White Water Rafting

Several weeks ago my friend Victoria informed me that for her fiancé’s birthday, they were gathering a group of friends to go white water rafting and would I be interested in coming along? I figured, why not? Sure I haven’t gone swimming in years, and am not a huge fan of water in general, but how dangerous could it be if the rafting company was willing to take complete amateurs out into the rapids?

Apparently I was the only one who thought that way. By the time the actual day for rafting came up, only 4 of us, my friend, her fiancé (Rupesh) and his friend (Siraj) showed up. Everyone else chickened out!

We made it to the rafting site by 8:00 AM and went through the process of registering and getting our equipment. Because it wasn’t the busy season, the company provided us with full wetsuits (meaning they covered us from ankles to our wrists all the way up to our necks) for free. I must say that wet suits are very flattering for the figure, but are beyond difficult to get into. By the end of the day though, I was very happy to be wearing it.

Before moving to the water, we were given a basic briefing on our equipment, safety procedures, and possible scenarios we might encounter. Interesting tidbits included our life jackets – these jackets were specially designed for white water rafting (or at least for falling into rapids) because they had a short “cape” on the neck that would flip up and supposedly create a pocket of air for you – meaning that it would force the current to go around your head rather than over it. Of course, this cape only works if you’re facing in the right direction – more on this later.

As mentioned, we were also walked through some possible scenarios and what to do during them. E.g. What do we do if we fall out of the raft? What if the raft flips over? What do we do if we’re swept away from the raft? Etc. At the beginning of the safety lecture, the guides mentioned that there were white helmets and red helmets available. If you took a red helmet it indicated that either you couldn’t swim or you were less comfortable in the water. It didn’t necessarily mean that you would be saved first, but it let the guides keep an eye on you. Up until the safety lecture I had every intention of wearing a white helmet, but after hearing about sharp rocks, riptides that could hold you under the water, etc, I swallowed my pride and nabbed a red helmet and felt so much better for it (not that it did me any good all day).

Upon getting into the rafts we were taught and practiced the various commands. For example, we learned what to do if the guide yelled “paddle hard” (a normal paddle, but faster and pulling back harder – essentially you were paddling like a bat out of hell), “get down” (meaning that you slid off your seat into a crouched position and grabbed on to the perimeter line – also known as the “oh shit” line), and “hold on” (maintain your position, grab the OS line, and hang your body weight down and into the centre of the raft. It sounds simple enough, but until you actually ventured on to the rapids, you continually forgot about the OS line and could not appreciate its security.

Also, before each rapid, the guides would also give you a briefing on what to expect, what you were trying to do, and what to do if you fell out or if the raft flipped over. Therefore they’d say, “Okay, if we flip over, I want you to swim towards the boat. If you can’t reach the boat, swim towards the left shore. We’ll pick you up from there!” (Before each rapid, our boat was filled with my out-loud muttering, “Okay, Mau, aim for the boat or left shore. Boat or left shore. Don’t go right.”)

One thing that I never really clued into before was the fact that there’s no way to secure yourself to a raft. I always assumed there was a rope or something to help keep you in there. But there’s not! (Which makes sense, since if you were strapped in, it would be very unpleasant when the raft flipped over.) To sit in the raft, you have to sit on the outside edge of the raft (again, I always assumed that you sat on the middle sections that look like inflated seats) and then you wedge your feet into the crevice of the inflated cross-tubes in front and behind you. That’s all. The only way to attach yourself to the raft is by holding on to the OS line, which is hard to do when you’re being thrown about and also trying to hang on to your paddle – and it doesn’t help that you’re usually holding on to the paddle with your dominant hand meaning that you can’t grab the OS line with your dominant hand. Therefore I always found myself holding both my paddle and the OS line with one hand, meaning my paddle would smack into the water and cause both me and the boat more turbulence!


Finally we arrived at the rapids. I must admit that when I first saw them, I wasn’t overly impressed. They looked small! How on earth could this be exciting? Well, I asked, and Nature answered.

Our raft was always the first one into the rapids. The guide yelled for us to paddle hard, so I started paddling like mad, except, suddenly I’m paddling air! That’s right – my side of the raft has literally bounced out of the water and I can’t reach the river anymore. The next thing I know, we slam back down into the water and so I start paddling like crazy again only for the raft to fly up into the air again. The third time we slam up, we continue to go up, up, up and over. That’s right, we flipped the raft completely upside down! I came up underneath the raft, bumping my head – I panicked and started kicking my feet like mad until I came up to the surface.

And then I realized where the true dangers of rafting come from. Sure, I was on the surface of the water, but I was still caught in the dissipating rapids. I kept getting waves in the face, causing me to gulp in water – I couldn’t get a full breath of air. Finally though, the waves slowed, and I saw our raft. Victoria was near me, and I could see Siraj and Rupesh getting towed back to the raft via a safety kayaker. Our guide (who by this point had righted the raft) threw the tow line to me and Vic, so we managed to get back on the raft too.

Wow. I cannot believe how physically exhausted I was. My entire body was trembling. I could barely manage to sit upright – nevermind helping my friends back into the raft. We all lay at the bottom of our raft for a few moments, gathering our wits and strength. When I finally gathered myself and sat up, I was surprised to see how far we had drifted from the rapids!

Our guide was completely enthusiastic, happy with our results, etc. Meanwhile I’m huddling in the raft, wailing internally, “What did I get myself into? How can I go through that again?” But since I didn’t want to be a spoilsport for everyone, I kept my mouth such, even as my stomach twisted with nervousness while paddling back to the rapids. (It turns out later that all of us were experiencing the same emotions, but none of us wanted to say anything.) One amusing thing to happen though was that the first thing Victoria said when she got back in the raft was, “I lost my shoes!” Yes. Her water shoes were literally ripped off her feet by the rapids. Whoops!

The second time we went through was a bit better – we had a better idea of what to expect (e.g. I knew not to be surprised to find myself suddenly paddling air). We also managed to NOT flip the raft over, which was a huge plus in my books.

On our third time through the same rapids we managed to catch the “surf.” Essentially that means that we had guided our raft into a spot on the rapids where the conflicting currents captured the raft and kept it in one position, so we didn’t have to paddle or anything. However, all good things must come to and end. The front of our raft started drifting out of position, and the next thing I know, I’m flying through the air again. Luckily I was holding to the OS line this time. I came up underneath the raft this time, was able to grab a half breath of air from the air pocket, and then I popped to the outside of the raft. Everyone had managed to hold on to the line, so our guide was able to flip the raft right side up and get everyone in. I was very happy after that second flip – it was a lot less chaotic and I didn’t get mouthfuls of water this time. Now that I knew what to expect, I was reassured by the whole process.

The next set of rapids we went to were called the Garburator. Our guide assured us to not worry if we couldn’t catch the surf because it was very hard to do at this time of year, etc. He also told us that if we fell out, or if we flipped the raft over, to not worry about getting back to the raft. Instead, we were supposed to swim towards the right side of the shore where other guides were waiting with ropes to tow us in, and there were safety kayakers waiting downstream to help guide us in.

So we went over the rapids and then paddled to get into position for our first “run.” When all the other rafts were in position and the safety people in place, there was nothing left but to paddle hard into the rapids. We didn’t quite catch the surf – instead we bounced around a bit and then got spat out. We paddled like mad to get back into calm waters so we could try again and wasted our time watching the other boats and kayaks go through. We also got to watch the other 6-man raft in front of us flip over. Reassuring? I think not. Then it was our turn again.

We paddled like mad with our guide turning our raft as necessary. Suddenly we hit a massive wave and boom! We caught the surf! Our raft was bouncing around in one spot. We kept getting faces full of water, but it was cool knowing that we weren’t doing anything except sitting there holding on to the OS lines.

But all good things must come to an end. The front of our raft started drifting sideways to the current. By this time I had developed a Pavlov-like response – I knew that when we drifted horizontally in the rapids, it usually resulted in our raft flipping. Once again I was airborne and flung into the water.

I popped up and immediately saw the kayakers pointing me towards shore, so I started fighting the current to get close enough. A guide threw me a rope and I caught it. Rupesh’s and my ropes got tangled, so we had to drift a bit downriver before we could be pulled up. Getting out of the water proved to be a harder feat than expected – the shore was really steep, and although the rocks on top were dry, just below the water line they were slimy slimy slimy – so slimy that you couldn’t get any traction!

With a guide’s help I crawled up to shore. At that point I heard them telling us, “Don’t worry about your friend – they’ve got her down at the end.” Eh? Friend? I look around, I see Rupesh and Siraj, but Victoria’s nowhere to be seen. I glance down the river, and I see her waaaay downriver, holding onto our raft that had also drifted quite far. Rupesh, Siraj and I portaged our way down the river to meet up with Victoria at our lunch site.

Poor Vic! The Garburator was not kind to her. I didn’t realize it at the time, but when we slammed into that massive wave and caught the surf, Siraj had actually been launched out of his seat and back on to Victoria’s lap! In the video that we bought, you can actually see him flying out, and his half-hearted attempts to get back to his seat, but the current and waves were too rough that you didn’t want to stand up. Apparently when our raft flipped over, Siraj landed on Victoria. And when she popped back to the surface, she was facing upstream, getting the full strength of the Ottawa River current in her face! So, like me when we first flipped the raft, she kept getting a face full of water. And then she missed grabbing the safety ropes. And then she was still panicking and not able to breathe when a kayaker helped her out. She lost her hold on the kayak and ended up getting swept all the way downstream through ANOTHER set of rapids by herself. By the time we met up with her, you could tell that she was not a happy camper, and I don’t blame her at all. In her shoes, I’d probably have burst into tears.

After a light lunch (I was worried that my lunch would revisit me if I ate too much), it was off to the river again!

We had to travel through some small rapids with no problem. And then we came to another set and waited for the group to catch up. While waiting, the guide explained that we weren’t going to try any tricks on these rapids – we just wanted to get to the other side. However, if we did fall out or flip the raft, we were supposed to either grab on to the boat or swim towards the left shore. He then elaborates, “If you find yourself going towards the right shore and can’t escape, flip on to your back and be prepared to brace your feet against the shore. This area is called Butcher’s Knife for a reason. The rocks on shore are very sharp and have been known to pop rafts and pop people.” Umm, gulp? We made it through unscathed and waited to make sure none of the other rafts needed help.

The group then took another short break where everyone clambered out of the rafts and went cliff jumping. I and two other people stayed nice and dry on shore. I figured that I had already spent more time in the water than I have in the past 5 years, and I wanted to conserve my strength for whatever insanity happened next.

Our last set of rapids involved us trying to do a trick that made our boat stand up at a 90 degree angle. Yikes! Our guide made us shift so that we were all sitting in the front compartment of the boat. We then paddled like crazy against the current to get into the right position. Suddenly the guide yells for us to get down. I’m sure some people can do this and look like a professional, but I essentially flung myself down on the bottom of the raft.

Apparently we did manage to make the raft stand on end. And I say “apparently” because I didn’t actually witness it. I saw the end of our raft lifting up at a 45 degree angle, and then I became occupied with the fact that we were sinking into the water face first. And then I became even more occupied with the fact that we all then fell out of the front of the boat. LOL Luckily the raft didn’t flip over and we all held on to the OS line.

The guide pulled Victoria in, and then started yelling at Siraj, Rupesh and I to lift up our feet. I didn’t understand what the issue was – I mean, I could touch the bottom of the river, but since he was the boss I did what he said. The current was pushing the boat towards us, and we were between the boat and the shore. That’s when I became very thankful for the full length wet suit. I could feel my legs scraping against the rocks. If I hadn’t had the wet suit on, my thighs and calves would be scraped beyond belief!

That was essentially the end of our rafting experience. We traveled downstream and stayed around to make sure that the big 12-person rafts didn’t need help while they were doing tricks. (Our rafts were too small to try to do tricks in the rapids – apparently if we fell out, we’d get caught in a riptide and the only way to get out would be do roll into a ball and sink to the bottom current, and hold your breath for 30 seconds until the current spat you out on the other end. No thanks!) We then had to paddle for about 20 minutes to get back to the base camp.
Overall it was an amazing day. I never really thought about doing rafting before, so I’m happy Rupesh organized it. I think he and I were the only ones to escape relatively unscathed. As mentioned, Victoria lost her water shoes on the first rapid. At lunch she discovered that she lost an earring, and every time she fell in the water, she lost her paddle too. Siraj lost his sunglasses. My “souvenirs” consisted of two blisters, water in my ears, some massively sore triceps the next day, and an impressive sunburn on my face. (My hands were also massively sun burnt – they were so red they looked like a baboon’s behind!)

Would I do it again? I’m not sure. I had fun, but it was continually nerve wracking. I don’t know if I liked that sensation. Every time I went under the water, I had to keep my eyes screwed shut so that I didn’t lose a contact, which most assuredly did not help with the panic issues. Maybe if I had laser eye surgery it’d be okay. At least we had a great day with great weather for the experience!