"Six Seconds at the Bottom of the River"

What a silly boy!


Three of us went for a paddle down the River Mole on Sunday, My Mums 65th Birthday.

Here is what happened!

The river was high and the stepping stones at the foot of Box Hill were completely underwater. A giant tree lay asleep across where they are roughly supposed to be poking out from the river. The tree had fallen sometime during last week in the strong winds we have had recently. We launched at about 1pm and with our backs to the tree and invisible stepping stones we began our paddle towards Stoke D'abernon, some 14 miles and four hours downstream.

The weather was grey and rainy. The winds were quite strong too, but most of the time spent paddling, we found ourselves quite sheltered as we meandered our way along the rain fed swollen river. The flow was strong and at no time did we have to get out and pull our kayaks along like we have had to do in the past where the water was too shallow to paddle.

Lee and Ian followed me down the river as I followed numerous ducks and Kingfishers along the faster than normal flowing river. The first two and a half hours were easy going with a few obstacles such as fallen trees and the odd weir and the like to navigate by and over. A swan even tried to chase us away at one point!

We reached the car park where we have usually ended our paddle on previous trips along the Mole in 50 odd minutes. The last time we did this stretch it took us nearer two hours! The water was flowing much faster than we were used to. We continued past the car park and into brand new territory. We had a good three or four hours to go, or so we thought. Little did we know that at about 16:00pm, we would get into trouble and one of us would finish our paddle 2 hours early!

Even before the incident at 16:00, Ian nearly got dragged under a fallen tree! The river water was being forced under it's huge trunk and anything else that happens to find it's way there. Ian found himself heading straight for the tree in the current of the river. With his kayak alongside and up against the tree now he and his kayak were being forced upside down, his head just above the waters surface. I managed to paddle alongside him and tilt his kayak back the right way up against the force of the water. We both lost our paddles and had to float down stream where Lee had caught up with them.

That was the first close shave!

The second involved me I'm afraid. After about three hours paddling and about half hour after Ian's incident, my hat got caught on a low hanging branch. I grabbed hold of the next low hanging branch a few yards along, to stop myself and turn back and get my hat. But the water was flowing too fast and in the blink of an eye the back of my kayak was being forced under the water and pulled me tight between the kayak and the branch, it all happened so bloody quick! I tried to hang on and let the kayak go, but the spray deck prevented me from leaving the kayak and the extreme weight of the kayak being dragged along with the rivers flow, forced me to let go of the branch! I heard Lee calling from the opposite bank for me to let go! Unfortunately, by the time all this had happened, I wasn't upright anymore and I had no choice having lost all my strength from my hands and my fingers, I slipped from the branch and landed on my side and capsized! The water was freezing! I hardly had time to get a breath as I entered the water and as soon as I was submerged the cold took the rest of my breath away from me and I swallowed a mouthful of water. I knew instantly that I had no time to attempt a roll of any kind and needed to breathe right there and then. I blindly felt for the handle on the spray deck. I yanked it towards me and before I knew it, I was out of the kayak and looking for the surface. With my eyes open, all I could see was a dark green blur, then a light green blur. My now soaked and frozen legs and socked feet made contact with the rivers rocky bed as I was dragged, totally submerged, for several seconds down the river before I re-surfaced. I tried to stand up and felt a kayak above me (it may have even been Ian's kayak) and tried to grab it. In the end I failed to even see my kayak, let alone keep hold of it! The next time I would see my boat was some five hours later, strapped to the top of my car outside Redhill Hospital.

As I stood up, I found myself in the middle of the river and in the fastest part. Ian called if I was ok. I stuttered that it was freezing. I was choking a little. The river was flowing quite fast around me and I found it almost impossible to stand up straight. Fortunately it wasn't too deep. It came up to my waist and my spray deck, which was mostly submerged, was threatening to drag me down the river as the water pushed against it. I found the handle at the front, pulled it from the water and stuck it between my teeth and found I could stand up better. Ian was there right by me and tried his hardest to stay with me, but the flow of the river forced him to carry on and maneuver his way around a fallen tree about 10ft ahead of us. I even tried to get a hold of his kayak to help keep stable, but had to let go as I was afraid of capsizing him too! I had no buoyancy aid on (I know, I know) and didn't fancy my chances floating downstream until it was safer to get to the bank...plus there was the fallen tree that I didn't want to come into contact with.

I was stranded and unable to walk because of the risk of being knocked off balance. The fallen tree, half submerged about 10ft in front of me that reached halfway across the river from the left side bank and was at an angle pointing towards the flow of the river was my main concern. The last thing I wanted to happen was to loose my footing, then washed into and under the tree! I could see no sign of my boat and somehow I still had hold of my paddle, but every time the blades touched the fast flowing water, I was knocked off balance. I threw it over to the bank and it slid back down and ended back in the water and slowly made its way into the main flow of the river and floated just a foot past me as I stood frozen in place wondering what to do next! I just stood there on the spot for a few minutes, looking all around me to see what my options were. Lee was on the opposite side of the bank holding onto a branch.

My only option was to inch my way to the nearest part of the fallen tree and use it to make my way to the bank. I was shivering by now and new if I didn't get out soon, I would be at risk from developing hypothermia! Walking in the water felt as if I had two fully grown men attached to each of my legs! When I was close enough to the tree, I judged the distance needed to reach it without walking further than I absolutely needed to. I leant over and grabbed the tree and shuffled my way to the bank. I yelled over to Lee to come over and give me his towel. I sat soaked on the steepish grassy bank and watched Lee make his way across the flow of the river and over to me. I couldn't stop shivering and took off my jacket and top and dried myself as quickly as I could. Lee pulled his kayak out of the water and stood by me. Ian was downstream looking for my boat and paddle. Lee and I looked around us and saw just where we were! We were in the middle of nowhere, miles from any signs of life apart from the M25 just across the river. We were surrounded by fields. The motorway had absolutely no access to the river...besides, we were on the wrong side of the river with no sign of a bridge. Lee ran over to see where Ian was as I tried to dry myself. My legs and hands were numb and I noticed a small cut on the bridge of my left foot as I took off my socks to ring them out and replace them. I dried the inside of my waterproof jacket with the towel and wrapped the towel around me and put my jacket back on over the towel. My ankles were as stiff as anything and walking anywhere would have been out of the question!

When Lee came back from finding Ian, I said to that I didn't know how I would be feeling if we just hung around and tried to sort this mess out ourselves and that I was worried that I might get hypothermia and told him to get Ian to phone 999 asap. Lee and I's phones (and our cameras) were in my kayak. Ian was spotted about a quarter mile downstream. He had found my kayak and pulled his out of the water and up onto the field. Mine was stuck upside down on a branch on the other side of the river and Ian couldn't quite reach it and left it there and came over to meet Lee. The emergency services were called and the situation explained. As we were waiting for the emergency services to arrive, Ian & Lee put me into Lee's boat and Ian stuck his kayaking helmet onto my head and gave me his dry top and wrapped me in a silver blanket that he had in his first aid kit. I still couldn't stop shaking and Ian sat on the side of the kayak and put his warm arms around me and fed me chocolate whilst Lee was on the phone explaining to the emergency services exactly where we were. I knew from just looking around me that a helicopter was the only way that they would be able to get to us. Dare I say, I even hoped it would be a helicopter as I had never been in one before.

After waiting about half an hour, still shivering all over, I could see two people in bright green fluorescent overalls walk into the field near to where my kayak had ended up. Lee was over there too and directed them over to Ian & I, but by the time they reached us a helicopter had appeared and landed just feet away from us and let two men out and took off again. I told Lee that my car key was in my jacket pocket. He took it out and put it somewhere safe. Then suddenly, I was surrounded by paramedics and helicopter police and after answering several health related questions, I was carefully walked up to the now re-landed helicopter, treading over a farmers muddy field in cold wet socks and flown to Redhill Hospital in Surrey, about ten miles away as the crow flies. Lee & Ian were told what hospital that I was being flown to.

As I approached the helicopter, the co pilot pointed at the step and then pointed at a chair I was to sit in. My socks were covered in mud as were his boots. The aluminium floor of the helicopter was covered in thick clumps of fresh mud from the field. He touched my knee and gave me the thumbs up as I looked at him. I gave him one back to say that I was fine. He shut the door and locked it. Talking aboard the helicopter would have been useless. It was very noisy as the pilot took off, and only got louder as it's engine reached full power. I saw Lee wave to me from the field below. I tried to wave back but my hands were frozen in place. The cabin soon filled up with hot air and the strong smell of aviation fuel. I was amazed, not just at the fact that I was involved in all this, but that I was in a helicopter being flown over the Surrey countryside. I was also amazed at how hilly the terrain was from up here compared to the ground. As we made our way to the hospital, I was pretty sure that I could see part of the North Downs where we go mountain biking. The clouds were just above us and looked like they were filled with rain. Our flight took about ten minutes and although it was very bumpy and there seemed to be quite a bit of turbulence, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

I was wheeled from the helicopter to a waiting ambulance and driven the short distance to the A&E section of the hospital. I found myself answering more questions relating to my health and next of kin etc. Then I was wheeled into an empty resuscitation room where three nurses were expecting me. I didn't need resuscitating obviously, but needed warming up asap! I had my temperature taken which was not at a dangerous level but was below normal. It was 35.4. I got out of my wet clothes and slipped into a gown and lay down under an inflatable cover that had hot air circulating through it. I looked at the time on the clock on the wall opposite and saw it was 17:00pm.

Just as I was bought a cup of tea to help warm me up, a man was wheeled in and into the space next to me. He was surrounded by doctors and one of them was pushing onto his chest. He was an old man from an old peoples home and was diabetic. He died suddenly and there was nothing the doctors could do! One of the nurses apologized for the smell, for the man had soiled himself. I quietly said not to worry and that it was fine.

I had my heart checked (ECG) and a sample of blood was taken. I have three bald patches on my chest to show for it where the nurse shaved my hair away to stick the patches needed to fix the wires to the ECG machine. Everything came back fine, but my temperature was a little lower than it should have been. I was taken to an empty and wonderfully quiet observation ward until they were happy that my temperature was back to normal again. I was able to use the hospitals phone to call my mobile which I had hoped Lee had in his possession by now, but it went over to answering mode. Then I rang my Mum and asked if she had heard from lee. She hadn't and I told her what happened and told her not to worry and that I was fine. Then as I was talking to her my twin sister Nicola, who is married to Lee, had rung the hospital. Lee had made contact with her and told her to ring me to let me know that they were about twenty minutes from Ian's car and that they were fine.

Whilst I was being seen to in the hospital, Lee and Ian had managed to rescued my kayak, two mobile phones and two cameras. Even my water shoes were still inside my kayak. My paddle was nowhere to be seen. It has probably made it's way all the way to the Thames by Hampton Court Palace and along the Thames though London and on to the sea. Lee towed my boat the rest of the way to where Ian's car was parked in Stoke D'abernon. They were in the water for another hour and a half! It was getting dark and they were worried that they might get into more trouble, and so was I! Lee could hear my mobile phone ringing as he paddled, but had to ignore it as he was busy navigating the rest of the river Mole.
When they finally reached their destination, they knocked on the door of a nearby house and asked to hide the boats in their garden whilst Ian drove Lee to Box Hill to collect my car. Normally, one of us would have sat by the boats whilst the other car was fetched. Ian then went home and Lee collected the boats and made his way to the hospital.

I was brought more tea and a corned beef & cucumber sandwich and was left sat quietly thinking about all the days events. By half past eight (tablet time!) I was beginning to worry about Lee and Ian and asked to use the phone again. I tried my mobile again to no avail and just as I started to ring my mum Lee came into the ward at about 9pm with some dry clothes. Yay! At which point the nurses were happy enough with my temperature and said it was ok to go home. Talk about perfect timing:)

After I dropped Lee off after racing us back home from the hospital, I popped around to give my mum her birthday card and a hug. I was home by ten, took my tablets, had an injection, took some painkillers and went to bed!

The next morning both the soles of my feet hurt and were bruised from the rocks on the rivers bed! And both my hands hurt too after hanging onto the branch.

I learned, we all learned, some very important lessons on Sunday!


Happy Birthday to Mum (65), Millie (4) & Daisy (16) who are all a year older this week:)



Jason


P.s. Thank you so much to everyone who helped me!!!








(C) JPT 2008.........