Chapter Five, Part One
It looked like rain. The sky was a tapestry of grey, like a messy duvet spread from horizon to horizon. “I couldn't have picked a better week for this trip” Though Sam sarcastically, tho she smiled slightly. The waves were picking up slightly as a cool breeze blew in from across the lake. Sam inhaled deeply, and closed her eyes savoring the cool fall air, it had begun to rain but only lightly. It was late in the year for a trip; the leaves had begun to turn and it was no longer hot and sunny. Sam was well prepared with warm layers and a new wetsuit for paddling in. It was a “Goliath Grouper” made in Hawaii by a company called Waihana. It had cost her a pretty penny but she had tried it out the week before and found it to be worth every penny.
Turning back to her car she picked up the last few items from the tailgate and closed the hatch checking to make sure it was locked. Her Kayak was laying on the beach a few feet from the water. Sam walked down from the gravel stretch she had parked on to the kayak. She secured her car keys in a small dry bag on the deck of the kayak, it also held her GPS and phone, not that she would have any reception out here. Turning to the remaining items sam picked up a small dry bag that held her camera and lunch and stuffed it behind the seat where it would be easy to grab. The wind picked up again, carrying some spray from the water. The waves where picking up a bit more, the cool breeze gave her a shiver. Sam slipped off her running shoes, shorts and hoodie, she already had a tight rashguard on underneath, and picked up her new wetsuit from the kayak seat. It was a two peace affair the lower half went on just like a pair of leggings, they were dark almost purple grey scale pattern with splotches of lighter steely grey and flakes of gold. Sitting on a nearby rock Sam slipped a pair of neoprene socks before squirming her legs into the tight fitting pants and standing up to pull them up around her waist. It was a fantastic wetsuit, it fit like a second skin and hardley impeded her movement at all. Sam retrieved the top half of the suit and pulled up over her head, sliding it on like a hoodie, again it took some squirming to get into, she managed to get her right arm through first and used it to help pull the opening over her head, then forced her left arm the rest of the way through the tight neoprene sleeve. Sam pulled the bottom of the top down straightening it out along her waist. It hugged her body tightly; the tightness was like a hug, it stretched as she moved but did not restrict her movment nearly as much as the cheap wetsuit she had years before. It felt amazing. She pulled her ponytail head of the neck opening, the suite had an integrated hood but she left this down for now; after a few moments moving her arms about, getting used to and adjusting the wesuite, Sam reached between her legs and grabbed the beavertail hanging from the back of the top section, she pulled this between her legs and fed the two plastic clips through the eyelets on the front. It took some pulling on the material to accomplish this. The wetsuit was now properly secured around her, it provided total protection from the cold wind and light rain. Sam Exhaled slowly, savoring the moment on the edge of the water as she walked back over to her kayak. Sam picked up the small waterproof fanny pack she always kept on her in the woods. It had a few essential supplies, a ferro rod for starting fires, small knife, mirror, space blanket, and a lifestraw (a small filtered straw for drinking water). Finally she retrieved the bright yellow vest laying on the floor of the cockpit. The wetsuite was not her only new purchase, she has also bought a brand new lifejacket for the occasion. It was a Crewsaver Spiral she had ordered it from the UK and had only taken it out of the box a few days earlier. This was her first time putting it on. “Please fit” Sam thought as she slid her right arm through the vest. The nylon vest slid smoothly over the neoprene wetsuit making a satisfying swishing sound that sent tingles down Sam’s neck. The wetsuit stretched to accommodate her movement as she reached behind her with her left arm, searching for the hole in the jacket. As her fingers cleared the opening and her left arm slid smoothly through; the jacket slid up onto her shoulders; the large hood pressing up against the wetsuits integrated hood. Sam crossed her arms in front of her and rolled her shoulders for a moment before bringing the two front pieces together and connecting the zipper. As she pulled the zipper up the jacket closed in snuggly around her--it was an absolutely perfect fit.
The single strap around the jacket was in its shortest position still. Sam had to let out a good bit of slack to get it connected. It made a loud satisfying snap as she clipped the buckle into place and tightened it as snugly as she could around herself.
Finally Sam reached behind her, feeling along the waistband of the jacket for the two leg straps hanging behind her. Passing these between her legs to her other hand. They had to be threaded through a pair of D-rings on each side of the zipper. It took her a moment to figure out the first one but she got the second right away. Sam took a moment to check and make sure she didn’t have any twists in the stamps before pulling on both straps; snuging them up tightly against the beaver tail of her wetsuits. The crotch straps could be felt easily though the wetsuit; more so than the rest of the jacket which was more sensed than felt as is slid over the wetsuit when she moved. Sams hands moved up to the tie at the top of the jacket. As she pulled it tight she was surprised how much of a difference it made to the snugness of her life jacket.
The firm collar was somewhat at odds with her hood. It was all bunched up against the back of neck. A bit annoyed Sam reached back to the back of her head, pulling out her pony tail and letting her hair hang loose. She then took hold of the hood and stretched it over her head; pulling and adjusting it around her neck.
Sam rolled her shoulders and twisted back and forth at the waist. It was amazing.
Sam looked out over the lake, it was 30km to the lake she planned to camp on. She should really get going…
Sam walked slowly past her Kayak, the water slowly rose up her legs past her calves and up to her knees. She wasn’t stopping now. A few more steps and the cold water rose up to mid thigh. The wetsuit was doing its job protecting her from the cold. She continued to trudge out but, frustratingly, the water didn’t seem to be getting any deeper than her mid thigh, slowly Sam stopped and began to crouch down into the water, turning to face the shore she lay down on her back letting the lifejacket take her weight and support her. Sam’s legs floated up thanks to the buoyancy of the wetsuit. It had been ages since Sam had had the opportunity to float around in a lifejacket. And she hadn't had the opportunity to do so in private sense she had snuck into the boathouse at her parents cottage. Sam lay her head back on the foam collar, the hood of the wetsuit keeping her head and neck warm. She closed her eyes and relished the sensation, wriggling about slowly in the jacket.
Sam just floated for a while, it was total bliss, however she knew she had to get moving, fighting against the floatation of the wetsuit she reached down with her legs for the ground returning to a vertical position. She immediately noticed that she had drifted a long ways off from shore, much further than she had planned. Where the ground had been before her legs skimmed through empty water, deep water. Sam stretched her leg down as far as she could reach; no the water was definitely deep out here, too deep to reach, she would have to swim back to shore. The lack of firm footing made the sensation of the lifejacket much more prevalent, Sam realized she had begun to squirm and wriggle again. Letting out a breath she tried to roll onto her stomach to start the swim back. The combined buoyancy of the lifejacket and wetsuit made this a challenge as she was constantly fighting to stay on her stomach and made little to no progress on swimming forward. This problem was furthered by the added bulk of the wetsuit and life jacket which made swinging her arms forward to swim much slower and more laborious than it would normally be. The Strap between her legs and the bulk of the jacket around her, the feeling and sound of the nylon sliding over the neoprene on each stroke, the huge buoyancy of everything she was wearing, the knowledge that the water stretched far below her; it was all starting to drive Sam a little nuts. The far shore was getting no closer and the wind was picking up in her face. She was far enough out that waves were beginning to form, to Sam’s great concern the far shore was definitely getting further away; she redoubbled her efforts, Kicking hard and throwing herself at the oncoming waves. Sam’s life jacket yanked her upwards as each arrived before letting her fall back down into the gullies between them, she was getting a lot of water in the face, tiring quickly and realising she was not making any progress Sam stopped fighting, her jacket quickly tipped her over onto her back her legs swinging under her and rising back up toward the surface again, pointed towards the shore. Sam kicked and spun around, the other side of the lake was only a short distance away, She had been blown clear across the lake. A tangle of trees and undergrowth came right to the waterline. Spinning again Sam could see her kayak on the far shore, ready and waiting with all of her equipment safely stored within. Her car was no longer visible, somewhere beyond the banks and trees that dotted the beach. Sam allowed the jacket to hold carry her and took her head in her hands trying to remain calm and figure out what to do. She couldn’t swim against the wind, that much was clear. It was furious now with large white caps rolling in bobbing sam up and down every few seconds. The lake was not wide, less than 500m across, but it was long. Swimming or bushwalking around the outside would take ages. Sam cursed under her breath, then again this time loudly. Turning to the shore behind her she moved toward it with sweeping arm movements. There was not an obvious place to come ashore. The shore dropped off steeply here and was treed right to the water. Despite being within arms reach of the shore Sam’s feet and legs could still find no purchase in the deep water. Working her way along the shore Sam was still being tossed about by the waves and was smacked into the rocks once of twice. Between the padding of the lifejacket and the full body wetsuit she had plenty of protection against such encounters. Finally Sam found a low wide mossy rock that looked climbable despite some single scraggly brush.
Bopping in the rough waves Sam managed to get a good handhold on the top of the rock, grabbing hold and pulling herself up against it. The waves continued to smash into her as she squirmed her way up onto the rock, scrambling for purchase. Just as she was getting to the top she was jerked back; the hood of her life jacket had caught on some branches, frustrated Sam jerked hard only to be thrown off balance and nearly slid back down off her rock.
Sam closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, calming her nerves and forcing herself to slow down. With some difficulty she twisted and maneuvered in the brush getting herself free of the brambles.
Breathing heavily Sam flopped down under a willow tree and closed her eyes. Her situation was not as bad as it might seem. Her boat was still tied up so there was no risk of losing it, she was just on the wrong side of the lake with a serious storm in the works. She had with her no food but did have her little survival kit, and she had three rest days on her five day trip. So the lost time was not a catastrophe, it just meant she would have to skip a rest day. Mostly she was just upset with herself for such an embarrassing mistake.
The wind and rain continued violently but the willow she had crawled under offered ample protection. After a few more moments rest Sam rolled got to her feet and began to scrounge about for materials. Sam unzipped her lifejacket and slipped out of it, the tight brambles of the forest would doubtlessly snag on it. As soon as the jacket fell from her shoulders she missed it’s comforting presence, it was also noticeably cooler without it on. She opted to leave the wetsuit hood up as a little extra protection from the cold and the rain. Sam hung the jacket on a branch before leaving the shelter of her tree.
The wetsuit feet protected her from twigs and rocks but offered little support so she moved slowly. She found some dry tinder on the sheltered side of a downed birch tree, and a good handful of dry twigs were handy back in her willow tree. Sam used her knife to collect a load of live pine branches to make a sleeping pad. After several trips back to her tree in ever worsening conditions Sam finally crawled back inside her shelter. The wind outside was really howling now. Huddled in the shelter of the willow Sam was somewhat protected from the rain and the wind but it was still cold and willow was no four season tent. She held her precious dry tinder in a small ball and scraped sparks into it from her ferro rod, it took a few tries but eventually a spark caught on the edge of some birch bark and flames quickly spread through the tinder bundle. Sam worked quickly, selecting the driest, or least wet, twigs and adding them one at a time, careful not to overload the tinny fire. After some five to ten minutes she had a modest fire with a small bed of coals going that she could use to dry out some of the wet wood laying around her. The crackling fire transformed the small wet hole into what felt like a safe and warm shelter from the storm. Exhausted sam collapsed next to her fire, wrapped in the space blanket she had pulled from her waist pouch. Sam looked up at the lifejacket hanging from the branch above her. She was not at risk of falling into the water and the fire and blanket would be plenty to keep her warm. But the jacket made her feel safe. A moment went by and sam tiredly shook off the blanket and sat up retrieving her lifejacket. She slipped her legs through the loops and pulled it up, sliding her arms through the holes. As she zipped the jacket up and clipped the strap snuggly into place she immediately felt better. Sam curled up back by the fire and quickly fell into an exhausted sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment