Day 18

So today was really busy and nothing but big ups and big downs, no in betweens. Today there was a big friendly competition with lots of people and lots of beer. People started getting to the camp around 9 and by 930 everybody was there and had a beer or two already. It started off with the captains from each team doing a timed event to see who would get the lead for the beginning of the race, which consisted of running in flippers and a little bit of swimming. After that there was a few games of tug of war. Once those were done everybody got into their groups and went to their boat. After they were given the basic instructions of what to do and where to sit we were off for a ride. The race hadn't started yet, the beginning part was just for fun. Now, here comes the ups and downs. We got to the bridge that people jump off of which normally wouldn't be a big deal but you could tell that there were a couple people that had a few too many to drink already (it was about 10:30 *AM* at this time). They weren't too much of a hassle they just stumbled around a little more than the others but were well behaved... except for 1. After he jumped off the bridge he decided that it was not a good idea to put effort into swimming to the shore. So even though everybody reached for him and tried to grab him he would just shove us off and keep going with the current. Thankfully he was close enough to the side that he got to some rocks and decided to pop a squat which isn't allowed so they told him to go to the shore which he then did. There was him and then there were people that were just plain idiots. A man and his son jumped off of the bridge together which is fine but then he started doing the back stroke with the current instead of to shore so I had to go a little more than what I should to reach for them. The dad grabbed onto my paddle and pulled while the son grabbed my other arm to stand up. When he pulled the paddle because of all the loose rocks and fast water I lost my footing and many times had to try and regain it while trying to pull this man in. This all happened AFTER people were screaming at him to swim to the side and ropes were thrown to them. Those were the only over the top things that I've seen so far from the bridge jumping so far. After everybody had jumped once or twice we got back in our boats and started heading towards the starting line. The boat that had all of the people who drank a few too many also had a case of beer in it and every 5 minutes you'd hear them doing some sort of chant (not the one that the PEP boys did in Florida). Once we got to the starting line everybody had to do a shot of Jagermeister and there was also more beer there (brought by cars from the camp). Once everybody had a little break and another beer we got ready for the race (while this is going on the workers are setting up the boats in order from first to last based on results from the timed event). I was still fairly relaxed and calm by this point but now is where it starts to get funny for everybody BUT me. So the race started and everybody rushed to their boats, got in and started paddling. The guide that was steering my boat isn't very good at it I found out. Right off the bat he took us over some really shallow water which took away a lot of our momentum but this was at the very beginning so everybody was still in a cluster and we quickly regained speed and took second place (1st place was way ahead already). The race was going pretty well, we were maintaining 2nd place until some bad steering allowed the 3rd place boat to pass us with ease. I'm still fairly calm up until this point knowing that this is just for fun. But, now the guide's constant yelling of "FORWARDS!!!" is still to get a little bit annoying especially because he's not doing much paddling, his steering is also starting to fade at this point (were about 5 minutes into this race). We were constantly faced slightly to the right which ironic enough I was on the left side (so, I wonder how this was happening) <- sarcasm. Once we started getting really close to the boat that was in second place the guide decided to try and make a pass which was NOT a good time for that. We were in a strong current at the moment and then he steered us to the right where there was almost no current so we right away lost speed and had to give that much more effort to try and get back in after hitting a few rocks. That's where it starts to go a little more down hill. Once we get back into the current and slowly start to gain a little bit of ground on 2nd place but we just lost so much so it didn't make much of a difference. We were still in 3rd because 4th and the rest were that far behind. So anyways, we've made up a little ground and now the guy from Germany across from me decides to try and tell me how to paddle better. 1. that means he stopped paddling 2. he said it in german and knew that I only spoke English 3. I'm Canadian, does he really think that he can improve a Canadian's paddling? (It's the same kind of paddling like if we were in a canoe). Although this annoyed me a lot I figured I'd give it a shot to see if it actually does help, which it didn't one bit. He showed me to hold it lower but then my paddle doesn't get in the water as much so sure my strokes are faster but, then they'd be faster than everybody else's stroke plus I didn't get as much out of it. So I went back to my method which is how to paddle properly. He then yells again for me to do it, so I said that it doesn't work for me, I guess he understood because then he did what he should've done in the first place which is shut up. You can tell that I'm starting to get a little more annoyed now. Remember that there is the constant "forwards!!!" from the guide and the slightly angled to the right during this whole shenanigan. The race continues on and later on in the race the same guy yells at me again because I guess I wasn't giving it my 200% even though I was just keeping pace with the person in front of me while I was paddling MUCH harder (I could just tell that he was tired, but I don't blame him he was 50 or over and so was the other guy yelling at me). Just after he yelled at me I kind of looked at him like "really?!?!" and in that instant the guide decided to take his side and give it to me in English. And I know that I was giving an effort and it looked like it too. It was then that I started to really lose my cool, I was just 1 yell away from dropping my paddle and the person that yelled. There were other annoying things going on too. Such as, the person in front of me not being able to keep a constant stroke so I kept hitting his paddle with mine. As I went forward and he finished his stroke so I was the one constantly trying to adjust my speed but whenever I did that the person behind me would hit my paddle with theirs. The race continued on and by this point it was obvious that we wouldn't be able to do any better than 3rd and if we kept an easy steady pace we'd finish 3rd. Well, to me it was obvious. We got near the end and there was about 200m left in the race then everybody in the boat decided that now would be a good time to start yelling and going all out which was pointless, our speed barely increased because they spent all their energy on yelling and screaming. So, we ended up finishing 3rd which I was surprised and impressed considering who we had in our boat. There were 3 people above the age of 50, a kid about 9, the guide, some out of shape 21 year old guy, and a girl about the same age without any better of a fitness level and than me. I'm not trying to sound mean about that but I'm just saying why I was impressed, all of the other boats were younger, but drank too many beers before and during the race so we had that on them. Now, to skip ahead to lunch which was a big up. There was french fries which I haven't had in such a long time, and while walking through the buffet I smelt beef which I was right and made sure to grab a piece. I also had some sausage and that was good too. There were a few other minor things throughout the day but I'm having troubles remembering them and it'd take too long to type. So, anyways I hope that you guys enjoyed this, cause I sure didn't. I don't think I'll be posting tomorrow because I was told that I have lots of weed whacking to do tomorrow. Fun.