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| Marsh Weir |
Spring season in the Thames Valley is a stressful yet potentially rewarding time.
The river goes up and down like a yoyo showing the true potential of this waterway , for those that watch carefully enough its got a few gems that shine for a day or two a year .
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| amongst it , the doug cooper |
The job , watching the weather . an understanding can be built over the years, people who watch the gauge on the internet seldom reap the reward of good waves . Experience tells locals that rain falls , it takes twenty four hours to reach the river , the position of the rain is key , are the water boards full , is there a frost . Factors seldom thought of by your average paddler . Trees are the enemy ! winter spells no leaves which means the trees sleep , springtime the trees awaken and begin to drink every ounce of water that falls on the valley , yet another factor !
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| Nookie |
Lets talk marsh weir , it screams danger , un predicable and seldom surfed .
marsh weir was discovered by TWP paddler spargo , he checked it out and wrote a short note about its potential. several years later i became interested , sluice gates spanning the entire width of the river spelt potential . situated above a wooden foot bridge with low level boat moorings makes this weir a debre / kayaker collector . but when does it work ?
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| Air screw , Buy one ! |
A six gate marsh weir (thats six from the far bank open ) with a low basin level makes a wave described as one of Europe's finest ! Can you ride it ? local (Dougs) knowledge states that it can be towed in to .
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| Alan ward tows in |
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| Ward screw |
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| Long day of towing in |
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| doug cooper , alan ward sharing a moment |
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| dynasty ? |
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| Paula having a go |
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| Air screw |
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| screen shot from the video |
mid april i had been watching the wave for about two weeks and managed to catch it a perfect 6 gate steep wave .
Check out the video !
https://vimeo.com/44030049
