Feeling like I hadn’t paddled for months and looking out at a sunny Friday from the office, I thought a paddle down the Otaki on Sunday would be a good idea. A quick e mail to Alan and some paddle partners were found!
The group meet at the red café, which is increasingly becoming the norm for Otaki paddles. We had Peter, Brian, Ben, Paul and Matthew all keen to go. Matthew is a recent arrival from Sweden and came with Peter and Ben. Matthew had not paddled in NZ and was looking forward to his first NZ
paddle.
The day was overcast with a little drizzle and it had rained quite heavy the night before, so the flow was reasonable, for summer, but still a little bony on the first rapid where Matthew and Paul created a wee log jam against a rock. They wriggled free and we were away again.
The next couple of rapids went without incidence and then we stopped where the two rivers merge to practice ferry gliding. Matthew was doing well until an eddy line tipped his boat. The first swim was on. I followed Matthew and Peter and Ben went for his boat. Somehow as these things always do, he and his boat ended up on opposite sides of the river. Just as I was thinking towing the boat across at this particular point was going to be difficult, Peter and Ben obviously didn’t quite have it, so off it went again. A bit of a chase and Peter and I caught it around the corner at the bottom of the next rapid.
Peter towed it ashore and Matthew has a bit of a swim / wade to catch up with us and plus his initial swim I thought I had better check if he was cold. Matthew assured us compared to Sweden the water was fine.
It had been twelve months since Paul had been on a river, so he was a little concerned that his skill levels may have departed him, but not too much further on after a wee drop, over he went and his roll worked perfectly, although he will remember coming up facing the wrong way in the rapid, but hey no swimming involved. Roll worked great.
Matthew had another short swim or two, but then we were on the calmer lower section. I had a couple of rolls on the trip and Peter demonstrated his smooth rolling technique that none of us felt inclined to try and imitate. In the end it seemed Ben was the only one that had dry hair, even with all the suggestions that he needed the rolling practice!
The rain ceased since after we went onto the river and began again just as we got off, between that, the river and company another very pleasant enjoyable paddle.
And again Sunday 25th
On Sunday 25th Jan Alan, Anne, Mike, Nick, Paula, Brian and Ben did both sections of the Otaki at rather low level. The highlight of the trip (apart from the swims by Anne, Mike and Ben) was jumping into the river off the big rock at Shark’s Tooth. And of course the pre-kayak coffee at the Red Café at Te Horo, well worth the drive!
