After an unfortunate incident at Hurley back on Sunday 21st December I was ordered by my doctors to take 6 weeks off paddling. Well, that six week period expired while I was skiing last weekend, so I had to get back in my boat. Between 21st December 2007 and 8th February 2008 I had managed to get out on the water on at least nine occasions. In the same period only one year later I had not been on the water once – I had a lot of ground to make up!
Watching the weather forecasts last week I started to question as to whether going paddling with so much snow around was such a good plan. Every time that I thought about this, I was quickly able to convince myself that it was a good idea when I thought just how long it had been since I was last in my boat. Driving to Hurley on Sunday afternoon, seeing all the surrounding fields still covered in snow, I was still questioning my decision. Meeting up with Martyn and Tim in the car-park, we quickly got changed and headed over to the weir.
As I slipped into my boat it was instantly comfortable. Normally, after a period off kayaking, the boat feels as though as it has shrunk as I have to squeeze myself in. My boat had obviously felt left-out and decided to be nice to me this time, despite it being the longest period off kayaking for a number of years. Despite seeing snow on the banks and expecting the water to be cold, I was still surprised at just how cold it was. In the short time it took to paddle across to the weir I had already lost feeling in my left hand!Deciding to ease myself in gently, I dropped straight into the fourth gate and was immediately over. Rolling up I was treated to the biggest head-freeze I have suffered in a long, long time. No sooner had the head-freeze dissipated than I was back on the wave. This pattern was followed for pretty much the entire session After just over an hour on the water we had all endured as much freezing cold water as we could cope with. Well, that, plus that fact that it was dark! We called it a day and headed back to the cars to warm up and head home.
On top of finally being back on the water, this weekend I picked up my new boat. Following my time demo-ing a Jackson SuperHero last year, I eventually splashed out and got one of my very own. Unfortunately I was not able to get an orange one and had to suffice with a red one. I am looking forward to getting it out on the water this weekend to take the shine off it and add some nice scratches.
Concentrating hard on Triple Step, Middle Etive