Trailer -"This is the sea 3" by Justine Curgenven - www.cackletv.com
... and I hope it isn't brown!" This unveiling quote comes from Axel after a wild experience at the Falls of Lora and is immortalized by Justine in the TITS3-video - see the trailer.
This morning I had a similar experience like Axel, admittedly not on an epic place like the Falls of Lora, Corryvreckan or the Bitches, but simply on the canalized "Oude Rijn" in Woerden. Normally the "Oude Rijn" is a quit and non-sensational place to paddle. But during this Sunday-morning training round with the K1 racer I had a different experience: exactly at the narrowest spot of the Rhine, a little motorboat crossed my way. The shipper didn't slow down and a awkward stern-wave came over the big open cockpit of the K1 racer. All at once I was sitting in 5 centimeters of water. That was not very pleasant, but the worst part yet had to come: the reflecting waves in the 8 meters wide channel caused very confusing water over a long distance. In the tipsy race kayak with hardly any boat-contact that is nasty to deal with. Suddenly I found my self low bracing left and right with the Brasca Wing Paddle, really didn't want to swim with this vulnerable kayak without any buoyancy between steep riverside walls making it impossible to get out of the water (and 2 minutes after the police barrier see below)... I love to play in rough water, but this wasn't fun. Bloody motorboats!
And again I didn't manage to do my 10 km-training round within one hour (timed 1.05 hours). This time no drag of waterplants but two incidents as an excuse: the bloody motorboat and a police barrier. Along the route the police was recovering a dead body that was floating in the Singel-water of Woerden. Police was everywhere. I paddled by in a wide bow, didn't like to be close to this site. It is the second time someone is found dead in the water in Woerden this year. Paddling around in the Green Heart of Holland you get used to dead fish, ducks and an occasional dead sheep in the water. But humans?? This was a bizarre Sunday-morning!
1 comment:
Hi Hans,
Your experience with the "bloody motorboat" seems like fun to me. And practical too because this was a real life situation for practising low braces. After this the sea will always be too easy for you when paddling your Pintail.;-)
Your wet pants make me also think of my own K1-racer which is missing, for years already, the cover, near the stern, above the rudder.
My clubmates laugh at me every time I cross the "Alkmaarder meer", to reach the club, when conditions are windy and the waves too high for a K1-racer.
But until now, I never got any drop of water in through this hole. But I must say, I always paddle with a sprayskirt.
Post a Comment