A couple of goes at the concrete white water at Holme Pierpoint (the national watersports centre) in Nottingham would be a very good idea....just make sure you've all had your jabs....to be fair it was 10 years ago since I went last but when there on my college course half of our students ended up ill and one in hospital!!!! She had Wiel's and was quite ill with it....three days in hospital.....so make sure you keep those cuts and stractes covered! :yikes:
As has been said, Rafts are heavier, more awkward, slower and not as romantic but they are very stable, safer for white water and can be foot pumped (no need to carry gas at all).
Canoe's look and feel the part (we want to enjoy this trip), are faster and lighter and can be split between members to carry (they are also used with single blade paddles....no kayak paddles except for kayaks!) but...they aren't as stable, they take time to learn to paddle, can sink/fload when up turned if they don't have air bags in them and there isn't as much room in them (can't see this being a problem).
I really would forget lifejackets, they are not designed or meant for canoeing whereas bouyancy aids are....as I said you can get them so small and thin that you'd hardly know you were wearing one.
You will need a waterproof/windproof shell layer, it's up to the group to decide whether waterproofs are compulsery for the walking part but I don't think we can get round not having one to paddle in. I don't think any of us need to go to the expence of buying a dry cag (top half of a dry suit) as they are useless for anything other than paddling but it's very much worth having a gortex or even a thin pertex shell top....if you go in and it's cold you'll feel the wind very badly....even if you don't go in you will get splashed/soaked going down the white water and then the wind will chill you.... I stop short of demanding you wear a windproof top as it's not my place to order anyone to do anything but I'd say anyone not having one is very irrisponcible and quite unfair on the group who are going to have to look after you when you go down with hyperthermia....I've seen mild hyperthermia on a warm summers day in the UK just from being wet and out on a windy lake...it's a very very real danger!
Personaly I'll be in shorts but then I do almost year round anyway....even ice climb in shorts! But I will have a pair of lightweights with me. One change of cloths has got to be a must for a river trip even if it's sealed away and never used. Rather than taking heaps of other clothes I just take a small tube of bio-degradable washing goo and if my smalls need washing then I do it and hang them on trees or my canoe to dry....one or two tube the size of a finger would do the whole group for the three weeks.
As an adendum to my rant about windproofs above I'll be wearing my buffalo mountain shirt...it's great for walking in but ideal to paddle in as it's light, non restrictive, windproof and warm/insulating when wet.....hard to beat I think.....having said that a woolley jumper and a pertex shell would be pretty much as good.
Hope that's helpful....
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