It has been widely known that changes are planned for the Teesside White Water course in north-eastern England that will drasticaly change the course (hopefully for the better). These works were due to start early in the year and most people have even been under the impression that the course had already shut for the works. However, this is not the case. The course is still alive and kicking and will be until the end of August according to the centre staff!!
In the meantime the course has undergone a few changes including testing some new obstacles similar in idea to the Omni-flot system recently installed at Nottingham so I I went down after work to check it out…Â
The main changes have been to the rear straight which is where all the new blocks have been added which has created a new small wave feature which is perfect for beginners to have a play in (pictured above). It’s not too retentive but it’s quite fun.
By putting the new blocks in the course has backed up slightly to ‘Happy Eater’ which has long been one of the most popular features on the course. Since a block washed out from below the feature the wave has flattened out and not been at it’s prime. The shoulder is now more defined than it has been in recent times and although It’s still not quite back to it’s usual self but it’s getting there.
Teesside is a unique course in the UK in that due to it’s location it only runs at low tide. This means that as well as running at different times of the day it also changes depending on the tide height which means it can change even while you’re on the course over a few hours. ‘Happy Eater’ runs at pretty much every tide which is one of the reasons for it’s popularity. It’s also pretty user friendly so it appeals to pretty much everyone.
The next main feature is ‘Cruncher’ which has changed many times over the last few years and runs at tide heights of 2m or less generally. The latest changes to the course have narrowed the feature from what it has been recently which has created a steeper tongue running into the the hole. The hole itself is now slightly more uniform which makes moves left and right that little bit easier. The tide was at a level of 1.8m on the day I was down there and I was on the water shortly after the course opened in the evening which meant that the pool level was still dropping. At the start of the session the hole was quite flushy but as the tide went out more and the level dropped the hole got a bit more feisty. The hole is really quite retentive and can be intimidating but is great fun with most hole moves possible. It is a little shallow but there are deeper spots that takes a little time to find and get used to.
Teesside is often forgotten about here in the UK partly due to much of it being very shallow and the timings of the course runnin due to the tides. Hopefully the major changes, when they happen, will fix this and will also include the installation of pumps which will mean the course runs more regularly. As it stands at the moment, if you go down there at a tide height greater than 2m you will be limited what features are in. Anything below 2m and things get more interesting and if you can manage to get down there on the really low tides of below 1m you’ll get to sample ‘Valentines’ and the infamous ‘Acid Drop’ for some survival beatdowns…
For everyone that thought the course was already shut it’s not and it’s got better with the changes so pop over and give it a go. The course running times can be found on the centre website (www.4seasons.co.uk) and clicking on water release times on the left hand side and it’s always best to give the centre a ring before you go to check that it’s open and to check the tide height on 01642 678000.