Lesson 1
Strength is important at any age. Our guide Spencer was able to size up our group fairly quickly with our strength and capabilities. He sat in the back on the right side of the raft. He placed me at the front on the left side with Chris right behind me. Perhaps it was Spencer's experience with young twenty-something girls running the river that helped him to know that he need a balance to his power on the right with Chris on the left. As the oldest person on the raft, I pulled my own weight as well as helped to get us out of some rough spots. Be in shape. Get in shape.
Lesson 2
Pulling together makes the experience of white water rafting more enjoyable and safer for all. Much like our journey in life, we need to support each other.
Lesson 3
Preparation is key. Spencer knew the river and he knew those moments when we would have time to go over safety, to work on rowing, to practice following directions, and to work on drills. Had he waited until we were in the middle of the rapids to teach us the backstroke or how to lean to the left, to lean to the right, to hold on without losing our paddles, to get down into the raft and hang on, or to paddle forward, we would have never made it safely down the river.
Lesson 4
Follow your guide. As we came up to one bend in the river and a section of rapids, Spencer said to us, "None of you can fall out of the raft here. Hang on to your paddles and listen to what I tell you to do. As we get closer to the huge rock ahead, we HAVE to go down the right side of it." To those of us who had never been on this river before, going down the right side or the left side looked about the same from our vantage point. As we neared the rock, Spencer yelled to us, "Row forward, pull, pull, pull, stop." And we maneuvered safely around the right side of the huge boulder and down the rapid.
As Chris and I turned to look back at the rapids, we spied a huge rock on the left of the boulder that surely would have caused a problem for us. Chris commented to Spencer, "I can see why we needed to stay to the right." Spencer replied, "If we had gone to the left, we would have landed on the rock and then flipped into the rapids." Follow your guide. They know the river, they know the pitfalls and dangers, they know the times to relax and have fun, they know how to keep you safe.