Adventure #238

The perfect line
At that point it wasn’t about ego or box ticking. As Greg puts it,
it was simply “the right time, the right day and everything felt
right.” Once they committed, there was no room for thoughts
about a negative outcome. Trusting their skills (they were
both highly ranked NZ slalom paddlers at the time), and their
understanding of hydraulics, they picked what they thought
would be the best line and went for it.
In the end, they did two separate runs, choosing to be at the
bottom for each other. Greg’s lasting memory was the force of
the water blasting him in the face at the top of the drop before
he disappeared into the inky darkness of the boil. Sadly, Nick
passed away in a car accident quite a few years back so he’s
not around to share his experience first-hand.
But the story doesn’t end there. If it had been up to them,
the guys would have simply gotten into their car and quietly
disappeared with nothing more than a sense of personal
achievement, and an epic story to share with their mates. As
it turned out, the President of the NZ Canoeing Association at
the time happened to be at the falls taking photos, and when
he realised what they were about to do, he raced down to the
lower lookout to capture them going over the drop.
Unsurprisingly, these photos found their way to the press and
the guys ended up being featured in the Herald and on TV.
This gave them some notoriety as well as a bit of unwelcome
attention from the NZ Water Safety Council who weren’t happy
that “a couple of randoms” had done this irresponsible act. In
the end, the furore died down and Greg and Nick’s place in
New Zealand kayaking history was cemented.
Since that first descent, Huka Falls has been run many times
and in numerous ways from tandem to hand paddling and even
on a bodyboard. Obviously a lot has changed in the last four
decades in terms of gear and kayaks in particular, which are
now a far cry from the Olymp 6 fibreglass slalom kayaks the
guys used back then. To some extent, this has made runs like
Huka Falls a lot more accessible to more kayakers who want to
tick it off their bucket list. In this regard, Greg does have a few
words of caution.
“People need to respect any piece of water at any time. Be
honest about whether your skillset meets what you’re about
to do and never paddle a rapid just because your friends are
doing it. Trust your intuition on the day.”
And he’s talking from experience. Still on a high after running
Huka Falls, and feeling like he could conquer anything, Greg
started to chase after more first descents. Around 8 weeks after
Huka, he had a bad feeling about a particular run but, against
his better judgement, did it anyway because other guys were
doing it. In his words he “made a mess of it” (I got the sense
that it was probably a lot worse than he was letting on) and got
a good kick in the ego which he reckons he probably needed.
But he’s still here, still passionate about the sport and still
paddling at the very respectable age of 61. He only paddled
Huka Falls the one time and has never seriously considered
doing it again, but you only have to do it once to be the first.
58//WHERE ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS/#238