Teign 7 February 2010
On 7th February 2010, nine members of SVCC travelled to run the
river Teign on Dartmoor from the A382 crossing down to Steps
bridge. Levels were fairly low with a lot of scraping expected.
This started with an interesting tree choke 50m from the put in,
which nearly sank Geoff as his spray deck popped off the upstream
side.
400m further down we came to one of the highlights of the trip,
the large weir which all but two of the group decided to run.
Despite some near misses all ran this successfully, except Jeff,
who was left wondering what had happened to his roll, and who
started the swim count.
Following the weir is a long section of grade 3 rapids, which
again had a very large tree choke in an awkward place. Six members
managed to get through a small breach whilst the other three
portaged around.
Continuing on, for a mile or two of continued grade 2/3 we came
to our next inspection required grade 3 rapid, a chute to river
right of a small island. All ran this with Ian performing an
excellent pin ending his three year no swim record, and evening up
the swim score with Jeff.
Just before the put out was the weir at Steps bridge, which was
looking rather low and gnarly. Dave ran it first and managed (just)
to maintain his dignity, although everyone had a boat bottom
ripping experience. Best run through was by Jon, with Jeff managing
to injure his left shoulder putting in a particularly messy
performance along with Geoff.
Also good entertainment was provided by Andy, with his boats
tendency to tail squirt at every opportunity.
Final swim score tied between Jeff and Ian with Geoff recording
his first swim free run! Well done Geoff.
Thanks as always to Dave for organising the trip, and to Geoff
and Jon for photos and video.