The rains came for the Drak and the Dusi – both were full, fast, and fun. And then the rains came for the Stihl Umko, making this full, fast, and fun at another level altogether. It was BIG. Day 1 started at 2.1m and increased to 2.4m. Apparently, the way the Umko works is that for every 25cm the river rises, the water almost doubles in volume. So if at 2m there are 90 cumecs, then at 2.25m there are 160 cumecs running – meaning boats are literally sucked downstream along huge, almost never-ending wave trains, with the challenge being to miss the big holes and the gnarly-looking rocks.
To put all this into perspective – the winning time for the 45km of Day 1 was just 2 hours 11 minutes. That’s 22 kilometers an hour! That’s fast! On Saturday evening the river was up at 2.5m, meaning only paddlers with 5 or more Umko’s would be allowed to start at Mbanjwa’s (which would have meant that Matt Fenn and Brad Boulle wouldn’t have been able to compete), so many didn’t sleep well, and 9 boats took the short Day 2 option of starting below No7. On Sunday, the river dropped to 2.1m, but the day was still a massive adrenaline rush from the start, although not quite as fast with the bigger, scarier rapids and a compulsory portage of 5 & 6 slowing the pace. Fast, furious, and lots of fun – if you got it right. But some didn’t. 66 boats entered, 58 finished Day 1, 43 finished the full course. Respect!
At the end of Day 1, we were down to a two-horse race, with Hank & Wayne finishing a few seconds ahead of Matt & Brad, who then took a further 3-minute lead to claim their 5th title together – with Wayne now having won an incredible 11! But take nothing away from Matt & Brad for a well-earned second place in such epic conditions.
Fourth overall and first Masters home were Rory Attridge and Nick Warren – we want to know what they have for breakfast. In seventh place was the rank outsider Patrick Reeves (who was going in a K1 until a friend told him that Mike Stewart was looking for a partner), and rounding off the top 10 were Chucky (who was called up to prize giving as Chunky) and Leon. Lots of unexpecteds up there and/or not in there – but that’s the Umko!
First in the Sub Grand Masters were Belkie and birthday boy Bryan, while Rob & MJ were first in the Sub Vets; they were lying third after Day 1 and then had the longest Day 2, but they made it to the end. Sean and Kevlar also had a long Day 2, but they also got home, and Kevlar now has 20 Umkos to his name. Fantastic!
Only one Dabs lady started – well done to Jen Niksch, who loved the whole experience. Even after she and Geachy lost their boat halfway through Day 2, Jen still laughed with joy, floating downriver in the rescue Crocs. Here, a special mention needs to be made for these guys and girls (2 girls who a certain Closed Corporation spent a lot of time with), who go out early and get in late looking after the lost sheep (although they do miss some, through no fault of their own) – respect to all of you!
P.S. If you ever wondered – floating down a full Umko on one of those big fat things is also a lot of fun, but don’t think you won’t swim…
Also needing a mention are Rob Levick & Gregor Martin (along with Piero Ioppo and some other youngsters from Cape Town) for their stamina. On Friday night they drank till 2:30 am – making so much noise that even Tommo got grumpy. Anyway, they were still drunk when they started on Saturday, so they headed for all the big stuff from the get-go just to wake themselves up – and then they did a rinse and repeat of all of that for Day 2, until their luck ran out – as it did for some of our Dabs crews. Sorry boys and girl – better luck next time.
Thanks to Scott Rogers and the KCC team for such a fantastic weekend and thank you to Stihl and Super Bock for their continued support.
So ya, last year was one of the lowest levels ever raced (0.9m), and then this year was of the highest levels ever raced (people in the know are now saying it was higher than believed) – but high or low, all who go return home with war stories they won’t forget. What is the happy medium for Umko? Some say what there was on Day 1 and then 1.8m on day 2 would be perfect, but the thing about the Umko is that it’s a lottery. You get what rain comes; holes that weren’t there suddenly appear, massive rocks move, and every year is a different challenge – that’s why it’s Stihl called The Radical Test.
Till next time – Go Dabs!
