November 2006 - Canoeist Magazine

to paddle a specific line to avoid these hazards and Wee Stinky was also
ahead of us, 600m of grade 4. Only three of us were allowed to run this
section. It was the last hole which gave James and me a good beating.
Clive led with James following. James misjudged the last bit and dropped
into the hole. Steve ran the hole further left, got sucked under and
popped out the other side. I misjudged the line and dropped on top of
James’ boat, which was being recirculated. I then joined it. This was the
most powerful hydraulic I have ever experienced. After what seemed
like an eternity and attempts at rolling overridden by the power of the
water, I banged out of my boat. When I surfaced I remember seeing
James on the end of a throwline and Steve smiling smugly from the
eddy. I was then off on a long swim down grade 3 with Olli in the chase
boat. After the carnage was sorted out and equipment retrieved, the
group continued down the river, expecting to find the gear raft around
the next corner with our lunch. Dougie hadn’t made any of the eddies
until that evening’s camp. Although hungry, the group were relieved to
reach camp after an adrenalin pumping day. The river guides where also
relieved to have completed the day without serious injury.
The following day we had our first day of non travel since leaving
Ripon. We had been on the move for 11 continuous days. The team
were now visually tired and were pushing themselves further than they
had ever done before. We were going to spend two nights at this remote
campsite with 100 metre red rock cliffs towering around us and the river
crashing through the grade 3 rapids, a nice location for a day of rest but,
no, a full day of white water rescue training awaited us, theory, practice
and scenarios. Unfortunately, the river level was too high for actual
practising in the river. Secretly, most of the group were glad of not
having a physical day. That evening we had pizza and chips and sat
around the camp fire being entertained by Marvo the mystical magician
and other silly sketches by the group.
White water rescue training.
Steve and Tom prepare traditional English food, pizza.
22
CANOEIST November 2006
Rock the Casbah with the casbah on top of the cliffs.
Sam rolls and rocks the casbah
The following day was back on the water. Jono had fitted a small
video camera to the front of a boat which captured the facial
expressions of Ed and Steve as they ran the rapids. It wasn’t long
before Tom was the first swimmer of the day and only 200m from the
camp. After getting Tom back in his boat we looked upstream only to
see the kit raft pinned and Dougie struggling to free it. This was going
to be another full day of paddling and problem solving but it was also
the day when Sam did his first successful roll and just above a big hole!
The main rapid of the day was Rock the Casbah (named so because of
the casbah on the cliff above). This was grade 4 with risk of serious
pinning at the bottom if we messed up on the way down. Again, the
guides only let four of us run this 600m section. All the others
portaged. With no dramas on this one, Jono was a bit disappointed as
carnage makes for good video footage! As the day progressed, the
Playing the rapids.