# Need help with a rafting scenario for a novel



## paulk (Apr 24, 2006)

Chapter 1:

Guide stumbles up with a three month old beard and a bottle of 10 high whiskey in his PFD. "Get in the F'n raft he groans curmudgeonly" 
The Texan/ Iowan/ Nebraskan tourists' day turns from a pleasant, scenic float in the colorado backcountry to an ego trip from hell, led by none other than a man who's cologne is that of wet, moldy, neoprene. "Why the F are these custies so damn small. Whatever, fun's over back in the raft" (may want to check for plagiarism from the movie Damned river here, in fact, you may just want to watch that movie. There is an awkward rapey vibe in there, but that seems to happen with all river movies anyway) 

The Scene ends with the guide puking off the raft and saying that he accidently swallowed a rocky mountain tetzi fly. Where are the boyscouts??? Guess we'll have to wait for chapter 2.


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## GoodTimes (Mar 9, 2006)

Although I have not run the Zambezi...I've watched enough video of each and every rapid to feel like I have a decent idea of its character.

You said you want to make it as exciting and "realistic" as possible....I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's impossible to navigate the entire length with one paddle without flipping...I don't care who the guide is. One paddle in a raft with six people is pretty much worthless in a river with that much power.

Make it two paddles....and you have a more believable scenario...and in this case the "guide" would be yelling quite frantically at the youngster to "dig it in you little shit!!!" Or something like that....


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## swiftwater15 (Feb 23, 2009)

*Interesting*

As tempting and easy as a smart-ass answer would be, I'll offer this. I rafted the Zambezi in buckets boats (Avon Pros) in 1989. If I recall correctly, there are was a good canyon to hike out on the Zimbabwe side just above rapid 5. If the raft was a non self-bailer and I had a bucket, i'd fill the raft thigh deep with water, put the kids in the bow, and try to keep it straight with the one paddle until I could hit the right bank. If the raft was a self bailer I'd probably do the same, I suppose. However, the very thought scares the crap out of me.


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## bob larrabee (Apr 4, 2007)

I smell Kevin Bacon


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## Avatard (Apr 29, 2011)

its always effed up when you lose a passenger and you can't spot them anywhere. Or the group gets split up.

taking the rapids upside down holding the sides of the raft is pretty messed up too. Plus someone could be under the boat or struggling to get out from under it ...


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## richp (Feb 27, 2005)

Hi,

Don't forget to work crocodiles in there somewhere. And maybe hippos if you have them on any of the flat stretches.

FWIW.

Rich Phillips


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## Dave Frank (Oct 14, 2003)

I think you may be looking for events as simple as getting worked in holes, pinned on rocks and yelling for the kids to "high-side" either while pinned against a rock or getting surfed in a ledge hole. Losing a couple kids here and there, and pulling them back in could be scary. Maybe you could flip the raft, but unless it happened right above a super flat stretch, finding all the kids would be pretty hard to believe.

Waves breaking overhead that swamped the boat for a time could be worked in easily.

Weird diagonal features that felt like they almost flipped the boat, but didn't, could be very real.

Croc or hippo sightings, even without any blatant attack, would certainly raise the stakes.

A couple failed efforts at landing the boat would be pretty believable.

Good luck with your novel.


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## carlfordnathan (Jan 23, 2014)

*Thanks*

Hey everyone, thanks for all the feedback. It's been incredibly helpful. 

For those wondering, the plan is definitely to flip the boat at some point. I don't want anyone to die, but one kid, who is a good swimmer, will have to go and save his step-brother, who isn't a good swimmer. I suppose I can make it towards the end of a rapid so the survival is a bit more realistic.

Let me ask this: I'm under the impression that in a typical commercial, self-bailing raft, the guide would be in the back without a paddle while everyone else is in front of him with paddles. And the guide would shout instructions to them, right? If so, given the scenario of only having one or two paddles, would the guide probably take it upon himself to move farther up in the raft and do the paddling himself? If so, what would he tell the kids to do? Would he try to position them in the raft to keep it balanced or something? Or would he tell them all to get into one place and just hang on?

Dave Frank nailed what I'm looking for: yelling at them to "high-side" and such. It's a kid's adventure story, so it's being told from the point-of-view of the main 12-year-old. So I'm trying to figure out what the guide would be instructing him and the other kids to do as he tries to get them safely through this part of the river.

And I'm guessing there are parts of the river that would be easier to manage that he could aim for, right? I know under normal circumstances, with adults and everyone having life vests and paddles, you'd aim for the more "fun" parts; but in this situation, I'm guessing he'd probably want to find the easiest way through.

Like I said before, I'm not necessarily looking for him to actually pull off getting them through the river without flipping. I wouldn't think that's possible at all. I think what I'm really looking for is figuring out what he'd at least _try_ to do. I can probably have him succeed a couple of times before finally flipping.

Thanks again!
Nathan


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## DoStep (Jun 26, 2012)

Avatard said:


> Plus someone could be under the boat or struggling to get out from under it ...


Rather than struggling, they might be in the air space of an upside boat hiding from the bad guy?


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## briandburns (Jan 12, 2010)

carlfordnathan said:


> ...Let me ask this: I'm under the impression that in a typical commercial, self-bailing raft, the guide would be in the back without a paddle while everyone else is in front of him with paddles. And the guide would shout instructions to them, right?...


Guide needs a paddle to steer with, unless he's using a stern mounted oar frame.
You're right about the shouting though!


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## bigben (Oct 3, 2010)

in the majority of the zambezie videos i've seen the commercials are running stern mounts w/ paddle assist from the custies


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## upshitscreek (Oct 21, 2007)

bear claw river knife fight in a class V! 

ending with a losing bad guy getting eaten by several crocs at the end of a rapid.. 

and slashing the other rafts at the put-in is a rafter's dream and would be super savvy to slow a pursuit.

running it all by a nearly full moonlight would make it somewhat more possibly real.

the knife is attached to the pfd, btw...










all fine examples of why i don't write for a living.

good luck.


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## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

Dave Frank said:


> Waves breaking overhead that swamped the boat for a time could be worked in easily.
> 
> Weird diagonal features that felt like they almost flipped the boat, but didn't, could be very real.
> 
> ...


Except for the crocs and hippos, that sounds kinda like my last run on the Upper Colorado! 

But seriously, from what I've seen in Zambezi videos, a stern mount oar rig would be about the only way for anyone to have a chance of navigating Class IV big water and you'd still be in for a heck of a ride. Pulling a swimmer back into the boat and having them puke water is a dose of reality. 

In a typical raft, the guide would definitely have a paddle, likely a longer one with a larger blade for better leverage and power. Or would have a small oar frame where she's seated in the very back of the boat and rowing (stern mount frame) with the passengers paddling. You'd want any passengers / paddlers to be seated to distribute weight evenly around the boat.

River knives are a common guide accessory and like upshicreek says, can set the stage for a knife fight or slashing any other boats.

In turbulent, powerful water, a swimmer (someone who'd gone overboard) without a personal flotation device (PFD or life jcaket) may not surface for miles. Having a set of PFDs in a boat that's rigged and waiting for the next day's tourists, and having a bad guy drown from lack of one, would be a good way to show your target audience the need for the most essential piece of whitewater safety gear. Seriously, please don't try to show responsible people running whitewater without PFDs - that's the main cause of drownings in our sport.

There are some good possible plot devices above.

So to your questions:


> --Assuming the scenario, what would the guide tell the kids to do in the raft since they don't have paddles?
> --I'm guessing that the weight of five 12-year-olds would affect a commercial raft differently than the weight of eight adults. What would be some of the dangers they would face, and how would the guide try to negate those dangers?


1) the kids without paddles would be told to get down into the bottom of the boat where they'd be least likely to get thrown out.

2) the lighter boat would take away from the boat's momentum, making it more likely to get caught in holes, or flipped by waves that curl back upstream. It would also make it easier for the guide to navigate but he'd still have a tough time manuevering the boat with only one paddle in the boat.

A second paddler (the biggest, strongest kid) would make a huge difference in being able to navigate the boat. Both paddlers would be near the mid-point of the boat with one on each side. 

Good luck!

-AH


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## carlfordnathan (Jan 23, 2014)

Andy H. said:


> So to your questions:
> 
> 1) the kids without paddles would be told to get down into the bottom of the boat where they'd be least likely to get thrown out.
> 
> ...


This is perfect info! Now that you mention it, I think I can get away with there being two paddles in the boat and the guide instructing the biggest kid to help him. Instructing the rest of the kids to get in the bottom of the boat could work as well.

Basically, what's happening is that the villain is trying to off these kids, but he has to make it look like an accident. They've been wanting to raft since they arrived in the country but have been too young. So the villain has trapped them at the Boiling Pot and has his men bring a raft down. He puts the kids in it and throws them one paddle. He's trying to make it look as though they stole the raft and went out on their own, not knowing what they're doing. At the last minute, the guide, who until now has been one of the villain's men, runs and hops in the raft with them while the villain and his men are distracted by another kid, who is escaping. Since the villain and his gunmen are on the shore, the only way to go is the river, thus the initial scenario I explained. The guide has to get the kids to an exit point safely. So I can make it that the guide was able to grab one more paddle as he ran across the shore to the raft.


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## upshitscreek (Oct 21, 2007)

there's gotta be room for a 'up shits creek without a paddle' joke in there somewhere.

i want the book dedicated to me too.


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## GC Guide (Apr 10, 2009)

The guide definitely needs a paddle in the back to steer. The kids with paddles are for forward momentum or quick turns. I would suggest 3 paddles, one of which could be lost in the big flip with two remaining to eddy out.


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## Gremlin (Jun 24, 2010)

I can understand the premise of a group of kids wanting to raft and, perhaps heading out on their own, and their certain demise seeming like an accident. Perhaps the gunman are so distracted, and the current so swift, that the raft is out of sight before a gunman realizes he can shoot holes in the raft ensuring their failure. I don't know why the villain would give them even one paddle but perhaps the wise guide would think to grab two paddles, if that is all he can get, to save the kids.

I hope the kid distracting the villain is able to run down river and join the rest of the group.


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## jakebrown98 (Mar 4, 2008)

An experienced paddle guide needs to be able to get most of the work done without relying on his crew. Commercial paddle crews suck and are unreliable. Additionally, most experienced guides will tell you they would rather have a crew of girl scouts over a crew of boy scouts any day of the year. Adolescent boys are some of the worst paddlers as they are in full retard mode most of the time, engrossed in water fights or pushing each other with paddles and not listening to instructions. Girl Scouts follow orders and have a degree of apprehension that keeps them from acting out much when they are nervous--the opposite of boys. These boys would be pretty scared, so as long as they aren't in full panic mode crying for mamma I imagine they would make for a decent crew if they actually had paddles. 

I think much drama can be made from the guide's impromtu mea culpa/safety talk above the first drop. He's going to put the fear of God into them. He's going to tell them to "not let go of the perimeter line no matter what happens." He'll be telling them to get down low and hold on. I would tell them to have one hand on the perimeter line--the rope that runs around the outside--and one are shoved under the thwart, or holding on to the floor lacing, or possibly onto the boy across from them. There are not many rocks to hit on the Zambezi, but there are plenty of school bus sized holes that will suck the raft and all the people down to China. 

If I was in this situation, I might call for my crew to use their hands to paddle in the pool above the drop. With big water boating like the Zambezi, it is all about the set up--being in the right place in the river with the right momentum before you hit the first waves of the rapid. But this only goes for the flats above and below rapids. In the rapids all the boys will be told to get down and hold on, even if they have paddles. Four or five determined hand paddlers might be as good of a crew as a bunch of farting around boyscouts with paddles.

You could have a flip in your scenario, as long as every one was holding on tight, they _might_ all still be there holding on at the bottom of the drop. One might be underneath with his arm wedged under a thwart... To right the boat, a couple boys will have to get on top with the guide, who will use his paddle and their combined weight to right the raft. The other boys will have to let go of the boat for a moment... pretty scary, especially if the next drop is looming, or there are crocs sliding into the water from the banks....

If the guide has had the foresight to grab an extra paddle, it would be a good opportunity for character development of whichever boy is deputized by him to help move the boat. The guide will be either in the back right or left and will have a good degree of control if he is skilled. The deputized boy will paddle from the front of the boat on the opposite side of the guide. He will be told to "dig in" his paddle when they hit a big hole or breaking wave. 

I love the idea someone gave of the full moon. Slashing other rafts is also awesome, but why wouldn't he use the knife on a bad guy instead? 

One thing you might find to help is videoed safety talks by rafting operators. Often my talks are designed to make passengers nervous. You can listen to some safety talks and steal the scariest parts for your own guide's speech.

Probably the best thing you could do is go rafting! There is plenty of whitewater in Tennessee, but you might have to wait a few months. Maybe by then you will have a draft. You could bounce the dialog off of your guides and see what they say. Regardless, if authenticity is what you are after, I would see if you could find someone with commercial guiding experience to give your draft a quick edit. Good luck.


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## Avatard (Apr 29, 2011)

You need to add a sense of realism that I think your story is missing. I think the rafting company should be owned by an American. The owner constructed his raft fleet by purchasing cheap glued seams chinese pvc boats, because that's what Americans do. Since the seams are glued, the boat is slowly sinking as it's going down the river which gives it a big sense of urgency in order to make it down before the crappy chinese raft sinks on its own. In the end, all the children die as crocodile treats, only due to the raft companies owners wanting to skimp and save a few dollars.


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## Avatard (Apr 29, 2011)

Avatard said:


> You need to add a sense of realism that I think your story is missing. I think the rafting company should be owned by an American. The owner constructed his raft fleet by purchasing cheap glued seams chinese pvc boats, because that's what Americans do. Since the seams are glued, the boat is slowly sinking as it's going down the river which gives it a big sense of urgency in order to make it down before the crappy chinese raft sinks on its own. In the end, all the children die as crocodile treats, only due to the raft companies owners wanting to skimp and save a few dollars.


There is a reason the Chinese boat is called "Junk"

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junk_(ship)


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## FrankC (Jul 8, 2008)

Maybe the kids could devise some makeshift paddles and flotation devices from flotsam floating nearby (wooden boards, water bottles, styrafoam). The scenario of swimming in huge rapids without immediately drowning would be unrealistic. If they are holding on to some floatable objects it would be more believable. Definitely put a giant snake in the boat.


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## pilom (Dec 28, 2010)

I think you need some visuals.

Rafting the Zambezi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhHiJuI_EKw
Note 1: All of the rafts have a single guide in the back with 2 oars (not paddles). Given your situation of the kids are supposed to look like they stole the raft I can see the "only 1 paddle" idea.
Note 2: All of the customers are told to get low and hang on (Guides usually yell "Get Down, Get Down!") just before the big hits on all the rapids. The customers only have paddles to give speed at the top before a rapid. A skilled guide who knew the river could use a single paddle to get the appropriate speed before hand (this is how the gear boat is run on the Lower Yough in Pennsylvania, granted smaller rafts) but he would be beat tired by the end of the trip.

High Siding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC1PSg8zaA0 (check out 1:07)
"High Side Right!" is what the guide called likely called right before 1:07 in the video. Note how all of the people try to get as high up on the right side of the raft (the side against the rock). The goal of this maneuver is to keep weight off of the water side (up stream side) of the raft. If the side of the raft away from the rock goes under the water, the water will continue pushing the raft until it flips upside down. By keeping weight on the rock side of the raft, the water just rushes underneath the raft (ideally). That video is a great view of what flips against rocks look like.

Flipping in a "hole" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnAaTdX-L3c

This video has a whole lot of cases where the raft went into a "hole" and then flipped. The "hole" or hydraulic is the white frothy pit in the river. What happens is the river folds back on itself. A flip in these cases happens when the raft drops into the pit and then the fold of the water forces the raft to go upside down. 

Youtube "Whitewater Rafting Carnage" to see a whole assortment of raft flips and "getting stuck in a hole"


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

What Frank C said.....I saw a video where a local teen was running some big rapids on the Zambezi or White Nile by holding onto a large plastic jug or gas can type container..one of the kids could survive by groping onto flotsam....they improvise paddles or flotation


Upshitcreek -that sounds like a cross between Tarzan and Daniel Boone only with bearclaws..


Alternate ending : a tall redheaded ducky hero, graying at the temples, fends off several crocodiles with only his Werner, saves the kids and hapless raft guide, then dissappesrs into the sunset with a couple scantily clad nymphos.The villain dies in obscurity imprisoned by Mugabe or in a Nairobi brothel.


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## jaffy (Feb 4, 2004)

Avatard said:


> You need to add a sense of realism that I think your story is missing. I think the rafting company should be owned by an American. The owner constructed his raft fleet by purchasing cheap glued seams chinese pvc boats, because that's what Americans do. Since the seams are glued, the boat is slowly sinking as it's going down the river which gives it a big sense of urgency in order to make it down before the crappy chinese raft sinks on its own. In the end, all the children die as crocodile treats, only due to the raft companies owners wanting to skimp and save a few dollars.


No bias there. 

I'd say find a local boater who can explain in person. It'll be much faster and more effective than trying to get the same info from an internet forum. Maybe a quick visit to a local raft company or two?


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## Schutzie (Feb 5, 2013)

Well, you could have the guide commit the ultimate sin; since no one has a life jacket, he decides to tie the kids into the raft. Then it flips, or even better yet, sucks into a strainer. Now you're in Clive Cussler territory.

The dirty little secret is that one good guide with a paddle and a light load has a reasonable chance of getting through all but the biggest and baddest rapids. Chuck Norris could do any rapid in any raft with any load if all he had was a stick and some vaseline.


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## bigben (Oct 3, 2010)

Schutzie said:


> Chuck Norris could do any rapid in any raft with any load if all he had was a stick and some vaseline.


wait...what?!?!?!


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## AirEms (Jan 16, 2011)

Duh... the vaseline is so the stick doesn't get a blister where Chuck is gripping it.


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## Schutzie (Feb 5, 2013)

How silly. Chuck Norris doesn't get blisters; he gives them.

The vaseline is to cool the pivot point as he skulls with his stick. Otherwise, there might be a fire or sumpin


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## carvedog (May 11, 2005)

Maybe it would make sense to have the raft there already rigged for a commercial trip. Badguy chases them onto the rigged for paddle boat trip with oar assist. It would likely be rigged with an extra paddle or two. And oars. Guidesavior could swim to the raft just as they go over the first drop. Knocks an oar out. General floundering and getting spare paddles and oars unstrapped. Badguy gets to lip of the first drop that they barely survived and shoots but misses the badly swamped raft bobbing violently in the exit wave train. 

The missing several landings part would be fun too. Thinking of the Tieton where you just ram into the lowhanging underbrush sometimes and try to get people to grab shrubberies to slow you down. Someone getting pulled out and pushed under the still moving, swimming and lurching raft. They come up gasping on the downstream side of the boat and are able to grab the boat and swing it into the bushes to stop the raft. Yeah. 

Or something like that.


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## j-jo-ber (Nov 8, 2013)

A good reference to grasp the authenticity of a similar situation (large river flowing through a canyon, lack of PFD’s, minimal/lack of technology) is J.W. Powell’s geological report on the Colorado River and his 1869 expedition: “The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons.” 

I’d recommend Chapter VII, The Canyon of Lodore, which gives an account of one of the expedition’s river running issues (wooden boat flipping, men swimming/holding onto rocks without PFD). It’s a geological report, so it also does a good job of describing the river’s features, how those features change in a rapid, and the effect those features had on the expedition’s boats. This section of the Green River is a popular spot for modern day white water trips (commonly referred to as the Gates of Lodore), so you can reference plenty of youtube videos for a better idea of what precipitates. This chapter will also show you why a group of boys swimming in a large white water rapid with no flotation and still surviving is unlikely.


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## Trejos (Oct 29, 2012)

I know a local raft guide here that has guided the zambezi within the last couple years. I could PM his contact info if you wanted to talk to him.


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