Safety

The WWPF organising committee provide access to the two rivers by reorganising midweek freshets to a suitable weekend.  The Organising team then organise and provide a shuttle bus to ease potential road & parking congestion that would be caused by a large influx of paddlers.

Despite the best efforts of all those involved, the Whitewater playground that we so much enjoy does come with a definite risk.  It is very important that all participants make themselves aware of this, look after each other and stay within our own safety envelope.  Accidents can happen on any river and have happened on both the Garry and Moriston, it is vital that all paddlers are prepared.  Even though there may be lots of other people successfully running a rapid, it remains exactly as difficult as if you were there alone with your usual group!  In particular, at Grade 4/5, there are parts of the Moriston where you can easily be seriously injured, or worse, by a failure to take it seriously and set up safety cover.

Every year people do swim and are injured despite having taking every precaution.

The SCA and event organisers maintain an Accident Book for the current and previous events.  If you are injured during the event, please make the effort to fill in an accident report form so that we can analyse what happens/has happened and improve future events.  If you would like to see the accident book, please speak to the SCA office or one of the organisers.

So far we have run seven annual events with thousands of descents and only a handful of incidents – help us keep it that way by taking responsibility for the safety of yourself and others around you.

Photographs courtesy of Tim Hamlet & Dave George