Before the Drop

Imagine yourself sitting above a massive rapid.
Floating around an eddy, waiting for a signal from your crew below to let you know they are in position.

Then it's time for you to make the run.

The sun may be shining and the water may be crystal clear, but all you can see down stream is a wide horizon line and splashes of white shooting into the sky from a particularly powerful hydraulic.

For the average kayaker these turbulent class 5 rapids would be an obvious portage, but not for Escape Watersports staff member Lyndon Williams.

"The entire mental prep begins from the moment you get a good look at the whole rapid and work out the line you not only want to be on but need to be on. Talking through lines and looking from different angles you will have a picture instilled in your mind. Once you have made your line choice, you start setting safety, using your crew as best as possible. Knowing who is going to do what job and where, only comes with experience and time paddling as a group. Making the decision to paddle the rapid comes with self confidence, knowing you will be able to make the big moves required to pass through cleanly. Knowing you have your peers who you trust completely in position as a back up puts added ease to the situation although there is still a lot to do."

"When the time comes to get in your kayak, I find that is when the nerves set in. Leaving your friends to make the walk up alone suddenly becomes very lonely. My heart rate starts to increase and I can feel a slight tremble in my legs. Adrenaline is starting to kick in, but I know this is the time to focus. In my head I picture the line in about to run over and over and over, knowing every stoke before I have even got there. I will have once last check at the entry point before climbing into my kayak. Sitting in my kayak I'm full of confidence in knowing my line and having faith in my ability, friends skills and the equipment i'm wearing but slightly terrified. I close my eyes for a little bit and everything goes quiet, I control my breathing making myself relax which puts me in a really great mental place. I guess its a self taught meditation process to get on top of the nerves. Its at this point I give the whistle and get a thumps up. A quick splash of the face which is shortly followed by the first stokes to leave the eddy..."