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Post by Rich W on Jun 19, 2011 21:37:07 GMT
Date: 18th June 2011
Paddlers: Roddy, Pete, Duo team Alan, Rich
River level: Low low. scrape on wtw.
Description: Another great trip to the mighty nesk which was flow at equally mighty scraping conditions. Alan and I thought it would be a good idea to take the new duo on her first adventure and she didn't disappointed.
Sadly there are no epic swims, carnage or faff to pad this report out. However, all is not lost as it creates a free space to fill with superlatives for not only the prettiest of boats but the divine beauty of Alan and mines duo paddling.
Don't worry I won't bore you now with it. There is plenty of time for that in the pub. The duo is awesome fun and I recommend everyone has a play in it.
Looking forward to duo racing.
Rich
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Post by Brucey on Sept 10, 2011 16:29:28 GMT
Date: Freshers Week 2011...
Paddlers: Alistair Thomas Moon, William Thomas Mawdsley, Andy Perciville Smart, Bruce Quentin Griffiths and Swavin Gavin
River Level: Low, but not scrape-ey.
Description: Yet another good trip down the NEsk for most of us, but for will it was his first time down. All went smoothly down to shotgun where will had a slight pin, following that Andy had a roll down the bottom step of Rocks of Solitude. The rest of the river was relatively Faff free apart from Moon and Will rolling at the bottom of Fishladder. Overall, another good trip, and well done to Will for a swim free first run.
Bruce
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Post by cjhotchkiss on Mar 16, 2012 16:22:56 GMT
Paddelers Will Bruce Me Ali B Moon Sir Fergus Robbie Jack Craig Keith Elliot M
level Scrape/ 0.363
With the nights drawing out and temperature above freezing we used a Wednesday for what it was designed for; some sportness. Craig, Robbie, Jack and Moon drove us up to the North Esk; cheers. We got in at the small sliver bridge and were straight into the fun. The Nesk is ever changing and looked different at this low level. Everyone did well through the gourge. Craig fought his demons and paddled well. Eliot went over (can't mind what the rapid is called) and had a swim. I believe official reports suggest that it was a deck pop. We set up some safety on the rapid that 'is like a question mark.'
At this level 'rocks of solitude looked like it had the potential to be sticky and a few people portaged. Though everyone who did paddled it were fine. The paddle paddle to fish-ladder was fine. There was some Buzz on the air about Presidents corner but all was fine. On a couple of occasions along the way Keith should us all ( well at at least me and Robbie) how to pick a line.
We then arrived at 'Fish-Ladder' and all got out to inspect. Without much in the way of water to be found some where concerned about the whole thing in general plus what the roster tail would do to us. Moon and Bruce with Fergus (drawing power from the Topo) leading the way did it fine. Me, Jack and Robbie with a 'It'll be fine attitude' gave it a go after. Robbie and Jack did it fine and Baird and Will were gathering the confidence to go for it themselves. Then I went for it and got over the drop fine (ish). However, I went for a swim in the second recirculating eddie. Had a bit of a fight with my boat and a throw-line until moon came in a broke things up (thanks). Moon with some more heroics got my boat out, Robbie was there too (he got my paddles).
After me and my boat kissed and made up we all headed down the river. All was fine and we got out the water and changed just in time for the sun to disappear. We had a nice trip to McDonald's. With a score of around 1900 Craig won the calorie count.
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Ali B
Harry Potter
Chernobyl Child's Physician
OH HIYA SCOTS CHAMPS. WE WIN MOST OF YOU.
Posts: 2,491
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Post by Ali B on Mar 18, 2012 11:41:01 GMT
Date: 17/03/12
Paddlers: William von Mawdley Bruce McGriffiths Jacques Duncansant Alastairus Bairdicus
River Level: Super scrape on WTW. 0.35.
Description: After a faftacular discussion of where to go, it was decided that a St Paddy's day blast down the Nesk would be best to honour Alan Knox and ensure we could get back in time for the rugby. Because a Nesk trip had been made 3 days earlier Jack was not best pleased, but he took Sizer's Molan for the bants. Will took the Dildo. Moon had expressed interest then said he would rather watch some cars drive around in another country.
After hitching the shuttle with a random Dundee UUUUUNAAAAAYYY man, the troop mounted the river. Jack's relationship with the Molan got off to a start that was almost as rocky as the river they were paddling. Following a pin on the rapid down from SV, Jack had to pop his deck and walk out his boat, promptly slipping on a rock and falling into the water with a sore knee. After being fished out and reinserted into the Molan, we set off again.
Shotgun proved highly uneventful, and nobody got pinned. At Rocks of Solitude Bruce jumped out to check if it was still runnable, which it was. Barely. The slab of rock at the bottom drop is just covered at this level, making this drop a scrape and bump, although the stopper is still apparent.
On reaching Fishladder, poor Bruce was in severe pain because he forgot his gloves and his hands were not coping well with the cold. As a result, he decided to walk off at the top of Fishladder. A quick scout confirmed that the drop in level from Wednesday had made the rapid even more daunting, with some exposed ribs river right at the bottom which look perfect for holding paddlers or boats and bashing them around the undercut rock. Bad shit. Jack stepped up to the plate in the Molan, running the rapid with ease. Upon seeing how piss easy it was, Will and I took a run each.
The rest of the gorge was a quick blast from there. A lady took photos of us and I fell out my boat at the get out.
All in all a fun trip, but at this level, leave the creekers at home.
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Post by Thor on May 8, 2012 19:15:23 GMT
Paddlers: Jack t'duncanson El Presidente Smart "Pipe Down" Fergus Keef The Fabulous Otter Sccchhhimon Grant King Gavin William Odinson 08/06/2012 Level - Medium and goin' up on wheres the water. According to SEPA the level peaked at midday. Another fine day in Dundee called for a trip to our club favourite, the NEsk. Somehow we all managed to make it to the store roughly on time... yeh i know, imagine that! However this productivity was shortlived. To spare you an hour or 2 heres a summary of the following FAFF that occured before we got on the river Jack - Roofrack faff Simon - Wallet faff Jack - Senic route faff Team MPV - Looking for team jack faff Simon - GoPro faff Gav - Drain bung faff Eventually we reached the get in to be welcomed by one of the oddest things ive seen on a river... From nowhere a cow came charging down the hill towards the river and proceeded to swim across to the other side... (Yeh we were a lil confused too) Maybe this 'Swimming Cow' was an omen of things to come... The intial first section of the river was great fun, nice pushy flow meant us running the line as a long train without any problems. Great level, not scary, no scrapey bum syndrome. First major rapid up was Shotgun, which i will now personally name Havoc! At this level, the line was clear, river left between the rocks taking you to mid river but a few of us didnt fancy that we took our own 'fun' line. That for me ment almost rear ending jack, slowing down to be flipped in a stopper, roll up, nailed again by the next stopper to roll up again and complete the rapid backwards! Andy, Fergus, Gav and Keef also decided to have a moment and have a roll or 2... Anyway, on we went. Next up was Constriction, usual line was abit more rowdy but a nice wee drop as always, another refreshing roll for Keith here. Next came the daddy, Rocks O' Solitude. After hearing of the kicking Knoxy recieved here on medium level, needless to say throwbags were deployed! On inspection it looked meaty and grabby, like a fat hagan... But with the mantra of "funk it, lets just go" myself, jack and simon mounted up and went for it. Simon leading took a nice line on the lead in rapids with me soon behind, both heroic-ly blasting through the final stopper. However jacks a total gnar-dog so hit the last stopper upside down, didnt get stuck and didnt swim! Alan knox who?? Next was andy and fergus, also taking a schweeet line to best the grabby bugger at the bottom. Gav then lead keith down the rapid, keith like a trooper pinned the line gav set and even found the time to style it with a tailie. Not to be upstaged fergus took a spontaneous roll, as you do... Next came presidents corner and my second moment of the day which wouldve been excellent GoPro moment... Too soon?.. Andy, Gav, Fergus, Jack and keith had gone on ahead to the eddy round the corner. After getting in faff from Simon we followed on. Being the pro slalom paddler he is, Simon hit a tiny eddy just out of the flow, not expecting this i got confused, took evasive action to avoid simon, ended up ramming a rock to be turned sideways, trying to reposition, failing, falling in, rolling, going backwards, stylin it a good way up the bank to come out the other end wondering what just happened... Simon was helpless in hysterics at my 'fun' line. But still NO swims, on we went! After a few more nice wee rapid and the compulsary playing with the rope swing we found ourselves at Fishladder Andy, Gav and Keith hopped out to take a look at the rapid while Jack, Simon, Me then Fergus again went for the "funk it, lets just go" approach. Jack and Simon both took a nice line over the rooster-tail and glided through, jack however fancied a quick roll. But no.. yet again i didnt fancy that. After a some faff with getting stuck id fallen behind so made my way down sticking to the left as you do, on approaching the drop i thought "im a little too far right"... at which point everything went white and i found myself underwater... again... Fergus didnt like the look of my line so took the boring one like Simon and Jack. Still though, no swims, odds on for a clean slate... yeh good one! Next up was captain smart, who thought my line was so brilliant copied it! However andy found himself flipped under and battered against the narrow gorge and took a tactical SWIMMMMM! At which point there were 2 piss poor bagging attempts meaning andy had to swim down with his boat and paddle, poor lad. Once again Keith took a bravery pill and got in his boat with Gav leading him down. Gav nailed the correct line pretty sweet and waited for keith to follow. But keith wasnt having any of that! Firstly being a mad bastard and taking a roll on the lead in rapid and then running the same line as me and andy. At which point keiths boat nose dived straight under the surface fully submerging keith for a good 2-3 seconds (dosent sound alot but its bloody nerve wracking when your bank support). Finally keith re-appered, out of his boat... SWIM! After emptying of boats we got back in and paddled down the last few pushy little rapid to the get out. All in all a fantastic day, well done to keith for running the grade 4's, medium has to be most fun level on the NEsk. Pictures and Videos on FB courtesy of Gav. Baws to the right line!
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Post by Thor on May 8, 2012 19:32:47 GMT
Just like to point out i typed "a fat *rapist*"... not hagan.. Bit harsh...
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Post by phnx on May 28, 2012 19:38:40 GMT
Date: 24/05/12 Paddlers: Bruce Keith Tom Baird Elliot M Level: Low * Description: On a rare day in Scotland of glorious sunshine where the mercury was well in the the 20's the sent 5 paddlers on a quest of a faff free and swimless trip to the Nesk. Meeting at 4pm and getting away cleanly put us on track for achieving at least one of those aims and having the MPV and Bairds babe magnet car meant there was no hitching the shuttle faff and we were on the river in no time. Levels were low enough to make it a nice technical run and especially good for any intermediate's wishing to push themselves without the risk of a monster dicking. the weather really was glorious and this meant rashies/shorty cags and shorts were definitely appropriate, but baird decided he was too cool for that and decided to rock a full dry-cag instead. He later confirmed he regretted this decision very muchly. Thomas had decided to bring along a lovely pair of elbow pds to show off how safety conscious he was and decided to put them to good use when he ate some rocks coming down one of the top bimbly rapids ( possibly Suzie's vagina?) Baird and Bruce ran shotgun first and set up safety, with an unsighted rock mid-way through the rapid causing a wobble or two but nothing major to report. After some more bimbly rapids we arrived at Rocks of Solitude for what would be my maiden run. At this level the central line should be easy enough to hit as the flows aren't too pushy and as long as you concentrate you should be able to run the top half slowly and get into a good position for blasting through the second half of the rapid and the stopper at the bottom. that was the advice Bruce gave me . . . However most of us managed to make ti seem a lot harder than it was by melting the rock half way down on river right. most notably was Ali B, who caught the rock hard and had to put in a peach of a high brace to stay upright. Along the way to fishladder i had many fails on small rapids that wouldn't trouble a fresher. The highlights included being caught in some trees and running a boulder garden backwards, as well as missing a simple line and shouting at Baird that i didn't know what was about to happen. not my strongest moment whilst kayaking for sure . . . After some truly outstanding scenery in the gorge sections and some light paddling in the sun on the flatter sections we arrived at fishladder. At this level the right hand side has exposed crevices in the gorge wall which form a recirculating eddy and a " corner of death". Running river left close to the fishladder is the correct line, missing it slightly to the right could result in being caught in the recirculating eddy and a potential wet-head at least, missing it badly to the right will result in being pinned in the corner by the falling water and a nice kicking and a probable swim. Fisherman up ahead removed their lines and allowed us to run the rapid, so Baird and Bruce ran in quick succession so they could run safety for the final three. Everyone made it down epic free and we paddled down to the end of the river. The final rapid at the get out had a nice little stopper that turned into a little playhole for a casual cool-down swim. Everyone took it in turns to swim down the rapid and get flushed out. it were well good fun Alastair and I then relived our childhoods by skimming lots of stones at the get-out. After a quick change we headed to McDonald's and got back to the store around 10pm. Why this trip were good: 1. It were amazingly sunny 2. There was nae faff 3. N'ibdy had an Epic 4. The water were well warm even if you done had a roll ( which we did often to cool down) levels were very low everywhere but the Nesk proved that it still holds up as an enjoyable day out when everything else is looking rubbish. When the weather is as good as it was it was always going to be a class day out and it really didn't disappoint. The general consensus of the group is that the nesk will probably be run a lot this summer and after this trip I can see why. Fantastic days paddling.
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Post by Brucey on May 28, 2012 19:45:44 GMT
It wasn't too scrapey, I'd say a medium-low.
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Ali B
Harry Potter
Chernobyl Child's Physician
OH HIYA SCOTS CHAMPS. WE WIN MOST OF YOU.
Posts: 2,491
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Post by Ali B on May 31, 2012 23:08:31 GMT
Date: 31/05/12
Paddlers:
Big Steve Keith Tom Baird Elliot M
Level: Low
Description:
Following on from the success of last week's trip, a return to the mighty Nesk was proposed by El Mel. A group of super duper keen paddlers met at the store at 4pm and promptly headed off to our beloved river in a manner befitting Faff Free Thursdays (albeit with some dodgy boat tying going on). We arrived at the get-in in a very different manner to the previous week; whilst we had been deliberating the need for cags or just rashies, there was serious consideration for pogies and dry trousers today. After a rapid shuttle turnover we made our way down to the river in the rain. Imagine the sight: Keith's lustrous hair glistening in the drizzle, Tom's bright green helmet shining like a beacon through the gloom and the sound of Ali Baird swearing at midges cutting the atmosphere like a fat man on a lawnmower.
We got on the river at the very top, having a bit of a warm up on that top rapid that is normally bypassed. This made a nice proving ground for Big Steve to re-acquaint himself with his boat and what that liquidy stuff he was floating on was all about. Soon enough we found ourselves staring at the horizon line of the imposing Rocks of Solitude. All decided to disembark to inspect and provide some safety, but Big Steve decided to run it first without inspection because, and I quote “If I look at it, I’ll probably just pussy out”. Keith and Ali were next, before jumping out at the bottom to provide safety for Tom and Elliot. This is where shit got real. Tom ran first, and entered the second drop sideways, requiring some rapid bracing and sculling before dropping backwards into the stopper. However, instead of paddling backwards away from the stopper, Uncle Thomas instead decided almost to give up, and as Keith and Ali stared in wonder as to what he was doing, they were awoken from their reverie by a fearful Thomas screaming “funking LINE ME!!!” whilst still in his boat, facing the stopper. Baird dutifully did so, aiming directly for Tom’s face and swinging him out of the stopper. Elliot performed a similar move, but was a bit more manly about the whole thing and back paddled out of the stopper. Sick moves. After a big of gorge banter, we reached the rapid that Tom had named Laura Flipper for reasons that I cannot remember. Tom and Elliot ran first, with Tom perhaps taking too far of a right line, and getting taillied. Not liking the look of this, Elliot took a far left line and ended up on a rock in the middle of a stopper. After a prolonged brace and eventual swim, Elliot headed for some down time before popping up and trying to rescue his boat to no avail. Ali Baird blasted through the stopper to save the stricken Habitat, but the behemoth was totally waterlogged, resulting in a merry-go-round attempt at removing the boat. Big Steve didn’t like this shit, so ordered Baird to break out and wait for the boat downstream whilst he manually attached a line to it from the bank. Baird then swore repeatedly at the Habitat as he X-rescued it further downstream. That thing needs bigger airbags.
We soon arrived at Fishladder. Big Steve and Tom were ballsy and ran it blind, before Ali, Elliot and then Keef headed down after inspecting. After watching Elliot hit his line dead on, Keith decided to go one better. After taking a swim on his way down, he got back in his boat once the paddles had been retrieved from the bottom of the fish ladder. He then tentatively reached the top of the rapid and decided he was too warm, so took a roll. But Keithington’s roll was so powerful it capsized him the opposite direction. By this point Keith was at the very lip of the rapid, facing sideways. He rolled up, and with no momentum, began heading down the Grade 4 backwards. Going over the rooster tail he still managed a cheeky little “paddles-up” moment of celebration before tipping backwards into the stopper. Thankfully, the river gods were feeling kind and let Keith live without even a capsize. LuckyLAD. The rest of the river was a quick blast from there, with Tom and Big Steve going for some banter swimming in the wee stopper at the end. Interesting fact, you can jump in above that stopper from the 3m high rocks on the bank without breaking your leg.
Trip fails Big Steve – Missing rocks fail Keith – Not capsizing at the top of a rapid fail Tom – Backwards paddling fail Baird – Boat rescue fail Elliot M – Missing stopper fail
Trip wins Big Steve – Getting back on the horse and running everything blind win Keith – Staying alive win Tom – Eddying out in useful places win Baird – Throwbag win Elliot M – Nailing your line win
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SwavGav
Member of Dumbledore's Army
Or might be Seren
Kayaking's a manly sport. See, we get to play with balls.[F4:Swavin Gavin]
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Post by SwavGav on Jul 1, 2012 23:30:01 GMT
Date: 01/07/12 Paddlers: Messer Mc Melville (Trip proposer) General Grant le Simon (Trip pauper) Sir Swavin of Gavin (Trip chauffeur) Description: Something GID was proposed to be done on Sunday, with all the rain forecast, surely the Garbh Allt was going to be running..? No? Ok, the Braan and Blackwater then. Surely they'll make a good combo. Yeah, let's do that! Well, as I'm sure you can tell from the fact that this description is in the North Esk thread, we didn't get there. Looking at wheresthewater we quickly realised that the Braan gorge was at a disappointing looowww low level, and the Blackwater had ran out of water completely, on empty. We did however notice a nice little orangey yellow dot somewhere near Edzell. Cutting our losses, we decided to head up and investigate the NEsk. Again. I wasn't entirely happy with this decision (it's the NEsk, it gets ran all the time yadda yadda yadda), but as nothing else was particularly big, kept my mouth shut and went for it. Now, Ali Moon is notorious for his roofracks. Much faff was apparently had in the Alps last year with his mums car and the terrible terrible roofracks he had. So a couple of days before he went to France, he came along and borrowed my roofbars from my picasso, being as they are, slightly more substantial. This naturally led to the predicament of me having less than substantial roofbars, or borrowing Seren's inflatable ones. In the end, as we were taking big boats, I decided on the more solid ones, and chose Moons bars. They actually fit on my car pretty well, mostly due to Simon having had previous experience. And lots of straps.. I didn't really want to take my Burn (see the report on the Leny for more), so had to choose a different beast to paddle. I chose the Mamba, expecting it to utterly swamp me, being pretty much the biggest boat in the club bar the Duo. After loading up, we stopped for a quick fuel and snack stop at the Morrisons on the way out of town. I had some fun with my parking, and taught Elliot how to use a tire pressure gauge. Then we were finally on the road. When we got to the river, we had a quick scout over the bridge and saw it was a decent level, so went for a quick walk up to Fishladder, just so we could have a scout. Turns out Fishladder is a reasonable distance up the path, further than anyone really thought. The path was muddy, we ended up having to climb a short bank to pass some bogs. I managed to scare Elliot, enough to apparently remove the (much needed) poop out of him, and he had to use the "facilities" (read tree). Simon just happened to have a tiny amount of poop roll kicking back in his pocket, for convenience. On the way back to the car, Simon and myself hid from Elliot, waited for him to pass us, then stalked him for a good hundred and fifty meters or so, and jumped on him again. He got another fright. Banter and laughs were had. I decided it would be worth heading up to the top get in, mostly because the river was high and it wouldn't be a bump scrape the whole way down, but also so I would have a bit more of a chance to get used to the beast of the Mamba. Now, we only had one car, and one driver. 5 of the last 6 rivers I have been on, I have now jogged the shuttle. Today was no exception! It was about 4 miles, it was hot, it was sweaty, it was taps aff territory. Got some funny looks from the ramblers, but meh, I was happy. Off down the river, we came across the second get in pretty quickly. Turns out down the river, this extra mile and a half jog takes all of 5 seconds. Meh. I got a bit more used to the Mamba. After some nifty line taking by Elliot Shotgun was soon came across. As we knew the river was pretty high, we jumped out for a very quick inspection. It all goes fine. Hug left, go left, and you can do a small boof off the last part. Again, on the left. Simon had his gopro on. And yes, the red light was flashing. We ran it lemming style, which was fun. Nobody had any epics, so we went on to Constriction. At this level the water is pouring around both sides of the central rock, with the standard right line being the best, but another good line opening up in the dead center of the river, hugging the left of the constriction rock. Nobody ran this, as we didn't know about it till the bottom. Oh well.. On to the Rocks of Solitude It was AMAZIN... All three of us nailed the line. Start right, then hitting the tongue on what is normally the first stopper (in this level it is #2, another forms just upstream), using this to cut across to the left, hit the curler at the 3rd stopper and riding that through the meat to put you on line for the last stopper. Elliot got his line through the last two stoppers spot on. Unfortunately, he had no control over this, being as he was upside down from the curler. He tried valiantly to roll, but couldn't, and swam. He got himself to the side of the river, but his beloved Anthony was too full of water for myself or Simon to move to him, so we had to follow it down Presidents corner to the pool at the bottom. As we were getting ready to jump out to empty it, Elliot appeared, having decided the easiest way of getting to us was to take the normal line through presidents corner anyway, without his boat. Which was apparently pretty sketch, so not recommended. As he was emptying Anthony, he was out anyway, we decided to run it again. Seeing as how it was SUCH a good rapid. Second run, double the fun. Elliot couldn't wait to get started, and tried to run it without his spraydeck on. And backwards. Lucky for him, where he got on the current wasn't too strong, so he paddled back upstream. I led down this time, with the Mamba proving itself to be an incredibly stable craft, and one that I was starting to like quite a lot. Nae swims this time, with all three of us nailing the line, yet again. Much smiles were had by a (this time the right way up) Elliot. Champion. The run down to Fishladder proved entertaining, if uneventful at these levels. We jumped out on Fishladder to check the run in, and that the level hadn't changed that much, and discovered quite a crowd of spectators there waiting for carnage. After a very quick look, the line was exactly the same as when we had looked earlier, so back we trotted to our boats to run it. I led, Simon followed, and we both got cheers from the spectators. Elliot decided to play up to the crowd and took the hero (or Keith) line down the falls. Pencilled in, disappeared, then re-appeard somehow facing the right way, to much jubilation from the gathered masses. Run it again? They said. It would be rude not to, we said. Simon hit his line again, got a nice little launch from a failed backloop, which looks awesome, and is apparently quite good fun. I tried my best to back loop the Mamba by taking a suspect line, but this proved to be a nigh on impossible feat, even for the mighty fishladder. Elliot nailed it. Boom. Banter was had to the take out, which was good. Although when we did get out, the river gods decided to smile on us a bit too much. I say smile, it was more like getting pissed on. Absolutely torrential rain. Incredible to watch, not so incredible to try and get changed in. When we eventually manned up enough to get changed, it had mostly stopped. We managed to catch up with the storm again as we were driving back down the road, and yeeowzers it was biblical. But we came out the other side to the welcome sight of them golden arches, and stopped ostensibly so that Simon could go poop. But, being the kind folks we are, we also got Elliot to buy a milkshake. We just managed to escape the deluge by driving away from McD's at just the right time, I couldn't have faced driving through that again. Once back at the store and unloaded, the milkshake bought by Elliot was consumed. Through a boot. Nae alcomohol, but pretty nasty. Every time he breathed in through his nose, all he got was a lungful of putrid clungie air. Whilst chugging a pint of milk and ice cream. There is a couple of videos.. Links should be posted up when they appear. LOOOONNNNGG report short, this has to be one of the best days I have had on the river in a long time. Brilliant levels, warm weather, and many banters were had. Suck it, Alpine paddlers. River Level: HIGH on WtW - 0.65. Take a GOOD note of this level people! IT IS WITHOUT A DOUBT THE SHIZZZ!!!
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SwavGav
Member of Dumbledore's Army
Or might be Seren
Kayaking's a manly sport. See, we get to play with balls.[F4:Swavin Gavin]
Posts: 596
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Post by SwavGav on Jul 2, 2012 9:23:25 GMT
PS - told you it was biblical Attachments:
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SwavGav
Member of Dumbledore's Army
Or might be Seren
Kayaking's a manly sport. See, we get to play with balls.[F4:Swavin Gavin]
Posts: 596
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Post by SwavGav on Aug 3, 2012 21:50:09 GMT
Me and Tom were naughty. We went and paddled the NEsk again...
02/08/12
0.6 on the guage, but we both felt like it was a bit higher.. Shows what we know.
Description:
Lots happened on this trip. I'd been having a crap couple of weeks, Toms week wasn't much better, so we decided on a quick high NEsk blast to try and get ourselves feeling better. Cause I'm working in St Andrews just now I asked for a quarter past 4 start. Things started well, I got there at quarter past to the sight of an MPV sitting waiting with boats already on the roof, the club Mamba for Tom, and Mr Knox's Solo for me. After a tiny bit of fun getting on the correct road (I might have forgot the NEsk is towards Aberdeen and NOT Blairgowrie), we were on our way. Excited doesn't really cover it, Tom was bouncing like a miniature daschund when you take it for a walk.
Up the road nae more faff, to the get in, changed quickly, MPV to the bottom of the river, and I ran the shuttle. Sweaty sweaty sweaty thing it was, and a few midges and cleggs to avoid too. Back to the get in, Tom had got both boats down to the water side (thanks Tom), got changed and off we went.
Lots of fun playing our way down the river. We decided we should name rapids by who normally gets munched on them. So the one under the bridge is Big Steves Rock, the one with the rock river right and wall left is now (one of) Toms fun spots, etc etc... Shotgun is Hagans folly (or Willpin), and it was fun. It nearly caught Tom out with the cushion wave at the bottom, whereas I went for the hard left line expecting a nice boof but finding more of a disgruntled slidey rock thing. Ho hum. Constriction is just constriction cause nobody we could think of has been munched on it yet, but it was fun drop into a boily pool.
The run in to Rocks of Solitude was gid, nothing eventful happened. I was getting happier with the solo. We hopped out for a quick inspection, saw the line, and rock-paper-scissored it to see who ran first. I won, so led the way. I think the Solo took a good line for me, I came out the other side smiling anyway. Tom had a more interesting time of it - he was pointing slightly too far left on the first main drop, so when he got to the second the curler from the left pushed his nose way further to the right than he wanted, and he lost all his speed and dropped into the final hole practically sideways. Luckily when Tom eventually did fall over (thanks to ramming the river right wall) he got flushed out of the hole quickly, and after one attempt to roll too early, got himself back up.
We caught our breath in the eddy above Presidents Corner, then headed on down. Tom took a great line, I was a bit too far left and got stuck against the wall on the right for a bit. Don't know how I didn't fall in. I blame the Solo.
Fishladder was up next, it's a nice bimble down when there's a bit of flow pushing you along. We got out for a quick look at the line, and were glad we did - at these levels you need to start a bit further right than normal, pointing straight out the end of the canyon below so you don't get smashed into the left wall (me) or submerged underwater for a while (Keith.. Elliot..) or trapped in a nasty wee spiny eddy (Crotchy..).
We rock paper scissored it again to see who went first, Tom taking the honors this time, and us running it lemming style. He had an interesting time in the stopper on the lead in - ended up looking at the sky for a bit (which I found quite impressive, didn't know the Mamba could be backlooped), and took a quick roll. On to the main drop, and poor Tom was too far to the right. He caught an edge at the bottom of the fall in between the tongue and the stoppery bit, and fell oover.
A couple of valiant attempts at rolling ensued, alas to no avail, and Dr Tom had his first swim on the NEsk. Booooo!
Jemma Punter Public was standing on the side watching with her kids... Standard reaction to paddling: "Are you COMPLETELY MAD???!!!?!!?!??!?" Standard response "It was fun!! And don't worry, he's fine."
All in all, it was another good high water trip to the NEsk, although that will be the last time I get to do anything fun for the next while - thesis hand in is 5 weeks today and I've barely started...
Solos are awesome.
Dr T had a swim on the NEsk.
He also had no sleep last night due to some bitch constantly waking him up. So save the insults for tomorrow once he's had some sleep.
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Post by Thor on Aug 16, 2012 12:19:53 GMT
08/08/12
High/Medium on WTW
Paddlers: Big Steve, Thomas and Myself
Intended as a playboat bimble for me, tom, steve and bruce on a low-ish Nesk, but the river gods were being tricksy-hobbits and by the afternoon the river had risen to high - YAHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Seeing this myself and tom had the genius brainwave to take the duo down for major giggles. We were super excited, like jack in a flares bar!! However our joy was short lived, Bruce dropped out due to mestral cramps so we all took our creekys.
To do the shuttle thomas brought his shiney new BMX with rad stickers and spokey dokeys and a cool bell and sick lights on the pedals! But due to a flat, thomas had to pump up the tyre on the drive, very amusing for myself and steve sat in the front and passers by to who it would appear tom was having the most furious, friction burn inducing lavabos ever!
Long story short, river was a good level, no scrapey bum syndrome, i took my first roll on Rocks o' Solidtude. Nae epics, nae faff! Gid days boating, mandatory Md's on the way home. Bish bash bosh burst!
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Post by phnx on Aug 30, 2012 14:58:08 GMT
29/08/12 0.97 VERY HIGH on WTW Paddlers: Knoxy Dr T Elliot M Alan hadn't paddled the Nesk for well over a year and was very sad about this. So Thomas proposed a quick evening blast. We arrived at the get in without much faff when disaster struck. Thomas had just finished running the mighty shuttle when he realised his shiny new cag was nowhere to be seen. After doubly retracing our steps through the walk to the get in and finding nothing, we got on the river with the hopes that it was left in the MPV. Got on at the rapid above Susie's vagina for a nice warm up and this was about the time we realised this was going to be a pretty full on day. The rocky beach you usually have to trudge over even at high water was totally covered and we got in at the river bank. The usual bimbly/ rocky scrape depending on the level had formed a huge wave train river right. This made for a great playspot before we moved on down. Next up was Susie's vagina, where most of the rocks were invisible and huge waves had formed. This would become a repeating pattern for much of the river. All the usual little bimbly drops had formed powerful slides or wave trains and there was barely a part of the river that wasn't great fun to paddle and many sections required you to be a little more switched on. The last drop before Shotgun was another big bouncy bundle of fun. We all hit the eddy just above with big smiles on our faces and had a quick inspection from the boat. Most of the rocks were covered and a HUGE volume of water was passing through. it was fairly difficult to see, but it looked pretty intimidating. Alan ran first followed by Thomas, with me coming last. I can't remember very much about what the rapid looked like, but it was 100 times better than at any other level. The volume of water flowing down was tremendous and it ended very quickly. I hit the horizon line just in time to see Thomas catch the bottom stopper and fly into the air, sending the fear to my now palpitating bumhole that I would soon perform a similar maneuver. I ended up avoiding the stopper only by virtue of getting slammed against the far left wall before being rag-dolled by the giant curler across and out safely. Tom rolled safely and we all disappeared round the corner as the humping flow continued into the next rapid. More bimbles and no scrapey rocks and huge bouncy waves later we hit Rocks Of Solitude. At these levels it pretty much washes out but inspection was necessary for blockages and to see the mouth of Presidents Corner. The volume of water passing through was enormous and we had concerns about it being blocked or just taking a pasting off the wall in general. We went high up the banks to have a look but couldn't get a good look in. tentatively we hit the boats and ran it lemming style in the same order. Everything was fine down to Presidents Corner where the huge volume met the small constriction with amazing results. Soo much speed it was a joy to paddle, until it slammed me off the far right wall. Ouch. More bimbles and bants down to Fishladder where we ran part of the lead in and Eddied out near the top. At these levels INSPECTION IS ESSENTIAL!! We found a giant river wide hole where the fishladder used to be. Running centre was a guaranteed beating, river right ran the risk of being fed into the stopper with similar results. Alan took a good hard look at running down the fishladder as it missed the worst of the stopper, but the left hand side was pretty messy and boily. In the end, we decided to walk, with Alan guesstimating " Could have probably ran it, but I'd guess I'd only come out ok 60% of the time . . . he did not like those odds. We portaged and carried on to the get out with Tom being added to the Laura Flipper swim club in between. Took a big mouth full of water as he went in and got pushed against the wall. sad face The last part of the river before the get out was nice, bouncy and tasty like much of the rest. We got out and it was time for the moment of truth. Was the cag in the MPV? A very happy Thomas found that it was. Silly forgetful Thomas. Got changed, went home via MCD's and crashed after a quality days paddling. Things this trip has taught me: The Nesk on Very High is outstanding. Everything is better at this level with the exception of ROS and Fishladder Shotgun is easily a tasty grade 4 and needs some balls/ skill to run. Presidents corner is tasty The bimbles become awesome Try and hit the Nesk at this level if you can. Thoroughly recommend it. Cheers for a barry day out lads.
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Post by BiggyT on Aug 31, 2012 8:52:14 GMT
HUMPING FLOOOOOOOOOOOW!
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Post by Thor on Oct 2, 2012 16:10:56 GMT
Me, Moon and Burgers did the Nesk on a high medium the other day. It was uneventful but fun. Theres a tree hanging over the river on the 3rd bimble rapid after Presidents corner. Mind out! That is all.
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