Subject: Sort Canoeing Festival, Spain, July 1998 (Trip report,
long)
From: Conor O'Neill < conor@puddle.demon.co.uk>
Date:
1998/08/03
Newsgroups: uk.rec.boats.paddle,rec.boats.paddle
Sort Canoeing Festival July 5th - 11th
1998
XXXV International Rally of the Noguera Pallaresa River
This
year, Bristol Canoe Club decided to go to the Canoe Festival held
in Sort,
Northern Spain. Some of the club went in 1993, and thoroughly
enjoyed
ourselves, so it seemed an excellent idea for another
summer
holiday.
The festival is a canoeing festival held every year
for one week in
July, at the town of Sort, in the Pyrenees, in northern
Spain
(Catalonia). Sort is close to Andorra, high up in the mountains.
The
river Noguera Pallaresa flows through the town. The river is
controlled
by dams further upstream, so water is guaranteed for the week of
the
festival. The town of Llavorsi is about ten miles upstream. The river
is
graded class 3 and 4 from Llavorsi down to Sort. In Sort itself there
is
now a slalom course with about 200 metres of grade 3 water, with
many
artificial breakouts, etc. You can also paddle for at least ten
miles
downstream from Sort, where the water is graded class 2 and 3, with
a
couple of grade 4 rapids. There is a large campsite right next to
the
river, just upstream from the town.
The organisers arrange various
events for each day. These are mostly
competitive events, but you don't need
to take them seriously if you
don't want to. You certainly don't need to
enter every event. Many of
the clubs bring large numbers of youth paddlers,
and every competition
has classes for 'infants', 'cadets', 'juniors',
'seniors', and
'veterans'. There are lots of prizes to be won! The Spanish
national
slalom championships and rodeo championships are incorporated into
the
week.
There were twenty or thirty clubs attending this year. These
were mostly
Spanish and French, with a few German, Swiss, and Dutch, and just
three
groups from the UK. In the past there have been many more UK
groups,
including many University clubs. I don't know why there were so few
this
year!
Bristol's 'team' consisted of seven people: Myself (Conor),
and my wife
Lisa, Paul C and Paul N, Daren, Clive, and Jonathan. I have an
RPM, as
does Lisa. Paul C has a Waveform Stubby, Paul N has a Freefall LT,
Daren
was in a Dancer, Clive was paddling my old Corsica S, and Jon has
an
Acro 270. We ended up travelling down to Sort in four cars. Three
cars
left Bristol on the Friday evening, travelled on the
overnight
Portsmouth to Cherbourg ferry, then drove all day through France
down to
Spain. Jon had been working at PGL in Embrun (France), teaching
kids
outdoor activities, so he drove direct to Sort. We arrived in Sort
late
on Saturday evening - some later than others, because the two
Pauls
managed to be stopped by the police and breathalysed in Sort, just
100
metres from the campsite! Needless to say, they hadn't been drinking
at
all, so were perfectly OK!
The campsite was fairly full, and nearly
every set of tents had various
boats alongside. There were large numbers of
slalom boats, large numbers
of white water racers, and lots of plastic play
boats. It turned out
that the group next to us were the Spanish 'Team
Perception' - they were
all paddling 3Ds. There were also lots of the Prijon
Aliens too.
On the Sunday we decided to have a simple warm up paddle
because we
hadn't ever all paddled as a group together. Paul N opted out
because he
wasn't feeling so good. We paddled from Rialp (about three miles
above
Sort) down to the town. This was a simple grade 2 and 3 section,
with
one dangerous weir (portage), but even so the speed of the current was
a
bit surprising for us who are used to British rivers. I would say
that
it is a little like the Usk in high-ish flow, certainly much bigger
than
the Dart or Tryweryn. It was very nice, especially paddling in
the
sunshine. No worries about hypothermia etc like British rivers
(though
the water was fairly cool), but we had to worry about sunburn
instead!
When we got down to the town, we had plenty of opportunity to play
at
the slalom site. This is an excellent site - built since we were
last
there in 1993. It includes one large(ish) stopper for playing and
pop-
outs, and this is where the rodeo is held (see later...).
Sunday
evening was the official opening ceremony. This is a pretty laid
back affair,
but it is entertaining because of a two minute speech which
is then repeated
in five languages: Catalan, Spanish, French, English,
and
German!
Another two groups of Brits had turned up by this time. There
were two
guys from Godalming, Doug and Stuart, who were there just to have
fun.
They had been to the festival every year for ages. Also, a bunch
of
white water racing paddlers appeared. There were three kids,
Mary,
Peter, and Colin, who are all keen and up-and-coming white water
racers,
and their mums or dads, and Andy Parry who was there as a coach.
They
had heard about the festival, and decided to use it as an excuse
for
some proper training (shome mishtake, shurely?)
There was a
reception party at the local nightclub that evening,
supposedly at 10.30pm.
However, at 10.30 only the British had turned up.
It tried to liven up later
on, but Sunday night wasn't really moving.
Monday was the 'Kayak Descent'
aka a white water race. I've never
actually competed in a white water race
before, but we decided that we
were up for it - in our plastic play boats!
Lisa wasn't feeling too
well, and Clive has only paddled a bit of grade 3 and
didn't fancy
racing alone, so that left five of us. The course was about five
miles,
on grade 3 and 4 water, upstream of the town down to Rialp, which
is
where we got on yesterday. We hadn't seen this section yet, but with
a
full dam release it should be 'entertaining'. As is usual in a
white
water race, each of us set off at 1 minute intervals. This meant that
we
were all going to paddle a grade 3/4 river with no one nearby!
The
organisers had placed some safety cover at three of the worst
rapids,
but this still seems to break my 'less than three should never be'
rule.
Well, we did it anyway. I managed to roll after hitting a
pour-over
towards the end of one particularly long rapid. Paul C was one
minute
behind me, and near the end of the race I could seem him catching me
up.
After I ran one particular fall, I thought I'd better turn around
and
see how he did. Just as I expected, I saw him roll too. However, we
were
the only casualties, and we all finished in a respectable time. Paul
N
had missed the warm up paddle the day before, so this was his
first
trip, and it unnerved him a bit - apparently he threw up half way
down
the course! Needless to say, we didn't win any prizes, but it's
the
taking part which counts... Daren came first out of our group, but
we
pointed out that his boat was longer (a Dancer) so he had
an
advantage...
The organisers arranged a lunch for us all at a hotel
at the finish in
Rialp. This was hugely popular, especially with hordes of
Spanish kids
from the local canoe clubs. These Spanish kids certainly like
their
calamari (squid) - I can't image many British kids liking it. The
lunch
finished off with a water fight among some of the organisers
too.
On Monday afternoon there was a trip to the local National Park
('Alto
Pallars'). We drove twenty miles or so to the entrance to the
park,
where we transferred to Land rovers provided by the park. (No cars
are
allowed in the park). These Land rovers took us up a steep windy
road
into the main area of the park, then carried on further up a very
steep
rough stone road. Finally, we stopped at 2100 metres altitude, with
some
very spectacular sights of the mountains. We had about half an hour
to
wander around and take photos, etc. Clive, our resident hill-walker,
was
ecstatic, and kept muttering things about coming back another time
for
some serious walking. Daren, our resident climber, was also
ecstatic,
and kept on climbing up the boulders, etc. Finally, we had to
leave, and
went back to the park entrance, where we were given yet more free
food
and drink at a local bar.
And to cap this off, later that evening
there was more free booze in a
bar in Sort. They had provided some whisky and
some local cider. At one
stage, the barmaid was giving some whisky to one of
the British kids,
Colin, who was 16. His mum jumped up to try to stop her.
But the barmaid
misunderstood this. She decided to point out that the whisky
should be
drunk down in one, closely followed by the cider (or was it the
other
way round?). Colin rapidly took her advice, leading to a red
faced
mother. The rest of us happily finished off any remaining
booze...
Tuesday was listed as the Spanish Rafting Championships
(slalom), as
well as the rafting competition for the rally. However, most of
us
hadn't done any rafting, so we thought we wouldn't be any where
nearly
good enough. Instead, we decided to paddle down from Sort to a
town
called Gerri, about ten miles downstream.
Daren and Jon were
overly keen, though. They decided to re-run the race
course in the morning at
a slightly easier pace. They got up early
(well, 10am), and paddled the river
down to the campsite. They were
expecting us to be ready to go, but when they
arrived, we'd only just
got up (well, we're on holiday).
Tuesday had
started cloudy, and at lunchtime a huge storm broke out. We
decided that this
just reminded us of paddling in the British winter,
and carried on with our
car shuttle etc. However, by the time we were
going to get on, it still
hadn't stopped raining, and didn't really look
like it would. We all dived
into a cafe, for some hot chocolate. The
locals didn't see to mind seven
fully kitted up paddlers joining them.
After half an hour or so we decided
that the weather was starting to
brighten up, so we got on the
water.
The first few miles are just grade 2, and then the gradient
steepens
slightly. The first grade 4 section appeared around a bend, and
we
stopped to inspect, and decided that Clive should walk. While he
was
doing so, he touched an electric fence and got a bit of a shock,
but
nothing serious. The cows seemed entirely unconcerned by
these
multicoloured people walking by. We carried on, and the rain
stopped,
and the sun came out again, so it was definitely worth while after
all.
The next grade 4 drop (in Baro) looked fine from the river, so
we
paddled it without getting out, and all did fine. Clive's first bit
of
grade 4.
Finally, the last grade 4 section appeared. We sent Jon
off to inspect.
I'd forgotten this rapid, even though we'd paddled it five
years ago.
Lisa remembered a line though. Jon came back to me, and told me to
head
off 'straight down the middle'. I left Jon to tell the others. Well!
it
was a bit severe, and half way down I dropped into a huge stopper,
but
managed to roll before the next one, and survived OK to the bottom.
I
was then just about to get out and tell everyone else to portage,
when
Jon appeared at the top. I waited while he paddled down, and he
did
fine, except for hitting a large rock at the bottom. We then waited
for
the others. I discovered afterwards that Jon hadn't told the
others
anything about this rapid - he'd just followed me down. The others
all
wondered what to do, but decided that it must be OK or we would
have
told them. Paul C came next, followed my line, and rolled on the
same
stopper that I had. Paul N came down with a perfect line. Daren
bounced
down and hit the same rock that Jon had, but stayed upright. Clive
came
next. We were all expecting him to swim - after all, the hardest
rapids
he'd ever done before were on the 'Loop' on the Dart! However, Lisa
had
told him the correct line (which was, basically, 'keep left'), and
he
got a perfect line. I reckon that my boat remembered the route from
when
it did it five years before (and besides, Corsica S's are very
forgiving
in big water!). Anyway, congratulations to Clive. Lisa then
proceeded to
ignore her own instructions, and dropped into 'my' stopper. She
then
nearly got back looped, and was pulled back into it again. I was
very
worried at this point, and was just about to rush up the rapid to
her,
when she was spat out upside down, rolled up, and finished the next
bit
backwards! So, we had all survived the great Baro rapids.
On
Tuesday evening, the organisers had set up a Rafting Party, at
Llavorsi
public swimming pool. We turned up there at 10.30 as
advertised, and
discovered again that only the British were there on
time. Again, free food
and Sangria was flowing freely, and the local
Spanish kids had great fun
chucking each other in the pool, but it
wasn't really warm enough for this,
because it was windy (ie, it was
about the same temp as a normal British
summer evening). So I stayed
dry. About 12.30am, a coach-load of Spanish
fourteen year-olds turned
up, god knows where from. We then definitely seemed
to be too old, so we
went home...
Wednesday. This was the day of the
'Super G' slalom, and the Hydro speed
slalom. Super G slalom is the same as a
slalom sprint - ie just a few
downstream gates, doesn't matter if you hit
them. Again, we decided to
have a go in our plastic boats, even though most
of the others were in
slalom boats. We'd paddled the slalom course on Sunday,
so we thought it
would be trivial. I don't know if the river was higher, but
it was
certainly fast moving. Clive wasn't too bothered about getting
the
gates, and Paul N managed to miss one, getting disqualified.
However,
the short boats turned out to be more of a disadvantage than I
thought
they would be, and our times were well behind the leaders. Daren
beat
the rest of our club again, but as we said before, he's got a
longer
boat. But it's the taking part that counts...
We didn't bother
with the Hydro speed. Seems stupid to float down
holding onto a swimming
float when you're capable(?) of paddling a
boat... So Wednesday afternoon was
spent sitting in the sun.
Thursday was listed as slalom competition for
the kids, and the slalom
teams. However, we also wanted to paddle the white
water race course
again, at a more leisurely pace, so we decided to miss the
slalom teams.
Clive went off into the mountains for a walk. Paul N and Paul C
decided
to try brushing up on their rodeo skills, leaving just four of us
for
the river trip. We started at Llavorsi, and paddled down to the
campsite
(approx 8 miles?). This was an excellent trip - lower water level
than
before, but still plenty, though it dropped while we were paddling.
The
long continuous sections were now a bit easier, and with the sun
shining
we now had time to enjoy it all properly. We spent about one and a
half
hours on the bit we had raced in 30 minutes. I spent most of this
trip
showing off my stern dips, trying to get Lisa and Jon to do them
too.
There wasn't much point in Daren trying in his Dancer though.
On
Thursday afternoon, Daren and Paul N went off to Andorra to spend
some money
on duty free stuff. The rest of us fell asleep by the pool...
I could get
into the idea of a siesta every day.
Finally, Thursday night arrived -
and the 'Party of the Rally' at the
local nightclub. By now we had realised
that you don't get there at the
advertised time. We arrived at midnight,
which was about right. There
was a raffle on, whereby every time you bought
some Fosters, you got a
ticket. We even managed to drink some of the muck,
but it tasted
horrible, and I didn't win anything. I'd really have liked a
new
Perception 3D too.
Friday was the rodeo heats. I've never been a
great stopper basher, so I
didn't enter this one. Just the two Pauls. Paul N
decided at the last
minute that he'd use my RPM instead of his Freefall LT.
The rodeo was
held on the main wave in the slalom course. I've never watched
a rodeo
before, so we all sat down to watch eagerly. Some of the paddlers
were
certainly very good. There were lots of Prijon Aliens there, and
the
Spanish Team Perception were there mostly in 3Ds. There was a
mishmash
of other boats - RPMs, Vertigos, Flies, and others. The good guys
were
doing plenty of cartwheels and pirouettes. Our two Pauls both did
pretty
well, especially since this was the first rodeo that either had
entered.
They managed to come joint 43rd, out of 53 paddlers. This
was
frustrating because we couldn't take the piss out of the one who'd
done
worse! The top twelve paddlers were selected to go through to the
finals
which are held in the evening. Again, we didn't get into the final,
but
its the taking part that counts... (Actually, only two women entered,
so
if Lisa had entered she'd have made it to the women's final.)
On
Friday afternoon it was the Rolling competition. This simply times
how long
it takes you to do three rolls. It was held on part of the
slalom course -
the trick was to try to do your rolls before dropping
into the next wave. I
managed to come 13th out of 27 people, with a time
of 7.66 seconds. I can do
it faster in a pool without a buoyancy aid
on... The winner managed an
astonishing 4.4 seconds. It was also very
surprising how many of the
foreigners used a pawlata roll. Jon cocked
his rolls up completely, and came
last at 15 seconds. The trouble with
Jon is that he doesn't roll on the river
enough...
Friday evening, and it's the rodeo finals. They have set up
floodlights,
and we are told to arrive early because there will be lots
of
spectators. They say that there were 3000 last year (?). Nowhere
near
that many this year, perhaps 300. However, they managed to make a
great
show. It started off with a procession of boats coming down the
slalom
course, each with a flaming torch attached to the back of the
boat,
which looked very impressive in the dark. This was a procession
paddled
by all the people who'd won events so far this week. Then the
rodeo
paddlers assembled. Each was introduced by name, and given a minute
or
two of warm up to show what they could do. The finals then
proceeded
with three paddlers at a time at the wave, and again there was some
very
impressive stuff going on. The event was won by a Spanish guy, with
a
Dutch guy coming second.
On Saturday morning Daren and Clive had to
head off for home, because
they had only got one week off work. The rest of
us stayed for the
Saturday in Sort, and were heading off to France on
Sunday.
Saturday's event was the main slalom competition. This included
the
Spanish Championships as well as the Rally's slalom competition,
so
there were a lot of competitors - about 120 all together. Again,
three
of us had entered in plastic boats. I'm ranked in Div 3 in the UK,
and
Lisa is in Div 2, and I'd say that the course was Div 2 or Div
1
standard. There were one or two others in plastic play boats, but as
was
expected we didn't do very well. Lisa came last in the ladies, and
I
came 37th out of 41 in the men. But I beat Jon... And its the
taking
part that counts... It seemed odd to us to paddle to the
new
international rules (ie 2 seconds penalties, both runs added
together),
because the lower divisions in the UK are still on the old
rules.
On Saturday evening was the closing ceremony. Again, speeches in
five
languages. The organisers thanked us all for coming, and apologised
for
the relatively low turnout. As I said before, there were very
few
British there. Some of the problem was that the main competition had
got
a little too serious - many of the Spanish guys didn't come until
the
end of the week because they were elsewhere training for the slalom
or
rodeo. (The 1992 Olympic course at La Seu D'Urguell is less than an
hour
away, near Andorra). They then handed out hundreds of trophies.
Every
event, in every age range, for boys and girls or men and women, had
a
huge trophy. Yes, you've guessed it - we didn't win a single one. We
did
collect the white water race (Junior boys) trophy for Peter,
because
they'd gone home the day before. So we at least had a trophy to look
at.
On Saturday evening a 'buffet' was provided. When we were being
told
about this, the Spanish guy was wondering how to translate this
into
French. He was surprised to discover it was 'buffet' too. But the
French
pointed out that they said it first...
This buffet consisted of
a huge bowl of paella, plus salads etc. There
was also more free beer. This
was held at the campsite bar, but for some
reason the bar decided to shut at
midnight, whereas every other night
they'd been open much later. Most of the
paddlers went off to the night
club, but I'm afraid that we went to bed, cos
we were driving a long way
the next day, to the French Alps near Briancon.
More about that later...
We have no hesitation in saying that it is an
excellent week. The
weather is sunny, the water is good, the locals are
friendly, the other
clubs are friendly. Everything a festival should be like.
It was a shame
that there weren't a few more clubs there. As I said before,
in previous
years a few British University clubs have been there. It is a
great
festival to use as a warm-up for the Alps, or even as a wind down.
It
seems to be difficult to find out about it in the UK - it took me
ages
last winter to find out any details. And it doesn't help that it is
at
the beginning of July which is still during term time for kids. We
would
have had more people if it was even one week later.
Last time we
went it was definitely less formal, with more emphasis on
fun events rather
than competition. But the competitions are only as
serious as you make them,
and we certainly had fun in everything we did.
This year's organisers were
very efficient, which contrasts to the very
laid back approach five years
ago
The entry to the festival cost 4000 pesetas (£16) per person. This
is
excellent value - the trip up to the mountains alone was worth that,
let
alone all the free food and drink we got. The event was sponsored
by
various companies, including 'Fishermans Friends' of all people, so
we
all got a Fishermans Friend baseball cap. The campsite was a
bit
expensive though, working out at over £20 each for the week. Last
time
we went, the campsite fee was included in the event entry fee,
which
made it much cheaper!
The organisers are an outdoor activity
company called 'Top Team'. Their
phone and fax number is +34 973 621 367.
They have a web page, but there
isn't a huge amount on it. See:
http://personal.redestb.es/acanes/index.htm
For further
information about Bristol Canoe Club, see
http://www.puddle.demon.co.uk/BCC/
I hope this is
useful. Please contact me if you have any other questions
about
it.
Conor O'Neill, Bristol Canoe Club. conor@puddle.demon.co.uk
--
Conor O'Neill, at home in Bristol, UK
Bristol Canoe Club Web Page: http://www.puddle.demon.co.uk/BCC/