Last Sunday was the Fourth of July. Whenever I have been at home in Katy for the 4th, our celebration is nothing more than my parents trying to convince me to go see the puny fireworks display at the local fairgrounds, at which I flatly refuse and go about my evening/night as if it is any other day. This year, however, my friend Paul invited me to go with his family to visit their cousins in San Antonio. While that itself doesn't sound quite so intriguing, he mentioned that we would be kayaking down the Guadalupe River, which sounded fun. So I headed out on the three and a half hour drive to his cousin's house near Boerne, TX on Saturday, and went to kayak with them early Sunday.
I have never been kayaking before, but I have had experience rowing a boat around Battle Ground Lake State Park, up in Battle Ground, Washington. There are two major differences, as I found out. On the lake, I spent most of my time paddling backwards with the paddles in rings on the sides of the boat. Thus you can use your bicep muscles and your abdominals to produce your momentum, as well as paddle simultaneously on both sides of the boat to keep the boat straight. As well, like backing up a car, you have to condition yourself to think oppositely in terms of directions to navigate. In this kayak, while you are no longer using rings from your paddle, you are facing forward, so the arm closest to the paddle in the water is still using its bicep. Your other arm, however, pushes outward to create the additional force, and uses your flaccid triceps muscle. Additionally, this motion - along with the instability of the kayak - does not allow for the use of your body to provide extra propulsion. Finally, only one paddle is in the water at any time, so unless you have equally built up both arm muscles, you have the tendency to over-steer and use a lot of your energy going in directions other than downstream. And since my mindset brought me back to Battle Ground Lake, I kept flipping directions accidentally, and would only get it right if I just reacted naturally instead of thinking about where I want to go.
So I'm woken up in the morning by Paul's mother, and after getting ready for the trip and grabbing a quick breakfast, Paul's mom notices I only have flip-flops for the kayaking, as opposed to sandals with straps. She politely offers a pair of size 11 flip flops she finds around the house. I accept them, and don't bother to tell her about my foot abnormalities (I'm sure I'll cover this eventually.) I strap on my borrowed sandals and the group - Paul and his mom and dad, Paul's cousin and his mom and dad, and I - walk the few blocks down the road to the place on the river bank where the rented kayaks will be. About halfway into the walk, I notice a blister has both formed and ruptured already on the right side of my right foot's ankle.
Great start.
We get out kayaks, haul them down into the river, and set off. Paul's uncle immediately flips his kayak. At least we've popped that cherry. Five to ten minutes later, I see Paul randomly flip his kayak and lose his sunglasses in the process. About a minute or so later, I flip my kayak. I don't even remember how, but I manage to get back on the kayak easily enough. The riverbed was fairly shallow, so I just leaped out of the water and landed on my kayak.
Keep in mind this is all happening on the calm portion of the river. It had been raining fairly heavily off and on over the past month, so the river was high, but not horribly so.
We reach the first set of rapids. The kayak renter told us that we should always try and go through the rapids single-file, since when someone flips their kayak it'll be easier for the next kayak to avoid them/the area of rapids that flipped them. Paul's cousin goes through first. He gets through cleanly. I later learn he was using a fishing kayak, which is designed less for speed and more for stability, so he easily slid over any trouble.
I went through next, and navigated all the way to the end of the rapids before I inexplicably flipped. I believe everyone else made it through successfully, but I may be mistaken, since I was paying more attention to getting back onto my kayak. I manage to flip the capsized kayak back over, then wait for one of the other party members to grab it to give it some stability. When I first flipped it, the river was calm, so I didn't need much help, but after the rapids the current was still heavy. I leap onto the kayak, but instead of maneuvering midair to land on my butt, and land on my knees. I try to get on my feet, then plop down onto the seat, but flip the kayak again. Then I hear the familiar sound of rushing water.
I didn't know this, and the renter/guide failed to stress this or perhaps even mention it at all, but about a football fields length after the first set of rapids is another, smaller set of rapids, that if on a kayak can easily be navigated. I, however, was not on a kayak. I had yet to reach the rapids, so my first reaction was to grab my kayak, get some footing to stand in place in the rushing current, and then leap on just before I reach the rocky rapids. My kayak was still withing arms reach, so I grabbed a hold of a strap that was dangling behind the kayak and try to pull it toward where I had just gotten a foothold. All this did was tire me out, as the strong current made the light kayak feel as heavy as a boulder and pretty much unmovable. After ten seconds or so of trying to pull it closer to me and failing, I let it go and proceed with the only option I have available to me: ride the rapids bareback.
I had a life jacket on, so I didn't need worry about staying afloat. I have watched many episodes of Man vs. Wild and Survivorman, so I knew to keep my feet up and just float down instead of try to walk through the rocky riverbed. Even if I hadn't know beforehand, Paul was yelling over and over at me to do so. So I start to ride through the rapids. BOOM! Get a rock right to my lower back. POW! Another rock nails me in my pelvic bone. SMACK! A large rock knocks me sideways. I look downstream and notice a gigantic rock right in front of where the current is taking me. The pain from the other rocks smashing into me made me want to take a more active role in avoidance, so I lowered my feet into the water to try and push myself in a different direction. CRACK! A hidden rock wrecks my left leg. CRACK again! Another one hits my left leg again, but just a little higher. Luckily, I was successful in avoiding the behemoth in front of me, so I was able to lift my legs back up and avoid the possibility of shattering my leg. I finally make it through the rapids, and in the calm currents after it, I got onto the kayak correctly.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. The final set of rapids I got through, but nearly shook myself out of my kayak again at the end.
When we reached our exit point of the river, I was finally able to assess the damage. Nothing was that serious: a few minor scrapes on my left shin, a cut on my lower back, a scrape of my left index finger, and four additional blisters from the sandals, two on each foot. I have a fairly high tolerance for pain, so the only part that hurts is on my index finger. Since I can see the injury, my body suddenly reminds me that scrapes are usually painful, while the other injuries are more or less hidden by clothes or body hair (gross!).
Happy belated Independence Day!
No comments:
Post a Comment