Haverfordwest paddleboard deaths - MAIB report published

[MisterBaxter]

I haven't looked at the details of what was planned but the river is tidal. Possibly at high tide the weir is completely submerged and can be safely paddled over in normal conditions, but becomes a turbulent mess when a great deal.of water is flowing over it?

 

[steve yates]

I haven't looked at the details of what was planned but the river is tidal. Possibly at high tide the weir is completely submerged and can be safely paddled over in normal conditions, but becomes a turbulent mess when a great deal.of water is flowing over it?

And of course they would have no idea of when high water or low water might be?

 

[MisterBaxter]

And of course they would have no idea of when high water or low water might be?

The point is that the river is a very different beast when there's been a lot of rain in the hills upstream. Approaching high tide in dry summer weather, the water near the weir would be almost stationary, with the incoming tide cancelling out the flow of the river. But after heavy rain the river might be a metre or more deeper and flowing downstream faster than a paddleboard could manage, even while the tide is rising, and when all that water passes over a sudden increase in depth at the weir, you're looking at a very dangerous, turbulent situation even if the weir is a metre or more underwater.
I'm not intimately familiar with the weir in Haverfordwest but I know the Cleddau a bit and it can get wild.

 

[steve yates]

All wiers are very dangerous when a river is in spate, period.

 

[Dellquay13]

I'm not intimately familiar with the weir in Haverfordwest but I know the Cleddau a bit and it can get wild.

Normally that weir is a very calm place. As the upper limit of the tidal Cleddau, it’s a place where toddlers paddle in summer next to the town park.
If I recall correctly, it was during an exceptional storm and rainfall. I was sheltering downriver in harbour.
At the time it was reported that the trip had been rearranged from a coastal location, and it is somewhere normally very sheltered.
It would not have been considered an interesting place to paddleboard under normal circumstances (a river between the high and low water marks, shallow enough to wade across when the tide is out) and I wouldn’t be surprised if the leaders had little or no experience of aerated water near weirs. (Most of the paddleboard groups are at the seaward end of the haven or around the Pembrokeshire islands. I’ve even seen them crossing Jack sound and Ramsey Sound).
Likely faced with a group disappointed with the cancellation of their trip, they probably thought it would be benign enough there.
I’m not condoning or excusing, just adding a little knowledge of the location and of the local SUP/Coasteering/adventure holiday scene.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

All wiers are very dangerous when a river is in spate, period.

That rather depends. Some passages are only possible when the river is in spate, and thats when white water kayaks come out to play.

I have been over a weir in a yacht and in kayak when the weirs were completely covered - though there was some nervousness in yacht as depth gauge obviously only shows depth before and after the obstruction. I have also been rolled (in kayak) when I turned a bit broadside to tumbling water below a weir on a day when water seemed so still that I foolishly left my drysuit unzipped so it immediately filled with water.

However all weirs are potentially dangerous and the one at Bath drowned an Olympic champion. None are suitable for paddleboarders -

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Short FB real showing SUP through some rapids.

3.434 Aufrufe · 256 Reaktionen | Tight lines on a scrapey off-season S-Bend #whitewatersup #riversup #whitewaterporn #paddleboardingfun #redbulluk | Sam Garthwaite

 

[oldmanofthehills]

Short FB real showing SUP through some rapids.

3.434 Aufrufe · 256 Reaktionen | Tight lines on a scrapey off-season S-Bend #whitewatersup #riversup #whitewaterporn #paddleboardingfun #redbulluk | Sam Garthwaite

Very nice, and very clearly a fully equipped and highly experienced boarder at play - unlike the poor souls that drowned

 

[penberth3]

Likely faced with a group disappointed with the cancellation of their trip,....

Good planning would include an alternative activity.

 

[Dellquay13]

Good planning would include an alternative activity.

This apparently was the alternative

 

[ylop]

Good planning would include an alternative activity.

This apparently was the alternative

They had an alternative (off the water). They chose not to use it.

 

[Dellquay13]

They had an alternative (off the water). They chose not to use it.

I don’t know the details, I’m not comfortable commenting on their choices. I only meant to give a bit of insight into the nature of the location under normal conditions

 

[Mark-1]

I That makes me wonder if the weir is barely a weir at all in 'normal' times, that would make the location make sense as a SUP destination. If they were expecting to be shooting a weir it would surely be the highlight and the main focus of the trip? The intent was certainly to go over the weir, on the whatsapp group the discussion was: "Their principal concern was the effect of wind, sea state and precipitation and whether there was sufficient water to allow their SUPs to float over the weir.".

I've reread the MAIB report to try to find answers to my various questions about what a 'good' trip would have looked like. It doesn't spell this stuff out but there are some hints about the logic of the trip.

Firstly it seems it was planned to be a lengthy one way trip. So there was no concern about paddling back, I guess they were going to do the car shuffle.

They really don't seem to have considered tide height at all. The quoted Kayak Club's safety policy doesn't mention tide either. Which is weird because I'd have thought it was critical to both. At the very highest tides there is no weir at all but it's way above CD so most of the time there's essentially no tide. The difference seem utterly critical if you're SUPing or White water Kayaking yet they both seem to ignore it. (One wants the highest possible tide the other none!)

The conjecture up the thread that they may have regarded deep fast water as a good thing rather than a bad is matched by the MAIB's: "As a result, rather than viewing the fast-flowing, mud laden water as an indication of danger, they interpreted the fast-flowing river’s smooth unrippled surface as an indication that it was safe for their SUP tour to go ahead." With a long downstream kayak in front and concern about ripping skegs off on a weir that makes sense but surely you'd factor the water depth below the weir?

My biggest confusion is still unanswered. It really not clear if there is a way of going over the weir in normal conditions without risking ripping your skeg off and/or scuffing the board. Maybe the fish pass is deeper or maybe the weir water is deep enough. I can't visualise how that could be the case - in the photos the flow down the fish weir doesn't look stronger so I can't see how it can be deeper. I guess it must be. Maybe I'm too precious with my kit.

Reading the text it seems the surviving instructor (understandably given the criminal investigation) didn't talk to the MAIB so that probably explains the lack of insight into the intent behind the whole thing and what a 'normal' trip would have looked like.

 

[MisterBaxter]

The other issue is that even if the fish path was safely navigable with the river height and state of tide, it's a narrow target that you've got one chance to hit while being carried rapidly downstream.

 

[Puffin10032]

The other issue is that even if the fish path was safely navigable with the river height and state of tide, it's a narrow target that you've got one chance to hit while being carried rapidly downstream.

Yes I saw that on Google Maps satellite view. Immediately downstream of the fish ladder are a large, tree covered rock on each side which severely restrict the flow and no doubt create all manner of eddies and undercurrents.