River trips

3.0 metres ........ 07 January 2007

I was a bit concerned about running the Tay at this level, because I am not a big volume paddler, however it didn`t cause any problems, mainly because I found a superb chicken run down Hell Hole corner. The wave below Thistlebrig was running too fast for me to surf, but the foam pile was in good form for playboaters.

Linn

The main channel and the next one on the right are one big river - the rocks between them are well covered, I couldn`t get close enough to say if there is any way down it.

The next two channels are big, and I am not going to make any judgement on whether they are paddleable at this level. I certainly wouldn`t try. The third channel might be, the fourth channel had a big hole all across the bottom, and I don`t think you could punch through it.

Linn bypass

The Linn bypass was running as a substantial river, and would be well beyond grade 2. The bottom end of the first exit required a fair bit of negotiation round holes and waves, so you would really have to grade it higher than grade 3. It shouldn`t be attempted by less able paddlers. I viewed the second exit from the bank, and it really isn`t a good idea - trees and bushes in the river are difficult to avoid, and due to the speed of the water, they would cause big problems if you got caught up in them.

Wall

The river was not only coming over the wall, it was coming over most of the island that the wall is attached to. It was quite a novelty paddling through the trees !

Wave right hand side of wall

River left was washed out, in the middle there was a substantial hole, and there were some waves river right, which didn`t appear to be worth trying to surf.

Weir

The weir looks pretty much the same as a lower levels - the same very large stoppers over most of its width, and a green wedge below the middle chute. However this wasn`t straightforward, as there was a significant left to right diagonal current which was very keen to push you sideways into the right hand stopper.

And yet again - I make no apologise for repeating this again - the stoppers below the weir are large and holding - getting the wrong line down the weir will probably result in death, as I have no idea how you would rescue someone who is stuck in the stopper. If there is the slightest possibility that someone might get the wrong line down the weir, they should portage the weir.

Rapid down to Hell Hole corner

This section was roughish, but didn`t present any real problems coming down the centre of the river.

Hell Hole corner

Because of the size of the river, I got out and walked down the river right bank to see what was what. The bulk of the rapid was fast moving and roughish. However I was surprised to find that there was a great chicken run right down the right hand side. At the hole which stretches out across the river from the right hand bank, just 1 metre out from the bank, there was a fast green chute. Below this was one small wave, and then the rest of the run down Hell Hole corner tight against the right bank was absolutely flat. Weird !

Thistlebrig

Thistlebrig is fairly washed out at this level - however there are significant waves river left with play potential. The easiest run down is to stay right of centre, and look for the dark channel down past the white water on each side of you. It`s quite rough, but is the least challenging route through. About halfway down it, turn to the right and cut across the white stuff, and then it is quite flat thereafter.

Wave below Thistlebrig

At this level there are 5 or 6 waves in succession - the first wave is a playboaters dream - the river right half has a section of smooth green wave, however it was runnning too fast and flat for me to surf it. The right hand half is steeper, with a foam pile right down to the trough, and was getting well used by some playboaters.

However I wasn`t able to do anything on any of the subsequent waves, they were running quite fast, and tended to change shape every so often.

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