Squirting in the rain.
To say it’s been raining a little lately would be a bit of an understatement! The monsoon conditions of the past few days have left the Thames swollen beyond belief, 4” of rain fell in just 3 and a half hours over oxford the result, the Thames is the heist it been since the winter of 2003. So what to do with all the water, well its summer let’s go squirt boating.
(The put in is going under)
Chertsey weir is located just up stream of the main road bridge in Chertsey, in the summer it pore over is popular with float boater and squirt boater alike. In times of big flow however the left hand corner begins to work! This spot has many names “The Room of Doom” “Elevator” & “Super Smoothie” This is a spot rarely paddled, but on it’s day crikey! Pete, Dave & Emma came down at the weekend, so of we all went. This is what Dave said after Saturdays paddle.
(Darr on his down, then up, then down, and all around)
“it was looking like a nice squirt spot. Higher and less mushy than the day before, the seam was offering up short head-under mysteries with little effort. I was starting to feel like I had the spot wired, time to go deeper, see what was really on offer. Okay, this is the one, a more aggressive charc, let the nose drop, start the spin, and oh yes, this is it. Time to go deep. Deep, deep, deeper, shit that’s deep. Then comes the realisation, this spot is no pussy cat that can be teased and played with, what we’re dealing with here is a tiger, half a tonne of muscle and claws and I’ve just poked it between the eyes. Deeper. Time to hit the up button. Up, Up. “I’m sorry Dave I can’t let you do that”. It’s dark now, I think I am upright but I can’t see any light at the surface, come to think of it, I can’t see anything. Tumbling. Which way is up? Loops, three, four times. What are my options? What can I do other than wait and hope that the river tires of playing with me. Wait, something feels different. Light. Reach for it, breathe, air, breathe, roll. I’m up.”
“That was awesome!”
The river has continued to rise and is due to peak between 12 and 6 today. Chertsey is so high at the moment it started to calm down a little, still goood though! let’s see what happens tonight.
(Mikey, at the door of doom)
posted by Pete @ 4:08 AM
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