Josh J. Holinaty

If there’s one thing Calgarians can appreciate after a seemingly endless winter, it’s a scorching hot summer. It doesn’t happen often — on average we get less than 10 days of 30-plus degree weather — but when it does, hundreds of cadaver-white Calgarians head for the Bow River.

The Bow River float has increasingly become a summertime ritual. Provided a few precautions are taken (like wearing a life jacket, not wearing high heels in an inflatable raft, and avoiding the weir at all costs), the most likely hazards are getting sunburned or being tailed by a wayward duck.

The main attraction is that the river is relatively stable, says Calum Macdonald, sea kayaking program co-ordinator at the University of Calgary’s Outdoor Centre. “(The raft) is basically going to travel at the same speed as the river because it produces so much drag,” he says, adding it’s an easy first step for people who want to progress to something more difficult, like whitewater rafting.

Depending on where you launch and pull out, the trip can take anywhere from two hours (Bowness Park to Edworthy) to four hours (Bowness Park to the Calgary Zoo). Paddling upstream is nearly impossible, so remember to leave a vehicle at your destination so you can get back to where you started.

While one can float down the river on makeshift rafts — air mattresses, tire tubes, inflatable chairs — Macdonald recommends people buy or rent a raft that can withstand bumping into a rock or a fallen tree. Renting a 10-person industrial-grade floater raft (including lifejackets, throwbag and paddles) generally costs less than $10 per person.

Most people who spend a lazy afternoon on the river act responsibly, but the number of troublemakers has increased along with the number of people. Robin Nickel of the Calgary Area Outdoor Council says you could probably run your finger down any page of the phonebook and someone would have a crazy story to tell about the Bow River, but one incident is particularly memorable for him.

“I’ve seen eight or 10 people out in a bunch of half a dozen or so rafts clustered together — no life jackets, all drunk — and they pulled up on an island in the river that you could wade to shore from, lay down, decided they’d had enough for the day… pushed the rafts into the river and waded to the shore,” says Nickel, adding that the stunt left the fire department to round up the abandoned rafts and search the river for bodies.

He says the council, which has its offices right next to the river at 10th St. and Memorial Dr. N.W., is trying to get a program on river safety started for later this year.

The city’s bylaw department and the fire department patrol the river regularly during the summer. There has been a rise in “appalling” behaviour that is negatively impacting those who live along the river, says Joanne Hahn, manager of policy development and public education with the city’s bylaw department.

“The people who live off the river feel trapped,” she says. “They watch as people get out of their boats on the side of the river and they’ll urinate or defecate on their property. No one needs to have their kids see that.”

Hahn says the most common infractions that result in a fine being levied are open liquor and drinking in a public space ($115), and littering in a park ($750). “There is a $500 fine on the books for not wearing a PFD life jacket, but basically what we do is tell them they can’t continue without one so we can get them off the river,” she says.

Not everyone is a fan of life jackets, including Aaron Takeda, who has rafted the Bow River regularly since moving here nine years ago. “I can understand the law, but it fucks up my tan line,” he says. The 26 year old is equally unimpressed with some floaters, particularly those who leave their trash behind. “It just gives other rafters a bad name,” he says. “It’s like people who bring bottles camping.”

Although recent headlines suggest the actions of some rafters is getting worse, Jeff Budai, spokesperson for Calgary Fire Department, contends it’s simply a matter of more people now being on the river. The most prevalent problem isn’t trash or rowdy behaviour, he says, but lack of education about potential pitfalls that can easily be avoided. “We know it’s relaxing. We know it’s fun. But often safety falls into the backs of our minds.”

Even in the peak of summer, the Bow, like every body of water in Calgary, can induce hypothermia in a matter of minutes, notes Budai. It’s also deceptively deep — up to six metres in some spots. So a life jacket may screw with one’s tan, but if you want an even glow, it’s safer to sit your ass in a tanning bed.

Budai adds that the fire department may show some leniency when adults aren’t wearing a life jacket, but there is a zero-tolerance policy when children aren’t.

Of course we can’t talk about safety without mentioning the weir, which lies just downstream from the Calgary Zoo. It’s been tagged the “drowning machine” for a reason — at least 14 people have died after being caught in its recirculating hydraulic wave. After years of planning, the province and the Parks Foundation Calgary began construction on the killer weir this spring. Tentatively scheduled for completion in 2011, the renamed Harvie Passage will have two channels — one for novice boaters, the other for recreational paddlers — allowing for water to flow over a series of shorts swifts into shallow pools.

On Saturday, June 20, the Outdoor Centre will host its fourth annual Bow River Raft Float from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event starts at Bowness Park and ends at Prince’s Island and includes rafting and safety instruction, raft and equipment as well as a shuttle bus service. Call 403-220-5038 to register.

RAFT RENTALS

• University of Calgary Outdoor Centre

2500 University Dr. N.W., 403-220-5038

• Rocky Mountain Paddling Centre

6531 Bowness Rd N.W., 403-202-8490

• Lazy Day Raft Rentals

720 3 St. N.W. (Calgary Curling Club), 403-258-0575

• Sports Rent

4424 16 Ave N.W., 403-292-0077