Yesterday I drove up to the mountains to a place called Sogeri. There is some white water there at a place called Crystal rapids. As the name suggests its a beautiful place with clear cool water winding through lush jungle on one side and a large well maintained clearing on the other. I had been for a paddle that morning out over the reef so I still had my 11" NSP on the roof and decided to give it a go in the river. After much deliberation I decided to wear a legrope as the river was not running very fast and the section I was attempting was quite gentle. I figured it would stop the board washing away and any trouble I'd do a quick release.

The first thing I did was remove the fin and never having done this before it was quite interesting attempting to paddle to say the least! The Yawing was out of control and I was sideways as much as forwards but after a bit of experimentation I was able to get some sort of directional stability by sinking a rail and using my paddle as a kind of fin.

That was in the still water. In the white water where I was going through some turbulent currents I found the board tracked a lot better (but still no comparison to having a fin) and I was able to keep it going straight merely by shifting my weight and using some very quick shallow strokes. I managed two sections and then looked at a third that was quite shallow and attempted a descent. This was pushing it and I very quickly ran aground. As I stepped off the board I found myself in a position where I was downstream from the board and attempting to hold it. An edge got caught under the water stream and all of sudden the power was ON! I was using all of my strength and not inconsiderable bulk to keep the board stationary.

Bear in mind that being my first time down a river I had chosen the gentlest stretch of a pretty benign river. There were small children playing happily not 10 feet from where I struggled with the board but when you have 11' of board hit by the current it gets serious pretty quick.

After struggling across some rocks I pulled into the deeper bit and spent the next hour (it seemed) giving the little kids rides on the nose of my board. It was a really enjoyable afternoon but there was a price to be paid. I have got some serious dings on the underneath of my board and one or two punctures right through. Going to have to break out the epoxy I think and maybe will look at acquiring an inflatable board before I try this again.

I've never paddled an inflatable so cant say whether they'd be too bendy for rivers but I dont think epoxy construction is the right way to go. Maybe something plastic like they make sea kayaks from would be the way.

Nah unfortunately I didnt. Ran out of time and wanted to pick some up in Brisbane but nobody in that city had them in stock in the 36hrs I was there. Its a shame as I think two smaller fins would have been ok on most of the river section.

However Revvin posted this in the previous thread that looks the biz

Revvin said...

g'day lobes,

you can get a converter that goes into the NSP fin slots that allow you to put FCS fins in.

http://www.newsurfproject.com/index.php?cccpage=fcs_adapter

I had an old "southpoint" mal before they changed the name to NSP for their lower range and used one of these for the sidebiters.

The rocks are not very sharp at all. Its a type of volcanic rock that is rough but not sharp or particularly abrasive.

I've not heard much about Uli boards bending before but i suppose its possible. To be honest if I had to guess I'd think its more about C4 not having the capability to produce inflatables.