A paraplegic kayak guide returns to the rapids
Thanks to a hi-tech inflatable raft and a support crew, 'Yak' can once again paddle down a raging river.
Before a canyoning accident six years ago, Yak was an international whitewater kayak guide, chasing endless summers and living his dream.
Afterwards, wheelchair-bound and no longer able to safely roll back into a kayak, he thought watching other people on Instagram would be as close as he’d ever get to having fun on a river.
In the award-winning short film Riverbound: the story has just begun - paddling a packraft -Yak takes on the Class 3 rapids of the Upper Buller.
Yak, a former pro guide and expert kayaker, is now a paraplegic due to a canyoning accident.
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After growing up in rural Waikato, kayak-guiding took Yak to amazing places that a “little boy from Putāruru” could only dream of - like Africa's infamous Zambezi River.
“You ended up in places that you'd watched in videos you were so inspired by, and then you find yourself in those videos. It was just next-level.”
On the 2019 day that his life changed forever, Yak was canyoning down a river - “living the dream" with three friends.
But after slipping, hitting his back and landing in the water, he re-entered his kayak to realise that although his arms were still paddling like crazy, his legs weren't doing anything at all.
“Yeah, things got interesting from then on.”
Although paraplegics are advised to avoid putting pressure on their shoulders, Yak says, because he still had the use of his arms, he figured that eventually - with the support of friends - he'd be able to get back into kayaking.
Yet six months after the accident, when he could only manage to 'roll' - aka go upside down, fall out and re-enter his kayak - 30 percent of the time, Yak realised the sport was too risky, for himself and his support crew.
“That was the point where it was like, 'That's it. Kayaking is not for me anymore'.”
On the river again years later in a packraft - a very light, inflatable raft that you sit on top of - Yak again fell out of his vessel, but this time was able to climb back in.
“It was just like, wow. There was a high five. It was just that moment of ‘Well, this is going to work.”
Yak, a former pro guide and expert kayaker, is now a paraplegic due to a canyoning accident.
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Yak counts himself “very lucky” that because his spinal injury was very low, he still has core strength, which helps him manoeuvre a packraft.
Paddling - which relies on shoulder strength - has even become easier for him than it used to be.
“It sounds weird, but one of the things I'm lucky about being in a wheelchair is I carry probably two or three more kilos on my shoulders, so I actually have a lot more power in my shoulders.”
Once relying entirely on his own instincts to navigate a treacherous river, Yak has now learned to trust the guidance of his support crew.
“I can't get up and look at [where I am] anymore so it's bringing a team aspect a lot more to the whitewater.”
Yak, a former pro guide and expert kayaker, is now a paraplegic due to a canyoning accident.
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During the filming of Riverbound - The story has just begun , he became an important team member himself when a woman fell out of the crew boat.
“I was the closest [to her] and I actually got to help her put in, which was phenomenal because it sort of made me part of the team - not just the person that they were babysitting.”
Getting back into whitewater and using his brain to “push” a packraft like he once pushed a kayak is something Yak says he thought he'd never experience again after his accident - and will now never take for granted.
“We only have one life. I might be in a wheelchair, but I'll spend as much time out there living life.”
Packrafts - in being much easier to manoeuvre and re-board than kayaks - are a great adventure vehicle for people with reduced mobility, say Dylan Gerschwitz and Deane Parker - the filmmaking duo behind Riverbound - The story has just begun.
A list of Kiwi operators who offer packrafting tours and other adventure experiences adapted for people with disabilities can be found on the Makingtrax website, Parker says.
“If anyone would like to be more adventurous but feel that their physical self is holding them back, I highly recommend checking out Makingtrax."
Riverbound - The story has just begun won the Festival Spirit Award at the 2025 NZ Mountain Film Festival. It screens in Queenstown and Wānaka later this month and online throughout July.
