Team Members: • Mr. Stealth himself Nico • The team rookie Heinrich – attempting his very first AR experience • No introductions needed for Mummy-man Jacques • Yours truly and mandatory team equipment D1
Sooo, just to set the record straight, I was not the first second or third designated team report writer….but we are members of team Stealth…one for all and all for one? so we stay true too our name I guess?? ;) Our team got formed in the last week before the race. Stealth and Heinrich had the idea of entering a team, but had difficulty in confirming two more team members. In the end yours truly and Mummy-man was begged and borrowed into the team ;) Not that it was too hard…. *grin* Knowing Hardy…we knew the race would be something special and memorable…. So we all made our way to the race venue and the team gathered shortly after 8pm. Our pre race dinner as everyone knows already was absolutely out of this world. I for one could not finish mine, and left it somewhere save for midnight snackie…. I guess a HUGE Thank You is in order (although we did have some serious doubts and questions about this thank you later in the race…) to Hardy for organizing our team some boats for this race. We are forever thank full (once again that point was pondered upon later in the race) for the two stable-steeds a.k.a Accords. There was also some quick tips on river paddling….but those tips was no where to be found in my brain once we hit the first bit of unstable water….. ;) Race briefing was short and sweeet….literally…with some birthday cake for Leon :) Hardy informed us al the things we need to know…. A couple of things he said stuck in my mind as if it was set with super glue…. Have FUN out there….You are not suppose to be rock climbing….so if you are…you are in the wrong place… He also mentioned something on the paddling, when you paddle river up, I think the term he used was “Ferry Glide” where it would actually feel as if the water is pulling you up the rapid… this sounded like a fairytale too me and I was looking forward to check this out… but in the end I think it was more “ferry swimming” in some cases *grin* So with these last thoughts….we got ready for the first paddling leg. We gathered round the lekker warm fire at HQ all ready to go, and with a big WHOOP WHOOP the race got under way. Everyone picked up boats and there they went…. Some teams were on a mission going right, in the direction of where we take out the boats later…. ….although I knew the paddle put in was straight ahead…more to the left. So in the confusion of everyone following everyone and everyone is going in the wrong direction we went left and soon others followed. On the river it was quite nerve wrecking in the beginning….. none of our team members were real river paddlers, and for some it was the first time in a K2 on the river and for some others even the first time in a K2…. So the nerve’s was not helping…. But soon we got going and the first part was not too bad….flat water….although visibility was at zero in some stages… We followed the wrong channel and soon reached a dead end, which did not make sense, so we obviously missed a split in the river somewhere. Some teams opted to go bush whacking straight ahead, but we turned around and found the other channel going off to the right. Once we got in there it was not long before MAJOR confusion hit the water….. all of a sudden the boats was going in all the wrong directions, and we even got hit by our second K2, but managed to stay the right side up *grin* This was the part where we was going “ferry gliding” up a rapid… We soon realized we have to get moving or the current will push us into the reeds….but was unsure if Mummy and Heinrich took a swim… because there was absolutely NO sound….no scream, not even as much as a little high pitched noise…nothing…. so we got our boat going forward, as there was some serious chirps coming from the back about WHY we are not moving…. So we got through and waited on the other side for them to join us…. One after the other the other boats appeared, so we gathered they went for a swim…. While we were waiting for them, we heard some serious bundu-bashing coming from the reeds next to the rapid… and we could hear Donald and Dirt Rider making their way…I guess it sounded worse than it was…but they provided some entertainment… unfortunately we departed before they could break free…. We found the take-out and could clearly see the lights going up the little koppie. It is funny in AR how you will see a couple of lights going up the koppie, and then all of a sudden there is no one around…. We made our way up and found the CP, decided to take a bearing and head for the ruins. We were looking to hit a road that would go right past the ruins, and found road…..but as we were walking on it, I saw what I thought was a light…. We had some debate because I was sure it was a light, but some other team members thought it was far far far away….so we kept walking on the road…. But the light was still there… in the end we thought we heard someone calling…. Now this is too early in the race for hallucinations?? Right? So we can not be imagining this light that keeps on calling for us? So we went walking in the direction of the light….and would you know it – there is Hardy! Who cannot believe it took us sooo long to walk towards the light? But have you never seen Finding Nemo Hardy?? Don’t go to the light?? *grin* >From here it was a quick walk down to the CP4 close to the river, and then we followed the cattle track next to the river going back to the boats…. We decided to run a little to get some warmth…. Heinrich and Mummy was freezing!! I was quite concerned that Heinrich might be hypothermic or something….he was very very very cold…. So we tried to run…but did not get far before I went flying! My feet must have caught a branch and no…I believe I cannot fly…and came crashing down with momentum carrying me as if I was scoring the winning try for the springboks! Luckily I stopped inches short of a pile of very fresh cow dung... that would NOT have been funny…for me in any case…but the rest of the guys were having a lekker giggle on what might have been….. ;) Back at the boats it was time to get back to HQ. But first get dressed in some ice cubes….there was a thin layer of ice on all the PFD’s etc. ICE!? “So I guess it really is cold then” was the very wise words spoken by someone…. ;) The mist on the water made it impossible to see anything…we ended up in many dead ends….and then we have to reverse out or turn the boats around in some or other miraculous way…. We got knocked over by a very big branch in a rapid, and then clearly understood why there was absolutely NO sound when people fell over…because there is NO sound….it is so cold it literally takes your breath AWAY and DISABLE your vocal cords….it was cooolllldddd….. we struggled a bit but got back in the boats…the rest of the way back was a struggle…struggle to see, struggle to get warm….struggling to determine if there is any feeling in your toes and hands … Once again we got stranded in the wrong channel, bundu bashed straight ahead, and appeared in the middle of one of the final rapids…to the surprise of the photographer. After this we started singing and warming up the vocal cords, and versions of “row row row your boat gently down the stream…..” warned the marshals to put some wood on that fire some frozen racers is coming in to defrost!! And of course, they obliged with a cozy fire right next to the river… We tried to get warm at the fire, Mandy informing us that they think it is about -5 degrees out there… but eventually had to leave the fire with them and hike back to HQ. There were some hot showers, to try and get life back into the limbs which we gladly tried out. After some dry clothes and a cup of coffee and a midnight pasta snacky, we left HQ on our bikes and headed for the kloof. The MTB was easy going and we reached the transition area in no time. It was now time for some more plotting and changing into the hiking gear. The CP at the base of the waterfall we found without any hassle…. We then had some interesting route choice options about how to get to the next CP. But in the end….found the right path and the CP on that Avatar Tree ;) Being in the kloof, surrounded by cliffs was amazing. There was moments where Hardy’s words ring in our ears…no rock climbing…and you look at all the cliffs around you…where are we going…and will we get through were some of the questions into the universe….We reached the top of the kloof just as it became light….WHAT a sight…. We took a moment to have some breakfast and just admired the view…. We almost got our direction wrong and headed for the wrong mountain….but luckily Stealth and Mummy orientated the map and off we went in search of CP9…. The clue for CP 9 is it is on the Spur…. Now the first idea that pops in you head is “the spur”…so food was very clearly on our minds on our way there….looking for a spur sign in everything ;) We decided to go down into the valley till we get to the river and then head up and find the cp. We were sure we were in the right area, and went up and down the river about 3 times…but we could not see CP9. So after going down again, making sure that we are were we think we are….we headed up again….at some stage Stealth and Mummy got on some boulders just to get some height to see if we are missing something….and as they got to the top they immediately saw CP9, not too far away…we were in the right area, but too close to the river… CP 10 was a-ok, no problem in finding it. The hiking and the scenery was spectacular! What a privilege to be out there hiking in the early hours of the morning…. >From CP10 we headed back towards transition to get our bikes. As we came off the mountain we hit a road that went around the koppie and then straight back to transition. I guess we could have opted to go over, but after the rocky hiking of the last couple of hours we decided to stick to the “easy” walking in the road…. :) Back on the bikes we went to collect the next 2 CP’s before we head for the monster 15km paddle. We had no problems on the MTB leg, everything went smooth. We got chased by a dog on our way….and you sort of think you should be able to out-ride a dog? But this one was FAST… but luckily he lost interest in us... not sure if this is what inspired Stealth! As he went flying on his MTB with the rest of us eating his dust! But luckily for him we saw the CP he went flying by ;) At the paddle put in we was greeted by a chirpy Oupa Gert He was telling us all sorts of stories. Seemed like a lot of teams decided not to do the paddling. There was another team just returning after abandoning their boats to do the shorter course….Eric was taking them through the obstacle course, and we were chirping them big time on the fact that paddling must be much easier than the obstacle course…. We were all fired up to try our best at this paddling….ja ok maybe not all of us…someone was pleading with us to rather go MTB than paddle… but we would hear non of that….we want the adventure… whoo haaa!! Sooo….off we went, very very brave to try this paddling thing on the river….it surely can’t be as cold as the night before?? Can it? And it can’t be worse…can it?? So in we go…..and at the bridge is the first little obstacle… the instruction is to keep right, or otherwise portage… So we get there and want to portage – but the photographer is highly upset – shoot it – it is easy….Ja well he was well positioned for some swimming-action- photos! ;) So we decided and started to learn the hard way…you cannot have doubts…and momentum is your friend….Me and Stealth did not have the best of approach, and I was sort of thinking we are going for the second one and he was going for the third one, and in the end we messed it up and went swimming ;) We had a lekker laugh about it and were reminded in no uncertain terms that the water is COLD in the day as well ;) So…we thought the first swim is now out of the way… how bad can it be?.... Next rapid we went straight for this HUGE bolder….no way you can go over that one…so I’m sitting in the back thinking turn the boat turn the boat turn the boat TURN THE BOAT! There is absolutely no time to even try and search your brain for one of those tips that someone told you about HOW to turn this boat if you’re going for a head on collision with a boulder…. But in the end it turned….and we were almost through the rapid still inside the boat…and THEN we fell out… *eish* So you swim, you empty the boat, you get back in…you paddle….This little episode repeated itself at every rapid? I mean really?? So at the one we really struggled to get the boat out of the water, it was soo full of water and we are in the stream, so it took us some time to get out of the water… Once out….my body was in shock, and cold, everything was in pain… We dragged the boats out, and went in search of the sun, we need to get a bit of sun….we were freezing… So we had a little team meeting / “pondering” session…. And someone begged us once more to go back and MTB…. After “pondering” in the sun we decided to portage the rapids that looks bad and try the ones that looks not too bad.… soo…back in the boats….around the next corner….RAPID….*eish* we bailed at the very last moment….got out and bundu bashed…. Got back in with some real effort… and very creative maneuvers to get back into the boat….just to go round the next corner… RAPID…. *eish* With this one we bailed to late…so we sort of got stranded in the little island in the middle of the rapid…. So once again…time to “ponder” and “think” about this, cause this is also not gonna work…so we had some koekies and water on our little island, thinking like “Vikey the Viking”, think Vikey, think….cause McGyvers plan of portaging the rapids is also not working…. So what is the super duper plan to get trough the paddling. So…we bundu bashed to a road….and started to portage the boats, and then struggled to find a place to put it back in…so we kept on walking walking walking…just keep walking… We came to a house were the people just laughed and said we were cheating, the other guys is paddling!! We must get back in the water?? So we said to them they are more than welcome to show us how ;) And that is if they can FIND a place to put in? They just laughed and gave us some directions. Stealth was keeping the team spirit alive with jokes left right and center….Like I previously said, at one stage we were thankful that Hardy organized us the boats, but at this point in time his comment of “no swearing at the race director” was sort of…well…hilarious ;) After what felt like kilometers of portaging those very light-weight-Accords of ours…we found the second “official” portage point which was at a bridge. And we could put in and start paddling again. From there the paddling was going quite well, we shoot the rapids and stayed inside… I guess the long portage gave us some new levels of bravery to rather paddle than portage ;) On the very last rapid before the take out we did get stranded on a rock, and we had some moments where we were concerned of breaking a boat… but we managed to get trough there and I for one was VERY HAPPY to reach the take-out point…. From there for the LAST time we portaged our stable-steeds back to HQ… WOW, we made it….that paddle for me was something else…for sure something I will remember about this race for a looonnnngggg time…. At HQ, Hardy and QT was there welcoming us back from our epic adventure…we informed them we are a bit late cause we don’t SWIM that fast *giggle* We had a good laugh, but the sun was setting at some fierce pace, and we should probably get going and make use of the last light as much as possible… The only thing between us and finishing the race was an 8km hike…We were still on an adrenalin rush and in good spirit, we came this far, only 8km left…lets do this!! :) The first part was a-ok, hiking along the road, and then going up the river to the next CP. That one we found just as it turned pitch black around us…and you have that oh-oh…here comes trouble feeling…. We decided since we cannot really see we need to stay with some sort of “handrail”, so in the end we followed the river/kloof, looking for a river coming in from the left. But that we never found and soon we found ourselves at the top, but still not on top of the mountain where the CP was, it was on the other side, so instead of going up and over, we hiked around and looked for the river on the other side, and the plan was then to follow the river up to the re-entrant point on top. With zero visibility and no other “handrail” but the river itself, this sounded like a plan. We did found the river valley and thought it was the right one, bundu bashed to the top to where we thought the re- entrant was….but there was no cp…. We spend quite a lot of time “sweeping” the area, looking at the map and once again look at the map…. But just could not find it… in the end it was a very difficult decision to make, but we had to leave it and move on… this was I think the low point for everyone…we felt so sure we were in the right place, but obviously we were not where we thought we were…. So we took a bearing from where we thought we were, to where the trig-beacon was…. And walked straight towards it? How is that? Was it luck? Or did we now walk right past the cp? It was mind boggling… So the next tip we got from teams when we left transition was to aim for a certain point of height on the map, go down the mountain, up the other side, and then stay on top until we find the CP. That sure sounds easy enough? So from the trig beacon we took a bearing….and soon found ourselves on a very tricky descent, poor Heinrich was in severe pain at this stage with an ITB that was really quite upset with all the hiking that was done on technical terrain over the last couple of hours. But he just had real “vasbyt” and just kept going…:) We found a path and I think at this stage we changed our thought and tried a more direct “line” for the CP, which might have been our downfall in the end. We went up the hill, to the top where we thought the CP would be, but could not find it anywhere. And now since it was so dark, we were not too sure on which one we were…. but we were pretty sure we were on the right one…we walked it side to side and checked the highest point – but no cp *EISH* after all this time, we just cannot seem to find the last two?? It was really a time where we all hit a low point out there…. But we decided we tried, we once more looked and then decided to start the descent and head home at 11pm…24 hours into the race…… While hiking the last bit back to HQ on the dirt road, Hardy and Casper appeared with the Bakkie…they went out looking for us to make sure we were ok. So now it was just about 1km back to HQ and some hot chocolate and food! :) When we entered the camp, it was quiet, so we contemplated of arriving with some BIG noise or just sneak in…so we switched off our lights and sneaked into camp true to our team name…in Stealth mode :) Hardy greeted us, and we tried our best to convince him we were where he plotted the cp’s. But he immediately picked up our mistake…seems like the on the first one there is a river split, and we ended up going up the wrong kloof – which resulted in an parallel error…. And the last one we missed, we must have missed it with a couple hundred meters…just a little bit further…. *eish* We shared our war stories, trials and tribulations with Hardy over cups of hot chocolate. Then it was off to a hot shower, warm clothes and some well deserved sleep…. In conclusion…after 24.5 hours of racing, Team Stealth completed the YSTERvark en HoonaTand in a quite surprising 4th place :) In our world, we must have been the team that had the most fun, most jokes and the best time out there ;) Everyone had times of riding the adrenalin high, and hitting the waves of uncertainty and tiredness…. The high for me was shooting at least the last rapid WITHOUT swimming, getting lekker windgat in the end and shooting everything just because swimming and hiking takes way to long…. *grin* The lowest point I think was to make the call to leave the cp when we could not find it. And the ultimate kick…. off course…. FINISHING the race :) THANK YOU, to Hardy & Q.T – for putting together a very special race. It was interesting, demanding, adventurous, outrageous and FUN – true old school adventure racing. I woke up on Monday morning, with my body rebelling against everything I’ve done in the last 48 hours…but that silly grin on the face was there….the feeling of accomplishment was there….the feeling that wow this was worth it was there…. It reminded me why I love adventure racing, and why I want to do adventure racing…. I’ve seen the time, effort and personal sacrifice it takes from you two to put together a race like this. Thank you for the passion, determination and your vasbyt as race organizers to put together a race, true to old school adventure racing. Like I said before….the YsterVARK en HOONA tand race will be one we talk about for years and years to come! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DarkAndDirty" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/darkanddirty?hl=en.
