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| Reviews & Photos | White Water Safety and Rescue Course 17-18 October 2009 | |||||
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Cruising along aside the river in the comfort of Lees Audi, it didn’t take long for the reality of the situation to kick in. We were about to spend the best part of 2 days jumping in and out of rocky, cold and frankly scary water; add this to the outside temperature reading of 2-3 degrees and you could say a few of us were feeling that unavoidable twinge of regret in our stomachs - the type you get when you check your bank balance after a good night out. We went to the Rivers Dee and Tryweryn in search of successfully completing the BCU white water safety and rescue course; this took place over two days and included a lot of hands on learning. Some of the things we learnt about included situations such as foot entrapments, pinned boats and injured victims, how to deal with these situations and how to prevent them happening in the first place. Day 1 started with some pre river checks followed by practicing different swimming techniques, and as someone who really hates swimming I got the feeling this wasn’t going to be the most enjoyable part of the course. I was wrong. Once you’ve got over the initial chill of jumping in and the disorientation that follows, it’s almost like a more natural version of the log flume at Thorpe Park. Thank God no one was taking pictures at the end, as most of us pulled the swimming face, which can only be described as the face you’d pull if you drank vinegar through your eyes. One of the things which really helped the learning process for me was the way in which Rich and Lee would explain ideas and techniques to us, then jump in and show us how it’s done. Has to be said that the novelty value of seeing Lee swim, on its own, was worth the fees for the course! At this point it should be said that this opportunity was only available to us due to the hard work put in by Jo, Duncan and Dave who, with the help of others such as Si fisher, paddled the length of the River Dee to raise money for good causes, in memory of Roger Bates. Putting club members on courses such as the BCU 3 Star and WWSR is a fantastic thing, as not only does it allow achievement on an individual level but also benefits the club as a whole. I’m sure that everyone one on the course will form part of the promising future of our club in one way or another. The evening wasn’t as lively as usual due to the unusually long day, which we students failed to cope with and a few beers sent us to sleep before long…the early Sunday morning was another challenge most of us failed to cope with, though the freezing water soon sorted that out! The second day saw us reunited with our boats, learning some river reading skills as well as boat based rescues on the slalom course just above town falls in Llangollen. Though there are too many methods to mention, the focus of the morning was on freeing trapped boats and people, and the crowd favourite was clearly ‘the wedge’. Now the wedge consisted of transforming an otherwise surplus group of people into a tool which can be used as a solution to a problem, in this case to affect the recovery of a stranded or injured person. Unfortunately there are always some which lower the tone - those who would abuse a master piece such as the wedge in order to fulfil there own disgusting agendas. To cut a long story short, the grapevine says that more than one person took advantage of the waist high water to relieve their bladders…. Walking upstream is harder than it looks, and it took a few attempts before we could answer the calls to “hold the line” and “power through”! The problem with the wedge is that if the front man loses his footing - scrap that - if anyone loses their footing, you’re buggered as the momentum of one person being swept downstream can be likened to a ball smashing into pins in a bowling alley. We had a lot of fun with the wedge and I have no doubt it will be coming to a river near you very soon, even if it is wholly unnecessary and creates more problems than it solves! The rest of the day was spent practicing swimming in stoppers, live baiting, throwing lines and putting into practice what we had learnt in scenarios. To start the debrief, Rich asked us what we felt we would take away from the course. I think we were in unanimous in agreement that there were too many things to mention and this could be seen as a testament to the quality of the course content and the way it was taught by Richie and Lee. Amongst other things, something that I will take away from the weekend is the ability to take a step back and look at the bigger picture, to figure out how to deal with problems rather than rushing into things. Though the most prominent result, visible in everyone at the end of the weekend, was a higher level of confidence. A good laugh and very educational; time and money well spent. Course providers: Richie Watson (The Wye Canoe Company) & Lee Rogers Location: Bala & Llangollen, Wales Paddlers: Jo Savage, James Duffy, Charlie Rowen, Duncan Stokes, Ricky Coleman and Rosie Goodacre By Ricky Coleman |