50 Years of Umko 1966 - 2016 1966 - 2016 | Page 13

C HA P T E R

O N E

the idea

The pioneers who sought a new type of race on a new river

“Nothing could take our minds off the beauty of the valley with its magnificent cliffs and
continuous rapids”

I

- Charles Mason 1965

n the nineteen fifties and the early sixties canoeing in South Africa
was “The Dusi”, that iconic three-day race from Pietermaritzburg
to the sea, started in 1951 and ideally suited to people who thought
running with a canoe was as good a way of getting downstream
as paddling.1 And perhaps for Vaalies it was “The Vaal” started
later in the fifties, and for Capies it was “The Berg”, started in 1962
and held over 240km in the Cape winter for polar bears who like their river
water flat and freezing.
But in Natal there was another breed of paddlers. People for whom sitting
in your boat and shooting rapids was the ultimate thrill. These “paddling
purists” hated the fact that they could beat someone on the water only to
have him run past them on a new portaging “sneak” pathway recently
discovered - or even specially cut through the valley bush. They started
thinking: There’s got to be a better way than the embarrassment of scurrying
about the Valley of a Thousand Hills with a canoe on your head causing
mirth among normal non-paddling citizens.

On the 5th April 1952 Ian Player and Fred Schmidt paddled their homemade singles from Josephine’s Bridge heading for the sea at the village of
Umkomaas on the South Coast. Theirs was a pure adventure trip, they had
no intention of ever racing the river. Player had won the very first Dusi just
four months earlier and was using the trip to see if Schmidt would make a
good Dusi partner.
Just maybe Player had read The Hobbitt?
“I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it’s
very difficult to find anyone.”
“I should think so — in these parts! We are plain qu iet folk and have no use for
adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!”

The search for new waters

A few of these paddlers of Kingfisher Canoe Club in Durban decided that
instead of looking for new shortcuts they would look for new rivers. Rivers
where they could launch their boats at the start of a race and pick them up
again for the first time after the finish line. Where the fastest way to get to
the finish line was staying in your boat. The search was on, and they headed
south to where they had heard from famous former winners of the Dusi
about a wild and wonderful river: The Umkomaas.

First known UMKO trip - 1952

“We paddled quietly, afraid to speak for fear of
breaking the wild peace that is only Africa’s. From
the top of one of the green hills a man’s voice broke
the silence with a plaintive tune, a woman took up the
refrain and together they harmonised. The music was
beautiful and I stopped to listen. This was the music
of old Africa.”
Fred Schmidt and Ian Player

13

The valley near St Elmo’s, downstream of Josephine’s Bridge

UMKO 50 Years