{"id":16926,"date":"2018-07-13T17:00:47","date_gmt":"2018-07-14T00:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com\/?p=16926"},"modified":"2018-07-30T06:30:19","modified_gmt":"2018-07-30T13:30:19","slug":"talk-like-an-international-paddler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2018\/07\/13\/talk-like-an-international-paddler\/","title":{"rendered":"Talk Like an International Paddler"},"content":{"rendered":"

In general, paddlers have their own language. Start talking skirts and eddies to a non-paddler, and it sounds foreign. River language. And on top of that, paddlers in every corner of the world have their own phrases and slang. Call it a river dialect if you will. If you travel to paddle new rivers, you\u2019ll likely pick up some local words. We reached out to some of our international NRS ambassadors to create short-and-sweet, travel-friendly cheat sheet of terms and words for your next paddling trip abroad. From gear to river features, sayings and jokes, these are the words you won\u2019t find in a dictionary\u2014hell, even the best translation app won\u2019t recognize these one-liners that you can drop\u2014on or off the river\u2014and sound like a real local.<\/p>\n

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Rok Rozman paddling the So\u010da Cataract; Photo: Anze Osterman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Amy Tipling
\n<\/strong>Nationality: <\/strong>New Zealand
\n<\/strong>Home River: <\/strong>Kaituna River<\/p>\n

\u201cMillennium Falcon\u201d <\/strong>(v.) to flip a raft on Kaituna\u2019s Tutea Falls (the world\u2019s highest commercially rafted waterfalls). Taking a too-far-left line that flips your raft at the lip of the waterfall instead of at the bottom resulting in a \u2018death spiral\u2019 like that of the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars.<\/p>\n

\u201cElevator\u201d<\/strong> (v.) going back up after coming down. When the raft hits the water after dropping the falls and gets elevated back up to almost the full height of the 23-foot drop, ejecting the guide in perfect position to pull a peace sign for the camera before front flipping into the water.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaco\u201d <\/strong>(n.) a folded raft; (v.) to fold a raft. A raft will taco<\/em> on impact, opening up only as it surfaces the water with a force that launches the guests and guide out of the raft in various directions.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlatter Splatter\u201d<\/strong> (v.) landing on the rock shelf. This is a potential result from a guide\u2019s worst line! The raft is emptied while rotating in, toward the waterfall. As it starts to flip the guide is eyeing up how they may land on the shallow rock shelf on river left.<\/p>\n