On our way up to Nelson last week we thought we'd stop at Maruia Falls for a bit of a gander and to stretch our legs.

After checking out the 10 metre falls which were created by the 1929 Murchison Earthquake we were approached by a dreadlocked French chap who asked us whether we could take his photo as he paddled over the falls in his kayak. Always up for a bit of excitement I grabbed the video camera out of the car and setup at the top of the falls.

Check out the video below. Please note I only start laughing when I realize he isn't going to drown

Tama wrote:Check out the video below. Please note I only start laughing when I realize he isn't going to drown

it's a well known fact white water paddlers are all nuts!!

as evidence in support look no further than HDC

I've never done that, every time Ive been up there its been too big or too small, or my willy fell off.

He needed more speed as he went in to it then he wouldnt have got rolled back. Bit pushy though, huh?

Also, technical fail: he swam at the bottom. And you really needed to have someone at the bottom with a throwbag, at least.

He is fucked in the head going paddling by himself.

As HDC pointed out he's a fuckwit paddling by himself, it's a pretty easy drop yet he made it look pretty hard. We run a Otago Uni Club trip to Murchison every year and send the punters off it on the way home - done 4 days paddling and swam every day, no worries.

weathy wrote:As HDC pointed out he's a fuckwit paddling by himself, it's a pretty easy drop yet he made it look pretty hard. We run a Otago Uni Club trip to Murchison every year and send the punters off it on the way home - done 4 days paddling and swam every day, no worries.

I had wondered how hard the falls rated for normal paddlers. To someone like me who's very good at almost drowning and not much else it looked pretty damn hairy.

Is this the kayak version of a 10 metre huck to flat?

Tama wrote:

weathy wrote:As HDC pointed out he's a fuckwit paddling by himself, it's a pretty easy drop yet he made it look pretty hard. We run a Otago Uni Club trip to Murchison every year and send the punters off it on the way home - done 4 days paddling and swam every day, no worries.

I had wondered how hard the falls rated for normal paddlers. To someone like me who's very good at almost drowning and not much else it looked pretty damn hairy.

Is this the kayak version of a 10 metre huck to flat?

All you have to do is go off it straight and go into a tuck so you pin dive into the bottom for a smooth landing. Then depending on ability either roll back up or pull your spray deck off and go for a swim.
Huck to flat = bad. Quite a few people have compressed vertebrae from the impact of landing flat at the bottom.

All sorts of crazy tricks can be done off it too: http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=WAltq6EaTCo