Three Petrians have a great day out, with kayaking, swimming and a riverside braai.
It was Ken's turn to delay everyone with a hang-over induced oversleep. After a slightly late start, Max, Taps and Ryan thoroughly enjoyed the day on the Umwindsi and Nyagui, starting with a paddle down the grade 2 Umwindsi, and capped off with some body surfing at the Nyagui Wave.
Dave and Tom ably assisted me in guiding the novices down the Umwindsi, with it's impressive rock slides and gentle rapids. The lads acquitted themselves very well, with 1 swim by Taps, who also ran an entire rapid backwards. Ryan had a bit more of a challenge as the Fluid Vaya sit-on-top isn't really designed for white water.
At the confluence the youngsters rejoined the vehicles, leaving Tom, Dave and I to paddle the long flat section to Mukore. There are still a few bits of very impressive riparian forest, so it wasn't all dull. The Mukore section was thrilling as usual, and I almost ended up in the big hole halfway down. Z-Bend takes on a whole new character at lower levels, but the lads had no trouble there. The wave was as good as ever, and lots of surfing was enjoyed by all.
The lads jumped in to body surf the wave, and we all ended up giving it a go. Nick H probably managed the longest surf, with Ryan a close second and yours truly not doing much of body surf at all. I think I'll stick to the kayak.
Ken had a hot meal prepared and gang made light work of the excellent steaks, boerie, gravy and sadza, before the long drive home on a steadily decaying road.
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