Day 6 of learning to Bellyak and that means Pigeon time! I am a fan of this new river, The Pigeon in Tennessee.
With this class being optional, I convince myself how I would be more upset to miss out on a sunny, beautiful day on the river, my favorite river none-the-less, than to skip it!
With a small crew of four students, we head to the river. Our instructors, Jamie and Adam’s plan for today is to read the water and create your own lines. Lines means the route in the water you want to run. Since this is our third time here and we are feeling more comfortable on this river, I am excited for the challenge! Plus we’re only hitting this river once today and I know it goes by all too fast, so I’m ready to crush it!
We set out down the river and each of us are mostly doing our own thing. We hit some rapids and I’m leading the pack through them. This is exciting because I want to lead the most fun line/route possible, I look for the biggest waves to hit and scream with excitement flying over. Looking back I see the crew following and all having a blast. Next up, Luciano leads some lines and it’s great to just see other people taking the lead to experience what they set up!
We practice some surfing to get the skills down since next week is the Ocoee; a bigger, faster river where it will be great to have our skills refined to hit it.
As we eddie out before the biggest rapid to set a game plan the current is strong. Not getting out of the eddie line Luciano and I are pushed back with the current into a tree. Luciano is in front of me and my boat is being pushed against his and starts to flip over. This is happening all too slowly; but so fast at the same time that there is nothing either of us could do. I’m boatless, heading towards the biggest rapid on the river. No time to even think, I’m in the meat of the white water being thrashed around all over the place but mostly underwater. Though I am panicking at first, something in my mind changes and thoughts of how to get myself to the surface take over as I tumble around underneath the surface watching everything. I am then pushed up against a rock still submerged I curl into a ball and get pushed around. I can finally see the surface of light so I swim towards it with all my might!
Breaking through to the top I see Jamie coming to the rescue! She’s in the rapid with me and able to stay together so I can hoist myself on top of her boat. She paddles and I kick (kind of pathetically from being exhausted from swimming) and we get to calm waters behind a giant rock. I gain my composure and realize what helped me most in that circumstance was staying calm in such a intense and scary situation. Jamie makes a remark that gives me the confidence to take on the rest of the river when I’m feeling a bit timid. She said that once you swim a rapid you can go down one on a boat.
We finish heading down the river, flowing through rapids and wave trains, still a successful day with a new experience, to know a rapid inside and out 😉
