tales from the geordie adventurer harry black, and his adventures in NZ...
"I arrived in auckland with no kit with me so had to buy everything. When you walk to buy everything, the sales guys dream come true they think your one of them 'all the kit full of shit' types.
Newly fixed up with the embarrasingly new kit I then headed south and bumped into a few other boaters. I hooked up with them to run the kaituna then the wairoa. We did a few others runs in the north island and then on to the main business, south island..
bruce the heli pilot was the point of contact, I ended up being asked along with ted (another brit) to be safety boaters for a raft company, as they're not allowed to run class 5 without kayaks. Getting paid to run class 5 sounded like a good gig.
I haven't ever done saftey boating before, and nore had ted, so we aere ideally qualified ;-). After a quick briefing, off we went on the Whotoroa, a class 4 river we had'nt done on the west coast!! we are supposed to stay in front of the raft, putting on safety at different points down the river, but we then found that the rafts are fast as they dont eddy hop like kayaks naturally do on this kind of stuff. So there was no time even to scout and not even any thought of safety for the safety boater - shit scary!
Then the next day it was onto the perth river, a classic heli access class 5 trip. This time we told the guides that we needed to slow down as we don't know the river!
This river had just got its raft licence and is still being sussed by the raft guides. The last big drop is called 'corner pocket' (not commercally rafted). It looked like death, an 18m wide river going through a 3 ft gap folding over into a big violent recirculating eddy fed hole, all of which is heavely under cut!!! A walk at this level for the kayaks, but the rafts thought they'd give it a go. They flipped on entry and did the down time. One guy was gone for seventeen seconds ropes and rescue, then on to the second raft the whole raft was gone for a second the guide had his helmet ripped from his head but the carnage was'nt so bad.
Well were up and running with version 2. Its been a big effort and all thanks are to Shorty really. Without him this would not exist. We have both stepped away from it this last week and just let it fend for itself. How it will evelove is as unknown now as when we started. I guess personally its also been a chance to step away and reflect about what the point of it is. I guess it something to do. Keeps me off the street corners (or more realistically, watching telly). I hope though that it does, in its own little way, provide some positives to the sport. River level info remains at the heart of what were about and the rest of the media stuff is about generating some community thing. I enjoy other websites about kayaking, and find them, at times, informative and inspirational. I hope that we succeed in that mission occasionally. I hope the new interactivity of this site will help draw readers into being participants, but whatever will be will be...
I've tried, and pretty much failed, to drum up intrest for other folks to take on a rainchasers style site for other areas, but its been an interesting quest and has served to underline that my original reason for getting involved was that what I saw on the web did not represent what I saw was reality on the ground (or the water). Obviously my take on it is no more valid than anyone else's, and that is why the more contributors we have, the better this site will become. The more websites there are about UK boating the better for us all. I dont feel the UK websites 'compete' in any way. The idea of competition amongst non commercial, community based sites is redundant, they all contribute to the plurality of sites that reflect the plurality of different boaters. I do though think that there is room for more. More information, more voices, more plurality, more regions speaking out.
I cant help coming back to the theme of the previous post though. Why no real time river level data? Why are there limited ambitions amongst too many younger boaters? Why are the official body still fighting a battle about credibility with the most active boaters? Why cant we draw down significant funding for recreational boating? Why do we always have to be seen to stick together when in reality we are as diverse as the rest of the population? Why cant we 'grow up' as a sport?
I suspect it all goes back to the fact that kayaking is a pseudo crime.
Today I met a guy on the fells who organised this local long distance fell race, the lakeland 100. They expect 100 or so competitiors for the first year, what i'd expect a good river event here would get. They pull in a serious budget from proper companies marketing departments. What would happen to a kayak event here? it would have to be done illegitimately on zero budget.
Yet if we change the legal climate and make it possible to put on something for boaters. A leven extreme race for example. 100's of entries - yep. Telegenic? yeah. Good marketing opportunity? yeah. Get the councils, tourist and youth board people on board? Possible. Suddenly we would be able to go to leven anglers with an offer to restock the river and get some environmental work done. I think in that climate, frictions between river users may well be lubricated quite amicably.
Anyway, I digress. I guess i just feel like the best way i can chip away at these issues is through rainchasers. I know others do their thing in other ways as well, and thats all to the good. I repeat that if we can do anything to help anyone else set up and run their own (not for profit) website then we are up for it and we have no angles other than what's up here.
the next entry will be about somat good and have pictures - promise
I just walked by the gunpowder gorge section of the kent. On a hot sunny lunch time the rapis looked clean, the water sparkly and deep, with clear lines down all the drops without scraping, grade 2, and perfect for beginners. Some nice little ediies to make, gentle stoppers for learning skills, and deep enough to throw short boats around. Thge flowers were out anmd the wild garlic going large on the perfume.
Number of fisherfolk? None. Disturbance level to human or animal if there were a group on there today? None.
Why do we put up with this situation? In any other country it would be easy to imagine local clubs there teaching young people skills, developing both the sport and giving them something positive to do. Some environmental cleaning and awareness work in the process? There should be no conflict with fisherfolk. the 'problems' with access (spawning beds, busy fishing times, some privacy for residents) are easily solved once us boaters are granted the opportunity to be responsible . We should take on board lessons from history. Up the revolution :-)! Dumb laws should be changed.
I spent the Easter Hols up on the Isle of Mull, it’s not exactly well known for its white water but we’d taken up a couple of boats anyway mainly for messing around on the local loch. So rain and snow melt combined with Rich’s almost annoying optimism and enthusiasm meant we were driving up alongside some river hidden by trees, we’ed randomly picked off the map (still no idea what it was called). Getting on bouncy grade 2/3 was ok but not great with wind and sleet lashing across the river, then things came good. The wind dropped, sleet stopped, sun came out and the river narrowed from15 to 2 meters wide with a sweet horizon line. A quick scout then 500 meters of fantastic water followed, as the river dropped into a gorge about 4 meters deep, which was like a log flume, tight turns, waves bouncing off the wall, lots of holes to boof over, the kind of thing that makes you laugh all the way down. A couple of hundred meters down steam and a sweet s-bend followed, with a cheeky little hole waiting to hand out a spanking if messed things up.
Packing up at the van in warm spring sun shine with broad smiles, having done a beautiful river, we had not expected to do and had been picked at random was really good. Guidebooks can be inspiring, and kinda let you know what you’re going to get, but doing stuff like this just seems to make me smile more! Time for some more exploring…… still we did have some 'access' issues with the locals ;-)!
And from ned, the River Traligill…..
no piccys sorry, but i was staying up north of Ullapool a while back and I noticed this on the map. I was the only one with a boat so did some soloing of the classics like the Inver and Kirkaig, but was tempted into a bit of exploring. A walk up showed that it had potential at least in the lower section so I put plastic to shoulder and went into the hills.
The lower section was fairly unexciting run at grade 3 with one mini gorge which was maybe worth a 4. the track gave a clear site that further upstream was a steep gorge where a tributary joined the main stream. above was a bit bony so I hopped on there. I expected to walk back down thew gorge section, especially as I was alone, but to my surprise all of the gorge section was a go. An easy boof off a 2m lip before it narrowed and accelerated down a series of slabs. The final slab was steep and had a rock sticking in one side but it looked good. 2 or three more falls of up to 3 metres, but all fairly uncomplicated, led me out and away down the lower section.
Two days later there was more water so I was keen to go back up, hopeful that the run would be really good quality and that the upper section may be on. The upper section has some big falls and bizarre rock formations. the whole river resurfaces from a cave sysaetm and I put on there, it all went apart from one bigger fall which I skipped. It may have gone under different circumstances but it was not sensible to really even look. I picked down some class 4 water before joing up with the now familiar gorge section. In high water it was just a blast, 5 falls back to back all, which run come quickly. A good value walk in burn entertaing but not too pushy.
So i got to get my act into gear and think of something else to do now. Its always a bit of blow. I think I could suffer from SAD, but in reverse. Its always good to go against a trend!
The hills are calling a bit at the mo. that was a good theme in the longer evenings last year.
I also gotta new dog to introduce,
so he'll be joining the 'man 'n beast in the elements' line up.
With a sense of impending summer, ive been trying to squeeze out the
last drops of water before were reliant on those occasional summer
rainbursts that flash the becks up.
Heres some piccys of the duddon. Well to the low side of good, but a grand day out in the sunshine and dafodills! A nice social paddle with the three hard bits, birks, troutal and wallowbarrow all causing much deliberation. Dave (green boat in pics) picked off all of them on his first day on the river and was duly awarded the duddon's 'triple crown'! We drifted on down the middle section as well to maximise the sunshine and enjoyed a good few hours cruising on the river. Thanks to stu for the pictures as i left my camera in the car!
the leven and kent have topped up the boating - now im ready for more...
Ive been off playboating for a while now, preferring to spend time in the jefe as it means I feel confident when I jump on creeks. I found the specialist nature of really short bouncy boats unrewarding, as my main aims in paddling lay elsewhere. Ive been wondering whether this has been the right policy, so went for a fresh approach and asked for ideas. DBP spoke and im paddling a trickster to test it out!
I used to have a trickster when they first came round, so knew what to expect. The length slows cartwheels down a lot, flatwater stuff is possible, but rewards good technique and the aggressive edges on this boat mean that its at home on waves not in holes. The boat did have forward speed compared to a modern playboat but the slicy ends mean that constant weight adjustment forward and back are needed to avoid digging the nose in. The hull was really loose, and on a better wave it coiuld have really strutted its stuff as it has real speed down the wave. Blunts require speed rather than bounce, which is difficult to adapt to, but it did feel more rewarding to be able to 'surf' and move around the wave.
I wanted rolling practice and i got it! It had the raised 'power seat' in it and it was hard work. Actually quite frustrating on the kent as I kept losing it in boils! On organised water (the leven) it's easier to manage though. The best bit was the feeling that moves just looked better with the longer ends, and nobody expects an old boat to pull any moves these days!
Downsides? Even for this class of boat, Its not the right model as i'd want something more forgiving. Secondly it still felt pretty alien from the jefe, which was my criticism of the butt bouncers.
So here's my conclusion. Playboating isnt about the boat, its a state of mind. That can be done anywhere an any boat. Im thinking 'playboating' rather than 'playboat' and suddenly its dawning on me again what the appeal is. In the old pyranha phrase - 'play the river'.
But this transferability of skills thing is still an issue. So I need to move closer to the jefe again. That means i'll just aim to do different moves. Ithink its the learning that payboating accelerates, it doesnt really matter what. I learnt to carwheel in an rpm, so that should be possible, screw ups, blasting retendos, eddy line cartwheels etc. Realistically i'll use it most on the leven so would like to run the bridge and weir with confidence as well. I'd love one of the new LL remix's but will have to go retro. Blade?
Well actually the old jefe with weld is holding up perfectly well, but it was time for a change. Changing boats periodically feels good for my boating, it makes me think about what im doing and that can only be a positive. The problem has been that the Jefe has been a fine boat, does everything asked with pretty much no vices. Now they do it in different sizes as well though, and have reworked the smaller and larger versions.
I've gone large. I'm bucking a trend on this one, but have never felt the standard jefe has been too big, and have been squirted and flipped several times! The idea of a bit more stability, a bit more autoboof, a bit more punch, and the ability to carry kit for multidays all appeals, for both foreign trips and microcreeking. Basically a bit more Jefe!
The original jefe had two issues, one was the pretty flat back deck and te other those aggresive rails on the tail which made the boat rail, then stall, when on aggressive breakouts. Both the Chico and the Grande have resolved this (hopefully) by rounding the back deck and radically softening those flares on the back quarter.
So I took the grande beast out for its first run out and was pleased with the decision. Just a real good level on the kent, but it felt lively and responsive. Autoboof was definately present. I dropped over the weir by the footbridge without a stroke and it didnt bat an eyelid. I put it in the most compromised positions possible on the kent and it was solid. Situations that ive flipped the jefe in as well. drop over force falls, down the barrel at gunpowder, centre line on the L shaped weir, and the hit boof into the curler in the ledge above that were all good - and at a good level. Basically it gave confidence to go on and explore what it was capable of.
Downsides? The ouftiting looks great, but is a pain in the arse (similar to all the major manufacturers now). The default setting for the seat is obviously too high. I dont want extra leverage in a creek boat, I want solidity and to be able to trust it. I want flexibility of outfitting not instant comfort in the shop. The knowledge that this outfitting cost more, and is worse than, the previous version is irritating as a consumer. 'Super double x system 32 outfitting' should be an optional extra, not standard. Next time gimme a basic seat and lump of foam. If you want to bundle something else in then, i'll have some spray on contact adhesive and a surform plane please. Gripe over. I'll adapt it to suit me and the boat itself feels good, with the other outfitting sound.
BTW seeing as flames are passe now, i've embraced 'vomit yellow' as the colour of choice !
Now i need to decide on the playboat to compliment the beast, but we'll come back to that one.
Boating is a good cure for a hangover. I wasnt realy feeling it when driving up to aira beck and was kind of expecting just to mince around looking and pulling some logs out. When I got there I was met with a large dose of enthusiasm to get changed and get on. most unseemly in my condition! After fumbling round to get some order in my head which is required to get changed, we duly arrived at the middle put in. The river was low, but I figured that would be good to learn this run as its new to me, and it would take some of the stress out of it! Turns out to be a grand little run, which feels long as it has quite a lot of inspection and a sprinkling of portaging. The rewards are some nice mid grade rapids and falls with two or three sections which will up the adrenaline levels. All garnished with some nice scenery and even a bit of sun (check out the 'spraybow' at the start of the vid, and it looked better when you were there!). Head sorted.
Embedded video hits rainchasers! What will they think of next?
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