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Rob at the bottom of a drop on the Lunahuana, Peru. Photo: James Pratt.
Name: Rob Tuley
Age: 24
University: Imperial College, London
Subject: Mechanical Engineering
Year of Study: 2nd year of a 3 year PhD looking at the dynamics of powder inhalers.
Paddling Experience...?
I've been paddling since about 12 years old, and its beginning to become an obsession. Worked as a kayak and
open canoe instructor for one year in France and N. Wales. Extensive personal experience in UK and Europe (the usual suspects - France, Germany, Austria,
Sweden, Norway, Italy, Switzerland, etc). I also have a couple of bigger foreign trips under my belt – a month spent in Peru introduced me to the
idiosyncrasies of South American boating and committing multi-day descents (e.g. Colca), and I spent a month in the summer of 2004 in British Columbia
ticking off some great creeks. At 24 years old, I would also claim to be quite a mature paddler. I know when to walk away, and have seen enough screw-ups
on the river to know my business at the rescue end of things. I am a rubbish playboater, much more content on a steep river.
So, when was your last swim?
Ahh. Bit of an embarrassing one this one. It was actually on the introduction weekend when I met the rest of the expedition team! We had great water levels
in N. Wales, and a mis-calculated line on one of the trickier drops on the Colwyn resulted in a bit of a kicking in the hole at the bottom. An example when I should have walked away and didn't
I suppose.
What's your favourite river?
Probably the Urubamba river in Peru from km 76 to 88. There was just two of us on the water and due to the lack of shuttles we made the 12km run
a multi-day trip. The scenery is phenomenal, you paddle past the start of the Inca trail, and the paddling is mid-volume technical grade 4+ (5). Just my
sort of thing.
What was your first boat?
Although I've been paddling for a while, I couldn't afford to get a boat till I was 18 or so. I think my first was an Eskimo Diablo - great surfer, but
would be considered a bit of a beast today no doubt. I still remember (just) the fibre-glass era though; one of my mates at primary school had a dad who
did a lot of paddling. I raced round his house after school one day as he'd told me his dad had just got a PLASTIC BOAT! We took it out to the garden, turned
it upside down and used it as a trampoline for hours just to prove how unbreakable it was...