Tests of ZelGear catamarans with inflatable frame. Georgia, Racha, Rioni river

Utsersky canyon

     Purpose of trip:

     Crash test of catamarans with inflatable frame

     Period:

     24.10-30.10.2014

     Transportation:

     WizzAir

     Mevludi (minibus)

     Drive boats:

     Catamaran-deuce with flat cylinders and knee fit

     Catamaran-deuce “Krepysh” with raft fit

     Catamaran for 4 persons “Krepysh” with raft fit

Before start

     Rafting season in Georgia ends in September. And our late arrival was a reason big enough to be surprised. But we didn’t just come to ride, our main purpose was to test catamarans with inflatable frame and to understand how would new models behave in rigid rough waters.

     A longtime friend of our captain Mevludi from Kutaisi accompanied us during the whole journey, every day he took our loud company to more and more difficult rapids, and said one amazing thing - Georgians only now, in the last couple of years, have checked out the existing mountain streams and even have begun to ride themselves. We were lucky, Mevludi knew all the trails and good tourist places not only in Racha, but throughout Georgia.

     On the first day we ran from Ambrolauri to Shariuli. This is the easiest part of the river with waves, small holes and precipices. We trained, traversed a little bit, checked catamarans in this simple part.

     On the second day we started in the area of the river Shariuli and reached approximately Tvishi. This canyon section  is very beautiful and this part of the river is more complex, from time to time one can see tighter holes, powerful precipices with several locally expressed rapids. Some obstacles require inspection. On this day, everything went perfectly, catamarans proved to be very good. Team coordination became much better.

Utsersky canyon

 On the third day in the morning we were going to try and test our abilities to pass Utsersky gorge. Having arrived at the place, examined the obstacles for the long time. Sunny weather and high spirit were pushing us to start a run. We believed in ourselves and wanted to feel even bigger adrenaline burst. But the experts agreed that run in these waters is too dangerous. 

There was not enough water, a lot of stones were sticking out. In our opinion, in two places there was almost no passage. The entire flow in the middle of the rapid went through sharp teeth. It was also very difficult to carry out rescue operations. So we decided not to take a risk and started just below the village of Oni.

 

And finished our run not far from Ambrolauri. This place has a lot of beautiful canyons with a single expressed rapid called "Chess". This rapid requires inspection! We ran through it using different paths and had a lot of fun.

    

 Then we encountered precipices, several powerful holes and slightly expressed rapids on our way.

     On this day, we had to prepare for departure. Therefore, all the equipment was packed in the evening (luckily, all catamarans took less than half an hour), and we slept at the tourist camp in Racha.

     As it always happens after a good trip, we want to come back here again and again. Because opportunities for rafting in Georgia are extraordinary. Buying tickets in advance, you can have cheap and great rest!

Team

Conclusions on catamarans:

• with inflatable frame the structure is stiff enough, sometimes we ran into rocks, the frame did not even tend to bend, including during all the maneuvers;

• According to experts, catamarans of this type of are 100%  suitable for passage of rapids of 4th category of difficulty. Passage of rapids of higher category of difficulty strongly depends on the understanding and skills of rowers;

• catamarans are very well operated, and an inflatable frame does not allow to fall into powerful foam holes;

• raft fit of catamaran “Krepysh” is very comfortable and reliable. The knee strap lets you perform all the elements of strokes not worse than knee fit;

• on a catamaran with raft fit center of rowers’ gravity is lower and closer to the center of catamaran than on catamaran with knee fit, which gives it greater stability and better maneuverability;

• of course, simplicity and speed of assembly. 

One catamaran requires 15min of time of one person. Pumped up, configure, and went;

• there are no problems with catamarans delivery to the place of run. Dimensions and weight now allow us to fly on airplanes)) No lengthy pipes. Just a single bag ... Every transportation now is very easy. Having passed the rapids, we simply sat in a car, and the problem of binding a catamaran to the roof by frozen hands disappeared like a nightmare. So we just blew off quickly our water crafts and indulged in pleasant dreams about Georgian dinner on the way back to the camp.

Choose catamarans, inflatable and frame kayaks to your taste on our internet-shop zelgear.com.ua/en