Having just returned from a 4 day battering, I do have to admit that river kayaking is way more challenging than the leisurely sea kayaking I’ve been accustomed to. In sea kayaking, there really isn’t the feeling of mortal danger associated with capsizing. What I mean by this is that there are no nearby rapids that pose the threat of sucking you in and churning you round like a washing machine. I exaggerate, but honestly, that’s how it feels like going under. The second major difference is in the kayaks themselves. River kayaks have this unique setup where you are actually attached in a fixed position to the kayak via a ‘skirt’ and some elaborate leg and seat arrangements. The idea is to transfer every motion in your body to your kayak for better sensitivity and control. Conversely, what this also means is that the kayak is extremely unstable for balanced challenged individuals like me! Just to illustrate, it took me less than 20 paddle strokes before I capsized my kayak - embarrassing @_@ Last but not least, this kayak arrangement also ensures that you stay attached to the kayak even upon capsizing... a strange claustrophobic and inflexible position to be in under water. Imagine your head/upper body left dangling while your legs are being held in the air. Now switch the air with murky muddy water… That’s what I mean!
So what happens when you do capsize? There are 3 main options…
1 – Execute an Eskimo roll. Literally right the kayak using a combination of torso, hip, and paddle motions. Am led to believe that this roll was invented by the Eskimos in the polar regions, hence its name.
2 – If option 1 fails, call for help by pounding on the base of your kayak (while capsized) till a fellow kayaker appears by your side. Then using the nose of you saviors kayak as support, pull yourself up right with a strong flick from your hip
3 – If all else fails, bail by pulling your ‘skirt’ off, kick yourself out of the boat, and swim for shore. This is usually followed by some 10 mins of frantic work from the guides as they try to secure your runaway kayak and paddle in the fast flowing currents
As you can probably guess, option 1 is easy to talk about, but extremely difficult to do. Even after the watchful eyes of our guides throughout the trip, I was only able to ekimo-roll myself 2-3 times under controlled conditions i.e. in calm water by our camp site. Nevertheless, this is an ‘achievement’ I’m quite proud of. So don’t laugh k!
I shared my 4 day adventure with a young Danish couple, Laerke and Thomas. Of the 4 days, 1 was spent on the Phewa Lake in Pokhara learning the bare basics, while the last 3 days involved a back to nature trip down the River Seti. Seti is a Grade II-II+ river that in rafting terms has rapids which are as mild as you can get. However, on a tiny kayak, every tiny ripple is felt, amplifying the magnitude of excitement and fear by a factor of 10
Watching everyday village life pass me by on the river banks had a very calming and relaxing effect. We were also lucky enough to enjoy rain free weather and starlit skies every night. The night skyline was also pleasantly interrupted my flickering fireflies. For basic amenities, we had a hole as our toilet and the sandy river banks as our bed =) All that being said, I think we were still pretty spoiled and pampered throughout the trip. We had a total of 4 guides with us. 2 kayak instructors, and 2 other guides who ported all our equipment in a fully loaded raft. They did all the heavy lifting, cooking, camp setup, and even ‘loo’ setup for us. Please see the associated pics in the photo gallery section. To cap off the trip, I spent the 5 hour bus ride back to Pokhara on the rooftop of a local bus. An awesome experience in itself!
All in all, it was a fun and exhausting trip. Picked up many muscle aches, bruises and insect bites along the way, but definitely think they were worth it. Would definitely recommend this or a similar trip to anyone who’s looking to try something different. Over and out for now...
