Another Tandem Trip to the Teith – 4/12/05

After a few weeks of miscommunications, busy schedules and unexpected cooties, we found our way to the River Teith for an open canoe trip with Amy and Bram. As with the last trip, Saturday’s weather varied between rain and wind with the clouds hiding any rays of sunshine and the clouds parted for a beautiful, if chilly, Sunday. We were grateful for the sunshine.

Everybody ran late that morning. We couldn’t find all of the stuff we wanted to bring, specifically the large blue dry bag, so we were grateful when Amy was running late. Hints of sunrise followed as we drove to the boat shed to meet Derek. After we arrived at the get-in and Amy went to find her bacon butties, Bram called to say he was on his way, i.e., late as well, so we had plenty of time to assemble the Pakboat as well as explain how it worked to the occasional curious onlooker. Once it was assembled and so were we, Bram called again to say he was almost there, so Amy drove to meet him at the get-out. I think we were in the boats heading downstream by noon.

The river was much lower than the last trip, so in a way it was a different river. The wee shingle rapids were still there, but they had more rocks this time. We found a few. Amy and Bram had a good opportunity to practice catching eddies in slow to moderate current. They found that right turns (Bram’s on side) were easier than left turns (Amy’s on side). Since Amy was in the bow and Bram was in the stern, Bram won. Right break outs went reasonably well and left break outs ranged from awkward to cartoonish. Aside from the m-broach on an otherwise easy rocky shingle, our eddy hopping went rather well. We still need practice with the left turns, but a few worked.

We stopped for lunch at what our stomachs suggested was the halfway mark. Lunch for us included fish cakes and other goodies. Bram shared some sweetened rooibos tea with me. It was the same tea Amy had fed me at the weekend away and it is my new favourite tea. Lucas brought birthday cake for me. Chocolate on chocolate. Mmmmm….

After lunch, we continued downriver. As on the last trip, the rapids pick up as the run progresses. The first of the bigger rapids has an island and a rather large boulder in the middle. Routes go either side of the big rock and a challenging move is to hit the big eddy behind the rock. The current is moving rather swiftly there, and the river left approach is a wee bit awkward because of the shape of the boulder on that side. We got a little offline approaching from the left so I needed a dynamic offside draw to help us finish the breakout without impaling any of the kayakers already in the eddy. We had seen this group arrive at the other car park at the get-in while we were assembling the Pakboat. They must have enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before paddling, because they were barely ahead of us on the run itself and our faff factor was pretty high. Bram and Amy missed the eddy completely, so we continued after them after a couple of quick hellos with the kayakers. We caught up to them when they had forced their way into a river left eddy among a bunch of low-hanging branches. We passed on the impaling branches, so they had to catch up with us.

Next up was the wee rapid at another island where the river left channel is better but has a strainer that got Amy’s attention on the last trip. We took the right channel. Amy and Bram tried to catch the left eddy at the top of the channel and ended up beaching the boat on the island instead. Oops.

At the next big friendly eddy, I tried to explain to Amy how to do the bow part of the left break-out, but since Bram hadn’t figured out the sweep on the right, it still didn’t work real well. With practice…

The last rapid of the day is the most fun. The approach rapid is a small (but not quite wee) wave train with a big river right eddy that allows for good scouting of the big drop. We nailed the breakout to hit that eddy high, but to do my part, I ended up heaving myself across the canoe to get a good crossover draw. My poor knee didn’t appreciate it, but we were in the eddy. Bram tried to drive Amy through the tree to get in below us. It worked, but not without a wee scream from Amy. The best line on the big rapid is river left, so either a dynamic break in or a good ferry glide will get you across river from the scouting eddy.

The kayakers were playing in the waves below. When we started our approach, they started pointing, telling us where to go. They pointed for a really long time, so I guess they didn’t realize canoe visibility is better than kayak visibility. The line was crystal clear. We hit it perfectly, although I missed my timing on the backstroke so we took some water along with us. Bram and Amy hit it just fine, too.

We caught the big eddy below and tried our luck at surfing. There’s an awkward wee stopper in the washout from the drop. The kayakers were doing spins and popups on it, but not really staying on it. We ferry glided across to it and then got thrown to the river left bank. I guess it wasn’t in the mood to be a surfing hole.

The last time we were on the Teith, the big rapid followed with a second part of boogie water and waves. This time, it was flat with the occasional rock. We drifted and paddled the rest of the way to the get-out. The water level at the stick gauge read a few inches below 1 ft.

I believe our corruption has begun. Amy and Bram enjoyed the open boat immensely and both of them are looking forward to learning a bit of control in the future, especially on the left turns. Lucas and I enjoyed our second Pakboat adventure. Except for the crossover awkwardness and the low height of the gunwales, it behaves very much like a whitewater canoe when we set up the seats as such. I really like the Teith, too. Two trips, two different Teiths. They say the river is always runnable. I can guess what medium flow looks like, but I wonder what a scrape would be like.