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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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I thought you might like to see a couple of action shots of me, in my long lost youth!
Yes, that's me in a kayak in a river that was probably beyond my limits. And yes, I got out of the mess, upright, still in the boat and going downstream like a rocket. The river is the Wye, and the location is a fantastic set of rapids upstream of Builth Wells, in mid Wales. It's probably November or December.
Then there is
Taken in about 1972, coming back from Ireland, probably Dun Laoghaire, the year we came third overall in the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association's series. The land you can see is Bardsey Island, off the very tip of the Lleyn peninsular (the Lands End of North Wales). We're south west of Bardsey, avoiding the notorious Bardsey Sound
The picture quality isn't wonderful. They're scanned 35mm slides.
As you can see clearly from the top picture, I'm much younger than today! In the bottom one I'm 20 or 21. And these two sports are what I spent all my free time doing. Well, when not moping over a never to be had love, that is!
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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>As you can see clearly from the top picture, I'm much younger than today!
That is only clear if we can see through the bottom of a kayak. Do you have a pic where you are upright?
Scanned photo or not, the bottom pic is clearly a handsome young man.
Youth crisis hot-line 866-488-7386, 24 hr (U.S.A.)
There are people who want to help you cope with being you.
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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I was upright in a kayak very rarely. I wonder if I can find a pic!
Tks muchly for the compliment.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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The number 678 is real enough. That was my race number in the Exe Descent race that year. Someone had to have it and that was mine. I think that was 18 miles and ten weirs, something like that.
This isn't the Exe, though, this is the Wye again, paddling upsteam into a nasty little rapid we knew as Hell's Hole. I look very tentative because I was pretty inexperienced. And the boat was very new and I didn't want to break it at once!
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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I've just revamped http://bit.ly/gqrY8 Take a look.
Yes, I was a kid once. And let no-one ever say gay kids are wimps!
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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I would much have liked to have known you then, Timmy. I wonder if I could have got hooked on white water canoeing. I really enjoyed and still enjoy punting sculling and sailing.
Love,
Anthony
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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Well, it's very like punting, except that when you fall in the boat stays round your waist!
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Macky
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Really getting into it |
Location: USA
Registered: November 2008
Messages: 973
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Did you enjoy this sport? Wasn't it dangerous to be racing along upside down, with rocks protruding from the bottom of the river? I would have reservations about my son participating in a sport like that. How did your parents feel about it? Why did you get involved in it? Why don't you still do it? I don't think that I would have ever wanted to do that. What have I missed by not having had this experience in my life?
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brothers to dwell together in unity!
Ps 133:1 NASB
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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It's no more dangerous than any other extreme sport. It's exciting, a great thrill, a load of adrenaline, nervousness or even real fear.
The idea is not to spend your time upside down, you know. Breathing becomes remarkably hard when your head's under water. When your head's above water the rocks tend to be further away. The majority of the time you tend to be upright.
Where the water runs fastest it tends also to be the deepest part of the rapid. That's the place to be. You learn to read the surface of the water. And you walk down big rapids before paddling down them to avoid a nasty surprise at the end. And you choose not to go down rivers where you feel you can't manage the water.
You have obviously not read the web page where I tell you why I gave it up  . But you will.
I concentrated on two sports, both of which were dangerous. The boats I sailed were never the easiest to control. They were always the most extreme I could handle. Offshore racing, while it seems safe because a yacht is substantial, is actually insidiously dangerous. We spent a worried 20 minutes one dark night wondering just how the Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire ferry was going to see us in time and alter course. The skipper fired a Verey pistol directly at his bridge eventually. That did get the driver's attention.
When a storm gets up at sea it can get quite interesting, too. You have to know what you are doing, and then do it well. One day we left Port St Mary in the Isle of Man in a decent force 5-6 breeze and two hours later an unforecast severe gale force 9 was all around us. Check the wind speeds at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale That wind did make cooking difficult, but it was only for a few hours until it dropped back to 7-8; much more bearable.
We forced the skipper to abandon one race when his favoured crewman was helming and decided to steer for the cliffs instead of away from them. We two lads looked at each other and we said "no, this has to stop now!", and we refused to race.
I prefer sports where I know when I'm likely to die. So mountaineering would have been fine, though I never fancied it, caving not fine at all because of flash floods. I considered free fall parachuting, but the early days someone else packs the chute, and you have no control of your own destiny. But then you have to learn to pack it and can fail.
Where do my parents come into it? They never had any idea what I did anyway.
As a parent, yes, have reservations. Check out the safety aspects, and, when satisfied that risk is minimised, just hope they come back alive.
What have you missed by not doing this? If it has no appeal then you have missed an unpleasant experience. If you feel a frisson of excitement then that is what you've missed.
Just remember, gay kids also do tough sports.
[Updated on: Thu, 09 July 2009 23:00]
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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This one, of course, is the student look! I was pretending to revise for exams outside my student flat at 169 Griffin Cloe in Birmingham, in the summer of 1972.
[Updated on: Thu, 09 July 2009 15:49]
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Macky
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Really getting into it |
Location: USA
Registered: November 2008
Messages: 973
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It's obvious from the way that you write about it that you loved doing these sports and that you love having done them. I never had the opportunity, but I probably would have skipped it if I had. But I can still enjoy the baddest of roller coasters: 129 MPH 180 degrees straight up or down loops barrelrolls:its all the same to me.
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brothers to dwell together in unity!
Ps 133:1 NASB
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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I was in the right place at the right time, that's all. When given the chance to do something different I always said yes.
I used to like funfair rides, but I became nauseous over the years, so the fun went out of it. I guess that's just life.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Well you don't look like a white water kid in that one, Timmy.
In 1972 I was 37 with children of six and seven and living a straight life in St Albans.
It was a good time I think, maybe for you too?
Love,
Anthony
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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They were the best of times, they were the worst of times.
I was so afraid of being queer. There was nothing gay about it, queer was what it was. So I threw myself into everything except academic work with gusto and had a hell of a good time.
That summer we paddled rivers and surfed beaches, and we came third overall in the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association's series. And I managed to pass my exams, just.
I failed to be brave enough to ask Geoff Ashcroft if he really did fancy a shag, though I'm damned sure he did, and I went out with random girls to no particular good result.
So I had a great time, but I had an awful time as well.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Macky
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Really getting into it |
Location: USA
Registered: November 2008
Messages: 973
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Can you tell us more about Geoff Ashcroft?
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brothers to dwell together in unity!
Ps 133:1 NASB
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13800
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Not a lot to tell, not really. He was a fellow metallurgist, long light brown hair, cute face, slim, and seemed to shag everything that moved. I rather hoped he'd shag me, too.
[Updated on: Fri, 10 July 2009 17:00]
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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