Ski

Broken river

Date: 8th - 9th october
Location: Broken river
Weather: snow to clear, light winds
Group: Ben Soiltt, Liam Heyward, Jeromy Hunt, Eric van den Broeke.
Duration: 2 days
Incidents: lost snow board

Spent this weekend patrolling again sunday was the only day i really did anything we had 181 people up so i spent most of the day teaching people to use the rope tows. In the afternoon me and a few mates hit a big kicker that they had built that morning. i decided to try some Cork 720s again my first atempt i under rotated and landed on my face. my second attempt i went faster and spun quicker and landed on my feet but i needed a slight bit more rotation and my final hit i threw it to flippy and it was more like a rodeo 540.

Thanks to Ben Solitt for the photos.

The kicker from the top

My second Cork 720 attempt of the day.

Kayak

Date: 7th October
Location: Toaroaha
Weather: Rain
Group: Greg Lee and me
Grade: 3/3+
Duration: 2 hours
Key Learning: not getting spun out by small Eddy's
Incidents: got pinned on a rock with my head just out of the water for a few seconds then got pushed under and came free

An awesome day paddling on the Toaroha after planning to do it for ages i finally went and did it with Greg it was a 40 min walk in and just over an hour paddle out i was quite nervous getting in my boat but after the first rapid i was feeling better and had heaps of fun i decided to run the grade 3+ rapid my first attempt i got spun out on an eddy line just above the drop and had to get out and walk back up but second attempt went well but my boof stroke wasn't very good but i got away with it but next time i will try and do it better. on one of the last rapids i ended up hitting a rock just after it and got pinned for a few seconds with my head up and slowly started sinking once my head went under i came free and rolled up. it was an awesome day an i will defiantly be going back up there.
Thanks to Greg Lee for the photos.

 Getting ready.

 Dropping the grade 3+

The 3+

Kayak

Date: 4th October
Location: Arahura River
Weather: Fine
Group: Greg Lee, Gretchen Dalzell, Jono Kerr and two Aoraki Polytech students
Grade: 3
Key Learning: 'S' turns, entering and exiting eddys, boat scouting
Incidents: 1 swim from Jono

An awesome trip it was my first walk in Jono and Gretchen left their boats at the bridge i left mine at the start of the grade 3 and the other 3 walked up to cesspit gorge it was the first big rapid i have seen and it looked insane and i am really keen to improve and run this section next year. the first three ran the gorge with me running safety on the side with a throw bag but it all went well i then ran down and jumped in my boat and joined them it had been a long time since i had been in a boat so it took a bit of getting used to but after the first rapid i was back to where i was and loved it. every thing went smoothly and we then picked up Jono and Gretchen and carried on to the take out. unfortunately Jono tipped over in a shallow rapid and couldn't roll back up and swam but he was back in his boat quickly.
Thanks to Jono Kerr for taking these photos

 The first swing bridge.

 Greg and the Aoraki Students in Cesspit gorge.

 The four of us on the grade 3.

 The view from the bridge.

Me dropping into a hole