The NWU Canoe Club recently returned home from their annual pilgrimage to the wonderful waves of Jeffreys Bay from 2-8 July this year.
Twenty-three eager kayakers left the cold of the North-West behind to head to the coast. They took a variety of paddling craft along to test and improve their skills against the ocean.
Two notable incidents occurred during the week.
In the first, a nasty wipeout after a gnarly take-off resulted in a kayak to the head of one of the paddlers, who sustained a slight concussion.
This is one of the reasons why no paddlers are allowed into the water without a helmet, and he luckily recovered quickly. Without a helmet, the consequences could have been more serious. With the amount of TLC he received, one has to wonder though if maybe the hit was planned.
The second incident occurred when a schoolboy (unrelated to the group) got into trouble with the big waves. Luckily, one of the NWU students, Chris Beyers, reacted quickly and rushed out to drag him to safety. The boy, although rattled and crying, was fine and was returned to his grateful mother.
Every year, even complete novices, as well as more experienced paddlers, go for the experience, with many returning year after year, even after they left the university – a real testament to the quality of this experience. This year saw the club arrive on a spring tide, with a nice storm to whip up the waves to “monster” size.
While the weather was colder than usual for this time of year, the club’s advice is simple: “If you complain about the cold, you are not paddling hard enough”.
Each year there are also some “awards” going to the paddlers.
The camp cook (name withheld for obvious reasons) got the outstanding award of being nominated as the snoring specialist for both huts, but with waves this big, the nomination for “screamer of the week” and “this side up/upside down” went in equal measures to all participants.
Despite all these experiences – its important to note that the participants want to go again next year and definitely burned more kilojoules than those club members who stayed at home.
