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2. Etive – if there is a hole, make sure to boof!
A year later, I enjoyed a lovely week in the Scottish highlands with friends. Unfortunately, the week before, I had split my trusty Mamba. Luckily my good friend Matt lent me his 9R for the week – with his additional five-seat pads. The levels had been relatively low all week, though, so it didn’t matter much to be in an unfamiliar boat.
Our final day arrives, and with it – a lot of rain! It had rained all night, and the river was pretty swollen when we headed to the Etive for our final lap. Locals would probably call it a ‘medium’. To me, it looked terrifying. We scouted Triple step and were unsure whether we should get on.
Another paddler arrives and has a chat. He asks if he can go down with us and swaps his RPM for a creek boat. If I had known this was Nick Bennett (a very smooth UK paddler), this alone would have been enough to put me off. However, I had never met Nick, so swapping boats seemed sensible to me.
A wobble
Half of our group decided to get on but only ran the last step of the triple step. I go last, and as I break out of the eddy into a fast-flowing Etive, I wobble. It’s not huge, but enough that in the time it takes me to correct it, I have run out of river and time to get my speed up. I plug the last drop of Triple step and get destroyed by one giant hole.
at the mercy of the river
Being used to HPP, I tried to fight it and ‘paddle out’. However, the river had other ideas, and not long later, I was pulled out of my kayak. I am immediately pulled down and go on to experience one of my scarier swims. The force of the water was so great I could not fight it. Instead, I was pulled down and at the mercy of the river. When I opened my eyes, it was completely dark. Weirdly this did not panic me; instead, I felt eerily calm. The river was more powerful than I would ever be, so what use would there be in fighting it?
I was under for long enough that I had enough time to think. I assumed I would be recirculated to the surface at some point, and I must not waste the chance I had when that happened. Keeping my eyes open, I waited. As long as I saw the light, I stretched my hands upwards, and they broke the surface before I did. By the time my head also broke the surface, Nick was throwing me a line, and I was out.
calm reasoning
I owe a lot to Nick that day. He checked I was okay and persuaded me, through his calm reasoning, to get back on the water. If I hadn’t, I would have ended our Scotland trip in a very sad state of mind. Instead, thanks to Nick, I got to end it in my (Matt’s) boat. And the lesson learned? If there is a huge hole – BOOF! And if you are not confident enough, don’t paddle it!