Sunday, December 03, 2006
Gently down the stream
My ear is rather better today.
Which is fortunate, because today we went on a 300 mile round trip in a minibus to the Brecon Beacons, where we gazed in some horror at the River Usk in spate. The river was brown, churning and carrying large chunks of trees very fast.
Then we paddled 200 yrds, waited 20 minutes for the rescue of two paddlers, boats and paddles, paddled another 200 yards and repeated the process (this time I was doing the wet bit), then finally paddled an extremely exciting 200 yrds and went home(after an hour or so doing sorting out things and waiting for the minibus).
White water kayaking is very like a video game. You have a forward, backward, left and right control. Your aim is to keep the boat headed downstream while avoiding obstacles (trees, rocks, other boats) appearing on left and right. The river itself is pushing you into sideways eddies, while waves crash over the boat and have to be met head on. And it all happens too fast for conscious though.
The biggest difference, of course, is that when you fail then you don't (hopefully) lose a life. Instead you find yourself upside down in a fast flowing and freezing cold Welsh river in December.
Then you get one of those little sections where you get a timer counting down and you have to complete a task or lose a life. In this case the time is indeterminate but feels very short, the task is to detach yourself from your boat while still under water so that you can reach the surface. But the consequence of failing is the same.
Having reached the surface, you take a huge gulp of air and watch your boat and paddle spinning off downstream, far faster than the current is carrying you. It's too deep to stand and the current would be far too strong to let you anyway, so the only option is to swim the 30 feet or so to the bank.
The highlight of my school swimming career, after I'd demonstrated that I could swim up and down indefintely and pick up rubber bricks from the floor of the deep end, was the pyjama swim. This involved donning a pair of light pyjamas, jumping in to the pool and swimming to the other side. The purpose of this was to equip us for any occasion when we might end up clothed in water.
I haven't ever fallen into a heated indoor pool while wearing nightwear, although I understand that it is a common pastime among media celebrities. I have however fallen into a whitewater river in winter wearing a wet suit, tracksuit bottoms, socks and trainers, long sleeved T shirt, hooded tracksuit top, cagoule, helmet, glasses, sealskin gloves, a large rubber spraydeck firmly attached around my chest and, possibly the best £30 I've ever spent, a buoyancy jacket. And when I saw that bank I can assure you that I swam about twice as fast as I ever managed in pyjamas!
Beloved and son didn't fall in. Son is starting to get quite good at anything that involves not entering the water abrubtly.
The next river trip is February. Maybe we get snow!
Which is fortunate, because today we went on a 300 mile round trip in a minibus to the Brecon Beacons, where we gazed in some horror at the River Usk in spate. The river was brown, churning and carrying large chunks of trees very fast.
Then we paddled 200 yrds, waited 20 minutes for the rescue of two paddlers, boats and paddles, paddled another 200 yards and repeated the process (this time I was doing the wet bit), then finally paddled an extremely exciting 200 yrds and went home(after an hour or so doing sorting out things and waiting for the minibus).
White water kayaking is very like a video game. You have a forward, backward, left and right control. Your aim is to keep the boat headed downstream while avoiding obstacles (trees, rocks, other boats) appearing on left and right. The river itself is pushing you into sideways eddies, while waves crash over the boat and have to be met head on. And it all happens too fast for conscious though.
The biggest difference, of course, is that when you fail then you don't (hopefully) lose a life. Instead you find yourself upside down in a fast flowing and freezing cold Welsh river in December.
Then you get one of those little sections where you get a timer counting down and you have to complete a task or lose a life. In this case the time is indeterminate but feels very short, the task is to detach yourself from your boat while still under water so that you can reach the surface. But the consequence of failing is the same.
Having reached the surface, you take a huge gulp of air and watch your boat and paddle spinning off downstream, far faster than the current is carrying you. It's too deep to stand and the current would be far too strong to let you anyway, so the only option is to swim the 30 feet or so to the bank.
The highlight of my school swimming career, after I'd demonstrated that I could swim up and down indefintely and pick up rubber bricks from the floor of the deep end, was the pyjama swim. This involved donning a pair of light pyjamas, jumping in to the pool and swimming to the other side. The purpose of this was to equip us for any occasion when we might end up clothed in water.
I haven't ever fallen into a heated indoor pool while wearing nightwear, although I understand that it is a common pastime among media celebrities. I have however fallen into a whitewater river in winter wearing a wet suit, tracksuit bottoms, socks and trainers, long sleeved T shirt, hooded tracksuit top, cagoule, helmet, glasses, sealskin gloves, a large rubber spraydeck firmly attached around my chest and, possibly the best £30 I've ever spent, a buoyancy jacket. And when I saw that bank I can assure you that I swam about twice as fast as I ever managed in pyjamas!
Beloved and son didn't fall in. Son is starting to get quite good at anything that involves not entering the water abrubtly.
The next river trip is February. Maybe we get snow!
# posted by Louise H @ 9:08 pm 
