Spring is here

A long, dry and gruelling winter on the west coast made getting out paddling a challenge. With little time to spare in between polytech and assignments, we started home brewing beer (with mixed results), I named my first brew Marmite and Phils was aptly named coffee.



'Red', One of the new family members 

Along with our brewing skills we have acquired two pet lawnmowers named red and skimpy, who are currently grazing the back lawn and doing a good job of it. But with perfectly good white water flowing so freely out to sea, we have been itching to get out, and spring fever is kicking in. we have been ripping into a few of the local runs. Multiple laps on the Kakapotahi, Toaroha, Totara, Arahura and Dobson wave were possible due to the two weeks of rain during our holidays. 9 out of the past 10 days were on the rivers and it felt good after a long dry winter. One trip of note was the Styx, which we decided to explore. After two years here we couldn't leave without sampling some of the Styx magic.

'Pinky' after the hard drive in. 

'Vroooooom scrape crack put put put' were the noises coming from Phils little hatch back car as he came flying up the four wheel drive on the way into the Styx. Closely followed by the roar of Dans 3L surf, which had no trouble. Gear on and ready for a long slog we walked to the put in, Myself, Phil and Martijn decided to run the top rapid above the normal put in. We had mixed results, and a near miss as Martijn scouted the underside of a very large boulder below the last drop.


Martijn getting up close and personal with the seive

We quickly caught up with the others and cruised on down some classic grade 4 boulder gardens, boat scouting most of it. A sick 3m clean boof encouraged the cameras out and we all had multiple laps of it, while trying to perfect our boofs. All up it was a great day out and good to see some of the boys pushing the limits, taking risks and then getting the rewards. The walk suddenly becomes enjoyable, you have a good crew who you trust with your life and things go as planned! Its days like this that you think to yourself 'This is why I do this!' Chur!



Martijn on the top rapid


'Boof boss Phil' on the 3m Boof


Phil entering the crux of the day











Photo By Rata



Dan on the 'Buffer'



Me (Greg) ready to boof!



On line on the top rapid



Martijn going hard!




Phil hitting a new line





Dan about to boof hard!

Fiordland plans

The next mission for the Two Dash Productions crew is currently in the planning stage. We hope to do a short sea kayaking expedition down in Fiordland. I know its a little different from the standard white water trip, but it should be good :)

The famous "coast" sunsets are something special

Cant beat a decent Greymouth sunset...

Arahura river

Another good run down the last gorge on the Arahura. I think it was the lowest flow we have ever run it at. Got one photo from it.

Kokatahi River

Our plans of a relaxed flight up the lower Hokitika with the Rafting NZ crew were quickly crushed as we found out that the local pilot had landed in a paddock and had the misfortune of a flat battery. So the trip was called off and we went for a surf instead. That night we got a call from Keith asking if we wanted to step it up and come up the Kokatahi with Barney, Jordy and him the next day. For those of you who aren't from the West Coast or don't know it well, the Kokatahi River is one of the top classic grade 5 runs east of Hokitika. Needless to say it didn't take too much to talk us into it.  Before we knew it we were in the chopper listening to that familiar whine of the engine and watching the trees fly past.

One of the awesome gorges.
Photo By Barny Young

 At the put in a good lesson from Barney on how to pick up girls at the pub set the tone for what was to be a good day. Straight into steep creaking with no time for a warm up made me feel slightly rusty and nervous, a roll in a fast flowing section between two small drops didn't help either. But we soon found our rhythm and there was no time to be nervous as we bombed down the river, following Keith and Barney who knew the run like the back of their hand. Rapids flew by one after the other for what seemed like 2 hours. Then we got out for the portage around a very impressive drop called 'The Monster'. My balls have a wee bit of growing to do before I run that one, and the river needed more water too. More continuous classy grade 4+ led us to skateboard ramp where we caught up with Jordy and Rata who had put on at the half way put in. Skateboard ramp was a sick slide into a kicker that sent you out over the hole in the bottom. The final section of the trip was more great read and run grade 4 with some of the coolest boxed in gorges I have ever had the privilege of paddling. Thanks to the crew for a epic day out on the river, I defiantly will be back to this river again next season!

Unfortunately we didn't have time to get many photos or videos, but here is a video that I found on you-tube that shows just what this river is like...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyWiwoUz8r4

Two Dash Crew 'Slides' to New Low...

With all the coast runs too low to paddle and a failed exploration attempt we decided to make our own fun, this is the result...

http://vimeo.com/41323363

Rata and jake doing the ground work

Martijn checking out the trajectory 

Final touches by Me and Phil

Whitcomb River Edit

After a long process of editing and then failed uploads we have the newest two dash clip ready to go... check it out

http://vimeo.com/41268844