A ‘legend’ rafting guide is mourned
River tragedy victim remembered as someone who ‘could always make you smile on a bad day’. Jonathan Guildford reports.
A Queenstown rafting guide who died on Friday was an ‘‘amazing guy’’, his friends say.
Keith Haare, 62, died after his raft overturned near Toilet Rapids, about four kilometres upstream from the Queenstown Rafting and Shotover Jet bases.
Chief, as he was known to friends, family and work colleagues, was a highly respected rafting guide and a cherished friend.
Long-time friend Julia Milley said Haare was immensely respected.
Ruth De Reus, who was friends with Haare for about 25 years, said Chief was a comical character.
‘‘He could always make you smile on a bad day.’’
A number of friends and colleagues paid tribute to Haare on social media.
A message from family members on Facebook said: ‘‘We will miss you every day. We will miss your guitar playing and long hair.
‘‘You will be in heaven playing your guitar with the greats from your records since you were a young boy. We miss you already so much.’’
In a statement, Queenstown Rafting said the company was mourning the loss of one of the world’s leading rafting guides.
Queenstown Rafting operations manager Guido Leek said Chief was ‘‘just a legend’’.
‘‘You can’t get more experienced than he was, especially on that river. He was someone doing something he loved, he loved that river.’’
He said Haare started rafting in the 1980s and was an integral member of Queenstown Rafting since 1996.
‘‘You never saw Chief grumpy or having a bad day, he was always happy. He kept on rafting time after time, day after day, year after year.’’
Head rafting guide Michel Lepage said Haare was always going out of his way for others.
‘‘He added half an hour onto his day just picking guides up and dropping them off. Chief had really made Queenstown his home and the Shotover his river.’’
She said Haare was loved in the rafting community and tributes were flowing in from all over the world.
‘‘We would get customers coming in to the office asking for Chief. We’d say ‘do you know him’ and they’d say no, they’d just heard of him and wanted to meet him – he was such a legend in the industry.’’
His bio on the Queenstown Rafting website explained his claim to fame: ‘‘With over 20 years and thousands of trips under my belt, I’m the longest-standing river guide for Queenstown Rafting.’’
Luke Taylor, general manger of Go Orange, which recently merged with Queenstown Rafting, said 11 passengers and three guides were on two rafts, which left Queenstown at 8am on Friday.
One of the rafts overturned about halfway through the trip, and Haare was found unresponsive in the water soon after.
A special tribute was being planned for Haare, a Queenstown Rafting statement said.