The ‘Neoprene Warriors’ go rafting!
Reflections by organiser Duncan Southcott
with “paddlers” Kevin & Penny Roberts, Richard Aust, Paul Jeffs, Peter Puttock, Howard Richardson, Sarah Southcott
Eight members of Oxted Offshore met up for a different water experience on Friday 15 August at the Lee Valley White Water Rafting Centre in sunny Essex.
The ‘Neoprene Warriors’ duly arrived on time, some having fortified their energy levels with a cooked breakfast. The first challenge was to get into the wet suits, but with a little help from their friends everyone eventually looked the part!
The briefing broke the news of a pre-swim to check what you do if you were to fall out or capsize the raft! Everyone looked at organiser Duncan, who claimed ignorance of that specific instruction but explained that’s what happens when rafting! Everyone survived the swim down a gentle part of the run, with Paul Jeffs enjoying it so much he went further than intended!
With the swim over we got into the raft where we learned to shelter in the bottom of the boat with paddles vertical, plus some basic paddle manoeuvres forwards and backwards. Everyone trying to keep in time with the forward paddlers was the tricky bit! Then up the ramp for the first run!
Our guide Sarah was keen that we practised our safety manoeuvre into the bottom of the raft. We bounced down into the biggest wave, all sheltering at the bottom of the boat – and then it started tipping up! Despite the best efforts of Sarah, we lost seven paddlers into the water! Kevin and Duncan at the front managed to swim to the shallow side with their oars! Sarah finished up on the other side of the river. Peter ended up down the course. Richard, Penny and Paul were helped out with ropes whilst Howard and Guide Sarah saved the raft!
Chaos all round.
It transpired that Guide Sarah got us stuck surfing on the biggest wave without us paddling so we couldn’t manoeuvre. Good job we paid attention to the swimming and safety instructions! Howard, Richard, Kevin, Penny and Duncan managed to get back on the raft to finish the course and safely navigate a second run. Sarah and Peter rejoined for the last three runs, whilst Paul volunteered to become the cameraman for the day! The rest of the runs were fun with us paddling through the waves and practising surfing on the smaller wave with success!
A cooling swim and a shower finished off our White Water Rafting experience followed by Greek food and a relaxing beer, with everyone sharing their personal overboard story and how much water they swallowed!
I think fun was mainly had by all despite the raft of usual puns from Duncan, with some wanting to have another go next year! It was fun organising it and I’ll happily do so again!