White Water Rafting

Lombard Coventry and Warwickshire office took to the rapids on 8th June 2007. We were making an attempt to raise money for Great Ormonds Children's Hospital and Breast Cancer care charities.
9 of us made our way to The National Watersports Centre in Nottingham. The first obstacle was to don wetsuits, boyancy aids and helmets. After a short safety briefing when we were told that if the boat capsized and we were trapped under the raft we were not to panic. At that point I panicked! I am a banker get me out of here!
As with all team building events, I was too scared to back out now.....
We started with a tranquil few minutes on a small lake, getting the rhythm of rowing together sorted. In our raft we had Kevin and Lisa at the rear, and I am convinced I was set up when I found myself at the front of the raft, together with Doddy. However no going back now.....
I have to say I have never experienced anything quite like the plunging into fast flowing rapids, and with any luck I will not have to experience it again. Most of the time I had my eyes tight shut in order to preserve my contact lenses! If they were washed away I would be in trouble!
Needless to say after numerous scary and wet moments disaster struck. We capsized, and I found myself swept away from the raft. Shouts of float on your back from the instructors were hopeless, I was not able to change position, the current just took me. However I was eventually scooped from the swell, after an embarrassingly high number of attempts from a burly guy who struggled to lift me, (shit did I wish I had done that diet!)
It was a fantastic experience as you will see from the photographs, but I never ever want to repeat it again! Even for charity.......