Michael Lawson
Class of 2013
Biweekly report, summer 2010
Basically, to make a long story short, we pushed ourselves off a waterfall.
No big deal.
Nile River rapids Uganda
Michael Lawson
Immediately after lunch, we came across the most difficult rapid of the day: Overtime (Class 5).
Overtime is characterized by its extreme shallowness and speed, but especially by the 10-foot waterfall that caps it off.
We headed into Overtime at full speed, then, after Henry II’s call of “Get down!”, continued paddling hard while crouching as low as we could. We went over two small falls, then came to the waterfall.
We crouched down even farther, took a death grip on the rope…
…and hit a rock.
The current, strong as it was, was not enough to dislodge us. As a result, we had to get out of our crouches and start jumping up and down to dislodge the boat.
Eventually, we all went “high side right” to make the raft tilt that direction, and, as soon as it became clear that we were, in fact, actually falling down the waterfall, we went back into the combat crouch and braced for impact. We slammed into the water, then came up with all men accounted for, eliciting a cheer from the crowd gathered on the shore.
Basically, to make a long story short, we pushed ourselves off a waterfall. No big deal.
