Volume 1, Issue 3 Cambridge Summer 2010 Club Newsletter http://www.cambridgecanoeclub.org.uk This newsletter relies on contri- butions from members. If you have been on a Cardington Relief Channel By Melinda Beck trip, have a point of view or news write it down and send it in to News- [email protected]. Cardington Relief Channel is a There are no overhanging trees Articles should be between 75 and flood water relief channel on and no rocks or grade 5 rapids 150 words long and can be accom- the River Great Ouse at Bed- to swim should it all go wrong panied by a picture. ford. Every year, an artificial and easy to walk back up and white water course is set up in try again. Consequently it is a the channel, the sluice is then great place to get your first opened and the fun begins! This taste of moving water in a safe Playing at Cardington  Trip & event Reports year on a sunny weekend in and fun environment with lots May was no exception. Pour - of eager advice on hand. Also up.  River Life overs, stoppers, drops and surf good for the more experienced waves galore. to brush up on, high crosses, This proved a popular couple of support strokes surfing, ferry- days for beginners and experi- The course is shallow, smooth  Meet A Paddler glides and keeping those edges enced alike. bottom with no nasty snags.  Water Safety Matlock By Melinda Beck  Devizes to West- A group of paddlers from the there was a bit of white water minster Special club were up early one morning under the town bridge providing to make their way to Matlock to a bit of fun. Sooner than ex- experience the River Derwent pected we then reached the car as it flows through Derbyshire park at the top of the slalom Inside this issue: on its way to meeting its big course where a lovely river-wide brother, the River Trent. A be- wave allows surfing, before ginner’s trip on moving water, entering the top of a slalom Surfing wave at Matlock Cardington 1 the starts at Darley Dale course at the end of the trip. straight into moving water, a Here eddy hopping was the aim, Matlock 1 great place to practice those whilst the more confident peo- closer and grab hold of the wire ferry glides without the hazards ple demonstrated what could mesh on the supporting wall and of white water. The river then be done on waves, small stop- drag my self upstream. I was What Lies Beneath 2 gently meanders for around pers and ‘white bits’, I even got then helped unceremoniously 6km through fields alongside a to practice my roll! The get-out out. Meet A Paddler 3 railway where the odd steam is a bit challenging, a ledge, train keeps you company. Little submerged in the water, and We then carried the the ¼ was necessary other steps up the wall in an other- mile from the get-out to the car Water Safety: Leptospirosis 3 than correcting position in the wise canalised channel. I was park at the top of the slalom to water as we were swept past swept past completely in the run the last section again or pack up to head home. This was 2010 Cam Marathon 4 trees and fields. Watched by first attempt and faced a ferry the odd duck, the less experi- glide and an energetic paddle a great weekend and made a enced of us practised ferry up the eddy on the opposite good introductory trip to white 2012 Event 4 glides, breaking in and out of bank before lining myself up for water with all the thrills and not the flow and general con- a second run at it. On the sec- too many spills. Events Diary 5 trol. As we entered Matlock ond attempt I managed to get

Symonds Yat 5 To get the club's diary of events and ad-hoc messages about club activities and the quarterly newsletter by e-mail please send a blank message to: Supplement—Deviizes to West- 6-8 [email protected] minster Special Part 1. In case you already didn’t know, is an assumed risk, water contact sport. Page 2 Cambridge Canoe Club Newsletter

What Lies Beneath By Nathan Hall, Chris Middleton and Justin Mould

The river Cam rises at Ash- found, from well Springs in Hertfordshire small crusta- and meanders along a 65 ceans such as kilometre journey through Freshwater Cambridgeshire before emp- Shrimps, tying into the Ely Ouse at Hoglice and Popes corner. Along its Water mites, to course the river supports a a variety of wide variety of habi- snails and tats which determine what leeches, and fish population will predators such Justin with roach stocked into Byrons be resident. The upper as Water Scorpi- Floating Pennywort Pool in 2007 reaches and tributaries are ons and Alderfly populated by brown trout, larvae. Fifteen (Hydrocotyle ranunculoides) dace, bullhead and lamprey species of which are dependant on well aquatic beetles have been North American Floating oxygenated and fast flowing found on this part of the Pennywort, which has be- water, while the sluggish river, including riffle, scaven- come well established on and weedy lowland sections ger, and diving varieties, and the River Cam. Beneath the are inhabited by more toler- the impressively loud surface, you may find a large ant species such as the screech beetle. Two scaven- patches of Arrowhead and roach, common bream, ger beetle species regarded Unbranched bur-reed, per- bleak, pike, tench and as Nationally Scarce - haps interspersed with Per- spined loach. The river is Anacaena bipustulata and foliate, Fennel, and Long- also home to two non native Enochrus melanocephalus stalked pondweed. fish species, the bitterling, a have also been recorded. small and colourful species Many of the aquatic inverte- which lays its eggs inside brates begin their lives be- swan mussels and the neath the surface, eventu- Cased caddis fly larva zander, a predatory species ally emerging as winged (Limnephilus rhombicus) which grows to over 10lb adults. This includes eight- and is much prized by an- een recorded species of cad- Nathan, Chris and glers. The river cam is cur- dis fly, many of which make Justin are rently classified as having distinctive cases from plant ‘Good’ ecological status for material, sand or gravel dur- environmental fish under Water Framework ing their aquatic phase, and monitoring officers for Directive although fish popu- five species of mayfly. Most lations are still likely to be at striking are the Damselflies the Environment risk from a variety of envi- such as the Banded demoi- ronmental pressures such selle, Blue-tailed damselfly, Agency. They can be as abstraction, siltation of and dragonflies such as the emailed at spawning beds, diffuse pol- Southern Hawker . lution and physical modifica- nathan.hall@environme tion of the river channel. In this part of the Cam the Chub stocked into the Cam at aquatic plants are typical of nt-agency.gov.uk Cantelupe Farm 2010 As the River Cam passes those found in a slow- through Sheep’s Green it is moving, lowland river. These inhabited by a wide range of include emergent reeds invertebrate and plant life. such as the Common or Nor- On the surface Pond skat- folk reed and Reed canary ers, Water crickets, Whirligig grass, which are usually beetles and Water measur- seen in the marginal areas. ers may be seen. Beneath, a Keep a look out in the mar- host of invertebrates can be gins for the highly invasive Volume 1, Issue 3 Page 3

Meet a Paddler: Charlie Scovell Who are you and what do worth it. What does your paddling you paddle? Do you have a funny story future hold? I’m currently the junior Rep- you can share? I just hope that I can carry resentative, 16 years old Not really, but any trip with on paddling for as long as and paddle a Jackson All- the good old Patrick Morti- possible. star. boy is always a good laugh! What is your favourite Do you have any paddling stretch/paddle that you do advice? and why? Hmmmm, just relax and Each issue we meet a dif- Probably the {in keep at it. There is no point ferent club paddler. Devon} or the Tryweryn {in in getting all tense and wor- Charlie by the River Dart North Wales}. Mainly be- ried about any aspect of If you want to take part in cause the Dart was my first paddling. Besides, you’re ‘meet a club member’, river and the Tryweryn has only doing it because you please email your answers so much variety on it for all enjoy it. to the same questions (and types of paddlers. Do you have a particular bit a small picture if you What is your favourite boat? of kit you rely on? would like) to: Well that would have to be Well every bit of kit does Newslet- my boat, the aches, pains what it needs to, so no, not [email protected] and pins and needles are really.

Water Safety: Leptospirosis By Andrew Twigg I guess like most members of or . You can also get it by NHS Direct website. the club, I love being on, around ingesting water, but usually this If you have been paddling (and sometimes even in!) the is too dilute to cause problems. though, and between 3 and 14 water, but the fact of the matter The simplest way of beating the days later get flu like symptoms, is that the river environment disease is by washing and dry- tell your doctor immediately and can be very risky. In this last ing your hands thoroughly after a course of anti-biotics should article of this series, no discus- you have been on the river. see you right. sion on river safety would be The disease usually makes complete without mentioning Leptospirosis is very rare with itself apparent between 3 and leptospirosis. This can refer to on average 41 people a year in 14 days after you have been a range of bacterial infections, the UK catching the disease. near the water. There are many the significant one for us pad- Very few of these go on to be- symptoms, but the main ones dlers being Leptospira ic- come fully developed Weil’s Leptospira species bacteria include: terohaemorrhagiae , disease. Fully blown Weil’s disease comes with a jaundiced which in extreme cases  Redness of the eyes  A headache that is so painful look, indicating that your liver develops into something you can’t do anything – this is and kidneys are failing. Unfor- called Weil’s disease. Why is usually made worse by bright tunately one or two people do this important? Well 1 in 5 rats lights. die each year from this. carry the disease, which is  Nausea which may or may not So get out on the river and en- passed on through their urine. include vomiting joy it – it is a beautiful place Rats tend to live in and around with a different mood for each Muscle aches and tenderness, water, meaning it is very easy to  season, and we have the privi- pick up the disease by putting particularly in the lower back. lege of seeing it all from our your hand on the bank when If you want more information boats, but be aware of the risks and wash your hands when you you get in and out of your canoe there is a great leaflet on the get back! Page 4 Cambridge Canoe Club Newsletter

2010 Cam Marathon By Phillip Stevenson 154 paddlers took part in the moted to Div.8) and Alan Weeks David and Penny Glover 6th in 2010 Cam Marathon on 28 8th. Adam Strevens, completed Div.8 K2 to complete the family March. This comprised 78 sen- the gruelling Div.1 race despite theme. iors, 55 juniors and 21 Light- a broken boat and a broken nings. alarm clock. Fiona and Lorna McBride also put in creditable So, our numbers were swelled efforts as first timers in Light- by newcomers and transients, Maybe it was the sunny weather, nings. and we relied too much on vet- maybe a statistical blip, but for 1 eran males, but a glimmer of day Cambridge almost looked hope nonetheless. The big ab- like a racing club again. Our 9 K2: some interesting combina- sence was 10-17 year old boys. K1s and 4 K2s were fewer than tions saw action. A last minute Was Herod king in the 1990s? half the entries of the bigger pairing of Volker Ast and Miguel Acts need to be got together clubs, yet we were third behind Hernandez stormed to victory in and effort put in. Remember Norwich and Chelmsford, beat- Div.7, presumably communicat- that competition can be worth Miguel and Volker - the Eurovision K2 ing Leighton Buzzard and ing in English. Less diverse but more to your CV than yet an- Bishop's Stortford. no less interesting, Russell and other GCSE. Jason Atkinson won Div.8 K2. Both are previous UK junior K2 K1: Sam Taylor was 2nd/14 in champions, but in different Thanks to all those who helped, Div.6 (promoted to Div.5) and boats and neither had raced for and especially to Mike Norman Alison Galloway 3rd. Philip Ste- 20 years. Perhaps brothers take as organizer. Now for Cam that long to get together. We venson was 2nd/12 in Div.8 2011! (promoted to Div.7). Matilda look forward to seeing more of Stevenson was 2nd/16 in Div.9, them. Richard and Jennifer Vince Blocke 3rd (both pro- Stagg were 3rd in Div.7 K2, and

2012 Event in 2010 By Nicole Zahn On 8th May Jeff Toser (BCU) brought two modern canoe- Constant ing ergos to the clubhouse for a 2012 event. It was a grey day with con- drizzle but stant drizzle but people trickled in con- people stantly to have a go at pad- dling 500m trickled (adults) and 200m (under 13s). On these sparkling new ergos, both Slalom course in... difficulty adjustment and display worked, therefore everyone's time was taken. Prizes for the fastest paddlers were prom- ised but not awarded on the day.

At the same time, paddlers with an interest in slalom had the opportunity to practice their skills on a safe, little course outside Ergos in action! the clubhouse. Volume 1, Issue 3 Page 5

Events Diary: Trips, Competitions and Socials Trips away Local flat water Date Month Trip Details Dat Month River 4 September Surfing Trip to Cromer e 2-3 October Slenningford Trip Beginner 25 September River Little Ouse 23-24 October Devon Trip River Barle, intermediate 17 October River Deben For trip information, contact [email protected]. Booking 20 November River Wissey details will be advertised on Camcanoe emails 1 month before each trip. 12 December River Great Ouse Racing For Flat water paddles, contact Povl National race dates can be found at: http://www.marathon-canoeing.org.uk at [email protected] For racing information contact [email protected]

Symmonds Yat Trip By Lucy Stebbings

We set off on Friday expecting a no mishaps on the kayak route water doing good weekend, despite the weather apart from the odd bung issue. After acrobatics forecast, and some of us with the a good lunch, Andy and Chris (I at great added frisson of excitement (or was think!) climbed up onto The Rock speed. that fear) at experiencing our first with Dave’s help and launched Because of white water. themselves down the now rain the flow, we Dave and co managed to get there drenched slide. got to the early enough to check out the rap- Finally we made it to the rapids and, weir in re- ids including newbie Chris who with a certain amount of trepidation cord time. Rapids at Symonds Yat went straight down it with no prob- and lots of encouragement and Another new lems, well done that man! advice, the newbies went over the experience For the rest of us beginners the first edge. It was fun! We practiced for some of us, we tried to balance white stuff was to come on Satur- breaking out and in, ferry gliding the boats in the rolling weir water day and what better way to prepare and some of us tested capsize and and watched the good guys doing than a brisk walk to the pub to listen recovery drills. We played until too 360s. Cool! to stories from the pros. Hmmm… tired to carry on, and then headed Since we were down so quickly, back to the campsite to prepare for Under strict instructions, we were there was a quick trip to the Kayak a BBQ. (nearly) all out of our tents for the shop in Hay. 8.45 briefing. One group were tak- Each time we thought the rain had I would like to say I did the rapids ing to Kerne Bridge and the reached its peak it just got worse. the next day but I didn’t. After little rest of us did the boat and people Not great for a BBQ, thank good- sleep the night before and the pros- shuffle to get us to Lydbrook. The ness for the wonderful Gazebo. pect of a cold one to come, Andy plan was to all finish at the rapids. Rain hammering on the tent did not and I headed home so you’ll have make for the best nights sleep ei- We organised groups and got onto to ask someone else what hap- ther but it stopped just in time for the briskly moving river. It carried us pened on Monday! breakfast and we were ready for our through the beautiful tree lined Thanks Dave for your excellent Sunday trip, Glasbury to Hay. banks, stony shores and gorges of organisational skills and also big the Yat with just enough pace for This was a completely different kind thanks to all the instructors. I cer- the slightly nervous to find their of river, very full after the nights tainly encourage anyone who hasn’t water wings. Excellent guidance downpour and flanked by sandy tried it to have a go a the white was on hand from Terry, Andree banks containing rows of house stuff, you will not be disappointed. and the other pros and there were martin apartments. The martins skimmed across the churned up Page 6 Supplement Cambridge Canoe Club Newsletter

Special Supplement: Devizes To Westminster 2010

Water Side B

Every story has a beginning, but ours didn't start here. The fateful decision had been made months be- Daniel Reynolds and fore, and papers signed and money paid so there could be no backing out. Devizes to Westminster it was going to be: our first try, our last chance. Our places were secured, but that would not secure suc- Jonathan Bray took cess. To do that, we would need serious training, a knowledge of the course, and one hell of a fast boat. And to get these things, the Cam would not suffice. We would need to go to the Watersides. part in the epic 2010 Waterside A doesn't really count, and more importantly there were no places left. So Waterside B was to Westminster to Devizes be our first challenge off our placid home waters. And so it was that on the 21st of February I awoke at 0600, from a disturbing dream that I cannot remember. I was at Jon Bray's house. We had spent the Paddle. Read their previous evening being fed sumo-wrestler quantities of chicken and pasta by Jon's delectable wife Sarah highs and lows in this, while watching Rocky 4. And now we would have to deliver the goods. and the next newsletter I wiped hoar-frost from the cottage window and peered outside. A blizzard flung snow about, nearly con- cealing the dark green form of a Stiletto K2. A pale Tiger K1, nestled upturned beneath it, was camou- flaged completely, an eye-level menace to the unwary pedestrian. But who would be up at such an hour? The answer was obvious. A hero.

Half an hour later I had made porridge and was tucking in when a bleary Jon poked his stubbly face around the door. He told me he had dreamt that the two of us had to drag a solid iron punt down the Wye. What significance this had I did not know, but superstition was soon set aside as our preparations began. To help us in the race, we had bought ourselves chest mounted water bottles with straws. We both had two of these, though Jon had left one of his at work, forcing him to have one bottle's worth for wearing and an- other normal water bottle with which to reload it. Out of solidarity I joined him in this strategy, though "water bottle" was maybe a misnomer as my biochemist host spent the next half hour mixing an ungodly concoction of whey, carbohydrates and starch which was to be our fuel for the day. Once just sufficient orange squash had been added to make it palatable, it was time to leave.

As we headed south, the snow began to clear to be replaced with a bright, crisp morning. Banter covered the usual matters such as how best to survive following a nuclear apocalypse. I also mentioned some of what Will Cawthorn and I had to face at Waterside B in 2007, to prepare Jon for the challenges to come. We were on the late side but it was not a problem, as we sprang to life, registered us and Richard Stagg, gave the damaged Tiger to the Kirton reps for repair and readied our craft for battle.

We attempted to begin the race as early as possible. Being Number 10, we felt it was only right we got off soon, however the mar- shals were not impressed with of our sneaky dart to the front of the pack, and forced us back to start alongside a plastic tub and a K1. This could not stand, and soon we were haring down the narrow canal like a rutting garpike. Competitors fell back on either side and we piled into the first - the steel bridge. The thrashing continued on the next stretch, and I even began to sing in time with the paddling. Unfortunately, after a couple of jolly miles disaster struck. Rushing through a portage, Jon's paddle got stuck broadside in a bridge. Our combined weight thumped into it, flattening the blades to be at the same pitch. We struggled on to the next portage, then tried to twist it back again. Back in the water, we found we had done it the wrong way: the reverse of the correct pitch. Not able to go left-handed, there was nothing for it but for me to sit the boat while Jon wrangled it back into shape himself.

Back in the game, we once again began to eat up the crews in front. Jon, at the pointy end, paid scant regard to the fate of the over- taken who frequently ended up in the way of my clobbering paddle-blows. I had to work hard to keep in time with him but now and again we came together and things went well. Finesse, however, had nothing to do with it. A portage or two later, we crashed heavily into the metal bank and then a little later, during a colourful exchange of banter with surrounding crews, my waterlogged shorts fell down as we ran. Benny Hill met Ron Hill as I ripped them off as superfluous and we continued on our way.

Now a notable feature of these races is that the speed of K1's often rivals or exceeds that of the K2's. At some point, I suspected that a repeat of this outcome was likely, as I found that a girl we had overtaken was sitting on our wash. I practically encouraged this by guiding Jon not to scrape her off. Occasionally she would even get the better portage and go ahead, only to return to her perch on our shoulder as we moved back up. Eventually a period of solid, together strokes kissed her goodbye, and the chaos of encountering upcoming crews seemed to seal the matter. All this time we were overtaking more and more people, mostly from our class.

Waterside B is a "there and back" race, and at the turnaround, things became tougher. Overtaking in oncoming traffic was mayhem and we had to work hard, face the current and hack our way through whatever got in our way. Worse, the boat itself seemed to be suffering. It was taking on water, and the paddling was hard work. My seat also felt strange, and we didn't have the time or presence of mind to decant our reserve drink bottles. Our young ladyfriend reappeared but we dropped her and kept moving up. However, the current was fierce. Others smarter than us were getting out altogether and running, avoiding the worst parts of the course where the current was strongest, and getting a useful lead.

We worked away steadily, the main challenge being keeping in time. As soon as we were together, the speed would pick up and we'd have to deal accordingly; then we'd have to change our style again for the rapid bursts of overtaking. After one portage I found that my seat had weirdly transformed itself into high-backed sprint seat, allowing a lot more power. Then: bad news. Although I looked over my shoulder occasionally to check that nothing was moving up on us, as we scrambled out of one portage I noticed that several Page 7 Supplement Cambridge Canoe Club Newsletter

long-dropped rivals had reappeared on the bank behind us, pre- sumably following a lengthy run. Then I looked down to reveal the truth about the seat. The padding layer had come off - forcing itself up the back - and was now completely free. After the next run, nei- ther my seat pad nor the reserve drinks were still in the boat, and then the rudder grounded as we attempted to launch, costing us precious time again.

The last part of the race became a death march. Without food or drink we were tiring, and were hardly overhauling anybody now. In the corner of my eye I could see the front of our young lady's nee- dle-nosed boat, back on our wake. My arms screamed blue murder as guttural, incoherent sounds issued from the stricken Dr. Bray. I guessed it was complaints about my catch and prayers to his strange gods, and I got on with the fight as best I could. With a couple of left, as I had suspected might happen, our little pilot fish left her exhausted shark and zoomed off to win the ladies prize. We clashed with a weird looking C1, a hail of insults giving way to camaraderie. Then, almost on the last portage, Jon's hand cramped up as we put the boat in. He gasped in agony and it seemed so bad that for a crazy second I suspected this was a ruse to make me pull his finger. I bent his fingers back anyway which seemed to work, and we got back in. Sheer helmet sub- stituting for any vestige of technique, we gunned it for the end.

As we sat there under the finish, I was at a loss for words. Then, I saw her. On the bank, on top of a car, projected the unmis- takable prow of our new boat, which we had arranged to pick up here. And what a boat she was! After we had put our own vessel away, got our breath back and dried out, I went back to see the sellers but there was nobody there. I stared at her streamlined form, in love, until Jon became ashamed of me and dragged me away. Eventually, after checking our time, grab- bing food and preparing to leave, we resolved that if the seller didn't turn up, we would simply take the boat and go home. We had paid for it after all. The next time we approached the spot, there were people by the car, clearly having just finished rac- ing. I introduced myself and said that I had bought the boat on Ebay. My friendly grin was met with a look of blank horror. "No, we bought the boat on Ebay", they replied. For a few seconds there was an awful silence, until the penny dropped: there was more than one of these things, and like fools we had found the wrong one.

A lucky escape indeed. We had been seconds away from committing grand theft kayak. We found and collected our actual boat, compared times with Richard, (he had been almost as fast as we were, although he later received a 5 minute penalty for bad behaviour) and headed home. Of course, once we got back we could hardly put our new steed to bed without first taking her for a ride. But that's another story.

Selected results: Senior K2: 58 starters, 55 finishers. 1 Owen Peake & Dan Seaford Independent 2:13:24 2 Simon chapman & Michael wright falcon 2:23:07 9 Piran Shelley & Randall Watson Richmond 2:42:52 15 Jonathan Bray & Daniel Reynolds Cambridge 2:51:54 Thame Side 2

After Waterside B, a few changes were due. If 20 miles were that tough, what would 120 be like? We needed to sort out our technique, to make sure our equipment worked, speed up our portages, sort out the fuelling, and to beat the river, we would have to know the river. If we couldn't do these things ourselves, we would need to find people who could. Enter Rob Smith and Richard Stagg with the training, and Marlow natives Sarah Bray (Jon's wife) and David Griffiths (her Dad) on the support crew.

There was also the matter of the new boat. Lurking in the eaves of the boathouse like a sleeping shark dreaming of prey, she had speed written all over her. But taming a shark isn't easy. On our first serious trip out, the waters were fast and turbulent, and not only was balance hairy but it was near impossible to keep in a straight line. We traced this to a bent and worn out rudder - with too much play, it provided neither balance nor steering. A new one was ordered, but for now it was back to the Green Machine.

Thameside 2 runs from Reading to Marlow. This year entries were actively discouraged due to the conditions, and a cancella- tion was rumoured. On a soggy morning we dragged ourselves out of the greasy spoon and into the rain.

Crazy chop, crazy currents, crazy speed; Crazy men; Lots of roaring; In a word - Awesome. The start was, as usual, crazy. 4 mph current, massive chop and 40 paddlers carreering down to portage 1, 0.7 miles away. I'll not lie, the new paddles made us a bit twitchy, but after a successive series of dangerous lines, I managed to catch a wake and we were launched along like a veritable missile of profanity. Reynolds, having settled into the battle, roared a war cry and Page 8 Supplement Cambridge Canoe Club Newsletter

we were soon hurtling zig zag down the course, jumping from hump to hump, with the transfer often leaving only a cm or 2 between the top of the and the Thames. This propelled us to very near to the front and just shows that even with poor skill, jumpiness and a piratical strategy of surfing other peoples power can yield serious results.

Our new found experience eventually tempered the initial charge and we were settled into a steady slow paced rhythm. The first portage was crap, Reynolds got wrapped up in his crappy spray deck and we cursed the other crews and their cheap 100m lead.

The second and third portages were smoother, and we were soon catching up the other crews. The trick in fast current is to identify streams and eddies. You have to cut corners, but not too much otherwise you can get stuck in slow water. In addition, the numerous islands in the Thames provide massive forward and back eddies. Using basic knowledge cribbed from sea kay- aking, I spotted some back eddies on one island and we kept to the fast stream whilst a crew ahead got caught in an eddy bouncing back off the upstream part of an island. Conversely, in the final half mile of the race, we had to cut across the entire width of the river under an island, cross a horrendous current on the islands other side and nip into a canal We steered into some dead water created by the back of the island. This allowed us to cross the river with no loss in down move- ment thus leaving us plenty of time to nip in to the opening. A boat ahead only just made it and were crazily paddling back upstream to stop themselves being carried away past the turn off.

Our fourth portage was terrible. A lemming urge to just run frantically caused the boat to get stuck on some railing as Rey- nolds shouldered the boat and ran one way whilst I was facing the other way and was at waists.

Launching again we regained our steady pace, though the 2 mile Henley stretch was brutal. This done, we swapped over. Now at the back of the boat I was able to tuck into my juice and as we were now in a section of river I knew, I had the mental ad- vantage of knowing how long everything would take. With me counting the miles down top each portage and pointing out when we could just nail it, we smoothly sailed the last 5 miles to Marlow. Marlow is dangerous as you have to run parrallel to the length of the weir. Just before we moved into the final portage the current tore at our rudder and we were suddenly thrust towards the edge. Luckily, we strode through this mishap and charged on.

Result: 2 hours 15 minutes, 6th out of 12- behind the same crew we were behind at Waterside B. As the organisers said, the river was so tough that slow people hadn't been allowed to enter

Tucking into a celebratory pub lunch, it had been fun, and our bank crew - Sarah and Griff - seemed to have enjoyed them- selves as much as we had. Though still none to pleased at not winning (and again being beaten by K1s and girls) it wasn't a bad result.

Despite the questionable white precipitates caking the inside of my Camelbak, the home made sports drink made a real dif- ference, and without the portage blunders, technical faults, broken footplate and probably leaking boat, it was further evi- dence of the feasibility of a sub 20 hour Devizes to Westminster!

But what, might you ask, happened to them next? Did they master their new boat? How would they fare in the 6 hours of Wa- terside D? And what about the Devizes to Westminster itself?

Catch all this, and more IN THE NEXT EXCITING INSTALLMENT!