Ray Chaplin is an ex-IT professional who recently completed the first descent of South Africa’s Orange River by riverboard with an environmental message. Paul Everitt of Going Solo Adventures caught up with Ray to learn more about his journey.
What riverboard were you using for the Orange River Project and can you please explain what a riverboard is?
Ray – The Anvil from Fluid Kayaks, as it is made of the tried and tested plastics that they’ve been using in their kayaks. It was also designed and developed here in South Africa. Riverboarding is a ‘facelevel’ sport, whereby you lie down on the board and hold onto two handles up front with your legs off the back for propulsion and steering. It is much the same as bodyboarding, just that we do it in rivers alongside the whitewater kayakers and rafters.
Why did you choose to use a riverboard over the more conventional mode of water transport like a kayak, canoe or even a raft?
Ray – I’ve cycled and walked across South Africa and was looking for something to do in the water. Wanting to go alone, I needed to keep my personal safety in mind when choosing a discipline. With riverboarding, the learning curve is quick and you can enjoy some big water in relative safety quite soon after starting, with no worries about rolling or getting stuck in your boat (or losing your boat if you eject). An added bonus is that riverboarding is unusual in South Africa with only a handful of us doing it, which helps when trying to attract attention to an environmental message.
What dangers did you encounter along the way and was there ever the chance of something taking a bite out of you?
Ray – Thankfully there are no crocodiles, hippos, piranhas or similar such creatures lurking—the otters and large cat fish have been known to cause a few problems, but I was lucky to avoid any contact. I had some close encounters with scorpions, and saw a few snakes. Other than that, I just had to watch out for debris in the river, broken down bridges that were just beneath the surface caused some issues with steel rods ready to pierce my body if I happened to choose the wrong line.
What distance were you capable of covering over a good day and was there ever any reoccurring obstacle that slowed your progress?
Ray – Headwinds were my biggest killer and sometimes dropped my daily distance to 10 kilometers, but generally anywhere between 15 and 22 kilometers a day. I managed to push out some 25- to 28-kilometer days at the end.
Most expeditions run the gamut of emotions—fear, excitement, anxiety, joy, thoughts of lunacy—was there any point during the expedition that you had second thoughts about continuing?
Ray – I suffered a serious back injury just after the halfway mark when I fell and broke some vertebra and ribs in my back. While I knew then I wouldn’t be able to continue immediately, it was when I returned to the river (just 8 weeks later, not 6 months as the doc suggested) that I was full of doubt. My body was sore, the water was incredibly bad quality and I was regularly ill. But after some thinking and a nice campfire one night I realized I was there for a reason and nobody had asked or forced me to go, so it was time to suck it up and push forth.
This is an excerpt from adventurer Paul Everitt’s Q&A with Ray Chaplin. To read the full interview, click here.
To read Rapid’s full report on Chaplin’s journey, click here.
