Canoeing Down Under

We hadn't been resting for too long, but long enough for the British pair to pass by. Back in the boat Ed was shattered, he kept laying back and sleeping. He never took more than ten minutes though and mostly it was only a couple of minutes at a time.

I was getting a little concerned especially after he said "this was the hardest thing that he had ever done in his life, and he didn't want to do another marathon race ever again". He was tired, sleepy, stiff and exhausted, I could feel his pain, this was the first time he had paddled for 14 hours straight. Though I encouraged Ed to rest, I just wanted to keep the boat moving, I could feel my competitive nature urging me on.

Ed started paddling again and then stopped. He couldn't keep his eyes open and said he was he was seeing things, he was hallucinating. I again encouraged him to rest, and though he didn't want to let me down, he had no choice, his body needed rest and so he lay back with his paddle across his body and under his arm. He woke a few minutes later and continued paddling but soon lay back again and slipped into sleep. This routine went on for a while. He wanted me to have a turn at resting but I just couldn't and strangely enough my body didn't need it.