Janna’s Story: The WKZ Team Mary Lambie and Janna Cowley and bruises in the line of duty!!!! February 21, 2011

As this year’s proud recipient of the Agitated Paddler Award, I’d like to pay tribute to the Tail End Charlie’s (Angels) – Don & Richard.

 

I was really nervous about the paddle before I even got to the river. As one of the last off the bike at Mt White Bridge, I quickly lost sight of competitors ahead of me. After an early tip-out with the Marshalls on hand I actually felt better – (let’s face it, it was going to happen sooner or later!) It also meant that I caught up to a few paddlers who had suffered the same fate.

 

Unfortunately I chose the wrong route and as well as having quite a long self-rescue swim, I found myself alone on the river bank being buffeted by the wind and quite disorientated. The chopper flew overhead and disappeared up the valley, so I knew which way to head. But emptying the kayak in the wind and getting going again proved quite challenging. I remember thinking to myself, “This is so isn’t fun…”

 

I made my way around to another part of the river on foot; by then I’d been going over 2 hours and felt like I’d got nowhere. No one in sight for ages and I’d had enough. The wind pushed me into a bank and I got grounded then flipped over in shallow water – not a happy camper.

 

Then along comes this guy in bright orange, big smile on his face, “How’s it going?” It’s probably for the best that I can’t quite remember my answer…

 

This friendly official introduced himself to me as Richard and he helped me get the kayak to the side and sat down for a wee chat out of the wind. Don was next on the scene and I said, “You’re the tail end Charlie’s aren’t you?” They confirmed they were and that others behind me had pulled out so I was indeed last. Excellent. They asked me how I was feeling and what my thoughts were on carrying on. I admitted that I was not at all happy and wanted to stop but my teammate would kill me so I really had to keep going. They said, “Oh look don’t worry about your teammate, this is about you”. Mmmmm…. they don’t know Mary…. J

 

I felt much better just from having their company, as it had freaked me out being out there by myself with no one around. I opted to keep going to the checkpoint where we would reassess the situation. They sponged out my kayak, helped me into the straight jacket (aka my borrowed paddle jacket) and popped 3 big river rocks in the back of my boat. They explained that whilst it would be heavier to paddle, it would hopefully stop the wind from pushing me around. We set off and I got to Gooseberry without further incident.

 

Once there I had to make a decision. Just the word “Gorge” was making my knees go weak. Don shared his filled roll supply with me and they all had a yarn on the bank while I deliberated over what to do. They assured me that I was nowhere near missing the cut off time and I wouldn’t get lost; the river would only go one way. I wasn’t scared of falling out, so I decided to give it a crack. I had a couple of spills early on – backwash from a big rock and a huge boil, but then I was in the heart of the gorge and absolutely loving it! It was so beautiful and I got through the patrolled areas without incident.

 

Of course things never run smoothly and after a decent period of time upright, I got too close to a bluff and had another big self-rescue swim. I got the kayak to the side and dived back in to swim after my paddle. One retrieved paddle and one missing shoe later, I was struggling to empty my kayak in that terrible wind. Rocks in the boat made it really hard to empty on my own.

 

Once back on the river I took a wrong option. With the kayak weighed down by the rocks, I found myself grounded on top of a stony bank. I tried to push myself off the bottom by hand and suddenly I was shooting backwards really fast into the main body of water. I distinctly remember seeing the horrified face of a lead female One-Dayer as I cannoned out across her path, with a look as if to say, “Don’t you dare crash into me!” I yelled, “Sorry! Sorry!” and paddled hard to the right bank to re-gather myself. Something felt weird and sure enough – I had snapped my rudder clean in half. Without it I had no steering.

 

I threw off my remaining shoe in disgust and was so gutted. I waved down a nearby jet boat team, who had watched my unconventional reversing manoeuvre with some amusement. They asked me what I wanted to do. One well-meaning guy suggested that I could paddle the rest of the way without a rudder by doing some tricky sweep strokes and back-paddling… Mmmm…. I didn’t think so. They said I was about 5km from Woodstock, I’d been going for 6 hours and I really didn’t want to stop now after having nearly given up way back at 20kms.

 

Then the skipper remembered seeing another sea kayak 2km downstream that had been abandoned – he suggested that they grab the rudder and bring it back for me. Off they went, and my Angels turned up “Did you miss us Janna?!” When the jet boat returned with the borrowed rudder, they set about fixing it to my kayak, I was fed an apple and we sat in the sun getting sandblasted. More One-Dayers cruised past; elegant swans gliding past a broken-down yellow duck.

 

After half an hour or so, the lads said I was good to go. Waving them goodbye I set off into the wind, around a 90degree turn and straight into a huge hole. AARRGHH!! Unbelievable. The jet boat guys couldn’t help laughing as they scooped me up and asked did I want to carry on? YES!! My angels emptied and sponged out my kayak once again, the jet boat guys gave me a push and I’m pleased to say that it was my last capsize.

 

I had a wee panic further downstream when I saw a sign on the left hand bank. I paddled over to the left in order to read it (didn’t bring my glasses) and it said “STAY RIGHT”. Oh sh*t. Furious paddling to the right where I grounded myself near the portage sign. The guys tried to lift my kayak and nearly fell over – “Sorry! There are rocks in the back of my boat!” They looked at me like I was completely nuts and pushed me onto the river once again.

 

I was welcomed to huge applause at Woodstock as they announced me as the last 2-Dayer – Yay! From there it was still a bit of a slog into the wind and I made the mistake of following the lines of One-Dayers who didn’t have rocks in their boats; I got grounded a few times. One nice guy led the way around a big island and was really encouraging, “Dig it in!” I just wanted this to be over…

 

I finally made it to the Waimak Gorge Bridge at 5pm, over 8hours after setting off from Mt White Bridge. My crew were anxiously trying to yank me out so that I could tag Mary, I was like – is there really that much of a rush given how long it’s taken me to get here?! I had a painful hobble over the stones in bare feet and when people started yelling at me to hurry up I burst into tears. Such a drama queen. Tagged Mary, handed over the bib & transponder and got a big hug before she took off up to her bike.

 

Had to explain to my crew and the kayak hire guy that there were rocks in my boat, I’d broken the rudder and had one from #337. We started making our way up the hill when I heard someone yelling my name. I turned around and there were my two smiling angels! Don & Richard had come to make sure that I’d got to the end – bless them!

 

We made it to the finish line in time to see Mary, who absolutely smoked the ride into Sumner. I had no idea until then how many didn’t make it through the paddle so I’m very proud of myself for carrying on when it would have been so much easier to quit.

 

Please pass on my HUGE thanks to my Charlie’s Angels. Thank you for:

·         Finding me when I was ready to give up

·         Telling me of past competitors in the same situation who carried on (not sure if it was a true story but it helped!)

·         Sponging out my boat more than once (I promise I hadn’t peed in it)

·         Feeding me (I had forgotten my food bag)

·         Making me laugh

·         Encouraging me to enjoy the gorge (I can honestly say that I did)

·         Reassuring me that they weren’t in a hurry and were there for me.

 

I couldn’t have done it without them and I am so grateful. If they had been at the Convention Centre, I would have gladly handed over the dozen Speight’s I won. Please send any left-over trays their way plus the jet boat team who replaced my rudder when I thought the show was over.

 

I have massive bruises all over my legs but I am still smiling. I can’t believe that by Sunday I was talking about how I would do things differently “next time”.

 

Janna

#744

 

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