A mellow day, with 6 paddlers on the water, manageable rapids and an unexpected swim.
Ian, Andy (Long-Gone), Squash, Troy, Dave and I decided that the Shavas Gorge was probably the best bet on a medium level day - and it would give us a chance to regain some confidence after last weekend's fiasco.
Ian had the lads practising their eddies and ferries before we got to any serious water. The gorge itself went off without a hitch, except that Squash broke his trusty paddle while surfing and had to resort to a split (we left his in a tree for later collection).
We all had a look at Quadratic Kermit, and all decided to walk around. Squash commented that if the good lord had wanted us to run that rapid he wouldn't have put such an easy portage around it.
Next up was Andy's and, after carefully explaining the line, I set off. Unfortunately the headcam battery was flat, so I was unable to capture the scene that followed. I eddied out about halfway down and watched in fascination. Andy missed the line, going right, and proceeded to run a section on his head. Dave also missed the line, going left, and dropped over a ledge, got pinned for a while, but finished back on line for the last part. Squash ran the first drop backwards, but recovered for a clean run. Troy completely screwed it up, and took a swim in the pool halfway down the rapid, with the resultant swim over the waterfall and into the gaping jaws of a hole below. I raced off to see about a rescue for Troy, negotiated several diagonals, waves and holes, fluffed my line and dropped over the last waterfall, into the hole where Troy, his boat and his paddle were all being recycled. Luckily I managed to punch through, leaving Troy to fight it out with his equipment, flushing after another few cycles. Ian took it all in his stride and cruised the rapid from side to side to see what it was all about.
Troy's swim was short and injury free, so we soon set off again. Four-FIVE-six was pretty easy, and Blind Faith was a smooth ride, with all the lads running it successfully - as shown in this video clip.
The final rapid of the day was Termies, and as things had proven pretty uneventful I decided to run it without scouting. Halfway down, at about the time I saw the stopper wave, I realised that we'd never run this rapid at this water level, or even close to it. I negotiated two diagonals, managed to avoid being pushed over the ledge on the right and and then put the hammer down to make sure I punched through the stopper. Squash and Andy took the same line, and both made it look easy, although for a moment Squash looked like he was going to drift back into the hole. Troy and Dave both ramped over the ledge on the right, which turned out to be a very good line.
Ian had climbed out to watch all this, and decided that he would drop into the hole for a play. The video below speaks volumes, and you can see how well that worked for him.
Apologies for the shaky video: I really didn't expect him to swim and was making sure the other chaps were setting up safety.
Our day ended with the customary riverside braai, in a spectacular spot!
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