Don't Rock The Boat Baby

There is something about rafting down a river that brings to mind the song "Don't Rock the Boat Baby" by The Hughes Corporation. I am sure everyone knows the song, but if not here are a few of the lyrics from the song.

So I'd like to know where, you got the notion 
said I'd like to know where, you got the notion 

to rock the boat, don't rock the boat baby 
rock the boat, don't tip the boat over 
rock the boat, don't rock the boat baby 
rock the boat-t-t-t-t 

I Have tried to upload a few videos of  the rafting trip, but an error shows up every time I do. So I will have to show you the videos when I see you.

We started our rafting trip Saturday afternoon. We started down the river and trying to get a rhythm as a group. The raft we were on is a good size raft. We had 9 people in the raft.

The likelihood of tipping a raft of this size over is very small. So we started out and about 10 minutes into the trip we get stuck on a rock. The raft starts turning and it catches on something sharp. The front left side of the raft gets a huge hole in it which deflates 1/5 of the raft. One person almost goes tumbling into the water, but someone grabs him. We managed to make it off the rock and to the side of the river, but there was no hope for fixing the raft that day. 

We loaded up and headed to our camp spot which was not much of a camp spot because it was on the grass in front of a school. 

The company that the trip was through had a guide and safety kayakers, people to haul the equipment, set up and take down camp, and do the cooking and cleaning. 

The next day we started from about the same place as the day before. The river was a little higher because it is monsoon season. We started down the river and everything was going well. The river was high and moving fast, and the rapids were the biggest the guide had ever been on in that river. Some rapids were a class 5. The front of the raft seemed to be the worst spot to be in. Every time we hit a set of rapids they would get covered in water. We hit one set of rapids that were a class five rapid. We started down and the raft turned a little sideways and hit a big wave, causing the front right person to go tumbling into the river. He floated off a 4 or 5 foot rock into mountainous waves of rapids. The raft spun back to straight and the river took us to the left of the river and over another rock where the boat tipped and the front right person fell out. Some home he managed to hold on and got back into the raft before the raft slammed into a rock. One of the kayakers stopped the other person and helped him back to the raft. 

When the first person got back into the raft, he told us how falling out caught him off guard. He was yelling when he fell out and so when he went over the rock and into the water he didn't have any air when he went under the water. So he said if we fall out don't scream, just breathe. 

Well we continued down the river and we came to a spot where we pulled the boat to the bank so the guide could check the path we should take down the next set of rapids. We got on the rapids and they seemed just like all the other rapids. There were big waves and and the front people were getting soaked. The boat started to turn and then pretty soon we were going backwards. Then the boat kept turning and we got caught on a rock. The water was moving fast and the raft started to go over the rock, but instead of float over it started to tilt. We tried to put more weight on the other side of the raft, but the water pressure was too strong. Finally we just had to jump. We all jumped into the water and waves were crashing down on us. Some people held onto the raft. Myself and a couple others managed to swim to the bank of the river. One person, an Iron Man finisher swam to the bank while still holding onto his paddle. One girl made it to a rock in the middle of the river, and others floated down where the kayakers could help them. It was a ton of fun.

I went rafting when I was 14 years old and that three day trip was a lot scarier even though the rapids were not quite as big. So I was a little nervous for this trip because I thought that flipping into the water would be really scary, but it was actually a lot of fun. 

Those were the only two times we lost people out of the raft. However, after the raft tipped over and everyone got back in, I somehow got in at the front of the raft, so I thought for sure I would be falling out again, but I just got drenched by mountainous waves.

This was the rafting group. From left to right: Safety kayaker, Oscar, Emma, James, James' Girlfriend, Sam, Tom, Tyson, Cassie, and Mason. The front row left is another kayaker, and the right was the guide.