Al Ain Wadi Adventures




Saddling up in the pond for the main channel with
the conveyor belt to to top of the channel behind me




 My old Army mates, Dan and Cam, needed a little bit of R and R from the challenges of life in Dubai.  So a trip to Wadi Adventures seemed like a great boy's day out given that our families had absconded to cooler climes. We started with an hour of surfing in the wave pool with the intermediate wave which is an A Frame. This means we were able to have multiple surfers on the wave where "one guy can break right, one's left simultaneous"  (just like Apocalypse Now but without helicopters, mortar fire and napalm). Unfortunately, I don't have any photos as no one wanted to miss a wave to get the camera. Thank goodness it was only an hour as, with 90 seconds between waves, my arms were very heavy by the end of the session.  
























The photos show the middle third of the main channel. Plenty of angles
and crossing currents


We were in the wave pool from 9 am to 10 am  and the first of the rafters were due to arrive at 10.45 am.  The 45 minutes gave me some time to recover but it is also cheaper to wait and piggy back on the water paid for by rafting groups. While Dan and Cam rested their arms, I reacquainted myself with my play boat in the moderate channels which contain some nice play waves. I then strapped into my old Dagger CFS for the main channel.



















The main hole on the mid section...
It is always good to work on your skills and the main channel keeps the mind focused.  This is good training as I have my eye on a Tons River trip in Uttarakhand in Northern India once I am through with my busy period at work.  The main channel has plenty of crossing currents and waves at odd angles to trip you up. This is combined with a shallow channel bed that is ready to punish you and your head if you make mistakes. With the pressure of Cam and a camera I was determined to put on a reasonable show.
















.... and plenty of rapids to come down stream






After a good session, I joined Dan and Cam in the wave pool which Wadi Adventures sets up for a close out wave.  This is aimed at the recreational swimmers but if you are in the right spot it sets up for a great body surf.  After 45 minutes of body surfing we were physically shattered but mentally relaxed for our return to racing rats in Dubai..

Popular posts from this blog

An Ascent of Sunanda Devi (Nanda Devi East)

Image
Climbing past the gendarmes between Camp 1 on Longstaff Col and Camp 2.  I am climbing in the middle distance ANZAC Day always bring back all kinds of memories, some good and some less so. Just recently I had some old slides scanned which arrived just before ANZAC day. It was ANZAC day 22 years ago today that I received a call to get on an immediate flight to India to join a Defence cooperation exercise in India which was to involve an ascent of Nanda Devi. The mountain stands at 7816 metres is it protected by a ring of peaks of which 12 are over 6,400 metres. The first ascent was by Bill Tillman and Noel Odell who were able to enter the Nanda Devi Sanctuary via Rishi Gangi Gorge. The ridge between Nanda Devi and Sunanda Devi The peak has a colorful history which includes the attempted installation of a nuclear powered monitoring device for Chinese nuclear tests. Turned back by bad weather, the device was lost somewhere on Sunanda Devi and was nev
Read more

Three Days in Lisbon are Not Enough!

Image
Lisbon definitely falls into the shabby but chic category. There is a real sense of dynamism here which seems to be a combination of entrepreneurial spirit, to start up costs and supportive government policies It should not have come as surprise to us that three days wasn’t enough time in Lisbon.  Both Lisbon and Porto have been Monocle’s poster children for urban gentrification and progressive local government.  This was combined the features of a one of Europe’s oldest but now faded trading empires: a beautiful port with a hilly shoreline; elaborate and still solid buildings constructed with the wealth of derived from international trade routes to South America, Africa and India; and finally a mix of ethnic groups that came to call Lisbon home. Lisbon is built on seven hills above a pretty harbour and this was a great opportunity for Kate and I to train for Corsica.  The narrow streets were home to lots of
Read more

Back in Beaune - Rock Climbing in Bourgogne

Image
Fixin, by French standards it was a little hard to locate the routes and route finding on some was interesting I had two weeks work in Paris with my last meeting in Nuremburg on a Friday.  Kate and Ada were in Melbourne and Lucy was on the Gold Coast so I had two weekends free in Europe.  Needless to say, my thoughts turned to climbing. My first option was a return to Beaune, where the family and I had conducted an unsuccessful and very cold reconnaissance of the rock climbing during Easter the previous year. The problem with Europe is finding a climbing partner if Kate is not with me; however, I had recently discovered that one of the team working with me, Jeremy, was a keen climber.  So I suggested a weekend climbing trip to Bourgogne and made the necessary bookings a few weeks in advance. French countryside.  The view from a restaurant in Fixin while we were enjoying a post climb drink. As with Chateau Verte, I had forg
Read more