Paddlers: Mattias, Yolanda, Eric, Sam and John.
I had to eat my words as we ‘comfortably’ loaded Matt and Yolanda’s hatchback with 3 boats, 5 paddles, 5 people and all our assorted winter paddling kit.. A mere 7 hours later Matt found some people drunk enough to give us the Dart country park gate access code, then woke up the unlucky duty instructor so we didn’t all have to sleep in the car.
The next day dawned cold but bright so after a suitably hearty (and greasy) breakfast we met up with our instructor James. After the usual faffing about with gear etc we were on the water with strict instructions not to fall in because it was too bloody cold!
John was the first one to ignore these instructions, tipping over within the first hour, luckily he avoided a swim but by the end of the day myself, Eric and John (for a second time) were all more intimate with the bottom of the river.
We started at the bottom of the Dart Loop and paddled the Lower Dart to Ashburton. The water level was low so there were some fairly rocky sections, but it was a very forgiving river for a bunch of white water novices (with the exception of Matt who was ‘blooded’ in Scotland). James (our instructor) spent a lot of time going through the basics — breaking in and out, edging and ferry gliding. After paddling for about 4 hours we headed back to get warm and assess the day over a few beers. After dinner we were treated to a video evening of paddling expeditions to various points on the globe including Pakistan, Canada and France. Some of the trips went to truly impressive lengths to paddle a section of river.
The following morning, following another helping of grease we got ready for our role as guinea pigs for a Level 3 coaching exam. We were paddling the same section of river as the day before, only even more carefully! Unfortunately for the second candidate the ‘rock hugging in rapids’ exercise didn’t go so well and the assessors had to step in as John was ‘mooning’ one rock, while Eric’s brief brush with another had him valiantly attempting to roll further down stream (he got there eventually). We continued down the river in a slightly more orderly fashion so as not to completely ruin the candidates’ chances. All was going well till a section towards the end when some lazy edging ended with John swimming again and Matt and Eric both getting wet. Yolanda earned bragging rights for the weekend being the only one not to get unintentionally wet and john is now looking to invest in a Cag that doesn’t so closely resemble a tea bag.
It was a really enjoyable weekend and provided a good foundation for tackling more challenging rivers.