First up on Regatta Day was the dreaded K1 race. Michelle and I looked at each other, and decided to present a united front. “You’re doing it, kid. Get going!”
Loading into the K1, we could tell she was a little
nervous, by the furrowed brow, and look of stern concentration in her face.
Having avoided a slow-speed collision with a returning paddler at the loading
bay, Charlotte carefully and successfully paddled her way out to the Start
line, her little feet working the rudder, while her brain paused from time to
time, to determine which way she wanted to go, followed by which paddle she
needed to put in the water.
Nearing the Start line, she was just getting the hang
of it all, when she became startled by all the activity going on there, and
promptly tipped out of the kayak, and went for a swim in the middle of the
lake.
“Oh shit,” I said, grabbing Michelle’s attention.
“That’s it. She’s in the water.”
I was bloody gutted for her. After all the drama of the week leading up to this
regatta, tipping out into the lake was all but a self-fulfilling prophecy for
Charlotte, and I was convinced there was no way she was coming back from this
one.
We looked on in dismay as the rescue boat came to Charlotte’s aid, pulled her from the water, and dumped all the water out of the upturned kayak.
“Oh well,” Michelle said smiling, “At least she gave it
a go.”
Seems we had given up on our kid too soon, and to our amazement, she hadn’t quite given up on herself. After a five-minute spell in the rescue boat, Charlotte saw the other kids getting sorted at the Start line, and asked that she be returned to her kayak to join them. Go, baby!
We both knew just how much courage it took for you to
climb back in after a week of sleepless nights and arguments over this very
thing. Good on ya, kid.
Needless to say, it didn’t matter to us where Charlotte placed in this, her first ever attempt at paddling a kayak herself, in her first ever regatta. We were just so pumped that she managed to see past herself, and climbed aboard to try something new.
“You know what, guys?” she shouted up to us at the
observation balcony, as she handed in her paddle and race number to the next
kids, “K1’s are my favourite!”
The rest of the race meet consisted of Charlotte keeping track of her timings on the race board, leading the way in her K4 race, and unfortunately, pulling out of the War Canoe meet due to suffering a nasty hornet sting as she was trying to climb aboard.
It was a big day, putting Charlotte to the test in
several ways, but she overcame it all with the courage and grace that we love
her for. She even went for a swim afterwards, and showed us how she could do a
knee-tuck cannon ball off the dock, and swim without her lifejacket for the
first time. BCC is so awesome and the coaches are wonderful there.
Such a great place for a kid to hang out and spend the
Summer!
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