Report of White Water Rafting Expedition In Ottawa

On the 17th of May 2009, a group of 12 awesome ladies hopped on a rented Dodge van and drove their way to Ottawa River, Beachburg, Ontario. Often enough,  people who guessed that they are on a quest of a picnic outing of some sort would have been correct because through the van, these women can be seen packing sandwiches, curry puffs and fish crackers.  However, this time, they could not have been more wrong.

These women are gearing up for a white water rafting expedition.

It was quite cold that day, and these dainty ladies, being feminine and soft naturally worried that the water would not treat their delicate skin too kindly. But, these fears quickly disappear when it was inquired upon them their own sizes for a wet full-body suit. It was quite an entertaining sight in the dressing room whereby all grown women were trying to fit in a tight, heavy , synthetically-like body suit. It took a great deal of 20 minutes to comfortable themselves in them, after much complaining about the size of burgeoning hips that each one has. As one particularly sighed, ” Oh dear, i never knew i have such big hips! ( the suits really amplify your body curve ), I shall pedal the raft with great enthusiasm to slim it down!”. One might wonder why it has never occurred to her that paddling uses the arms muscles not the legs.
The first rapids induce delightful screams and paddle-high fives (paddles held high up in the air and hitting another rafter paddles) , as all the other more dangerous and sinister looking rapids. An interesting piece of information from Lara ( the guide) was that in the late summer, the rapids become much more vicious than what they were subjected to experience on that day because of less water contained in the river. There was a stick measuring the water level and on that day it was on scale of 17. In the summer, it could go down to the -6. Somehow the ladies thought it was a shame that they came on that day ( so unbecoming of them?).

In the middle of the day, there was a barbecue lunch of hot chocolate,bread and jam, potato soup, chips, nuts, weiners,chicken breast and veggie patties with all the works. It was imperative to report this because it was a particularly cold day and we were freezing head to feet, and was extremely famished. It was to great relief as well that the organizers put up several campfires around the lunching area. It was to be notified as well that they are the only rafters that ate the veggie patties and this had made things particularly useful for Lara. From that point on, she dubbed them the ‘Veggie Burger Rafters’. It was a convenient nickname for them because when they heard a holler of   ‘Veggie Burgeerrrr Grouuuup!!!’, they know immediately  that Lara were addressing them. Which of course, she did.

On that day as well, the ladies were quite proud of themselves because their raft never capsized no matter how fast the current was. It was not the case for many other rafts that day. However, there’s a slight disappointment lingering in the air because people being tossed and tumbled into the water by the growling wave and whirlpools looks like a lot of fun. Instead, their raft become the saviors of many other swimming rafters where they swam to their boat. They pulled ’swimmers’ up from the cold, fast river current to the warmth of their won raft and its inhabitants. Although fleeting, they do feel like lifesavers pulling people up to safety. They were power ladies.

Power ladies can be a bit misguided when the day comes nearly to an end. The river water was mostly flat ( no current to push us on ) and hence , a bit of serious muscling strokes are required to move the raft. However, being tired and arms aching all over, the boat didn’t move that much. When the ladies looked over their shoulder, there was a line of rafters waiting for them to move faster. Some are even considerate enough to push their boat forward for more speed ( they genuinely thought at that minute ,their strokes suddenly became stronger when the raft moves faster so suddenly). Some guiders ( people of Lara’s stature) even hopped on to their raft to help power pedal the raft. The ladies were very thankful for their grace and understanding.

Upon arriving at the shore, the ladies were relieved to be greeted with an open fire to dry themselves with and a hot, steaming cup of apple cider.

The day finally ends with a hot shower, some considerable amount of effort to peel of the wetsuit and a hearty dinner at a buffet restaurant. The ladies reminisced among themselves about all the adrenaline pumping moments upon the showing of their video recorded action. All of their hands went flaccid, although considerably muscled.

Special thanks credited to the organizer, Azidah Abu Bakar for initiating the whole expedition.

Reported by,

FARAH HANANI SHAMSUDDIN,

Participant, White Water Rafting 2009 Expedition.

P/s: The writer would like to extend her thanks to Ottawa folks for their generous hospitality.