5 & 6 Mar 11 - 0.3m over the Mukore Weir
A spectacular evening under the stars, with Rob K discovering his profoundly philosophical side. The Mukore wave was in fine form and the novices made excellent progress.
We arrived at the river around 4pm on Saturday. The water level was perfect. Troy D and I introduced Zia T and Rob K to the basics in a large eddy, and Rob caught on to the hipsnap pretty quickly. I set about showing the novices how not to run the first section, but they ignored me and Rob had an early swim. Troy whisked him to safety and I managed to jam his boat on a rock. Rob decided to swim the narrow channel to his boat, which turned out to be a bad idea - he had a very long and tiring swim right down the guts of the next rapid.
We spent a while working on ferry glides and eddy hopping before Troy and I headed back to the wave for an extended session of surfing.
Ken and Mike had prepared a fine camp by then and Troy set about producing a gourmet meal of roast beef with all the trimmings, including salad (Zia) and a fine red wine (Rob). After dinner the discussion strayed onto topics which should probably normally be avoided in polite circles, much to the amusement of Ken and Mike. Later we wandered down to the still warm granite boulders and lay on our backs admiring the spectacular display of stars, to the music of the river. Rob came up with some profound statements, but unfortunately we can't remember what they were.
A late night with several beers didn't deter us from an early start. After tea and snacks Troy and I were soon on the wave again. Troy entertained us with an early swim, right over the big drop below the wave. We recovered his boat and set off to meet the others below Vespids to run the last easy section to the weir. Arriving at Vespids early we ran the left line, and Troy took another swim.
Rob and his son Nick attempted to body-board to a small wave, but that failed, so we spent another half hour on kayaking basics before setting off again. Rob did extremely well, managing to stay in his boat and waiting for several rescues without swimming, even managing a partial handroll to grab some air. He had one swim, only because no-one was near enough for an eskimo rescue.
Zia also did very well, managing to pick very good lines and staying out of trouble, except for 1 swim.
Ken and Nick collected us at the weir and we headed back to camp for an egg, bacon and boerie breakfast. During breakfast young Nick noticed that one of Rob's tyres was leaking air. The real problem was that Rob didn't have the key for the anti-theft wheel-nuts - so we couldn't change the wheel. Fortunately he had a tubeless puncture repair kit, so disaster was averted.
After his exertions Rob was ready for a beer and a snooze, while Troy and I walked up to the Mukore pump-house weir to run the "Killing Fields". The holes were quite grabby, but we stayed out of trouble, until Troy got tail-looped on the "Z Rapid" and had his third swim for the day. He self-rescued and we spent about an hour surfing and playing the wave, before packing up for the long drive home.
Sadly, the riparian forest is being chopped down at an alarming rate, mostly for firewood to cure tobacco. The local farmer Zurugo says he can't afford coal, and he's hoping that by chopping down the trees near his maize fields he can reduce the crop damage caused by monkeys! I hope the discussion I had with him about spreading his wood-harvesting over a wider area and not destroying the homes of his ancestral spirits, or the future of his children, might make a difference. But he really needs to be shown and alternative way to make an income, and needs to see the value of preserving the natural forests and animals. What responsibility do tobacco companies and smokers bear?
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