Canoe mishap on Hurunui

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33110, 28 December 1972, Page 1

Canoe mishap on Hurunui

A boy swam to the safety of a riverbank but lost his canoe after it struck a boulder during a Boys’ Brigade canoe trip down the swollen Hurunui River yesterday morning.

The boy, Roderick Thomp- ’ son, aged 15, of Riccarton, was in a party of seven I canoeists in a trip from • the Balmoral forest bridge over the Hurunui to the j bridge at State higway 11 — a distance of about 30 miles — when the accident occurred. Two of the canoe- : ists were senior Boys’ Brigade officers. I The party had left the Boys’ Brigade camp at Wai- • para at 6 a.m. for the Huru- . nui, but when they arrived ’ found the river in moderate flood and much swifter than ! they expected, according to ' Mr W. F. Bishop, an officer ■| of the Canterbury battalion. (( The boys, who all wore , i life-jackets, had had considerable training in the use of ; canoes before they left—but , when going down the river II found great difficulty avoidI ing boulders, because the ! force of the current made steering difficult. 1 The party had had to stop to patch canvas on canoes, Mr Bishop said. Roderick Thompson said that his canoe hit a boulder

head-on. and he had been unable to push off with the paddles because the water was so rough. “It just filled the canoe and turned it over,” he said. “I held on to the rock and the canoe, but the water was too powerful,” he said. He managed to climb on to a ledge and to swim to a small stream. He then climbed a 250 ft bank, from where he could see that some of the party had started to look for him.

Mr Bishop said that the leader of the canoeing party, Mr J. Stanton, had swum across the river, from a position further downstream, to find where the missing boy was.

The party then tramped to a nearby farm, and sent a message to the group which was to meet them at the State highway 1 bridge. The boys arrived back at the Waipara camp about 7.45 p.m„ and had a hearty meal. Mr Bishop said. Their journey down the Hurunui was originally intended to take three hours, he said.