Feeling the cold

Last week I got in three solid paddles which were really enjoyable. Monday night was an hour with Adam in a Laance each and then on Wednesday I did my first paddle out of Teddington, again in a Laance, just to suss out that stretch of river. Other than a lot of rowers with their great long sticky-out oars and the fact that they go very fast, backwards, all was good. Again, another hour or so at a steady pace. On Sunday Ad and I were due to try out a Mirage but Ad had to cancel at the last minute, so as it was 6.30am and I was sat on the sofa dressed head to foot in lycra I manage to quell the urge to go back to bed and drove down to Teddington. This time it was a paddle up to Hampton Court and back with  8 x 3 min hard efforts, really trying to fully engage all parts of the stroke. I almost felt like a proper kayaker! I had a funny moment on the way back as I approached Kingston Bridge; the weather and time of day was identical to when I had been in the DW seven months before; cold rain, low cloud and a biting wind, except this time I was not in tears and actually quite enjoying myself. It brought a lot back. ('You weren't there man!')

This of course was great for me but Ad just couldn't get out and paddle. Sunday was meant to be a session where we took a mirage out as a pre-cursor to buying one. Jamie had bought one himself and found it too tippy but as we had the opportunity to buy one at a good price and the club had two for us to train in, it seemed worth a punt. So, we arrive at the club on Monday evening and it was  cold; really cold.

"This jetty's slippy." said Ad.

"That'll be the ice on it."  Was my rather grim reply. :-(

I get in first and, yep, it's tippy, but seems controllable. Ad gets in gingerly and we sat for a few moments and then we got out paddles and lifted them up. As soon as we did so, the wobbles started and within 10 seconds we are underwater. Yep, it's cold!

We empty the boat and have another go and pretty much the same result, but this time I have the temerity to attempt a paddle stroke; the mirage responds by dumping us both in the water. We might as well be on a bucking bronco, except of course that nothing is moving except us. We repeated this five or six times and then eventually we started to get the hang of it (relatively) and the periods that we spent upright got longer. On about the seventh go we were balancing well but very slowly, we began to drift away from the edge. It was at this point, knowing full well that there was nothing I could do about it, I started to get the giggles as I slowly watched the jetty disappear out of paddle range, and with the giggles came the wobbles, and then the inevitable dunking. So we then had a go on our own. I stayed upright for a couple of minutes and began to rock the boat with my hips to get a feel for it and felt ok but had I taken any form of stroke I probably would have been in. Ad stayed upright for a time as well. Proof that we could do it but collectively we could not stay relaxed enough and were overcompensating for each other. A mirage is not for us (yet).

The boat that would really suit us is a Mystere and we have a lead on one (fingers crossed) but in the meantime the MPCC have very kindly agreed to let Ad and I use one of theirs and keep hold of it for a while, so last night we paddled the mystere from Walton down to Teddington, which would comfortably be our longest paddle to date. I felt great; Ad had the wobbles big time as he had not completed a proper paddle in a week. After two minutes I pulled us over and gave Ad a mild telling off, knowing full well that he was capable of paddling the boat well. "should we go on or turn round now?" We couldn't paddle like that for the next two hours. Ad took a deep breath, got himself together and we plunged on in much better style.

We'd been paddling for an hour and a half or so when we were approaching Raven's Ait. By this time it was gone 11 o' clock and the river was extremely dark. It was raining but we were both warm enough when without warning we were under. :-(  All along the route there were lots of easy banks and jettys to get out but we had capsized in the worse possible place. On our nearest side was a sheer brick wall about 5 metres high which is the side of a reservoir so we had to swim the boat right across the river. The reason we were not on that side was because I was concerned about getting in the way of the party boats which regularly steam up and down that section. Next time, I won't bother. We got in and I was shaking uncontrollably and in an effort to get warm I started batting out a stupidly high stroke rate and Ad told me, sensibly, to ease up. By Kingston I felt a bit better and within fifteen minutes I was under a hot shower at the clubhouse, still shaking.