The Paddler Autumn/Fall issue 2017

ThePADDLER 160
I thought that was it but big Sam had a trump
card up his drysuit-clad sleeve and after a quick
refuel we jumped back in the vans and headed
back to Keld. After a very muddy and semi
treacherous walk (at least for me in my civvies),
which involved some abseiling, which is always
fun with an iSUP/paddle and fully laden camera
gear, we reached two larger waterfalls
downstream. Now this was the real deal, a tenfooter
and a 25-footer, which looked bloody
terrifying with a cliff wall you could easily smash
into and slide down Wile E. Coyote style!
https://vimeo.com/237439365
Zero room for any error
Again risk assessments were justified, so we went
and had a look at both. The big one presented zero
room for any error with a low flow, so it was
decided to leave that for me to first descent
another day, wearing a chainmail suit and with half a
bottle of Scotch in me, for the necessary kahunas!
So we concentrated on attacking the smaller tenfooter.
Sam did his usual checks while I scrambled
across the rocks to the mid-river outcrop to set
up with my camera. The rain had stopped for a
minute and the light was better than we could of
hoped for, so I gave Sam the nod after some more
deep breaths. He edged out from the eddy and
headed for the shallow, jagged lip.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it’s Sam Ellis flying
forwards Superman style due to the fins getting
caught again. I was glad to see him breach the
surface, as it looked like he’d taken a proper slap
– belly flop style. Thankfully he’s an ex-rugby
league unit, so he just shook it off and was soon
getting out and wanting a look at the photos. I
sensed he was less keen to do this one again but
the cover shot we wanted hadn’t happened, so it
was a quick abseil back up to the top iSUP in
hand for round two. He deserved a medal just
for that in my book.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it’s
Sam Ellis flying
forwards superman style due to the
fins getting caught again