Raft

Taipoutini Polytechnic Raft Week 1

Location         Lake Brunner and Arnold River
Group             COE-1                           
Instructor        Corrin, Nathan Topp/Reefton, Sally
Flow               65 –  50 Cumecs            
Grade              2        
Date                23/2/16 - 26/2/16       
Learning          Pry stroke, Sweep stroke, Draw stroke, Ferrying, Catching Eddies, S turns, Power and Pry,  Learning knots (truckers hitch & clove hitch) Throw Bagging drills.

Day 1

It’s our first day of raft and I’m excited as ever to get on the lake and see what rafting is all about. We don up our gear and chuck on the client PFD’s. Reefton gives us a safety brief and then shows us the sweep, pry and draw stroke. He makes it look effortless.  He hands over the guiding paddle and it’s now our turn to see what we can do. It's my turn.

Firstly I sit myself high at the back of my raft, then position my feet. I hear the call of “sweep”. The boat is turning and doing 360s. This is good but I’m lacking in technique and I’m punching forward rather than out and around. Not a bad first effort though. Time for a pry. Man oh man does this feel awkward. I’m trying to twist my body and with the paddle at the back of the boat, push off it as I bring my left arm in. I’m prying but my pry stroke needs a lot of work.

I then practice my draw strokes with a reasonable result. Reefton sets me a challenge to raft over to a yellow boy. I’m going well and am pretty happy with my progress and before you know it we’re there. Information is coming thick and fast and it’s not about to slow down.  It’s time to flip a raft and learn how to handle this situation. Reefton runs us through it, we flip the raft and finish on the lake. We are to now raft down the Arnold River. All of a sudden we’re there and running this thing for real.  We practise ferrying across the river and using eddy’s to help us turn the raft. All of a sudden its my turn and I’m feeling the pressure. I miss a heap of Eddies and Reefton's trying to verbalise certain features in the river and moves he wants me to make. 
I’m not getting him and haven’t spent much time looking at rivers before so I’m really struggling. Things seem to be going from bad to worse and Reefton now wants me to flip the raft.  I flip the raft, get on top of it and realise that I don’t know what to do once I’m up here. Reefton’s yelling at me to instruct my crew to go to the ends of the raft so I can flip the raft up the right way up. I eventually do this but fail to flip the raft up. This is a big knock of confidence and a bad way to end a day. But I still have the drive to learn and know with hard work I can turn things back around.

Day 2

Once again we are rafting down the Arnold River after a theoretical morning hydrology lesson.  I watch my pairs intently and try and pick up as much information as I can. When it’s my chance to take the guide paddle I’m as nerves as anything. This time I catch more Eddies than yesterday but I still miss more than I catch.  When I’m in the flat Reefton gets me to practise my pry’s and sweep strokes. Reefton’s mentioning features in the water and moves he wants other members of the team to make and I’m still not seeing them. He reinsures me that eventually ill pick these skills up and that spurs me on. I make some improvement and the more I practise them the better I get. I’ve had a better day but still not great. Reefton shows us how you can move the raft yourself by power and prying. He also shows us how you can do a draw stroke to help your crew get into an eddy if you crew doesn’t have the power to back paddle you in.

Day 3

It’s another Arnold run and the instructors decide it’s time to split up the teams that we have rafted in for the past couple of days. I find myself with the instructor Corrin with a completely new group all bar Isaac. As we start to raft down the river I start to see more and more of the river features and are starting to get a better appreciation of how much is going on in the river.  I really dial into all that Corrin is saying and start to get the fundamentals and the way Corrin is teaching us to enter and use eddies. Today is a really chilled day for me and one I needed. I don’t get a chance on the guide paddle but this has almost been a good thing because I’ve picked up so much just watching and listening without the added pressure of having to make the moves myself.

Day 4

It’s the last day of the week and our last time rafting with the tutors down the Arnold. I didn’t get much time yesterday with the guide paddle so Corrin gives me an extended amount of time today. Today seems different, I find that I’m catching most eddies and are looking way better out there. Corrin works again on my pry’s and sweeps strokes and I’m starting to improve my technique every stroke I make. I’m stoked that I’m with Corrin today I find the way he communicates and explains things makes heaps of sense to me. Rachel sets me a good challenge I’m to paddle across the river and catch an eddy behind a rock, pry the raft round then paddle into the next eddy and secure the raft behind a rock. I set off and get my crew to back the raft back into the Eddy. I do this then Pry the raft round, so far so good now I’m facing side on, I set myself and call back paddle to paddle into the Eddy but  I’ve left my charge to late and I end up lower in the Eddy than I wanted to be. I wasn’t too far away and I reckon if I did it again I might get it. So all in all I’ve had a much better day. The last part of the day sees us practising throw bag drills. This is so much fun, we are to swim down the river and get someone to throw a throw bag out to us. As a swimmer we grab the rope and put it behind our shoulder and let the throw bagger pull us in.

Taipoutini Polytechnic Raft Week 2

Location          Buller river, Lower matakitaki

Group             COE-1              
Instructor        Corrin, Nathan Topp, Sally and Tim

Grade             3 - 4                   
Flow                 37 Cumecs
Date               1/3/16 - 4/3/16 

Learning

Pry stroke, Sweep stroke, Ferrying, Draw stroke, Catching Eddies, S turns, Power and Pry,  Learning knots(truckers hitch, clove hitch’s, Italian Hitch’s, Double Fisherman’s, Sheet knot, alpine butterfly, ) River rescues and safety, Victors Pull, 10 Boys scout, Wrapped rafts techniques, Paddling the gear raft, 
Summary of week

Day 1
We arrive at the lower Matakitaki put in just after midday. Today’s focus is all about river rescue and safety. The instructors have set up three stages to practise on and in our groups we will alternate eventually having a turn at each one. The first stage I arrive at is a throw bagging station with instructor Sally. The idea here is to rescue a swimmer by throwing a throw bag out to them and pulling them in. I get in position on a rock and as Tom swims down I yell at him getting his attention. I throw a line out to him and it’s successful. My first reaction is to pull him in but I need to pull and get myself as close as I can to the river bank to make a better river rescue. I don’t do this that well so I make a note to myself that with the next throw I need to move quicker. This next throw Sally gets me to do is a recoiled throw. I coil up my throw bag get in position and wait again for Tom to float down. Again I get his attention and throw the recoiled throw bag right to him he holds on and immediately I start pulling and hustling into the river bank. The rescue is more successful but is defiantly something that is worth practising. Tom and I alternate and now I’m the swimmer.  As I float down Tom gets my attention and throws me the rope. I quickly learn to hold the rope over the correct shoulder.  I swim and am rescued one more time before moving onto the next stage.

As a team we group up and meet with Corrin, the first thing he wants us to do is to have a swimming race over to a rock on the other side of the river. Ready and go, I blast out in front and take a more direct route , I’m getting close and are really pushing hard to make the rock. I’m right over to it now but the fast running water hits the rock and bounces me out with it. I've lost that one and gather at the rock. Corrin teaches us how to combat roll. Make a good size Jump with your hands directly out above you and landing on your side. The drill is to combat roll off a rock and out to a swimmer with a rope attached to the back of you. First up I’m on the throw bag. Tom floats downstream as the victim and Jazz combat dives out to Tom. She grabs him and pulled him in close. Now it’s on me to pull them in. I hull them in as fast as I can to get them into an eddy. The downstream flow is now catching them and threatening to take me with them. Just before this can happen I use a rock to pull the rope down onto so its taking all the weight. The first rescue is a success. Now it’s time to reverse the rolls and I’m the one doing the combat dive.  Jazz floats downstream, I size her up and time my jump, I then grab onto her rolling her up so her heads out of the water. I bring her in close and wait for Tom to pull me in. We alternate again and I take the swim. Holly successfully gets to me and I’m pulled to safety. Lastly we each attach a rope to our rescue PFD’s, we swim out one by one and then unclip to experience the feeling of being held by the water flow. Corrin then rounds us up and gets us to swim back over to the other side of the river. That’s enough of that drill and it’s now time to learn how to assist someone when walking in the river. Corrin gets me to walk out as far into the river as I can and to stop there. He then positions himself above me and uses a throw rope so I can hold onto it and gain more balance to get further into the river.  He then goes onto show us another way of doing this. He explains that you can get a person on each side of the river and get them to both pull on a rope.  You do this by swimming a rope over to the other side of the river. You need to make sure you start your rope well above stream because if the rope gets tension it will take you downstream with it. We do this and move on to the last station of the day with Reefton.



Firstly we learn about walking in the river controlled. We use our raft paddles to assist us ourselves and walk into the river as far as we can get. We then walk out to a tree branch that is just underwater. Reefton gets us to crowd around it tightly to get it out of the water. This replicates a foot entrapped situation and by blocking enough water you can allow a person to get there head out of water so that they can breathe, this gives you time to attempt a rescue. The day is passing by quick so we need to move on hastily. Reefton is about to lead us down the rivers. He instructors and demonstrates what to do then it’s our turn to give it whirl. Our first task is to swim across the river and into an Eddy almost rolling into it. I charge out swimming hard over to the other side, as I hit the eddy I spin and make it in. All right lets hit the next challenge, this time we are to swim over to a rock grab it and pull ourselves up on to it. Tom goes first but misses the rock getting taken by fast moving water pushing right. I’m up, I start my swim and position myself where I think I need to be, the water then catches me with speed and pushes me into the rock, I grab a hold and hull myself on to the rock. The day just keeps getting better and better and I love it. While on the rock Reefton explains and show us a shallow water entry this is where you push away off the rock and fling your legs out in front of you so that you land flat in the water on your back.  Everyone is nerves and one by one we take the plunge. I’m up and off the rock I go, SLAP!!! I’m flat on my back only it hurt too much to have done it right. I can see Reefton having a good laugh. “You jumped to high man” he says. I cracking up and am not fazed at all. We climb back on the boulder and are now commando dive off it just above a boulder under the water. Then we are to float downstream and swim into an eddy.

 This time I go first I commando dive out, but not far enough out so I skim the rock and start swimming over to the eddy, Reefton standing there with a throw bag but I don’t need it.   He then hands me the throw bag and gets me to be safety.  Everyone is particularly nerves about this one and especially Holly who swam and smashed into a rock earlier in the day. She finally works up the courage to jump out but smashes herself again. She’s almost in the eddy but she’s not going to make it, so I fire the throw bag to her and when she grabs it Istart dragging her in. Lat but not least we are to swim a good chunk off river and manoeuvre around hazards. Reefton leads the charge and we all follow him. Only he’s missed where he wanted to go so we now hit a few rocks on our way through. It’s all good laughs and a reminder that the river never stops so you must always be on you’re A game. Alright this is last drill Reefton has for us. We set up a strainer in the middle of the river. Jazz has swum out to a log and has tied a red rubber tuber on one’s side and Reefron’s tied it off on the other side. The idea here is to feel what it would be like swimming and being pushed under a strainer and then learn how to push you up and over it to avoid being sucked under it. So away I go again floating downstream straight into the strainer. I feel the pressure of the River pushing me down, I hold myself there for a few seconds to get the feel and once I let go with ease the River pushes me under and spits me out.  Wasting no time I run up the river bank, jump back into the river and size up the strainer. I swim hard into it and Boom I’m there. I push my legs over it and swim to the closes river bank. I give this one more shot and move onto the last challenge of the day. It’s a raft race between two rafts to see who can cross the other side of the river, manoeuvre up stream with an injured person on it and then put it away on the trailer. Ready and go and we are off. Tom crosses the other side of the River with no time wasted at all. There we drop Olivia off who looks for a potential route downstream that we can take the raft up. We then cross the river one more time and on our return she reports to us that it’s a no go downstream. So up stream we go with Sally still in the raft manoeuvring around rock, swift running water and sharp rocks. We all work together, some pulling the raft with a rope, other using the paddles to push the raft out and away from rocks. Some parts of the River are harder to get around the other. We get stuck on one particular part of the river but when someone points out there ideas about shifting Sally around in the raft to move her weight from under, behind and in front of rocks were in business again. We all hustle and get right into it and before you know it we’ve got our raft back upstream, charged up the side of the river bank and got our raft on the trailer. What a day!!   

Day 2
Granity section

It’s another beautiful morning and to top it off we start the day with a cooked breakfast. We spend the morning looking at what to do if you ever wrap a raft. We learn different techniques for freeing a raft such as a weight shift, the 10 boy scouts pull and the victors pull. We also practise rope techniques by pulling the raft straight up or by pulling the raft up left or up right depending on where the raft is caught. We practise running a rope out to a tree, wrapping it around it and using a truckers knot to pull the raft in. We also practise using a mechanical vantage point by attaching a carabiner and a second rope onto the first rope tied to a tree and by pulling on the second rope.  We then move onto foot entrapment training. Corrin shows us a hard hitting and scary video that he has of a lady that gets her foot entrapped in a river and how he managed the situation. It shows us the seriousness and the dangers of rivers and the importance of getting a rope out to someone quickly. It’s now midday and it’s time to get out on the river so we gear up, tie the rafts on the trailer and away we go. Once there instructor Sally sets us a challenge we are to work out the flow of the river. You can do this if you multiply the length, the height and the speed of the river. Once we’ve made an educated guess at the river flow we get the rafts down to the river and start making our down it. The Buller is a beautiful jade green colour surrounded in native bush and there’s a real peace about it. Holly starts the day off by guiding the first section of river. Awhile has passed so we park the rafts up and watch Reefton and Corrin who demonstrate how to get a rope out to both sides of the river. Corrin firstly attaches a throw rope with his carabiner to the raft and paddles to the other side. Meanwhile Reefton is manging the rope allowing a small amount of rope out at a time but not allowing the rope to run out. Once Corrin is across the river he secures his raft and starts charging up the river bank simulating a foot entrapment scenario. Reefton and Corrin constantly communicate and continually managing their rope. It’s impressive how quick they work together and get the rope out in position. We’re given the opportunity to give this a go and it becomes apparent very quickly how difficult it is to do and how easy both the tutors made it look.  We get there in the end but there’s without doubt a huge amount of improvement and work required to really nail this rescue. From here Sally get me on the guide paddle my first assignment for the day is to line us up on a wave train and hit some rapids. I’m charge on and can feel the raft being thrown around by the waves. The raft is quite on the angle I want it to be on so I lean out the back of the raft to pry it round, but as I do this at the end of the wave train is a pour over which flicks the back of the raft up and as this happens I fall out. I pause for a moment trying to work out what just happen then get the call to swim and pull myself back into the raft. This provides a bit of comedy for the crew and you can only but laugh.

 Back on the horse again I move down stream attempting to catch eddies and make eddy moves. I really struggle to read the river when Sally points out the lines she wants me to run and what she wants me to do. But I know I just practise on the raft and time looking and reading rivers. So I make the most of my opportunity with the guide paddle.  From here I lead us down until we get to a grade 3 to 4 rapid. We tie the raft off to a rock on the side of the river bank and scout the rapid. Everyone is nervous and every time I take a look at the rapid it seems to keep getting bigger and faster. Sally’s going to run this one so we’re in safe hands. “Paddle hard and listen for tor the get down call” she tells us. Everyone is alert and ready as ever. We make the first drop and get the call to paddle hard. With adrenaline flying we put in several forward strokes. Hold on is the call, we make the second move and not long after that the cry goes out to paddle hard.  We make the move, hit our line and eddy out at the bottom and this is only half the day gone. Makayla leads us down the next section to where we are to do some throw bagging drills. I’m keen and ready on a throw bag and when I see two people miss there shot at Gat I’m on it. I fire a throw bag in and hit him then with intensity start hauling him in. My first rescue has been successful, now to make a second with a recoiled rope. This time Tom is coming down stream once again a couple of people miss there mark so again I hurtle the rope out to him. Once again it’s on target and I hustle to get him in. After that I make several swims and give whoever wants to a chance to rescue me. My first swim sees a couple of throw baggers miss the mark. Corrin sees this and throws a throw bag to Justin who is last in line. Justin fires a rope out to me this time it gets to me and I’m pulled in. I’ve had another awesome day the highlight being running up and down the riverbank and swimming down the river practising throw bagging.  That wraps up the day on the river and sets a bit of anticipation for tomorrows multi day raft trip.

Day 3

O'sullivans section to Earthquake section

It’s another beautiful day the sun is cranking and we all ready to start our multiday raft trip. We’ve had a week’s rafting on the Arnold and a few days of learning on the Buller so now it’s time to put it all into practise. The put in is steep and is off a gnarly bank. We tie the rafts together and slowly lower them down to get them in place. Once in place we load the gear raft up, put a bit of extra air into them and away we go heading toward the O’sullivan and earth quake river sections. Today I’m on the unguided missile with no tutor and with just three people on it. Tom starts the day off on the guide paddle by giving us a safety briefing, making a few moves on the river and leads us down our first significant rapid. We stop to scout the rapid and Tom picks a line to run. As we hit the fast moving and boisterous rapid Tom hits his line beautifully, we punch through and out at the bottom of the rapid and into an eddy.  Tom paddles for a while longer then passes the guide paddle to Ryan. We continue making our way down river practising all that we had learnt before. Several kilometres down the river we stop to scout our next rapid. Ryan is absolutely pumped to run it and can see a clear line. We charge down the rapid hitting every wave an again we eddy out at the bottom.  I have a turn now on the guide paddle and lead us down a chilled flat water section that meanders for some time. I use the power and pry stroke to get the raft moving but quickly learn that there are times when you need your crew to paddle because you can’t do it all yourself. I get the crew to paddle, get some speed up and start making progress. The river picks up and I guide the raft around rocks, catch a few eddies and sweep around a fast moving left hand bend in the river.  I’ve had my time now and pass the guide paddle to Justin who has just joined our crew. He leads us down another significant rapid and down into the earth quack section of the river. We do a couple of flip drills and eventually get out of our rafts just before Ariki falls. 

  It’s not a huge water fall but the water fall is recircing so bad that is almost certain death if you paddle it. We decide to portage around it and clamber around the rocky cliffs to set up the rope for the portage. We make the portage reload the rafts and prepare for a cliff jump to get down to them. Corrin instructs us to swim downstream to where Sally is waiting in a raft.  One by one we take the plunge and get taken down stream by the quick moving water.  My turns up and bombs away I go. Splash!! I pierce the water and surface a few seconds later, already the current has caught me and is taking me down stream. This is such a buzz and I even get the opportunity to feel what it is like when the water forces you under. I relax for a few second until I feel myself pop up again, I take a breath and continue floating down stream and swim hard to an eddy where Sally is waiting. Once everyone has floated down we pile into our raft and make our way down stream to our camp site. Our camp site not far but Reefton gives me the opportunity of flip the raft. We flip the raft and I’m up on it. I instruct my crew and flip the raft back up the right way up. As everyone is getting into the raft we hit a rock wall which sends a few members of the crew swimming off downstream.  They’re picked up by the other rafts and everyone is rescued. From here I catch one more eddy and that ends the day out on the water. We park up and set up camp.

Day 4

Earthquake section

I wake to the call of an alarm. It’s our last day out in the water with the tutors so I’m keen to get the show on the road especially because I’m the team leader for today.  I chug back some breakfast and start organising camp pack up and the rafts. By the time we’re all packed up and ready to go we’re about 15 minutes late but not a bad job considering.  We break into teams and starting heading down the river. I hear an opening for someone to have a go on the gear raft so I take it with two hands. At first I really struggled to get the movements, turns and to keep the raft straight. But after a good chunk of time paddling it I start getting it and before you know it I get the gear raft humming. I really enjoy the challenge of being on your own and having to keep the raft moving so you don’t get behind. I start cranking my back strokes and push past everyone. I then start cranking forward strokes and end up getting so far in front of everyone that I have to eddy out to let everyone catch up.  I’m real fired up about rowing the gear raft and am stoked with my effort. I give someone else the opportunity to get on the gear raft and join Corrin’s raft.

We paddle down the river and are shown a couple of spot where people have died in. One situation was where someone on a commercial raft trip got sucked off their raft and drowned on a recirculating wave and the other being a TPP student who got caught on a strainer running a line that they were instructed not to go. It’s sad and scary but is a real reality in this sport.  From here we head down our last major rapid which Ryan leads us down. He scouts it first then travels down through the rapid. Sadly he misses his line and we miss all the fun waves to charge over. At the bottom of the rapid we get in a swirling rapid. The task Corrin sets for Ryan is to paddle out of the eddy and to make a turn. It’s really fast moving water and each time we paddle out we don’t quite have the right angle so the river spits us back into the swirling eddy.  Finally we make it out and head off down river. It’s not far to go now and Rachel is given the guide paddle to lead us out. There’s a nasty head wind that trying to push the raft back up the river which makes for a slow paddle out. We paddle hard and eventually get to the take out.

SELF DIRECTED LEARNING

SDL Raft
Location          Upper Grey River 2 Day Multiday                 
Date                19th/20th of April 2016
Group              Simon, Gat, Ryan O’Conner, Olivia, Kate     
Flow                Visual Gauge River Low Flow
Grade               2-3                                                                  
Weather           Stable High presure system
Learning

Day 1

Upper grey raft trip. We're about to embark on our first self directed raft journey. With all the hustle and bustle of planning and with all our packing done the night before we wake with excitement and anticipation. We meet at the shed and before you know it we are on the road. The drive sees us heading towards Reefton firstly dropping a car at Ikamatua then heading towards springs junction. Once at the Blue grey river the more experienced rafters reminding us off the seriousness of the river and gives us a briefing which sets the scene. We jump into our rafts and start making our way down the river. The river starts off braided in an open valley. The river levels are low making for a slow and challenging journey. It's early on in the trip and I get my first chance on the guide paddle. I'm up for the challenge and I start ampping everyone up. Making my way down river I maneuver around rocks and large boulders using back, forward, pry and sweep strokes. It's almost impossible at this flow not to get the raft stuck and this happens more times than I can remember. It's an awesome and fun experience having to make so many moves and it's just as fun having to constantly make weight shifts to get the raft moving again. We're making slow progress, surrounded in native bush and isolation. On some of the flat section on the river the water is so clear you can see trout swimming around. This is a great place to jump off and go for a swim and its here that we break for lunch. After lunch we continue down the river alternating the guide paddle so everyone gets a turn. We travel until we have a hour or so left of light then look to find a place to camp. At camp me and Simon build a massive fire while the other set up camp and cook tea.

Day 2

Were up early and on a mission. Me and Simon are up first and and see that the fire we had going from last night is simmering away. I get it cranking while Simon gets the hot water on. The scene is set, the fire is roaring, the hot water is done and the eggs are poached. We sit around the fire in bliss for a brief moment. Now for the hard part, putting on the wet wet-suit. Once our wet suits are on its a quick pack up and we are on the water. The first section this morning is a gentle grade 2 cruise. The river is braided but as time goes on the river slowly but surely narrows until eventual we find ourselves in the Gentle Annie gorge. The gorge is defiantly a step up and is a real highlight of the trip. We break for lunch to regain energy. We even manage to get a few bombs off a large boulder before we start travelling down the river again. I guide us down a couple of tough rapids before I hand over to Ryan O'Connor to guide us down the biggest rapid of the day, Simon leads his raft down first. He styles the first few intro moves and hes now about to enter the crux of the rapid. The water narrows and pushes his raft left. As he comes up to the large boulder like nothing I've seen before his team puts in a massive forward stroke and boofs over the rock. Hes down the rapid now and its our turn to give it a whirl. Ryan guides us down easily making the intro moves we head towards the same boulder Simon's crew jumped over only we have hit a rock and have been spun around backwards. We ricochet off the bolder and try and back puddle around the next large boulder we're heading towards. It's to late and we hit it. I'm waiting for the over right call but it doesn't come. The raft start flipping and I can feel i'm shoulder deep in water.
Some how and I don't know how the raft balances out and topples back over. With blood pumping we back paddle our way out and punch into an eddy. What a feeling, everyone's fizzing and ready for more action. We continue or journey and conquer more and more of the river. The river starts to flatten out and we spot an unreal cliff jump. We clamber up the rocks and jump off into the deep green gorged water. What better place could we be right now. Time is ticking away and we still have distance to cover so with that in mind we get back on the river. We come out of gentle Annie gorge and make our way down the braided open valley. Were all stuffed and paddling hard so we don't get the raft caught on rocks. By the time we get off the river the sun is coming down. Its been an epic adventure and for now its the highlight of my year. Me and Simon are both buzzing that we pulled off such a massive trip and got so much guiding time.  Roll on the next raft trip           

SDL Raft
Location     Arnold River                                           
Date           8/5/16
Group         Jono, Silas, Jake                                      
Flow           70 cumecs
Grade          2                                                              
Weather      Fine
Learning
Pry stroke, Sweep stroke, Draw stroke, Ferrying, Catching Eddies, S turns, Power and Pry

SDL Raft            

Location     Mairuia River                                       
Date           16/8/16 - 17/8/16                  

Group         Simon, Gat, Jacob                               
Flow           Visual low flow        
Grade          2-3                                                        
Weather       Fine, High presure system    

Learning
Pry stroke, Sweep stroke, Draw stroke, Ferrying, Catching Eddies, S turns, Power and Pry

Day 1
Its a relax start to the morning and we don't get away until mid morning. Its a stunning day, the waters are crystal clear and the mountains are covered in a dash of snow. We split into teams and head down the river. Jake jumps in the guide seat first and makes as many moves as he can. Hes done well but its time to hand the guide paddle over. Gat follows suit punching into and exiting eddies. The run is an easy grade two so far. We make some distance down the river and then its my turn on the guide paddle. Simon sets me moves to make and I make as many as I can. To close out the day on the river Simon guides us down before camp. The raft is getting a bit flat from a small air leak through one of the bungs. We're not sure if the camp site has any fire wood so along the way we stop off on the side of a river bank and load the rafts up with wood. The temperature is really plummeting and everyone's keen to set up camp. We're almost at camp and there is just one more fun rapid to go. Simon points the nose of the raft into a hole, hes nailed it perfectly.  Because the raft is so flat it tacos. and Jake gets thrown out of the raft but manages to hold on and haul himself back in. Simon is also flung ford against the sharp and harden branches. Everyone is ok but our raft is now to flat to continue. Lucky for us camp is just around the corner. We set up camp and start a raging fire. Although its a warm winters night  the fire lifts everyone's spirits. Every one gathers around the fire reminiscing about the day and gaze at the abundance of stars. Its been a great day with perfect conditions and we still have the fun grade 3 rapids to run tomorrow. So bring it on.

Day 2  
Its a slow start to the morning with everyone in cruise mode. But once we are on the water it is another story. I get into the guides position straight away knowing there's a fun grade 3 rapid bellow. I park up in an eddy and have a scout. I'm going to run what I think looks like the funnest line which is track toward the two big looking holes and then charge into a rock and slide off it to one side. I watch the other two rafts as they come down. Ryan nails a beautiful line and really looks the part. Its my turn now and i'm heading straight for the holes. The raft charges through the hole and we hit the rock and peel off to the right. I nailed the line and everyone now is pumped up. I continue guiding utilizing the river as best as I can. As I come down the river I can see everyone has eddied out. Just above them is a fun looking hole so I get my crew to paddle into the hole. The hole is a sticky one and we paddle around it subbing the raft into it. It's heaps of fun and everyone gets right into it, I'm really pleased so far with how my guiding is going and knowing we have a short paddle out today I pass the guide paddle onto Jake. Jake takes us down the river and maneuvers us around. We're at the next big rapid now so we all get out to scout it. Jake sees his line and take the reins. As we enter the rapid he calls for a forward paddle. We paddle forward but Jake his miss read the water and we end up bouncing and spinning on rocks. We spin around onto a hole and Jake for the second time finds himself out of the raft and swimming back to it. Simon responds quickly, pulls Jake back into the raft and guides the rest of the rapid. What a laugh and buzz. How awesome was that. We take turns guiding down the rest of the river and take every opportunity we get. By the end of the day we are all had it. Its been a great day of rafting and it has been another great trip. The scenery was unreal, condition were perfect and we found ourselves in the wilderness. What more could you want?