The Giblin Ring

We like to think that the RuckRaft was an original idea, but the truth is, it’s not. While we were cobbling together the prototype using children’s inflatables, people across the globe were doing exactly the same. Huw Kingston from Australia got in touch to share his version, the Giblin Ring.

“I had to chuckle last night when an old friend sent me the link for the RuckRaft. Back in 2004, I was on the final leg of my 25,000km circumnavigation of Australia by kayak, foot, bike and ski. This final leg from Melbourne to Hobart, included a month of trackless trekking in the wild South West of Tasmania.

“We knew that along the way we would encounter some deep, wide and cold river crossings and, at one point a 300m swim across an estuary. Warren, the friend who sent me the RuckRaft link, joined me for this walk. He brought with him two big swimming pool rings. We planned to use these to support our big packs, towing them across as we swam.

“The first major crossing was the Giblin River. Successfully across, we christened our pool rings the Giblin Rings. A few weeks later was the final crossing, the estuary of Port Davey. Arriving late afternoon to the narrowest point, we camped. It was May, it was snowing, the following morning, we bashed our way to the shoreline and nervously blew up our Giblin Rings. The air temperature was 9 degrees, the water temperature the same. With only a set of thermals on I stepped into the water, it was all too cold, but we had to cross. I started to swim but had gone perhaps 50 metres when I felt my body shutting down. My arms stopped obeying my instructions to swim. I pulled the cord of the Giblin Ring so I could rest holding onto it. As I grabbed it turned. I struggled to get the pack upright, out of the water and started to swim again. The shutdown happened a few times and I went back to the ring a few times. Somehow I managed to get across, when my feet touched solid ground it still remains one of the most relieved moments of my outdoor life.

“I then watched Warren follow me and saw the same shutdown happening for him. But there was nothing I could do to help, there was no way I was going back in that water. Fortunately he made it across and we had the biggest of man-hugs!

“Hence the chuckle when he sent me the Ruckraft link. It wouldn't have made the swim any warmer but I'd hope it would have been more stable than our Giblin rings!”

Our first attempt wasn’t a million miles away from this, but we opted for a less arduous testing ground and different shaped inflatables.