kayak ( sdl )

11 September went for another run down the styks.
When walking up we thought the river was lower but once we got to the put in we could see that it was slightly higher. Also a lot colder as snow had fallen the night before and was now melting in the sun.
We had 10 of us all up. 6 of us up on at the grade four and the others put on were they felt comfortable.
the day went mostly well it was a bit hard with so many people on a small river but it was managed well.
we had a few mishaps, I was first, I tried to eddy out because the guys in front had eddied out earlier than planed and i didn't want to solo down the next bit. Ended up rolling on a shallow bit trying to get an eddy that wasn't really there. I got scraped along for a bit, found a rock to push off and while i did that Phil was there pulling me over. The next was Dan, he got his line right but the water didn't do what he thought it would and he got pushed ot a bad spot. it was hard to see from where i was but he got kind of pined but was able to get out of his boat easily. Rata had Phil on tethered swimmer and he jumped across to help and Greg was able to jump across rocks and swim to assist also. Grace had a swim, cleaned up quick. Astraea rolled right beside me. from when she went over it only took me 3 to 4 seconds to grab here for a barrel roll but she had swam already. she said she got caught on a rock and freaked. she was fine for the next rapid or too but then caught a rock going in to a eddy and it over whelmed her and she walked the last 300 m.
For me it was another good as day kayaking, bit scary rolling in the shallow but I'm getting more comfortable under the water. I might have some footage on here at a latter date.

kayak ( sdl )

6th and 7th of September did two of by far the most technical ( styks) and the biggest ( high toaroha).
on the 6th did the styks with greg dan and phil went up to the grade 4. phill greg and martijn did on rapid further 4+ - 5. astro and sara got in at the grade 3.
the styks medium and it was cloudy with bit of rain here and there. including the walk in it took us all day. about 4 hours on the river with alot of scouting. dan went over when going off a boof but roled back up in time to make the next one. i rolled playing on a wave on the grade 3. ( haven't had a combat roll for a wile )
it was the best run i had done so far, technical and pushy.
for the toaroha it was greg, sara, phill, harvy and me.Deffently high, weather was the same, bit more rain. We walked up around the coner from the normal put in ( just out of the bush ). sara got in one rapid below us. we ran the first rapid, Greg and me then Phill and Harvy. me and greg didnt realy know the line. and we showed the line to the others when at the bottum... Phil didnt quite go right enough ( see video below ). Sara ran two rapids but got out below the rapid by the track and she walked out. We then ran the next rapid truck and trailer ( big waves and hols here and there ). Harvy got a working almost swam but got washed and rolled up, then went over again and back up again. He was prity shaken and decided to walk out as well.
Greg, Phil and i carried on and had a mad run here is the video made by me...

This is the video of the styks river made by Martijn Van Den Broeke...

kayak ( sdl)

on the 23 of the august martijn, ben and I decided it was time to step up and run cesspit gorge on the Arahura river.
We left grey at around 9 and were up scouting the rapid at 11 30.
the river was real low and we thought we might miss out on cave drop and the  buffer. but once we were at the top of the rapid it looked like the buffer was good to go. so we doped in and the video will show what went down. i didn't find the run too scary apart from bens mishap. I think this was because it wasn't pushy like it normally is. we plan on going back as soon as the rain drops again here in Greymouth.

video made by Martijn Van Den Broeke.

kayak ( sdl )

toaroha on the 9/9
it was mid flow
weather was cold rain with some hail.
another mad run. really good at this flow. the main drop was the best that i have run it at. the curler was powerful. no problems just good times.

rock climbing ( sdl instruction )

on the 15th to the 19th of August i had the opportunity to help out with my old high school CSC on their year 13 rock camp in Dunedin.
so i took the week of tech and went down to Dunedin. the camp went from Wednesday till Saturday. the class was made up of 15 year 13 students and 7 exchange students. they had done some indoor climbing through school before the camp but no real rock.
the first day was raining so we went to some of the local schools who have indoor climbing walls. as good made is easy to sharpen up their belay skills.
the next three days were spent down at long beach. the head instructor Dave set up all of the climbs on sunny side but got me to lead and set up top rope on some of the climbs and the caves.
my role was just to help out so i didn't do any instruction in front of the whole group but did alot of teaching in smaller groups of 3 or 4. We slowly progress the student to climb grade 14 with good technique. this ment they got an Achieved. 3 students were able to get a Merit witch was grade 18 or 19. One student tried real hard to do a grade 20 to get an excellence but was unable.
though i didn't do much group instructing i do think i improved on working with clients and i was working on being an instructor more than a mate going climbing, as i feel with kids i'm sometimes too easy on them and loose there respect. i think i did good with this particular group.
in the end it was good experience and i even got in some cool as climbs.

raft kayak ( sdl )

rafting and kayaking in Murch for three days.

day one drizzled all day. we did a warm up river for Astraea. middle Mataks. i biked the shuttle. no problems apart from Astraea had a freak-out but we got through it.

day two rafted down O sullies and milked it. everyone had a guide and all improved allot. I guided whale creek and jet boat. was supper stoked with my line on jet boat. In the afternoon had a look at Maruia but didn't run it.

day three did double run on Granite. first run we all had a go apart from Granite rapid. Harvey ran first and did all good. then we worked the raft back up and I had a go guiding. I had a sweet line. Then on the second run we kayaked it. Just Harvey Dan and I went Astraea ran shuttle. We went down truck and trailer. Harvey then me then Dan. Harvey misted his line a little and got worked at the bottom of the buffer and the again in the next hole, came out fine. I got my line perfect soooo stoked with it. Dan got his line but nose dived in to the eddy behind the buffer rock and got spat back out, got a bit of a working then rolled and got in to the eddy. We were all peeking. perfect level for us. great trip. Then the boys were feeling brave so we went to do Maruia ( not me though) got there and Dan did it. Harvey said he was going to but bailed. still what a day. 

not over yet. I'm off to go climbing at the local climbing gym in Greymouth. 

life is good!

kayak (sdl)

On the 16 June i was in Wanaka with Jess bailey champion slalom paddler. i went out training with her last time I was down too but this time her dad came out and ran the training. it was just a flat water training with gates but it was still a great importunity to train with New Zealands best and get so helpful pointers on my paddling. Jess has her own bog as well check it out at jessicabaileykayakslalomathlete.blogspot.com