Avon Descent

[Spoony]

Anyone here done the Avon Descent?

Want to offer any tips etc?

Still contemplating whether to do the whole thing by myself or try and find someone else to do it with me seeing as it will be my first time.

[Fenris]

I went down one year with some mates in inner tubes a few weeks before the actual comp, does that count?

[xphread]

I have done half of it (the easier bit ) for the last two years. (a week or two after the event)

Was a group of 10 and then 14 of us.
We went from a little before northam (about 2-3 kms before the start) to Toodyay.
Mind you, this was over two days too! (camped at Katrine bridge)

Both times we had to go/stop according to the lowest common denominator.
However - despite everyone thinking they could go on after toodyay time was looking a little against us.

Its magic fun, but I liked this social, layed back version so I wasnt so sore each night.

GPX_Gal and Antewhatsit was part of the group and last I heard, they want in on this years trip too. (guys? )

It all depends on your fitness and upper body / trunk strength and endurance.
(and paddle skills)

I dont recommend starting training now for this years years event if you dont have a reasonable amount of paddling experience - particularly moving water / rapids. (unless you are gonna go paddling every day and almost every weekend once the water levels are up a bit. )

We weren&#39;t gonna go much further than Toodyay anyway because our larger double kyaks (and lack of skill <_< ) wouldnt have got us through the tea-trees or larger rappids etc...

I wouldnt do it if you havent been down all the sections with someone who has done it before (who knows the entry points for all the rapids/drops etc)
Also as part of your training - you should do at least the toodyay- swan valley section a number of times - as well as practicing the larger weirs/rapids between northam/toodyay a few times too. If you are, make sure you are with someone and have a backup crew. We came close to having one member with a broken leg and being pinned underwater.

if you are serious... find a partner (in a double or even a single buddy) and go for it. You wont regret it.

[Courts]

Me and a mate did half of it one year until we snapped the stem off the motor at Bells. It was very cold and tiring...

[xphread]

oh yeah... forgot about the motor (if so, ignore most of the fitness stuff )

still need to go with someone who knows all the rapids and entry points like they know their house.

[Juffy]

I&#39;m going in it for the first time this year, along with a mate of mine. Been training since November and I&#39;m still worried about not being able to make it in terms of fitness, never mind the rapids. Looks like it&#39;s going to be a pretty wet winter, so water levels should be good.

I&#39;d agree with xphread though - if you haven&#39;t already been training, 10 weeks is probably not enough time.

Places like Mainpeak are running training days & weekends if you want some expert advice.

xphread - if you&#39;re doing it again this year post on here somewhere, I&#39;d love to do it socially after hitting it hard.

[Spoony]

I&#39;ve been training for about 2 months now already but still pretty unsure as you guys say, about fitness etc. Maybe I&#39;ll do it next year (just imagine how fit I&#39;ll be then). I had thought of going and getting some proper tuition for my stroke etc and I&#39;d also like to have a heap more white water training (it&#39;s the fun part of the whole event and I suppose you can&#39;t really be affording to stuff it up badly).

Cheers for the input guys.

[Juffy]

Yeah the whitewater part has me a bit twitchy as well, but if Bulbous can survive it I figure anyone can. Carn, go in it this year - I need some more company in the noob category.

BTW, if you want some company for training, me and my mate are doing 4-5 hour stints on Saturdays.

[Bulbous]

i went in it in 2001, never having seen whitewater before, as the river only filled enough to shoot it two days before the event....... went in a double though, with someone who had done it a few times before, and came 13th out of 27 that finished..... great fun, but the 30km of flat water at the end suck, and the first day is also 57km of shallow flat water with only two rapids, one of them Extracts wier, which is better bypassed than shot in a fibreglass kayak......

[xphread]

Originally posted by Bulbous@May 29 2005, 11:29 AM
only two rapids, one of them Extracts wier, which is better bypassed than shot in a fibreglass kayak......

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The first one was when we nearly lost someone and almost broke his leg when he got trapped under it and it filled with water.

Extracts weir was a carry down by everyone except GPX_Gal and Anti?&#%^.
They went down the middle.... but their Kayak went first.

[gpx_gal]

Originally posted by xphread@May 30 2005, 10:05 AM
Extracts weir was a carry down by everyone except GPX_Gal and Anti?&#%^.
They went down the middle.... but their Kayak went first.* * *

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*blushes*

but the handle was slippery ... and it .. ummm sliped.
I did yell out to the ppl below just before it wooshed past them

awsome fun can&#39;t wait to go again.

Wee suggestion, make sure you use plenty of suncream, my knees were uber toasty for not having them covered. Oh yeah and scuba boots rock, way better than going bare foot or wearing sneakers.

[Spoony]

Yup ... I&#39;ve always used my scuba boots ... nice tosty feet (It doesn&#39;t stop my right foot going numb though) ... After 2 hours paddling I can&#39;t feel my right foot, not sure what I&#39;m doing wrong. Last week I got out of the kayak and fell over because I couldn&#39;t feel the ground

[Bulbous]

Originally posted by Spoony@May 30 2005, 11:21 PM
Yup ... I&#39;ve always used my scuba boots ... nice tosty feet (It doesn&#39;t stop my right foot going numb though) ... After 2 hours paddling I can&#39;t feel my right foot, not sure what I&#39;m doing wrong.* Last week I got out of the kayak and fell over because I couldn&#39;t feel the ground

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hahahahaha! when we finished the race, i went to get out in bayswater and fell flat on my face cause my legs weren&#39;t working after 7 and a half hours in the bloody kayak....... laughed like a madman and flopped round like a fish for a bit, good fun for all involved....

[Juffy]

Originally posted by Spoony@May 30 2005, 11:21 PM
Yup ... I&#39;ve always used my scuba boots ... nice tosty feet (It doesn&#39;t stop my right foot going numb though) ... After 2 hours paddling I can&#39;t feel my right foot, not sure what I&#39;m doing wrong.* Last week I got out of the kayak and fell over because I couldn&#39;t feel the ground

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I was getting that in both feet until I moved my footpegs further forward....maybe having your foot bent up too far makes it go numb.