50 Years of Umko 1966 - 2016 1966 - 2016 | Page 85

boats. Rowan was some distance behind, paddling furiously to catch up,
no helmet, no lifejacket, being pelted freely. He got to cover just before the
storm ended, covered in red welts.

Even Charlie Mason swims

On a high river in 1999 Charles Mason and Roelof van Riet swam approaching
No.7. They tried to make the bank but got swept by the strong current down
the main channel on the right. Both clung to the boat and tried to guide it
with Roelof reverting to Afrikaans in his hour of need, crying out “O, fok!
O, fok!”. After the main drop Charles ended on the downstream side of the
K2 which pinned him against one of the big ‘house rocks’. Luckily the wide
rock wouldn’t allow the boat to wrap, but the only way he could free himself
was to force his way under the boat.
They continued and reached the finish, where John Oliver handed
Charles his helmet. Allie Peter and Mike Frizelle had found it bobbing some
kms down from No.7. Charles had not even realised he had lost it!
In the early ‘80s Hugh Raw paddled with legendary ‘Iron Man’ Jimmy
Potgieter in one of those Umkos that ended at Goodenough’s Weir. “Jimmy
did not do much training in those days, he smoked a lot of those thin little
cheroots and had a reserved stool at most of the pubs in town. I was a
complete beginner and although it was my Accord, Jimmy was happy to
drive and I was happy to learn from him.”
“On the last day we approached the Waterfall where Jimmy recounted
his version of the Peter Peacock Incident which had me spell-bound. I have
since heard Peter’s version of what happened but there is a big bit missing
in the middle. I guess being unconscious leaves a gap.
“But I digress - we portaged the Falls with much looking back at them very sobering. We were all alone by this stage, the field had spread out and
when a lone single came into view on those flats it was quite encouraging
to me. All through Whirlpool and Gully we kept the K1 in sight and there
was only No-Name Rapid left according to Jimmy and then the Weir at
Goodenoughs. By this time we were pulling really hard, determined to catch
the “Lone Ranger”.
“We reeled him in eventually on those flats and Jimmy greeted him as
they were old mates from early Dusi days. Still competitive as ever Jimmy
(to a lesser extent me) ‘put the hammer down’ as Hank would say and as we
pulled away I glimpsed a little smile from the Lone Ranger. By dint of some
puffing and panting our K2 drew away a short distance and I was already
rehearsing my acceptance speech for my first beer at the finish as we lined
up for the last rapid: No Name Rapid. I mean it must be a push-over, right?
“But the boat bounced off a hidden rock at the very top, we toppled out
and swam down to the bottom of this fairly long rapid with me holding
the tail of the K2 in the approved fashion, paddle gone on ahead. That’s
when Charles Mason - who had ‘only’ 15 or so Umko notches on his paddle
in those days - came through without missing a beat. He didn’t smile too
broadly but it was written in body language all over his back. Charles is
a great student of the Umko and he has a saying:- ‘The Umko is a great
leveller’. I believe that too.”
Charles remembers the incident well: “We were dicing for our age-group
title. When I saw Hugh and Jimmy swim I realised I still had a chance to
beat them. Twenty minutes to go! Concentrate! No mistakes! I pulled hard
to put as much distance between us before they could get going again. What
I didn’t realise is they had damaged their boat just enough to put them out
of contention.”

85

Creatures - Hugh and Jimmy again

After patting ourselves on the back for surviving No.1 and No.2 our Accord
was in need of an empty so Jimmy turned the boat towards the bank on a
quiet stretch of the river. As we drifted silently in a large head popped out
of the water just in front of us and then submerged as we drifted over it.
Two things happened simultaneously. Jimmy exploded out of his cockpit
and nearly landed on my lap making puffing noises and I - trying to ease
his distress - said, “It’s OK Jim, its just a leggevaan”. Then I caught sight of
big coils under the boat slowly moving away in the current. The beautiful
colouring told me what it was and I saw a girth as big as my thigh. Jimmy,
the victor of many a barfight was difficult to get back in the boat. He was still
breathing heavily and desperate for a smoke.
There was quiet for a while in the boat and then Jimmy spoke to no one in
particular, “I don’t care what it was, it was bigger than me”.

Work To Rule

Rory Chicken Man Pennefather paddled with Tony Scotty Scott for the first
time ever in a K2 at the start of a marathon at Josephine’s. “Scotty was great
fun to paddle with. It felt like having a turbo boost with him sitting behind
me, but he could joke around better than anyone. That year we won the
Umko marathon. At the start Scotty asked me how long the first day would
take us and I guessed about three hours. “Right”, he said. “That’s it. In
three hours I stop paddling” and he was true to his word! When the three
hours were up we could see the finish about a hundred metres ahead of us
and Scotty put down his paddle and left me to paddle the last bit on my
own. I do think he checked in his rear view mirror to make sure no one was
in sight before he knocked off!”
And where from the Chicken Man nickname? (certainly not from any lack
of courage!): “I got the Chicken Man nickname from living in a canoeist digs
in PMB in the seventies. My brother Pat, Hubby Sandberg, Matt Carlisle,
Alick Rennie, Jerome Truran and JimBob Taylor plus other paddlers lived
there off and on for several years. Most, but not all, were lazy students who
would not get up in the morning. Fortunately there was a radio cartoon
clip at 7am every morning of a super hero called Chicken Man. I made
it my duty when the loud
and terrifying chicken call
came on, to turn up the
radio volume and wake the
house. It was treated with
annoyance and mirth and
earned me the name, try as
hard as I might to change
it to Feathered Fighter or
Winged Warrior. Chicken
Man fought “crime and
evil” and I told them that
indolence and lethargy
were both.”
Talking about . .

KINGFISHER FALLS
Cartoon by Jock Leyden

UMKO 50 Years