Near death river boarding in new zealand

[djsteepwave]

maybe you shouldn't go down a river head first?

[ericsurf6]

near death?

[colime]

i have been slammed in that hole in my kayak its all good take a small thrashing but it flushes

[xratedkiwi]

whats the matter baa baa, was what i was saying un-comfortably close to the truth?

[baabaa99]

@xratedkiwi No, actually what your saying is nowhere near the truth, it's just typical of an uninformed raft guide who thinks they know everything about being on a river

[NarleyDude07]

i done that about 5 years ago on contiki . this was dangerous as all fuck as it had been pissing down with rain so the river was really wild ! . a lot of people were complaining that it was dangerous but the people running it continued on anyway . . .

[baabaa99]

@NarleyDude07 - I guess that would mean it's a good thing that the company has changed owners since that time. Not that the previous owners ever operated if there was too much water. If it was unsafe to operate they didn't operate. Once in the river the least dangerous way is to continue on the river.

[geckoadventure]

near death experience where - you did not get held in the rapid that I could see? Sorry laughable and yes im a riverboarding guide.

[ebpotashner]

When I first saw this video, I thought you were the guy who wento down the middle. After clicking on the link I got to here and read the the comment that the guy who went dow the middle got a broken neck, and that happened three years ago. A broken nect is BAD news.

[paddleDR]

weak sauce...

[paddleDR]

@paddleDR - i cant believe that this video has 27,000 views, and that i was one of them.

[hippiejohngray]

he's the only one who had any fun

[Jaylo64]

Near Death ? Uh, maybe not...Been thru much more aggressive rapids than this. You are a DRAMA QUEEN !!! Save it and stop clogging bullshit on the boards. Thank you and have a nice day.

[CameronSavage]

there is nothing near death about this

[regalcharger]

haha shame , maybe you should try and listen next time. lol

[tweaknee]

NOT EVEN "near death." An experienced rider would have fought to stay in and surfed it.

[PeacefulandFree]

ummm or not.

[Whitehawkjedi]

But, we did all laugh about it later. Fun, and terrifying.  And freeking cold, but after you are in the water you dont' really feel that, on accound you are so numb, and full of adrenaline. If it's your first time, it can be super scarry, i imagine if i cold do it again, i'd be a lot better off. No Girl friend to watch for would also make it easyer. haha. Too freeking funny.

All my life, in Terrace B.C., don't go near the river you may fall in, haha i just jumped in that s**t. haha.

[Whitehawkjedi]

I did that only the river was freeking higher than s**t, faster than S**t and even the people before us said F**k this we aren't going in there. And im talking about the guids!! Haha, then to make it better, a narual dam broke up stream just before we went in. Our guids said we'll let it pass and we'll go. haha, we went in and sticks were getting caught between our legs so every one got glomped together. It was like a survival of the fittest. Then we caught up with the rest of the sticks

[xratedkiwi]

the 2 guys that really subbed out were wearing different gear from the rest, therfore guides. 100 odd people run that a day in summer, it's called maneater, on the roaring meg run on the kawarau river in Queenstown, NZ. It's pretty flushly, locals kayak surf in there regularly, broken neck? b/s theres plenty of ways to break your neck in queenstown, and thats not 1 of them. Cool trip to do? definetly, near death? yeah right

[weemankai]

Oh lol how you comment looks so stupid right now...

[xratedkiwi]

dude, do your research, the chick who died got wrapped around a rock, way up stream, different kettle of fish than a massive wave, my commisserations to the family of course. Any time u are in moving water there is risk involved, but sum1 dieing doesn{t mean sumthing is particularly dangerous, the drive there is the most dangerous part of the day, as is with most 'extreme sports'

[weemankai]

Yeah I know but yeah. I did it and the waves are the scary part. The worste bit is when they say left left and no matter how hard you try you go right haha.

I'm from Aus, but I heard they got taken to court or something?

[xratedkiwi]

they got slammed in court, they stuffed up big time, none of the guides had throw ropes, sure they probably wouldnt have got her off fast enough, but they were operating outside their concession, the rules said each guide needed a throw rope, and there should be at least 1 rescue line on each trip, but the mentality was that it was better to not have that gear so they could move faster in the water and prevent it rather than fix it after sum1 got stuck. Im a rafty in qtown, and river boarding

[baabaa99]

@xratedkiwi Assuming you must be a river boarding guide, as you seem to know what regulations were in place? If not, I would suggest that it would be a wise decision not to make uninformed comments.

[xratedkiwi]

is 1 of the more extreme whitewater experiances u can have, but there with high water rafting trips and canyoning. With rafting if u have a competent, sober guide and u can listen its a cruise in the park, but river boarding you are in control of your own destiny, your own steering and power in the guts of the river. The nz martime saftey aurthority is now in charge of river boarding here, imposing minimum standards, which will make the activity reasonably controled.

[baabaa99]

@xratedkiwi The activity has always been more than reasonably controlled, having an authority on board who do not have a single person who has any experience in riverboarding, does not instantly make things controlled!

[therealdrbyte]

its a standard punter trip in nz no danger.

you will always get flushed out

[nickendrick]

The first guy is sick!

[scottmasson01]

Dude that's a sick hole the towbacks like 6 ft!

[baabaa99]

Nice, yeah if you look closely the first guy comes up about 20m downstream, he did that on purpose! As for someone getting a broken neck, I'd like to know where that story came from!!

[bigandy666]

yeah i took my grandma on this

[inglespat]

the death part is if any of those guys got sucked back into that hole, like the 8th guy or the 15th. It would have taken a Herculean effort to get out. Wow!

[evo2k06]

The guy who goes down the middle ended up with a broken neck

[dr0d84]

the first guy that went down?

[baabaa99]

@evo2k06 Gotta love the uploader making outlandish comments to try and up the ratings! Definitely not a broken neck there, just a lot of fun!!

[srynmsbntkn]

did the first guy resurface?

[seizetheweakened]

big hole

[raftingguy]

theres a rock that makes the hole but i didn't see anything bad

[wheresgeorgenow]

i dont see any near death stuff...