Things that go BUMP!
Yup, I'm talking about Kayaks. We went on a river by Santo Domingo (I can't remember the name of it now). After scouting in a good starting place, we found ourselves an exit point, left one vehicle there, and headed back up to the starting point. We figured it would take about 3 hours. It didn't take us long to get the kayaks inflated and set up. We packed our gear in, and away we went. I think I had all the usual troubles of trying to paddle a kayak straight, but soon we were into the rapids. 3 out of the 4 of us hadn't been in either a kayak, or white water, and we were facing Class 3 rapids (apparently).
These inflatable kayaks were not enclosed, you just sat in them and braced yourself. I was in a single, and it had thigh straps to help hold me in. The boats were self bailing, but I think mine was inflated a little too much, because I spent most of the afternoon sitting in a puddle of water about 3 inches deep. Thankfully it was warm. The others were in 2 man boats, and they just had to hang on. About the 3rd or maybe 5th rapid we hit (they came pretty quickly), I was sucked down into the worst of the chute. There was no avoiding it, at least for a novice like me. I went down into one big hole, and started up the other side, when I got dumped off sideways.
For one eternal second I was still strapped in, until I remembered to extend my legs, freeing them from the straps. Then I spend at least another unending 1/2 second tumbling in white water, with no sense of direction. I pushed towards the light (I forgot I had a life jacket, but I am sure it helped during this endeavor), and broke the surface. I was immediately on my back, feet forward (I was still going through rapids! One boat collected my paddle, while I finally swam over and got my boat. Someone else came up with the seat that I didn't even know I had lost. I guess my episode helped the 2 boats behind me avoid the same fate. A little shaken, I stopped to arrange things, and then we were on our way.
We went through many other rapids, with brief smooth parts in between. We stopped to arrange for the camera man to go ahead and set up for pictures. We paddled by a big barn or something, because it was really foul for probably 10 minutes. We met 3 other kayakers in hard shell, enclosed kayaks, and they seemed quite familiar with the river. Thankfully, they warned us about an even bigger rapids "45 minutes after the bridge", so we decided, for time's sake and because most of us were still new at this to stop at the bridge, and send one person to get our vehicle.
This was a new experience for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I gained experience in reading the river, and knowing where to go (and sometimes even getting where I wanted to go!). I look forward to doing this again sometime. My arms and shoulders and back are sore today. Its always funny to me how, upon doing something new, one finds muscles one didn't know existed.
These inflatable kayaks were not enclosed, you just sat in them and braced yourself. I was in a single, and it had thigh straps to help hold me in. The boats were self bailing, but I think mine was inflated a little too much, because I spent most of the afternoon sitting in a puddle of water about 3 inches deep. Thankfully it was warm. The others were in 2 man boats, and they just had to hang on. About the 3rd or maybe 5th rapid we hit (they came pretty quickly), I was sucked down into the worst of the chute. There was no avoiding it, at least for a novice like me. I went down into one big hole, and started up the other side, when I got dumped off sideways.
For one eternal second I was still strapped in, until I remembered to extend my legs, freeing them from the straps. Then I spend at least another unending 1/2 second tumbling in white water, with no sense of direction. I pushed towards the light (I forgot I had a life jacket, but I am sure it helped during this endeavor), and broke the surface. I was immediately on my back, feet forward (I was still going through rapids! One boat collected my paddle, while I finally swam over and got my boat. Someone else came up with the seat that I didn't even know I had lost. I guess my episode helped the 2 boats behind me avoid the same fate. A little shaken, I stopped to arrange things, and then we were on our way.
We went through many other rapids, with brief smooth parts in between. We stopped to arrange for the camera man to go ahead and set up for pictures. We paddled by a big barn or something, because it was really foul for probably 10 minutes. We met 3 other kayakers in hard shell, enclosed kayaks, and they seemed quite familiar with the river. Thankfully, they warned us about an even bigger rapids "45 minutes after the bridge", so we decided, for time's sake and because most of us were still new at this to stop at the bridge, and send one person to get our vehicle.
This was a new experience for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I gained experience in reading the river, and knowing where to go (and sometimes even getting where I wanted to go!). I look forward to doing this again sometime. My arms and shoulders and back are sore today. Its always funny to me how, upon doing something new, one finds muscles one didn't know existed.
posted by David Stauffer at 1:32 p.m.
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