Date:    4/10/18
River:    Ashley River, Canterbury, NZ
River Conditions:   14 cumecs at Ashley Gorge. Water clear and cool. Grade 2.
Weather Conditions:   Warm & sunny, gusty nor-westerlies, strong at times.
Number on Trip:  7 people doing the upper section and 4 doing the lower section.
Time on River:  4 hours.
Comments:  With gale force winds predicted for the Canterbury high country and the Ashley flowing at a nice level, it was decided to divert the proposed Hurunui trip to the Ashley. There was some debate over which sections to run, with part of the group keen to just run the lower grade 3 section. However as we had a number of newer paddlers on the trip, it was decided that it would be better to split in to two groups and run the upper and lower sections separately.

Boats, gear and groupings were sorted out and we all headed off to our respective put ins. I left my car at the middle bridge with the dry gear for our group and we squeezed into another vehicle before heading up to the Lees Valley put in.

Safety briefing before hitting the water.

We had a brief safety briefing and sorted out buddies and on the water procedures, before taking to the water and making our way down the river.

Warming up in the Lees Valley.

The first small rapid and the eddy at the bottom provided a good warm up spot to practice moves and blow out any cobwebs. It also provided an opportunity to gauge the ability of the group and to work out who might need extra support before moving into the gorge.

Ernest surfing.

It was a beautiful day and the gorge protected us from most of the wind. We made our way down the river, taking our time, catching eddies and playing where we could. The upper section is a nice easy paddle with plenty of rapids to keep the interest up and offers plenty of challenges to newer paddlers, though with the shallower water, upside-down time can involve some geological interactions.

Sally styling a rapid.

We had a good group of people and a variety of skill levels, with the stronger paddlers happy to give support and advice to the less experienced ones, as well as providing the occasional rescue when required. It had been quite a while since I need to rescue anyone, but as each out of boat experience seemed to involve a swimmer, a paddle and a kayak all going in separate directions, there was plenty for everyone to do and I’d forgotten just how hard it is to clip on to and tow a water filled creek boat with my little boat and just how awkward it is to try and do this while holding a 30 degree crankshaft paddle against my 90 degree straight shafted one.

I was looking forward to running the “crux” rapid of this section, which is a bit of a boulder garden with plenty of routes to choose from and eddies to catch, but unfortunately one of the boulders caught out an unsuspecting paddler and I ended up chasing a boat through most of the rapid. AJ decided to walk the rapid and was in two minds as to whether he wanted to carry on or walk out to the road, quite a climb up above us.

Rafting up.

Ernest rafted up with him down the next significant rapid and I convinced him that everything got easier from this point, so he decided to stick at it, without any further dramas. Ernest himself ended up upside-down after playing around on an eddy line and I was somewhat surprised when instead of rolling up, his hands appeared and slapped the bottom of his boat. A closer paddler attempted a T rescue but not quite soon enough and a swim resulted. Turns out that he didn’t have much of a roll to use, fortunately his skills usually keep him the right way up.

Surfing self portrait.

As the rapids eased off, we were able to enjoy the sunshine and beautiful scenery, it is a real pleasure to be out on the river on such a day.

AJ running a rapid.

As we passed under the middle bridge, one of the paddlers from the other group called down to us to let us know they were off the river and were just completing their shuttle. They were somewhat surprised that we had taken more time on the river than they had, still there was no rush and we all enjoyed our day on the river. We got changed and I shuttled the other drivers back up the the put in before heading back to town. On the way back, the car’s air conditioning system stopped work, not the best thing to have happen, heading in to summer, oh well I guess we add that to the list of things to do.