Shavas Gorge & Novice Trip

5 Feb 12 - Medium water, 1.04m at the Old Road Bridge

Troy arrived his usual (punctual) 1 hour late (partly my fault as I'd forgotten to collect the boats) so the two of us completed a lightning fast trip down the gorge section of the Shava's, before meeting the novices for a run between the bridges.

The gorge is starting to take on quite a bit of "character" with several waves and holes developing with the extra 11cm of water.  The third hole on Quadratic (Q3) looked particularly nasty, reminding us why we have so far not run this rapid.  Troy had some interesting moments on Andy's drop: first he headed left which meant he lost me and the line.  Making it back onto the line he flipped and rolled halfway down, and then took the far right option for the final drop, with no real problems.

The kicker at four-FIVE-six is starting to develop, but we both ran it without incident.  I wedged myself up against a rock at Blind Faith in order to video Troy, and then I ran the rapid backwards - unintentionally of course.  Troy had a good look at Terminal Slide, watching me run it, after which he gave it a go, managing to completely screw up the line.  This resulted in him going over partially, but fortunately he has a strong metal paddle - click here to watch the video.

Ken had a fire on the go, so after cooking lunch we wedged the sadza pot between the seats and shared a fine meal of sadza, braai mealies and steak, while racing to meet the novices at the main road bridge. We arrived late and in the middle of a very heavy downpour.  Undeterred we set about preparing for a trip as there was no lightning in evidence.

Of course, as soon as we were on he water the rain stopped...  The group pressed on down the river without too much delay, maintaining a steady pace to stay well ahead of a thunderstorm.

Garth D, Jan L, Margie G and David C acquitted themselves extremely well and ran everything, with only the occasional swim.  All tried their hands at surfing, and Troy captured a video of the group running Island Rapid.

Ken decided it was high time he gave it a go, much to his own and the crowd's delight.  Click here for the video.