May intro 2023

It immediately fell into the water

May intro day 1.

This was probably my first full May-intro I attended. And as the Dutch would say: it immediately fell into the water. When was trying to close my sprayskirt, my boat slid into the water and with open cockpit I had to float down the first little stream of the Erft so I had to empty my boat already. And that's why I am writing this nieuwstroom article right now while sitting next to a really nice campfire.

The day started of course with tieing of the boats on the trailer. And somehow it went quickly and without arguments. Nothing really happened on the drive to the Erft. No boats fell off and no-one was left behind.

When we arrived, the usual happened. Cars were driven to the exit. Warming ups were performed. Kayaking gear was put on. Experienced people were in doubt if the should go long sleeve or short sleeve.

Then we got into the water and in three different groups we paddled down the river. The first two groups were normal with intro kiddos and such. The third group was the chaos group and they had to create as much chaos as possible, preferably amongst themselves. And I think they succeeded. After less than ten minutes of paddling, group 1 wasn't leading in the front anymore and group 3 wasn't the last group. Also Randor found out the hard way that it is not a great idea to float spread eagle style into some branches. Although he claims he did that because Lynn said he had to do that. But why would you listen to Lynn?

After all those shenanigans, we arrived at the slalom course. Due to the high water level, there was even a surf wave. Small break, if you're still reading, send your best okawa meme or sticker to vliegtuig rick. Surprisingly there weren't a lot of swimmers. A lot of T-rescues and hands-of-god were performed this weekend. We had so few swimmers that Randor even had to flip over on purpose to give some people the change to practice fishing.

Eventually the day ended and we exited the water and went to the place where we would sleep. And that is where Lynn will continue this story.

- Airplane Rick

An Opportunity for the Oldies to re-experience being young!

May intro at the campsite

After a ‘super exhausting’ day of kayaking, we at last arrived at the camping site/ clubhouse place. After just seconds of unpacking there we were, about 20 tiny little machines cutting all kinds of vegetables to throw into some giant pan for someone (I can’t remember who) to somehow magically produce a delicious dinner. But while that unknown person was performing their magical cooking skills, it was time for some groceries; of course, I followed Mick, Randor, and Rick O there. But anyways, that was some interesting grocery shopping. When you enter, there are always 2 kinds of grocery carts; one for the boring adults and one for the fun “slightly younger”. Those carts are just great, with their little flag, except, unfortunately, you can’t fit much in there, so it might have been good that we also took a big cart for those hungry Okawanians waiting at the camp. Wait, hungry, pretty much all we bought was 500 liters of that ‘supposedly delicious’ beer for all those students ready to go kayaking the next day 😉.

Anyways, once we got back, the dinner was almost ready, but not just yet, so it was time for the adults to feel a bit younger again. Unfortunately those who really needed the young experience again did not end up joining; they really missed out. I mean, who, when they see skelters (translation is go-kart, but skelter just makes more sense), scooters, and a playground doesn’t want to make use of them; your parents have probably gotten rid of all those things by now because you’re supposedly too old, so this was an opportunity you couldn’t miss. So, there we were, with some of the great new intro’ers, racing around, maybe more of crashing around, in those great, but tiny, little skelters. One even had a siren! You just had to hold onto it a bit for the unique feature to actually work. We were quickly called for dinner, but as soon as that was finished we were back on the skelters, driving down the hill and through the puddles, now with a little extra trailer; great practice to someday maybe drive that real big trailer with all of the kayaks. Those oldies really missed out on being young again!

At one point, it became a little bit tiring though, so it was time for a new challenge; ultimate frisbee!!! It was great! Almost the whole camp joined in, running around a plastic disk through the caravans, which hopefully did not get too destroyed by our wonderful throwing skills 😉. After a whole lot of sweating, mud, but most of all fun, it was time to take a break since we had had ‘such a tough kayaking day’….

At last, it was time for us to go to bed. The snoring people would sleep in the bar and the rest would sleep in the cold storage room where a dazzling light turned on as soon as someone twitched the slightest bit in their sleep; so most people ended up sleeping in the bar with the snorers anyways, or in the changing rooms in the case of Rian and Jochem, 😊. Somehow, on kayaking trips I seem to be not so good at getting out of my bed, so there I suddenly was, in the morning, outside
on the pavement in my sleeping bag, finally woken
up by grandpa Chiel. Apparently the intro committee
is meant to make the breakfast on the second day….
Whoopsies…. But, after Rian and Jochem’s great
breakfast and a whole lot of cleaning up, there we
were, ready again for the new day of kayaking!

- Lynn

The importance of knee support

May intro day 2.

On Sunday, some got out of their beds fresh and fruity, and others needed a bit more persuasion. After tidying up, we were going to paddle from the lane at the bridge to the end of the Erft. Since there were quite some okawanians to help with supervising, the group was split into introers with some teachers/helpers, and others who could entertain themselves by kayaking/chilling/sleeping. I have to say that all the introers did an amazing job. They tried to make sense of all the tips they got, and improved a lot! Before we went for lunch, everyone even took the eddy near the bridge to get in the main stream. This was also my moment to try the noble art of moving my legs and arms in the water. There I would like to remind everyone that even though you might feel a bit uncomfortable, it is quite useful to have your kneesupport tightened ;).

The lunch was made by Rian and Jochem and contained some vega and nonvega sausages. Rian had figured out a system to distinguish the knakkies (see picture) which she would love to tell you more about, since it was brilliant. After lunch, we dobberden on most parts, but it contained some fun drops to practice. The trip was concluded with a fun dinner at Hubble! J

- Sarray

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