The Wind and the Water

DARK AND RAINY ON THE MIS-souri River. I paddled my kayak through choppy water. Somewhere ahead of me was the finish of the race I’d begun almost 15 hours earlier, the South Dakota Kayak Challenge. The course runs 72 windy, wave-tossed miles from Yankton, South Dakota, to South Sioux City, Nebraska.

Many racers had finished by now. I still had eight miles to go. I was 65 years old and exhausted. I have Type 2 diabetes and had badly misjudged my nutrition intake. I’d been miserable for much of the race.

It was 10 p.m. Lights from shore danced on the water. Wing dams on the bank threw off confusing vortexes. Powerboats whined in the distance, partiers not watching where they were going. I felt alone. Vulnerable.

If I were telling you this story face-to-face, you’d stop me right now to say, “Walt, what on earth were you doing competing