Ruahine White Water Club
C/o Matt Salmons
RD9 Ngaio Rd
Palmerston North
[email protected]
www.rwwc.co.nz
September - October
A gorgeous shot of club paddlers on Max's Drop, Upper Rangitikei.
Hi everybody, and welcome to the first edition of Korero.
With my exams coming up, I haven't been able to do anything major with the layout, but
change is on its way for the Christmas Edition.
So welcome everyone, and enjoy.
Oh, and Craig Peters is looking to sell a Bliss-Stick SCUD, only been used twice, and for
$400.
Waipakihi 9th September
With a raft and a bunch of new faces this was always going to be an interesting trip. We all met at
Phil's house to head on up to the Waipakihi for an early spring trip. The weather was pretty
indecisive, with big downpours in Palmy, but strangely good weather as we got into the Central
Plateau. The kayakers for the trip were Phil, Greg, Cam, Jess, Jan, and George. On the raft with me
were Kevin, Abbey Watt, Dane and Cole Hawkins. With the mandatory stop at Waiouru,
unfortunately not at the usual bakery, we made good time to the put in. This little run is a nice
grade 2+ to 3 which makes it a great lead in to rivers like Tongariro in the region. We managed to
get three 4WD cars for this trip, which proved handy a few times on the day. The access road to the
Waipakihi is most definitely not flat.
The day was fairly nice for the time of year. And typical for the Plateau, it changed every five
minutes. We had sun, cloud, rain, and thankfully not much wind. The raft is a bit more exposed
than a kayak. The level was a bit higher than normal, so the raft didn't scrape over everything, and
it was bouncy enough to keep the punters happy. It was the biggest river I'd rafted yet, so I was a
little nervous about guiding it with promises to worried parents earlier in the week. I didn't need to
worry, the closest anyone got to falling out was me!
When we got to Watertower Rapid, which is the biggest on the river, the bit of extra volume
became readily apparent. That, coupled with the gradient of the rapid, meant it was filled with
waves and holes. Fortunately the raft handles those rather well... Mostly. We bounced through the
boulder garden entry, and the main section of the rapid became visible. I had the other occupants
paddling till the last moment before the last part. This last piece of the rapid had a couple of drops
into holes, where at lower flows rocks would be, just before the final wave train. I was guiding
from the back of the boat, and just after I told everyone else to hold on, the first half of the raft
dropped over the edge. Now this was all going rather well, everyone was safe, we had the speed to
slid through the rest of the rapid. Just as I was congratulating myself though, the back half of the
raft flicked up to match the front. My seat right on the back went from precarious to nonexistent. I
was sent flying towards the front of the raft and just managed to catch a rope behind me. Whew...
After a bit of a regroup and a bail out (the raft isn't self-bailing), we continued on down. Only three
rapids before the end however, disaster struck. The kayakers went down the rapid first, and from
the top we could see someone had swum. Greg had rolled in the shallow rapid, and took some
nasty hits from the rock. Once he got out of his boat, the old Eskimo Topo found its way under a
rock. After some unsuccessful rescue attempts, we had to keep going. Unfortunately Greg's phone
was in the boat, but it was in a drybag so we had to hope for the best. Greg joined the awesome raft
crew for the final rapids.
The Eskimo Topo once it finally got retrieved.
The final farewell to the Waipakihi is a real highlight of the trip. You get to paddle under a huge
outflow pipe, with water shooting out of it. The current from the pipe makes it nearly impossible to
get across the other side of the dam. In the raft we had to duck a little to get under it.
Now we made good time down, despite the loss of a boat. So we decided to check out the manmade wave that was built for us by the energy companies. So we made our way to National Park,
and from there to the mythical playspot. The access road this time didn't descend into a gorge, but it
had massive potholes filled with water, which once again made us pretty pleased with the cars we
brought. The road follows a canal with some impressive, but nasty man-made waterfalls. Finally
however we made it to the wave. It was pretty large, but unfortunately quite shallow, as Cam found
out. Then after Cam, Phil and George had their fun, we made our way home. Fortunately Abbey
made it home safe and sound.
Matt Salmons
Whakapapanui 5 September
On Sunday 5th August I picked up Ross Lynch at Raetihi and we travelled up to National park and
down to the metal car park just past the Chateau turn off. Greg, Jess, Jan, Phil and Mark Eames
soon arrived with their five kayaks cunningly connected to the top of Greg’s Subaru.
Whilst this run is graded 2+ to 3 the put in is definitely a grade above that.
The hole in the undergrowth (where you start the descent) can be found over the fence in the right
hand corner of the paddock at the end of the row of trees. The first part requires roping the boats
down approximately ten meters then a short carry to the next steep slope where it’s easier just to let
the kayaks slide. Another ten meters gets you to the last steep section above the river where again a
rope is handy to get to river level.
It’s worth the hassle though because the Whakapanui Gorge is a special place. Green and sheltered,
the surrounding bush and shrubs hang over the edge of the cliffs only broken occasionally by
streams cascading as waterfalls into the river.
On down to the Whakapapa and here the Whakapapaiti joins to double the flow. The river widens
and the cliffs fall back and the rapids change to be more like a smaller version of the Tongariro
Access Ten section.
We didn’t spot many native blue ducks but there were some on the river, and an hour of paddling
got us down to the take out where most of the flow is extracted and pumped over to the Tokaanu
power station and into Lake Taupo. Interestingly this portion of the Whakapapa will eventually
meet the sea at Port Waikato while the rest of the flow that isn’t extracted goes via the Wanganui
River to meet the see much further south.
Dam Slide!
The slide down the dam face can be an exciting/ scary part of this trip and whilst the Irish and Kiwi
lads couldn’t be deterred, some of the group decided to opt out and carry around the dam and put in
at its base. It must be said that the gap between the concrete bollards as you slide (barely in control)
down the concrete watercourse looks narrower the closer you get to it. All in all a great trip and a
first descent for Greg and Ross, on the 1st of September if conditions are right we will be able to
paddle further as water is released into the Whakapapa River from the dam.
Craig Peters
Access Fourteen, Tongariro 16 September
The water spilling over the Rangipo dam was grey and turbid bringing with it the gravels and silts
from the Waipakahi, Mowphango and Waihohonu rivers.
Access fourteens planned release had been cancelled and with it the groups of kayakers that had
congregated at Turangi less than 12 hours before had drifted off to paddle elsewhere or simply gone
home.
10.30 am at the tree trunk gorge bridge and the only two groups to have paddled were loading their
cars in the pouring rain about to head down to paddle Access Ten which was rumoured to be
running at 230 cumecs. We had paddled it the day before at 36.
As we pulled on our spray decks and slipped into the flow below Rangipo Dam the relaxed buzz
that had been in the group the day before seemed to have been replaced with a nervous energy and
I had a feeling that we were about to be tested.
Little did we know that in the next four hours the flow level on Access Fourteen would go from
fifty cumecs to well over 100.
The first rapid was surprisingly straight forward as the normal hole at bottom left had been washed
out and replaced by a boiling eddy line. The wire rope on the right side of the entry chute came as a
surprise, lying eight inches above the water and across the flow, but evidently it has always been
there.
We paddled on, down through the next wave train and as we entered the first of the longer rapids
Dylan let me know that there would be a large hole near the end. Half way down and worried that
everything was happening a bit fast, I cut into and eddy and Dylan paddled past followed by Phil.
I soon cut back out into the current ahead of Jess. Near the end of the rapid Phil paddled up and
over an horizon line and as I skirted left I saw him in the hole Dylan had talked about, still upright,
boat pointing downstream but sliding backwards. As I came out of the white water I yelled to
Dylan that Phil was about to swim and ferried across to an eddy on river right.
After stacking my gear I reached for my throw bag and looked up for the first time to focus on
where everyone was. Craig Martin cut into my eddy to say that Phil had got to the bank but his
kayak and paddle were going downstream and that he and Dylan would try to catch them. I looked
down at the next rapid and saw Dylan charging after Phil’s paddle, collecting it where the
Waihohonu enters Access Fourteen and throwing it onto the bank. Craig disappeared around the
corner towards Oppatts Ordeal and Dylan quickly followed him.
Suddenly we had a problem.
A missing boat
Four paddlers, three sets of gear
Three shaken kayakers and one stirred
Melz and Jess paddled in and Phil made his way down the river bank to join us. Above where we
gathered the cliffs rose steeply so walking out from this side, it appeared would be a mission. On
the opposite side the promontory of land that separates the Waihohonu River and Access fourteen
looked to lead up in a more gradual gradient to the bluffs that overlook the car park at Rangipo
Dam.
With no idea whether we would see Craig and Dylan again and assuming that they wouldn’t be
able to get back to us and would have to paddle out, we needed to plan a solution.
The plan … Melz and Jess to paddle across to river left and Melz to bring Jess’s kayak and paddle
back
Phil to paddle across and then leave Jess’s kayak up in the bush
Jess and Phil could attempt to walk out. On that side of the river the ground seemed less steep and
because the area was basically a triangle with the Waihohonu River as one side and the road as the
second side and with Access Fourteen as the third there was no way of getting seriously lost. I got
some survival gear together for Phil and Jess as Melz and Jess paddled across to the other side.
Phil’s booties had been sucked of in the hole and he would need mine. I let him know that if the
going got too tough that they should come back to the river. The easiest, fastest and safest method
of rescuing them would be a raft later in the day.
Soon a shout rang out and Craig and Dylan appeared out of the beech forest with smiles and the
good news that they had caught Phil’s kayak in the pool above Oppatts rapid. Craig had brought his
own kayak back with him and it appeared to be all go again. Phil and Dylan made their way down
through the bush edge as the rest of us got back into the flow and paddled on down to Phil’s kayak.
Craig grabbed Phil’s paddle on the way down and in an impressive demonstration of skill, paddled
down to us with both paddles.
To get Phil’s kayak reunited to its owner we attached a tow line and ferry glided it across the river
and for the first time in forty five minutes we were all in our crafts and ready to continue the
adventure. We had a wee debrief to calm nerves and go over what to do if we had another incident
with a paddler on the bank isolated from everyone else. It was agreed that in the event the
“swimmer” was best (if walking down stream wasn’t an option) to wait on the river bank until
rescue came, probably by raft.
The rapids below Oppatts Ordeal are not as steep but they are longer and there were some massive
holes and standing waves to manoeuvre. It was certainly a big water run and because of that it was
easier to be out in the main flow with room to move in either direction and the ability to scout
downstream from the top of the bigger waves than to sneak along the river bank having to deal
with the powerful eddy lines, the huge boils and the shallow fast moving water .
Footnote:
After getting of the river and driving back to the Rangipo dam we meet up with a Wellington crew
who had just paddled the Waipakahi at seventy cumecs. They also had their fair share of drama and
were waiting for one of their team to walk out with a boat left floating in a massive eddy that had
formed where the Waipakahi enters the Rangipo dam.
Manawatu Marine Boating Clubrooms
– Manawatu River Estuary, Foxton Beach.
Course: 18km of tidal water.
Start & finish at Manawatu Marine Boating Club. Paddle up river to the northern entrance
of the Foxton Loop and continue to Foxton Township. At the old jetty, turn anticlockwise
around the buoy and continue to paddle back to the river to the finish at the Manawatu
Marine Boating Club. Paddlers must keep to the right hand side while paddling in the loop
to avoid oncoming paddlers.
Entries:
Online entries preferred via webpage
http://www.rwwc.org.nz
Please click on Foxton Loop online entry.
Entry Fee:
Online entry ….. $20.00 per person.
Late entry …….. $25.00per person.
Late entries will be taken between 11.45am & 12.15pm on the day of the
race.
Registration: All competitors must check in between 12noon & 12.30pm at the Manawatu
Marine Boating Club rooms to receive their body number. At the conclusion
of the race each competitor will receive a ticket for a free drink, soup/stew &
bun from the canteen. For noncompetitors it will cost $5.00 for a drink,
soup/stew & bun from the canteen.
Race Starts: Race starts at 1pm. Race briefing at 12.30pm
Prize giving: At the conclusion of the event, about 3pm, spot prizes & club medals for the
first three places in the classes listed below will be presented.
Categories:
K1 open men, K1 open women. K1 open Vet., K1 open Vet women.
K1 junior men, K1 junior women. Double kayak.
Sea/touring men, Sea/touring women. Open outrigger.
Open SUP (Stand Up Paddle) – run over shorter course.
TRIP CALENDAR
For new members only, existing members will be posted a reminder.