Dusi Bridge – The opening stage of the 2014 Dusi Canoe Marathon proved to be a case of hurry up and wait for the pair of Bob Harvey and Tony Ferguson as they were left stranded on a rock on a unpaddled stretch of river, off the conventional race course for four hours before finally being airlifted to safety by the race’s safety helicopter.
Safely back on dry land with nothing much more than a bruised ego, Harvey, with seven Dusis under the belt already, and Ferguson, a Dusi novice in 2014, may be enjoying a few frosties now but their day could easily have ended in far worse fashion.
“Shortly after the Campbell’s portage put-in we got accidentally pushed into the banks by another boat which ended up in us wrapping our boat around a rock,” explained Harvey.
“We tried to splinter it with branches and tape but we just kept taking on water. We thought that if we could just get ourselves to the Guinea Fowl portage take-out then we could try get someone to fiberglass our boat and we could see how we went from there.
“Somehow, though, we missed the take-out and ended up swimming down a nasty rapid, onto a large rock island in the middle of the river.”
“We couldn’t go back up the rapid, we couldn’t carry on swimming down, we were completely stuck!”
Ferguson explained how the two summed up their options and soon realized there was little left to do other than sit it out and wait for help to arrive.
“We tried to figure out what the right thing to do was. We tried to get out but we just couldn’t so eventually decided to just stay put and wait,” said Ferguson.
Fortunately for the pair, swift work by the event’s administrators shortly after the final paddlers crossed the line meant the search for the missing two commenced immediately and the unchartered waters were eventually explored after the usual stretch of river was scoured numerous times by air.
“It was a huge relief to finally see the helicopter!” said Ferguson. “We had just been sitting on that rock waiting for hours!”
“Fortunately the rock we were on was just big enough for the chopper to touch down and, with some really good aerial skill, they dropped down and picked us up,” added Harvey with a grateful giggle.
Despite initially being a little shaken up, the pair were soon spotted enjoying a couple of the sponsors’ product and having a good laugh at their earlier experience.
“We’re already onto our third long-tom Hansa!” laughed Harvey. “Everyone always has a few paddling stories to share around the campfire and now we’ve got one of our own!”
“I can’t quite believe it but I guess it’s just one of those things,” he added.
While slightly worried about their health at the time, that wasn’t what concerned the pair the most during their time astray.
“The Dusi is such a fantastic organization so we knew they wouldn’t leave us out there,” said Harvey.
“We were more worried about the reaction of our wives,” he chuckled.
“The event had had such a great atmosphere in the build up to the race,” added Ferguson however the novice decline to commit just yet as to whether he would be back again in 2015.
“It’s a little early to say. We’ll have to see in a little while,” he laughed.
More information can be found at www.dusi.co.za