Hi David; you’re right, I used a poor choice of phrase, I beg pardon for the offence, and stand corrected. I have a lot of respect for American White Water, I’ve only paddled a bit in the U.S., but AWW clearly do a lot of super work. I hadn’t seen that compilation, basing my opinion rather on the handful of incidents I had heard. I suppose having built my skills in Europe, where the sport seemed to be well regarded, I’m not as attuned to negative reports of it.
I’ve paddled mostly in Europe and Canada, always with a super team, which makes all the difference. We used to joke that the most dangerous thing we did was drive to the put-in.
I’ve got mixed feelings about the guys who publicize big drop runs like that. I don’t think that there is any control past the top and I’ve personally had enough surprises on smaller drops to be wary. I was at Tutea falls in NZ the day after a guy disappeared running that classically friendly Class III+ drop. Fortunately he’d just ended up behind the falls after bailing. Folks had been quite frightened while he was taking a few minutes to work up the guts to jump out through them again. NZ’s Huka falls, based on my chat with kayakers there (I’ve not run that one), goes straight into a deep pool and can, apparently, be almost a “dry hat run”, but has also been the site of some close calls.
The most recent club I paddled with here in Canada had one member with 20 years experience who had started when he retired at 64. I look forward to giving him a run for his money.
