Torture by Washing Machine

This weekend all those winter evenings practicing in a kayak in a pool paid off ... after a fashion. I went with the Columbia kayak group to the Deerfield River in western Massachusetts for weekend of white water kayaking. There were three other students (two beginners like me, and one intermediate), and four instructors: Andy, Jane, Adelaine and Luke, the 'kayaking kiwi'. Although New York is in full blossom, upstate its cool and wintry still, with the odd patch of ice, and the water wasn't too warm. It took me about 5 minutes to discover this: my very first attempt to 'eddy in' (move from the main current to the side of the river) had me flipped and flailing, as the reality of the difference between a swimming pool and an engorged, fast-flowing river hit me like a very large amount of very cold water in the face. Repeatedly.

The first day we practiced the basics: eddying in, peeling out (leaving the sides of the river for the central part) and ferrying (crossing perpendicular to the current). We got out the river at around 5pm - it never felt so good to be dry. The night was spent in an old wooden hotel in the small village of Claremont. Almost all of the buildings you see in the countryside here are in fact made of wood, and it gives it an odd feeling of impermanent settlements. I really enjoyed the company of the group: mixed ages, mostly American but all of them very interesting people.



Sunday was also spent on the river, culminating on the Zoar rapids which is a class III (read: huge roaring walls of water smashing against lots of jet black rocks). The rapid was kind to me and I made it through still facing forward and the right way up ...