50 Years of Umko 1966 - 2016 1966 - 2016 | Page 86

So Pete Peacock went over the falls.
This is how it happened:

1.Charles Mason - “most have done so inadvertently!”
“Kingfisher Falls is the only other place where almost everyone
will carry his or her boat around. Of the very few who have shot
it in racing craft, most have done so inadvertently! Most famous of
these Peter Peacock and his partner Jimmy Potgieter who arrived at
a preliminary race (Waterfall to Sea) late for the start. The field had
already departed. Racing to catch up they put their heads down and
paddled hard, thinking the race had started below the Falls. Too late,
they saw to their horror that they were onto the dreaded Kingfisher Falls!
Jimmy managed to cling to a rock at the lip of the drop and was eventually
rescued by a group of umfaans who threw him a rope and hauled him to
safety. Peter was swept over the falls together with their canoe. He survived
miraculously with only a broken toe to show for his spectacular leap.”

UMKO 50 Years

2. Ali Maynard - “enter the land of long lips and tightly shut eyes”

“The story about the waterfall goes like this. It was the first time that we
organized a race from the Waterfall to the Lido by the sea. A road had been
pushed in on the North side of the river which gave us access to the river
in this segment. We arrived on that Sunday morning to find the river in full
flood. The start was upstream of the waterfall on the bend coming down
from Bad Rapid. Stewart as usual was late so the start was delayed. Later on
about 20 boats set off. Mainly in doubles but Stewart was putting a Sabre on
the river as a first-ever (a remarkable feat in itself, but he was good enough
to do this). The river was a seething brown mass and I was in the back of a
double with Paul Henry steering.
As we came around the corner and lined up on the left bank portage (still
well ahead of us) we saw Jimmy Potgieter and Peter Peacock well across to
the right. I think they were intending to portage but not having tripped had
not checked out the right hand bank portage.
Now to what Jimmy told me later (by the way, Jimmy was one of the best
Umko paddlers ever and could drink the water too - another story on its
own). Jimmie was lined up to get out on the South Bank when they started
to doubt where to get out. As we all know when we are in this situation,
somebody starts to “back paddle” and the boat becomes unstable and voila!
Enter the land of long lips and tightly-shut eyes. Only when you have swum
in a raging river do you know that the body has an uncanny ability to shut
tightly any vent on the body that could take water. Peacock now in this
position, was washed in the direction of the Falls holding onto his homemade double. I believe the boat just broke up when it hit the bottom and
Pete was spat out below. I am not sure he even had a life jacket on.
Jimmy is now sans boat and hits out for the South bank only to swim into
a shallow rock and grabs on for dear life. The local people had very little
contact with umLungus in that area and soon a crowd gathered to look at
Jimmy clinging to a rock about 15m from the bank. Soon a rope was produced
and after much discussion the throwing started (likely the first time a throwline was ever used in SA). The throw team got better and better with practice
and managed to be able to actually get the line to Jimmie who point blank
refused to touch it. There was much “Hau Bamba Boss Bamba”! No ways
was Jimmie going to bamba while there was no rac e official present, so this
would-be rescue team called it a day.
Somehow word got out that there was an umLungu stuck on a rock in the
river and a race official was dispatched on the road on the south bank. Story
has it that Jimmie was there for about two hours having lodged himself
firmly on the rock. Story has it that Jimmie caught the throw line first time
once the umLungu was there to supervise.
Story goes that Jimmie said something like this “What? You think I was
going to take a chance with those amateurs and their rope? I had already lost
Peter, presumed drowned, and was not going to take a chance!”

3. Rowan Rasmussen - “You need to get the full truth from Pete”

So this is how stories start. I must drop in a few comments and Robbie will
back me up.
The race where Pete went over and Jimmy nearly went over the falls
was not all the way to the sea as I recall, but ended somewhere around
Goodenough’s Weir. I think I paddled a double with Rob as I clearly
remember the incident but don’t think we paddled in singles. Might be dead
wrong here.
I also believe Pete and Jimmy got just about to the lip of the falls when
Jimmy realised what was up and, being in the front, jumped out and onto
the rock while Pete was too late and went over. You need to get the truth

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