Canoeing Down Under

We were off again but the stop had cost us dearly. One single kayak had caught up and the British mixed double kayak (K2) was level with us though further over. I silently cursed our luck. Apparently the British pair was being filmed for a TV series. The series was about a top athlete or adventurer teaming up with a non athlete, the pair would then take on an adventure or challenge and the viewer had to decide who the athlete was and who the non athlete was. In this case it was Jason Merron who was the non athlete and Charmain Gradwell was a top marathon paddler. Jason was given about four weeks to train up, now here they were paddling beside us!

Some minutes later our paths came together. We said a polite hello and paddled on. We had heard them talking for miles. I remember thinking that if they concentrated on paddling instead of talking they would be much further ahead. Every few minutes we would hear Jason say 'come again'. They would chat on and minutes later Jason would say 'come again'. He obviously couldn't hear what Charmaine was saying. It was his way of saying 'pardon me' or 'sorry'. Holding a conversation in a double canoe can be frustrating. When the person in the front talks they are usually facing forward so it is hard for the back person to hear. Often we guess what the other person is saying or better still, not talk at all!

We powered on and they moved over and sat on our wash. By doing so they would get a ride and we would drag them along. We weren't that concerned at the time as they were in a different class of boat, but when we later realised that the prize money was for the first 10 boats across the line, we took them more seriously.