THE 34-year-old woman who was swept to her death while kayaking in the River Tavy last Saturday was a 'superb canoeist' with a passion for the sport, an expert said this week.

Michelle Wright, 34, was canoeing down the river having just navigated a difficult section when she swung her boat around to speak to her fiancé, Andy Gray.

She was swept backwards, pinned against part of a fallen tree and forced under the water by the strong current.

Michelle, a talented canoeist who lived at Stoke Climsland, and Andy were with three other highly experienced canoeists.

Jack Russell, a top British Canoe Union coach and personal friend of the couple, said this week that Michelle had been doing something she loved and took all reasonable precautions.

He said the couple lived for their canoeing, spending every spare moment in their boats. They described themselves as 'canoe junkies' and had paddled many of Europe's major rivers and the Tavy on many occasions.

Mr Russell said the group had been inspecting the river and setting up safety ropes before tackling each section.

They had just carried their boats around another fallen tree across the river — about half a mile upstream of Mary Tavy power station — and were back on the water approaching the next section.

The first canoeist pulled into a breakout, where he could rest out of the 15-knot current before tackling it.

Michelle came down next, but it is thought she missed the breakout and floated backwards on to a sturdy branch of the fallen tree.

Mr Russell said: 'Michelle was a lovely person, always smiling on the river and screaming with enjoyment. She absolutely loved canoeing and was an inspiration to women.'

He said Michelle and Andy were perfectly within their capabilities. Michelle had a passion for canoeing — she was living life — she was a superb canoeist and she was doing something she truly loved.

'For people who don't understand what it's like to do this sport it seems very dangerous, but there are very few deaths in kayaking.

'It's a matter of perceived and actual danger — the perceived danger of canoeing is very high, but the actual danger is very low.'

Tavistock PC Jon Bancroft, one of the first on the scene after the alarm was raised, said the other canoeists were quickly out of their boats. One ran off to call for help. The others clambered across the tree to try to dislodge the kayak.

They managed to free the boat, but Michelle was no longer in it.

Emergency service personnel were quickly on the scene. Dartmoor Rescue Group scoured the riverbanks with the help of a helicopter from RNAS Culdrose while firefighters from Tavistock, Princetown and a specialist rope rescue team from Camel's Head worked with police to rig up ropes to try to get divers into the river.

Another group of canoeists also tackling the river joined in the rescue efforts.

'The divers went in, but only managed to get in about three feet before they were getting swept into dire straits themselves because of the strength of the current, so we had to pull them out and get them over the river another way,' said PC Bancroft.

He was full of praise for the bravery of the line rescue team, who made their way across the tree trunk and down into the river, to eventually locate Michelle and bring her out. He also praised the fire fighters for their efforts in getting the lines rigged up and ferrying so much equipment to such an isolated spot.

Although this was some time after the incident, PC Bancroft said everyone worked frantically, aware that in very cold water it was sometimes possible to resuscitate people after quite long periods of immersion.

In the end it was almost three hours later before they were able to recover Michelle's body.

Her buoyancy aid and paddle were found downstream. Another paddle, bent double by the force of the water, was also found.

Michelle, who was engaged to Andy five weeks ago, leaves a 10-month-old baby, Jasmine.

An inquest was this week opened and adjourned to a date to be fixed.