We got this idea to learn the basics of white water kayaking a.k.a. river kayaking. After getting advised by uncle Google, we figure out that Tena, a city located 186km from Quito, is one of THE world's best kayaking spots.
Travelling to Tena from Quito costed us a fortune of 6 USD :-)
Travelling to Tena from Quito costed us a fortune of 6 USD :-)
That's it. The 4-day river kayak course is booked. Let´s see if we can learn how to do the Esquimo roll, which is the main focus of the course.
We also hope the water will not be as freezing as the rivers down in Chile.
We also hope the water will not be as freezing as the rivers down in Chile.
Technically speaking, below is a summary of the skills taught and practiced during these four intensive days.
a) Find "hedi" a calm zone behind a rock where you can rest.
b) Detect "hueco" meaning "hole" in Spanish which is formed behind a big rock, that can be very dangerous because the water constantly rolls back behind it like a washing machine. You dont want to be stuck there... if so exit the kayak and make a ball of yourself; current will ultimately push you out of the "hueco"
c) Identify "ola" meaning "wave" in Spanish that is a more or less big wave (can be huge) formed by a big stone deep underwater; hit the wave with the front of the kayak otherwise you ll flip straight eheh. Another option is to do 180 degree with your kayak just before the wave and just when your tail hits the wave, you strongly paddle in order to surf and stay on the wave and then let it take you going backwards...
d) Avoid shallow water and rocks when you see many white dots on the water made by many rocks at the surface.
e) As well, we learnt turning in the current without capsizing once the kayak is perpendicular to the current. You put the paddle far on the side and continuously sliding it back and forth while bending your kayak on the same side to help orienting it in the sens of the current.
f) Furthermore, we also practiced a lot how to rescue (i.e. bring back to the shore) your unfortunate buddy by having him grabbing your kayak either front or rear of it.
Lots of techniques, lots of fun, and knackered after each day going to bed at 8-9pm and falling asleep while watching a movie.. eheh
Before the Esquimo roll, you learn how to eject yourself from the kayak... this technique is preferably avoided if possible as the kayak is full if water and you got to swim with the paddle and the kayak to the shore in the current.
We trained practicing the "ferry" basically crossing the river from one side to the other one by orienting your kayak in the current.. always in the current..
And again and again, training step-by-step the Esquimo roll, here below first without paddle to get the hip movement and the arms correctly positioned like if we had a paddle.
And of course we practiced more than 100 times the Esquimo roll flipping either on the right or the left side, first in quiet water ("piscina" meaning swimming pool) and then rough shaky water, without paddling or while paddling in order to reproduce real conditions...pfiuuu scary sometimes
View from underwater up-side down.. not really sexy in the green blurry Amazonian river wáter
We also learnt how to rescue somebody who can't roll using the front of the kayak and hitting the returned kayak so the person who is up-side down can find the kayak nose with his hands and does not need to eject himself...Got to be quick there..as you panic easily when you are stuck under water the head down.
Our great instructor Leandro explaining and demonstrating for 1000 times the specific paddle movement.
Francois getting pissed off and getting angry not being able to roll on the first attempt.. something wrong with the paddle movement underwater...
Hitting the water again and again..
After many hours spent in the river, practicing again and again, we finally got it. We were so happy to roll and roll again.... just so fun.... when it works ;-)
Getting briefed on where to go through the next rapids...
Weronika, determined, sometimes experienced hard times to master the Esquimo roll, but not as much as Francois.. grrr
Sometimes under rain... :-(
And quite quickly sunny again... :-)
We have riden a river class II (rio Anzu) of 24km and the last day we tackled a class III river (rio Jatunyacu) of 27km. It was great fun to be literally up side-down and underwater! :)
Trust us, this is quite scary and is kicking you up with adrenaline... but you also feel so safe because you know you can roll back to the surface anytime without ejecting yourself from the kayak.
Anecdote: we both practiced with our swim goggles which is very comfy as each time you roll you dont have water drops falling into your eyes.. also the first day our eyes were so red even if it is fresh water.
Anecdote: we forgot to insert the SD card in the GoPro for the last day which was the best! What a Kraffterie... it continues...