Turning the corner from terror

Friday night I made it down to my first river session with the club, and I only had the smallest bit of nerves about getting on the water.  It was a busy session with some new faces joining us for the evening too, so there were high spirits all round.  After a bit of a struggle with my deck (it's a tight fit and even more so when the neoprene is dry) I shuffled myself around to drop in to the water.  Not able to get quite straight, there was a bit of a wobble as I went in, but I found that this didn't bother me on the flat water anymore.  Clearly facing my fears on the T has worked as expected, and I'm starting to overcome the fear.

After a bit of chatting and warming up paddling around, the group headed up stream.  The river is low now and the features are small.  I practised some breaking in and out and some ferry gliding at the first little ripple, and was feeling quite confident.  Keith and I tried to make our way up further to the bridge on the water, but after a bit of struggling (some good exercise) we decided we'd have to get out the boats and portage past.

Up by the bridge with some deeper water, Keith got me practising my breaking in and out some more, and did some further explanation of the angles and so on, and how it would differ on moving water.  It's hard to imagine being on bigger, faster water and what you would need to do, when the water you are on is dead flat!  We then looked at some different strokes, skulling for support, draw strokes and so on, and had a bit of a practise with these, again trying to relate it to the bigger water I'm aiming for.  A little communication hiccup and I got a bit frustrated, I'm clearly still a tad nervous about the idea of faster water, as I'm wanting to get everything feeling perfect on this friendly flat water.  I know that if I can't get it right here, I'm going to get in to trouble on the bigger stuff.  I think I'm forgiven though.

It's amazing how quickly an hour or more can go by just practising these few things, as it was time to head back down to the club.  We'd been having a good chat with Neil during the session, who had been a member of the club many years ago, and has recently decided to come back to paddling after a long break.  He clearly hasn't forgotten much, even though he thought he felt a bit rusty, as he and Keith were doing some tricks on the way down stream.  Wanting to make the most of every minute I was practising the strokes from the session on the way down, feeling the difference in them when moving rather, than trying them sitting still.  I had a couple of moments where I nearly tripped over my paddle, but again this was no more than a quick 'woops', and back to trying again.

For the first time, I felt like I'd enjoyed being on the water.  I feel more comfortable in the boat, I feel more stable and more able to cope with the movement of the boat, and although it's still unusual and requires concentration, it all feels a lot less alien.

7 weeks to go until the alps and finally flat water feels OK.  Perhaps there is some hope then, that I won't be entirely overwhelmed on the big mountain rivers.

Back at the club I didn't feel like I was quite done, so I got Keith to show me how to practise a roll on grass.  He had metioned this was something I could try, but I couldn't get my head around how it worked.  It was easier than I thought, although obviously different in many ways to actually rolling up in the water.  It helped me put a few things together, as I could actually talk the process through while 'upside down', rather than having to remember while I'm holding my breath!


I left feeling almost excited about going back to Knightwick in the morning.


Saturday morning then was my first time going paddling 'independantly'.  Keith was going out on a 'big boys paddle' at the T, so he could just enjoy without babysitting, and I was joining a few club members at Knightwick.  After getting the kit sorted and seeing Keith off, I had breakfast and slowly made my way up to the weir.  I stopped on the way to check on the boat, and I'm glad I did.  The boat had moved and the straps had come a little lose!  I arrived at knightwick, the adjustments I made at the pit stop had worked, and I still had a boat on board.


I was the first to arrive so started getting kitted up, and by the time I was half done, Gregg and Dean had arrived too.  Once the three of us were ready, we headed down to the weir.  We lazily went about getting on the water, taking the opportunity to stretch and loosen up a little, and once on we stayed chatting on the flat water.  Jamie was due to be coming down, and as a coach and the more experienced paddler of the group, we were waiting for him.

I've already noticed by this point, that I've achieved a few things that I would NOT have done just a few weeks ago.  I've taken my own kit, learnt about where to put the straps so my boat doesn't come lose, got kitted up and remembered everything I need and what order it goes on, got on the water with peers (confident paddlers but not quite the same safety net as a coach) and been happy to sit in my boat chatting with them, not panicking about the session ahead.

Jamie and Tevor arrived soon after and once they were on, we all headed down the weir.  For the first time I went through the wave not following another paddler.  Another little achievement.  I was a little nevous about it and took a moment in the eddy at the bottom to settle my heart rate, but it felt GOOD!

It only took a few minutes to feel confident again, and I had a go at backwards ferry gliding.  I had done it a few weeks before on the very forgiving Little Bob, and with this new found confidence, I was ready to try it by Big Bob.  I was down stream from the main wave, where the water is less bouncy, but the flow is still relatively strong.  Feeling a little over confident I was talking to Dean as I went, I lost my focus and so lost my edge.  Damn, I was over.  I tried to remember the roll process from the night before but having been taken by surprise I got a bit muddled, I pulled my deck and I was swimming.  Gregg and Dean got me and my boat to the side and although a little shaken, as I'd felt so disorientated under the water, I was mostly frustrated, and rather cold.

Back in my boat, I did a quick forward ferry glide to settle the nerves that had risen up, and then with a little input from Jamie I had another go.  Definitely progress for me to go straight back to trying the same thing that just got me out!  I managed a few of these successfully and then started making my way closer to the main wave.  I tried out a few variations of things I'd learnt in the past few sessions, trying to read the water to see the best place to cross the eddy line, last power stroke in the flow, using the water flow, angle and edge to make the crosses easier, and testing out the hanging draw as I went across.

Jamie had a mission to work on his roll in cold water today, so while I was doing my own practise, I was also watching his progress with the help of the group.  He was at first getting used to T rescues in the eddy.  This is where another paddler puts their boat to the side of your boat when you have capsized, so you can use that to push yourself up on.  Then he tried a few rolls, with a T rescue available where he was unsuccessful.  He had a few unsuccessful attempts at first, but then cracked it.  He's been paddling for a couple of years, is a level one coach and a very strong paddler, but when in cold water his instinct is to bail when he goes over.  That has definitely started to change after this practise, as later on, he capsized while playing in the wave a couple of times and rolled instead of bailing.  It was great to be a part of encouraging someone else to overcome something, and make a positive step forwards with their skills. So well done Jamie!

I managed to feel confident enough to get up on the second/third wave and did some gliding and turns here (with some coaching from Jamie again) but I wasn't feeling confident enough to try for that first green wave, and by now I was freezing, my hands were hurting and I could barley feel anything else.  On one of these turns I noticed, as I was sat on the top of the wave, and making the turn out of it with a low brace, my hand was quite deep in the water.  I could feel the support I was getting from the paddle, and the large amount of edge on the boat.  This is another achievement, as rather than this situation terrifying me, I was clear headed enough to notice what was going on, and although it was strange, it didn't make me panic.

I decided to call it a day then. I wasn't going to feel confident doing any more as I was too cold to concentrate properly and I felt that my achievements for the morning, although perhaps small ones, were enough to be happy with.  I headed up to the car a little weak on my legs and tried to sort out my boat.  I could barely move my hands and it was then I realised just how cold I was.  Definitely a good call not to do any more paddling.  My feet and legs were a nice shade of purple, and it made getting the wet kit off quite difficult!!

Over the weekend though, Keith had seen a semi-dry 2 piece suit for sale second hand, which I decided to go for, so hopefully it will have arrived for the next time I paddle and I can be a bit warmer!!  The borrowed kit I have been using has been doing OK to get me started, but it's not keeping me that warm, especially when I swim.  That marks my first kit purchase, so another step towards being a proper paddler!!

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