QUEENSTOWN RAFTING
A week in the life of a grade 5 guide, New Zealand
As we sat on the bank of the Landsborough River we
looked over a large, well-known rapid called “Hell Fire.
The river was high and we had just scouted the rapid
to find the line we wanted to take. We had just finished discussing about 1 or 2 swimmers (people falling
out of the boat in the rapid) with Gabby (the Safety
Kayaker who stays out in front of the rafts in case there
are swimmers) and Jarrod (the gear boat rafter who
follows the kayaker down the rapids).
We discussed the paddle boat flipping, which is the
boat I’m in charge of, and the possibility of the boat
filled with paying clients, flipping. This is the true challenge of Grade 5 Rafting. There is always a discussion
of “What if?” and if it’s not taken serious it can be fatal.
To give you a better understanding, the paddle boat
runs at the back so the safety is there. If anyone was
to fall in during the ride through “Hell Fire”, they would
go a fair bit faster down the river than the raft, as there
is less resistance.
As a trip leader I always take the clients in the paddle
boat, we do an extensive amount of training and talking about rafting techniques before leaving on the river. A safety talk is followed by a paddle talk, including
techniques for swimming aggressively and positively,
throw bagging, T-grip rescues, forward paddling, over
left/right, and the crowd favourite “Get Down” (which
is when you get down in the bottom of the raft as low
as you can and hold on very tight).
Once we left the bank, and got back into the rafts, re-joining the clients, we talked about where we
wanted to run, and what to do if Plan A turned to Plan B. This was followed by a quick practice of
paddle commands before setting off.
Pulling into the current above ‘Hell Fire’, I have to admit I was confident in getting on the right line
(which is being in the easier part of the river, in between the hard bits). The clients had been paddling well; they were quick responding to my commands and had some urgency. They were a
good high water crew. We paddled hard into the top of ‘Hell Fire’ and through the maze of big
waves and rocks before we got down into the next big one called “Brimstone”.
It was a great run - water was exploding over the raft, and the clients faces buried in the walls of
water, and bearing grins from ear to ear, knowing they’d made it! They loved it, they deserved it.
They had paddled hard and listened well.
Remembering they are novices that have never been rafting before, they were very humbled in
regards to the power of the water. When trying to explain what it is like when you get ‘smashed’ in
the raft by a big wave, it comes across like a big ocean wave dumping on you; or 25 buckets of icy
cold water hitting you all at once.
This water is melted glacier snow, from the stunning mountains that surround us. It’s the greatest feeling as a tour leader to show people a real time, and you will know it’s real when the waters hits you,
and you definitely know when you’ve experienced the raft almost flipping for the first time.
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