Adventure Quest Africa (2)
Leg 3: 50 km Paddle
Cindy Van Zyl / 02.09.2002
Opting for a two-hour paddle and a riverbank camp, we packed a tent and slipped our crocs (inflatable riverboats) into the wild waters of the Great Fish. Dark, ominous clouds tinted Saltpans rapids a muddy grey. The mercury was dropping fast and at 17:30 we were frozen.
At Knutsford bridge we dragged our boats onto a reed embankment and made camp. Dry thermals, food and a cosy fire made our delay bearable. It felt awkward to sleep for 13 hours on the first day of the Quest, but we had little choice. All four of us crammed into the tiny two-man tent and slept like soldiers: left turn! right turn! and so on through the night.
Day 2: 6:30 amAt 7:30 we took to the water again. The weirs, rapids and low-level bridges kept our minds off the icy rain that started pummelling down. After three hours of paddling we were soaked to the bone and shivering. By the time Brian made an emergency stop to put on his shell, he was shaking so badly that he could not open his backpack. He escaped hypothermia by the dirt of his fingernails. But once in his windproof shell, he bounced back in no time. Soon he was teaching us the real meaning of tiger-line: the shortest, fastest and invariably the wettest line through any rapid.
We hit a long stretch of backbreaking flat water; the wind was at us again! But this did not detract from the exhilaration of shooting Marlow weir via a five-meter high, seven-meter long chute on the right side of the monster drop. We pushed on and four-and-a-half hours later got to Cradock weir (PC3) where our despondent seconds were waiting. They could only look on in pity, as they were not allowed to assist us outside of transitions.
More demoralising than the cold was the news that the back teams did in fact not paddle the icy river, but that they portaged their boats by bike from T2 to PC3 during the night. The portage took them a mere four hours. They were given a further six-hour penalty during which they slept. We effectively lost eight hours on the back teams and slipped to 18th position. The fight was on!
PC3 – T3: Cradock Weir – Roadside Rest CampWe made our way to the cliffs on the other side of the road for the first of three special tasks on the race. Despite the wet ropes and the lack of grip, the 20m jumar posed little challenge to our team of Rockspiders. Riaan scaled the rock barehanded and simply dragged the jumar behind him. We put the task behind us in a record 25 minutes and hiked the next 8km to T3 in just over an hour. The sun broke through briefly, making us believe that the rain and cold weather was passing… oh, if only we knew!
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