Those of you who I've been lucky enough to paddle with will know that I often like to loudly proclaim that "I don't swim".
This has now been disproven.
This might sound arrogant, but it actually started off as a joke in my first ever creeking trip, making light of how I spent more time swimming than your average goldfish.
However, it very quickly became true, though I continued to claim it for a couple of reasons. Firstly; it made many of my paddling partners take swimming less seriously, and laugh it off rather than beat themselves up about it. Secondly; it meant people I paddled with were more focussed on whether or not I swam then whether or not they did! Thirdly; a few times I've held on a little bit longer just so I could continue to claim "I don't swim" on particular holidays!
But to the main point; I swam, and on assessment as well! Here's how it went down:
I was leading a group down the River Orchy, Scotland and we came to the lip of Easan Dubha (The first Grade 5). We eddied out and scouted. After a minute or so, I came to a decision, I was going to fire it up, but none of the others fancied it. It was a straightforward line of the centre of the slab. I ran it, and according to the assessor, styled it. After watching my line, other two I was leading both decided they wanted a go too, and both nailed it. Well done boys. We ran the following rapid (Sawtooth) and stopped for lunch. Whilst eating lunch, we sat looking back up at Easan Dubh. Chris Brain turned to me and asked whether I'd ever considered the river-left line down the notorious Grade 5. I'd looked at it a few times, and today felt like the right day. After setting up a safety team of Chris protecting the hole and a chase boater, I walked back up to run it.
The entry was lower than expected, and was knocked sideways on entry to the drop. I just about recovered the line but couldn't get my stroke in on time.
Luckily, it was all recorded in high definition and here it is...
https://vimeo.com/94972139
This has now been disproven.
This might sound arrogant, but it actually started off as a joke in my first ever creeking trip, making light of how I spent more time swimming than your average goldfish.
However, it very quickly became true, though I continued to claim it for a couple of reasons. Firstly; it made many of my paddling partners take swimming less seriously, and laugh it off rather than beat themselves up about it. Secondly; it meant people I paddled with were more focussed on whether or not I swam then whether or not they did! Thirdly; a few times I've held on a little bit longer just so I could continue to claim "I don't swim" on particular holidays!
But to the main point; I swam, and on assessment as well! Here's how it went down:
I was leading a group down the River Orchy, Scotland and we came to the lip of Easan Dubha (The first Grade 5). We eddied out and scouted. After a minute or so, I came to a decision, I was going to fire it up, but none of the others fancied it. It was a straightforward line of the centre of the slab. I ran it, and according to the assessor, styled it. After watching my line, other two I was leading both decided they wanted a go too, and both nailed it. Well done boys. We ran the following rapid (Sawtooth) and stopped for lunch. Whilst eating lunch, we sat looking back up at Easan Dubh. Chris Brain turned to me and asked whether I'd ever considered the river-left line down the notorious Grade 5. I'd looked at it a few times, and today felt like the right day. After setting up a safety team of Chris protecting the hole and a chase boater, I walked back up to run it.
The entry was lower than expected, and was knocked sideways on entry to the drop. I just about recovered the line but couldn't get my stroke in on time.
Luckily, it was all recorded in high definition and here it is...
https://vimeo.com/94972139