Well this my scariest moment so far. I did not know what to do. I was stuck in an eddy that jetted me straight into a sketchy hole which flipped me and I returned to the eddy, repeat cycle.
I was trying to do a line called the pipeline. This is a line in the Lorne where you go to the far right and punch through a curler and continue down the rapid. Well for me this did not work. I punched through the curler but in the process I was thrown to the right. This sent me straight into a rock wall. Which I found had an eddy right at the base. Well at this point I was relieved. I thought sweet an eddy i can sit here for a second and figure out how to get back on line. Well as I was thinking I didn't realize that I was thrown into a viscous cycle. I went backwards into a very flushy hole and was flipped I thought ok, alright just roll up and when I did I was back in this eddy well this sucked me right back into that hole. I flipped and rolled up again.
Well by this point I had had quite enough of being thrown around. I tried to peel out but I was facing down stream in a very boily eddy right against an almost sheer rock face that was less wide than my boat. I tried to turn around to face up stream and caught an edge. This threw me into the hole. Roll up again this time I notice Claire, an instructor. I yell “what do I do?”I assume she responds with wonderful words of wisdom but I don't hear them for I am in the hole again.
Well this time I am really determined I yell again but at the same time I also try to peel out backwards. This did not work I am back in the hole. Well I decide that this is a lost cause and pull skirt. This was a bad idea. I end up going through this process again but this time without my boat. When i am thrown back into the eddy the rock wall hugs my face. Without a boat or paddle I am powerless in the water. When you pull skirt it is generally a please god let this swim be a way out of this hole or up for air i do not want to be recirculated any more. Well this did neither of these things for me. A boat is like a giant life jacket that you can do fun things in well when you jettison from that life jacket you no longer have that buoyancy. I was getting recirculated without my boat in something I couldn't deal with in my boat this was not a good time. I was scraping my fingertips across the rocks when I floated by to try to slow my descent into that horrible hole. About the third time around without my massive orange Jackson life jacket, my fingers stuck. It was a wonderful experience my fingers were painfully wedged in a small crack in the other wise smooth wall.
I started to climb, it was hard there were almost no footholds only slightly less steep sections of rock but i quickly made it to the top. At the top I found Clara throw rope in hand. I knew that the next time around I would of had a rope to grab onto. Standing at the top she checked me out made sure I was okay while she was doing I proceeded to almost fall right back in. Well she grabbed be and I sat on the edge of the rock regaining my breath. When all was well I walked down the island and watched as my boat was saved and brought back to my slightly shaky hands.
There was no paddle. We went down stream to the push button eddy which is a big comfortable sluggish eddy where we asked if anyone had seen my paddle everyone said no and told me to walk back up pushey and look for it there in the big pool except the last person in line who had the brilliant idea of asking me if my paddle was the one saved a minute before and placed on shore. I was finally reunited with all my gear and the story telling began.
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