French Alps 2019 paddling trip
Day 3b The Lower Durance by Stuart Conway
We entered the Durance from the Lower Guil, with some confusing eddy lines but everyone managed to get safely across and when we reached the undercut everyone got through it safely! We then dropped down to the slalom course where everyone surfed on the waves. Unfortunately, Aleksander capsized, and the wave gripped his paddle out of his hands, but with some great teamwork he was safely returned to his boat, which included Neil chasing down his paddle and helping with the rescue, a first!
After a leisurely lunch, and once the shuttle was completed, with the van going down to Embrun, we set off down the Durance heading towards the Rab wave, encountering loads of big bouncy wave trains, Choo Choo!
On arriving at the Rab wave, we pulled over to an eddy to analyse the wave and determine the line that we were to take. Mr Steer gave us a long briefing through the perfect line, avoiding the rocks and passing through the left of the main wave and then he proceeded to go straight down the centre, resulting in an unfortunate backflip and a mediocre roll.
The 4 river leaders followed on to ensure there was safety at the bottom of the Rab wave in case anyone got into any difficulties. As it happened, we all got through safely, not relying on Keith’s line. Even Aleksander, who capsized but demonstrated the perfect textbook roll within the big white stuff, unlike someone else…
Some of the adventurous members of the group then went back and swam the Rab wave, all went well except for two who went to the wrong bank!
We then pushed on down the Durance, heading for Embrun. On the way we stopped and Neil and Kirk (who’d had a refreshing liquid lunch) seal-launched off a 15-foot cliff face whilst myself, Sarah and Hannah jumped off (Sarah choosing the shallow end of the dive pool).
We carried on down more wave trains, and Choo Choo’d our way to the get out at Embrun and the end of another fantastic day on the river!
