To get to this point you have to punch a tough hole and then turn a blind corner – then the rapid begins. I was riverboarding with a bunch of pro kayakers, who’d run it a few days previous. This day was higher water than they’d done it (and turned out to be the highest anyone had ever paddled it, and a first descent on a riverboard).

Dropping into this maelstrom of frothing whitewater totally blind is a test of instinct and fortitude. The Anvil smoothly carried me through, although not without a few turns in the hole at the very bottom first.

Pic by Darin McQuoid.