We’re all between swims. Even kayaking’s superstars. No one knows this better than Red Bull athlete Dane Jackson, who recently quipped on IG: “After five and a half years, it’s time to reset the swim clock.”
Jackson’s beatdown came at the hands of a big water section of Quebec’s Misstassinni River, which drains into the north-western portion of Lac Saint-Jean.
Watch Beatdown Video Here:
We caught up with Dane for his take on the beat down…
Where was it? It was on “Bridge Rapid” on the Misstassinni outside of Dolbeau, QC.
Tell us what happened: This line is never the most complicated, just move over the hump/curler right of the big hole and then head left of the next features, as I have done a number of times. Unfortunately in the moment I was going through the curler it broke completely and sent me into the huge hole. A feature that not only do you absolutely want to avoid but I am pretty positive no one else has gotten stuck in before, because of wanting to avoid it at all costs. I tried to fight it but I wasn’t getting the chance for a breath and then once I lost my paddle I knew I had to swim. Unfortunately when I swam I also got ripped out viciously and unfortunately wrecked my knee. I tore my MCL, tore my Calf muscle, and got impact fractures on my Femur and Tibia. Definitely a stout first proper kayaking injury, but luckily my knee isn’t any worse! Time to get on the rehab and recovery train, but I will be back at it soon enough!
Were you trying to go into that hole? Most definitely not. Usually you just break over the curler slightly then cut behind it. Normally you barely get much resistance from that curler, but I had a big crash from it which just shot me left.
Was that as big a beatdown as you’ve had in a while? Yeah, that’s definitely the biggest beating I have had since the Indus in 2019 for sure.
When did you realize you had to bail? I had a few moments where I felt like I could get some control, and maybe I was going to be able to cut to one of the sides of the feature. But even when I was “surfing” or upright I couldn’t get a breath because my body was almost always in the foam. So after a bit I had a feeling that i wasn’t going to be able to get a great breath again, and I knew there was some potential to go down for a long time after so I decided to pull.
How bad was the swim? Luckily the downtime after was much less than I expected, which I was happy with. Though, unfortunately, the moment I swam the boat got a big bounce in the foampile, then crashed down right when I was coming out so when I got ripped out it messed up my knee. I didn’t realize how bad it was till I tried standing on it on shore and collapsed. Fingers crossed it’s just a major sprain but a few weeks in the brace to be safe.
Where/when/how was your last swim? My last swim was Stookesberrys Stout on the Indus in 2019. Although the beatdown wasn’t as bad, it was more I just couldn’t get any form of control so ended up pulling there. Luckily, the swim there wasn’t bad at all.
Says one incredulous poster on IG: “If I were in charge I’d say you get a pass on the bootie beer after a fight like that. Heal up!”
Watch Swim Footie Here:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJiCrm0SxPC/?igsh=MTB5NGFlNDB6N3g4eQ%3D%3D