Op og afsted. Det blæser, det blæser helt vildt! Ingen siger noget, hverken i bilen eller i kajakklubben. Jeg tror ikke der er noget man behøver tale om. Min ryg har det bedre. De der smertestillende er helt klart noget der skal med hjem! Jeg har tjekket ruten ud. 17km. Til vendingen. Og så flyver du hjem! Anders kommer løbende. ’Emma, vi skal kun ro til Millers Point!’ at vi skal vende ved Millers point gør at vi slipper for omkring 3 km i stiv modvind! ’du skal nok klare den’.
Tro det eller ej, så står vi måske 80 både klar til tredje og sidste runde af kvalifikation til Cape Point Challenge. Nogen er allerede kvallet og gør det kun for træningens skyld.
Starten går. Jeg kigger frem og ser en kæmpe bølge, det sidste jeg gider at starte med er at blive tævet af en bølge fra start, få min kajak over mig, slå mig. Så her står jeg. Nu, nej, nu, nej, alle er kommet i deres båd. NU!
En toer kajak er faldet i tæt på stenene, jeg kan ikke hjælpe, jeg passerer. En mand er på vej tilbage, en af dem der allerede nu har tænkt, Nejtak, da han kom rundt om hjørnet.
Jeg kommer rundt om pynten og så kom de. 1,5 meter høje sidebølger. Jeg overhaler, fordi jeg startede bagerst. Det er godt, de andre kajakker ligger som små bøjer og viser mig hvor jeg skal hen. Det går fint, jeg ved det er meningen at Pete vil tjekke om vi kan ro i sidebølger, og det skal jeg da love for vi fik. Toer kajakken der var faldet i kommer susende forbi. Det er Lis og Træneren Pete – LOL. Jeg smiler lidt, men misunder den fart de passerer mig i. Endelig kom vi ind i havnen, alt er stille og hyggeligt, folk småsnakker og griner. Men jeg ved hvad der venter.
Vi vender rundt om molen, jeg havde forventet modvind. Det fik jeg. Men jeg havde glemt hvad moler gør imod bølger, de reflekterer dem tilbage. Kaos! Bølgerne kommer fra ALLE retninger. Jeg har faktisk fint styr på det. Jeg paddler.
Og paddler. Nu er det modvind, men bølgerne er ikke lige forfra, der er lidt irriterende. Jeg paddler. 6-8 km/t. Jeg kan se at nu er det mig der bliver overhælet, hvorfor ror jeg ro så langsomt?
Endelig, vendebøjen. Nu, surf. Men der kom aldrig surf. Jeg fik intet flow. Et stort hvidt skib var for tæt på. Jeg bildte mig selv ind at det var Træneren Pete der havde sendt den ud, for at spionere og se hvor dårlig jeg var, eller at det var et piratskib der ville kidnappe mig. Intet af det flow jeg havde få dage før var der nu. Jeg roede bare i bølgerne, fik dem over mig. Jeg faldt i vandet, men kom hurtigt op igen. Alle der var omkring mig forsvinder. Jeg mister så meget tid! Jeg kommer ikke til at kvalificerer mig. Jeg er ved at tude, men jeg må lige tage mig sammen og vente med tudetur, til jeg er kommet ind.
Hvorfor smiler folk til mig når jeg kommer ind? Jeg har lige roet mine langsomste 25 km. Kilometer nogensinde og halvdelen af dem roede jeg som en pose kartofler.
ENGLISH
Up and off. It blows, it blows absolutely crazy! No one says anything, either in the car or in the kayak club. I don't think there's anything you need to talk about. My back is better. The painkillers are definitely something to take with me home with! I checked out the route. 17km. before the turn. And then you fly home! Anders is coming continuously. 'Emma, we only have to paddle down to Millers Point!' Turning at Millers Point means we will have to escape about 3 km in stiff headwinds! 'You can do it'.
Believe it or not, we may have 80 both ready for the third and final round of qualifying for the Cape Point Challenge. Someone is already qualified and doing it only for the sake of training.
The start goes. I look forward and see a huge wave, the last thing I bother to start with is being hit by a wave from the start, get my kayak over me.. So here I am, while everyone is already paddling. Now, no, now, no, everyone has come in their boat. NOW!
A double kayak has fallen in close to the rocks, I can't help, I'm passing. A man is on his way back, one of them who has already thought, NO, when he came around the corner.
I come around the corner and then they come. 1.5 meter high side waves. I pass people because I started at the back. It's good, the other kayaks are like little buoys and show me where I'm going. I'm fine, I know it's meant for Pete to check if we can paddle nin side waves, and I have to promise you thart is was what we did. The double kayaks that had fallen in come rushing past. It's Lis and the coach Pete - LOL. I smile a little, but envy the speed they pass me by. Finally we entered the harbor, everything is quiet and cozy, people chatter and laugh. But I know what's waiting.
We turn around the pier I was expecting headwinds. I got that. But I had forgotten what a wall does to waves, they reflect them back. Chaos! The waves come from ALL directions. In fact, I'm fine with it. I'm paddling.
And paddle. Now it's headwind, but the waves are not straightforward, which is a bit annoying. I'm paddling. 6-8 km / h. I can see that now it is me who is being past by, why do I paddle so slowly?
Finally, the turn. Now, surf. But surfing never came. I got no flow. A large white ship was too close. I imagined it was Coach Pete who had sent it out to spy and see how bad I was, or that it was a pirate ship that would kidnap me. None of the flow I had a few days before was there now. I just paddled the waves, got them over me. I fell into the water but quickly got back up. Everyone around me disappeared. ‘I am losing so much time! I'm not going to qualify’. ‘I'm about to cry, but I just have to paddle, I can Cry when I get in.
Why do people smile at me when I come in? I just came in from my slowest 25 km. Ever. 25 k. and I Paddled just like ‘a bag of potatoes’ as we would say in Denmark.