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I'm heading off to the South Coast of New-Zealand soon so I thought I'd better refresh my (or acquire some ;-) river running skills by watching Corran Addison's creeking video: Legend of the Falls. It's actually an interesting video and here is our independent review.

Introduction

This review is based on the DVD version of Legend of the Falls. There is about 1h25 of video on the DVD but this includes a little extra movie called "Dr Throwline" at the end and about 5 minutes of trailers at the start. So basically you get 1h10 of Corran Addison. The trailers are for Imagine Media other films: End Game, Air Force Wan and Mis-Underestimated. The trailer for the latter is quite interesting, it is about paddling pioneers and made of "archive" video segments.

Instead of using the DVD chapters, I just played the whole film in one go. I won't comment on the multimedia aspect of the DVD, navigation etc.

It starts with the credits and some heavy metal music. Nice visual text effects too. After that, Corran Addison introduce the film. Basically this is a film about creeking skills and Corran insists it is NOT about rescue technique. Mainly because he could not say enough about it apparently. In terms of setting, the whole movie is either paddling action with light music and a commentary or Corran in the foreground explaining something and some paddling shown behind him in the background. It seems to work quite well. There is no visual effect zooming on part of the picture as used in the "Searching for the Gee Spot / Pro state" videos but there is no need for it in my opinion. The film is divided in 5 main sections: hand signals, river grading, equipment, rapid types and paddling technique. The longest section might be the one about technique although I am not 100% sure.

Hand signals

The hand signal section is actually commented by Arnd Schäftlein, river-running legend here in Europe. A long time Eskimo paddler, he knows paddles for Riot. His commentary is clear and really interesting and the ladies will love his accent. Basically this is about a set of hand signals developed by the Kern brothers that Arnd uses on the river. The principle is that the person who scouts a rapid has then to explain it to the rest of the group and, in some conditions, you cannot speak and have to use hand signals instead. The signs need to be good enough so that you can describe the rapids (number of drops etc..), describe the line and tell the paddler where to eddy out. When watching the video, it all made sense although I am sure it requires a lot of practice. I spotted a couple of left/right mistakes in the signals but nothing really serious. It was a very interesting section.

The "Addison" river grading scale

Next is a discussion about river grading. I actually knew most of that as Corran has already spoken about his alternative "Addison scale" in magazines before. Basically, he recommends including 3 grades when grading rivers: technique, danger and exposure. The technical grade is pretty much the actual international scale, going from 1 to 6. The danger grade also goes from 1 to 6 and marks how dangerous a mistake would be on that rapid. 1 being without consequence and 6 for a deadly outcome. The last grade, exposure is about availability of help and its quality. It is graded A, B and C. A for help available quickly (read your local run) and C for remote runs more than 24 hours from any help. To be honest, it all makes sense and I know of some people who already use that system, especially the exposure grade.

Choose the right gear

After that, Corran goes onto a description of the available equipment for creeking. He describes the advantages and shortcoming of both long and short boat. His advice is to choose a boat that will help you overcome your technical limitations for a practical run. He also speaks about paddles, helmet, rescue accessories and other bits of kit like body armor. Oh, he also says twice to never go creeking in a playboat. "If you don't own a creekboat, don't go creeking!". Well, I've spotted him in a Riot Booster quite a bit but I guess it's a Booster 60 and Corran is quite small so fair enough.

River features

The next section is about the different types of rapids and their main features. Understanding the way the water will take you and the risk you are taking by following it is not easy and Corran tries to give clues which will help when reading a rapid. He speaks about pool drop vs longer more chaotic rapids, undercuts, trees, pool depth at the bottom of drops and of course holes. I found the section about holes particularly interesting. Basically,Corran says that too often people try to avoid big holes at all cost where actually they are often a good/safer line through rapids.

Creeking technique

Eventually, Corran gives some hints on how to run those scary rapids. This is the longest section I believe. Different aspects are covered: crossing the grain of the current, paddling position, paddling strokes (with a strong emphasis on a slalom-like technique), boofing and so on. This is the only section where sometimes, it is hard to link the technique described in the commentary and the actual action. I believe that smaller drops should have been used to describe the "purest" technique instead of some of the monsters shown in the film.

Dr Throwline

After Legend of the Falls, the DVD includes a short 10-15 minute film about throwlines and their use. It is called Dr Throwline and must have been filmed in the 80s or very early 90s. Markus Schmidt is credited at some point and I am pretty sure I recognized Shaun Baker too. It is a good little film, packed with humor and really worth the watch. Dr Throwline is sponsored by HF apparently.

Conclusion

To conclude this review, I'll say that I enjoyed watching this film. It is well put together and considering my moderate experience of creeking, it was interesting. Now, when you think about it everything made sense, there is nothing revolutionary in this film. Beginners at river running/creeking might actually be put off by the seriously difficult rapids shown in the film that sometimes are not best to illustrate the technique I believe. But then again, it is a good film ... and you get a free Gath sticker inside the DVD box, so go buy it now!

Video review by JP for PLAYAK.COM, January 2004.