Rafting
Trip Start
Aug 18, 2008
1
10
22
Trip End
Nov 27, 2008
Where I stayed
Esprit, Davidson, Quebec
The last two days have been spent rafting on the main channel of the Ottawa River. We learnt the basic guide strokes and techniques, including several flip drills and lots of ferrying and breaking into and out of eddies. It's very hard work - much harder than it looks - and I'm aching a lot now.
After learning the basic strokes we paddled down to the main rapids and took turns to guide one rapid each. The first day I guided The Normans and today I guided Coliseum, both of which went reasonably well and everyone stayed in the raft. We had some fun at Butcher's Knife, when the person guiding took the wrong angle into the Chopping Block wave and the raft high sided and dumped everyone. Not a flip though, so we all got back in quite quickly.
I'm now sleeping in a hammock, which arrived just a few days ago. With a thermarest inside it is very cosy and rocks me gently to sleep. It's so much more comfortable than a tent with a hard floor.
Looking forward to the SRT course tomorrow. We will have a full weekend of swimming in the whitewater, which should be fun but tiring.
After learning the basic strokes we paddled down to the main rapids and took turns to guide one rapid each. The first day I guided The Normans and today I guided Coliseum, both of which went reasonably well and everyone stayed in the raft. We had some fun at Butcher's Knife, when the person guiding took the wrong angle into the Chopping Block wave and the raft high sided and dumped everyone. Not a flip though, so we all got back in quite quickly.
I'm now sleeping in a hammock, which arrived just a few days ago. With a thermarest inside it is very cosy and rocks me gently to sleep. It's so much more comfortable than a tent with a hard floor.
Looking forward to the SRT course tomorrow. We will have a full weekend of swimming in the whitewater, which should be fun but tiring.

Comments
Fun?
Sounds like hard work, but fun too. You must be getting used to swimming by now, and probably appreciating the soothing rocking at night. Have you got webbed feet yet?
When do you get a rest day, or is there no such thing for 3 months?