Examination Rapid

There is a river in Quebec called the Dumoine, and it is one of the places where I cut my teeth as a younger paddler. It is known as a great 'teaching river' for the progression of difficulty of each subsequent rapid. It starts gently, giving you places to practice basic manoeuvres, figure things out. Like the way the canoe moves when fully loaded, the balance and strokes of our paddling partners, the effect and synergy between river current and hull. As it moves downstream, the Dumoine river gets increasingly technical, forcing you to up your game; combining whatever skills and water sense you have accrued. The last major rapid on the river has been named "Examination", a set whose overlapping features require more finesse and precision in boat manoeuvring and teamwork. This is a river that teaches us as we go along and presents new challenges usually just at the point when we are ready.

I find myself wondering this week that I am being tested. I have sunk deeper into myself of late, remembered who I am more profoundly. I have been learning how to love things with less attachment, and have the courage to leave my heart open despite the risk. I am learning to turn shit into fertilizer, to put it another way. I have felt...happy. At peace. Despite the mystery that yawns before me and the broken path and burned bridges behind me. And I am being presented with a challenge this week.

Bridge Rapids on Beaver Creek (not the Dumoine).
As a friend said recently "We'll burn that bridge when
we come to it."

It is my real work: To stay put in myself despite what swirls around me, or threatens to pull me off my line. To see the obstacles ahead and what came before and take note, but not stare into them. To not get pulled into the maw of that recirculating wave that looms ahead. To thread the needle when necessary. And to love the beauty and intricacy of the river, despite it's hazards. To be myself, as graceful or clumsy as I might be from moment to moment.

River paddling is often about finding the quiet water that lies in the midst of the maelstrom. To hit the glassy black tongue between rooster tails and standing waves, however narrow it might be. At times, often when we are paddling more challenging rapids, we end up off line, in a place all our scouting from the shoreline did not reveal. We are faced with the need to execute "plan B". Here we are required to be fully present in the flow and pay attention to what is emerging from moment to moment, and respond with whatever skill and precision we have learned on our journey.




If I have hurt you I see that, and am sorry. If you have hurt me, thanks for the shit, it's proving to be rich ground for growth.