New challenge for Fish paddlers

Canoeists now able to shoot 5m drop at Baroda Weir

WHEN the massive field descends on Cradock for the Hansa Fish River Canoe Marathon on October 7 and 8, the paddlers will confront a new obstacle as the race committee continues on its mission to eliminate portages around the big weirs that span the river.

During the winter, race committee members have been

The weir works really well and is a lot of fun

working on the construction of a new chute down the Baroda Weir, 500m after the start of the second stage of the two-day, 82km race.

This will offer a new challenge to the paddlers and another exciting spectator point on the final stage.

The brainchild of new race committee chairman Roy Copeman, the massive Fish chute allows paddlers the chance to shoot the 5m-high drop for the first time, down a tried and tested design of steps built within a diamond-shaped fish chute, before dropping into a rapid below the weir.

The new chute was tested by members of the Fish River Canoe Club, who gave it a unanimous thumbs-up.

“The weir works really well and is a lot of fun,” Cradock local Greg Louw – K2 winner of the Hansa Fish with Andy Birkett last year – said.

“The chute itself is a lot like the Marlow chute, but the gradient is gentler. It gets interesting below the weir though.

“When you get to the bottom of the chute there is a strong flow of water coming in from the right, which picks your boat up and pushes it left.

“Then you get dropped over a rocky ledge, which is where the biggest stopper wave is

“It is going to be fun to watch a batch [of boats] going down there.”

Initial video footage released of paddlers testing the weir showed a number of rocks protruding from the rapid below the chute that would pose a risk to any craft that capsized at the foot of the weir.

Louw has, however, confirmed that these rocks have since been removed, making the rapid below the chute safe for paddlers and any accidental swimmers.

The race has always attracted a big field because it offers a guaranteed water release from Grassridge Dam, which makes the 82km of flowing water, rapids and weirs a favourite on the domestic and international canoeing calendar.

The first major chute constructed by the race committee was at the massive Marlow Weir, close to the Marlow agricultural school on the outskirts of Cradock.

In 2010, the race committee added a novel two-step weir the Collett’s Weir that has now become known as “double trouble”.

“This is a paddlers’ race and we want to try and reduce the obstacles that force the paddlers to make a compulsory portage,” Copeman said.