and/or Croatia. The idea is not to do anything too extreme, but to see what the paddling is like there.
I have managed to get some descriptions of rivers off the Internet, so we do have some information about the rivers which I can show you if you’re interested. I haven’t got as much as I’d like. There’s quite a lot on the net, but mostly it is in German…
The current idea is to do the first two weeks of the school holidays – i.e. last week of July and the first week of August. We’d drive over there, and camp there. We would probably camp somewhere for one night on the way there and the way back (possibly Augsburg in Germany?). I don’t know what the total cost might be.
We need to gauge what the interest is, so if you are interested, please contact me and I’ll discuss the trip, and I’ll try and arrange a meeting of everyone who’s interested sometime.
Conor
Snickers (oops) Marathon report
From on the spot reporter Steve Bennett
Training will continue throughout the winter at Baltic Wharf, Tuesdays 6pm K2, Thursdays 6pm K1. Sunday mornings – ring first.
Results. Griffon SW Hasler, 7th Nov, Saltford
A great result from the team gaining 2nd place. 10 clubs entered. Well done to all our paddlers.
K2 Div 3/4
2nd Rob Knott & Steve Bennett
4th Tony Musson & J Labbet (Solent)
K2 Div 5/6
1st Kev Williamson & Nick Pagon
3rd Mark Heeley and K Sanders (Griffon)
K2 Div 9
3rd L Taylor & C Webb
K1 Div 4
2nd M Davis
3rd A Moore
7th R Stinchcombe
K1 Div 5
4th C Chudley
K1 Div 8
5th P Niblett
8th R Bishop
K1 Div 9
10th P Tullett
A total of 210 points
Exe Descent Nov 21 Tiverton-Exeter 19 miles.
9 major weirs. Very low water. Cold & sunny.
Rob Knott and Steve Bennett, K2.
Ron Stinchcombe and Melissa Simons, K2.
This year’s race was a real boat cruncher especially for us lardy crews.
Rob and Steve – foot rest sheared off in the back on the first weir, bad news with only 19 miles to go! Carried on making the best of it. Ran aground more times than I can remember.
A Classic sideways shoot over the huge weir at Thorverton – a near disaster in a fallen tree. Stopped dead on 4 pines weir – no water on the 50 foot face.
Spun a few times at Cowley – excellent shoot at flower pots. Finished 4th! Best ever by Bristol Canoe Club.
Ron and Melissa did really well and recorded a very good time for the conditions and 4 swims – another best ever!
Stour descent 5th Dec 15 miles Sturmington Mowton Mill to Bryanston School.
Fairly good water levels. Cold. Sunny.
This race takes the form of a time trial – you go off in 3’s. A very narrow twisting little river with a lot of technical bits – trees, currents, trees, eddies, trees, weeds, trees, rapids, trees, weirs, trees and more trees.
K2 Kev Williamson and Steve B. 3rd place – missed out on 2nd place by 6 seconds.
K1
Mark Davis 5th, Alan Moore 6th, Rob Knott 7th Only 200 yards between them.
A most excellent result from the senior paddlers. Great fun against the opposition. The finish is at one of the country’s posh schools for sport – showers, food & drink all laid on. There are classes for all canoe categories. Put it in your diary for next year.
Steve Bennett.
Polo Headbanger – Jan 2000
A quick update on the fortunes of the Bristol Pitbulls this season. So far we have played two Div 4 tournaments, and, most recently one S/W Invitation League at the Olympic size pool in Street. This year the team has lost (sadly???) Simon Curtis and Justin Sims to higher education, whilst we welcome Tony Barrass with his new buoyancy vest!
Our results so far have consisted of several draws, which we SHOULD have won, and several losses, where we REALLY deserved a draw; well that is my opinion REFEREEEEEE! We also have received our usual thrashing by Dragons (with only four players, of which one is the ex-GB player Clyde who counts for at least two good players), and Aberfan A. Still the team is improving as both Dylan’s shooting improves and our team rotation becomes more efficient.
Our latest tactic is having Dylan bang the opposition round the head whilst getting on the water. Sadly, it was one of the young female members of Wimpy Dragons, and not the notorious Clyde!!
Hope to see some more of you down the pool for some healthy competitive polo paddling……
Regards
King Bull
New Year’s Day Paddle
January 1st 2000
“Lemmings are now officially an endangered, if not extinct species”
Not many years ago, the AVERAGE age of the Bristol Canoe Club paddlers on the New Year’s Day paddle on the River Frome was FIFTY -FIVE years old. (This would have been even greater if it were not for the presence of that youngster Quentin Nichols)
This year I did not actually work out the average age of paddler, but apart from myself, Mic Mac and the afore mentioned Mr Nichols, the other members on the trip (Lisa, Mark, Kath, and Jenny) were all young enough to be my offspring!!
The other noticeable difference between this year’s trip and that of previous years, was the absence of fibre glass boats. (except poor Mic Mac’s of course, but he cannot afford to get himself a new boat that wouldn’t leak!) Admittedly most of these relics were only brought out once a year and had to be cleared of dust and cobwebs, but they did at least get this annual airing. Sadly, I suspect, most are now slowly becoming covered in bind weed at the bottom of various gardens.
The water level was good so all weirs were easily shootable and we all found the trip very enjoyable, except for our intrepid Grand Canyon paddler who found it all much too tame.
As usual we proceeded to Norton St Phillip for lunch where we were joined by Kath McBraida, the only one of the regular apres canoeists to turn up (apres canoeists are the wives of paddlers – oh and Tony) the others having been lured away by orienteering, caravanning, hangovers or flu. A lie-in prevented Conor from paddling but his hangover did not deter him from coming to the pub, although he was actually drinking coke!
I drank a silent toast (in tap water) to absent friends, and decided that perhaps Mark A had a point when he said that surely 10 a.m. was a bit too early a start to give all the geriatrics time to put their teeth in!!!!
Avis
Correspondence From The North:Mark & Kath-Two Reasons Not To Paddle A Kendo
A new Millennium dawns I’ve got a day off and it’s not raining so I thought I’d put finger to keyboard and relate a tale that happened over a year ago and I’ve been meaning to write about but never quite got round to it…………but before I relate the tale please bear in mind credit where credit is due.Mark & Kath did drive from Bristol to York and then a further 80 miles north into County Durham to paddle a stretch of river just over a mile long and all done on a day when the outside temperature never got above freezing.
As is fairly typical there was no water about,it was too cold to go to the Tees barrage and I had a new Micro bat to christen (the last one – strangely enough – had split in the Alps over the Summer) so that only left one feasible bit of water:the short section between High Force & Low Force on the River Tees.A cracking section with a couple of small falls fabulous Grade IV rapid and all ending with the 15ft drop over Low Force.
It all started well.the High Force Hotel where you get permits is now home to the highest Brewery in England,the walk down to the get in was particularly pleasant and High Force itself was just awesome.If you ever get chance go and visit as even my wife who is not known for her appreciation of watery matters whatsoever has actually admitted to being impressed by the sight.It was from here that things started to deteriorate (for Mark & Kath).because of the spary from High Force the steps/Rocks down to the River are always wet,except today when they were covered in thick ice.a very entertaining get in made better by the fact that temperatures were were dropping so quick that the a water at the edge of the river was starting to freeze !!!
We got on and bimbledc down:Mark & Kath in Kendo’s and Men & Bike in there trusty Microbats.The first/only major rapid is basically a 10ft shelf all the way across the river.You enter far left,hurtle down a big bouncy chute which ends in a gnarly hole/horshoe stopper.This tends to grab the back ends and squirts you out vertically.Not a problem until you realise that you have to land facing left to make it through a narrow slot just over a boats width across.(This fall was recently featured on BBC’s 999 Rescue programme when a paddler got broached upside down eventually being rescued no longer breathing.However the water temperature had slowed his metabolic rate so that despite being “dead” for over a quarter of an hour they actually managed to revive him.Strangely I forgot to mention this little episode to Mark & Kath !!! Not that we would have had any problems as cryogenic chambers are generally warmer than the particular part of Teesdale we were in !)I was very impressed as Mark shot off in the lead until I realised I’d been stiched up as he’d promptly broke out into the only eddy leaving me to check out the rapid first.No problems ensued we even had the luxury of Ben performing some planned cunning stunts in the hole.
The fun had now started in earnest as after this rapid it’s only a short paddle to Low Force.Now Low Force is the main spectacle and due to its size you tend to be a bit preoccupied and don’t take the little fall above too seriously (unless you’re smart asses like Men & Bike).Again it’s a shelf across the river of about 6 foot which is shootable on the right through a 12 foot gap into a perfectly enclosed horsehoe hole.The problem is that because of the angle of entry you can’t boof the stopper or get airborne and avoid it and due to the height of the drop the stopper is a bit meaty.The line is effectively paddle like stink as close to the left edge as possible and clip the edge of the stopper as Ben proceeded to demonstate as he bobbed through in his Microbat.Next went Kath in her Kendo and straight down into the middle of it all.She was stopped dead,back looped and then spent some time rolling around in the stopper before eventually being spat out extremely breathless and with a pleasant blue hue to her complexion.
Mark and myself witnessed this but unperturbed wandered back to our boats with Mark mumbling something about it “being her own fault as she should have paddled harder”As we launched and Mark set of I remember thinking “he looks awfully centrall” ie “you don’t want to go down there” Well I sat and waited for a signal but nothing.So being the sensible paddler that I am I got out to see what was happening.Did I B*****K’s !! I guessed that if he’d swum he’d be out by now so I set off ! What a perfect line.I got far right landing neatly between a recirculating Kendo and a swimming Mark.
It took a while to get the boat back during which time the tale unfolded that a similar experience to Kath had befallen Mark except he did n’t get spat out and was forced to bale out.The only problm was that his hands were so cold and numb that he could n’t feel the spraydeck strap and was stuck for a while. However he couldn’t have been that close to death as he was able to shout to Kath “For God’s sake do something to get me out”
After there respective ducklings they decided to give Low Force a miss leaving Men & Bike in their Microbats to boof the drop in such style that neither got their hair wet and were forced to do a Victory roll before getting out!
PS: To give you an idea of how cold it was the metal tip on Ben’s Schlegel froze to the Rocks while he was fishing Mark out. Our wet canoeing kit started to Ice over and the water left in the bottom of the boats froze solid in the 5 minutes it took us to walk back to the car. Perhaps I should have realised it was going to be cold being as my car outside Temperature gauge never made it over –2 and what with the gale force wind blowing around it was always destined to be a bit on the chilly side! But as I said at the beginning credit where credits due being as Mark & Kath had come from Bristol and Ben from Ipswich. The moral of the tale……..”It’s grim up North” ?…….nope…….don’t paddle Kendo’s !!!!!
River Grading – an update
River grading, according to Dave Manby…
Grade 1 – Take the mother in law
Grade 2 – Take the girl friend
Grade 3 – Take the wife
Grade 4 – Take the mistress
Grade 5 – Take the Photographs
Grade 6 – Take the Mother in Law
The all new, all singing and all dancing
Limerick Competition
This rhyme was taken from the Internet. Is there anybody out there who can do better?
In an effort to show what Bristol Canoe Club is capable of we are offering a grand prize of an all expenses paid, two week holiday to Tahiti, plus seeing your own prose in this very publication.
(Due to not having any dosh there is no holiday in Tahiti, sorry !)
Paddling the latest playboat?
Slagging all who can’t afford to ditch their spud?
Live and let live…. (Or send cash)
There once was a man called McPhee,
His boat it was broken in three.
Put off by the price,
Of a that new boat so nice.
He cried out ‘Please who can help me?’.
‘I can’ said a man from Alancer,
He had a dream called a dancer.
‘A boat made of plastic,’,
‘It looks so elastic!’.
He said ‘do you like what you see’
But a boat so pointy and long,
Is not the stuff remembered in song.
So along came the man from Pyranah,
With his new design so much smallah.
And we dished out our cash with glee.
On rocky rivers we knew,
We’d encounter a scratch or two.
Then on one November,
A date I’ll always remember,
My new boat turned into three.
Next up stepped Prijon,
Their plastic agreed on.
A boat short it would never break,
Any pounding it would take.
A world-beater you’d have to agree.
Soon surpassed however,
By boats thinner and newer,
A blowtorch was needed,
And in this succeeded,
In setting the trend for the future.
Meanwhile Pyranah,
Returned from Alabama.
A new boat for all to bemoan,
They called it the new Ina-Zone.
And we all dished out our cash with glee.
Cartwheels and wavewheels,
Rocked back on our heels,
Heads spinning with all the commotion,
Has stirred up a lot of emotion.
And new boats appear by the dozen.
Now Mcphee has a brand new problem,
And your help is needed to solve’um.
Boats no longer break,
But rather they go out of date,
So quickly you cannot replace them.
So send in your cash if you think that will help,
But let’s return to the root of the problem,
My indestructible spud,
So terribly stuck in the mud,
If only it would break into three….
The Liffey Descent
A pictorial story
The Motley Crew
That all important ‘clearing your nose’ moment
Nice Day for a Paddle
Entrant in the Cool Dude category?
A hard life, this canoeing lark
At the end of a hard day
River Exe White water day trip
Before I got on the water I was a little apprehensive about what was ahead. I had seen my Uncle Steve’s canoe the Exe Descent a couple of times before and I have always wanted to have a go myself. The only weir I was a little worried about was ‘town weir’, as the water pushes the canoe up against the wall so it is difficult to paddle.
On the first weir I got stuck on the wall of the salmon run and had to slide myself down along that.
The next weir was ‘salmon ponds’, the first weir on the Exe Descent. There was quite a lot of water going over this weir and none of us had any trouble shooting it.
There was a couple of very small weirs and rapids along the way to the next big weir, ‘Town weir’. At the top of ‘Town weir’, Steve was telling Ruth and me how to shoot it, Steve went over first, then I went over. As soon as I hit the fast water at the bottom of the slope I was forced against the wall so I couldn’t get my paddles in. I rode through it and at the bottom it felt ace to have done it.
After ‘Town weir’ there was another smaller weir with a ‘beach’ by the side. We stopped here for a halfway break.
The next big weir was ‘Bickleigh’. This was where our trip would end.
Before Bickleigh there were a couple of small rapids and then a medium sized weir. Steve led the way and I followed. When I reached the bottom the stopper hit me right in the face – I stayed in the boat though. After this weir there was a small detour of river which I went down. It forked at the end. The left fork was very narrow so I chose not to go down it. The right fork rejoined the fast flow. When I put the nose of the boat in the flow it spun me right around. I got my boat straight again and got ready for the last weir on our trip – Bickleigh. At the top Steve was telling me how bad the stopper at the bottom was, but when I went over I didn’t find it too hard.
This trip was excellent. It was my first time doing white water and I really enjoyed it. Anybody who hasn’t done it before should because they will really enjoy it.
Lee Taylor
Endeavour Charity Race
50 miles – October 99
The Teams Reds Blues
Canoeists Drivers Canoeists Drivers
Knobby Alan Steve B Chris
Ron Eddy Ruth Neil
Anita Linda Amy
Beth Pete Kev
Colin Mike
Mark H Keith
Nick P
The race was a whole 50 miles long. You complete the race with the help of your teammates, the boat, minibus, food and great drivers and helpers. The race is completed in stages. Every few miles down the river the two people in the boat jump out and swap. But it’s not as easy as it sounds!
FRIDAY: We all meet at Steve’s house after school and work. You can feel the excitement mounting. We all clamber into our chosen minibuses. The one I chose looks like it should have ‘Help the Aged’ written across the side. So, there we are zooming down the motorway when the engine conks out. You can picture the scene. We’re at the side of the motorway, it’s dark, it’s raining and the cars are speeding past a minibus full of athletic canoeists (no, I did not make up the last statement), the men are all hovering around the engine discussing what to do. It took about 15 minutes of fussing until we could get back on the road. We reach the final destination just in time for last orders. After a short visit to the pub, we check out the accommodation. Not exactly five star but good enough for us. We stayed in a scout hut, sleeping on the floor. So during the night you can imagine the noises I heard, so there’s no need to describe them.
SATURDAY: We all wake up feeling a little rough. The morning started with a reasonably early start. We got sorted into our teams and yet again got into the minibuses. Next was the short drive to our start points. The race was against the clock so when we got there a marshal greeted us. Our team was heading off first and we had an excellent start. We said our goodbyes to the opposition, insinuating that they prepare themselves to loose. We were feeling confident. We didn’t have time to watch the other team off; we were being called by Chris to get on the minibus. You hear him call a mile away.
The day was excellent. At each station we would be looking out for the other Bristol team, but knew they’d never beat us. We passed a few other teams on the way, which boosted our determination to win. But of course it’s not the winning that counts, it’s the taking part! We had a fun day as we took it in turns to paddle, and the helpers helped us with portaging, which is what I hate most. Luckily, we had no swimmers, but did have one or two people falling over! But after that, we won and the other team came a close second. Our time was 6:29, which we were all pleased with. The Red team’s time was 6:40, which wasn’t bad.
After the race we went to the leisure centre with the other competitors. We went for a swim and then went to the buffet. They gave out the awards, and we were presented with our medals. Next it was party time. The Lloyd’s Bank team had invited us back to the pub where they were staying for a kareoke and disco. Everyone had drunk too much and before long we were all on the dance floor. We had a few singers on the mic. Nobby did a very good Ken in Barbie Girl but he wasn’t the only one signing!
SUNDAY: Sunday is the day of rest which is exactly what we were looking forward to doing, but as usual something went wrong. About 5 minutes into the journey we stop for diesel but the berk who was filling the tank not mentioning any name (Neil), put petrol in the tank. Luckily the petrol station owner was very nice and helped with the emptying operation. Neil was left in charge of clearing the tank out. They got a piece of pipe from somewhere, and managed to get the petrol to come back through the pipe by sucking it. Well, whatever he did, it worked and we all cheered when we saw the liquid come back out through the pipe. Our journey home could now be completed.
Ruth Bishop
Patagonian Paddling
If you like adventure, the ECO Challenge has it by the bucket-load. Last year’s race was in Patagonia and promised to be a real test of endurance, ingenuity and sheer bloody minded-ness. Teams of four would compete over a course comprising of Lake Paddling, White-water Kayaking, Trekking, Mountaineering, Ascending and descending fixed ropes, and Horse Riding. Thankfully not all at the same time.
The start saw the longest paddle, a 105km stretch on the main lake. This lake is 75km long and at points over 20km wide. In bad conditions it can represent Ocean going conditions. Luckily, that day it was perfect with a clear sky and a slight breeze. The scenery was fantastic, to the west were Alpine mountains and to the east the arid desert-like pampas. We had rigged a golf umbrella on to the rear of each kayak, thus allowing both people to paddle and the umbrella to catch any available wind. With the light breeze they worked a treat, at times it was like having an invisible hand pushing us along. Unlike the sails that most teams used we could all paddle and so we were soon catching other teams. By the 70km mark we had caught 14 teams. As we started to head towards the end of the paddle the wind increased and a five-foot swell developed.
Once it got dark we had to stop and put glow sticks on our helmets. Whilst doing so one of our team became near hypothermic and we had to seek shelter with a local family. Unfortunately this decision was to cost us any chance of being competitive. We accepted some excellent Argentinean hospitality in the shape of a large pasta meal. This bizarre turn of events saw us watching the first day highlights of the very race we were competing in on local television.
We finished off the paddle early the following morning and then had a twelve-hour horse-ride across the famous Argentinean pampas. A fantastic landscape, a cross between scrubland and a moonscape. Next saw a 40km trek to the resupply point, this is where we could change our kit and restock on food from our gear containers for the next section. Due to bad weather an alternative course was organised. This was another walking section involved climbing up to a hut then traversing a fantastic landscape of rock spires and wild mountain lakes to a second hut then down a long river valley. We made it to the second hut by midnight, where we ate and rested.
Starting the next day at 5am, the storm had gone, but the temperatures were still near zero. A lot of fresh snow lay on the ground and I spent the next 5 hours with frozen feet. We walked down a long river valley and out to the next resupply where the inflatable white-water boats waited. These craft were called Sotars and are basically two inflatable tubes stuck together, a sort of large banana split, with the Team as the ice cream. Within two hours we were paddling off, at a very slow pace. We had to paddle about 25km down a beautiful lake to the start of the white-water. Then run the rapids before paddling up a river to a point were the boats would be left. The river was a pool and drop type with a few grade 3’s and one grade 4, “El Toboggan”. This was spilt into two sections with a very short section of flat in-between. The second part was basically a long chute with a hefty stopper at the bottom. Somehow I ended up in the back of the kayak, (very strange considering my teammate had 20 years more experience than me), and true to form, we flipped on the upper portion of “El Toboggan”. I had a brief second to get set for the swim through the second part and managed to hit the stopper straight on and got the full washing machine on spin cycle treatment.
However, most teams had chosen to portage and we had actually gained four places by swimming! In fact only a couple of teams actually successfully ran the rapid. The next morning I had to put on a frozen wetsuit before finishing the paddle at the base of a volcano. We arrived at the volcano to find out that the next 5 kilometres involved 2 kms of virgin bamboo forest. This stuff is hideous, so much so that one of the lead teams had taken 12 hours to do this section.
We made the next resupply at 9pm and had to be out of the resupply by 2am for the big leg up the 3500m peak of Monte Tronador. We had a full 2700m to climb to the summit the next day. We started early and we obviously tired from the lack of sleep. We made the summit by 5pm and were stunned by the fantastic view. Mountains lay in all directions, south towards the main Patagonian Icecaps, West into Chile, North up the Andes and East towards the Pampas.
We made the hut by 9pm and stopped for a well-earned rest and hot food. We had a luxurious 5 hours sleep and we felt ready for the final day of the race. After some more bamboo and abseils we reached the shores of the main lake for the final 20km paddle to the finish. Again the Umbrellas were used. Afterwards we found that we were the 3rd fastest on this section, only a few minutes down on the Australian teams, one of which had two ex-world kayak champions. Umbrella’s rule!!
As we turned the final corner and approached the finish, we were greeted by one of the organisers playing the Bagpipes. An emotional moment for Team Scotland! Taking a queue from Formula One we sprayed Champagne over the spectators. All too soon we were whisked away in a bus to the hotel. These quiet few moments gave us time to reflect on what had been a truly excellent adventure…
Tom Gibbs
Trading Places
If you have any kit that you would like to sell or anything you want then let me know. Either by email at thomas.gibbs@gknwaea.co.uk or phone on 0117 9079464.