Kayak - Styx

Styx

Date:06/09/2012
Location: Styx River
Weather: Rain, overcast

Group: Greg Lee, Phil Palzer, Dan Morgan, Jacob Scharma, Sara Dwyer, Astraea Miller and Myself.

Grade: 4
Duration: 3 hours
Flow: High

After paddling all year on just a few rivers. We decided to go for a walk up the Styx after a quick 1 and a half hour walk we found ourself at the top of some nice looking class 4 drops. keen to get into it Greg Phil and I geared up and ran the top drop which was a lead in of a few holes and a large boof to finish it off. everything went well, everyone had good lines. Met up with Dan and Jake just downstream. We set off finding plenty of clean drops and had the time of our lives running this new river. further down we met up with Sara and Astraea and carried on down to the take out. Today was a sick day and cant wait for more rain.
Thanks to Greg Lee for the Photos.

  Me on the First Drop

Phil Styling his Boof

Kayak - Arahura

Arahura, Cesspool Gorge

Date: 23/08/2012
Location: Arahura River
Weather: Clear
Group: Ben Searle, Jacob Schrama and myself
Grade: 4
Duration: 2 hours
Flow: Very low
Incidents: Ben had a swim out of a sticky hole and had to swim the rest of the gorge

Decided to take Ben and Jake into the Cesspool gorge for the first time. After looking at the lines to make sure they were passable with the little water, we launched in. cave drop was a no go so we portaged and ran from there. The first section where the buffer is went smoothly with every one hitting there line perfect. The second part with the sticky hole went not so well. Ben entered the rapid slightly to far right and rolled on a rock entering the hole up side down with no speed. He was sucked back where he was worked for a good 40 seconds before swimming out. we took our time paddling down and left the boat for now. once through the rest of the grade four we managed to catch the boat and get Ben back in.