Over the boarder and back to the snow

Finally having been on the road delivering courses since late March I got to spend some time at home in Finland. June 5^th -11^th had been in my diary for months for a 7 day IRF Guide training program combined with a Rescue 3 Europe Whitewater Rescue Technician Professional course based at the ideally located Basecamp Oulanka, on the shores of the beautiful Kitkajoki river, in the land of the Midnight sun.

I arrived home in the south of Finland for few days rest before the 9 hour drive northeast to Basecamp. This gave me time to make some lesson plans and prepare for the workshop. Miia told me to check the weather? I happily fired up my trusted weather website of trust www.yr.no to check the weather. Doh -1 degrees and snow, it was June for crying out loud as I reached for my dry suit & extra thermals.

The course was based just outside the Arctic circle in the village of Juuma. June in Finland is normally the beginning of summer and most of the snow and ice have melted. The rivers are at ideal levels and we are blessed with the Midnight Sun. During the drive north I realized this was not going to be the case. All of the lakes were still frozen & there was plenty of snow around still. The forecast for later in the week  was for highs of +25 degrees and sun. I thought to myself I won't hold my breath?.

The guys at Basecamp Oulanka had given me a really nice room and I unpacked my kit and prepared myself for a scouting  trip the next day.

After a quick breakfast I threw on an extra set of thermals under my drysuit and met Henri, the host for the workshop. We were also joined by some of the course participants as this was going to be the first trip down the river of the season. So not only did I need to re-familiarize myself with the Kitkajoki, we also needed to see if the winter had made any changes to the river. Before all of this could happen we had to brake a trail through the ice on the lake in order for us to get to the river. Easier said than done!

 The commercial section we were to paddle today was called the Wild route, a short section around 5km in distance. The trip begins on the Juuma lake and then make it's way down the beautiful picturesque canyon with the Myllykoski rapid class 2+ and the amazing 900m long Aallokkoski rapid before for a compulsory portage around the Jyrävä waterfall. The trip normally lasts for around 2 hours. One of the unique points about this run is that the trip almost completes a full circle leaving a 15 minute walk back to the base so no return transport needed as its' all done on foot.  

The Wild route is the most technical section of commercial whitewater in Finland. Rafting is not a huge sport in Finland so the rafting community is quite small and closed. With the lack of international experience throughout the years rafting trips are still operated the way they were 20 years ago, this includes equipment and approaches to river running and guide training. Hats off to Basecamp Oulanka for having the sight to see that things need to change. 

The checkout run went well, we even got to see an impressive snow bridge over the Jyrävä waterfall.

This weeks course was going to present me with 6 trainees & 2 trip leader candidates one of which (Nathan) had travelled all the way from Singapore to attend the course. The  course progressed the following way:

Day 1

The ice had slowly been melting so we had a bigger pool to practice our basic paddling techniques & commands. I am a big fan of spending some time on the flat water for the first day of a guide training programme. I feel it gives the students a chance to feel how a raft moves before you take it to the moving water. We also looked at safety talks before we got on the water. I delivered 2 examples of a safety talk. One of which was completed in silence to emphasize that actions speak louder than words. We then took to the Wild route to look at basic guiding and moving water skills. I got to test the skills of the 2 class 3 trip leader candidates (Nathan & Henri) on the Aallokkokoski section and they both did a really good job. The homework for day 1 was to learn the IRF river signals. I noticed them practicing these well into the night. 

Day 2

After watching Henri & Nathan give some really solid safety talks we took to the Wild route. The guides were starting to grow in confidence which was heartening to watch. A visit from the local press in the afternoon gave us the chance to look at swimming skills. Having spent 8 seasons working in Iceland as a guide I thought I was accustomed to cold water but I noticed that the water was freezing cold and I was happy that all of the students were in Ursuit drysuits. I made a mental note to myself to soften up a little and maybe start to use some neoprene gloves in my old age. That thought lasted as soon as I watched someone try to pack a throwbag wearing gloves. The local press were really interested in the course and produced an amazing article. Day 2 homework = safety talk planning.

Day 3

Off to Russia we go. The logistics on the Kitkajoki are not easy, every few days the guides need to transport the rafts 20km down the river to the nearest road on the border with Russia. I took the opportunity to give the guides as much stick time as possible so I made them R2 5 rafts down the river  and this enabled them a full day of stick time. We focused on eddy hopping, ferry gliding & river running strategies. The day started with ghosing the rafts down the Jyrävä waterfall. We stopped for lunch at a small fireplace in the Oulanka national park. The weather was now sunny and +18, the weather had changed at last.

Day 4

The morning session started with the candidates each giving a section of the pre-trip safety demonstration. The candidates had the choice to do this in Finnish or English. I had roped my partner Miia & her mother to be live rafting customers for the students to practice and this turned out quite well. During today I wanted to assess both Henri & Nathan for their class 3 trip leader awards. I set 2 challenging scenarios on the river which both included run away flipped rafts and various amounts of devious carnage. Both Nathan & Henri demonstrated strong trip leader capabilities when dealing with the scenarios, hats off to the guys.

Day 5

Today was the first day of the Rescue 3 component of the workshop.  My biggest selling product this year has been the combined IRF & Rescue 3 workshops and this was to be my 5^th one since March. I like to keep both of the aspects separate. This way I can concentrate solely on the core: raft guiding skills on the IRF section of the workshop. I can then incorporate the remaining IRF rescue elements into the WRT component, including swimming, flipping, throw bagging, rope work. Both the IRF & Rescue 3 elements complement each other really well. Next year I am already planning advanced workshops combining WRT advanced with class 4 trip leader &  safety craft.

We spent the day working through the Rescue 3 philosophy, incorporating it into swimming & throw bag sessions and then into more complex situations including rescue harness release & tethered swimmer rescues.

Day 6

Today we looked at shallow water skills along with foot & body entrapments. After lunch we all spent some time on a simulated strainer exercise before finishing the day with a mechanical advantage class where we also completed the IRF rope work test.

Day 7

I was starting to feel it I have been running course nonstop since March, today I felt as tired as the students looked. Straight onto the water we spent the time looking at 2 point tethered rafts and tensioned diagonals along with line crossing techniques. The weather turned poor in the afternoon so we finished up the course by looking at the theory side of the WRT programme before the IRF written paper & final debriefs.

During the debriefs I wanted to focus on making the students realize that practice practice practice is the recipe for being able to move forward and gain more experience.I look forward to visiting Basecamp Oulanka next year to see the progression of the guides.

In the meantime congratulations to Henri, Nathan, Jessica, Maiju, Tiia, Janne, Markus, Miia, Kaisa & Ilkka, it was a pleasure to work with you.

Many thanks to Miia Komi & Basecamp Oulanka! 

Next week my travels will take me from the Arctic to the jungle in Thailand where I will get the opportunity to work some more with enthusiastic raft guides.

Happy paddling,

Mark

The Importance of good safety kayakers

I am not or dont pretend to be a great kayaker I have run my fair share of scary stuff over the years. I have also had my fair share of swims and confidence meltdowns. What I do take pride in is the fact I know I am a solid safety kayaker when working on commercial raft trips.

Good days & Bad days in Iceland


Lots of people make the common misconception that if you can kayak you are already a professional  safety kayaker. This may not  be the truth.

Many potential rafting customers are now approaching rafting companies and asking if safety kayakers are present on their commercial trips. The need and demand to have professional safety kayakers is raising all of the time. But what makes a professional commercial safety kayaker ?.

Nanu Gurung of Paddle Nepal 

As with most things in our industry it come down to the big 3

Training
A solid background of professional training is going to go a long way.
Solid training will give a safety kayaker the tools and skills to be able to deal with any arising situation in a professional cool, calm & collective manner. This in turn will also increase the safety kayakers confidence on the water.

The International rafting federation safety craft workshop is the perfect place to gain such training. The workshop consists of the following training and assessment elements.

• Personal kayak skills assessment on class 3 whitewater or class 4-5 whitewater
• Commercial trip management from a safety kayak perspective including river running signals, communication & positioning 
• Throwbag skills test 
• Ropework  and mechanical advantage test
• Safety kayak specific customer safety brief 
• Personal swim test
• Dealing  with unconscious casualties from the kayak
• Exiting a Kayak in a rugged environment
• Taking command of a raft from your kayak including vocal commands and pushing /towing a raft 
•  Exiting your kayak entering a raft and taking command of the raft whilst in a rapid 
• Dealing with multiple panicking swimmers Accessing an upturned raft from your kayak and re flipping the raft.

The whitewater rescue technician qualifications from rescue 3 international  will also equip Safety kayakers & raft guides with the relevant set of skills to be able to operate safe rescues in a whitewater environment in both during daylight & darkness.

The rescue 3 & IRF systems are both globally recognized awards so each guide or safety kayaker holding these awards should have an identical skill set.

A wilderness or advanced first aid certificate is an absolute must for any guide working in the outdoors with commercial paying customers.

Experience
As with anything in life. A task carried out by somebody with experience of the given task is going to complete the task much more easier.Compared with someone who has never carried out the given task.  So what experience does a safety kayker need in order to be a true professional?.

• Personal kayaking experience and the ability to control your kayak in a variety of conditions & situations is a must. A Proficient safety kayaker should be confident running rapids whilst having 1 or maybe 2 swimmers holding onto his or hers kayak.

• Operating river experience.  A sound knowledge of the river in all water conditions is also a must. A key skill of a professional safety kayaker is to identify potential hazards and flipping spots for the rafts and to be able to communicate them to the rafts in a clear way  . Knowing that on a certain level that feature x will be a nasty hole or a protruding rock with pin potential will allow the kayaker to pre position them self in a place where they can help the rafts in a quick manner should a problem occur. In my earlier days I was taught that a good safety kaykaer should know their river that well they should be able to run it backwards with their eyes closed alone . A bit far fetched but true in a way!

Binod Gurung of Wet n Wild explorations, lardo rapid Lower Indus India

• Experience of working within a tight team of guides also plays a key part. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your fellow guides will make the life of a safety kayaker much more easy in the long run. Knowing that in high water guide x normally flips in a certain rapid will give you the time to be prepared for the possibility of a flip with swimmers as a result of this. knowing if a certain  guide sometimes struggles to climb back onto an upturned raft after a flip will help you to offer them assistance if they need it. The same applies vice versa the raft guides need to be confident that the safety kayaker is going to be able back them up and deal with swimmers or a flip should they occur or that the correct signals are given when running a river in higher than normal conditions.

Notice the safety kayaker on hand to assist with any help if needed. Kali Gandakhi river Nepal.

The age old saying "There is no substitute for experience" is age old for a reason !

Judgement
Finally without experience or the correct training your judgment will be impaired. The ability to make snap judgement  decisions based on  training & experience is one of the main skills of a good safety kayaker. The ability to decide which customer to help first in a scenario with multiple swimmers could potentially prevent somebody from a nasty injury. The decision to give a signal to a raft to avoid a large pour over that could flip the raft is a key judgement decision. The decision keep a little distance from a panicking swimmer until they calm down a little before you commit yourself to assisting them with a tow from your kayak is always a key judgement decision.

This Triangle brings together the big 3. Solid training & experience combined will allow you to make better judgement calls.


Hopefully this has given you more of an insight into safety kayaking. see you on the river
Mark.

Booking a rafting trip

Booking a rafting trip with the right company could make or break a great experience

In this day and age we are always trying to make our money last a little longer.  There are some areas where saving a few extra dollars could cost you lots in the long run.

As a raft guide that has travelled and worked around the world, I thought I could share a few moments to give you a heads up and a few handy hints to follow when booking a trip.

The most important questions you should ask yourself are: 

• What kind of rafting trip am I looking for? 

• Do I want an easy, relaxing trip or more challenging whitewater? 

• Does this trip match my expectations? 

Pre trip research

When purchasing or booking anything nowadays we research our purchase online beforehand. Booking for a rafting trip should be the same. Websites such as Tripadvisor provide a great place to start your research but let’s all be aware of the happy clappers & trolls when reading through comments.

“Fantastic experience”

Reviewed August 4, 2014

This is a must do when in Queenstown. Professional company with great equipment. Guides are extremely knowledgeable and along with the beautiful surroundings, they point out interesting landmarks as you raft down the river. Chief our guide was both funny and concerned for our safety. My self and my partner had a great time rafting and would recommend it for anyone going to Queenstown.

Visited July 2014

The comment above is brief and to the point. When reading through comments, notes about the ease of booking and pre trip information are big clues as to the quality of the company.  Rafting companies that take the time to reply to reviews normally care about the service they offer their customers and are generally good companies.

The company’s own website should be able to give you a clear outline of the quality of their operation.  A quick browse through the site will be able to give you a few clear indicators.

From each trip you will need to get at least the following details:

• Classification of the white water on the trip
• Trip distance & time length
• Transport, food & accommodation
• Departure dates
• Cost

Take the time to also have a look in detail at the following finer points.

Guides

Every rafting company proudly boasts to have some of the best guides in the world. This is a bold statement to make; what makes a raft guide the best guide in the world?

A mixture of international experience and a solid training background will normally put you in capable hands. Look for the following qualifications:

International Rafting Federation (IRF)

Any guide holding an IRF qualification will have been trained to an internationally recognised standard. 

Any guide holding a trip leader award will have been trained to a high standard including their handling of an emergency scenario.

All current IRF qualified guides must possess a current first aid qualification in order for their IRF award to be valid.

Any guide qualifications can be checked here via the IRF online register.

Rescue 3

Rescue 3 training sets the world standard in swift water & white water rescue training.  A guide holding a Rescue 3 certificate will have attended an in-depth training course based on safety & rescue in a river environment.

First Aid

All guides must have a first aid certificate as a minimum.  Outdoor specific first aid qualifications are a bonus. Wilderness first responders (WFR), EMT & Advanced wilderness medicine are adequate certificates for those venturing out onto multiday trips.

Companies that invest in the training & development of their guide team will benefit from this training.

Photo gallery

A few moments in the photo gallery should give you a few ideas to the quality of the company.  Pictures of rafts flipping and general carnage may mean the trips are focussed on flipping & swimming. These types of trips normally attract gung ho style guides & customers. Make your own decisions!

Pictures showing smiley faces in rafts, professional looking guides in control of their raft will give a much more professional feeling of the company.

Take a look at the quality of the equipment the company is using. Quality maintained professional rafts are a must along with helmets & personal floatation devices. If you are rafting on cold water will wetsuits or dry suits be provided? Steer well away from any companies that do not provide you with certified equipment.

The main certifications you need to look at are:

CE 95 for Europe and the US coastguard for the States and the Americas.

Professional companies will constantly be renewing their kit.

The age old saying that a picture paints a thousand words should come to the forefront of your mind when viewing the gallery.

The booking office

The first part of your rafting experience starts with the sales or booking office. Always try to book direct with the raft company. Agents are actively after their commission at the end of the day and will tell you anything to get their hands on your cash.

Have a good look around the office and get a feel for the place. If you feel uncomfortable in the office this should be a sign of things to come.

Don’t be afraid to ask the most simple of questions. If these questions cannot honestly be answered, consider another company.

Ask questions about transport to and from the river, security of personal articles, first aid provisions, dietary requirements.

Likewise responsible companies need to ask you the 2 big important questions:

1 Can you swim?

If you are going on a rafting trip, yes, you need to be able to swim or have basic water confidence.

2 Medical fitness

Any professional company will want to take care of you to the best of their ability. Please do tell the company of any pre existing medical conditions you may have prior to the trip starting. A responsible company will be able to help you more efficiently if they are made aware of any problems beforehand. Also take good look at your travel insurance to see what you are covered for whilst participating on a rafting trip.

In my personal opinion walk away from any company that fails to ask you these questions at the time of booking either verbally or on a booking form.

All companies should also remind you at the time of booking that being under the influence of alcohol & drugs will not be tolerated on trips.

Conclusion

Take the time to read through the companies’ cancellation procedure again. If this is not readily available, little red flags should start to pop up in your head.

Just by reading through the points above hopefully you will now have a better idea about pre booking your trip. Remember to only part with your hard earned cash once you are 100% happy with the chosen company. 

Happy Paddling,

Mark