Swim above Trnovo 1

Everyone is weary, especially Chucky after all the travelling, so we start Sunday nice and relaxed.  There’s the option for two paddles today as the Koritnica has enough water on to paddle.  It’s a little trib that only runs when there’s enough snow melt, and if we don’t go soon the water could be gone. 

The first paddle in the morning is from Boka down to Trnovo 1.  This incorporates 3 sections of the Soca.  The first is grade 1-2, the next is grade 2-3 and then the last piece is grade 3-4.  That last section is one I didn’t paddle last year, it was too much, especially as we had such a small group, so safety was a concern.  With 3 paddlers, if something goes wrong for one of you there’s 2 paddlers left to look after each other, the swimmer, and kit chase…. It’s better with more and this year we have 6, which is a good number.  So, we head on up to the get in, I can hardly remember this bit now as my brain has tried to dump a bit of information from the day.  Those of us waiting with the kit decided to get it down the path to the river, there’s no shade on the car park and we don’t want to fry before the day gets started.  Once Keith and Brian get back, we all finish kitting up and get on the water, a roll or a helmet full of water is in order for most of us.  It’s basically a nice pootle through the first section but I’m not feeling great.  I had quite a lot of rum last night and I have a bit of a hangover.  The next section is a little more testing but mostly nice long wave trains and not much needs avoiding. 

As we come to Sprenica 2 I wonder if I should get off, but it’s a long long walk out and everyone seems to think I’m plenty capable of doing this section of river.  My nerves are already jangling and my head hurts so I’m tense, and what I’ve heard about the section doesn’t make me feel much better.   I head down the start of the first bit of testing rapids, I’m doing ok despite every bit of me shaking, and as I come through the bottom bit of wave I feel the boat twitch slightly on my right, I brace a bit and twitch my right knee but then I’ve corrected a bit too much and the boil in the water to my left flips me over.  I’m annoyed.  I keep hold of my paddles and start swimming toward the side, a couple of times I have to allow myself to be swept past a rock and then go to swimming again, Rob is in front of me then with his boat and I hold on to it, he tries to help me get to the side a bit more until I see a rock coming up and I let go, being under a boat as it goes over a rock isn’t likely to be pleasant.  I push off the rock (my WWSR training coming in handy here!) and then Matt comes to me, this time He manages to get me in to an eddy.  I’m not far from my boat but I’d let go of my paddles after a bit as they weren’t helping.  My paddles are further down with Rob and Keith, but Keith manages to scramble along the bank to bring them up to me. 

I’m reunited with my kit, but it doesn’t feel like a happy reunion.  Although logic tells me it wasn’t a bad swim, I’m not hurt, I wasn’t going to end up in anything nasty as it’s only grade 3, and I had a strong group with me to pick up the pieces; the pieces aren’t going back together.  I look around and my only choice from here is to paddle on.  I don’t like the look of any of it, I’m at panic stations.  I pull my boat round and start getting ready, I’m sat on my boat, not yet got my feet in and that’s it, I’m crying.  The adrenaline has crashed, and the task ahead seems insurmountable.  Keith tells me it’s going to be ok, there’s nothing nasty ahead, and I’m paddling it all well.  I just feel that this section of river is a step too far.  I know everyone is pushing me on because they see I’m doing well and want to help me progress, but my head is not in the same place and I think I need to make easier waters more challenging with different manoeuvres before I start pushing myself to try these bigger continuous pieces.  Regardless of that, now I must get myself together and carry on.  Chucky and Brian are in the eddy with me, Matt Keith and Rob are further down.  Chucky tells me the plan and breaks it down in to some bite size pieces.  It’s just ferry glide this flatish looking bit of water to the eddy on the other side, then we’ll drop down and eddy by everyone else to re-group.  That’s not so terrible, I take a deep breath and off we go.  Brian suggests a rest at the next eddy but if I stop I’ll just cry, wherever possible I need to keep moving and get to the end.  I actually paddle the next few pieces reasonably well but every twitch of the boat has the adrenaline spiking, a couple of times I clench my jaw to keep back the tears and then at one point where the others have a look at a small section of rapid, I’ve been sat too long, the adrenaline is crashing and I can see that I can scramble at least round this rapid.  I’m out my boat, and Keith comes to help by carrying my boat round.  Waiting in an eddy at the bottom gives me a minute to gather myself together just enough that I make it through the final couple of rapids. 

As I see the get out come in to view (I remember it from running the shuttle for Matt and Rob last year) I feel that adrenaline dropping again.  I eddy out a little up from the beach, it’s a popular spot so there’s lots of people there and I need a few minutes to myself.  Keith comes in to tell me how well I’d done and then floats down to the others.  I have my little melt down and splash my face, getting myself back under control once more, knowing it’s all done and time to rest.  Then I float down to the others, it’s only 50ft or so, and hop out on the beach. 

It’s time to shuttle and have lunch.  I wait with the kit, happy to have a bit more time to myself on dry land to relax fully.  Brian drops Keith off at his car so he can come back for me and the last of the kit, and the others set up lunch at the house.  I’m exhausted, and I’m certainly not paddling the Koritnica.  The others go for the afternoon paddle as planned but I go to bed.  Mentally and physically I’m drained, and I sleep for 4 hours!  It’s not long after I wake up that the others return, having had a good paddle.  We’ve decided that tonight we will eat out, so we get ready and head to the little restaurant up the road.  It’s about 200m away so we just walk!  It’s a lovely evening and the food is good.