New Zealand Rivers Association for Professional Guides

Transcription

1 New Zealand Rivers Association for Professional Guides NEWS FROM THE CHAIR Volume 12 - Issue 1 - May 2012 I guess it has been a while since you folks have had a newsletter from us here at NZRA New Zealand Rivers Association for Professional Guides, well all I can say is we have been flat out. As many of you will appreciate after the workshops last November, the season just seemed to roll into that busy period of rafting while we have hot weather and water, or not, for quite a few of our rivers this season. Let s hope for a better season ahead. We had our normal pre end of season exec meeting in Christchurch on the 18 th April before a few of the exec head overseas chasing the summers. It was a productive meeting and once again assigned a good chunk of work for a few of us over the winter months ahead. So what have we been working on you may ask? Maritime New Zealand MNZ I was in Wellington last week and meet with Sharyn Forsyth and Baz Kirk once again this was an extremely valuable experience. It quickly become apparent that what happens in the field is not getting through to the managers in Wellington. We discussed opportunities ahead to improve communication in both directions and if all goes to plan I will have some more info to spread on that topic in our next newsletter. Topics we discussed were around the new Liaison officer and our involvement in the employment of that person with MNZ, the Advisory Circular soon to be circulated to members, auditing concerns, frustrations and misconceptions. So if there are companies out there with concerns or frustrations re auditing then please put it in an and send it to Raewyn so we have it in writing and can follow it up or report it to the powers at be in Wellington. Skill Active - SA We have been meeting regularly with Skills Active over the past few months and are making some great progress. Grant, Matt and Pat at SA are as committed as we are to getting this sorted. What is getting it sorted you may ask? Well we have been working towards getting a slip stream process for all reporting from our assessor through SA and back out to our candidates/members. Trust me behind the scenes there are some very committed people putting in the hard yards to getting this polished. If there are any companies, assessors, guides or candidates out there experiencing delays in the reporting or processing of new guide certificates then please let Raewyn know asap (her contact details are listed below). River Rescue workshops The planning for this year s workshops is well under way don t forget if you are an assessor and/or a senior guide it is now compulsory to attend a River Rescue workshop every 3 years. Paul and Koryn have their say on the River Rescue workshops on page 3. The dates and venues for the 2012 workshops are as follows. Please get in early to register as this helps us out with staffing and catering. River Rescue Training and Workshop Dates for 2012: NORTH ISLAND - TURANGI - Training 5th 7th November and Workshop 7th 9th November N SOUTH ISLAND - QUEENSTOWN - Training 19TH 21st November and Workshop 21st 23rd November

2 Page 2 NEWS FROM THE CHAIR Format will be: Day 1 to 3 - a "rescue course" for those who wish to learn and refresh swiftwater rescue skills, day 3 may culminate in a testing day against some of the rescue pre-requisites of New Zealand raft guide qualifications. Day 3 to 5 - a rescue workshop for those who wish to refresh, practise and push their rescue skills using scenario based sessions. Participants will partake in a testing/refresher day (on Day 3) where we expect them to perform tasks that are required in River Rescue unit standard in order to be able to safely participate in the final two days. On the training and the workshop we use various craft as a rescue platform, ie: raft, river board, kayak. The majority of time is spent in and around the water and not necessarily in your boat. All enquiries to: Raewyn Larcombe NZ Rivers Association 203 Orari River Road RD 22, Peel Forest nzraftingassociation@xtra.co.nz Raft Racing - World Championships If you haven t already heard, New Zealand has been successful in it s bid to host the R6 World Rafting Championships for Men, Women, Masters and Youth in Rotorua and Kawerau in November This is fantastic for the greater Rotorua area, but more so for building the profile of Raft Racing and commercial Rafting in general throughout New Zealand. 19th - 21st October 2012 is a practise with the Pre World s being run in conjunction with the New Zealand Nationals for R6 men s, women s and masters, along with the Australian Nationals. With our Aussie neighbours coming over to join us makes for a great weekend of racing. So the challenge is set to put a team together and join the fun. I even hear a whisper that Southy s making a comeback now they have a masters category! Tim has put his hand up to be the Race Director for the Preworld s and Nationals. This is a huge ask when he also has his own company to run. Rotorua District Council and Kawerau District Council are playing a huge supporting role, with the RDC employing an Event Organiser, Ra Bhana. The NZRA would ask that members please provide as much support to Ra and Tim for the upcoming events. Look forward to seeing many of you at the South Island workshop - Steve Well that s all from me for now, thanks to our hard working exec especially Raewyn! I will hopefully be at the Spring Challenge this year so if you want to have a catch up around any issues then I will be around on the Friday night. Steve Brown

3 Page 3 RIVER RESCUE PORTFOLIO The Rescue Workshops this year will be followed by a 'compulsory gathering of all assessors' which is a great idea for moderating our current 'lines in the sand' on many assessment issues. In recent years it has been noticed that slight differences are developing within the assessor pool and all agree, it is time to get things concreted again around moderation. With this in mind, I am personally expecting a good turn out of many of NZ's most experienced guides attending and sharing their ideas and running sites, so you can expect a very strong Work Shopping component this year. The success of separating the River Rescue Unit Standard where it stands alone now has been well received by the River Boarding and now Canyoning Guide Level 2 licenses, which shows a great over lap of 'like' activities agreeing on the importance of strong river rescue skills, as we all know, 'planning time' in river rescue is a luxury and our pressure/timed methods especially around the scenario days is setting a good culture for companies to take back to their own in-house scenario training. What's even better, is that now from both the River Boarding and Canyoning sectors, us raft guides can look at learning more and more from them to further our own skill sets as we have seen already with the huge impact the river boarders have during scenarios and hopefully the fast and efficient rope handling techniques that the Canyoners can bring into our mix, something I personally am looking forward to workshopping later on in the year. Paul E is always looking at trying to keep the format organised so our international guides can arrive and feel they are getting a simple direct pathway into working with us and of course to keep you, the rest of the industry thinking and motivated to come back to share and pick up some new ideas and techniques while workshopping should see a continued climb in the success of the workshops, see you all there! Koryn 2012 RIVER RESCUE IMPORTANT INFORMATION Paul E and Koryn are constantly trying to evolve the workshops to the needs of industry. We are also trying to do this from a compliance angle also. Last year we worked with Budge and Henry to introduce the assessment of US 424 which is the minimum requirement for a Senior guide. For an overseas guide we are still working through the process of accepted first aid certifications under Rule 81, but again we have discussed things with Budge and Henry and it appears that they could assess to the old US 6400 (Basic first aid) at the workshops. HOWEVER a guide must identify to us prior to the workshop that they require this. Note: There is a reporting charge for either of these Units which is on and above the River Rescue workshop cost of around $10, but we will confirm these when you notify NZRA of an assessment requirement. This may be an unknown until such time as we determine the accepted overseas equivalents for the First Aid US 6400 and US 424. Please note that we are not 100% sure whether there are any accepted overseas qualifications for either Unit Standard at present but should have an answer soon from MNZ. The only one we have written confirmation on is New Zealand PHEC. Also if a guide has enrolled with Skills Active for a Raft guide qualification, they may bring their Assessment Workbook to the workshop and provide to the Instructors at the beginning of the workshop. They will endeavour to sign off some or as much of the River Rescue unit standard or Senior Guide qualification as possible. This will only be done on PRESENTATION of your ASSESSMENT WORKBOOK. - No exceptions! REMINDER TO ALL SENIOR GUIDES - A RIVER RESCUE WORKSHOP EVERY THREE YEARS IS NOW PART OF A CURRENCY REQUIREMENT TO TRIP LEAD

4 Page 4 I hope the news has spread around cool evening fires, that the mighty Mokihinui River over here on the West Coast has been saved from a great big Hydro Dam, which was proposed for the river. If this dam went ahead, it would have been massive! An 85+ metre dam wall would have been built at the end of the Lower Gorge. This would have created a 14 km lake, which would have drowned 90% of the Main branch of the river. Losing a beautiful stretch class 3-4 white water and 340 ha of virgin native forest on it s banks. Now this land has not been cleared at all. Prime virgin native forest! There are a few spots where some gold mining and prospecting has happening over the last 140 years, with a couple of small camps set up and gone by the way through out this time. I am personally super stoked that this dam is not going ahead, as we use this river for commercial and recreational 1 day and 2 day rafting tours. It would have been a great loss not to be able to raft this river. It would have been the largest flooding of New Zealand conservation land since the creation of the Lake Manapouri power station in Fiordland in the 1960 s. There is talk now of a some action taken to try and get this river and it s catchment which is under DOC Stewardship, be enveloped into Kahurangi National Park. If that happens, this would help protect this river from future hydro developments and give it the protection in which I believe this river and its surrounding land deserve! For those of you who are on Facebook, you might wish to check out the group SAVE THE WAITAHA RIVER. It will keep you in the loop with the current issues with regards to our Rivers. Tim WILD RIVERS CORNER RAFT RACING Look out Pre Worlds Rotorua New Zealand October 2012! Get a team together, get training and enter the New Zealand Nationals and Pre Worlds! This is a great way to paddle the courses that we will use in the Worlds in 2013! It would be great to see some more teams compete for the chance to represent NZ! Plus it would be great for us to have more teams on the start lines so that we can test our ability to host this fantastic event! There is going to be some overseas teams turning up and competing, so the chance to test yourselves against international competition. Come on kiwis! We love rafting! And we have a competitive side in our selves! Bring it out of you and show yourselves this October! Lets show the world we can do it! Show our country how awesome we are! Pre World dates for R6 19 th of October - Sprint and Head to Head - Kaituna River 20 th of October - Slalom - Tarawera River 21 st of October - Down River Rangitaiki Open and Masters. Youth to be held early 2013 Tarawera River If you are not keen to race but keen to help out in some way or another, please contact Raewyn, Tim or Nic and we would love the help around these events! See you there - Tim

5 Page 5 YOUTH RAFT RACING During the first weekend in May, Kawerau hosted the first Whitewater Rafting Youth Slalom and Sprint event. This event was held with the purpose of introducing local youth to the sport of Whitewater rafting. 14 teams from the Bay of plenty and as far afield as Napier and Hastings attended the event, enjoying the beautiful Kawerau weather. Kawerau will be hosting the Youth World Rafting Championsips in November 2013 on the Tarawera rivers grade two and three rapids. The event was aimed at introducing youth to the sport and begin teaching them the skills they would need to compete in the event. Waiariki Polytechnic enabled the event to happen by supplying all the rafting equipment and students from their adventure tourism course, who kept the participants safe on the water by providing river rescue support during the racing. The event involved sprint and slalom racing, with points awarded for each event. The first races of the day was the sprint racing on the tricky grade three rapids. This section of the river flows fast and has many rocks for the rafters to avoid, testing their skill and fitness. Many of the competitors were athletes from other codes including Surf lifesaving, K1 Slalom and flatwater paddling, Canoe polo and Outrigger canoeing, but for most this was their first time white water rafting. Consistency is the key in sprint racing as the teams have two runs of the course with their times combined. Young team TGA Boys won closely followed by older school mates Team One, followed by Clubbies from the Whakatane Surf Club. Haeata Girls from Napier proved their outrigger canoeing training was too good taking out the sprint racing 4 seconds faster than Monstars from Whakatane High School with Taurangas Whitewater Chicks finishing just one second behind. Moving down river the technical Slalom course was run with 8 gates for the paddlers to get through. Slalom racing involves a penalty system where paddlers must get through the gates without touching them and all paddlers must get their heads through. This is made even more difficult as some of the gates must be negotiated upstream. Gates 4 and 5 of the course proved to be the hardest of the course, and the best for the many spectators who came to support the event. Teams had to choose different lines through the biggest rapid of the river and avoid penalties. Team One who had some of the NZ s finest slalom kayakers in their team were too strong taking the win with the fastest time of the day. Second place TGA Boys had a more controlled race concentrating on not touching any gates. With only one touch and 5 seconds added on, they were the cleanest down the course but the lack of speed let them down this time. Karamu Polo Boys finished with 5 gate touches adding 20sec and take 3 rd only 0.55 seconds ahead of Whakatanes Tarawera Stingrays. Whitewater Chicks were the smoothest on the course with only one touch and were the only girls team not to miss a gate and get a 50 second penalty. Monstars took second once again closely followed by Haeata Girls. The purpose of the event was not only to introduce the participants to the sport but to begin teaching them the necessary skills required to race a raft without a guide. Coaching time was provided between

6 Page 6 YOUTH RAFT RACING racing which enable the youth to have extra runs down the river to gain further skills. The day was a huge success with everyone involved enjoying the racing and wanting to learn more. Special thanks to all the volunteers who made the day a success. With continued support from the Kawerau Council further events will be held to continue to grow the skill base of youth in this sport. The day was a huge success and the bar has now been set, with the challenge being laid out for more youth to participate in the next event. Thanks to our sponsors Kawerau Council, Waiariki Polytech and Pure Energy. Paul Roozendaal Paul and his team of helpers are to be congratulated into the effort and motivation that they are creating to help develop the sport of Raft Racing for our Youth. It is excellent to see the enthusiasm being put into the development of this sport. If you have any spare time I am sure Paul would appreciate help with future events or training. The Nationals for the R6 Youth will be held early in 2013 to select a team to represent New Zealand at the World Rafting Championships in November that year. Please get in behind this opportunity to showcase and develop our youth s talent.

7 Page 7 RAFT RACING AND SKILLS ACTIVE Sitting here on a cold and foggy Rotorua morning seems just the right time to put something together for the NZRA newsletter. There s something about winter that gives you the feeling that you can get onto those jobs that you didn t quite get around to in summer. Then the ski season rolls around, kids winter sport starts, work is just as busy and a good swell roll s in on the coast for a surf and you don t quite have that time you expected. The two main roles for me this year on the executive are, Skills Active NZ portfolio and being on the local committee for the World Rafting Champs for For the worlds rafting committee I see my main role will be supporting Ra Bhana in his job as event director, being a link for Waiariki Institute of Technology, the NZRA and some technical advice for river specific information. It s a pretty exciting and daunting time, but one that I believe will be an awesome experience for not only the competitors and organisers but for the entire rafting and outdoor sector. The chance to bring the world rafting scene to our back door is massively exciting. The other role for me in the NZRA is the Skills Active portfolio, this is a role where I will be a first point of contact (with Raewyn) for Skills Active to provide industry feedback and I believe the main and most important job is to get Skills active and the qualification system more efficient and easier to use. The last couple of years has been very up and down for Skills Active and has been a difficult relationship between them, the NZRA and our industry. They have some good people now trying to make this process an easier one and the big push this year is simplify and remove some of the units and qualification, down to a more stream lined system. Basically less units and qualifications, we have a huge amount that is in the NZQA system that is creating a lot of inefficiencies. NZQA are putting working groups together to work on these issues and this is called the TRoQ working groups. The purpose of these groups is to: Provide detailed and technical input into the development of qualifications in line with the objectives and principles outlined in the Recreation, Sport and Fitness TroQ Review Plan, including: Developing a sector needs analysis, sector profile, and overview of current qualifications and future needs. Developing a draft map of qualifications (draft outcome statements, graduate profile, education and employment pathways, qualification requirements and consistency arrangements) based on the needs analysis for approval by the Governance Group. Preparing draft qualifications (and/or standards) for the Governance Group endorsement and industry consultation. Consulting with, representing and gaining feedback from industry peers and industry networks. This process is meant to come up with some positive moves forward and easier to use and understand qualification that creates consistencies amongst the various qualification. So we will do our best to keep you the industry informed and gain the very important feedback that is required from you the industry. So watch this space and please try and be a part of it. Cheers Nick

8 Page 8 SKILLS ACTIVE CONTACTS Hi everyone hope your summer went well. This is just a quick update on, who your Skills Active regional Learning Support Advisor is. You should make them your first port of call with any inquiries. My Name is Matt Cowie, I am the Learning Development Advisor for Snowsport and Outdoor Recreation. I am based in Christchuch and have taken over the Rafting portfolio from Paul Richards. My main task is to support the Learning support Advisors in answering any tricky questions, and Liaising with the New Zealand Rivers Association. I can be contacted on Ph: matt@skillsactive.org.nz REGIONAL LEARNING SUPPORT ADVISORS OTAGO/SOUTHLAND Tracey-Lee Burkhart looks after the Otago and Southland area she is based in Christchurch but travels to those areas regularly Contact Details are: Ph: tracy-lee@skillsactive.org.nz CHRISTHCURCH SOUTH/WEST COAST Jamie Rei services Canterbury south of Christchurch, the West Coast and Dunedin. Again Jamie is based in Christchurch but will be in your area on a regular basis. Contact Details are: Ph: Jamie@skillsactive.org.nz Donna Hooper looks after Christchuch North all the way through to the top of the South Island Contact Details are: Ph: donna@skillsactive.org.nz

9 Page 9 SKILLS ACTIVE CONTACTS cont d WELLINGTON/TURANGI Kim Willemse is based in Wellington and covers the area through to Turangi Contact Details are: Ph: Mob: kim@skillsactive.org.nz TAUPO NORTH Leah Burgess covers the area from Taupo North Contact Details are: Ph: leah@skillsactive.org.nz INDUSTRY REGISTER We are not far off from going live with the new raft register so keep an eye on the Skills Active website this should be up and running within the next month. The new registry will incorporate the wider Sport, Fitness and Recreation industry, there will be numerous ways that you will be able to search e.g Name, Qualification, Region. Skills Active is undertaking a registry as part of our leadership role with industry. This registry will allow the public to search for individuals who currently hold certain industry endorsed qualifications in the public space and validate whether holders are current or not. National bodies will be able to promote training courses to qualification holders and workplaces to associate with certain individuals who hold qualifications and be recognised by national bodies if they achieve certain criteria. Workplaces will also be able to promote job vacancies. The registry will allow individuals to maintain an e-portfolio that they can update around qualifications, work history, goals, and personal statements, etc. Individuals will be able to format this into a CV that can be sent to potential employers if they are seeking work, and the CV can be downloaded or ed as a pdf file. GUIDES AND RAFTS NEEDED Looking for guides Grade 2 or above for the WOMANS SPRING CHALLENGE on 29th September 2012 in the Canterbury area. Would need to be there the day before. Also require more rafts. Contact Tim Marshall at or tim@rivers.co.nz

10 Page 10 AGM MINUTES MINUTES OF THE NZ RAFTING ASSOCIATION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 9 TH NOVEMBER 2011, LAKE ROTOITI CAMP AT 7.00 PM Present: Gwyn Ashcroft, Drew Sellen, Georgina Rutherford, Sam Alabone-Batty, Grant Gibson, Raana Setterington, Cam Ahlers, Leith Hunt, Steve McNab, Sam Ricketts, Stefan Hill, Justin Hutton, Philip Palzer, Rata Lovell-Smith, Jemima Todd, Jake Willett, Nick Twaddle, Christy Hammond, Isaac Tracey, Tim Wills, Raumati Brown, Less Wellington, Thomas Halliday, Hugh Jass, Spencer Hall, Bryce Jourdain, Jason Wright, Troy Dolman, Jonathan Taylor, Grant South, Sam Sutton, Joshua Dickey, Shilo Gibson, April Agranoff, Jared Partridge, Gordy Bulford, Joel Flamank, Colin Sonneveld, Paul Eames, Tim Marshall, Steve Brown, Raewyn Larcombe. Apologies: Koryn Gould, Barry Goes, Norm Brown Moved: T Marshall Seconded: G South Apologies accepted. Matters Arising None Chairman s Report Well I guess this will be the last time I stand here as the NZ Rafting Association Chairman, after tonight s AGM we will probably have a new name (NZ Rivers Association for professional guides?). It is exciting times as we evolve and make room for new partnerships in this instance the River Boarding sector, it has been a tough road getting the boarders up and running however we are pleased to say now both North and South Island Assessors are signed off and we look forward to the Assessors leading the way and gaining momentum under their new guidelines. We will be voting soon on a new NZRA name and with it a logo change we look forward to logo input from our members. If you have some ideas then we would love to hear from you. A big thank you goes out to our funders for various MNZ for River Boarding Assessors and log book, Alex Brunt from Water Safety NZ, for River Rescue funding. Where are we sitting financially? - We tend to run close to the line with our finances, the Exec is motivated to keep costs to a minimum for our members. In times ahead will believe funding will be a challenge with SPARC s new structure and taking the word Recreation out of its title to be SPORTNZ. Skills Active Meeting (17 th Aug 2011) - We had a meeting in Wellington with Skills Active on 17 th August to try and work through some of the challenges we are facing. For those guides or new guides out there experiencing frustration we ask for a little patience and hope to have these issues sorted going into the season ahead. Discussion points are listed below if you have any additional items to add that you would like us to present please contact Raewyn. Discussion Points: Assessor database, Assessors processes formalized, Resources, Assessments National Certificate Unit MNZ Meeting (25 th May2011) - We continue to strive to have excellent working relationships with both MNZ and Skills Active we have offered to work closely with MNZ in the appointment of someone to replace Colin, however this is currently in limbo as MNZ deal with the Rena disaster. Sector PD with MNZ and Skills Active - We are planning to try a few new initiatives with Professional development opportunities for our members next year. River Rescue - Our River Rescue workshops are going from strength to strength, I believe part of this is from the consistency from Paul E and Koryn s input for quite a few years now thanks guys. As a result we have great numbers attending (as you can see). We ask that you take the time to give feedback as these workshop are dynamic and evolve to match what is happening in our sector and what you (our members) want to work on or towards. In summary - Yes it has been a productive year for the NZRA and its exec, however we need to keep up the momentum as the workload seems to be ever increasing and I believe we are an industry that likes to lead from the front on both the local and world stage.

11 Page 11 AGM MINUTES cont d Thanks to the Exec - A big thank you goes out to our Exec for their time and effort, the average NZRA member probably knows very little about all the hours and effort behind the scenes that keeps the NZRA moving forward in such a positive light. Big thanks to Raewyn - Once again a big thanks you goes out to Raewyn for all the work that keeps the exec on its toes and our industry moving forward, so please join me and put your hand together for Raewyn. Financial Report Noted that workshops do not break even so as to maintain the low cost to the guide, we rely on sponsorship and grants. Meeting expenses have increased significantly as we are becoming more involved with organizations such as ONZ, WSNZ, Maritime NZ and riverboarding. Moved: R Larcombe Seconded: G Ashcroft That the Annual Accounts be approved. Profile Updates Skills Active Further to the Chairman s report, there was a discussion on Skills Active and the difficulty to interpret their website. Gwyn Ashcroft suggested that the NZRA website be updated to have links to training agreements, actual award content to try and make it easier to understand. River Rescue In order to assist with the development of the training and workshops, guides are encouraged to completed the feedback forms as these are a valuable part of acknowledging what industry requires from the workshops. Wild Rivers Tim gave a run down on where the Wild Rivers campaign is currently at. The postcards have received favourable response from companies. We have now run out, Raewyn is to companies and see if they wish to fund a further print. Tim gave a run down on supporting Riparian rights and users should stand up and support. Raft Racing Troy Dolman spoke on the results from Costa Rica where a men s and woman s R6 teams competed with the woman bronze medaling in the sprint and slalom. A revision of results by IRF have also changed the bronze in the slalom to silver, giving the girls bronze overall. Tim notified that the NZRA were intending bidding for the WRC R6 to be in Rotorua in Jason Wright had been instrumental in getting the ball rolling and had spoken to the Rotorua Council and Incept for support. A bid committee was formed and alongside others included: Tim Marshall, Jason Wright, Troy Dolman, Martin Croft (RDC), Justin Hutton, Bernd Sommers, Nikki Kelly. Maritime NZ Southy updated us on further meetings with Sharyn Forsyth and MNZ. NZRA acknowledged they were happy with the direction whilst there was someone like Colin in the role of Safety Advisor. MNZ assured us there would be someone like minded/experienced in that role. We also secured that in the event of an investigation, Industry Expertise would be used alongside the Investigator through NZRA. To assist this they suggested running meetings around NZ to outline the Investigation procedure which should be open to companies, senior guides as well. Awaiting on dates for this to happen but with the Rena grounding it has been delayed. It is hoped to tie in Skills Active with these meetings also. WSNZ Steve acknowledged that we had received funding from WSNZ for running the River Rescue training. Their support is essential in maintaining the cost to the guides for the workshops which hadn t changed in over 6 years. Boarding Skills Active Aotearoa, in conjunction with Maritime New Zealand, set official Whitewater boarding Standards in 2010 required for all current and future guides. As a result, all present White Water Boarding Guides must hold the minimum of the National White Water Boarding Guide Certificate including the White Water Rescue Module (same as rafting) to be able to work in New Zealand. With this standard in place, there was a need for experienced whitewater boarding guides to take on the role of assessing the guide awards. Consequently, six candidates (3 from the NI and 3 from the SI) attended a Skills Active assessor course in CHCH in December In addition to the course, guides had to set the standard throughout New Zealand. To begin with, two Rafting Registrars went to the North Island to help establish the line in the sand for Nat l and Senior White Water Guide Standards with the 3 assessor candidates. Afterwards, the two Rafting Registrars came to the South Island to make sure that line was the same with the 3 SI candidates.

12 Page 12 AGM MINUTES cont d The conclusion was to meet with the NI crew and agree to this famous line!! Consequently, in October 2011, the 3 assessor candidates (a member of each South Island boarding company, namely Frogz, Serious Fun and Mad Dog) went to the to the Kaituna and were assessed by an Assessor and Registrar and this wonderful line was agreed upon!! In November 2011, the 3 South Island Assessors will once again join up to run a mass assessment of all our current guides and trainees. We will be working together to maintain the set standards that we have agreed upon whilst we were up north. We would like to thank everyone involved in implementing this new system: Rachel, Koryn, Nick, Tak, Joel, and all the great candidates and participants we had to work with!!! Thank you for your help and patience!! We are moving forwards together!! General Business 1. Name Change After some feedback on facebook etc the proposed name was set forward as NZ River Association maintaining our acronym of NZRA but add for Professional River Guides to the title. Moved: Jonathon Taylor Seconded: Steve Brown Moved to change name. 2. Constitutional changes That the relevant changes be made to the constitution reflecting the name change and any referral to raft guides as river guides. And the subscription period should be changed to run from 1 October to 30 September each year. Moved: Raewyn Seconded: Southy That change to the statement regarding the Annual accounts be made to Audited or Reviewed Moved: Nick Twaddle Seconded: Justin Hutton 3. There was a request from guides that we look for a prodeal with Kokatat river gear. It was discovered that this already exists as Andy Fuller of Day Two can provide Kokatat gear. 4. Once again the NZRA was in a healthy situation to require a vote for the Executive. This was undertaken however the Executive remains unchanged. Meeting closed at pm NZRA EXECUTIVE - Contact details are on the website. Chairperson Steve Brown Vice Paul Eames Portfolios: Maritime NZ Skills Active Southy Nick Chater Raft Racing SI Tim Marshall NI Nick Chater Wild Rivers Funding and WSNZ River Rescue River Boarding Tim Marshall Steve Brown Paul Eames and Koryn Gould SI Rose Mirza NI Tak Mutu