Sea Kayaking

Day 11 Thursday 18th March

Today we did the sea kayaking. We had to carry out the kayaks to the edge of the shore (which in my opinion was the most physically exhausting part) and then push off. This was probably the thing i was worrying about the most. Now im not that good a swimmer but i have practiced it a fair bit so i wasent particularly worried about drowning. I just really hate getting wet. I was really worried that when getting in the kayak it would tip over and i would get soaked. However i ended up getting in fine and managed to get right off to join one of four groups which we were told to split into. We then had to go around four points twice until we returned to out starting point. I had done a lap around the four points when one of the faster kayakers (is that a word?) stopped all of a sudden and i crashed into them. I tried to go around them but then other people from that group starting crashing into me trying to raft up. Because of that i had to paddle as hard and fast as i could yet i still almost got back last. Ive never done sea kayaking before but i did once do a two day kayak down a river. We kept taking turns to be the back marker and front marker. Nobody could go in frony of the front marker and the back marker had to make sure that everyone was in front of him. Both marker were supposed to be able to hear each other at all times. If this was not the case then people at the front had to wait for those at the back to catch up. Because of this we had the slow people in the front and the fast people at the back. One of the back markers hardly did their job at all and kept getting in peoples ways (when he wasent the back marker) or tried to encourage people by ramming into their kayaks. We stopped for lunch on a small piece of sand but by the time that lunch was ending the water had risen high enough that the sand was completely submerged. I ended up getting my shoes all wet and since i didnt know how to dry them theyve remained wet for the rest of the camp (fortunately i have some other shoes) We ploughed through the last few kilometres with a gust of headwind making it harder for us to paddle to the end. We made it and i ended up stranding myself amidst a clump of weeds. Carrying the kayaks back was really awkward and annoying (since i had to carry james's who had capsized in the shallows) especially when i had to go back and half the time i was trying (and failing) to get the kayak back on my own. Overall it was hard and exhausting (we had the 9.2km run the same day) but it felt really rewarding at the same time. It was my birthday today and through the kayaking i had lots of people reminding me of it.