If I do something, I enjoy doing it well. I know this is fairly common, but today was a very good example of doing something well.
We were paddling the river North Esk, near Edzell. It's a grade 3, with a couple of grade 4 rapids. To the non paddler, that's lots of whitewater rapids with a couple of rapids in particular that could do you some serious damage... if you mess with them.
There are many reasons why today was a good day for me:
- I paddled the entire river without going upside down.
- I got myself to every place I wanted to go.
- I paddled a rapid that I hadn't paddled before.
- I realised that my fear wasn't always completely rational.
Number 2 has taken me a few years of experience to work up to. I'm glad I put in the effort. There is a satisfaction in navigating a river well which I find hard to describe in a mere blog post such as this. It's the feeling of being a master of my craft. If I were to simply float down the river without putting in any paddle strokes it is inevitable that I will bump into things. Today, I navigated a passage through the line of least resistance in the river. If I wanted to grab an 'eddy' (a bit of slack water), I got there. This all feels inexplicably fantastic.
Number 3 was a scary grade 4 rapid affectionately referred to as 'Rocks of Solitude'. Until today, every time I've looked at this rapid it has completely psyched me out. Why? Mainly due to the sheer speed and power of the rapid. When we inspected the it today, it looked good. I felt good. I saw a good line. I told myself to man up, and paddled it. I hit the line I wanted to, and had a clean run. It was fun.
Number 4 might take a bit more explaining. There are two grade 4 rapids on the stretch of river we paddled today. As you may have seen from the video, rapids can & will hurt if you get them wrong. Every single time I've paddled this river I have always walked around the 'Rocks of Solitude', but then run the 'Fishladder Falls'. My runs of 'Fishladder Falls' haven't always gone entirely to plan, but I made it.
Today's realisation was this: the grading system is merely a method of comparing rapids to one another. The first time I paddled fishladder, I didn't know it was a grade 4. Thus, I didn't talk myself out of it. As long as you're aware of the risks and how best to mitigate them (i.e. DON'T HIT THAT ROCK!) then there's no reason why you shouldn't go for it. I've proved to myself a few times now that I can cope with a grade 4 rapid, so now I've got no reason not to take on another!
Anyway, today I felt like a master of my craft in the environment I put myself in. It's worth nothing the importance of the second part of that statement, because there are many environments and rapids which I might not be able to take on with quite as much confidence.
There is one question which I haven't answered yet: what can I take on in my kayak next?
