The Paddler Autumn/Fall issue 2017

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ThePADDLER 78 Retrieving my beautiful boat and my well-loved expedition kit without any loss or damage was an extremely emotional moment
onto my PFD and I went into the water as ‘live bait’ in order to retrieve as much kit as I could from my boat in order to make it as light as possible before attempting to haul it free. The first priority was of course to retrieve my two Downcreek Paddles. All the kit inside my boat was well-organised & carefully packed so although it was partly submerged and I only had one fullyfunctioning hand, I got everything out reasonably quickly and being organised on an expedition makes it easier for things to go right but also easier to solve problems when things go wrong. Day five Having meandered along Loch Tay and River Tay twice previously, I was familiar with the final leg of our journey. Passing through Dunkeld and Caputh, we made our way towards one of my most favourite locations, the grand point at which the Tay passes through a narrow gap, Campsie Linn. Although the current was carrying us along, the pain and attractive crunching sound in my wrist was getting progressively worse. The usual strategy of dunking my bare forearm in icy cold water had become a way of life for the past few days and that had been pretty successful. The constriction caused by the latex wrist seal on my paddlesuit had made my forearm swell up to the size of a small pink marrow and make noises akin to a badly lubricated old wooden door. Taking this and the water levels into account, we decided that rather than paddling over the main section of Campsie Linn and risk a large boil area and haystack-filled swim, we'd line the canoes and kit down one of the smaller side chutes. Discretion is the better part of valour and all that jazz. What followed next can best be described as ‘The Tale of the Two Point Broach at Campsie Linn’. What should have been a relatively simple manoeuvre resulted in being very complicated. It was entirely my fault. I was a split-second too slow in releasing my painter and the fast-moving current swung my boat and it ended up being jack-knifed solid across the base of the chute with the force of the water holding it in place. It’s not really something to be proud of but Adam did say it was the worst pin location that he’d ever seen. There was only one low boulder that we could use as an anchor point and we’d somehow need to lift the boat up by about a metre, as well as peeling it. It clearly wasn’t going to be an easy release. We constructed a system using pulleys and two strong floating lines which Adam reckoned was about an 8:1 haul. He attached a safety rope The icy-cold raging water meant that the swelling in my forearm was much less and an added bonus was that my cuticles were extremely clean. It was like a little trip to a little natural beauty spa. Apart from the relaxation. I don’t think that jet-washing your hands is a conventional beauty treatment but it definitely worked! With a liberal application of rope work magic, muscle power and a fair dose of luck, We were victorious and recovered my Paddy from a watery grave. Retrieving my beautiful boat and my well-loved expedition kit without any loss or damage was an extremely emotional moment. The only sign of what had occurred was a minor blemish to the edge of my Downcreek Dipper. Very crunchy to slightly floppy The original plan was to line the small chute and then have a short break for a bite to eat but as we'd lost time, we decided to press on hard in order to reach the get-out at Perth Racecourse. Without wishing to sound like a wimp, the pain in my wrist was now getting progressively worse and had changed from being very crunchy to slightly floppy. I figured that I couldn't make it any worse than it already was so I'd just ‘man-up’ and get on with it. Rather than wild camping for another night, I was spurred on by the thought of having a shower under copious streams of hot running water in a real bathroom and the promise of beer and curry at the Balajee Spice Indian restaurant. Adam paddled on ahead slightly so that he could locate the somewhat non-descript get-out point and we reached our destination as the sun slid down behind the horizon. The final lugging of kit and boats up the steep wooden steps and onto the canoe trolleys heralded the final portage of this mega trip. True to form, this wasn't as simple as we'd anticipated but hey, nobody said it was going to be easy. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it! ThePADDLER 79
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ADDLER ezine The International maga
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Issue 38 Autumn/Fall 2017 004 North
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ThePADDLER 5 Darren Bason
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ssociation of Northern Ireland with
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Junior HP Classes. She was also a s
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Tamsin Green Tim Thomas Jack Davies
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ThePADDLER 14 THE RIDE Story and Ph
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ThePADDLER 16 I invited myself. A f
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ThePADDLER 18 however, rumour has i
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ThePADDLER 20 Testing, Kitvision Im
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ThePADDLER 22 Having said that let
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ThePADDLER 24 Both the Immerse 360
Page 27 and 28: MORE THAN JUST A SPRAY TOP! ROOSTER
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Page 31 and 32: Osprey Aether AG backpacking rucksa
Page 33 and 34: www.celticpaddles.uk DIRECTORY Cana
Page 36 and 37: ThePADDLER 36 KERNOW G R A N D T O
Page 38 and 39: ThePADDLER Headwinds Fast forward s
Page 40 and 41: ThePADDLER 40 Day three was a slog.
Page 42 and 43: ThePADDLER 42 The morning shadow hi
Page 44 and 45: ThePADDLER 44 The afternoon was tra
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Page 48 and 49: ThePADDLER 48 S U R F I N G T O BIG
Page 50 and 51: ThePADDLER 50 We were on the water
Page 52 and 53: ThePADDLER muscles. Catch, pressure
Page 54 and 55: ThePADDLER 54 I keep an eye on Pris
Page 56 and 57: ThePADDLER 56 I drive home 20 minut
Page 58 and 59: ThePADDLER 58 K A Y A K I N G T H E
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Page 62 and 63: ThePADDLER 62 removed. Prajapati ha
Page 64 and 65: ThePADDLER 64 for a hostile port re
Page 66 and 67: ThePADDLER 66 I’ve just dipped my
Page 68 and 69: ThePADDLER 68 Karnataka The first t
Page 70 and 71: ThePADDLER 70 https://youtu.be/ITLX
Page 72 and 73: ThePADDLER 72 As we slipped past Ke
Page 74 and 75: ThePADDLER 74 W I N T E R C R O S S
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Page 80 and 81: ThePADDLER 80 I’ve no idea how, b
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Page 85 and 86: Day one - Oster-Vingarna A Scandina
Page 87 and 88: looked at, for it had been sounding
Page 89 and 90: Day two - making our way through th
Page 91 and 92: eindeer Osprey Day three - sunset r
Page 93 and 94: the west end of the lake, where the
Page 95 and 96: Day three - evening paddle getting
Page 97 and 98: W E A R E A L L U N I Q U E . W H Y
Page 101 and 102: On the trail portaging on the Musko
Page 105 and 106: COMPLETE CUSTOM BACKCOUNTRY CANOE T
Page 107 and 108: Story: Richard Harpham Photos: Ashl
Page 109 and 110: Arriving at Bear Island canoes. Bef
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Page 113 and 114: carpeted with so many different spe
Page 115 and 116: C A N O E | K A Y A K | S T A N D U
Page 117 and 118: LOCHS ThePADDLER 117
Page 119 and 120: The graveyard on Isle Maree Explori
Page 121 and 122: Loch Morar https://goo.gl/maps/WMSR
Page 123 and 124: SICKLINE 2 0 1 7 By Steffan Meyric
Page 125 and 126: centimetre short of the level where
Page 127 and 128: Very nervous Grades are hard for pa
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In the women’s race, Nouria Newma
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Passion for paddlesports? Share you
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T H E E X P L O S I V E H I S T O R
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O N T H E TSARAP R I V E R Ian Jone
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The peace and quiet of the high Him
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Tsarap Phuktal Monastery. Photo: Ge
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George Younger, Chilling Rapid, Zan
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R - R E V O L U T I O N By Corran A
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Now I’m hardly going to be that g
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Drone images: Yannick Larouche TheP
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Adventure on the Wild Atlantic Way
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ThePADDLER 156 M A K I N G WW
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ThePADDLER 158 After a few choice w
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ThePADDLER 160 I thought that was i
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ThePADDLER 162 The money shot. SUP
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ThePADDLER 166 Walking on water The
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ThePADDLER 168 Glenn Eldridge and P
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The Paddler Autumn/Fall issue 2017

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