The Great River Shoot
Phil; Extracted from the 5th Book of the Greenland Annals,transcribing from p56 and para 3...
It is Friday 20 August 1971.….
………. the idea is to pay the canoe out on a rope so Biggar and I walk down the bank leaving for the interesting descent of the river. We do this at the river entrance where it leaves the lake and do it for a short way down the bank,but seized with rashness we decide to get in the canoe and shoot the rapids. We leave personal gear,camera,watch, boots off, lifejacket on, and set off bonedomeless down the stream.Yes,it’s easy,just shrink along midway between the bank and the dashing main channel. Fine,until we crunch sideways against a rock but with good fortune we can swing the stern round until it is caught by the current and we go out stern first downstream.Too late to remember the next line of rocks,thump again,fend off and we are away free over the last fall,gliding into the beach to the surprise of the camping Greenlanders. Hadn’t been so gripped since the crumbling wall on Serrata, adrenalin in every vein.
We walk upstream as Shade and Mutch come neatly down the main channel,bone-domed and with their gear on board.
We gather for the finale of the grand water show of 1971,and at last they appear,hugging the near bank,and towards the photographers lined up on the boulders.Excellent stuff but then they move out too far towards the main flow.All goes well until the final patch---I see the canoe broadside on, then leaning into the current,water pouring in and they are on their way out through the chilly water. It all happens so slowly,the canoe drifting, the helmeted life-jacketed figures,the gradual sinking. We careered down the path. I see Jacob blowing his whistle and requesting a helicopter. It’s ludicrous if not so semi-serious.
Shade and Mutch get the other canoes into the stream,and by this time the two bobbers are in the outflowing water. Chris doesn’t look too happy,very low in the water--he has his boots on. They catch an underwater rope holding the Greenlanders boat in mid-stream,and haul themselves to the far bank. Mutch arrives laughing and is splashed by Greensmith now bailing out his canoe.They are ferried across,their gear is soaking wet,cameras included, they’re shivering. It’s ridiculous!………