River safety

Packrafting safety instruction

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Date: November 2018.
Trip type: Instruction.
Location: Hutt River, Otaki River Gorge.
Author: Andrei Zubkov.
Trampers: 15 keen bean participants plus instructors Arno and Andy.

What a lark! Hooning down the Tararua rivers in a 1.6 kg inflatable dinghy—including all the kit (floatation device (PFD) and paddle). Welcome to the wonderful world of packrafting! Having had a very harebrained thought to do just the same thing by myself a few years ago, except with questionable gear, no training and no … Read more

“You never have to cross a river”: River Safety Training

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Date: 2 December 2018.
Trip type: Instruction.
Location: Belmont Scout Hall & Hutt River, Wellington.
Author: Maj-Britt.
Trampers: Course instructors: Outdoor Training New Zealand (OTNZ) Wellington branch: Noel Bigwood (lead instructor), Dominic Stevens (instructor), Pete Cadle (instructor), Maj-Britt Engelhardt (assistant). Participants: Matt, Tony, Meredith, Jamie, Juan + 9 others (registered directly with OTNZ).

Noel started the course of with the question “Who has ever had to cross a river?” The strong take-home message for the day was that river safety was mostly about the decisions made before entering any river, particularly whether to cross or not. There were 16 course attendees including the club members. Many were walking … Read more