My paddling progress Part 2.…. on an actual river

I am making the most of my journey, and living in the now. Given that the objective of my 12x12Challenge is to encourage African women and girls to take on new, and daunting, challenges – physical, emotional and psychological - I chose the Dusi as it was guaranteed to push me out of my comfort zone. Why? Well…until last year, I had never paddled – professionally, or recreationally. I had only stirred. And, as I have learnt over the past 5.5 months since I took up my new sport: paddling is not easy. If I can be honest, I am slightly anxious about what lies ahead. Actually, I am afraid. But I am going to do my best to swallow my fears (and not the water) and hopefully show women and girls (and even men) that anything is possible if you take the plunge (literally) and just give it your best effort.

Most of my paddling has been on flat water at the Milnerton Lagoon. Logistically this has been very achievable as my canoe lives at the Milnerton Club and all I have had to do is arrive, carry it to the nearby water, get in, and paddle. I found balancing in the wide, very stable ‘club-tub’ very manageable. I even got to paddle about 3km on my very first attempt. After about three months of paddling at least twice per week I naturally started to think that I possessed a rather unique talent for paddling. So unique was my talent that it left people rather speechless. I was super keen to test my very obvious talent on a slightly faster, slightly less stable canoe. A red one. However, balancing in this canoe was virtually impossible, frustrating and down-right embarrassing. Not only did I fall out frequently, but I spent most of my precious time swimming to firm ground, emptying the canoe out, and then attempting to get back into the ‘red thing’. I felt like such a failure. Richard, the club coach, told me that it can take years for older people (like me!!) to learn how to balance in an unstable canoe. He also said that it took years of consistent paddling and drills to groom the complex neural patterns that constitute an efficient and powerful stroke. At my age I am running out of time. So, I have had to swallow my pride and just accept that I am not a paddling pathfinder. I am actually very normal and average. And so, for the very foreseeable future, I will have to be confined to a rather slow, wide, awkward, but very stable, canoe.

The stable Club-Tub

Once you have obtained your flat water proficiency grading, it is time to venture onto an actual river. A few weeks ago, David Waddilove, the founder of the Freedom Challenge Trail, kindly offered to take me down my first river, a section of the Breede River near Paarl. I was soon to learn that paddling on a river came with a whole host of logistical challenges.

Rivers, being rivers, tend to play hard to get. They don't come to you, you have to go to them. Since David lived near Paarl I had to travel, with my canoe, to him. Canoes are generally long and wide…my stable canoe is even longer and wider than most. Transporting a canoe can be easy, but only if you have the right toys in your garage. Not only do you need an SUV with roof racks, but you also need tie-downs and red danger flags. I had none of these very useful, rather expensive, items at my disposal. But the river was calling, and David was waiting. I made a plan. I resorted to shoving my canoe into my small sedan. With the back seats down, the hatch-back open, and the canoe prized in at an angle between the open front and back windows, it fitted – sort of. I was super proud of my independence and problem-solving ability. Especially as I used my husband’s old discarded red undies (now garage rag) as a flag to alert the traffic and neighbours to the hazards of a long, wide protruding object! Unfortunately it also alerted our local security watch (and eventually Anthony, my husband) to impending danger. Anthony, a rule-abiding, well respected chairman of our suburb’s home-owners association, got a big surprise when a photograph of a rather small, but familiar looking car, with a protruding canoe sporting his red underpants, popped up as a potential danger-alert on the home-owners whatsapp group.

I have since learned that it is OK to ask for help. As a wannabe superhero whose cape hides shrinking violet, I do find it hard to ask for help. I am now working on this very useful life skill. Anthony helped me put on the car’s roof racks (I didn't even know we had some in the garage) and I did eventually find my way to David, without any red undies. No, not David! I have since learnt to ask for help so nicely that I even got a lift to my first ever flat-water canoe race in Velddrift: in an SUV with air conditioning, music and snacks. Thanks to Brian Whiteford and Daantjie Malan for your help.