Over 90 paddlers gathered at the top car park at Walyunga National Park for the Walyunga to Middle Swan seeding race. It was
the first time this race had started here as last year, with the high water, it was started at Bolland’s Elbow below Bells.
Kris Smith, Steph Bedden and a bunch of volunteers got us going. I was a bit surprised to have been seeded behind paddlers much slower than me, which included team members even though I had beaten them in the last two seeding
races. However it was pointed out that paddlers who had already entered got extra points. I hadn’t entered at that stage as I was waiting for my cancer test results and I didn’t know if I would be having radiation before the event. (But I had thought the seeding races and points were meant to show the fastest paddlers and not who got their entry in first.)
We started in the Long Pool so we had a few hundred metres of flat water before hitting the first fast moving water at the Pebble Race. There were four on each grid and I managed to be the second one to reach the rapids in my grid
with Euan Cameron in front, Chris Buxton in his Wavehopper close behind and Craig Whittome being number 4. (Chris is very strong in the wavehopper and if he starts to paddle a lighter wild water kayak he will be in the top ten WW for sure.)
I was hoping to pass Kris Smith and Steph Bedden, who were on the grid before me, on a wide section but I caught them just before Strangle Hold which had a new tree blocking a part of the narrow channel. I managed to pass them some
300 metres later at the bottom of Casuarina Corner rapid and just before the small rapid called Fastrack. There were 3 more small rapids before I hit the long flat pool that finished at Terminator 2 where Christopher Greed was stationed to help paddlers who got pushed into the trees.
Terminator 2 in the early days was probably the rapid that used to break more fibreglass kayaks than any other rapid, but over the years it has become easier and now with more plastic boats less damage happens here. Apart from
scrapping a rock I went through without a problem.
Paddling across the flat section before Bells Thicket Josh Kippin flew by. Another fast paddle took a route on the right hand side of the river both trying to find the fastest side, but they came together again 300 metres later.
They were the first two paddlers to pass me.
I slid through Bells Thicket and out into the open seeing Bells Bridge. I took the centre channel, slipped across the eddy and into the V guide of Bells Drop. It was pumping quite well. I had it in mind to angle my K1 and cut the
corner but it didn’t quite happen as good as I had hoped and I went a few metres further on than I wanted, but much better than some.
As I slid around to the next small drop and towards Devil’s Slide the usual eddy before it was much larger than usual. The slower moving eddy currents and the faster currents in the main channel didn’t help me to get the best line
to Devil’s Slide V drop so I had slow to draw my kayak over.
As I was sliding down the drop a ski paddler had caught up and was sliding down behind me. He had his hand on my stern for a second or two before falling off his skis and helter-skeltering down the drop. I stayed upright and
focused on Side Swipe which had some unusual currents crossing the rocks of the S shaped rapid, making it a little tricky to negotiate. Jane Pankhurst and Andrew Crothers in a double had avoided Side Swipe and taken the rapid on the left side of the river and were ahead of me approaching Dogs Breakfast rapid. After paddling Dogs Breakfast and Bolland’s Elbow all the hard stuff was behind me.
