The Paddler ezine WW kayak collection 2013 | Page 50

The
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ThePaddler 50

day was all about technical rafting. Today’s style
is going to be big punchy rapids. We slowly
descended down into the lower canyon. The
Merkigil Bridge our silent farewell to the world
above. The canyon is beautiful and intimidating
at the same time. Tall 80-metre walls box you in
due to the nature of the volcanic rock – climbing
out is a dangerous option.

We tackled the warm up rapids allowing
ourselves to adjust to the change in speed and
volume of the river. As all of the water was now
starting to become channelled in to a canyon no
more than 25 metres wide in places. We also had
to start to deal with surging features boat
swallowing boils and eddylines. We started to use
the helicular flow of the river to keep us right in
the midstream, so that we did not get caught up
in any unwanted eddylines.
The average summer time level for the east glacial
river is between 50-70 cumecs. Anything over 85
cumecs the river starts to become a real
challenging proposition class 5 in places. Th ?)?????????????????????????????????????)???????????????????????????????????)???????????????)Q???????????????)?????????????????)????????????????)????????????????()Q????????????????????)????????a????
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