Bucket List: Go White Water Kayaking

{My friend Josh looking out the window on the ride over} 

I'm absolutely terrified of large bodies of water. In middle school, I was forced into the Brookline Swim Team by my mother, who thought swimming was a necessary skill to have. While I agree with her, my swimming level hardly qualified me to take part in intense two hour practices every weekday. For two years, I endured, nearly drowning every practice. In one particularly embarassing race, I belly-flopped on my dive, and flailed my arms for a good ten seconds, before somehow managing to begin a breaststroke.

And so, when my friend asked if I wanted to spend my entire Saturday white water kayaking, my gut reaction was a resounding no. Neverthless, as I began working on the bucket list section of this blog, I was reminded that this project is meant to push me to try new things and expand the limits of my boundaries. After some convincing, I finally agreed to go on this trip.

We spent the first half of the day learning to kayak, practicing our strokes... and how to capsize. We essentially were forced to drown ourselves to then teach ourselves how to release our bodies from the kayak. The entire experience was much more intense than I had initially thought; we were strapped into the kayak, one single canvas strap the only possibility of releasing ourselves. When I made myself capsize, I was reminded of drowning all those times on the swimming team.


{Learning the parts of a kayak}

However, once we got on the actual river, I quickly found that kayaking was actually fun. The instructors were incredibly helpful, guiding us through obstacles with careful instruction. Each time I had surpassed another obstacle, I felt more and more accomplished.


{All geared up and ready to go}

Unfortunately, I was unable to take very many pictures, as I was not allowed to bring my cell phone onto the kayak, considering how often we capsized. I'll continue to update this post, if I am able to get my hands on pictures taken by other members of the group.

{Gearing up in wetsuits and life vests for the big day}

In the end, I'm really happy I decided to go on this trip. Although it was tiring, challenging, and incredibly trying, I felt that I had made progress towards overcoming my fear of large bodies of water. While I certainly will not be jumping at the chance to get in the water, I will definitely consider taking another white water kayaking trip.

{Kayaking...}

{The view on the way home from Charlemont, Massachusetts}