Saturday, December 16, 2006
Monday, December 04, 2006
Coming Soon!! Charles Graham's New Zealand Whitewater, 4th Edition
Graham Charles has announced the 4th edition of his definitive whitewater guide to New Zealand. The 2006 edition features some new runs including Blackball, Falls Creek, and Tuakopai, new photo's, new cartoons, and a new colour section. The Buller now has its own section separate from West Coast, and most runs have been overhauled.
Graham Charles introduces his 2006 guidebook.
Thanks for choosing the 4th edition and a 'hard copy' version of NZ Whitewater. No other whitewater guide has seen this number of editions so thanks for keeping it alive. No doubt the web will soon render such things obsolete and unfortunately, the relatively stark nature and brief attention span people have for electronic information will also remove much of the character of the people and places that add to the fun place that is NZ whitewater.
Keep in mind when scrolling through the mountains of information on the web that there is no filter on the quality and editorial boundaries of information. It is possible, with the input of the masses, to break every kayak run down to the individual eddies and moves and thus removing the personal decision and discovery so valuable in adventure activities. I hope you enjoy flicking through the book sitting in the rain at some remote road end that doesn't have service to your wireless PDA.
Consider this. Consider the phenomenal difference between being a 'good kayaker' and being someone who is 'good to go kayaking with'. I've been observing this difference for over 25 years now and it has polarised itself now to being a very real and indeed very valuable goal for any up and coming kayaker or adventure enthusiast. It is less about the individual and more about the whole of the activity - from the environment, to the team, to an individual's personal performance on the day. Someone who is good to go kayaking with is not only a very good kayaker but is there for the team, knows what equipment to carry, can work quickly within a team to effect a rescue and treats the river and environment with the respect it deserves.
I've been encouraged by the power of rivers to demand this. I've seen some of the best 'kayakers' in the world shaped by the environment, the tragedies, the unavoidable risks and the rewards turned into some of the best people 'to go kayaking with' as they realize you can't escape the connection to all other aspects of kayaking. Its not a matter of 'if' you will come up against other issues like death, closed rivers, polluted rivers, restricted access - but when. It's a positive phase of maturity in any 'risk' or 'adventure' sport when this approach becomes the norm instead of the exception.
Water - its use, misuse and its right to run free will be one of the defining global issues of the 21st century. Our issues as kayakers in Godzone are: access, water quality and hydro electricity. Access to rivers is becoming an issue at a number of sites around NZ. Please treat any access to private land as a privilege and a cooperative venture between you, the landowner and the rest of the kayaking community. Support any NZRCA initiatives or submissions to resolve access problems and perhaps we can keep it open and free. Hydro schemes continue to pop up around the country and power companies are turning their attention to our smaller, steeper rivers. An unfortunate argument used in environmental hearings recently is that 'if it isn't in the guidebook it isn't used'. This is nonsensical and illogical. This guidebook does not, nor cannot, claim to be the sole measure of recreational quality or value of a particular run or river.
Look around the world - clean, free flowing kayaking water is a rarity. At the moment we are lucky in NZ but our heads are buried in the proverbial river bed if we continue to let it be polluted as much as it is. Dairy runoff by giant corporation owned, 'profit above all', farms is one of our biggest offenders. Clean green NZ at milking time becomes 'not clean and running green (cow shit)'. It is a disgrace - and an offence. Any number of our world famous 'upper sections' of river become some of the dirtiest water you could imagine once they hit the dairyland. In the six years from 1993 to 1996, NZ's dairy cattle numbers increased by 766,000 - nearly 22%. That's the sewage equivalent of nearly eleven million more people flopping untreated onto the ground and, in many cases, straight into our rivers.
Despite all mitigating factors in place (except to not go kayaking) accidents continue to happen. Many of the incidents involve international paddlers. NZ is an adventure playground but it is also a dangerous playground. If you are used to having river descriptions stroke by stroke or walking wide, fast and predictable trails or adventuring near roads, paddling rivers with regular flow levels, or not having to think about whether that abseil anchor will hold or why you are lost in the dark in thick bush and where are those steri-strips you thought you had, then start slow and learn. We have an understated yet highly competent culture covering a broad range of outdoor skills in NZ and people seem to get trapped by that.
The information contained in this book stands as a useful snapshot of the values and beliefs the whitewater community holds at the start of the 21st century. By virtue of being included any of the runs are of exceptional value. The individual character of each is only a small part of the bigger picture which makes Aotearoa wai huka such a valuable resource. Remove any of these runs and the picture becomes fragmented and of less value. It is in everyone's interest to work for, and preserve what we have left, and to foster symbiotic relationships with other environmentally-sound user groups.
Kayaking and canoesport is not just a weekend adrenal activity, but a vital human development medium for those fortunate to have been touched by it. Two of the best things we can do is have a large group of river users and a written record of use. I hope this book continues to serve both goals: introduce folk to new river areas and document their use.
Have fun - be safe
Graham Charles, Oct 2006
Make sure that you are the first to have one of these. The 3rd edition was amazing, can't wait to see this one! Please go to New Zealand Recreational Canoeing Association to reserve your copy today!
Cheers!
Graham Charles introduces his 2006 guidebook.
Thanks for choosing the 4th edition and a 'hard copy' version of NZ Whitewater. No other whitewater guide has seen this number of editions so thanks for keeping it alive. No doubt the web will soon render such things obsolete and unfortunately, the relatively stark nature and brief attention span people have for electronic information will also remove much of the character of the people and places that add to the fun place that is NZ whitewater.
Keep in mind when scrolling through the mountains of information on the web that there is no filter on the quality and editorial boundaries of information. It is possible, with the input of the masses, to break every kayak run down to the individual eddies and moves and thus removing the personal decision and discovery so valuable in adventure activities. I hope you enjoy flicking through the book sitting in the rain at some remote road end that doesn't have service to your wireless PDA.
Consider this. Consider the phenomenal difference between being a 'good kayaker' and being someone who is 'good to go kayaking with'. I've been observing this difference for over 25 years now and it has polarised itself now to being a very real and indeed very valuable goal for any up and coming kayaker or adventure enthusiast. It is less about the individual and more about the whole of the activity - from the environment, to the team, to an individual's personal performance on the day. Someone who is good to go kayaking with is not only a very good kayaker but is there for the team, knows what equipment to carry, can work quickly within a team to effect a rescue and treats the river and environment with the respect it deserves.
I've been encouraged by the power of rivers to demand this. I've seen some of the best 'kayakers' in the world shaped by the environment, the tragedies, the unavoidable risks and the rewards turned into some of the best people 'to go kayaking with' as they realize you can't escape the connection to all other aspects of kayaking. Its not a matter of 'if' you will come up against other issues like death, closed rivers, polluted rivers, restricted access - but when. It's a positive phase of maturity in any 'risk' or 'adventure' sport when this approach becomes the norm instead of the exception.
Water - its use, misuse and its right to run free will be one of the defining global issues of the 21st century. Our issues as kayakers in Godzone are: access, water quality and hydro electricity. Access to rivers is becoming an issue at a number of sites around NZ. Please treat any access to private land as a privilege and a cooperative venture between you, the landowner and the rest of the kayaking community. Support any NZRCA initiatives or submissions to resolve access problems and perhaps we can keep it open and free. Hydro schemes continue to pop up around the country and power companies are turning their attention to our smaller, steeper rivers. An unfortunate argument used in environmental hearings recently is that 'if it isn't in the guidebook it isn't used'. This is nonsensical and illogical. This guidebook does not, nor cannot, claim to be the sole measure of recreational quality or value of a particular run or river.
Look around the world - clean, free flowing kayaking water is a rarity. At the moment we are lucky in NZ but our heads are buried in the proverbial river bed if we continue to let it be polluted as much as it is. Dairy runoff by giant corporation owned, 'profit above all', farms is one of our biggest offenders. Clean green NZ at milking time becomes 'not clean and running green (cow shit)'. It is a disgrace - and an offence. Any number of our world famous 'upper sections' of river become some of the dirtiest water you could imagine once they hit the dairyland. In the six years from 1993 to 1996, NZ's dairy cattle numbers increased by 766,000 - nearly 22%. That's the sewage equivalent of nearly eleven million more people flopping untreated onto the ground and, in many cases, straight into our rivers.
Despite all mitigating factors in place (except to not go kayaking) accidents continue to happen. Many of the incidents involve international paddlers. NZ is an adventure playground but it is also a dangerous playground. If you are used to having river descriptions stroke by stroke or walking wide, fast and predictable trails or adventuring near roads, paddling rivers with regular flow levels, or not having to think about whether that abseil anchor will hold or why you are lost in the dark in thick bush and where are those steri-strips you thought you had, then start slow and learn. We have an understated yet highly competent culture covering a broad range of outdoor skills in NZ and people seem to get trapped by that.
The information contained in this book stands as a useful snapshot of the values and beliefs the whitewater community holds at the start of the 21st century. By virtue of being included any of the runs are of exceptional value. The individual character of each is only a small part of the bigger picture which makes Aotearoa wai huka such a valuable resource. Remove any of these runs and the picture becomes fragmented and of less value. It is in everyone's interest to work for, and preserve what we have left, and to foster symbiotic relationships with other environmentally-sound user groups.
Kayaking and canoesport is not just a weekend adrenal activity, but a vital human development medium for those fortunate to have been touched by it. Two of the best things we can do is have a large group of river users and a written record of use. I hope this book continues to serve both goals: introduce folk to new river areas and document their use.
Have fun - be safe
Graham Charles, Oct 2006
Make sure that you are the first to have one of these. The 3rd edition was amazing, can't wait to see this one! Please go to New Zealand Recreational Canoeing Association to reserve your copy today!
Cheers!
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