Well what a busy few weeks. Two weeks ago we had the Australian Wild Water Championships. Last weekend we had the Avon Descent and this weekend we have the WA Wild Water Championships.
The Wild Water and the Avon Descent were just great events.
WA Wild Water Championships
Bridgetown
19th, 20th & 21st August. This weekend.
Slalom State Champs
Change of Date...
is now SATURDAY 3RD SEPTEMBER.
Due to the recent high water levels and lack of paddler/safety availability the decision has been made to move the state champs.
Some of the paddlers taking part in the Australian Wild Water Championships.
Photo John O'Sullivan
Swans on Bennett Brook Lake.
It's good to see school students learning to paddle.
A Paddle WA course.
Avon Descent 2022
With the water levels being high for the second year in a row no paddler
could complain about the conditions although for the novice paddler it was probably very daunting. I know I was a little concerned as being a paddler that has very rarely capsized I didn’t know if I would be happy to paddle and be able to handle a K1 in the high water conditions so I changed kayaks to a plastic 415 that had much more stability.
After doing 28 Avon Descents it wasn’t about winning but completing in a reasonable time, beating some who I shouldn’t beat, but being safe at the end of it.
I just can’t imagine capsizing like a lot of the ski paddlers do as it can’t be fun, when you are wet, cold and in some cases bruised and
battered! I do however take my hat off to those paddlers who stay on their sleek craft down every rapid.
Friday is the day to check out Bells Rapid and Extracts Weir like most other paddlers, to have it in my mind where to paddle on race day. Then it’s up to Northam to check in and drop my kayak off. It was sad to see so few
boats lying on the grass. 15 years ago the grassy area along the river got so full it was sometimes hard to find a spot. Lets’ hope next year being the 50th anniversary there are more paddlers.
Checking out Bells Rapids.
Photo Alaine Davin.
Devil's Slide.
Checking the route I would be taking.
Wayne Martin checking the left route at Williamsons Weir (Extracts) on Friday.
Alaine Davin came up from Augusta to be my ground crew. Having been working at Canoeing Down Under for 15 years she knew many of the paddlers taking part in the event so she was as excited as I was being part of the event.
Saturday morning the fog that was expected never eventuated and the hot air balloons that we usually see were absent from the skies. Not sure if it was too cloudy or they just weren’t taking off that morning. It was slightly chilly but there was no frost on the ground and the weather was better than expected so I didn’t need to wear my
cag.
As I crossed the river by the footbridge I ate rice pudding from a plastic container. Usually if I fill up with rice before taking off I rarely need to eat anything on the way as I don’t like stopping. I also had a banana before getting in my kayak.
As I was getting some grit out of my bootie Channel 10 came along and said we were told to speak to me so I had a quick interview. The power boats were now flying around creating a lot of wash and noise. It would be the first time that the small jet boats taking part were allowed to do the entire race. Last year they were only allowed to do day one.
The Avon Descent is losing its appeal to many who have done it several times and there are fewer new paddlers giving it ago. There are so many other sporting events for people to do nowadays. Once upon a time every one in Perth would know of the Avon Descent and if you did it you were classed as a hero, but now with less sponsorship and
publicity a lot of people don’t know about it.
Channel Ten interview. It's good that they only filmed my top half! I only had one bootie on! Photo Kate Martin.
Getting ready to go.
I was on grid two so it was time to get on the water. The grids were 1 minute intervals. Being in the slowest boat I was left behind at the start
and by the Northam weir a fast ski paddler in grid 3 caught me up. The wave at the bottom of the weir wasn’t as bad as last year. Last year it capsized a lot of paddlers including about 5 in grid one.
The river was running at a good speed which helped me along but paddlers in faster boats continued to pass me some asking if
I was Terry Bolland and others asking for advice. It was hard when paddlers my speed, like Steve S, when racing in my DR or K1 came by and I had no hope in keeping up with them. I just kept telling myself I will be better off tomorrow in the big white water. When Marjan Stolte from Ascot Kayak Club came by in her Spirit Racer I thought shit I better get going. I tried wash riding her for a while, but she was too fast so I had to let her go.
I paddled under the Katrine Bridge with cheers from the spectators, slid through the swirling water and headed in a long pool towards Glen Avon Rapid. With the higher water it should be easier than when we raced on this course 3-4 weeks earlier, when it was low water and it was. It was then back to a river with a meandering path with the current accelerating on the slightly steeper gradients and
corners.
Once under Dunbarton Bridge where the Haynes family cheered me on and where the flow quickened over a ford it was only 1km to a 2.3km long pool before Williamson Weir (Extracts). About 500 metres into the long slow moving pool Chris Buxton started passing me in his wavehopper. Chris is nearly as fast as me when I’m
in my Wild Water kayak so I didn’t expect to keep up with him especially as the wavehoppers are slightly faster than the 415. Last year I was the first over the line in a short plastic kayak and I beat the existing race record in the short plastic division but as the short plastic division no longer exists it’s not counted in the record books. If anyone was going to beat me in a short plastic this year it would be Chris.
As Chris went by I jumped on his wash in the hope I could keep up which I did. At the weir Alaine was upstream of the weir telling me that she thought I could paddle it on the left. Since we checked it on Friday afternoon the water had gone down and even then the left side was rocky. Being in my plastic kayak though I knew I had to give it a go as I would lose a lot of time if I portaged.
At Northam Weir. Photo John O'Sullivan.
What would we do without the great photographs of John O'Sullivan.
On approach Chris decided to portage and I just kept going taking the left line which was rockier and near the bottom
a rock did give me a jolt but I got down okay. As I approached the bottom of the portage about 120 metres further down I thought Alaine was there waiting so I shouted to her for a banana. I then realised it was a lady who looked like Alaine and she was talking to another paddler who was heading to shore.Alaine was still at the top and didn’t have time to run to this point. I chuckled to myself as a man held up a banana and asked if I wanted it. I
shouted thanks but no thanks and paddled off heading towards Toodyay through a huge section of froth at the following bend.
The river quickened again and around the Goomalling Bridge Kiera Albertson passed me. Usually I’m up with her but she was too fast in her Spirit and when we reached Toodyay checkpoint she pulled in,
then I realised she was only doing a teams this year. Some years paddlers had numbers that told us if the paddler was in a team or not but not this year.
Toodyay rapid 2.75 kms downstream was easy and soon after the 515 of Tapper & Hooker caught me so I slipped onto their wash whenever the river allowed. I had more cheers at West Toodyay Bridge and again
further downstream at the team changeover.
First over the weir. Luke Dooley. 2nd K1.
Photo John O'Sullivan.
Darryl Long & John Hilton.
Photo John O'Sullivan.
At the weir.
Photo John O'Sullivan.
Photo John O'Sullivan.
Patrick Irwin.
When we reached the tea tree section I took the far right channel but the water had gone down since Thursday so I ended up hitting a shallow spot which
slowed me down so the guys in the 515 beat me to the clearing at the end although they and Hunter Florisson were trying to figure out where to go as I moved through a narrow gap in the trees and left them behind. They caught up further down in the long pools. At another point the usual gap in the trees that I usually used was closed up because of the higher water so I and 3 other boats missed the gap but as soon as I realised I had missed the turn I made my way back to the channel by a bit of
shallow water.
From then on the trees were easy and on the second half where there used to be a couple of difficult spots they had opened up and were straight forward. Near the end though I took the normal route instead of short cut thinking the water was going to be low but my way ended up being a few metres longer and I
hit a low branch with my nose. I crossed the line with blood trickling down my face. I finished before the 515 but they started later than me so did a faster time. I also beat Chris Buxton in his wavehopper and Marjan Stolte in her Spirit so I was happy.
Just as I pulled up heavy rain came down and it was a bit wet trying to change, but it was time to head
home.
Day 2.
It was an early rise. Alaine was in charge of driving me to start again and luckily there
was little fog to make driving too difficult. We arrived at Cobblers Pool in enough time to visit the toilet and have several minutes to wait before I was allowed on the water.
The second day tea trees ended up being easy unlike when we did then on Thursday when we had to take big branches out of the narrow passage near the
end of them. Posselts Rapid was flooded but Super Chute wouldn’t be as easy although my approach seemed okay then I got a bit of surprise when a current tried to capsize me but after a support stroke I went on my way with Bruce McWhirter telling me one of my competitors and lots of others had just capsized.
Being in my 415 I
really didn’t have to take any chicken chutes so it was straight down Narrow Neck, Razorback 2, Scorpion’s Tail, and the Shredder. Anthony Clarke had caught me up and was asking me about Emus Rapid. The Shedder was easy and although one of the rescue crew was pointing to the right side at the Washing Machine I took the middle channel as I was wanting to see how it was.It was probably a little harder than going straight right, but it was still easy in
my kayak. There were very few spectators at Emus. Usually my hands are frozen by this time but it was quite warm this morning and perfect for paddling.
I fled down the river through the Ford Cruncher and a few other smaller rapids that were much bigger than usual. I had no troubles through Bonebreaker or Raging Thunder
although the high waves had capsized a couple of paddlers. I came together with Tapper & Hooker in a 515 who were going really well. We also had about 3 other paddlers on plastic skis around us that we often caught up when they fell off. The Accelerator Rapid was working well and good fun as huge waves bounced us around. At Moondyne Rapid which can be a problem I followed 3 other boats down the Chicken Chute which was easy. Then after Easy Street a ski, the 515 and I approached the Wall
Rapid. The ski that was leading took the Wall too far to the right and went over the ledge and capsized. He said later it wasn’t pleasant. The rapid was real big but luckily the 515 knew where to go.
Brendan Rice at Emus.
Team Winner with Josh Kippin.
Photo John O'Sullivan.
Ben Carrick at Emus. K1 Winner.
Photo John O'Sullivan.
We were soon passing the teams change over, through Harts Thicket Rapid which always surprises paddlers that don’t know it. Many of the smaller rapids were surprisingly lively and creating some big standing waves. One of the most dreaded rapids Deadly Mistake, although was
raging was much easier than when it is lower water level. The ski and the 515 were still ahead of me at the Black Hole which although was also big gave us no problem, nor did Heart Stopper but we had the Lookout Rapid coming up and that is usually nasty at the end.
It was here a few years ago I got capsized near the big hole
when John Dinucci was watching. Thankfully for my reputation I rolled up and didn’t have to get out of the kayak and went on my way. There were certainly some huge waves but they didn’t stop us. Soon after I passed the ski and 515 and led down the Fortress and Championships and both I found to be easy having taken the smoothest route.
About 350 metres from Championships Dave B was swimming across the river his partner had the double on the side of the bank and Alistair Fox was waiting around to give them a hand. I moved on heading towards Redback Run and Syds Rapid. Syds wasn’t as violent as I was expecting and the stopper at Messy Middle wasn’t that big so I fled through to the cheers of spectators on the bank.
After the Dual Carriageway tea trees, in the long 1 km pool I decided to eat some race pudding which I had in a plastic sachet. That was the first bit of food I had up to then. I soon cruised through Walyunga and headed towards Bells without the 515 so I don’t know what happened. Terminator 2 rapid was easy and as I slipped through the Bells tea tree thicket Bells Rapid and a mass of spectators were
ahead on the bridge. I usually take the centre main channel but I decided to take it on the right which was the only second time in 44 years of paddling Bells and that was in a C1.
Rosie Evans was on the microphone giving me a good wrap as I approached. I knew I couldn’t capsize with such a crowd watching and who were being told I was a legend. I breezed
through Devil’s Slide, Side Swipe and Dog’s Breakfast and at Bolland’s Elbow entered the flatter waters with no more rapids ahead. Here a couple of doubles who had troubles in the valley passed me wrapped in gaffa tape.
Phil Langley at Bells Rapid.
Photo Andrzej Anderst
Rosie Evans - Paddle WA EO giving the spectators some information of the paddlers. Photo John O'Sullivan.
I stopped at Upper Swan Bridge where Alaine, Pam and Olwyn were waiting with my lighter paddle and a banana. From then on I just pushed all the
way to the finish with a few faster paddlers passing me but too fast that I couldn’t wash ride them. At Middle Swan Bridge Pam and Olwyn were there on the jetty. I shouted to Pam, banana please and as I cruised by at a good speed I grabbed the skinned banana out of Pam's hand and was off without slowing. There were cheers and claps from the spectators. (Barbara Cammell volunteer -Terry can show how to paddle towards the support stop at speed, call out the request to support crew, collect the skinned banana from his support crew and paddle off before I’ve finished recording his number and had time to cheer him on! )
Steve Stasiuk in a Wild Water kayak caught me about 400 metres from
the finish line and cruised towards the end with me. He beat on day one so he was happy to go over the line together.
What a great race. It wasn’t cold, the weather was great and the river had some amazingly big rapids, huge waves and holes. It had been an exciting race apart from the flat bits and yes I did beat Chris in
his Wavehopper, Marjan Stolte in her Spirit and a few other faster paddlers. And I was the first short plastic kayak.
If you haven’t taken part in the Avon yet, it’s time to give it a go. Results Here:
Part of the lake. Only appears when the river is super high.
A new lake overnight.
Beauty in the trees.
There were about 10 swans.
Swamphen
Ibis.
Flooded Bennett Brook.
Avon Decent day 1
Marjan Stolte
from facebook...
As the start signal went I went off in my grid. .. grid 3 I was that far forward by: Participation points only. Happy to not be left behind I front of everyone I stayed with the other 7 and dropped
down Northam weir gracefully. If not a bit surprised, I might have forgotten about the weir.
As I set out to Katrine the water was flowing nicely and although I was overtaken
by absolutely everyone I was going faster then I expected. At some point I came up behind a short plastic that I was gaining on. Imagine my surprise when I overtook Terry Boland. Yes he was in a way slower boat and I'm 30 years younger then him but still. It was Terry Boland ( for my non paddling friends that do not know who that is... Googly him. He has paddled everything there is to paddle in the world and is a bit- a lot- of a legend. And a really nice guy.) And he was riding in my wash.... I
I was very proud of myself.
As I got to Katrine bridge I wasn't told to portage so I didn't and went under the bridge. I got big cheers from the crowd on the Bridge ( most of
them where yelling GoTerry! but I'm accepting any cheers)
Katrine bridge was supposed to be my first support point. But I had only paddled for an hour and a half and still had
plenty of food and water so kept going.
At some point I went over Glen Avon but with the current water level it not really interesting.
Most of my long trainings have been about 20 km. And at just past 20 km I realised that. However at the same time I start a PA system ahead. Extracts must be coming up. As a novice I would not be
allowed to do Extracts and had to portage. I was quite excited about the prospect of getting out of my boat and stretching my legs.
The PA system was really good. It turns out
extracts was farther then I thought.
Eventually I did get there en got out to walk around the rapid. As I did I gave it a glance and decided...I could have done that and I'm
going to be facing way scarier tomorrow. But I followed competition rules. ( And was happy to stretch my legs)
next up was toodyay where Murray was waiting for me with bananas
an drinks.( For reference this was 32 km and 2.5 hours in.)
After something to eat and drink and a lot of encouragement I set out positive. I was going well yes my arms were
getting heavy but not to the point that thought I had to give up and I was doing faster then expected. After toodyay I tucked in behind paddle chick Bryony . thank you so much being in your wash made it a lot easier to keep the pace that I would otherwise had not sustained.
I got to whetherall in no time and was already celebrating in my head on getting the day 1 finish line in amazing time. and I had not fallen off at all. It was only 10km to go...
And the I hit the Ti trees. Quite literally. I hit EVERY ti tree. For my non paddling or non Australian friends .. Ti trees are semi mangrove trees. They grow in the riverbed. In the winter the river flows in and they be are in the river. Image flooding a
forrest and then paddle through it .... I here you think. But don't you get stuck in the branches YES YOU DO.
Don't you get knocked of your boat because of branches YES YOU DO.
Don't you run into trees because the flow is too fast and you can't turn you bloody long boat fast enough... YES YOU DO.
Do after some dead ends, dragging my boat over an
island and getting knocked of my boat repeatedly I realised I had taken half an hour to do 1 km. Oh dear.
I stayed together with Ash an amazing 17 year old taking on the Avon
solo as well. We had been playing tag the whole day. ( She is faster then me but needed some extra stops to stretch out her back) we stayed close to a more experienced paddler that told us where to go. No more dead end but I still managed to hit some trees and get knocked off my boat.
I don't know whether it was the cold from all the swimming or the idea that I was almost there but the last 5 km were really hard. In the end I made it over the finish line in just under 5 hours.
Matt was waiting for me and had set up camp we have an overly fancy campsite. Where he even made sure I had a warm shower. I'm now sitting by the fire warm and well. My shoulders are stiff and my hands are sore. I ate EVERYTHING. Ty he big question is now. How am I going to wake up tomorrow.
Will my arms still work and am I ready for another 72 km. Only one way to find out.
Oh as a side note. Terry Boland did not stop at toodyay, did probably shoot extracts, and probably didn't get lost in the ti trees. He did most certainly finish way before me
Avon day2
I had a good night of sleep. Sleeping from 7pm on to 6 am dreaming of trains.
I woke up better then expected and with barely any muscle ache.
I started at 7.24 and headed off straight into the next lot of ti trees. I was very happy to follow the other people in my starting grid. That clearly knew where they were going.. I only run into one tree. With doing that I lost the rest of my grid. And I was on my own. I soon got into a bit of wild water which meant I was at posselts
ford...... with other words I was put of the trees!!! Next up was the rapids. But they are fun, I did a valley run (posselts to bells) last week. But the levels have drastically changed. And I didn't recognise anything.. The first big one was super chute. Which is a strong left hand turn with a big drop. I had a good
line positioned myself well and... Almost stayed on to the end.
Luckily I'm good at getting back on fast. The next 40 km would be a series of rapids challenging my
capabilities.
After 8km in I got to emu falls, one of the main scary rapids.
Emu falls was one of the rapids I was worried about. I have done it before, twice but both at extremely high water levels. Which opens up a shortcut on the left. Now I had to make my own way through on the right side. Through scorpions tail, washing machine and 2
more Rapids I can't remember be the name off.
I stayed in. I did not fall out at all. As I got cheered on. "Thanks Scott, I did hear you even if I didn't had time to look up" I
met up with Ash just after Emu's she proudly told me she only had 1 swim so far, at Emu's this again acknowledges of how much of a better a paddler she is then me. I had swum quite a bit already. I lost her pretty quickly. And paddled on by myself.
The next 15 km was lots of different types of rapid which tested me in different ways. I fell off a lot. I have always been good at getting back on and I used my capacity to jump on to my advantage. At One point I manage to flip my belly in. As I saw where I was going I hit my paddles with my hand. while kicking my swimming legs as hard as I could to steer my kayak in the right way. It worked. !!
As I checked my watch I was 35 km in which meant I was almost at the end of the scary rapids ( read, at wilyunga I knew the way from there) I took another awkward rapid trough a corner. And though to
myself .... Was that syds??? the river did not look like last week (2m) at all and I could not recognise anything. I started to think I made my way Through the dodgy end of it. As I did, I tried to dodge some rocks and missed..... Or hit. I hit one big rock square on and dropped just over it. There were 2 smaller rocks behind it. As I came off I managed to stay with my boat. Which left me in the middle off the river behind a big rock. I almost lost my footing an fully lost my left boot. But I
was still there. As I pulled the middle handle I realised that was not going to do it. I felt along the kayak to look for the back handle when I realised the back of the kayak went on a 90degree angle towhere the nose went.......
Oh boy.. that's not be
a good sign.
I realised I would be lucky getting by kayak out of there all together. I grabbed the bottom middle handle and pulled as hard as I could. Thank god my boat came
out. And popped back to almost straight. I held onto it. If I could just float this rapid out I could bounce it back into shape and keep going.
As I looked where I was floating
I realised I was now in syds and going down into the waterfall. I dropped 2 m down and lost my boat again as got sucked to the bottom of the river. My bum hit some rock hard before it let me go again and I floated to the top.
Happy to reach the water levels..I was welcomed by foam.... Just foam. I could not see where I was or where I was going... All I saw was foam. After a lot off mashing my arms around I realised I could breath . I couldn't see I breathed in a lot to foam...but. I was also getting air in... Meanwhile I was floating along. Clearly being pulled some direction. But I could not see where the hell I went. Syds is an extremely
f
Dangerous rapid if not down right the scariest ( as I just showed) Rescue crew where one the water and I could hear their boat going around. I did my best to wave as High as
Could above the foam. as I'd swing My paddle which I managed to keep hold off.
mean while I kept being pushed along to with the current . with no idea when I was
going.
This is the point I realised I was really scared. I had no idea where the next rapid was, I have no idea where I was aI have no idea where my boat
is.
This is the point where I got
rescued. I still cant see anything but I got hold of a boat. And tried to pull myself in. I was very happy to find it wasn't my boat but a rubber dingy and had multiple people telling me they had me and asking me if I was alright as I dropped myself in. All of us where still in big foam. my first words were. "I cant see" the rescue swiped away a bit off foam and I saw The biggest smile.: Are you alright. I was then . I said later in the day and will repeat forever more. That's what angels look
like. I was saved. she introduced herself and in my adrenaline stoked mind I forgot what she said right away. Meanwhile the foam was bad enough to kill the engine of the safety crew.. as much as I feel saved. I turned out safety had to put in a bit more effort to get me a a shore. but they got the engine going and got me a shore.
They gave me a space blanket and put me next to the fire to warm up. after making sure I was fine they ran off to find the next person in distress.. I was not the only one
there.
my boat was nowhere to be seen....bent or not. This is when I got officially resigned from the race. about half an hour later when I was warned up. And the safety crew
wasn't saving lives. They found my boat.....
I asked if I would be allowed to continue but at that point I already had resigned from the race. . that was
it
