A few days ago we went down to spend the day surfing at Nile Special. It was Lowri Davies and Dane Jackson's last day here and it was quite a powerful experience watching them say goodbye forever to that place. Most of the day was filled with smiles, tricks, jokes, and cheers. Lowri was trying to throw new tricks and Dane was trying out every boat he could since his own was cracked. Lowri also had the cool opportunity to spend this last day passing on her passion, knowledge, and experience by assessing and checking off a fellow paddler for his freestyle coach certification.
But then as the sun began to set, the mood changed. The sky was painted with deep red, orange, and pink strokes and the sun became a blazing orange disk behind the clouds. Flocks of white egrets flew as a stark contrast across the sky and swallows filled the sky as they dove through thick clouds of bugs. Below, the water had turned into a silvery sheet of liquid mercury and the paddler on the wave was a bright point of color floating between sheets of silver and strokes of red.
Lowri and Dane were sitting on a rock just upstream of the wave silhouetted against the light. They leaned into each other for support as the looked out across this place for the last time. For in just a few months this beautiful wave will be under meters of water; instead of a rushing, free flowing river, there will be a lake
As Lowri walked back to us it was obvious that she had been crying. I was struck by the incredible strength of relationship that can be built between a person and place, between paddler and river. As she watched a paddler float downstream toward the Hairy Lemon Island, she choked up again and told me that that moment, floating home at sunset after an amazing day of paddling, is one of the most special, happy moments in her life. She described how important this place has been in her life: she has met so many amazing people, had so many happy memories and moments of growth. The Nile Special represents a sense of community, personal growth, exploration; it represents both a part of her history and a home.
For paddlers like Lowri and Dane, who have been coming here for so many years, loosing this place seems like loosing a piece of themselves. Lowri told me she is unsure of when she will return because it will just be too hard, too depressing, to see the lake that has drowned this Special place.
