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By Mark Corti

With the onset of wetter weather, river levels and speed have become more variable - as those who were paddling on Sunday discovered!  It's worth a timely reminder that our usually-innocuous river can be surprisingly powerful when it is moving.  Good practice includes:

• staying away from the orange booms above sluices.  They're there for a reason, and a capsize at this point on the river would be disastrous - they're not handy mooring points!  (This applies throughout the year, but particularly now)
• keeping clear of weirs and automatic gates.  They can open and close without warning and quickly change from a fun chute to a swimmer-retaining stopper.
• stay away from trees!  
• make sure your group stays together.  This applies to peer paddles as much as to "led" trips - make sure you know who is paddling with you, and where they are.
• faster water implies moving earlier.  Moored boats, trees and other obstacles will come up quicker than you expect - plan ahead and move early
• consider tagging on to a more-experienced group or paddler if the river is faster than expected.  If it's much faster or higher than you've paddled before, consider delaying your trip for another day.

Stay safe!

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