River Tay - Grandtully - 23/9/2006

An Edinburgh Kayak Club trip on a Saturday? Indeed! Graham led a small group of us down the Tay from Aberfeldy to below the slalom course at Grandtully. I made an appearance in a butt boat, though I sort of wish I could have C-1ed it. After a good bit of rain, the wtw gauge called the level “medium”. We arrived at the get-out at Grandtully for a look, since that would be the biggest rapid. Grandtully looked big, bouncy and long, but fun. I was looking forward to it.

We drove up to the get-in at Aberfeldy. With such sunny and (relatively) warm weather, the longer trip seemed a nice option. We wandered into Aberfeldy for the lunch-less to change that situation and then got dressed for the river. Nice weather meant I lived dangerously and went with one less layer than usual. Probably around noonish, we hit the water. Craig was the only relative newbie. The rest of the group (Ali, Jean and Alan) had some time in a boat as well as some experience chasing boats. Craig put those skills to the test pretty quickly, with a swim just after missing a relatively challenging break-in or ferry glide. Either would have been fine. Leaning upstream? Not so good.

We wandered downstream to some more gentle break-outs and break-ins. After some good practices, Craig swam again. Lather, rinse, repeat. We continued downriver again. Occasionally a not-so-bashful duck provided a nice lesson in how to ferryglide. Craig’s swim count on the easier stuff was 3. All were trying new things, so nothing to be upset over.

About halfway through the run, the rapids started. For the lack of description in the guidebook, they were bigger and bouncier than I expected. Like Stanley, especially that trip where it was at flood, the water was boily and turbulent with some lateral waves to make things interesting. Nothing was too difficult. At one of the bigger grade 2s, a lateral wave produced swim #4 for Craig. We talked a bit about forward strokes and support strokes, how most times a forward stroke will eliminate the need for a support stroke. That changed his world a little. He said the next rapids felt much easier.

Not spending much time in a kayak lately, it was easy to forget how short I could feel. Boat scouting reminded me. I never had difficulty getting through something, but occasionally lines could have been prettier.

A few more wee rapids brought us to Grandtully itself, before any of us expected it. Slalom gates covered the river all the way to the bridge. From the eddy at the top, they looked like they were everywhere. Craig swam again, so Graham chased and the rest of us found our way into an eddy at the top to stay out of the way. Alan went downstream to help with Craig retrieval. Ali, Jean and I waited pretty much forever before deciding we would need to get out of our boats to see what was going on. We found the boys down by the get-out looking at the rapids. Graham hiked up and ran it for the rest to see. Then we allocated the ducky line to run it together. Ali opted for the dry line and photo duties.

The plan was Graham ducky, Craig ducky, Alan ducky, Jean ducky with Christine ducky in running sweep. Craig made a beautiful ferry glide across to river left, not knowing what he had done, just that he had to be left to enter. Nothing like necessity to motivate.

A little less than halfway through the rapids, Jean found herself in an eddy so I got ahead of her. Little bouncies became bigger bouncies became big bouncies. About ¾ of the way down, we knew there was a big boulder waiting for us. Lines to the left or right would do and neither looked difficult from the bank. My intention was to bounce along the waves to the right of the boulder. As I was approaching, I found the boulder with no difficulty and aimed right, but one of the bouncies flung me to river left and suggested that line might be better. The downside of left was missing the very friendly eddy on the right above the bridge and the opportunity to regroup.

I drifted under the bridge looking ahead for the next rapid. Graham and Craig were ahead of me. I could see the horizon line but not the most appropriate line. Graham went first, sort of near the middle. I kept looking, trying to see why he went that way. Craig went next and I watched him get flung end over end. I knew he would be swimming. I saw a bit of what flipped him and I found the perfect line just a few feet to my left as I got flung end over end like Craig. I landed upside down and the force of the water yanked my arms back over my head. My shoulder protested. I came out of the boat. Fortunately, it was pleasant enough conditions for a swim. Graham had his hands full getting Craig to the beach, so I continued my self rescue. Near the bank, Alan and Craig were able to help tend to my boat so I could get in the eddy. Jean found a sneak on far right, so she joined us soon afterwards.

Craig’s and my swims meant we missed the convenient ramp of a get-out on river right and had to do a little climbing with boats. Teamwork helped. We stopped for a look at the flipper hole and wandered back to meet Ali at the car park. Dry clothes were nice. Late lunch was nicer. With the sun starting to think about setting, we headed for home. It was a nice day for an out-of-practice butt boater. Good weather, good water, good company. Sadly, I forgot my camera, so there are only tales of carnage and not evidence.