Waterside D - Devizes to Newbury

Nick & Len in the "Water Rat" K2

Early start tomorrow as the clocks go forward one hour tonight. The race is 34 miles and 35 portages and check in is from 6am (which is 5am right now so leaving home at 3.30am!).

Rob has had some cosmetic surgery and is concerned about getting rats wee in his wounds or something.

Couldn't seem to tell fibs that were convincing enough to get someone else to step in, so I am on my own. Andy Cook has kindly lent me a K1 which I tried out at Marlow so I am ready.

Len and Nick have ditched the Explorer for tomorrow and are trying out a Water Rat K2 which is stable with a nice hull shape and large cockpits. Its not lightweight but weighs 15Kg less than the Explorer! Thanks again to Andy Cook.
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I set off in the Zephyr K1 from Devizes at 7.45am. As soon as I got into the boat it seemed a little more unstable than I remembered from my quick trial under Marlow Bridge. I couldn't seem to settle into an easy paddling rythm and had to concentrate really hard to stay upright especially as K2's came past. The 14 mile pound seemed to go on forever and I was glad for the first lock to appear to get out of the boat. On the positive side I had not fallen in.

Then I met a Swan I am going to call Uday. Many paddlers will have heard of the legend of Saddam the swan who attacked DW paddlers with tremendous ferocity. You can see him in action here:

http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13510&highlight=devizes+westminster

Anyway, I am reliably informed that Saddam the swan is dead. Rumour has it that he took on someones dog and didn't survive the experience.

So here I am paddling along with Uday in front of me all puffed up with his wings in two beautiful arcs meeting at head height over his back. My bow was going straight towards him and I assumed he was full of wind and would paddle out of my way at the last minute. He moved just out of the way and as he came level with me he timed his attack perfectly. It didn't cross my mind he could get past my flailing paddles but as my right paddle was in the water he rose up and struck me on my arm level with the bicep. There was a lot of power in that wing and he struck me hard with the bone that is connected to his shoulder. The noise of the thwack and the pain of bone to bone contact really made me wonder if he could have fractured my arm.

The real Uday was head of the Iraqi Olympic committee and used to torture athletes who didn't perform...................... I wasn't performing so maybe the name for this swan is perfect.

The Bruce Tunnel was a real challenge as there was no way I wanted to fall in. I could see the chains at the side which you are supposed to cling to if you fall in and wait for the safety boat. I was glad as I passed the half way stage of the 599yds and it started to get lighter.

My portage approach is pretty good in our stable K2 but I had never done it in a K1. Never the less I got to the end of Crofton before over braking tipped me in. I did the same on two further occasions before I got fed up and adopted a more cautious approach. My day didn't seem to be getting any better.

Sometimes I lost concentration and wobbled precariously. On one occasion there was a K2 behind me with the guys talking very loudly as I had a major wobble just past Great Bedwyn. "look at him, he won't make it, technique is crap. Probably just rocked-up today........".

Thanks lads. After that I was more determined than ever to try and get it right but my unstable episodes continued but with less frequency.

The blue sign on the canal saying three miles from Newbury was very welcome. I was trying to catch a C2 with a couple of teenage lads in it and the only way I was making progress was at the portages. At the final portage before the low bridge in Newbury I pulled in early behind them, hoiked the boat out and ran round them. I dropped the boat in to cross the canal and did exactly the same to another C2 before getting in behind the lock and then across the finish line.

As I crossed the finish line I knew I had been very slow but was relieved to finish and put the day down to good excercise to prepare for DW.

34 miles, 35 portage and it had taken me 7hrs 29mins. I was the slowest K2 Veteran.

I reckon that in our Nelo K2 we would have done it in 6hrs 30mins and we would have been happy with that. I am going to give my K2 partner a good talking to about the timing of his cosmetic surgery! I guess he wants to look like my old action man........you know, short fuzzy hair and eagle eyes.

Nick & Len found the Water Rat to be about the same speed as the Explorer but it is 16KG! lighter and the steering is much better and they didn't fall out at all.

The Royal

The Royal is a 19 mile race from Runnymede to Teddington passing through just 6 locks. The race was scheduled to start at 12.00hrs for the senior men in K2's. Here are Simon and Rob getting into the Thames at Runnymede for the start of the race. It was a warm sunny day but we had to remember there are wide wind-swept areas of river and the weather can change quite significantly.

Len and Nick are seen here below getting into the water in a Condor K2. The boat is faster than our Waterman and one of the more stable racing K2 boats but the skill of staying upright in such a boat needs to be learnt and its much easier to learn in your early teens.

To their credit, Len and Nick have had some training and spent several evenings on the river trying to aquire the skills to stay upright. I paddled from Marlow to Hurley to meet them last Thursday and they were paddling along nicely. Today there was quite a bit of banter as to what comment they would make as they passed us in the race and they had settled on a smug grin.

In the top picture you can see us all at the start. There were just eleven senior K2 crews. Our boat is the orange and black one nearest the camera and you can see it is wider than all the other boats as it is built to be a sea kayak. We reckon that the stability of this boat will stand us in good stead for the Devizes to Westminster race in 3 weeks time.

Just after the start, Nick and Len were turned over and the moment was caught on camera by my daughter Emily. The race didn't get any better for the lads and they were soon in again in an area where the banks were too high to get out. Only one thing to do and that is make like a floater. They did just that for about 6 mins until they could get out and by that time they were very cold indeed and retired. Well done lads for giving it a go. We admire your pluck.

Rob and Simon knew nothing of this and were paddling hard expecting Len and Nick to be on them at any time and with a smug smile. We would without a doubt have preferred that. In this race we learnt not to go into the shallows. As we cut one corner it was like the brakes going on and we could see the sandy bottom about 18 inches below the boat. At one portage about 10yds from where we were due to get out two K2's shot up the inside of us. We were not impressed until we saw it was it was the red haired twins? (just 15 yrs old) in a duel with another young ladies crew. My son was not impressed after the race that were were soundly beaten by a couple of 15yr old girls and even less so when I told him that they had barged us out of the way at a portage. They are good......very good.

As we paddled away from the last lock we knew it was about 3.8miles to go and I thought the guy in the briefing had said the finish was just before a bridge. The bridge came into site and we gave it everything to get to the finish and catch up with a yellow C2. We passed the C2 and looked for the finish but it was a long way past the bridge and it was a real slog to maintain the pace we had set thinking the finish was in sight.

Out of the ten senior K2 boats that finished we came last with a time of 2hrs 42mins and we have never paddled as hard. Our average speed was 6.8mph.

Waterside C

Rob couldn't make it and Nick was ill with a stomach bug.
I had arranged to do the race with Len (crew2) but at 04.40am on Sunday morning I got back from St Peters A&E, Woking and had to cancel to look after my daughter the next day - the little luv. Sorry Len.

Thameside 2 - Caversham to Longridge, Marlow

The check-in was quite different as the river was fast flowing earlier in the week and there were risk assessments to do on each crew including checking each boat before we could start. It was a mass start rather than being released 1 min apart in groups of four or five boats. The water before Caversham lock was really choppy having been churned up by the lead boats and we were close to tipping over even in our boats.

The first few portages were a bundle and the rules seemed unclear. Some crews were queueing and others were barging through. We did a bit of both.

The weather was fine when we started as you can see from how we are dressed but after a couple of hours the temperature dropped about 8 deg! and it rained heavily.

The support crew met us twice after each hour at Marsh and Hurley as there was no access to sonning or shiplake. The support worked well.

We followed the leading C2 crew to Marsh and the work rate of the veteran guy and junior girl was quite inspiring. We passed them at the Marsh portage and they came into Longridge not far behind us. A fantastic effort from them.

Our average speed with 8 portages on this stretch was 7.1mph so the flow had to be 1.3mph plus. When we passed under the Marlow by-pass bridge at the finish there was a huge cheer from at least 10 family members who have all lived in Marlow at some stage. It was a great welcome. Thanks.

Waterside B - Newbury to Aldermaston.....and back.

We were lucky with the weather as it was fine and warm. Rob removed his jacket at the start - good move. Coming back against the flow was tough and quite a few paddlers decided it was faster to run along the bank - which it was. If you are fit enough to run with your kayak quite quickly for quite long distances then why not. We stuck with the paddling. When we did portage early I found the extended running hard this week. In general we pick up places every time we portage. This week I wasn't thinking straight and my portaging approach was poor on four or five occasions. Even so, we still picked up places. A tough race but we were pleased with the result.