I Ran the River Swale

This week last year I took photos and video of friends on the River Swale, North Yorkshire.

This week I paddled the River Swale and had friends video me for once!

On Tuesday of this week I joined four other friends all from UCLAN university and had a day of anxiousness, adrenaline, waterfalls, success and vocal celebrations. The feeling of accomplishment I felt that day, I have not felt in a long time and I had a permanent smile for the rest of the day. The waterfalls we were going over ranged from roughly 8ft to 15ft and were graded IV and V.

The rapid/river grading system in whitewater kayaking is based on skill required to negotiate the rapid, the hazards of a rapid and risk and outcomes of the rapids. The scale goes from I-VI. At the top of the scale, grade VI, a rapid that is grade VI is seen as not passable or if so only in very specific conditions. Upon this if you get the line wrong on the rapid or mess up your going to end up either dead or severely injured in hospital. A description of all the grades can be found here on UK river guidebook.

Hopefully in the future I can post a link to the video my friends took.

To show what we were paddling you can watch some videos of my firends from last year on my youtube channel. Click the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/user/WhitewaterAptitude