Saturday, October 02, 2010 6:48:04 PM
 
x x x x x

"Perfect Actions"

Convergence

Chapter 3

 

"...to die is great gain....Life versus even more life! I can't lose!"


Convergence
Chapters

I  came up out of the waters after feeling the pebbles slipping under foot about 4 feet below water. I held the rope connected to the bow of my kayak but let the kayak go as I tried to walk through the chest high rushing water towards a near by sand bar. My kayak reach the end of the slack with a slight tug and I continued to climb out of the water to the sand bar. Eventually I was able to climb out onto its crumbling sandy banks and stand up. I looked down at my wet suit I had been wearing and saw the carabiner with my keys attached to the front zipper pull still hanging there but my sun glasses were gone, having been washed down river during the fight to get out of the current.


I began to pull on the rope connected to my kayak and sitting lopsided in the river current full of water it glided toward me. Eventually I pulled it next to the sandy shore line and noticed that it was about half full of water with many of my things floating about or simply submerged. Fortunately I had remembered to pack my emergency hand pump which I hadn't used since my first weeks deep water training with my friend Ian; he was the one who brought it all the way from New Zealand along with my kayak and associated gear. I remembered the many times he had me flip the kayak over again and again to be sure I learned how to get back in and stay alive by using the hand pump to empty the little boat of water which he so kindly reminded me of weighing 1 kilogram per liter; making that little boat weigh close to a ton if full of water. My memory of pumping the water out of my kayak during training along with the frustration and unbelievably long time it took vanished quickly as I began to pump the water out of my kayak.

The minutes turned into an hour before I began to see the floor (bilge) of my kayak as it regained its buoyancy. While pumping, I had a chance to refill my drinking water bottle several times and rehydrate my parched body under the heat of the evening sun near 8:30 PM. I also noticed that my hip pack with my cell phone and GPS were sitting in a plastic tray which had been floating but had water in the bottom; I quickly went though the gear in the hip pack to assess any damage. I found out that most of the heavy items like my knives and folding camp ax kept most of the electronics safe, and I was very grateful that my cell phone (which I had turned off) was safe inside my SCUBA gear dive case with no problem at all, only my wallet was a bit wet on the edge.

After pumping the water out of the kayak, I began once again to try and circumnavigate the long 20 foot log blocking my up river progress. I let out the line on my kayak and let it float down river. When the kayak was at the furthest distance on the rope, I walked around the log and up the river sand bar a ways to where it turned slightly to the west as the river at that area flowed north and west around a land mass the divided the river into three major braids. With the westward turn in the river, I was finally able to pull my kayak around the end of the log obstruction and back up river to the west side bend where I stood.



Once I had my kayak with me, I began to survey the land mass and recognized that the three branches of the river at that place where a match with the satellite images; I knew where I was and I knew which river I needed to take to get to the island where there was a small settling pond where water clean enough to wash with could be found. Yet again, what I could see on the satellite image didn't prepare me for the reality of what the river’s conditions were at those three splits. The river that would take me to my "planned" destination was a branch of the river flowing at about 10 miles per hour which is twice as fast as I can paddle; in other words, if I went down that river no matter how hard I paddled I would still be going down stream backwards at 5 mph. I thought maybe the current runs slow next to the shore line due to submerged land.drag (meaning that water moves more slowly in a river when it touches under water rocks and plant growth).

I began my trek on foot toward the three way split in the river. I continued to walk until I was waist deep and walking was no longer an option. I got in my kayak and began to paddle towards the three way division in the river. At first I was moving gradually but it wasn't long before I noticed I was picking up speed as the stronger current of the huge rapid braid of the river that was about a mile wide began to sweep me down river. I turned my kayak around and began to paddle with all my might but the rapid current was too strong and no matter how fast I paddled, the shore line was slipping by me at the speed of a good run. I realized that if I didn't do something quickly I would pass the point of no return in less than a minute.

I could see all of the land area that had been my rescue region falling away from me faster and faster. Knowing I had no way to fight the current, I turned my kayak toward the shoreline where the current happened to be so strong it had left nothing but an eroded bank of trees laying laterally out into the water. I had no shoreline to grab on to because the trees blocked my approach. I had no choice but to grab the rope to my kayak and jump out swimming toward the submerged trees while groping for something secure. I couldn't reach the shore due to the many submerged trees but I could stand on some of the underwater trees and pull my kayak back toward me. I was caught, in another unbelievable nightmare with nothing but unseen trees beneath the water and trees out over the water blocking my return to the point of origin and no longer able to move my kayak due to all the trees that blocked it from floating. I was again chest deep in water but this time it was pushing against me at about ten miles per hour. Due to the odd lateral orientation of trees under and over the water as they protruded from the eroded river soil, there was no way to go around them because it was like trying to pass through a forest that had fallen into the river side ways; each one demanded that I go out its length to get around it and up river, but doing so would require I put myself out where the river was so deep and current so strong that I would surely lose hold and be washed down river. I tried to step forward but found I was walking on underwater trees at depths of anywhere from three to five feet; in between the trees the water was well over my head. The cold current kept rushing by, making me pray for help, for wisdom, for rest, for a simple way to just quit.

To Be Continued In Chapter 4

© ®

 
 

 

English Lessons

From the Days When

Meaning Was Conveyed Gracefully

 

When He giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?--JOB xxxiv. 29.

None of these things move me.--ACTS xx. 24.

 

 

I've many a cross to take up now,
And many left behind;
But present troubles move me not,
Nor shake my quiet mind.
And what may be to-morrow's cross
I never seek to find;
My Father says, "Leave that to me,
And keep a quiet mind."

ANON

 

 

Let us then think only of the present, and not even permit our minds to wander with curiosity into the future. This future is not yet ours; perhaps it never will be. It is exposing ourselves to temptation to wish to destine for us. If such things should come to pass, He will give us
light and strength according to the need. Why should we desire to meet difficulties prematurely, when we have neither strength nor light as yet provided for them? Let us give heed to the present, whose duties are pressing; it is fidelity to the present which prepares us for fidelity in the future.

François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon

Every hour comes with some little fagot of God's will fastened upon its back.

F. W. FABER.

 

   

 

 

© Bill Watterson

Gotta Have Happy Memories

 

This One Has To Be The Best Yet!! Ha


Thank You Bill Watterson; Live Forever and continue to Prosper !!!

 

My E-mail: al7mi@yahoo.com

Home