Tees White Water Course 4 October 09

Chris T · Tees White Water Course 4 October 09

This was the first trip by the club to the Tees Barrage White Water Course. A man made course grade 2 – 3 covering a distance of 300m in a horse shoe shaped layout.

The course layout is as follows At the entrance to the course there is a lovely surf wave, which you can stay on all day long. Below the wave is the first pool, which allows the ability to surf the small stopper below the wave

After the first pool the 'river' goes under a bridge and drops round into the Happy Eater, a trick little drop at the end of a right turn with a smaller wave that will push you towards the middle of the Happy Eater.
Below Happy Eater the river narrows before dropping into the next pool - here lies the lovely "Cruncher". The small, heart shaped pool below Cruncher is the aptly named Valentines. Again Valentines changes according to the course set up but it often has a nice wave hiding in there after a wicked stopper wave.
Going down below the bridge you come to the Bottom Drop. This can vary from absolutely nothing to the most horrible, sticky, messy trashing spot known to man at about .7m tide height - all depending on tide levels. However if you hit it somewhere near 1.4 metres it becomes a dreamy playspot. It spins nicely and gives enders and retentive moves (occasionally of the upside down variety though!). As the tide comes up the hole gets smaller until it turn into a lake
Then it's simply a matter of paddling to the end, climbing a few steps and you are back at the start once more! Once you have had enough of paddling all that remains is to jump in the nice warm showers and off for a cheeky KFC 5 minutes drive away (Mmmmm)

After an early start by Darren the duty driver in the monster truck with the superb canoe trailer in tow collecting Matt and Myself at 7am then off to get Mike then the intrepid 4 set off for sunny Stockton-on-Tees. We arrive at about 9:30 a quick inspection of the course revealed 4 paddlers using the course Mike was like a kid in a sweet shop. Then off to book in and a quick look around the canoe shop. This weather was excellent and the course was quiet about 20 paddlers total throughout the whole day.

The first run of the day we decided to run it with 3 stops below each of the main drops. As we dropped over the standing waves and broke to the right. Dropped down to the Happy Eater. The cross wave caught a few out below the drop and a couple of good support strokes was needed. Off to Valentines which was a cheeky little stopper wave to punch through after a series of smaller waves and smaller stoppers at this point both Matt and Darren was stopped in the tracks and sucked in however put their defensive swimming into good practice. Mike and myself carried down to the bottom and the receding tide had made the bottom drop a little more tricky and Looped my boat and Mike too fell victim. All the kit was recovered from the bottom pool big cheesy grins all round with lots of wicked that was the Dingo's Dangleys lets do it again.

During the remainder of 8 runs ‘S’ turns, ferry gliding and other moving water skills was practiced by every one. The water characteristics of the various drops changed every run making the whole group think and adapt.

Congratulations must go to Matt who whilst stuck in valentines stopper sideways attempted 2 rolls a vertical pop out before his swim.

Mike on numerous rolling and handroll attempts but most of all a perfect vertical popout and perfect moving water roll.

Darren the first at nailing the bottom drop at its lowest.

Scratching the tangerine (new helmet) and taking some wicked shots including new underwater footage

Everybody should be really proud of themselves. This was a technical course with everyone tackling the rapids with a degree of skill improving with every run. There isn’t much of the course you can bounce down without skill. A perfect next step from the Lower Tryweryn learning how to punch through large stopper waves.

A thoroughly good day had by all and can’t wait for the next visit.

Mike

Well what can I say!? An amazing Sunday paddle in the sunshine of the North East with a calm autumn breeze...ok that’s my country file commentary out the way onto the nitty gritty

I would like to thank Darren for his kind organisation of transportation and Chris for organising the trip. So as not to be left out I would like to thank Matt for some comical entertainment with his paddle whilst rodeoing the waves.

As Chris rightly pointed out I couldn’t wait to get in the water, that was before i came across a shop! Doh! Credit Card Ouch!

The entrance into the course was somewhat eerie with the sound of rapids in a channel of water with high walls!! However once over the waves, the nerves were instantly forgotten about my the overwhelming concentration to get into the right hand eddy. This was quite an active eddy that would pull you into the line if you let your guard drop. We then practiced ferry gliding across a fast flowing "river" which really put technique to the test. We all made it without going over.

We went on down thankfully for me unknowing of what the course had to offer. If i had known i would of been a bit more apprehensive! Happy Easter was a nice stopper and the first one i have encountered that will stop you in your tracks! For those who forget to paddle over waves will fall foul of this...a good reminder to paddle, paddle, paddle!!

We came down a few more small drops until we saw Valentines..."gulp" i went for it ten to the dozen paddling for my life, hit the stopper bang, back end up somersault and spat me out! A humbling lesson from a cocky wave that reminded me not to get too big for my own boots, or boat.

I swam the last drop collected my kit, had a little moment of excitement and raced back to the top for another go.

As Chris says the course was ever changing and on the second attempt the bottom drop was a biggy! i didn’t manage to get this far as i had come out earlier on and got to the side...

The third attempt saw me do the course without going over of which gave me a great sense of achievement as Valentines and the bottom drop were big due to the low tide.

I think my proudest moments of the day was my white water roll i did after getting crunched by Valentines, seamless roll, quoting Chris, and then setup for the bottom drop...you can imagine my excitement.

The last run saw myself and Chris surfing the third to last stopper, quite a beast if i am honest...first attempt great in and out, third attempt i managed a fully intentional vertical pirouette for a good 3-4 seconds and then over i went.

A really good day to be had by all...exceptional practice course for rivers and fully recommend it to the rest of the club.

Mike over and out!

Bradshaws

Thanks Chris for a great day and for mike ride on cowboy yeahaaaaaa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQnKDZ0k5Uk

ps When i have more time i will do a report

Mike

Darren that looks so feble from my earlier attempts..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3_MpcNGAbI
PS this is when i had long hair, and a canadian accent....

Steve T

Darren -

You need to edit that to just show the bit from about 12secs - 15 secs.

matty

i loved this course expect valentine i did a double flip n then bailed out n i actual made through the whole course without bailing out

lets do it again sometime again
plus at the end on the first wave i was showing off and span my paddle over head nearly lost it though
it was good day

cya later