2021 February 27, Seawards, Hurunui River, New Zealand

Hurunui was low, flowing at 18.6cumecs the decision was made to go the first rapid below the Gully put-in at Seawards instead of Jollie-Brooke.

The day consisted of two, two hour long dry and river sessions one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

Focus of the day was theory and practice of core river rescue skills and river running safety.

Morning Session

Dry session:

  • 60/30/10 pyradmid:
    • 60% of time we paddle and need paddling techniques to recover from undesired situations eg. being upside down in a boat
    • 30% of time we need to use core river rescue skills such as passive/active swimming, self/assisted paddler/gear rescue - this is the area covered on this day
    • 10% of time we need to use advance river rescue skills such as mechanical advantage systems, vertical/deep water rescue
  • Gear - throw bag, whistle, knife, watch, cow tail, lockable carabinas, pulleys, prussiks, sling with lockable carabina, Garmin InReach/PLB
  • Throw bagging and rope coiling techniques and their practice

River session:

  • Passive and active swimming in rapids
  • Swimming across currents / eddy hopping
  • Active swimming with unconscious swimmer
  • Self-rescue swimming with paddle
  • Throw bag rescue of swimmers and rope coiling

Afternoon Session

  • Dry session:
    • Safety briefings on the club trips / river runs in general
    • Safety on the club trips / river runs in general
  • River session:
    • Paddle recovery
    • Hand paddling
    • Combat roll / wet exit, self-rescue
    • Boat rescue from kayak
    • Boat emptying from kayak
    • Free practice of all skills learned on the day

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