Sketchy rescue on the River Nevis 

Its suprisingly hard to tow someone to the side of a fast moving river, there is a lot of drag and in white water the current pulls on them so much. I dont think its something you could do in Scimitar gorge on the Nevis, which is pretty nasty to go the wrong route down. Regarding the quick release, we all have harnesses on our bouyancy aids. So we rope into them. They have high friction quick releases on them, so you can ditch it if you want, but they dont release accidentally.

@@2120edm fair play to you for a successful outcome on a difficult river. There's not a lot of time in these situations and the first rule of don't make things worse is easy to break if too gung ho. I've never carried a bag on my body but seeing you go for the bag in the boat is the first time I've thought bagging from the boat is the right response. It's always easier from an armchair. 100+ rivers on 3 continents, but never caught the Nevis in condition, and I'd certainly not like to have some of our adventures scrutinized by all and sundry.

I think most paddlers doing grade 4-5 rivers will do a swift water safety course at some point. Most of those courses will teach a basic z-drag system for pulling out stuck boats. We each carry a basic pin kit of at least 2 screw gate carabiners, a 3-5m sling, a pulley, a prussic and 15-20m of throw line. That way no matter who gets pinned, everyone else has the kit to get them out.

The quick release belt on the astral BA

It’s a really tricky spot. The eddy on river left has a powerful flow pushing under an undercut. On the right the river flows down a channel that has a kind of cave/siphon. None of it is a good spot for swimming 🫣

I used a GoPro session for many years. Upgraded to a hero 7 black recently but don’t like it very much because it does weird things to blue kayak kit. In general though I love them. Its really cool to have the memories of great trips with friends. With both of them I used the official GoPro 3M curved mounts. They are super strong. I had to get the last one off with a screwdriver it was on so tight. As a backup GoPro also sell some small circular plastic loops. included in the packet are some super strong lengths of cord, which I then tie the GoPro onto. That saved mine recently when I managed to head butt a big rock. I like the aluminium cases sold by puluz too. They are very strong and only a bit heavier than the plastic ones.

@@2120edm thank you so much 🙏 I’ll try to get a kit with a lot of mounts to try different POV and i’ll probably buy this aluminum case if you say that it is really strong

Haha. Indeed. We are not quite as smooth as your videos. 😀

@@2120edm journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

Benny Hill music would be even better for this carnage.

Didn't look like he had an easy swim. That rock sluice could easily kill someone, and that next drop was pretty substantial too. I wouldn't want to be out of the boat there.

Its on the west coast of Scotland. Always love the look of your rivers over in the states. Just a bit far for us.

In kayaking we are all paranoid about having anything extra attached to us. Ropes, slings, bags etc, can get caught on branches and trees and are a real drowning hazard. So it all goes in the boat. In rafting the guides sometimes have throw bags on their back, but my impression is they do different types of rivers to us - bigger and less tree infested.

Hahhaha

Best way to learn is to practise. What rivers are your favourite?

If you keep plugging pour over drops you are going to get a beating sooner then later.

Lol. I think you summarised kayaking in scotland perfectly. There was a plan, it didn't work, improvisation followed, everyone survived, we found the cars, then went to the pub to debrief

Wow