Guide Pride

Experienced guides like to say, “You’re only ever between swims.” Still, though all guides expect to swim at some point, we pride ourselves on sticking with our rafts and not having unintentional out-of-boat experiences. Unfortunately, today several NOC guides on the Nantahala took a serious hit to their collective pride, myself included.

Six guides were assigned to two ducky (inflatable kayak) trips, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. These were my very first ducky trips, and odds were high that I would swim. A duck is a far cry from a raft in terms of stability. The trip leader was certainly not expecting me to make it upright all the way down. At the put-in, he had the entire group wish me, “Happy Sailing!” The kids probably did not pick up on the sarcasm. While I did end up in the water, I was not the only one. Three guides went swimming, and one even did it twice. Thankfully, I did not swim twice, but I did swim the Falls for the very first time.

The first guide swim was at Quarry Rapid. There used to be a very big wave there, but it was eventually washed out. Disgruntled kayakers then re-built the wave this season, and though it is a fun hit in a raft, it has rightfully earned the nickname, “Ducky Slayer.” Indeed, today it was the site of quite the train wreck on the morning ducky trip. Two ducks flipped and were stuck in the wave, a guide then attempted to knock the boats free but instead wound up flipped herself. I followed, and luckily coasted over the flipped boats, straight over to the headmaster of the school group who arranged the trip, who was swimming about twenty yards down the rapid. I rescued him and moved on, thankful to rescue someone else instead of myself.

That was the only guide swim on the first trip. I ran the Falls just fine my very first time in a ducky. It was the second time that got me, but it was the second time that got quite a few of us.

Quarry Rapid was, once again, troublesome. Another guide flipped in a similar manner to before, with boats stuck in the wave preventing the guide from hitting a good line. But the real problem on the second trip was the Falls. The guide who had first swum at Quarry swam a second time at the Falls (but did just fine through Quarry during round two), and so did I.

Ever since I started guiding, I have been petrified of swimming the Falls. People have died there. Not often, of course, but it is possible. The water is freezing, and everyone who knows me knows how much I dislike being underwater. Swimming the Falls has been a nightmare hanging over my head for months, and finally it happened.

At first, I thought everything was fine. I hit the Green Tongue and rode it down to Bottom Hole. In a raft, hitting the Tongue is hardest part. After that, Bottom Hole is usually gravy. But in a ducky, that’s where it all went wrong. I lost my angle, waited too long (a fraction of a second) to correct, and then the boat flipped and I was swimming.

It wasn’t terrible. It was shallower and rockier than I expected, which was a little nerve-wracking in terms of making sure I didn’t get too banged up or, you know, drown, but I held onto my paddle, clambered back into my raft, and went on. Still, I got an earful of laughter from the trip leader. As soon as I went in, I heard him shout, “Better start swimming! We don’t throw ropes to guides!”

It was a tough day on the river for guides, and while we did not get ropes thrown to us, at least another whitewater tradition was dispensed with. Typically, when a guide swims, they owe the rest of the guides on the trip a “Swim Beer.” But since swimmers are so common on ducky trips, the swim beers are often foregone. Too bad for the three guides who did manage to come through today with their pride intact!