Adventures of 2019








2019 was a year of highs and lows, but none the less some great adventures were had and I was still able to travel and pursue my passion of being on the river.



The summer in NZ wasn't full of adventure this year, but it was full of savings for the year ahead. I was working a lot before taking off to the northern hemisphere in May, and I was saving all my pennies for the big plans ahead of me. I did however manage to paddle the bread n' butter runs a lot such as the Kaituna, Wairoa and Huka Falls. I was feeling in paddling shape and very excited for the season to come over at Great Falls, MD.

Classic Huka Falls laps


 Trouties


 David Lemmen on the iconic 'rope' swing


Sweet angle on Trouties by Manu Vink Wackernagal



Sundays are for the Wairoa


Unfortunately I didn't capture to many photos, nor footage of this particular summer, but some great adventures were still had and I couldn't be more thankful for the opportunity to explore this amazing country I call home.




On May 2nd, I was ready to go back to the Great Falls MD for my third season in a row, so I packed my life up once again and headed to the warmer weather. Once I arrived in North America I realised work hadn't quite picked up just yet, so I had an impromptu idea about going to British Columbia for a short trip. I decided take this idea up and book some flights to Western America ready for an amazing adventure. I flew in to Seattle where one of my good friends Joel Charlesworth picked me up. We spent the night driving back north and eventually stopped in a Walmart to sleep just shy of the border.

The following morning we crossed into Canada and headed straight for Whistler. We got in later that day and I decided to just have a chill one and meet the crew staying at the take out of the Cheakamus River. The following morning an old friend Kiah Schaepe rallied to show me down the Cheakamus at Juicy flows. We loaded up, and drove to the top. I walked straight to the 'put-in' falls, and had a scout. It was looking juicy, and it made the nerves creep up but I knew I could hit the line. I followed the curler on the lip a little too much when I boofed, which sent me a little further left than I was hoping but it ended up being a sweet line. Kiah then gave me beta all the way down just the way I like it! minimal, but informative. The Cheakamus was pretty continuous at these flows so it got the juices flowing and ready for a rip down the Callaghan later that afternoon. Great start to the trip!


Picking up Rhys n' Rachel from the airport


Rhys checking Mamquam flows on the way to Whistler


Put In falls on the cheeky 'Cheak'


Put in falls


The last hole on 'Triple Drop'


Trent Mcrerey running Mamquam Falls


Kiah decided to take me to the other classic run in Whistler, The Callaghan. We arrived at the take out to check the gauge and see what sort of flow we were getting. Kiah said "its full" I replied "does that mean good to go?" he then replied "Yeah, should be sweet". We drove to the put in and geared up. We walked in through some beautiful Canadian forestry, put on the river and immediately realised some decent cumecs were flowing downstream. We eddied out above the first 10ft ledge on the right where Kiah gave me great beta. "Follow me and go hard right" he wasn't wrong, that first ledge had a gnarly hole on the left, which was then followed by a good sized rapid directly after this ledge. We continued to boogie down for a while until we reached the 15ft'er. I followed Kiah off and then realised there was a lot going on below this drop too. It immediately followed in to a rapid with diagonals right above a large river wide ledge hole. Kiah yelled "go left" so I went left and found the tongue through the ledge hole, which then put us directly above the famous '20ft' waterfall. This was the icing on the cake for this top gorge and it was such a clean and glorious boof. We then relaxed a little after the top gorge and continued to run some amazing boogie water down to the next main rapid known as 'ODB' which is one of the bigger rapids on the run. Kiah gave some great beta for this rapid, and I followed him in to it. We were running the long lead in and everything was fine but as soon as we got to the two main holes at the crux of the rapid, Kiah decided to get back looped in the first one (not confidence inspiring) and then was getting surfed in the second hole (he usually styles this rapid FYI). I managed to have a good line through both holes and not land on top of Kiah in the second hole thankfully. That got the blood flowing. The last big rapid was called 'Island' and I didn't really understand the line that well from the beta, but decided I'd figure it out by following Kiah yet again. I misinterpreted the line slightly and nearly rolled above the crux move, but managed to work it out and get through with a decent line. I was so stoked to run this quality, classic river at high flows. After seeing many years if Callaghan footage and listening to the hype about this run, I could now believe it. The flow was 0.5 on the new gauge (3ft on the old gauge).


The 10ft'er


Looking back up at the 'Island' rapid


Kiah getting back looped in ODB


Kiah on the 20ft'er


Pitted


Classic Callaghan boogie water


Whitewater paradise


The 'local' master of beta, Kiah Schaepe


Tess Fields being a legend and running shuttle!


The rest of my trip in BC involved hanging with some of my best friends, attending a wedding, doing some hiking and mixing up more kayaking in between. Can't be more thankful to Tyler Russell for letting me crash in his van for the week, partying in Whistler and dropping me at the airport. You're a legend mate.

Sea to Sky


Scenic falls on the 'Sea to Sky'


The Chief - Squamish 


Joel @ Alexander Falls in the Callaghan Valley




It was now time to wrap up my short trip to BC and head back to work on the East Coast for the season. This season of kayaking on the Potomac was so amazing, it was more than I could have asked for. I had some amazing opportunities to travel with work, as well as countless quality laps on Great Falls allowing me to push my boundaries.

A couple days in particular stick out to me as being special, and one of those days happened to be the 4th of July. We planned to dress up obnoxiously American and run some stout whitewater as the flows matched the day, and the river was at 4ft. We decided to head out on the Potomac and get some VA action which was on the higher end of the spectrum. I'd never run it this high before but I felt up for a challenge. After running the first boof on the VA lines, I realised what I was in for and I missed the ferry to get left of the big hole at the top of S-Turn. I decided to commit to running the meat of the big hole and just pulled on a big boof, which luckily worked out for me. This may have been the scariest hole i'd ever boofed because of the consequence directly downstream at these flows. Andrew Palim accidentally followed my lead and did the same thing by boofing the main hole. I didn't intentionally run this line as its known to be super gnarly and have claimed some serious swims, so i'm glad it went well. The spout is pretty straight forward at these flows and you can just run it hard right. After having my adrenaline running pretty hard we hopped over to the Centre Lines to run some laps. That was a sick day!


The boys on the 4th of July


Norman's boof



S-Turn hole



Aaron Mann setting up Flat liner on the Centre Lines



Another sick day which sticks in my memory is running the Centre Lines @ high water with my good friend Mike Connolly. This is one of the most stout things I've ever run at the falls due to the consequence this section has. At normal flows this section is always consequential, but it just amplifies at these levels because everything moves twice as fast. Grace Under Pressure was juicy and the landing zone was so chaotic that it made the outcome of your line un predictable, but the saying 'it goes better than it looks' was very relevant that day. Directly after Grace Under Pressure, the water moves over to the Maryland side (where you don't want to be) and you then have to navigate two ledge holes right above a dangerous sieve. After this move you then run a clean 20ft boof just to the right of the sieve, which is glorious and gives out some great air time. After some careful scouting, Mike decided to go first which I was very surprised by but he greased the line, so it inspired me to give'er as well. Great memories, and big thanks for the session Mike. The flow was sitting around 4.3ft this day. 





Grace Under Pressure


The ledge holes above the sieve


Setting up the final drop, Flatliner


There were so many amazing laps this season on all of the lines, at all sorts of water levels. We also managed to get some high water Horseshoe, Fish Ladder, Back Canyon, Maryland Lines, Bridge Channel etc. To me this is one of the ultimate stretches of whitewater to have in your backyard if you want to start running your first class V rapids, or you want to push the boundaries and run some of the biggest class V out there. The great thing about the Potomac is the amount of kayaking disciplines I can cover in one day. Creek, Playboat, Slalom and Attaining all in one day. Pretty amazing.


Centre Lines


Dawn Patrol @ Great Falls


Beautiful evenings on the Potomac


Falls meetings with the boss, Steven Mckone


The Spout shot by Cait Disberry


VA lines 


Great Falls Race 2019


Tyler Russell enjoying the 'flake' life


Summer days w the bro


Pummel


High Agua 


Unbelievable power and beauty


Fishladder @ juicy flows


Bridge Channel


Great Falls Race 2019


Thunderdome





During my season out at Great Falls, my job with Calleva's Liquid Adventures gave me the opportunity to lead a group of seven teenage shredders on a creeking trip throughout Quebec. This was an amazing opportunity and I'm stoked that I was able to share my passion for creeking with these young boys. We met up @ Rileys Lock bright and early to load the van for a 7 day trip. We were all excited to set sail and head north to the Canadian border. We took a quick stop and decided to stretch the legs in Watertown New York, and play in a great feature called 'Hole Brothers' on the Black River. After this stop, we continued north to our first destination on the Rouge River. We spent 2 days running the Seven Sisters section at good flows, and it was a great chance to warm up with the crew and see where everyone was at with their skill ability. This trip was about having a tonne of fun, but also teaching the boys how to scout, make good decisions, and also run appropriate safety for each other. We had a great time being able to push the boys safely on this river and see if their skills and mental game matched one another. I ultimately had the decision as to whether they would run a rapid or walk it, but for the most part I tried to let them make decisions for themselves. It was awesome to see some of the boys push themselves on the Seven Sisters and watch them style some of the drops. For the most part there were clean lines and smiles, which was a great way to start the trip. We then continued heading north after a couple of days shredding on this epic river. 



Ready to head north!


Hole Brothers on the Black River


Seven Sisters of the Rouge



The plan was to keep driving north and make a loop around the western side of the Lac St-Jean area, then back down the eastern side. Our next stop was the Mattawin River, a not so often run gem on the way up to Lac St-Jean. The river consists of steep slides, amazing boulder gardens and also one 40ft waterfall. Since we only had one vehicle and this river is super remote, the shuttle became an issue. We drove down a long forestry road to the put in, got ready and then drove the van to the bottom and I tried to figure a way back to the top. We hoped that we would get picked up by a logging truck, but in that time Theo (our french guide for the trip) and I decided to start running to the put in. The shuttle was 30-40km so it was going to be a long haul if we didn't get picked up. Eventually, a logging truck stopped and we were able to snag a ride back up to the top and meet the group down at the first rapid where Farve (the other instructor) was scouting with them all and eating lunch. We then took off down river and were running the rapids in a leap frog style to make sure we made good time. Luckily Farve and I had paddled this river before so we knew what was coming. At all the bigger rapids we decided to get out and have a proper scout. Eventually after running all the amazing rapids on this river, we got to the 40ft falls which happened to be a prime flow and was looking really good to go. This waterfall ends the upper section of the Mattawin and is a great way to finish off. After some good scouting, I went first and had a smooth line to show the boys the way down. Then those who were confident in their lines followed after, with huge grins on their face at the bottom. For a lot of the boys, this was the biggest drop they had ever run so they were beyond stoked.



Mattawin Falls


We then kept heading north to the town of Mistassini-Dolbeau and camped out at Quebec-Raft right by the Mistassibi River. In the morning we woke up and decided to go for and exploration mission around the area,  and after looking at google earth, the options were endless. We decided to go check out the Bridge Rapid on the Mistassini first of all, which was impressive to see and admire from a distance. Shortly after, we saw a great looking rapid upstream, so we decided to put our gear on and venture up that way to see if there was a line to run on this rapid. This rapid was extremely wide, so it was easy to choose a more mellow line or a more stout line. The main line was a rowdy boof over a huge hole. We opted for a fun auto boof line which was lapped many times that afternoon. After a good session on this rapid, we decided to head to another river in the area called the Aux Rats where we found some more gems. There was a short section with some great little drops and rapids to explore. It's always exciting to check out a river that I had no idea even existed. After we finished up on the Aux Rats, we went back to the campsite to chill for the evening. The next day we paddled the great big water river of the north known as the Mistassibi. Definitely a highlight seeing the boys looking like a deer in the headlights above Hawaii 5.0! This one's a classic and we did two laps before heading east to the Valin. 


The boys, stoked for the mission on the Aux Rats river


Camping @ Quebec Raft



The Valin river was super sick, and we managed to get a quick session in the evening of the same day. This river is an absolute gem and it's easy to see why it's such a classic in the Quebec region. The next morning we decided to start heading south as we had a huge drive ahead of us back down to the border.

Our last kayaking mission for the trip was to check out the Lachine Rapids in Montreal. This is a play boaters paradise and we loved ending our trip off on this amazing section and surfing some of the best waves known to mankind! it almost felt like we were at the beach. 


Theo running Honeypot falls on the Valin


Safety first on the Valin


Lachine Rapids, Montreal


Canadian wilderness


Gatineau Falls


Super thankful to make my second trip to Quebec and I can't thank my job at Calleva's Liquid Adventures enough for the opportunity to lead the youths up in the great white north! 


Not to long after this trip I had planned to go to the Zambezi river in Africa for a quick 2 week trip around mid October, but unfortunately I was heading home to NZ to be with my father who was extremely sick at this time. Just before I boarded my flight home, my brother called me with the news I was dreading to hear, and unfortunately my father passed away. I'll never forget all the amazing life lessons you taught me dad, I love you so much.







After spending 6 weeks at home with my family, I finally made my way back to North America to finish off the adventures i'd started. On November the 17th, 3 of us embarked on a drive 32 hour drive across the country for a trip down the mighty Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. We packed up my little Honda Civic and started the drive west from Poolesville, Maryland. We finally arrived in Flagstaff a couple days later to gear up and do some last minute shopping. Unfortunately it started to snow heavily the night before our launch and we were all in a slight panic about the temperatures we were going to endure. 16 of us launched the morning of the 22nd of November in to the unknown, as none of us had ever been down the Canyon before. It was a warm day, the sun was out and the morale was high. It was even warm enough to strip down and go for a swim. We shouldn't have let this warm day fool us, as we were about to endure some very cool temperatures in the coming days.


The first couple days were hard work as we were trying to figure out which rafts were storing certain bits of gear such as the kitchen, food, toilet etc. We were also forming as a group, even though we all knew each other reasonably well. Day 5 was our first layover day, and the reason we had one so early on is because one of my good friends Rhys Elliot was marrying his Fiance, Rachel Palma. We stayed at the lower Nankoweop campsite, and got everything ready for the big day. We started the wedding day off with a big breaky, and a nice chill morning. The ladies of our group then hoped in a raft and headed upstream to get ready while the boys put on their 'fancy' clothes, smoked cigars and drank some whiskey while waiting for the ceremony. Around midday, I walked Rachel up the aisle to Rhys and he couldn't have looked happier to see her walking towards him. It brought a slight tear to my eye when I gave her over to Rhys and it was an awesome moment to be apart of. After the ceremony we decided to walk up to the Granaries, and shoot some wedding photos up there while also reading about the history of the area. The view was absolutely spectacular. We then capped off the night by inviting the other group of 16 (our friends) over to our campsite for dinner, and a big party. What a great start to the trip this was.


The weather and vibes were great up until about day 7, and then we started getting heavy rains, gale force winds and very cold temperatures. Day 8 was a toughest day of the trip for many reasons. We woke up and it was raining heavily while we were making breakfast and packing down, the snow line had also dropped lower meaning it was very cold that morning. We set sail, paddled round the first bend and the winds literally felt like I was on a ski field, and my whole face was numb as well as my hands. We got to the first rapid of the day which was called 'Hance', so we all got out to scout and see what the rapid was about. It was a lot more technical than the other rapids we had been rafting on this trip and it just had one hole at the top which we really needed to avoid. Our whole group made it down safely apart from the last raft. The last raft got stuck in the stickiest hole we had come across till this point. I was sitting at the bottom in my kayak noticing the raft 150m upstream was sitting dead sideways in the hole, I immediately hopped out and ran along the river bank with my throw bag. I tried yelling out to the crew downstream but they had already ran the very next rapid as it was immediately after Hance. The hole they were stuck in was pretty much smack bang in the middle of the river and there was no way they were coming out anytime soon. Shortly after I reached the top of the rapid, Rhys Elliot came running up to help. We were calm and discussed a way to get them out of this situation. We both threw our ropes at different times and maxed out our throwbags. We decided to tie our ropes together to see if we could get that little bit extra out of our throws. We were trying to throw 20+ metres to the raft. After failing with these attempts we saw our friend Matiu running up to the top as well, I then signalled to bring my kayak up with him. When we got my kayak to the top, we decided that I would paddle out a rope to them while making sure there was no way I could get caught up in the rope on the way across. While all this going on, there were multiple pieces of equipment ripped out of the raft and we were trying to coach them on how to get out of the hole as we could tell the river left shoulder was flushing. Just before I hoped in to paddle the rope out, they managed to spin the raft in the hole and surf out of the left shoulder. I immediately hopped in my kayak and followed them down. At the bottom there was a lot of tears from the crew who were caught in the hole for 20ish minutes and also some borderline hypothermic people. After warming everyone up, collecting all the gear and making sure everyone was okay, we continued downstream and navigated the rest of the rapids that day with no problems. The weather was super cold all day, and we decided to camp early in the middle of a beautiful schist part of the Grand Canyon. We stayed at a campsite called Grapevine and reflected on the day. In the midst of reflecting on the day, a huge rock fall happened on the other side of the river which sounded like insane thunder. We watched boulders the size of houses crashing down in to the river and were pretty scared about it happening on our side of the river too. We searched around the campsite for loose rock, but we came to the conclusion that everything looked stable. Overall this was one of my favourite days of the trip because it tested us a group, and brought everyone a little closer in my opinion.


Day 15 was another amazing day in the canyon, we woke up and went for a hike to an amazing side canyon by the river called Mat Cat. We then came back to pancakes for breakfast and embarked on a 20 mile day on the river. When we got on the water Farve told me 'this is going to be the best day of the trip' and he wasn't far wrong. It started off epic, it was sunny and we had some of the most epic rapids of the trip on this day. Just after midday we made it to Havasu Creek, which is a deep turquoise colour and its an epic hike up the creek to the famous Beaver Falls. We didn't make it all the way to the top because of time, but we hiked up pretty damn far. This was definitely one of the most beautiful creeks in the canyon. We then took off downstream and had some alcoholic beverages on the float down, plus we got to experience the 'golden' hour on the river and float through an amazingly scenic part of the canyon. While floating down, a bighorn sheep started following us along the river bank. It continued to run alongside us for a mile or so and we were all in awe of this sheep and its ability to scale up and down huge boulders like it was nothing. We eventually got to camp where most of us were tipsy, and we had such a blast setting up camp for our next layover day. Another thing to add is that my raft missed the takeout eddie and we had to haul it back up river a quarter mile, twas' a real laugh. That day was one for the books.


It's so hard to explain what the experience is like going down the Grand Canyon, it's something you have to experience for yourself, but all I can say is that it was truly one of the most amazing experiences i've had in my life. Big thanks to Sam Williamson for being the trip leader and organising everything. Here are some pictures from our journey.



Lee's Ferry


Sam, our fearless leader


Spitting yarns with the 'thick boys' pre wedding


Lava Canyon campsite


Grapevine campsite


Unreal scenery below Phantom Ranch


The 'Wanaka' tree in the Grand Canyon


Havasu meets the Colorado


Back from the mission up Havasu


Preparing everything for launching in the AM


Beautiful sunset @ mile 220 camp


Approaching Red Wall Cavern


Classic communal breakfast w the crew


The newlyweds @ Nankoweop


Gettin' er vertical


Elves Chasm


The 'fit' boys


Havasu Creek


Golden hour on the rio


The crew


Rhys putting the groover through its paces


Losing bets, then taking shots out of the she wees



2019 was an amazing year for my travels and adventures. Despite going such through such lows, I couldn't be more grateful to have these opportunities to live out my dreams.









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