A bit of paddling and a bit of swimming

Today it was myself (in the Van Dusen), Anton (in his Mirage) and Jack and Jen (in the double) paddling together. I felt a lot better in the Van Dusen today. For the first half of the paddle I felt a lot more confident and comfortable in it. I was bracing a lot less and managed to get into a rhythm for most of it. I was even coping alright with a few boats that came past. Then, just as we were nearing the lake Jack said something about a big fish and silly me turned to look. Well the pictures tell the rest of that story. In I went and we decided some photos would make the blog more interesting and personal.

Anyway I went around the first marker and was on the way back when another boat came past with some bigger wash. I turned into it but didn't quite have enough room and nearly ended up hitting Anton with me yelling out "Don't stop, keep going, keep going" with lots of laughter mixed in. And a few seconds later just as I breathed with that near miss I looked up and Jack and Jen in the double were veering right and I was veering left . More calls by me of "$hit, $hit, don't stop, don't stop, keep going, $hit, $hit" followed by me crashing into them once and nearly again. I can't believe I stayed upright and was laughing so much for the next few minutes that I nearly fell in several times. It was soooo funny, I'm laughing now just picturing it all again!

Well I was getting pretty balance fatigued by this stage and had coped with some pretty impressive challenges. The last kilometer I was losing it a bit and was all over the place and I was looking forward to getting back. Soon we rounded the corner and I saw the ramp. Well Anton, not satisfied with me falling in only once (even with photos of it) decided he'd help me in again. In all fairness my steering is still pretty dodgy in the Van Dusen, but his calls of " What are you doing Cass, you're gunna put me into that branch aren't you" resulted in me looking at the offending branch, trying unsuccessfully to steer away and falling in with cries of "Anton you bastard". Only joking Anton - I won't hold it against you (for too long). So after another re-entry we were then back home. Jack had his beautiful Struer K1 there for me to have a go of. It was so comfortable and easy to paddle. Stability was no problem and it felt really nice to paddle. And Jack has even offered to lend it to me to race in at Forster (State Championships). Now this is a $7000 kayak we're talking about. So thankyou Jack, it's a very generous and much appreciated offer.