More WhiteWater Rafting

This 1st photograph is one of Sky's, on the old Casio. Didn't she do well. Unfortunately Joan's Chris is missing and you can only glimpse Steven behind his Mum but at least everyone's faces capture the happy mood of the occasion. Admittedly this was before rather than after. But all agreed that it was great even if really scary. Tracy, I am sure, summed up the feelings by saying that, if she'd known how it was going to be she wouldn't have done it - but that, having done it she was thrilled that she had.

I was amazed that they did 4 runs - I thought that after 2 they would call it a day especially with having to carry the raft back to the start on each occasion. I guess there was much merit in having plenty of fit young people on board. David's recovering clavicle stood up to the strain and of course, with his boats and windsurf board et al he doesn't mind being dunked in the water. Everyone swallowed lots though and they were warned of the extremely rare risk of Weill's disease which is normally carried in rat's urine. Charming!

Picture 2 was while they were in a quiet side bit, of which there were several. They were used for interim instructions and to get into the right place to manoeuvre to catch the 'eddies'. It is included because of smiling faces. At least, of those not looking the other way.

Chris looks a little severe - maybe he had an inkling of what was about to happen when the capsize tipped everyone out and he couldn't get back onto the overturned raft.

The last picture is an action-shot and shows what the exciting bits were like. Those dangling poles were a damned nuisance. They are to do with the canoeists who also use the course for their slaloms and things. I suppose canoeists have rights too! Again, happy faces predominate.

The Nikon performed brilliantly. One can set the focus area to a sort of wide letterbox and the camera actually follows things moving across it and keeps them sharp. The 'continuous shoot' facility was very handy for this sort of job and I shot maybe 6 frames in a couple of seconds. The idea is that one of them will be OK and you delete the others. Another of the many virtues of digital.

As Jill presciently asks - "What will she do for her eightieth - Hang-gliding?" Sharon's Chris who got bitterly cold, said he would settle for hot-air ballooning - in Kenya!

After my statutory blood-test, the morning was spent loading virtually all the pictures onto Picasa Web-Albums and e-mailing them to participants. Then I printed some for Y to send to her non-internet people. And, as belt & braces, I burnt them onto a CD.

I've also been investigating alternatives to Blogger.com for my Blog because, apart from things being in a mess, they are pushing hard for people to migrate to Blogger beta. But, according to the forums, it's hard to keep your existing template. One guy reported that he lost his entire previous 'blog posts'. If that happened to me I think I would have to be hospitalized.

Catch you tomorrow..............