Good and bad

Have to look back on today with mixed emotions, bar an embarrasing moment at the start where we capsized immediately in front of onlookers and westy's camcorder, everything was so much better, we had control, more speed etc. We were almost done for the day, literally just had to negotiate cotton-seed rapids and the boat was going back on the roof and we had the afternoon to relax. On our last stretch the river gave us an awesome show of force that has put us firmly back in our place. We came into the bank at the top of the rapids with the intention of parking up and scouting the route, unfortunately only the front end got secured and we lost the back. The boat rolled and careered sideways down the rapids with the rest of us trying to hold on. It got caught on an old rock wall and the front end was left jutting out into the fastest part of the river, at this point i got swept onwards but heard a nasty crunching sound. We were complete passengers but beyond cuts and abraisions did not get hurt, the boat on the other hand is a bit of a mess, call it a "fractured hull". We got it back on the roof and fortunately it is repairable, just going to need new sheets of fibre glass and a paint job and it should even be ready for a little paddle tomorrow afternoon. Race starts Saturday at 9am and despite the teething problems we are all cautiously looking forward to it.