The Story of a Lifetime Part 2
After we were briefed on the events of the day, the guys and
I headed over to the guides in order to select the one that would be most
willing to lead us into the depths of the rapids. We found out that one guide had been rafting for over ten
years and arguably had the most commercial flips in the world; his name was
“Big J”. As we headed down the river, he told us to paddle when he said
“paddle,” to stop paddling when he said “stop,” and to crouch into the raft
when he said “Get down;” otherwise, we may be in trouble with these rapids. We
could hear the sounds of the rushing waters as we pulled up to our first rapid.
“Alright men, we have a class three rapid. Paddle.” We dug our paddles into the
water and headed into the wild. The waves grew louder and so did our yelling.
We smashed into the water below and were met with a wave of water that filled
the raft up to our chest with water. “Good work,” commented Big J, “but get
ready though because we are about to hit a class five. We like to call this one
‘Big Brother'”. We could hear the waves crashing around the bend but could not
quite see what we were getting ourselves into. All of a sudden, we turn the
corner and Big J tells us to start paddling again. Like the lip of a roller
coaster when you first start out, we slowly entered the rapid but were soon
sucked into the current and were left at the mercy of the river. As we
descended down one wave, we could see another larger wave begin to form. Before
we had time to move, we were thrown into that wall of a wave and were submerged
under the water just long enough to be shot out the other end. No overturned
raft yet, but we were still hopeful.
As we waited for the remainder of the rafts to pass through
“Big Brother,” we saw one guide motion that a man had been injured. We waited
in this one area for about a half hour later to find that a man had dislocated
his shoulder and need to exit the boat. Quite honestly, this did not instill
fear into the guys in our raft; rather, it made our adrenaline pump for the
next class five. Throughout the remainder of the day, we hit a number of
different rapids (e.g. Retrospect, Go Left and Die, etc.) ranging in size from
a class three to a class four. We even saw some class six rapids but were
specifically told that we would not be able to enter those rapids unless we had
a death wish. Our guide told us that this particular one that we passed through
was called the “Dead Dutchman” because one man from the Netherlands tried to go
down the waters alone and was sucked under the current and drowned. After a
long stretch of still waters, Big J told us to begin paddling. He then told us
that we would need to exit the water just before this monstrous rapid
approaching. He said that this rapid was worst of them all. He said the
beginning part of this rapid was beyond a class six but the second half was
probably a class five plus. He said that they call it “The Bad Place”. We
exited the waters and climbed ashore. We hiked up the hill just a bit before we
gazed over the side into what appeared to be the eye of a hurricane: water so
loud you could hardly hear yourself think, ten foot waves from the North
battling ten foot waves from the South, and whirlpools so great that you would
think that God just unplugged the bath tub. “We are going to drop in half way
though,” Big J declared. “You said that you wanted to flip; well, here you go.
Less than half of the people that enter this rapid are successful. It is very
important that you listen to my instructions. Alright, now get back in the
boat. It is go time.” It took us all but a minute to pile back in the boat and
take guard for the battle that was to ensue. “Left side, paddle…right side,
back paddle…everyone, forward paddle. Get Ready…Get Down”. Immediately, we
crouched into the raft, pulled our paddles aboard, and held on for our lives.
It felt like we dropped in from a ten-foot half pipe but the other side was a
launch ramp. We flew over the waves but were stopped mid-flight by the next
wall of a wave and then dropped in on yet another ten-foot half-pipe. Again, we
saw another wave forming right before our eyes, but this was probably the
largest wave we had seen so far on our trip. However, this time our raft was
turned sideways because we were so jostled from our last wave. We were about to
enter the largest wave…sideways. We all held on tight and hit that wave head
on. The right side of the raft hit first and slowly began to lift and continued
to lift until the people on the right side of the raft were directly over the
people on the left side. It was no longer a positioning of left and right side
but top and bottom. Then, the raft began to sink and the people on the left
(aka the bottom) were submerged under water as the people on the right (aka the
top) held on for dear life, hoping gravity would not toss them in the
hurricane. Then, all of a sudden, a wave from
behind pushed us back forward and
we slammed back down; we were all accounted for but we did not have time to
cheer because we met another wall as we turned our heads down river. “Boom,”
the front of the boat lifted and the people in the back of the raft were now
under water. We were then shot forward but this time we were not all aboard. A
person from the back of the raft had been thrown under the boat and ended up in
the front. We pulled him aboard and road out the rest of the bumpy rapids until
we reached clam waters. Big J looked at us in disbelief and said, “Wow, people
normally flip. Good job. Wow,” he said in astonishment, “you guys are good”.
Although we wanted to flip that day, I think that I was more proud not to flip
and hear that comment from a recognized whitewater guide. We decided to face
the Nile that day and we conquered the Nile, on this trip at least.
