Robinson's Ramblings #9

                                                                                                                                                                           

THE DUZI CANOE MARATHON 1987

I started canoeing three months before the race. It's like sitting on a log with your feet out of the water. You easily roll over, then the canoe takes on water and you have to get to the side of the river/dam to empty it out! Which means you have to start all over again...

The race takes place in late January, which is summertime in the southern hemisphere. I had not had a great night's sleep the night before the Hansa Dusi Canoe Marathon. I had to 'wake up' very early (about 3:30am) and got a lift with my friends. I had to wait for at least an hour and a half at the start of the three-day event to get underway at Camp's Drift while the faster guys (and girls) got away. The distance of 110km/70 miles divided by three-days equals on average 37km/23 miles each day. 

Portaging. As the river was relatively low in 1987, I had to carry the canoe roughly haIf the way between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, a distance of 110km/70 miles. I'd needed to lug my canoe through mealie (corn) fields, crash through low-hanging branches, drag it struggling through ankle deep water, and clamber over seemingly, in-conquerable rocks.

Cruising... I spent a good eight hours a day paddling or portaging.

Relief at five PM. I met my nephew, Greg Quinn, after finishing the gruelling, three-day, tortuous, marathon. My parents were there as well.

To put it mildly: I was shattered, but the feeling was of sheer exhilaration!

                                                                                                                                                                          


THE DUZI CANOE MARATHON 1991

My ex brother-in-law, Bruce Butler, joined me. I'm at the front. We were both living in Durban at that time. Unlike 1987, the river was wild and overflowing due to the heavy rain during the night. I recall it was at least two inches that fell. The sewerage had overflowed into the furious raging torrent, and we could see floaters in the savage river.

At the end of the first day, we were happy with what we had done. What would Day 2 have in-store for us?

On the long climb up to Ngumeni.

We had just got back in, after Gumtree/Thombi (see the map with the red arrow, above), being careful to secure our waterproofs to not let any of the wild water in. Bruce broke his paddle earlier in the day, and he had to wait to meet one of our helpers on the top of the hill to get a spare. So, we decided we were going to shoot most of the rapids to make up time.

We were approaching Hippo Rocks. The river was thundering, it happened frighteningly fast. We were upside down suddenly, and we both fell out. The canoe filled up with water, quickly. Bruce caught on to a rock in the middle of the river and I was washing-machined to the side.

We couldn't hear each other. We could just see the two halves of the shattered canoe, held only by the two steel rudder cables. (I had pedals to steer the boat below the deck in the front). I attempted to fight my way to the remnants of the canoe, but I had to give up as soon as I got in the current, I was washed viciously downstream. Bruce swam, bouncing off the boulders, and he reached the side to join me. Over the years, tragically, some people lost their lives. 

Eventually, the guys who trailed the field, helped us retrieve one half of the boat. We don't know what happened to the other half.

Most of the people asked us what had happened to our canoe. To start, we gave a lengthy explanation. After a while, we shortened the story because we had gotten tired of hearing it and it was taking too long to tell.

Most of the people fall ill because one can't help but ingest the river. The ecoli count is off the scale.

                                                                                                                                                                       

My first book Rough Diamonds is set in the sixties, and this killer read takes you to a mining village called Scallyclare in South Africa. There is deceit, evil, malice, negligence, blackmail, rape, murder. It starts when the three children's Grandfather gives them three uncut diamonds. Along with those, he gives them each a bracelet with their names engraved on. The diamonds and the bracelets become their blessings and their terrifying curses...

This killer read is not for the gutless!

I'm starting work on my follow-up book, which will have the word 'Diamonds' in the title. You can follow progress on Pinterest, where I'll post some mood or theme boards and some excerpts as and when they become ready. You can see the progress on: https://uk.pinterest.com/ianrobinson9655/my-next-novel/

                                                                                                                                

“Big sky.” Athena, my wife, would say sometimes looking up at the vastness above.

“Wow, where did you get that from?” I’d asked the first time she said it.

“I felt it the first time I came to Africa. There’s just so much space and when you look out at the landscape it just seems to go on and on and on to the horizon and up into an endless sky.”

Big sky. What a profound thing to say. 

This captures the feelings which we set out to achieve in Horizon's Gourmet Picnics.

It's a true story about Athena's and my business just outside Rosetta in the Midlands of KZN, South Africa. Follows the finding of the property (it wasn't what we had in mind...), setting up the concept for the Gourmet Picnic business, naming the place 'Horizons' (which says 'as far as you can see' and sends a message 'to stretch our guests' expectations'). Selling the business.

                                                                                                                                

I'd like some people to review my books Rough Diamonds and SOME PICNIC! (See below). I'll give you free books to review.

I hope you’ll take time to check them out at Smashwords, where you can sample the first 15% of the books for free.

Here’s the direct link to my book page, where you can sample or purchase the book: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/704634 
and https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/706474

Here’s the link to my author profile: 
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ianrob222

Won’t you also take a moment to spread the word about my books to everyone you know?

Thank you so much for your support!


There's a bonus after the story. You can read the first chapters of my other book after the end of the book.