What may have been only 20 minutes felt like quite a lot longer than that, as I sat in my boat in a tiny eddy all by myself, holding onto a handful of fernlife sticking out from the gorge walls. Rising and falling with the surge of the boils around me, I had plenty of time to reflect on my present position. Hmmm...my third trip down the Hutt Gorge, and here I was in a short squirty kayak, with expert kayakers in creekers all around me.... As we put on at Kaitoke, Lea had taken a glance down the river and remarked ‘There is a bit of water here today....’ All the experienced gorge paddlers agreed there was no way the river was at 2.25m, as promised by the gauge level online and via flow-phone. ‘Much higher,’ said one... ‘Probably like 2.8,’ said another. My brain was still a bit groggy and quite attached to the idea of paddling the gorge again--ohhhh those chutes! And the chances to work on my boof! Perhaps a couple of nice surfs in the weir--yeah!! Maybe today would be the day I could get a flat-spin all the way around.... Even the prospect of the ever-feared LOG was not enough to put me off. I figured it would be covered in water, and despite hearing stories of a recent swim in the hole underneath it, I had been mentally preparing myself to PADDLE HARD. So I didn’t really like the idea that *possibly* the gorge was 2.8m. I’d paddled down the first few easier rapids successfully enough, and was telling myself I could TOTALLY do this. As we all circled in an eddy just above the Flume Bridge, Ron declared he’d been shown the ways of this river at this level before, and did not wish for a repeat performance. As he gracefully left the river, I asked my trusted paddling mentors (lucky me! nearly everyone who’s seen me paddle harder stuff was there today!) to be honest with me--’Is this a stupid idea?’ A bit of mumbling followed, but overall the consensus was that I could do it.
So off we went, Lea out in front, me and Arran in our matching red Wavesport Fuses jostling for position behind him, and Kei, Dean, and Sue completing our group. The second group, consisting of Melz, Jo, Hamish, Jason, Christina, and Matt, melded together into one long colourful mass around the last bend. Lea paused at the top of one of the first major rapids and appeared less-than-decisive about the best line...he said he’d try the right side. As soon as I saw him get through smoothly, I shot out of my eddy to follow him, a bit too quick perhaps, but my nerves were telling me to go before I had to watch anybody tip over and convince me to take a different line. Luckily, I got through with just a touch of a tail-stand, grinning the whole way. As I found a safe eddy, I watched the rest of the group get through with more and less success, alternately. I kept watching until I saw Jason bounce through and flip over, getting pushed up against the wall, then roll up. I figured his ordeal with that rapid was over, and continued downriver, noticing that Arran had taken my spot as #2! Gotta watch that boy.... We hooted and whistled our way through the next chute/slide/holey thing, then pulled up again on river right. About this time I heard Lea providing commentary on the upstream paddlers and an apparent swimmer; ‘Oooh good rescue!’ etc etc. Then ‘Mmm...maybe not.’ Then I saw Jason’s orange Lil Joe float by upside down minus paddler, with Melz hot on the chase--apparently Jason had gotten sucked back into the hole multiple times, through many attempts to surf out between 3 rolls-in-the-hole, and finally gave up. Lea told Kei, Arran, and me that he was going to chase the boat as well, and I decided to creep out of my eddy just enough to see that Jason was making the fist-on-top-of-helmet ‘OK’ sign. Except I crept out a bit too far, and couldn’t slide back into the eddy, so I fought my way towards THIS one, this itty-bitty little thing with a rock in the middle of it and the beckoning fern reaching out from the cliff like a hand. I even took my first roll today in a boil getting to you, oh holy fern! Ahhhhh. Looked like home. Unfortunately, my new home had the less-than-desirable quality of making me invisible to all the other paddlers on the river. I flicked over the possibilities in my head....try to ferry across to river left (ugh...not much room to get any speed to cross that current!), continue downstream to a better eddy on this side (hmmm...no, those are all invisible as well...)....ummm well, the brain stopped at 2 options because UGH that looks like a slightly intimidating rapid right down there in the narrow gorge about 20 meters downstream, and I hear that little voice in my subconscious that says ‘Ruby, you are SAFE right where you are...do not create more problems!’ So I didn’t move.
After a few minutes, I see Kei come down to an eddy I can actually see on river left. We nod and signal to each other that we are okay, and I see Kei point to me and signal to other people upstream that I am also okay. Already, I have started to question in my mind how many paddlers are in front of me on the river...river brain = mush at the moment. Hamish soon joins Kei, and immediately hops out of his boat and shimmies himself up on the rocks heading upriver. During my next peek out of the eddy looking downstream, I see black paddle blades rotating in the air somewhere down below the presumably nasty rapid below me...good to know Melz is not far away should I lose my grip on this fern! Then I see a bit of red jacket and a black and white helmet emerging on a rock far down river left--it appears Lea is now doing Macarena-like movements that my water-blurred eyes can’t quite make out.... Over the next 10 minutes or so, I catch glimpses of what seems to be a pretty heroic rescue upstream (NICE JOB everybody!), involving lots of gesturing and throw-bagging and swimming across rapids. I see Jason and Hamish pointing up the hill, and only slowly start to realize that perhaps he is actually considering walking out...all this time I have just presumed that the powers of Melz and Lea together MUST have rescued his boat...but not truly knowing anything, I just keep my firm grip on the fern and ponder whether or not the river seems to be rising.... Another 10 minutes, and Jason is now borrowing Dean’s shoes (it had to be TODAY that he forgot his booties in the basement!) and is scaling his way down the left side of the river, paddle bouncing along trapped by his cowtail.
Jo has now gotten back in her boat, and soon, she and Sue, Arran, and Kei paddle by, aiming successfully for an eddy just up to the right of the now blown-out-of-proportion-by-all-the-time-spent-gazing-at-it rapid below me. Arran’s shouting at me ‘RUUUUUBY oh my god you were right there the whole time!’ and I feel very much missed...awwww...good to have such a vocally expressive young man along with us! I decide it’s time to shake out the frozen fern-holding arm, and commit to carving out into the current. My carve takes me a bit further river left than I’d hoped though, as I was wanting to be sociable with the others in their eddy.... Jo catches my look of ‘Oops I am not going to make it’ and yells ‘GO LEFT!!’ Whew. Gimme an instruction like that, and I immediately relax--I have a job to do! I see Melz smiling down below the rapid, and I put on my game face--raaaahr! Paddle hard, go left of the big rock, get around the hole, YUSSS, ahhh...whooops don’t relax yet, spinning now in the boils, hmmm whoa my boat is definitely not supposed to be submerging me to my waist in the water, whew okay rising up again, c’mon backpaddle away from that hole--except don’t get stuck against the wall either! Then safety at last, and I eddy out behind Melz. This is a huge comforting palace of an eddy, replete with a gravel beach, and even a 10x10cm patch of CALM water. Precious!
Perhaps another 20 minutes goes by...Jason has now somehow returned to river right, Lea carries Jason’s boat to my eddy (YAY I WAS RIGHT!) then explains that the Macarena was actually a pantomime of swimming. Ah. Someone along the chain got the message! A very cold Jason then takes his 3rd swim (this time with Melz to tow him part-way) across the brown water, and is finally reunited with his kayak.
The next section of the river passes quite quickly...I vaguely remember noting the bigger side-stream coming in on river right, and then gawking at the massive hole in the usual ‘go right if you want *boring* or BOOF left if you can’ spot (I’m sure the spot actually has a better name, but I sure don’t know it....) At some point, I heard somebody say ‘oh, um...isn’t The Log up here pretty soon?’ and I mentally filed the information. I probably should have also filed the comment Dean had shortly thereafter...something about how ‘all the fun spots are totally washed out at this level.’ I was expecting the meaty Pre-Log rapid, then The Log EDDY, then The Log. Hmph. Things went by so fast that the next thing I remember was seeing Lea carve into an eddy on river left, and me and Kei in our little boats bunched up together aiming for it. Kei made it through the strong eddyline. I tipped over. Nothing unusual there. Certainly nothing to get excited about. As I roll up I blurrily see a big tongue of water from river-level and feel myself tipping back over...’Hmmmm,’ I think, ‘I must be going over that Pre-Log rapid upside down--I’d better make this a snappy roll.’ I waited for the inevitable washing machine hole...Ah, not too bad! At least it doesn’t like me much...good time to try that snappy roll now...whoops this is some seriously boily water wow that didn’t work ugh hmmm it’s getting a bit dark under here now, must be a wall nearby, just GO FOR IT and make it work, silly! Damn. Rolling up against overhanging walls doesn’t generally work well, why should it work for me? At least I got half a breath there, no reason to panic...just switch to the off-side, hmmm yay a bit more light here, pretty quiet as well, gurgle gurgle gurgle, at least I’m moving right along...except wait a minute, I don’t WANT to move right along ‘cause the log has GOT to be right down here somewhere, JUST ROLL DAMN IT!
And I did. About time! Lea is nearby and points me into an eddy. Through ears full of cold water trapped behind hat behind helmet, I hear him say something like ‘Well, that was certainly ONE way to do it!’ I shake out my ears and catch my breath--what a nice safe eddy this is! I hear someone blowing a whistle upstream, and see Lea gesturing that I am okay. He’s making comments...’Wow nice line!’ ‘OH--little to the left!’ ‘Oh no, that wasn’t quite right...’ Finally he says to me ‘Are you gonna come over here and watch this or what?!’ It finally clicks. I just did THE LOG rapid upside down. Ah. I see. The Pre-Log rapid must have been that last wave train before I tipped. I ask Lea for confirmation...he gives me an incredulous look--’YEAH you just did the log...’ I start watching the action just in time to see Matt take a flying leap off the left side of the drop...extreme coolness in flight! But perhaps downright cold once he was upside down, and the boils got the best of him...soon he’s swimming downstream, Jo and Christina chasing him and his equipment through the Toilet Bowl just below our eddy. Shortly thereafter, Jason comes down as well, enjoying a few Underwater Encounters of the Boily Kind as well (probably just to make me feel better). The Log drop was a fully flushing chute of a machine today, apparently. I obviously didn’t get to enjoy the full effect. Arran was ecstatic with his no-flip conquering of the big drop--for the rest of the trip, his face was one big toothy grin.
After a relatively quick rescue of Matt, we continued, everyone a bit more relaxed now that The Log was behind us. Our group got into a bit of a groove, all of us spreading out across the wider section of the gorge to enjoy the wave trains and the non-existent rock gardens. What fun! The gorge narrows again, and we slide back and forth through chutes around holes and corners. At one point Lea pulls over with a gleam in his eyes...we keep splashing by, but stop to wait for him around the next bend. A minute later, he reappears triumphant, having apparently had an epic surfing session on a wave back there...in his SALTO! Wahooo! Dean shows up and the two of them start talking, the rest of us in the group (Kei, Arran, Sue, and myself) drifting downstream. Soon we realize they aren’t catching up, so we eddy out and wait some more. At some point Sue gets into the current for a look upstream...and reports that Matt has had another swim, but it seems that the rescue has already been enacted. Ah, not much for us to do then. Hum-de-dum. La-de-da. There is a little gravel island near us, so we decide to get out for a stretch. Arran decides to name it the Isle of Arran, and gives us a bit of a backstory on why his name is spelled *that* way. Something about 2 R’s being more manly.... We drink some water, eat a snack...listen to a few more stories. Sue tells us about running the gorge at 3+ meters in her playboat and not thinking anything of it...we discuss her distinct lack of a Scottish accent. Kei is pretty quiet.
Then Lea comes around the corner, towing someone on the back of his boat. Someone wearing full paddling gear...but wait--he doesn’t look like anybody we know. Arran whispers in my ear ‘Did I miss something?’ No, nothing missed...he’s a total random stranger! We help him onto our island, and shove food at him. Boats are searched for extra polyprops and hats, and we wrap him in a reflective blanket. The rest of our paddling group shows up, and we are all questioning, prying, Why Who Where With-Whom When What??? We learn that the wide-eyed, curly-haired stranger is Mike, a paddler from Otaki who’d started down the river probably an hour before us with 3 others--1 (another Mike) had walked out at the flume bridge, and this Mike had swum at The Log rapid and lost his boat. Loooong swim, then a long wait while his remaining 2 paddling buddies (Hayden and Josh) went for help. He’d seen some of us paddle by while he contemplated how to greet us...Lea got a bit of surprise when he saw him! Back into the water courtesy of Lea, he was one cold man when he pulled up on our island.
A frenzy of logistical planning then took place...what an admirable team we have! No reception in the gorge for Dean’s mobile phone, not much daylight left, so who has the best dry gear to stay with Mike? Who’s willing to paddle out if it’s almost dark when a chopper comes to pick him up? Would they be prepared to spend the night here if no helicopter could come? Who will go for help now, and are there enough strong paddlers in the remaining group to ensure a safe paddle out? It was decided that Lea and Jason would paddle out FAST to ensure that the helicopter would know Mike’s current location (just across from the only significant stream coming in on river left). They zoomed off. The rest of us gave all of our remaining food and extra warm gear to Jo and Hamish, who’d put their hands up to stay with Mike. Then 8 of us slipped back into the river.
No more eddy-catching now...just steady paddling through the many wave trains. Melz did find a rather attractive hole to get yanked into...a bit of frenetic side-surfing pulled her out of it and over, and she rolled up smiling, as usual. One of the last bigger rapids in the remaining bit of gorge flipped Matt, and after several exhausted attempts at rolling, he pulled out again...I can’t even even imagine how cold he was by this point. He coped well, though, and as Melz rescued his boat (YAY for air bags!), Sue towed him back to safety. Just now, we heard, then saw the helicopter slowly heading upriver. It circled our group a time or two, worrying us a bit, so we pointed our paddles upstream and hoped they’d get the message. Luckily, they continued on. Matt’s lips were a bit blue now, and we searched our remaining gear for chocolate bars...unfortunately, we had given every last bit of our provisions to the 3 on the island. Perhaps next time we’ll keep a TINY bit behind for this kind of situation. Quickly, we got back in boats and took off for the take-out, happily (well, most of us) bouncing our way down ‘the flat section.’ Soon the helicopter returned downriver with more speed...we hoped Mike was onboard, and were pleased at how much daylight was remaining for Jo and Hamish. A quick stop at the gauge revealed 2.55m as the level...plenty of discussion followed, with Christina noting that it had seemed much pushier than a previous paddle she’d done at 2.6m. We were all delighted to see a fully dressed-and-dry Mike greet us at the end along with Jason and Lea--WHEW! Not much later, Jo and Hamish pulled up safely as well. A few of us had been tentative to declare previously that it had been a great day paddling, but we let loose now--WAHOO AY AY AY AYYYYYY! A spectacular, if not EPIC day down the Hutt Gorge. I don’t think we’ll be organizing any more winter gorge paddling days to meet at the get-out any later than 10am (we met at 12 today). RESPECT to the river!
