Swinging Sunbury and the Hurley Hotstep...

With the level of water dropping in the Thames Valley area, all hope of big wave surfing was fast diminishing, until that is, Sunbury reared it's ugly side!! On first inspection it looked like it was going to be a day from heaven, with the sun shining on a monster of a green wave. After bragging to Jon in WWTCC about this beast raging just five minutes from his work, it was time to get on and tame it.

On arrival however i suddenly realized that there was no eddie service, bugger, but with a little man power (me dragging myself along the ledge) and with a little help (Rae dragging me along the wall) I made it on!! joy!!

After a few tiring rides and even more tiring eddie hops I realized how dangerous this weir was at this level, it wasn't the 8ft hole you have to drop into, no, it was the little fact of nearly braking my feet on the serrated weir ledge trying to donkey flip!! That made me think back to the 8ft hole that nearly gave my good kicking a couple of runs before.


It was decided then that maybe sunbury needed to be enjoyed at higher levels, I didn't fancy losing my head with a flip in the hole and my boat and body were battered from smearing myself up the wall each time!! To top it all off, it started to snow, from somewhere, whilst we were getting changed!!

You can see a little footage from the day on the end of the 'Swinging Sunbury and the Hurley Hotstep' video which can be seen on my video page, click on the link under site contents.

There are seven gates that make up Sunbury weir, very often at lower levels (4 or less) it's a no go hole, steep, shallow and not very inviting. On higher levels (5 to 7) it becomes a wave/hole that can be front surfed on, spun on and looped in. Good for all levels of confident paddlers (and a little deeper!). Every now and then however it opens out into a lush green wave, very dynamic and shed loads of fun. The weir that day was on the four middle gates. Please bear my advice in mind if you choose to paddle it on this level, maybe best to wait until it's on six.



Stay safe kids...adam