2013
Kayak
Date: 1/2/13
River: Arnold
Participants: Bex
Duration of
activity: 1.5 hours
Incidents/injuries:
None
River
was very low and some waves were up. First time kayaking in three
months. Didn't go to badly just need to work on my eddying.
Date: 5/02/13
River: Toaroha
Participants: Bex,
Alice, Watson, Jake and Dylan
Duration of
activity: 2 hours
Incidents/injuries:
I swam twice. Once was because of a deck implosion the other was
failed rolling.
Was
a bit nervous as had only done 3 days of kayaking since my three
month break. Set up a good carry system for the walk in where I
tightened the shoulder straps after putting them on so they wouldn't
slip which worked well. River was quite low and weather was good.
Skipped the first rapid as wasn't feeling that confident. On the
first one I ran my deck imploded and I ended up tipping and swimming.
Happened right at the start of the rapid and my boat kept filling
with water after that. Did well on the rest of the rapids apart from
the last where I had another swim after I got pushed off line and
went into a manky section. I managed to brace and tried to feather
myself up but didn't drop my head so went over. Got scraped along the
rapid and swam. Really need to work on my head space underwater as
didn't even try for my roll. I need to put myself in situations I
don't like, like tipping over in a shallow rapid then chilling for a
bit before I roll. Also need to work on holding my breath as feel
this would help my stop my panic at losing my breath quite fast
underwater.
Date: 28/04/13
River: Crooked
Participants:
Alice and Bex
Duration of
activity: 2 hours
Incidents/injuries:
Alice swam
First time on
Crooked for the year. It was at a nice high flow. Alice ended up
swimming when her leg popped out of her brace.
Date: 4/05/13
River: Crooked
Participants:
Alice, Bex, Jono, Dylan, Sam and Tim
Duration of
activity: 2 hours
Incidents/injuries:
I swam
I did the grade
three section. It was at a nice high flow. On the first rapid I did
not have enough speed and got sucked back into a hole and rolled and
ended up swimming when I couldn't roll. Rest of day went fine and Sam
and Tim joined us on the grade 2 section.
Date: 25/05/13
River: Arahura
Participants:
Nate, Sam, Jono and Dylan
Duration of
activity: 1.5 hours
Incidents/injuries:
Nate Swam
We
split in to two groups. I looked after/guided the first years down.
Nate swam once which knocked his confidence and I had to stay close
for rest of trip and lead him down closely.
Date: 24/07/13
River: Crooked
River
Participants: Bex
kayaking. Alice, Lenny and Ru rafting
Duration of
activity: 2 hours
Incidents/injuries:
None
Bex and I kayaked
the grade 3 and 2 while Alice, Lenny and Ru rafted. Was the biggest I
had kayaked the crooked. Was a fun grade 3 section and the grade two
section was good as well.
Date: 27/07/13
River: Toaroha
River
Participants:
Alice, Tim, Bex, Jake, Cady amd Watson
Duration of
activity: 2 hours
Incidents/injuries:
Tim swam.
I ran all of the
rapids and did fine. Tim swam on the second rapid after the drop.
Date: 24/08/13
River: Taieri
River, Taioma to Outram Glen
Participants: Bex
and Tash
Duration of
activity: 3 hours
Incidents/injuries:
None
Tash skipped the
grade 3 which Bex and I truck and trailed down. Went all good apart
from the first rapid as we almost stuffed up our lines but it ended
up fine.
Date: 5/10/13
River: Arahura
Participants: Bex,
Alice, Jake, Watson, Cady, Logan, Dylan, Reece and Phil
Duration of
activity: 1 hour
Incidents/injuries:
Watson and I swam
River was quite
high and was continuous grade 3. I tipped over halfway through and
tried to get my paddle out of the water to roll but couldn't so tried
my roll anyways then tried again but still couldn't get my paddle up
and ended up swimming but it was a quick clean up. Rest of trip went
well.
2012
Date: 10/03/12
Trip location: The Arnold
Group members: Zenzei Breitbreger, Watson Green, Jono Irvine, Gerg Lee, Luke Wilson
River flow: medium
River grade: 2
Duration of activity: 1 ½ hours
Weather conditions: overcast
Incidents/injuries: Watson wet exited
Learning points: Always watch the other people you are paddling with even if they are experienced
Narrative: We each did a roll at the start to make sure we had one. We then headed off down the river praticing the skills we had learnt in tech time like fairy gliding, eddying in and out, rapid running and paddle strokes. It was fun as we could cruise down at our own pace and do what we wanted. Greg and luke gave us tips which was good as it was coming from a different person and not just the tutors. Me and Zenzei sat out while the guys played on the buffer wave. It was going ok until watson rolled and couldn't get back up so he wet exited. It was a good learning lesson for us that just because someone has been kayaking for a long time it doesn't mean that you should watch them less as none of us were there to help Watson. After that there were no more incidents.
Date: 17/3/12
Trip location: Taylorville
Group members: Tui Kraal, Alice payn, Lenny McGirr, Jeremy Black, Rebecca Reidie
River flow: NA
River grade: Flat water
Duration of activity: 1 hour
Weather conditions: Fine
Incidents/injuries: I wet exited
Learning points: Try to hold out as long as you can under water as help could be really close by.
Narrative: I practiced rolling in but wasn't that comfortable without a spotter so Alice took me over the shallows to do water confidence drills with me. I then went over and did more rolling without a spotter but couldn't get up on one roll so I wet exited. When I popped up I found Lenny a metre away from me.
Date: 25/03/2012
Trip location: The Arnold
Group members: Rebecca Reidie, Alice Payn, Tui Kraal, Lenny McGirr, Jeremy Black, Logan Froriep, Jono Irvine, Cory Burrows, Rob Bruce, Zenzei Breitbreger, Ari Kingan, Watson Green
River flow: High
River grade: 2
Duration of activity: 1 ½ hours
Weather conditions: rain, thunder and lightning
Incidents/injuries: none
Learning points: If you are in a big group then you should buddy up so everyone is looked after as in big groups it is harder to notice if someone went missing.
Narrative: We went down the Arnold in a big group after it had been raining heavily. At the put in Rob gave us an improvised huka while lightning and thunder flashed over head. We then got in our boats and headed down a flooded Arnold. To make things safer we each got a buddy that we had to keep an eye on and look after. This was so everyone in the group was looked after and it worked quite well. There was big wave trains at points all along the river and the rapids were big and fun, especially pyramid rock rapid. There were no wet exits and everyone stayed safe and had a good time. While we waited for the shuttle we had a big group jump rope session with a throw bag which kept us warm till the shuttle arrived.
Date: 6/04/12
Trip location: Taylorville
Group members:Tui Kraal, Alice Payn, Rebecca Reidie, Lenny McGirr, Jeremy Black, Cory Burrows
River flow: NA
River grade: Flat water
Duration of activity: 1 ½ hours
Weather conditions: Fine
Incidents/injuries: none
Learning points:
Narrative: I practiced rolling with Rebecca as my spotter but luckily I got up on all of my rolls. Not much happened but some of the second years were there as they had been paddling the grey.
Date: 27/04/12
Trip location: Taylorville
Group members: Rebecca Reidie, Logan Froriep, Ambrose Ratcliffe
River flow: NA
River grade: Flat water
Duration of activity: 1 hour
Weather conditions: rain
Incidents/injuries: none
Learning points:
Narrative: Practiced rolls and strokes and went for a swim/jumped off rocks. It was raining so when we got cold we left. At the end of the session I did a few rolls with no safety near by and over all was happy with my rolling.
Date: 29/04/12
Trip location: The Arnold
Group members: Rebecca Reidie, Lenny McGirr, Watson Green, Jeremy Black, Rob Bruce
River flow: High
River grade: 2
Duration of activity: 2 hours
Weather conditions: rain
Incidents/injuries: Rob wet exited
Learning points:
Narrative: The Arnold was flooded slighlty after heavy rain. The second years had set up a ramp at the put in which Lenny and jeremy went down. We then headed down the river. I was a bit wobbly at the start as I had not been paddling in a while but halfway through I got more confident and picked back up my skill. Around the first corner Rob wet exited when he tipped over on an eddy line and there was no one to help him so after that we stuck closer together with no one going off by themselves. I had an uncomfortable trip as there was something wrong with my knee and I had to keep getting out to fix it. Just before three hole we found a ball which Watson used for an air bag in his boat. Three hole rapid was big and fun due to the high river level. We stopped at the seal launch spot so Lenny could seal launch off it while Rob jumped off. It was a relatively safe trip as nothing else happened. Rob, Lenny and Watson ran the shuttle while Rebecca, Jeremy and I practiced throw bagging.
Date: 16/08/12
Trip location: Arnold
Date: 30/04/12
Trip location: Grey high pool
Group members: Julia Melville, Gerg Lee, Rata Lovell-smith, Phil Ip, Sara Dwyer, Dave Rutland, other water polo players
River flow: NA
River grade: NA
Duration of activity: 1 hour
Weather conditions: NA
Incidents/injuries: none
Learning points: Need to stop pulling down with my paddle and need to keep my head down for my left roll.
Narrative: I went for a rolling session as grey high pull for canoe polo. My right hand roll is good but I do not have a left hand roll yet. I was taught first by rata then by greg. We finished with a small game of canoe polo which was fun and interesting. I found out how hard it is to throw a ball while in a kayak.
Date: 19/5/12
Trip location: Arnold
Group members: Alice, Tui, Rebecca, Ru, Watson, Lenny, Dylan, Jake, Jono, Logan, Ambrose, Luke
River grade: 2
River flow: medium
Duration of activity: 2 hours
Weather conditions: overcast then fine
incidents/injuries: Jake and Dylan hit head
Narrative: On this trip Jake and Dylan hit there heads when they rolled. Dylan and Logan wet exited after Ambrose pulled logan's deck and tipped him over. Ambrose also tipped over lenny and I had to save him.
Date:20/05/12
Trip location: Crooked River
Group members:Watson, Chris E, Ru, Jake, Ari, Rob, Owen( ran shuttle), Conor, rebecca
River grade: 2
River flow: low
Duration of activity: 3 hours
Weather conditions: Overcast
Incidents/injuries: Owen found it too cold so did the shuttle
Narrative: There were 9 of us paddling in total plus Owen who had decided to body board. However that didn't last long when he jumped in, in the put in and discovered just how cold it was. He decided to do the smart thing and run the shuttle for us. The rest of the trip went without incident. Jake and Conor wanted to do the crooked jump right up to the point where they were standing on the edge. At this point though they weren't too sure about it and took ages staring at the drop while the rest of us did catcalls at them. Finally after telling them that Alice had done it no problem, they jumped. When we got to the take out we were happy to see both cars there so we didn't have to run the shuttle.
Date: 26/05/12
Trip location: Crooked River
Group members: Jake W, Jake S, Alice and Rebecca.
River grade: 2
River flow: low
Duration of activity: 2 ½ hours
Weather conditions: fine
Incidents/injuries: I wet exited
Narrative: The river was it's usual low self. We got to the end with no incidents so I was feeling lucky and wanted to try a roll. I asked Jack S to spot me as he was out of his boat. I went over and tried to roll but couldn't so tapped and waited. Then waited some more and then waited a little longer. Just as I was about to pull my tab I heard a bang on my boat so thought Jake was about to roll me over and again waited. He didn't so I pulled my tab and as I surfaced saw Jake on the shore and Alice's boat right by mine ready to t-rescue.
Date:27/05/12
Trip location: Arnold
Group members: Alice, Dan, Zenzi, logan and Rebecca
River grade: 2
River flow: medium to high
Duration of activity: 2 hours
Weather conditions: overcast/rain
Incidents/injuries: none
Narrative: Dan came with us to the Arnold and kept encouraging all of us to roll and gave good tips on our skills. It felt really safe to roll around him as he barrel rolled us up.
Dan barrel roll
Date: 03/06/12
Trip location:Mikinui river
Group members: Jake, Ari, Jono, Logan, Alice, Rob, Tim, Watson, Lenny, Ru Rebecca
River grade: 2-3
River flow: medium
Duration of activity: 5 hours
Weather conditions: fine
Incidents/injuries: Tim wet exited twice and Jono once after hitting his head midway through rapid. Jake hit himself in the head with his paddle. Also caught a goat...
Narrative: The trip got off to a great start with Bex driving her car into a ditch. It could only get better from there. We were going to do an over night trip but decided that the river wasn't long enough for it. I still took a sleeping bag just incase but luckliy didn't need it. We also had lots of first aid kits and throw bags. We split into three groups of four with ammixed range of paddlers so it was easier to manage and look after each. I was with Jake, Jono and Ari so was feeling pretty secure. It was a fun trip as you didn't know what was coming around the corner and the rapids were good but not to challenging apart from one of them. On this one Bex, Alice, Tim and I portaged and Jono was going but after some 'encouragement' from the other boys decided to run. Halfway down the rapid he tipped and went down a small drop and hit his head. He wet exited and when he came back up we saw that the peak of his helmet had luckliy been the only thing hurt. Jake also got a hit to the head but that was from his own paddle when he was spinning it around trying to do tricks. Tim wet exited twice and Bex tipped but rolled herself back up. Towards the end of the river it got shallow so we were making slow progress. All of a sudden Ari jumps out of his boat and dashes through the water towards the shore. We were all wondering what he was doing until we saw him come out of the bush holding a kid above his head in triumph. We all thought it was dead until it started bleeting. Rob looked horrified and tried to get Ari to let it go but it's mother wasn't around so we put it in Jake's boat and headed off down the river with Jake praying that it wouldn't pee or poo all in his boat. Lucky for him we made it to the take out without Yoda (the female goats name) leaving a mess in his boat.
Date: 10/06/12
Group members: Rebecca, Julia, four students from NMIT
Trip location: Motueka River
River flow: Medium
River grade: 2
Duration of activity: 40 minutes
Weather conditions: Fine
Incidents/injuries: Julia wet exited
Learning points: If you don't know the people you are paddling with make sure you discuss abilities, rescues etc so you can get an idea of what there abilities are like but don't assume that because they paddle a higher grade or the same grade that they are as good as you or better. Also be more aware and onto it and keep and keep a closer eye on each other.
Narration: My friend my NMIT arranged for four guys from her course to take us paddling down the Mot. They had done some grade three so we thought they would be good paddlers. They weren't bad but as we went down the river we saw that they didn't really look after each other that well. One of the guys tipped and couldn't get his roll but the others were 20 metres away playing in a wave and not making a move to help. Rebecca and I started to paddle towards him to help him but he finally got his roll luckily. Rebecca, Julia and I had a quick talk about how we should stick close as we didn't know if the guys would come to try rescue us if we tipped. When we got to the biggest rapid on the river Rebecca went first then Julia and then me. Julia hit a rock and wet exited quickly after just as I got to her. I told one of the NMIT guys to get the boat while I got Julia and the paddle. Rebecca had eddied out at the bottom and tried to come up the rapid to help but there were no eddies to use. I dropped Julia and the paddle at the side of the river then went to help the guy with her boat as he looked like he was struggling. As I was doing this Rebecca went to check on Julia and take her further down the river as her boat had gone pass where she was. The guy tried to pick up the boat and empty it then tried to tip it over but not all of the water was gone so the boat got more water in it. He flipped it back over and was trying to barge it to the otherside of the river by this time me and another NMIT guy arrived and he tried to help him barge it to the side while I told them to take it to the otherside as the eddies on the side they were taking it to where small and hard to get into. Finally they started to barge it to the otherside but then decided that one guy would hold the boat while the other one would tow him. I was following close behind ready to help if needed while Rebecca kayaked down with Julia on the back of her boat. As the guys got closer to the side the one holding the boat tipped and ended up wet exiting so I had to go after the boat and barge it to the side. We got Julia back into her boat and carried down the river to the take out which was only a short way away.
Date: 14/6/12
Trip location: From Pub to doctors creek put in
Group members: Zenzi and Rebecca
Duration of activity:
River grade: 2
River flow: medium
Weather conditions: fine
Incidents/injuries: none
Narration: It was an all girls trip so we could take it nice and slow. The river was quite mellow and Zenzi was the only one to tip but Bex was right on her and t-rescued her in a flash.
Date: 15/6/12
Trip location: Doctors creek, Murchison
Group members: Zenzi and Rebecca
Duration of activity:
River grade: 2
River flow: medium
Weather conditions: Fine
Incidents/injuries: none
Narration: This was a short run with nothing too exciting happening. Again it was quite mellow and none of us found it difficult. When we got out Bex and I ran to the main road then hitched for the shuttle.
Date: 17/06/12
Group members: Greg, Sara, Dan and Rebecca
Trip location: Milltown gorge Arahua
River flow: low
River grade: 2
Duration of activity: 3 hours
Weather conditions: Overcast
Incidents/injuries: None
Learning points:
Narration: Sara and Greg were going on the Arahua to scout for their camp the next week so Rebecca, Dan and I decieded to tag along. Rebecca and I felt really safe because of the fact that there were three second years there to look out for us all of who where grade three or higher paddlers. We got down most of the river fine with a few stops so Sara and Greg could scope out campsites. On one of the last rapids Rebecca tipped but Sara saved her so we had no wet exits which was a relief because of the cold river. Towards the end of the trip we were starting to get colder as there were not much rapids and we were just cruising down slowly. Luckily however, Rebecca and I had hot raro at the take out that helped warm us as we waited for the shuttle.
Date: 19/06/12
Group members: Chris E, Dylan, Lenny and Rebecca
Trip location: Crooked
River flow: medium
River grade: 2
Duration of activity: 2 ½ hours
Weather conditions: Overcast
Incidents/injuries: None
Learning points:
Narration: We left around mid morning in Rebecca's and my car. When we arrived Dylan and I went to look at the grade 3 section quickly. Soon after we put on and started down the river. The Crooked wasn't too low as there had been rain which made it easier goings as there were less exposed rocks. When we got to the gorge Dylan, Rebecca, Chris and I decided to do the gorge jump. Dylan, Rebecca and I went up first and Lenny and Chris stayed down the bottom for safety. Dylan was up first and measured the jump with a throw bag. It was around 15 metres. He was taking his time at the top and was not looking keen to jump. Rebecca and I were getting impatient and telling him to hurry up it wasn't that high. Finally he jumped and I stepped to the edge next ready to go and then froze as I looked at how far away the water was. It was my turn to stare at the jump while Rebecca told me to hurry up. Finally I decided just not to think and take a step and soon regreted it as my feet left solid ground. As I was falling I was surprised at the amount of time I had to think and regret my decision. As I was panicing and thinking that I should have hit the water by now I made contact with the water and speed down through it till I came to a stop glad to actually be alive. Rebecca was next and like me and Dylan took her time contemplating the jump. Finally she jumped and Eckies headed up for his turn and again like us took a while. He unlike Dylan, Rebecca and me pinned perfectly but was looking down so got some impact on his face from the water but not badly though all though that could have improved things for him. From there we got back into our boats and paddled out after our near death experiences.
Date: 20/06/12
Group members: Alice, Lenny and Rebecca
Trip location: Arnold
River flow: medium to high
River grade: 2
Duration of activity: 2 hours
Weather conditions: Overcast
Incidents/injuries: None
Date: 24/06/12
Group members: Rebecca, Chris E, Grace
Trip location: Crooked
River flow: high
River grade: 2
Duration of activity:
Weather conditions: Overcast
Incidents/injuries: wet exit three times.
Learning points:
Narration: The river was higher than usual and pushier. Rebecca got tipped on the first rapid and swam after having held her breath for quite a while. She also wet exited 2 more times one on the boulder garden and the other on the last rapid before the gorge.
Date: 30/06/12
Group members: Rebecca
Trip location: Arnold river
River flow: Just above medium
River grade: 2
Duration of activity: 1 hour
Weather conditions: Fine
Incidents/injuries: None
Narration: It was just Rebecca and me on this trip but we felt like we could look after each other fine so decided that it would be ok. It was quite a quick trip because there was only two of us. We stuck close for the whole trip and looked out for each other well. The only problem we had was fog because it was early in the morning. We couldn't see three hole properly but knew the line well enough that we felt comfortable running it. It was quite cool kayaking in the fog because you were surrounded by it and felt far away from civilisation. It was quite a cool trip and I liked how it was only Rebecca and I as I felt that we trusted each other enough to go on solo trips together.
Date: 08/07/2012
Group members: Ambrose, Chris H
Trip Location: Crooked river
River flow: low
River grade: 2
Duration of activity: Day session
Weather conditions: Fine
Incidents/injuries: Ambrose wet exited on boulder garden and hit his head. Suspected mild concussion
Narrative: We walked up to look at the grade three section so I could get an idea of what grade three was. The river was really low so a couple of rapids weren't runable. We walked back to the grade two and started the trip with me leading down, Ambrose in the middle and Harvey bringing up the rear. The river was low so the first couple of rapids were quite boney and it was interesting trying to get down them. Everything was going fine and I felt confident leading the others down the river. When we got to the boulder garden I went down first and caught an eddy halfway down. Just as I turned around to watch the others come down, Ambrosed flipped about halfway down and went down some of the rapid upside down. Harvey was right on him and went for a barrel roll but lost his paddle and Ambrose wet exited. Harvey had to hand paddle down the rest of the rapid and Ambrose swan down it. I left the eddy to go help and picked up Harveys paddle on the way. Harvey had managed to find Ambrose's paddle and was bumping his boat to the side. Ambrose had made it to the side of the river so I paddled over to check on him. He was fine apart from a sore head so I gave him the paddle and went to go help Harvey. We got the boat to the side and Ambrose swan across the river using the paddle. We got him back in his boat and headed off back down the river. There was only one more incident where Ambrose got stuck on a rock but Harvey came down past him and pulled him off. When we got to the end of the river there was a couple of guys on the bridge and we managed to get a ride off them for the shuttle. We were quite cold when we got out but luckily I had brought a thermas with raro and me and Ambrose shared that while Harvey did the shuttle. Ambrose was complaining that he felt sick and a sore head so we guessed that he had got concussed and checked on him every couple of hours when we got home to make sure he was all right.
Date: 15/07/12
Trip location: Arnold
Group members: Alice, Eckies, Luke, Rob, Watson and Rebecca
River grade: 2-3
River flow: Flood run
Duration of activity: 40 minutes
Weather conditions: Overcast
Incidents/injuries: none
Narrative: This one one trip I would probably not do again as I was peaking the whole time. Pyramid rock was under water and we couldn't get to the normal takeout as the water was right up to the fence. There were no eddies apart from one which was very sketchy as it was very hard to break out of and our group ended up getting split apart up to 50m before Alice, Chris and Bex broke out of it. From then on we decided to not try and catch eddies as it was quite dangerous if you couldn't get out. The rest of the trip went with out incident and when we got to the raft take out there was a channel of water going up the paddock that we were able to paddle up right to the take out.
Date: 28/07/12
Group members: Greg, Rata, Jono, Chris H and Alice
Trip location: Arahua
River flow: low
River grade: 3
Duration of activity: 2 ½ hours
Weather conditions: Fine
Incidents/injuries: Jono and Alice wet exited.
Learning points:
Narration: It was Ru's Alice's and my first grade three river. I was feeling nervous and had a 40 minute walk in to think about what might go wrong. Before we put in Greg and Rata drew a picture of the river and described some of the rapids to us so we would know what to expect. When we got in the water we split the group as Ari, Rob, Luke, Chris and Jake were also doing the Arahua. Ru went with them and Chris came with us so there was him, Greg, Rata and Jono who all had done grade 3 so I was feeling slightly safer. We waited a while for the others to get ahead then started to make our way down the river. We made our way down slowly catching as many eddies as we could. When we came to the first grade three rapid we eddyed out at the top and Greg told us what to expect. I found it not to hard and started to get more confident in my ability. We stoped again soon after at a rapid where you could either boof a pour over or go left of it. Since Alice and I didn't have boof we went to the left. Alice went first and was going well until the nose of her boat got caught in an eddy and she got spun around backwards. She managed to correct herself but hit a rock and tipped over. She ended up wet exiting but was quickly save by Rata. I was still in the eddy and was now not feeling so confident however I got down the rapid fine and was really happy that I hit my line. At our next stop there was a rock in the middle that you could go right of or tight left as there was hidden rocks on the far left side. Greg went down first followed by Jono bur I don't know if Jono knew about the rocks on far left as he went this way and got tipped over. He ended up wet exiting when he couldn't roll. At this point I was starting to get worried. Chris saying that I was the only one who hadn't rolled but that he had a beer for a booty skull for me if I did, did not help either. Somehow though I got down the rest of the river without incident although on the last rapid before the swing bridge I did start to tip and was shitting myself as I could see a rock out of the corner of my eye that would not be fun to hit upside down. I put in a sweep and got upright just in time making my run of the river clean with no tipping over which I was pretty stoaked about as everyone else could tell by the amount and speed which I was talking as we made our way down easy water to the take out.
Date: 29/07/12
Group members: Ru, Jake, Alice and Rebecca
Trip location: Crooked river
River flow: low
River grade: 2
Duration of activity: 2 hours
Weather conditions: Fine
Incidents/injuries: Ru rolled in a hole and hit his head.
Narration: After running around all morning trying to find a crew to go kayaking with, we arrived at the crooked around 11:30am. Jake and Ru wanted to go do the grade 3 section first so Alice, Rebecca and I ran safety for them. They didn't need it though as everything went well and they made it down the section fine. We joined them in the water soon after and made our way down a low crooked. I was feeling way more confident in my ability after doing the Arahua and went down the river fine. At the buffer wall before the gorge Ru tipped over and missed his roll a few times and when he did come up he had no deck on. After emptying out we carried on with only one more incident where Ru rolled again in a small hole and hit his head. He was fine though and rolled up easily. It was a good trip and I liked how we got to practice some river rescue skills with setting up safety for the grade 3 section.
Date:05/08/12
Trip location: Arnold
Group members: Alice, Julia, Rebecca
River grade: 2
River flow :Medium
Duration of activity: 2 hours
Weather conditions: Overcast
Incidents/injuries: Julia wet exited
Narrative: We started off the run by each doing a roll in the eddy and were all happy when everyone got up. Alice and I played on waves and I had my first go playing on buffer rock. Straight after buffer rock Julia rolled coming into an eddy and wet exited. We were all right on her and it was an easy clean up. At the take out Alice biked the shuttle while the rest of us practiced throw bagging.
 |
| Finally getting on buffer rock |
Date: 16/08/12
Trip location: The Arnold
Group members: Tim and Rebecca
River flow: very low (40 cumecs)
River grade: 2
Duration of activity: 2 ½ hours
Weather conditions: Overcast
Incidents/injuries: Wet exit
Narrative: We started off our run with some rolls which where poor on Rebecca's and my part. Tim however rolled up so well he went over again straight away which lead to a wet exit. This was right by the shore so no rescue was required.
Date:17/8/12
Trip location: Crooked River
Group members: Tim, rebecca
River grade: 2
River flow: low
Duration of activity: 4 hours
Weather conditions: Overcast
incidents/injuries: Tim wet exited
Narrative: It was hoildays and not many people were around so Tim, Bex and I went to the crooked with just us. It was going well until we reached buffer wall just before the gorge as tim tipped here when he got caught in an eddy. I was right behind him and saw him try to set up for a roll bu the wall was blocking him. Just as I got to him he pulled his tab. The eddy wasn't too deep and he was able to stand up in it and hold his boat. Bex was in an eddy on the otherside at the bottom of the rapid and I fairied out to go talk to here about how to get Tim across. We made a plan for him to throw his paddle at us as the river wasn't that wide. Then Bex went to an eddy below the one Tim was in and Tim let go of his boat. Bex bumped it into the big eddy at the bottom of the rapid and Tim got up onto the rocks on the side then walked down to a place where it was easier to swim across as I followed him in my boat. Because he was already wet he decided to do the gorge jump and like everyone before him took one look and froze. It took a while but eventually he jumped and landed safely in the water. Tim almost tipped again a little further when he hit a rock and got stuck on it. I was yelling at him to lean into it as I paddled towards him. Just as he started to tip I got to him and he was able to t-rescue off me. From there we made our way to the take out where Bex ran the shuttle.
Date: 19/08/12
Trip location: Arnold
Group members: Tim and Rebecca
River grade: 2
River flow: low
Duration of activity: 3 hours
Weather conditions: Overcast and a little rain
Incidents/injuries: None
Narrative: On this Arnold trip Tim wanted to do the seal launch so I pushed him off it. His deck imploded when he hit the water but he rolled himself up and got the shore fine where he emptied his boat before we headed off. We only had one car so I had to run the shuttle.
Date: 20/08/12
Trip location: Taipo
Group members: Tui, Alice, tim and Rebecca
River grade: 2+
River flow: Low
Duration of activity: 4 hours
Weather conditions: Fine
Incidents/injuries: Tim wet exited three times
Narrative: As we were driving up the four wheel track Tui's boat came loose but didn't fall as we had tied the end loops. We fixed it up then carried on right to the river as we were in Alice's four wheel drive truck. We went down the river carefully as we couldn't quite remember the run. Tim tipped over three times and wet exited but the clean up was quick and efficient. We did the Gisborne wave from eddy to eddy but Tui who was in front kept picking hard eddies so a lot of concentration was required. When we got to the big rapid we got out and scouted it. Alice and Bex went down first while Tui, Tim and I ran safety and took photos. Next it was our turn with me going down first. I was stoaked when I made it down as last time I did the Taipo with tech I took a different shoot. We gave Tui the go signal and she made it down fine. Tim was last and was doing well until he tipped over at the end of the rapid and wet exited. We barged his boat into the eddy pretty quickly and had a quick clean up. When we got to the takeout, Alice and Tui ran it while Bex, Tim and I stayed behind. While they were gone I decided to work on my fire lighting skills and got a fire going pretty quickly. Tui and Alice arrived back to find us sitting around my roaring fire.
Date: 02/09/12
Trip location: Arnold
Group members: Dylan, Jono, Ru and Rebecca
River grade: 2
River flow: medium to high
Duration of activity: 3 hours
Weather conditions: Overcast
Incidents/injuries: Ru forgot his spray deck
Narrative: It was our first time in a whitewater boat after sea kayak so it felt really weird. Ru forgot his spray deck and had to keep emptying out his boat. Right at the end he rolled and his boat became a submarine.
Date: 8/9/12
Trip location: Crooked River
Group members: Rebecca, Tui, Jono, Logan, Dan and Watson
River flow: High
River grade: 2+
Duration of activity: 2 hours
Weather conditions: Rain
Incidents/injuries: I wet exited once and Bex did twice.
Narrative: Bex and I were a bit nervous about how high the river would be after all of the rain we had but decided to paddle because of the srtong crew with us. Tim was also going to paddle but at the put in we found out he didn't have a PFD or splash top so he stayed with the cars. The river was the highest I had ever seen it and I was peaking a bit at how pushy the water was. At one point right at the end of the boulder garden I almost got tipped over but braced in time somehow and got through the rapid all good. Right before the gorge I got tipped over by the buffer and wet exited as did Bex in the same spot. She also wet exited just after when Dan told her to roll and she couldn't get it. He tried to save her but was just out of reach and after a long time under water she pulled her tab. That was the last incident of the trip as the rest went smoothly.
Date: 16/9/2012
Trip location: Arahua and Hokitika pool
Group members: Greg, Phil, Rebecca, Hugo, Tim, Alice, Chris E, Lenny, Ru, Zenzi and Michael
River flow:
River grade: 2
Duration of activity: 1 ½ hours rolling at the pool. 2 hours on the Arahua.
Weather conditions: fine then raining.
incidents/injuries: I wet exited
Learning points:
Narrative: Greg and Phil had booked the Hoki pool for rolling in the morning which was much nicer than the river as it was heated. I got my roll back and even got my left hand roll. At one point Dave Ritchie put his child on the back of my boat peaking about hitting it with my paddle or not rolling up however I got up fine. Michael, Zenzi's boyfriend, provided entertainment when he tried to roll with having any idea how to. Greg, Phil, Tim, Rebecca, Alice, Chris and I then went to the Arahua from red shed for a river run.
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